Monthly music video: Bohemian Gravity

This is wonderful. Makes me want to take a physics course again.

ART and SCIENCE breakthrough contest - DNA, in your face!

The PAX3 gene is involved in the development of the face. Toronto based scientist Dennis McCormac had his PAX3 gene sequenced, and in collaboration with an artist, had his particular sequenced of A, C, T and Gs compose a portrait of his face. Edward Tufte, are you seeing this? Talk about making a visual connection between genotype and phenotype, between DNA and the trait it determines! This is gold to me.

This collaborative art and science work is in the running in a science visualization contest. If you like this as much as I do, please VOTE HERE for this piece by scientist Dennis McCormac and artist James Fowler!

The Genesis Tank

A few weeks ago I went to a flea market looking for a lamp and chairs, and came back with a 10-gallon fish tank instead. I filled it with water, added some gravel, and turned on the water pump. I also went to a nearby pond and grabbed a few pieces of aquatic plants to add to the tank.

A few weeks later, some of the plants had grown, but the duckweed, which I had hoped would have been covering the surface, were not doing so hot. I thought maybe it was that the current was too strong, so I turned off the pump so the water would be more still.

A few days later, the duckweed had indeed grown a little tiny bit better. But the water surface was now filmy. And on that surface film was a constellation of tiny organisms moving around.

I can't be sure, but under a magnifying glass, I spotted what I think were Daphnia (tiny crustaceans also known as water fleas), and tiny baby Planaria (little flatworms with triangular heads), gliding on the bottoms of the surface of the film (I had seen bigger ones gliding on the aquarium walls a few days before.) Since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated with both of these organisms. Daphnia, because as a tropical fish hobbyist I learned they were a favorite food of fish, and Planaria because of the well know regeneration properties: cut them in half and they form two new worms.

Suddenly I felt like Lisa Simpson, in the Treehouse of Horror VII segment called The Genesis Tub, where she performs a science experiment with a corroding tooth in a small tub that results in the creation of a tiny universe.

I can't wait til I've created Lutherans!

The "official" Fun vs. Effort Graph of Pets

I like this graph. It uses the actual subjects of the graph as representations of the values reported. Edward Tufte would be so proud!

Which is why it's a shame they violated what to me is a fundamental rule of graphs. Ah well. Good effort College Humor. This other "official" version corrected some of the mistakes of the above version (though they did away with the cool size proportionality of the first graph).

What's wrong with this graph?

The lewdness of trees

Upon arriving to my new place in Ohio, I noted a film of dust on surfaces which I assumed was from the clay soils of the region. But since arriving, my allergies have been the worse I have ever experienced, and this is a recurring story among people who move to the area. So I wondered, is that layer of particles outside on the porch (which one can leave footprints in) not clay dust but rather enormous amounts of pollen? I took a swipe with my finger and dipped the dusty fingertip into a drop of water on a glass slide and took a look under my microscope. And lo and behold, the dust was mostly pollen! So yes indeed, this Spring we have been swimming in a sea of pollen, in the midst of a massive plant orgy.

80X magnification. Photo taken with an iPhone.

320X magnification. Photo taken with an iPhone.

                          

I can't tell what plant species produced the pollen, but judging from the different sizes and shape, it's a variety of plant types. I noted some strange "Princess Leia"-like pollen grains (not shown, but like the ones here) and these are apparently from pine trees. Coincidentally, this week Science magazine which arrived in the mail also had a micrograph of a pollen grain, in this case a fossilized pollen grain from the ancient supercontinent Pangea.

 

Next Spring I will take samples across time to see if I note a change in pollen types from early to late Spring. It's fun having a microscope at home to do this sort of investigating. I thank my friend Chris M. in Boston for the amazing gift.

Myrmecochory - Seed Dispersal by Ants

I learned today that the state flower of my new home state of Ohio is the carnation. I was surprised that this non-native plant was the state flower. Ohio does, however, also have a state wildflower, which is the Large White Trillium.

Upon researching the Large White Trillium, I learned (and was shocked to know this even exists) that the seeds of trillium species are dispersed not by wind, or birds, or mammals, but by ANTS! So fascinating.

This little video explains it all: