Comments on: Voyage to Organism Island

By: Far Away, But Not Out of Radio’s Reach | The Loom | Discover Magazine

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:37:29 +0000

[...] arrived on Appledore Island this afternoon, which is drenched in sunshine and heat. The gulls are screaming and the students [...]

By: The Island of Science Writing | The Loom | Discover Magazine

The Island of Science Writing | The Loom | Discover Magazine — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:26:35 +0000

[...] to speak to students and scientists at the Shoals Marine Lab. (I wrote a post about my 2007 trip here, and last summer’s journey here.) This year I’ll be trying something new: I’m [...]

By: The Strangeness of the Mainland | The Loom | Discover Magazine

The Strangeness of the Mainland | The Loom | Discover Magazine — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:17:23 +0000

[...] students come for crash courses on all things marine, from sustainable fisheries to shark biology. Last year I came to give a talk about evolution; this year I was back to talk to students about writing about [...]

By: Ford

Ford — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:08:32 +0000

Some molecular methods have gotten easy enough that they are becoming more widely used by scientists who are asking questions about organisms or ecosystems. For example, I’ve linked to a blog post about research on speciation in fish, where they used molecular methods to confirm that color differences within a species had a genetic basis, but also went diving to see who mates with whom.

But there’s on doubt that it’s getting harder for biologists in different subdisciplines to talk to each other. On our university web page, one of my colleagues answered the question “why are robins eggs blue?” in terms of benefits to the robins or their ancestors. A molecular biologist might have discussed the genes that code for enzymes to make blue pigment. Not many biologists can combine these two perspectives (perhaps relating molecular evidence on the evolution of blue egg color to molecular evidence on the evolution of color vision in predators), but can we at least recognize that both kinds of “why” question are important?

By: marcel

marcel — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:03:59 +0000

How many biologists manage to straddle that divide? My impression is that R. Sapolsky does (although I don’t think he sequences DNA, but he does culture neurons in his lab). Are there many others?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:04:18 +0000

I gained my respect for gulls taking a gull identification class in Cape May, NJ. There was a picture of a beach with a species of three year gull. It might have been Herring Gulls. The teacher pointed out the first years, the second years, and the full adults (3+). Someone asked, “How old can these gulls get in the wild?”. Twenty years.

Now, there are two 2nd year gulls in the picture, and maybe 30 1st years and 30 adults. Someone asked, “why aren’t there more 2nd year gulls?”

Damn. There aren’t more 2nd years because only something like 5% of the 1st years make it to their 2nd year. Those that make it have a good chance of surviving much longer.

By: M

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:26:56 +0000

Seal autopsy would have been the best holiday moment ever! My mum recounts a story of self at about 4 and toddler sibling on the beach on a glorious day – and the only thing we could talk about afterwards was the dead sheep we found