By para_sight, on  June 9th, 2011 Climate Change, Conservation & Environment, Environmental Sciences, New Research, Weather amoc, Atlantic, global conveyor belt, global thermohaline circulation, global warming, Gulf Stream, oceanography, RB Editor's Selection, South Atlantic I’ve been in Brazil for the past week for some research coordination meetings. This has involved a number of different folks in several forums, but the whole process was pervaded by a patent anxiety on the part of many people I spoke to with regards to climate change. This is not new of course, but . . . → Read More: The Indian Ocean’s cup runeth over
By Dr Bik, on  April 26th, 2011 Biodiversity, Ecology, Microbes, New Species 454, DNA, Illumina, metagenomics, Microbes, RB Editor's Selection, sequencing If you’ve ever talked to me in person for more than 5 minutes, I’ve probably mentioned the !#$%*ING AWESOMENESS of high-throughput sequencing. Frankly, I’m a bit obsessed. If my life were an SAT analogy, it would be Dr Bik:Sequencing platforms as Teenage Girls:Twilight. My gorgeous Illumina never sleeps (runs 2 weeks straight for a . . . → Read More: Metagenomics: Transforming our understanding of oceans
By Kevin Zelnio, on  February 6th, 2011 Deep Sea 101 Animals Oceanographers, Best of Zelnio, Census of Marine Life, CoML, Crabeater Seal, Elephant Seal, HMAP, OBIS, RB Editor's Selection, seal, Swordfish, taxonomy ←Previous lesson: Introduction and What Is the Deep Sea? Click image to go to Census of Marine Life! Last week we kicked off our online class with an introduction to the deep sea environment. Before we continue on to spend a bit of time talking about the history of deep-sea exploration, I want to discuss . . . → Read More: Deep Sea 101: Lessons from the Census of Marine Life
Everything we do in life presents choices, and every choice presents a risk. Some activities present a high and obvious risk, like skiing a black diamond without a helmet. The inherent risks in more mundane activities may be well-documented, yet so subtle, that we choose to ignore them on a day-to-day basis…like eating seafood. This . . . → Read More: Sunday Spill Special: Seafood Safety, Part 1
You are probably aware that Smoove A* is an authority on crustaceous love. Some have gone so far as to describe Smoove A as the authority on all multi-legged ladies. I am an amphipod (Gammara pulex), a microscopic crustacean that inhabits lakes and streams, and I cannot confirm or deny this report, I can only . . . → Read More: How To Cuddle Your Lady Right, by Smoove A
By RickMac, on  September 28th, 2010 Conservation & Environment acidification, climate change, CO2, conservation, Coral, coral bleaching, coral reef, ocean acidification, RB Editor's Selection, research blogging The left image represents an intact system at current CO2 levels; the center image shows coral decay with increased CO2; and the right image shows a devastated system with even higher CO2 emissions. O. Hoegh-Guldberg, et al (2007) Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification, Science, 318(5857), p. 1741 When you’re in . . . → Read More: Not Good Enough: Copenhagen Accord May Doom Coral Reefs
At my former blog, The Oyster’s Garter, I occasionally wrote an advice column inspired by Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation and Dan Savage. I think it is time to get back to this glorious tradition. Dear Deep Sea News, I never thought I’d be writing to you – not least because it’s really . . . → Read More: Female snails in Australia are just happy to see you
By Dr. M, on  September 6th, 2010 Adaptations, Biodiversity, Cephalopods!, Ecology, Evolution, Mating & Reproduction acoustic, adaptation, Cephalopod, ear, echinoderms, evolution, Gastropod, Geerat Vermeij, Mollusc, Morphology, Predation, RB Editor's Selection, reprodcution, sensory, shell, Sound Why don’t animal’s use wheels in locomotion? Why aren’t blue whales bigger? Why are there no freshwater starfish? Why are there no tree dwelling cephalopods? Why can’t my dog make a decent cocktail? These are the kinds of questions that intrigue me. Apparently I am not alone. Geerat Vermeij’s new paper “Sound reasons for silence: . . . → Read More: If Molluscs Could Communicate What Would They Say?
Promoting microbial degradation of oil has been one of the main arguments in favor of dispersant use. Interestingly, the PWSRCAC review (covering literature from 1997-2008) did not identify any recent study that explicitly found dispersant use enhancing the biodegradation of oil. Actually, ~50% of studies found that chemical additives inhibited microbial degradation and the other . . . → Read More: Dispersants! Part III: Do dispersants really promote degradation of oil?
Part II: How toxic are dispersants? This, I suppose, is the million-dollar question. The EPA has continually insisted that the actual dispersants is less toxic than dispersed oil. Ok, oil is full of some pretty nasty compounds, and the studies do in fact back up this claim. If you spray Corexit on some shrimp, and . . . → Read More: Dispersants! Part II: Toxicity
|
|
Recent Comments