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New Journal Celebrates Animal Stalking
Christmas arrived early this year for people who love animals carrying transmitters around. A new open-access journal called Animal Biotelemetry launched this week, and it promises to bring new tales...
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Friday Fabulous Flower - bamboo orchid
Yes, the FFF is going up on Saturday, but Friday was an impossible day; it's getting to be that time of the semester when everyone wants everything and students are beginning to worry, some with good...
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Early season gardening - cold frame
Gardeners all, whether your garden is big or small or even lacking, everyone has room for a cold frame. Nothing extends your gardening season more than a cold frame. TPP likes these small cold frames...
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International trade fractures along religious fault lines
International trade is made easier when nations share a common language. Geographical closeness, regional trade agreements, and common legal heritage also help trade along, and former colonies trade...
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The Early Emergence of Antibiotic Resistance
The development of resistance to the antibiotics is a phenomenon of great theoretic interest to a bacteriologist, and it may some day become a matter of major concern to the clinician. This is the...
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Ted Turner Interviews Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan and Ted Turner discuss the issues that are vital to the survival of our species on earth. Sagan explains the benefits of our space program, the fascinating possibility of time travel, and...
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When does human life begin?
When does human life begin? As a biologist, TPP gets asked about this every so often, and while this is not exactly his expertise, there are certain basic concepts that are straight forward enough....
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A berry pragmatic change in color
For several years TPP has tried to grow blueberries here in the alkaline clay soil, heat, and droughts of the midwest. Let's make a long story short; blueberries don't like these things. Having...
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April 2013 Desktop Calendar
I went for a hike this weekend at the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve. It was a really great hike up into the Coast Range with some great views of the mountains and beyond! We saw some nice mosses like...
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Squid's Daily Rhythms Are Controlled by Glowing Symbiotic Bacteria
At nightfall, the Hawaiian bobtail squid digs itself out of the sand and rises into the ocean water like a spaceship taking off. It switches on its cloaking device: glowing bacteria inside its body...
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Dr. Oz takes a big bite of bad science
Mehmet Oz hosts a popular TV show that reaches millions of people. He offers a constant stream of medical advice, and he is popular because he makes his topics sound dramatic, or exciting, or...
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Is there horse meat in my burger?
Does anyone else have strange encounters while grocery shopping? This is not TPP's usual chore; he's a pedestrian and lacks a trunk. So perhaps this is just because such shopping is so novel to him...
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International Journal of Lousy Research
Jeffrey Beall's blacklist of "predatory open-access journals" -- discussed in yesterday's New York Times -- provides evidence for my long-standing suspicion of any journal named "International Journal...
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Magnolia season has begun
Magnolia flowering season has begun, and just in time. Our earliest magnolia is M. stellata, star magnolia, a very handsome and lacey flower tinged in pink. About 50% of the time a frosty night ruins...
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Who is your favorite scientist?
One of my favorite scientists is Dr. Katherine Esau. I think that her book Anatomy of Seed Plants is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the structure of plants. It is just too bad that the...
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Moore's Law for batteries: No dice
The REVAi/G-Wiz i electric car charging at an on-street station in London (Image: Wikipedia Commons)Ever since Gordon Moore came up with the ubiquitous law bearing his name, it has been applied to...
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Who you gonna believe: E. O. Wilson or common sense?
I was planning a post on E. O. Wilson's recent flight of fancy, "Great Scientist ≠ Good at Math", in which he tells potential future scientists that knowing math isn't all that important, but it turns...
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Rubber Hand Experiment Shows Kids Have More Flexible Body Boundaries
Close your eyes. Do you know where all your fingers and toes are? Can you pinpoint the exact edges of your body in space? You may think your knowledge of your body is unshakeable, but a simple trick...
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Jimmy Carter - USA's best past president?
As this recent interview on the Daily Show demonstrates, a good case can be made for Jimmy Carter as the most successful past-president in US history. He's used his connections and skills to help make...
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Under planted perennials - dwarf forsythia
There are quite a number of perennials that remain very much under planted largely because they are not so common in the trade. Finding new plants has certainly gotten easier with e-commerce and...
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