Bull Patrol: NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED zOMG!
Bull Patrol: NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED zOMG! avatar

Inspired by the Are Headlines Hogwash? series at Dr. Carin Bondar’s wonderful blog, the editors at DSN (i.e. Kevin and I) have initiated a news series called Bull Patrol!  Our goal is to call out the media for the getting carried away with headlines and reports, not doing their homework, making a mockery of colleagues’ . . . → Read More: Bull Patrol: NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED zOMG!

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How to Retard Scientific Progress
How to Retard Scientific Progress avatar

I found a great quote and analogy from an essay published in Current Biology by Peter Lawrence titled The Mismeasurement of Science. This essay takes a look at how science is measured and examines the use of impact factors and other metrics that measure scientific progress for individual scientists, academic departments and institutions. The quote . . . → Read More: How to Retard Scientific Progress

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Ex Omnia Conchis: Darwin and His Beloved Barnacles
<em>Ex Omnia Conchis</em>: Darwin and His Beloved Barnacles avatar

This awesome design is a t-shirt you can buy from Zazzle!! (click on image) As part of Darwin Day on Friday, I gave a brief talk at Duke Marine Lab during happy hour about Darwin and his beloved barnacles. I was going to post the slides but didn’t think they did the 201 year legacy . . . → Read More: Ex Omnia Conchis: Darwin and His Beloved Barnacles

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Mad Taxonomic Skillz III – Crustacean Hunt!
Mad Taxonomic Skillz III – Crustacean Hunt! avatar

Image adapted from the book cover of New Crustacean Species from the Phillipines. This week’s Mad Taxonomic Skillz challenge will utilize the awesome freely available resource for everything crustacean – Crustacea.net! We think that if crustaceans were easier to identify and to learn about, then they would be used more often in survey work, in . . . → Read More: Mad Taxonomic Skillz III – Crustacean Hunt!

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Mad Taxonomic Skillz Contest II – What Vent Worm Am I?
Mad Taxonomic Skillz Contest II – What Vent Worm Am I? avatar

The World's Authoritative Guide to Vent Fauna Clearly, last week’s Cephalopod Beak ID Contest was too easy! So This week’s contest is going to be a little harder. I’m testing you guys out, seeing where your limits are. This week I am highlighting the Handbook of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna by veteran deep sea colleagues . . . → Read More: Mad Taxonomic Skillz Contest II – What Vent Worm Am I?

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The Cephalopod Beak Guide Contest
The Cephalopod Beak Guide Contest avatar

Due to popular demand and a limited run the authors of the Cephalopod Beak Guide for the Southern Ocean have their book freely available for download on the internet! The guide is published by the British Antarctic Survey and is available is 10mb low-res download and well as a 55mb hi-res download. As the only . . . → Read More: The Cephalopod Beak Guide Contest

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Cataloging Life On the Deep-Sea Floor
Cataloging Life On the Deep-Sea Floor avatar

Over ten years ago Fred Grassle, a marine biologist with deep-sea tendencies, and Jesse Ausubel, program director for Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, started conversing on an initiative to document the biodiversity of the oceans. That program, the Census of Marine Life, started in 2000 with the goal “to advance a major new international observational program . . . → Read More: Cataloging Life On the Deep-Sea Floor

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Isabel Farfante 1916-2009
Isabel Farfante 1916-2009 avatar

As a taxonomist and marine biologist, it is very hard to lose “one of us”. There are not many around and each loss is a shock to the system. The loss of Isabel Farfante is a huge loss for crustacean taxonomy. I’ve never met her, but I’ve read many of papers and monographs. Her work . . . → Read More: Isabel Farfante 1916-2009

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Shrimp Tails: Describing a New Species
Shrimp Tails: Describing a New Species avatar

Dr. M was kind enough to mention and congratulate me on my first publication several months back. I just had two more papers published in the time since then! I always meant to give the back story on it but hadn’t the time while I madly finished writing my Masters degree. I’ve finished and got . . . → Read More: Shrimp Tails: Describing a New Species

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Two Papers I Want To Write About But Can’t Find The Time
Two Papers I Want To Write About But Can’t Find The Time avatar

No matter how hard I try I cannot seem to produce a post about two really great studies that were published recently. Thankfully Ed Yong has tackled one of them and probably did a better write up than what I intended.  Ed you master of the written word o’ how I long to be you. . . . → Read More: Two Papers I Want To Write About But Can’t Find The Time

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