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Wintery mix
What could be more delightful? Nothing improves upon the dreadful mid continental weather more than wintery mix, that combination of precipitation that occurs when the temperature is hovering right at...
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Baby Cuttlefish Are Cute, Colorblind Killers
The business end of a cuttlefish is no place a small crustacean wants to be. Cuttlefish are hunters who creep around in camouflage—virtually indistinguishable from a gray patch of gravel or a...
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Empire of the Sunfish
Do you remember when this particular nightmare was vomited forth from the jaws of pop culture hell? Yes, this was the execrable Billy the Bass, just one more reason we can all be glad that the 90s...
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What? No strobili! That's OK, it goes with no observations
Plants can be so uncooperative. The Equisetum (3 species) in our glasshouse was most untimely and no strobili were available (other than pickled) for lab. Probably that was OK because my way too many...
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Beware the glow
Plants attract animals for various purposes, mostly dispersal of pollen and seeds, but no uses more nefarious than to supplement their nutrients. So called carnivorous plants don't eat animals for...
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Guest post at Simply Statistics
This week I was invited to do a guest post at Simply Statistics, the popular blog site run by three of my colleagues in Biostatistics. I wrote about the crisis in R01 funding, the most important...
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Tree Tunnels
Tree tunnels can be pretty spectacular. Lots of cities used to have American elm tree tunnels lining residential streets. And in the tropics, rain forest vegetation often makes tunnels out of trails...
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The Shambulance: Deer Antlers Are Not Unicorn Horns
The Shambulance is an occasional series in which I try to find the truth about bogus or overhyped health products. The chief navigational officer of the Shambulance today is Steven Swoap. This...
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Bamboo bicycle for two
The North American Handmade Bicycle show would be fun to visit. The 2013 show just happened. As regular readers know, TPP has a thing for funky bikes and for funky stuff made from plant material, so...
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ENCODE, Apple Maps and function: Why definitions matter
ENCODE (Image: Discover Blogs)Remember that news-making ENCODE study with its claims that “80% of the genome is functional”? Remember how those claims were the starting point for a public relations...
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A submerged continent found
There is a TLDR version for this post here. A group of scientists from Norway, Germany, South Africa and the U. K. have discovered a submerged continent in the Indian Ocean. Their measurements predict...
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Berry Go Round - February 2013
The latest Berry-Go-Round plant blog carnival is up over at Foothills Fancies, and truly, what a round up it is. TPP is flattered by his multiple inclusions, but there is so much more. There are a lot...
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Whatever happened to swine flu?
What happened to the flu pandemic? In 2009, a new flu strain swept across the world. The new strain, called H1N1, emerged from pigs and jumped over to humans sometime in late 2008, and then swept...
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Marriage in Lincolnland Discriminates
Lincolnland is trying to decide if gay marriage will be legal, and from TPP’s perspective, how can it not be, particularly because civil unions for gay couples have been approved already? So what’s...
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In Burkino Faso, traditional beliefs encourage trust and fair-play in the...
Village life in sub-Saharan Africa is governed by a moral code enforced by customs, regulations, and taboos. Because communities are close-knit, large discrepancies in wealth are frowned upon, and the...
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My guide to better talks
I like public speaking, and would like to be better at it. Two rules I have been living by are:Love the words that you speakAlways have something to say Number 2 is a general rule, as it means that you...
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The Parulidae: Not-warblers, Not-ovenbirds and Not-redstarts
Black-crested warbler Myiothlypis nigrocristata, photographed by Mikko Pyhälä. There is no denying the current status of English as the de facto lingua franca of the world*. And yet, I feel that a...
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Very amusing bird & flower field guide
For the biologically challenged there's a fun description of an old fanciful field guide provided by Stoat. All you birders and flower hunters will enjoy this. It's just fun, silly fun particularly...
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Scalia for Pope
The Catholic Church needs a new pope. When scanning the Catholic world for the right sort of person, the right sort of mentality, one particular name stands out from all the rest: Antonin Scalia....
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Berry Go Round - March 2013
The newest edition of the plant carnival Berry Go Round has been posted at Foothills Fancies. There are some fun plant posts in the line up that you should definitely check out. I especially like the...
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