The internets have been abuzz with this photo today (Click for the full size version). It’s a photo of an aluminum cast of an ant nest made by Walter Tschinkel, a Florida entomologist–but there haven’t been a lot of additional details. The nest you are looking at is one of a Florida harvester ant, and appeared with many other photos and casts in a 2004 paper about nest architectu... »
Argh! I woke up to 20 emails asking for my opinion on pubic lice. How did your Monday Morning coffee go? Alas, this story is making the rounds again: Brazilian Bikini Waxes Make Crab Lice Endangered Species Pubic lice, the crab-shaped insects that have dwelled in human groins since the beginning of history, are disappearing. Doctors say bikini waxing may be the reason. Waning infestations of the ... »
I am a huge fan of Bird and Moon Comics, so I was super excited to see this video with illustrations used to explain evolution! Enjoy. »
I have a confession to make: I LOVE PUNS. I really do. I loved this Nerdolympics pun-fest. (The Protractor Pull! Differential Equestrian! Krebs Cycling!) I love this flea illustration. There is an entire section of Cheezeburger for pun lovers like me. The holidays, for me, are when I get together with family and see who can be the most annoying punster. The first person that gets yelled at to &... »
One of the favorite websites I read is “Regret the Error.” It makes me feel a bit better when I screw things up. As hard as we try, even with spellcheck and editors, mistakes still happen. Sometimes, spell check is the source of the problem. I still remember with some fondness an 8-page paper I once received from a student on “Attention Defecate Disorder.” »
Professor Mike Siva-Jothy is the leading expert on the sex lives of bed bugs. By which I mean, he is trying to figure out why they do the strange things they do sexually. In addition to learning about just how traumatic insemination works, we also learn about how to make tiny glass insect genitalia, and have a brief discussion about pubic lice. They MADE me go there! »
It’s November, which is NaNoWriMo time. Or, for those not hip to the lingo, National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to finish a 50,000-word novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30. Someday I would like to write a novel…but I got nothing right now. I love sci-fi, and mysteries, and things like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, which fall into a category called Urban Fantasy. And I rea... »
“spider accident-induced priapism.” »
