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Crazy weather
Here in the upper midwest, if you don't like the weather just wait a day and it'll change. Fortunately the predicted ice storm failed to fully freeze leaving the predictors' record of failure for...
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This is not an endorsement
In order to produce high quality/resolution illustrations, TPP has been learning/working with the Adobe Illustrator. In retrospect TPP wishes he'd kept track of how many programs he's taught himself...
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January Berry-Go-Round
January 2013's Berry-Go-Round, the latest botanical blog carnival, is posted over at Agricultural Biodiversity with it's usual excellent round up style. Once again TPP has neglected to submit a post;...
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When a Queen Dies, Wasps Know Who's Next in Line (and Next, and Next)
This post originally appeared in August 2012. Inkfish will return to its regularly scheduled wacky animals next week. The office of postmaster general to the United States used to come with a perk...
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Geologizing with Darwin and Sedgwick
"Therefore on my return to Shropshire I examined sections and coloured a map of parts round Shrewsbury."In 1831 Charles Darwin attended a life changing expedition - not considering the voyage on board...
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Friday Fabulously Foul Flowers
No way TPP could possibly pass up sending this along. Because humans seem to share a floral aesthetic with birds, bees, and butterflies, there is a mistaken impression that all flowers are attractive...
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Botanical art
The next best thing to having house plants is having botanical art, or considering the ease of day-to-day care and the consistent attractiveness, maybe the art is even better. Here's a link to a...
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Chemophobia: The Boy with a Thorn in His Joints
I'm at ScienceOnline2013 where Carmen Drahl and Dr. Rubidium just finished running a terffic session on chemophobia: how can we bridge the gap between "better living through chemistry" and ads for...
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No ground hogs day celebration
No ground hogs saw their shadow today on the Phactors' estate. There are two reasons for this. One, if any ground hog was in residence, it would still be hibernating. Two, there are no ground hogs...
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Stupor Bowl Sunday
Today, Sunday, there is a sporting event, or rather there are lots of sporting events, just like every other Sunday, but one of them is a football playoff. BFD; Big Deal. Generally in sports you can...
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Atheists lack empathy and understanding
This is actually a study from the middle of last year that I never got round to covering (there was a run of studies from the same team, and this one ended up at the bottom of the pile!). But I'm glad...
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#Arseniclife reviews: Missing the forest for the trees
In this year's ScienceOnline conference I co-moderated a productive session on peer review in which I pointed out how overly conservative or agenda-driven peer reviews can prevent the publication of...
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February 2013 Desktop Calendar
My California moss explorations have started close to home. This is an Orthotrichum growing on the tree in my back yard. Some of the other tufts had small sporophytes topped by plicate calyptrae...
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Trichadenotecnum: Six Spots and Spiny Terminalia
Trichadenotecnum sexpunctatum, photographed by Brian Valentine. The animal in the photo above is a typical representative of Trichadenotecnum, a diverse genus of the barklice. About 200 species have...
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Convenient incandescent inefficiency - on sale!
Incandescent light bulbs are very inefficient, which is why they get hot. That's a lot of energy turned into heat not light. Nonetheless us plant collectors have made use of this inefficiency for...
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New image for a new year
As much as TPP hates messing with things that work, after awhile you do sort of feel the need for a change, and no, he's not commenting on his marriage. The tree peonies had been the header image for...
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Osteohistology of Mussasaurus patagonicus
Cerda, I. A., Pol, D. and A. Chinsamy. 2013. Osteohistological insight into the early stages of growth in Mussaurus patagonicus (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha)Historical Biology...
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More on the New Zealand Opiliones
Male of Pantopsalis listeri, photographed by Simon Pollard, used with permission in Taylor (2013). New paper published today! Hurrah! Except I've already had it pointed out to me that the species...
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Aphids Always Land on Their Feet
Pea aphids are even better at "stop, drop and roll" than elementary-schoolers. When a threatening ladybug or grazing deer approaches the stem where an aphid is sucking sap, it lets go and plummets...
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Herbarium fun and games
An energetic and interested student has elected to learn about plant taxonomy and herbarium collections first hand by doing some specimen curation in our university herbarium collection. Oh, the...
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