Turnabout..

..is fair play, apparently, for the black-marble jawfish.  Check out this video of the jawfish taking advantage of Thaumoctopus mimicus, an octopus well known for its ability to mimic various flounder and other fish.

For my friends in the Keys...

New study indicates that salt water might not deter the spread of Burmese pythons from the Everglades across stretches of open water to reach the Keys.  Keep your eyes open.

Republican Fire Drills

As I type this, the Iowa caucuses are underway.  Amazing that some 100,000 Iowans hold the sway that they do, but it is what it is.  Seems appropriate to take some time to look at the field of contenders.

As I've indicated here before, I vote science.  I'll certainly pay attention to a candidate's views on fiscal and social issues, but I've found their stance on (and knowledge of) science to be a pretty good litmus test.  The economy, per my limited understanding, seems largely a black box - about all you can hope for is that a president will be smart enough to hire the best advisors possible and, then, get lucky.  As for social issues, most intelligent, educated people land on the right side of those, if there's not too much money involved.  So, the common theme - look for the smartest guy (or girl).  Science IQ is a pretty good indicator.

Many of us have been disappointed with President Obama.  For all the promise of three years ago, the actual product has not lived up to the hype - witness his recent signature on NPAA.  But are there alternatives?  Since Obama will doubtless receive the Democratic nomination, we're forced to look to the GOP.  Surely someone in that crowded field can pass scientific muster. 

Well, take a look.  Scientific American's geek guide finds the most worthy of the Republican pack, from a scientific standpoint, to be Newt Gingrich.  That's the same Gingrich who recently characterized evolution as producing "randomly gathered protoplasm".  That's depressing.  Of course, its unclear whether this reflects ignorance or cowardice on his behalf.  But, then again, what's the difference. 

The rest of the field is, believe it or not, worse.  Mitt Romney, at least, accepts the fact of evolution.  However, his stances on other scientific issues are completely utilitarian.  And Ron Paul?  Well, here's Ron Paul on evolution.  For all my techno-geek, libertarian friends who think that Ron Paul is the second coming - he's not.  Although I suppose he might have the good sense to keep his hands off things that he doesn't understand.

So, I guess I hope we're stuck with BHO for four more years.

Back in the office...

...after a lengthy, much-needed, holiday break.  Wish I could say I felt rested and ready, but it wouldn't be true - the holidays themselves are demanding in their own way.  Still, it's time to go back to work.

I've been largely absent from this site for quite some time.  Truth is, there are only so many hours in the day and blogging has not been the highest priority.  The immediate future looks a little more promising - we'll see.

For those of you who are former students, colleagues, and friends, let me take a few minutes to update.  2011 was a helluva year. On the academic side, the year was very demanding, but also fulfilling.  Two colleagues and I used a small grant stemming to examine the impact of the 2010 BP spill on a salt marsh site in Mississippi Sound near Bayou La Batre.  We're finishing that work now, and the results are interesting.  On a broader scale, though, we've been able to create a dynamic lab to involve undergrads in ecological research.  Something a bit unique for Small Southern, and very rewarding.  Of course, the focus here is on the classroom, and the good people in my administration were kind enough to give me 18 1/2 contact hours in the Fall of 2011, including a freshman biology section of 65 hardheads.  But, we made it.  My field zoology class, 27 strong, included a remarkable group of kids.  We had some true adventures, not the least of which included drowning a Jeep.  But everyone survived.  Life lessons.

The year was, at times, very trying on the personal front, with a number of medical issues in my immediate family.  2011 began with my 92 year old mother in rehabilitation for fractures of her left humerus and femur.  It ended with my eldest brother preparing to go to Seattle next week for allogenic stem cell transplant in treatment for multiple myeloma.  Fingers crossed.  On a significantly more positive note, my oldest daughter and her husband produced my first grandchild in August.  Young Vic is unusually smart and handsome.

Now, it's time to go back to work.  I'm seeing 2012 as a year to change some things for the better.  Let's go.

Starfish returns

We've been incommunicado for some time.  Other priorities took precedence.  However, it's a semester for evolutionary biology and vert zoo, and we'll be blogging once again.  I'll spend some time updating this week, and we'll go full live when the semester begins next Monday.

Common sense?

The political rhetoric is already at flame-thrower level, and we're just getting started.  In a few months, presidential candidates will be calling for each other's heads on pikes.  That alone wouldn't worry me much, if it weren't that the future of science and the environment are among the chips on the table.  A laughable Republican field ranges from future also-ran moderates like Jon Huntsman to lunatic potential nominees like Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann (with the Alaskan she-beast waiting in the wings).  On the other side, Democratic leaders, including Barack Obama, appear increasingly cowardly in the defense of their core principles.  The result?  A climate in which Perry's disparaging remarks about evolutionary theory or Bachmann's denial of the evidence supporting climate change will find an increasingly receptive audience on the right and meet timid resistance on the left.  That's frightening.  We can't afford another step backward.  It would behoove conservatives, and serve the nation, if they would remember that much of our history of environmental protection has Republican  roots.  It would be easier to respect the right if they would embrace this history rather than running from it.

A little depressing

The webs of aging spiders are not as well-spun as those of their younger counterparts.  My web is getting a little rough around the edges.

Randomly timed article...

...on the attributes of effective liars.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with current events.

A taxonomy that I can get into

So maybe we can identify the gene for buck-toothedness



Image by Neil Bromhall/OSF/Getty

Latest genome to be sequenced - the "coolest mammal on the planet", the naked mole rat.  Jokes aside, it's a remarkable animal with a complex social structure.

Fisher decline

When I was a kid, I owned just about every Golden Guide that was available.  Used to carry them around in my back pocket while I scoured the North Florida woods near my home.  I valued them for what they could tell me about the species I encountered, but I was just as fascinated by the ones that came from faraway locales that I could only imagine.  I remember being fascinated by the subarctic weasels like martens and fishers.  I still have a mental image of their depiction of a fisher, standing alertly on a spruce limb with its squirrel prey.

So, it's a little depressing to read that fishers (at least those in California) are in serious decline.  A study conducted by the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the University of Massachusetts shows that, between 1998 and 2005, fisher numbers went down almost 80% on the Hoopa reservation in northwestern California.  A number of factors may be at work, including habitat destruction, disease, and bobcat predation.

Jaws

Jaws apparently weren't an instant hit in the world's oceans.  New research published in Nature shows that it was almost 30 million years after the appearance of the first jawed vertebrates before they were able to make a serious dent in the success of previously dominant jawless fish.  Also worth noting that there was no detectable niche shift on the the part of the developing jawed fishes to fill the niches vacated by their declining counterparts. 

Science and Tot-Mom

The world is abuzz with today's acquittal of Casey Anthony, accused of murdering her two-year old daughter Cayley.  I hadn't followed the case closely until this weekend, when circumstances resulted in a an unavoidable exposure to a barrage of closing arguments from both sides.  When word broke that the jury was bringing back a verdict today, I couldn't help but pay attention.  Then, when the not-guilty bomb dropped, I was drawn to social media like Twitter and Facebook to follow the reaction.  I've been a bit stunned at the racial twist that seems to be developing in the responses - a popular post points to the discreprancy between this verdict and the conviction of Michael Vick for animal abuse.  Other posts suggest that if Casey Anthony's first name were of a more ethnic nature, the outcome would have been different.  I've even seen a few people making reference to Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela.  Really?

The most common racially-driven comparison seems to revolve around the "We got OJ, you got Casey." theme.  I don't really get it.  I don't see where race enters the picture (although I do think it may play a role in the aftermath - Casey Anthony as a reality TV star?)  What I do find most interesting, though, also involves a comparison between the infamous 1995 O.J. Simpson trial and the current media circus.  Among the most disheartening aspects of the Simpson trail (and there were many) was the degree to which the defense team was able to convince jurors that the tremendous weight of the scientific evidence could be disregarded as unreliable or misleading.  I saw the Simpson case, in many ways, as a rejection of science. 

My limited knowledge of the Anthony case suggests to me that, this time around, the opposite is true.  While circumstances seem to point toward this young mother as the likely killer of her child, the LACK of convincing scientific evidence is apparently the major reason that she's being set free.  That, in some sad, sad way, seems like a victory.

This land

Night music with Bon Iver

Traveling south tomorrow. Be back soon.

Cookiecutter

A new study from researchers at the University of Florida details the first known attack of a cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) on a live human.  The victim, a long distance swimmer, was attacked in 2009 while swimming the channel separating the islands of Hawaii and Maui.  Previously, cookiecutter bites have been found on drowning victims and assumed to have been post-mortem. 

The cookiecutters jaw and tooth structure is unique, and the resulting wound is a nasty one.  The bite scoops out a a golf-ball sized chunk of flesh and leaves a deep, round wound. 

Researchers believe that cookiecutters use their bioluminescence to hide among schools of squid.  When large fish like tuna are attracted to the squid, the small sharks attack.

Some computer animations..

Björk

For some time now, my daughter has been trying to enlighten me to the gifts of Björk, the Icelandic singer-songwriter whose music, and voice, are among the most distinctive out there. I've resisted. The voice grates on me a little.

But, I may have to try again. Her new album and her tour promoting it are named Biophilia, after E. O. Wilson's theory regarding an evolved bond between humans and other organisms. The show features narration by naturalist David Attenborough, Björk's childhood hero.  Any artist that is inspired by these two guys deserves another listen.

Teaser for the album...

Release the Kraken!

Photo by Jeff Gage, University of Florida

More squid news.  A 25-foot giant squid, Architeuthis dux, found off of Florida, is now in the collection of the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. A group of fishermen found the animal about 12 miles off Port Salerno.

Admittedly, even the giant squid doesn't impress greatly when in this state.  So, take a look at one the few encounters with the real,  live beast.

A graphical look....

...at percentage changes in state appropriations, by year, in Alabama and our neighbors.  We were doing OK at making up the gap for a while.  Not any more.

Rising cost of an education

Our economic mess has impacted just about everyone, including college students.  Today, the U.S. Department of Education posted information on education costs at Universities around the country.  If you follow the link "College Affordability and Transparency", you'll find information about the most and least expensive institutions of various types.  For example, you can find out that tuition and fees at Penn State will cost you $14,410, while one of the lowest tuitions for a four year public institution can be found at Great Basin College - only $2,010 compared to the national average of $6,397.

A more interesting link is the one that carries you to the "State Spending Charts."  Here you'll find data on changes, since 2003, in state and local appropriations, tuition costs, and government grants.  The national data shows that appropriations increased slightly from 2003 through 2008, then declined dramatically (-7.0%) between 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 with the tanking economy.  It's worth taking a few minutes to take a look at how that national average compares to individual states.  A few states actually showed increased appropriations during the time frame - Ohio, for example, showed an increase in appropriations of over 6%.  A few states are noteworthy in the tremendous decline.  Alabama, of course, is one of them.  State and local appropriations per fulltime undergraduate student in the Heart of Dixie declined 22.2% between '07-'08 and '08-'09. 

Maybe Miss Alabama's level of understanding of biology isn't all that surprising, after all.