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The sign at Wanchese’s seafood industrial park makes Charlie feel small
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Chapter 25 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. Visit this page for the complete collection to date: Finding Melville’s Whale. Postscript In the casting of their coronation, kings and queens are baptized in the oil of the richest … Read More “Finding Melville’s Whale: Postscript (Chapter 25)” »
Science
All bow before the mighty Wall-of-Shiffman!
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Of course, spermaceti oil isn’t actually in their brain but rather in a special chamber in their cranium. Makes great candles though. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
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Charlie poses in front of the docks at Stumpy Point
We’re a little more than half-way through this year’s Donors Choose initiative. To date we’ve raised $618, helped complete 16 projects, and reached 541 students. The support from our readership has been tremendous, and I’d like to personally thank everyone who’s given to Donor’s Choose through any of the blogs participating in the Science Bloggers … Read More “Science students need your help!” »
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Caffeinated crabs, anti-depressed dolphins, and feminized fish, oh, my! Can you imagine what would happen if sea creatures had access to your medicine cabinet? Well, they do. Pharmaceuticals from humans make their way into the ecosystem either through excretion into urine or by people disposing of old medications down the toilet. The first of these sources then flows with sewage, which has already been described by this series, out from leaking septic systems or through ocean outfalls into the sea.
Read More “Chemistry of the Great Big Blue: Pharmaceuticals” »
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Charlie tries out the new park amenities in Swanquarter, NC
Conservation, Science
Earth is facing a biodiversity crisis so severe that many conservation scientists refer to it as a mass extinction event. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a professional network of 11,000 volunteer scientists belonging to more than 1,000 government and NGO agencies in 160 countries, evaluates species worldwide and determines their risk of extinction. This Red List, which ranks species in increasing risk of extinction – Least Concern, Near Threatened, Conservation Dependent, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct – is described as “the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of plant and animal species”.
Statistics from the Red List are terrifying. One fifth of all evaluated vertebrate species are threatened with extinction, including 12% of birds, 21% of mammals, 30% of amphibians, and 26% of fish. On average, fifty species of amphibians, birds, and mammals move measurably closer to extinction each year. One fifth of the world’s plant species are in danger of extinction. Critical habitat-builders, including 33% of reef building coral species and 14% of seagrass species are in very big trouble.
Read More “Back from the Brink: Victories in Conservation” »