WTF mudskippers

Via WTF evolution and making the blogging rounds: the funniest natural history segment I've ever seen AND it's endowed with the melifluous tones of everyone's favourite narrator, Sir David Attennborough.

Amicable Green Grocer Cicada

Walking through the front garden I heard a buzzing, whirring sound like clockwork. I turned back to find a cicada struggling to right itself on the concrete. Naturally I picked it up gently and it made itself very comfortable indeed - so much so that I went inside with him to get my camera and out again to take these shots.


First we sat down and I marvelled at the three reflective dots on his head. They seemed a lot like eyes but they are clearly quite different from the prominent compound eyes on this Green Grocer Cicada.

Some later research revealed that they are dorsal ocelli (oh-sell-ee). They are a 'simple' - as opposed to compound - eye on the top of the head. These ocelli are very light sensitive and quick, and it is theorised that they allow flying insects to maintain stability in flight.


He reminded me of a frog - the way he clung to my hand, his green compact body and his bulgy buggy eyes. Cute...

...But I couldn't sit there all afternoon holding him so I tried to convince to get on to the magnolia tree...
 
...but he wouldn't have it.

After attempting to move him to my left hand I noticed he preferred to move backward rather than be prodded forward thus - success!

Such an amicable chap was he.


"This is LaTegra. It's a little bit softer - I use this one for catolog shots a lot." *

I hope he fares alright. His rumpled wing edges might be why he struggled a bit.


*Zoolander quote C/O my BF, J.

Melbourne University Cultural Treasures - Part 2, The Medical History Museum, Real Steam punk!

In conjunction with the Melbourne Open House program, various collections at Melbourne University were open to the public as part of their Cultural Treasures Festival. Following on from Part 1, Zoology here is Part 2,The Medical History Museum. Note that the museum is open to visitors throughout the year.

The museum includes a relocated Victorian Pharmacy of which I took no pictures. It's a very small space!

I am conflicted when it comes to the Steampunk genre. I love Victorian age imagery and style, incorporating it into my art and to an extent my interior, and clothing. I have always been interested in science particular natural history. Steampunk is therefore up my alley as far as the things I'm enthusiastic about. However some of it is downright silly. The gratuitous/thoughtless use of gears, goggles worn on hats never on eyes, and ridiculous ray guns kinda gets my goat but not as much as it does my BF's
'Some of you are keenly aware of my misgivings regarding this whole Steampunk thing. Today NG provided me with the tools to succinctly opine at any given moment. Therefore, instances of that which has hitherto been referred to as "Steampunk", yet exclusively places aesthetic over substance (i.e. damn near the whole sodding movement), I shall henceforth refer to as "SteamPimp". Reserving Steampunk for applications where cogs might intersect in a meaningful and possibly even functional manner.'

As it turns out they have been doing it wrong. Yes cogs and copper are pretty but real Victorian scientific gadgets are mostly made with brass and they have knobs. Sometimes these knobs are knurled. Sometimes there is a wormgear but otherwise, they aren't bedazzled with gears!


Lister's carbolic acid steam spray
c. 1880
A particularly pretty example of this device as it turns out. What do you do with it? Sterilise the operating theatre in a hospital.


Microruling machine
c.1910
Unfortunately the accompanying label did not explain what it does - though none of the other labels on things did either. Here you go: link. Essentially it rules microscopic lines very close together on a piece of glass to create diffraction patterns from which to calibrate the field of view under a microscope and stuff. Clear as mud? You're welcome.


X-ray tubes
c.1905
They are a bit like a lightbulbs but instead of visible light they emit x-rays: link.


Compound monocular and binocular microscope c. 1864


Compound monocular microscope
c. 1820


More microscopes
c. late 1800s


Compound monocular microscope c. late 1800s

Melbourne University Cultural Treasures - Part 1, Zoology

In conjunction with the Melbourne Open House program, various collections at Melbourne University were open to the public as part of their Cultural Treasures Festival. I made a bee line for the Zoology collection, checked out the BioMed library, and finished in the Pathology and Anatomy Collection (no photographs allowed out of respect for the humans who donated their bodies to science, and thus these collections).

I took photos of specimens which helped me identify some in my own collection, as well as the most weird and cute - yes even a dead thing can be cute.






Mammalian foetuses are bitter sweet and peaceful. Photographing on a mobile phone through two layers of glass presents a challenge, in the case of pickled specimens so I couldn't capture all of my favourites.

Purple Sea Urchin tests, South NSW coast

One of the things I love doing is finding specimens and sighting wild creatures, then hopping online to learn about them. The shell of a sea urchin is called a test. When alive/fleshed they have an internal bony structure surrounding the mouth called a lantern or Aristotle's lantern.



These two are the biggest sea urchin tests I have ever found. They were also subject to the most intensive cleaning I have ever deigned to give a beach combing find. Of course when it's as special as these two it's worth it. Neither was found fully spined and both were still occupied but definitely dead. Their remaining spines were a deep purple and based on their size, and location are most likely Purple Sea Urchins.

I did a bit of research online into preserving them with spines (one was half covered) but that would have required pure alcohol.* I have only found isopropyl alcohol in 125ml bottles at Bunnings for almost $8. It would have taken at least two bottles to cover one of these urchins. Had either been fully spined I would have considered it worth it. This process would also have preserved the animal inside as well.

Instead I gutted them, removing the lantern and scraping out of the soft innards. After much rinsing out to remove remaining crud I soaked them in a weak bleach solution to help loosen the spines. I put one aside to dry out completely.  With the other I spent a couple of hours picking off any remaining external tissue and tried microwaving it to soften that up. It is quite gristley and near impossible to remove! This shrinks down into a shellac like substance when dried out, so I just let it dry out like my first one.




Photographed with a $2 coin (∅ 20.5mm) to give you an idea of size. As you can see the peristome (mouth) aperture is large. So big I could almost pop my digital camera's lens into it.


The periproct as viewed through the peristome . Yup that's the prettiest periproct I have ever seen - and the only one I have photographed I hasten to add.

A pickled sea urchin doesn't know its peristome from it's periproct!

*edit 01/08/2012
Gah! My initial research threw me a red herring with the 70% isopropyl because I assumed what was good for preserving starfish would have been good for sea urchins as well. Right after tracking down some 40% isopropyl in a 500ml bottle @ $4.50 I hop online...Further in depth research has uncovered that it is ethanol or pure grain alcohol that is best for preserving specimens in general. Quality articles on the subject confirm this. This is what the linked to site in this post about preserving sea urchins refers to. Common as muck methylated spirits (95% ethanol) diluted with distilled water to 70-80% purity would have done the job. Professionals use an industrial methylated spirits (99.9%) but you need a licence to get it.

I am finding that 40% solution rather excellent for cleaing my laptop, mobile phone, remotes and a range of other devices. So it's not a total waste of time.

A Modern Utopia by H.G. Wells

If you have enjoying Wells' other works you may well find this to be a disappointment. An especially inappropriate book to introduce a H.G. curious, new reader. Wells is a fine novelist but A Modern Utopia is an essay/novel hybrid which doesn't work. Wells often introduces his books with great humility and self deprecation. I've learnt to take that with a pinch of salt because I have seldom found his works wanting. However in this case it's justified. I tried to finish it, resorting to skimming but it was still too much effort for what little reward I received. He should have written an essay without a narrative - at least then the unfortunate sci-fi reader would know that they are not in for an adventure. For the philosophical reader who is stimulated by theories about what might make a modern Utopia this could be a very interesting book. I am the aformentioned reader.

A little bit about palm oil and how to avoid it.

For both your health and environmental reasons palm oil needs to be avoided. Labelling laws for palm oil vary around the world making it difficult to know what you're buying. It's an issue I felt so strongly about that I wrote to my local member of parliament about it. Disappointingly a potential law requiring its labelling was rejected in Australia.

Palm oil plantations have had a devastating effect on Indonesia's unique rainforest habitat and thus the population of endangered orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinoceros and thousands of other animals dependant on this ecosystem. If the destruction of this habitat for palm oil plantations isn't stopped, we could see these endangered species extinct within our lifetime.

What can you do as a consumer? Writing to your member of parliament, or signing petitions could still eventually create enough demand for change if enough people ask for it. If your government is as apathetic as mine you can still make a difference. Spread the word about palm oil and how to avoid it:

'to avoid buying palm oil, when buying food look for the label stating it is vegetable oil. Then look for saturated fat. If only vegetable oil (no animal fat listed) is used and there is 5%+ saturated fat in the product - you are buying palm kernel oil, palm oil or coconut oil, most probably palm.'

'if palm oil is used in cosmetics it must be labelled. No exceptions. However, it is usually not labelled as Palm oil. It is labelled as Elaeis guineensis. This is the name given to palm oil by the International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI).'
From http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/shopping-
guide.html

A bit harder to avoid are possible palm oil derivitives:
'In non-food products like soaps and detergents, the list includes elaeis guineensis, sodium lauryl sulphate, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, isopropyl and other palmitates, steareth-2, steareth-20 and fatty alcohol sulphates – all of which may be derived from palm oil.'
Sodium lauryl sulphate is the most common lathering agent used in toiletries.
From Borneo Orangutan Survival's site.

Further reading if you want to know more of the names palm oil deritives hide behind.

Hopper on a grape vine.

This wingless little chap was about 15mm long and so cute! The thing I like about critters like this one is not only are they exquisitely fine but because of his eye structure you can clearly see that he was looking at me.

This particular insect appears to have basic compound eyes made up of many ommatidium which allow a wide and accuate field of vision. Being flightless but a hopper he wouldn't have more than 1000 ommatidium. A housefly has about 4000. Flying insects which rely on strong eyesight include the butterfly, praying mantis and dragonfly. In the case of the butterfly - up to 17000 ommatidium - they need to probe precisely into flowers while keeping an eye out for predators. For the praying mantis and dragonfly - both 30000 - they have ultra compound eyes to enable their formidable hunting skills.

Concept Radical

Finally won something for my art as an adult*: third prize in the Concept Radical art competition. In my characteristic and ironically artless way on receiving my prize
"Oh wow, I never win anything!"
Professor Carl Schiesser, Director of ARC while shaking my hand
"Well, you've won something now"
"Thank you! [big grin]"


Flow
digital image of collected beach flotsam

Concept Radical Art Exhibition
Free, and open to the general public
Wednesday 2 November 2011 – Wednesday 9 November 2011.
The gallery is open 11am – 5pm Monday to Friday.
George Paton Gallery, Second Floor, Union Building, University of Melbourne, Victoria.

Official site here.
Summary and details here.

*Have won things as a child. It has been a while...

'Flow' in Concept Radical

click image to view

I have an entry in the Concept Radical art competition. Art submitted to Concept Radical explores free radicals and their impact. You can help me win a prize just by viewing my art which if you click on it will take you to a larger than life view of it. If you create a log in identity you can also rate it and comment on it there on the site.

Random thoughts on dogs*

A dog is like a person only better.

Puppeh is another word for dog.

I've always wondered why dogs with their superior sense of scent always smell each other's bottoms directly instead of just sniffing nearby or elsewhere, and also how can some dogs find faeces an attractive meal? I know that dogs have scent glands under their tails. After watching a documentary from the BBC about the sense of smell I came up with a hypothesis.

Things that are harmful to humans to ingest such as off food, faecal matter, vomit, rotting flesh give off organosulfur compounds or sulfides in their scent. Our sense of smell is particularly sensitive to sulfides. Dogs can happily eat any of this stuff without much harm and sometimes to benefit because thier guts are designed to deal with it.

My hypothesis is that dogs are virtually insensitive to sulfides. They don't need to detect them, only the other parts of what make up the scent. By ignoring one note of the scent they can appreciate the finer nuaunces of a scent that make it unique.

Have you marvelled at the texture and form of your dog's nose? You can immortalise that in a silver pendant to treasure always. Clicky here.

*May be added to in future

Attenborough's Madagascar

Not sure what to title this one!

'Having spent the first five years of my academic life studying great ape social cognition, I’ve seen more simian penises than I care to mention. I once spent a summer with a 450-pound silverback gorilla that was hung like a wasp (great guy, though) and baby-sat a lascivious young orangutan that liked to insert his penis in just about anything with a hole, which unfortunately one day included my ear.'

Jesse Bering, Secrets of the Phallus: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?, Scientific American, April 2009

Serving suggestions

Has anyone EVER eaten the serving size quoted in the nutritional contents panel on the packet of anything that comes in more than a single serve?
eg on a packet of water cracker dipping biscuits: serving size 15g, 6 biscuits.

I do feel a bit devil-may-care, naughty for always eating more than the nutritionally described serving size. Sometimes I'll eat the whole packet in one go!

How do they decide how much a serving is? Perhaps the manufacturer is legally obliged to recommend moderate consumption of what is often a processed and therefore unhealthy snack food. For me it always seems a unrealistically small serving and not very useful as dietary information. That's why, if I want to understand and compare the nutritional content I look at the per 100g information and think of that in percentages.

The first moving images of the new life forms from NASA!!!

The first moving images of the new life forms from NASA!!!*













* aka Shipoids in the Night from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.

The windmills of your pink paté.

'But how you get a rainbow activity map, or any other useful figure, out of a 2.2 lb lump of pink paté -- that's a part of the story they rarely tell. The truth is, brain tissue looks blah. It's boring. Sliced brain is about as pretty as a thinly chopped white mushroom; you can see only a few obvious structures, and those structures only grossly correlate with brain function. '
Jessica Palmer @ Bioephemera.

The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells

Despite Wells' modesty about glossing over the science with fiction (namely Cavorite) in The First Men in The Moon, I found it to be one of his most scientific pieces so far. His explanation of defying Earth's gravity, how life forms might evolve in the absence of earthly gravity, and how humans might find moving about on the moon then returning to earth were all scientifically plausible if not accurate. Well's background in natural science is highly evident in his descriptions of lunar vegetation, its habits, and in particular its growth cycle.

None of this is to say that the science overwhelms the story for indeed it does not. True to form this is as rollicking a Victorian adventure as any Wells has written. Woven throughout the book is a philosophic pondering on the often exploitative and violent nature of humans. Allowing the audience to read the story from the two characters' viewpoints in two, carefully spliced sections of the book adds a clever twist to what could otherwise have been an anti-climatic ending.

Nurdles aka mermaid tears

Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets from the plastic moulding industry. Raw plastic is formed into pre-production plastic pellets or plastic resin pellets less than 5mm in size. Their size and shape make them easy to feed into the hopper of a plastic moulding machine. Not every nurdle makes it into the hopper. Some may be spilt or blown away on the wind. These usually end up in waterways.

Nurdles are also known as mermaid tears because they make up a large portion of marine debris. Scientists have been aware of the danger of marine plastic debris for some years now*. However it is only the recent set of images of dead albatross chicks that have made a wave in the sea of public consciousness.

*So have I (see blog entry here) though not as long as they have obviously.

Rant about marine plastic debris

Never mind chaos theory's flapping butterfly: one carelessly disposed of plastic item inland, could end up in the gut of an albatross chick on a remote inland thousands of kilometres away. That object could be one of many plastic fragments and particles that will fill this bird's belly thus starving the animal to death.

Hundreds of seemingly insignificant nurdles are swallowed by other animals such as fish, leaching toxins into their bodies.

What can anyone do about any of this? We can all learn to be responsible. We can tell others about it. We can share articles and images with our friends and family to help them understand no piece of plastic is insignificant. It means life or death for the animal that eats it. That animal could indirectly be us. As the dominant species on this planet we have the capacity and therefore the responsibility for our collective actions.

For medicinal purposes

I'd like to show you the coolest piece of furniture I own. Okay, so I don't own a lot but it's still very cool!


This is the $40, vintage, doctor's cabinet I got from my local Salvos. We have a shortage of cupboard space in a our kitchen so this was a welcome addition to our home. I stripped back the paint on the decorative hinges, maker's plaque (a Melbourne manufacturer originally based on Swanston Street) and nifty door clasp. I'm guessing it goes back to the 1950s.


Wheeling it to the car and into the apartment, my brother and I found its squeaky wheels and metallic clunky sound amusing. It reminded me of the UWW (Unidentified Wheeled Whitegood) from the moon in Wallace and Gromit's Grand Day out. So of course I had to put my figurines on there! The measuring glass in the background is from the 1950s and bought for a buck at Savers.