Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online
If the marine productivity is iron limited, then adding iron should increase phytoplankton growth. This growth will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to fuel photosynthesis and on a global scale, has the potential to mitigate global warming by absorbing the extra carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. But is it really that … Read More “Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – Iron Fertilization: The Cure for Global Warming” »
It should come as no surprise that our favorite sea monster is the legendary giant of giants – The Kraken.
Originally of Norwegian and Icelandic legend, the Kraken is described as a giant, tentacled monster that rises from the deep. In the earliest legends, the Kraken resembles an island feeding on schools of fish. Bold fishermen would set their lines above the Kraken, catching the huge schools of fish that surround it. In these earliest stories, the danger to ships was not from the Kraken itself, but from the whirlpool formed when it dives.
It’s the final day for Ocean of Pseudoscience, and our favorite observant nerd has weighed in on Shark Diver’s challenge. On Wednesday, Underwater Thrills broached the question “Do bull sharks have high enough testosterone levels that you can juice off bull shark blood?” We cried bull, but Christie did the leg-work to smash this video-game … Read More “Ocean of Pseudoscience Linkfest, Round 6” »
Charlie squares off against the mighty Kraken!
Below are the blogs that have joined in on our week long adventure into an Ocean of Pseudoscience, today. Don’t worry, at the end of the week we’ll have an aggregate post linking to everyone who’s participated. There have been tons of great posts from within the Southern Fried Science Network: Bomai Cruz – Cryptic … Read More “Ocean of Pseudoscience Linkfest, Round 5” »
One of the many frequent claims that crop up in both popular and scientific reports about deep-sea hydrothermal vents is that chemosynthetic ecosystems are independent of photosynthetic ecosystems. Even high quality scientific reporting have been guilty of making this claim: “These animals live completely independent of sunlight” (NOAA Ocean Explorer). But are chemosynthetic systems totally … Read More “Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – Chemosynthetic ecosystems and independence from the sun” »
The headlines read: “Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk” So what exactly was this crazy dead thing? Some call it a marketing scheme and no one can deny that it brought attention to the town of Montauk. Others say it might have been a prank by a local filmmaker to bring attention to his movie. … Read More “Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – The Montauk Monster” »
Science can often be complicated, which makes a simple explanation extremely appealing. Sometimes, these simple explanations are correct. Sometimes they are spectacularly wrong.
One of the most complicated areas of science is evolutionary biology. Describing the origin of current species is a lot like putting together an enormous puzzle when most of the pieces are missing. A simple explanation for an evolutionary problem would be very, very appealing. Some people believe they have found one for human evolution, and they call it the “Aquatic Ape Hypothesis”.
