Monthly Archives: October 2010
giant marine virus
For ScienceNOW this week I wrote about a giant virus that lives in the ocean. Viruses are generally thought of as teeny little things that can’t do much for themselves, but this one has 730,000 base pairs of DNA – … Continue reading
museum tourist: crochet coral reef
At last, the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef has opened at the natural history museum! You may recall, I was crocheting some pieces for this exhibit over the summer – this is what they looked like – and dropped them off … Continue reading
elements, j-pop style
Having blogged before on songs about the elements, and being a Japanese speaker, I believe I am in a position of unique authority to say: Yes, of course Tom Lehrer’s song about the elements needed to be translated into Japanese. … Continue reading
are you my mother?
So, it turns out, “Thoroughbred” isn’t just something you say about horses that have a known lineage; it’s a particular breed. There are tons of horse breeds, like Clydesdale and Barb and Arabian and Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse. Thoroughbreds are … Continue reading
dogs with separation anxiety
Some dogs have a really rough time when their owners leave home. They whine, they howl, they cry, they pee on the floor, they chew up the furniture. Last week I wrote for ScienceNOW about a study of what’s going … Continue reading
nature in my kitchen
Well, actually, this is nature immediately outside my kitchen. It’s finally raining around here these days, and I saw this through my kitchen window the other day: Hey – I assumed this was a moth, because I think of them … Continue reading