Chemistry Cat

Chemistry Cat is a great source for the dorkiest chemistry jokes and puns wisdom.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2011/07/26/funny-pictures-chemistry-cat-science-puns/

This is my favorite so far:

End of the Month Science Music Video: Dandy Warhols (I am a scientist)

The Dandy Warhols - I am a scientist

Guest blog post in Scientific American

When a group of high school students from New Hampshire contacted the National Science Foundation for advice on their science project, they described what sounded like a far-fetched idea: to make an organism photosynthetic. But it turns out this experiment has been conducted numerous times in nature, and very recently, in the lab. Green corals, green sea slugs, and even green fish. This article summarizes the incredible partnerships between photosynthetic organisms and non-photosynthetic hosts, and what we can learn from these green partners about how to better utilize the energy from the sun. Read more in my guest blog post in Scientific American, "It's not easy being green, but many would like to be".

End of the Month Science Music Video

The August edition of End of the Month Science Music Video comes in a day into September due to some travel disruptions I experienced thanks to Hurricane Irene. The video came to me courtesy of a great friend of mine, and is a clever and educational promo for the Marie Curie Actions, a funding mechanism for researchers in Europe.

Danke sehr S. N. for that clip!

Beyond the edge of the sea: art and science from the ocean's deep

The National Science Foundation is the main source of basic research funding for science and engineering in the United States. But on the third floor of the NSF one can find a fascinating interface between science and art. Until the end of this month, the Art of Science, a committee of volunteers interested in the meeting of the worlds of science and art, hosts a traveling exhibit called Beyond the Edge of the Sea, a collection of watercolor illustrations of the fantastical marine life found around deep-sea hydrothermal vents during expeditions in the deep-ocean submersible, Alvin. The exhibit is the product of a partnership between illustrator Karen Jacobsen and oceanographer Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover. Both were at the NSF this week to talk about their work in Alvin and the process of observing and collecting samples at great depths, a few thousand meters below sea level, and the process of capturing the images by watercolor.

The scientist (back to us).

The artist.

Some of my favorite drawings are one with notes from the artist, most of which are technical notes, but there is a tone of excitement, curiosity and fascination which combined with the beautiful illustrations make this exhibit so compelling.

As magical as the visual aspects of the sea-life around ocean vents are, equally awe-inspiring is the fact that this life exists without the need for the sun. Even organisms in caves derive energy from the sun, since their food sources are ultimately derived from life above ground. Sea vent organisms derive energy from the chemicals that emerge from the hot vents, and the bacteria that live there that are able to produce organic matter with them through a process called chemosynthesis.

Next stop for the exhibit: Madison, Wisconsin. Be on the look out for this magic visit from the ocean's deeps. You can get a preview of the images here.  For more detailed information on the biology and geology and chemistry of the vents, refer to this easy-to-read guide (PDF).

UPDATE: A recent story on NPR on "The Deep-sea Find That Changed Biology".

End of the Month Science Music Video: The Flaming Lips (Race for the prize)

This month's End of the Month Science Music video is Race for the Prize, by The Flaming Lips, about two scientists racing, for the good of all mankind.

A modest proposal for DC's official crustacean

Rock Creek, Washington DC. Photo by M Vinces.

The other day I was in the National Zoo in Washington DC and  I walked into the Small Mammal House since it was an especially sleepy day at the zoo and most of the critters were resting and hiding away and I was in the mood for furry cuteness.  The Small Mammal House seemed like a good bet.  I wasn't disappointed.  I saw quite a few sengis, aka "elephant shrews" (a misnomer, since they are not true shrews, but interestingly are actually more closely related to elephants and manatees than to true shrews).  They were weird and adorable which is just what I wanted.

On one of the notes outside the glass enclosure containing some rare golden lion tamarins was a box describing the importance of habitat protection for saving threatened species, in which they used as an example, the importance of closing certain trails in the nearby Rock Creek Park, because these areas are the sole habitat of an endangered "shrimp-like species".  Intrigued by the notion that this urban park was the unique habitat of a rare species that existed no where else on the planet, I looked around the Small Mammal House for more information about this mysterious "shrimp-like creature".  I didn't find any, so I got on the Google and found out the little rascal is called Hay's Spring Amphipod and it lives no where else but for a few springs in in the zoo and in the adjacent Rock Creek Park.  Surely the Invertebrates Exhibit will have a special section on this species that exists no where else in the Universe but for a few creeks in the District of Columbia (and possibly Maryland)! But no. Lots of cool animals with no backbones: giant land crab, charismatic cuttlefish, ephemeral jellyfish, but no mention of DC's own very special and endangered crustacean. How could this be? Why isn't this little critter on the State District emblem?

Not Hay's Spring Amphipod, but a close relative (Pizzini's Amphipod, Stygobromus pizzini). Photo by Brent Steury, National Park Service.

Perhaps because it is a lowly, pale and blind amphipod that lives in mud and water?  Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing may have said it best when he wrote in 1899 of the lowly amphipods:

No panegyrist of the Amphipoda has yet been able to evoke anything like popular enthusiasm in their favour. To the generality of observers they are only not repelled because the glance which falls upon them is unarrested, ignores them, is unconscious of their presence.

And indeed, Hay's Spring Amphipod (Stygobromus hayi) spends its life in groundwater near natural springs, so it's not likely something we'd see during a walk in the park.  It's also not furry or doe-eyed.  In fact it's pale and blind, feeds on rotting organic matter and is less than an inch long.  But with a little bit of marketing, perhaps we could make this the DC mascot! An underdog creature for an underdog State Federal Disctrict!  A tiny survivor holding its own in the middle of a tough city.

But more seriously, I think the little amphipod would be an excellent reminder of how we humans have endangered life of all kinds, great and small, and that endangered species are everywhere, not just in exotic far-off places, but sometimes in our own backyards.

Some of my own ideas for the DC official crustacean mascot.