Month: July 2016

Velociraptor © Emily Willoughby Paleontology 

Velociraptor Needs Your Help

Science Connected

By Emily Willoughby @eawilloughby Velociraptor! The name strikes excitement into the hearts of dinosaur enthusiasts far and wide, just as the coyote-sized predator’s fearsome visage would’ve excited its contemporaries. Oviraptor, Protoceratops, Pinacosaurus and many others lived alongside this dromaeosaur in the windswept deserts of Mongolia in the late Cretaceous period, about 71 to 75 million years ago. Its ecosystem occupied a region of today’s Gobi Desert known as the Flaming Cliffs, a veritable hotbed of fossils valuable to local markets and to science alike. Thanks to the little fellow’s charisma…

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This is a tissue-engineered soft robotic ray and a little skate, Leucoraja erinacea. Karaghen Hudson Biology New Technologies 

Robotic Ray with Rodent Cells

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Yes, researchers have created one of the things we have all been waiting for: A robotic ray. It represents the latest in tissue-engineering. By Kate Stone This isn’t a rubber stingray that works like a radio-controlled car or a programmable rover. This robotic stingray is powered and guided by light-sensitive rat-heart cells. Yes, you read that correctly. The project demonstrated a new method for building bio-inspired robots by means of tissue engineering. Batoid fish, such as stingrays, are recognizable by their flat bodies and long, wide, winglike fins. These fins…

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Carbon Capture: Photo of Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station courtesy of Gretar Ivarsson via Wikipedia Environment 

Carbon Capture: Transforming Greenhouse Gas into Rock

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Is there a way to capture excess carbon dioxide and chemically trap it underground to mitigate the effects of climate change? Perhaps, but it’s a long way off. By Jonathan Trinastic A few months ago, after drilling a well 400 meters deep, scientists in Iceland were repeatedly frustrated that the well kept breaking down. Retrieving the pump from the depths of the earth, they found its base covered in a scaly green and white material that clogged the end of the machine. Instead of feeling dismay over the equipment failure,…

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Galapagos iguana. Frank Am Main Biology Book Reviews Paleontology Zoology 

Book Review: Galapagos: Preserving Darwin’s Legacy

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Title: Galapagos: Preserving Darwin’s legacy, Second Edition Author: Tui De Roy Publisher: Bloomsbury Natural History Best for: General science audience, age 12 and up Reviewed by Steven Spence Tui De Roy wrote the first edition of this book to commemorate the 50th anniversary in 2009 of the Charles Darwin Foundation’s establishment in the Galapagos Islands. The second edition updates multiple chapters with new photography and information on scientific developments. Content The book consists of a prologue by author Tui De Roy; a foreword by Sarah Darwin, descendant of the famous scientist…

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Yosemite Half Dome, Max Goldberg 2016 Nature Photography Science and Art 

Yosemite, Half Dome in Photos

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By Max Goldberg @GoldbergISD When you think of Yosemite, Half Dome probably comes to mind (it’s on the park logo, after all). So, as part of our family trip to Yosemite, I had to see it. Coincidentally, Half Dome was visible almost all the time during the three days we were there, giving us multiple-angle views of the unique rock formation. After a four-hour drive from San Francisco, we got our first view of Half Dome at an overlook called Tunnel View. Some people say that Tunnel View is the best…

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A handful of honeybee pollen. Purdue University/Tom Campbell. Environment Zoology 

Honeybee Pollen and Pesticides in Your Garden

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By Kate Stone Scientists at Purdue University have been investigating where bees collect most of their pollen—and, consequently, unintended pesticides. The results are unexpected. Even in agricultural areas dominated by soybeans and corn, honeybees collect most of their pollen from plants other than agricultural crops. Furthermore, the pollen is consistently contaminated with pesticides.  Tweet this: Only use insecticides when you really need to because bees will come into contact with them. Christian Krupke, professor of entomology, and Elizabeth Long, now an assistant professor of entomology at Ohio State University, collected…

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