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Charlie and William hang out after dinner.
Science
A stormy beginning makes for a busy end. We spent the day prepping for a couple of experiments that will happen tomorrow while we’re all awake for the second round of the diel experiment. We sent a go-flow, typically used to collect data on trace minerals in the water, overboard to gracefully collect and filter seawater to be used for growth medium in an incubation experiment. It’s hard to think about treating seawater nicely, but apparently the go-flow apparatus is designed to not split any cells upon entry or exit. This ensures that the phytoplankton we’re trying to grow and measure will have the most realistic experience in their little containers as possible tomorrow.
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Charlie helps cook dinner in Asheville, North Carolina.
Science
Rimicaris exoculata, the eyeless vent shrimp is an iconic member of hydrothermal vent communities on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The shrimp is characterized by a lack of eyes, an enlarged carapace, chemoautotrophic symbionts that they farm in their gills, and, most curiously, large photoreceptors on the top of its carapace. A solution to the mysterious eyespots was first hypothesized by Cindy Lee Van Dover, who inferred that Rimicaris exoculata can “see” low-level light produced by hydrothermal vent effluent.
Iconic, novel, biologically fascinating; of all the adjectives I can think of to describe Rimicaris exoculata, the one that jumps immediately to mind is sort-of-canoe-shaped. In fact, it’s so sort-of-canoe-shaped that this hydrothermal vent shrimp needs to have a canoe made in its image.
Presenting the grand unveiling of Project S – the Rimicanoe (sensu strictissimo Rimicaris exocu-yacht-a)!
Science
Three weeks ago, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources COASTSPAN survey started it’s 2010 season. I was thrilled- it had been far too long since I was out on a boat catching sharks. The weather report looked good, and our scheduled sample site was only a few miles from where we set the DNR record for most sharks caught in a day (248). On paper, it looked like it was going to be a pretty good day. As it turned out, it was a great day. As we hauled in the first set of the first day of the season, something in the net caught my eye. Despite sampling in this exact location a dozen times before, despite years of working with sharks and two decades of loving sharks, we caught a species that I had never seen before. The smooth dogfish pup, only a few weeks old, made his species the fiftieth I have ever seen. In honor of this occasion, here is a brief excerpt from my upcoming shark conservation book, including pictures of me with some of the 50 species I’ve encountered. Enjoy!
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Charlie hangs out on the roof of out home for the next several days.
Conservation
I’ve been a fan of Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen for a while now. His blog, iCommandant, provided a window into a world few of us glimpse. His openness, honesty, and no nonsense attitude made the iCommandant blog one of the best blogs on the internet. Which is why I began today disheartened to see that he was relieved as Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard by Admiral Robert Papp. But that sadness was short lived when it was announced the Admiral Thad Allen will continue serve as National Incident Commander for the Gulf of Mexico.
Read More “Real Leadership for the Deepwater Horizon Disaster” »
Science
85 years ago today John Scopes was indicted for violating the Butler Law – a law that made it illegal to teach evolution in Tennessee. The Scopes Trial, engineered by several parties to bring attention to both Dayton, Tennessee and the controversial anti-evolution laws, left a lasting mark on America’s legal system and the public perception of science. It was the bombastic firebrand H. L. Menken, one of the architects of the trial, that summerised best the spirit of the Monkey Trail:
The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame.
Read More “And sense achieved a great victory – 85 years after Scopes” »
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Packed up and ready to go, an artist’s facsimile of Charlie, ready for adventure Six months ago we made a declaration. It was the end of the Year of Darwin – his 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin. The science blogosphere had been abuz all year with Darwin themed events, … Read More “Charlie and the Adventure – 365 days of Darwin” »