What if your physical characteristics (hair color, height, or eye color) were determined by your bacterial microbiome? It might seem far fetched for humans, but…
View More Algal blobs take shape, thanks to bacteriaMonth: October 2012
The world’s most promiscuous snail
On the winner goes the Rough Periwinkle (Littorina saxatilis) from the North Atlantic (both sides of the pond) On average, each clutch of 70 offspring had 19…
View More The world’s most promiscuous snailSea Lion Photo Bomb
And here is an example of plastic entering the marine food web I had not thought of. BTW that’s a California Sea Lion but…
View More Sea Lion Photo BombBending sound, the weird path of sound in the ocean
Sound in the ocean does not behave like sound in the air. This is also what makes sound in the ocean so awesome. Sound in water…
View More Bending sound, the weird path of sound in the oceanThe Mortal Sea
The Mortal Sea, by University of New Hampshire maritime environmental history professor Jeff Bolster, seems to be an interesting book up many of our readers’…
View More The Mortal SeaHow the Gastropod Got Its Twist
All snails and their ancestors, the Gastropods, share a common feature. We people with fancy Ph.D.’s in biology call this a synapomorphy, a word derived…
View More How the Gastropod Got Its TwistTGIF: Some Friday jazz, courtesy of marine microbes
Bringing you some awesome ocean sounds this Friday–nope, not crashing waves or squawking seagulls (boo hiss for vertebrates). These sounds come from MICROBES! Peter Larsen…
View More TGIF: Some Friday jazz, courtesy of marine microbesA sucker for convergent evolution
Recently Chris Mah, that most passionate advocate of all things with pentaradial symmetry (i.e. echinoderms: urchins, starfish etc.), wrote an excellent blog post about how…
View More A sucker for convergent evolutionPlastics expedition departs for North Pacific
My tall-ship-sailing buddies at Sea Education Association are headed out for a special Pacific plastics cruise tomorrow aboard the 134-foot brigantine SSV Robert C. Seamans. (Disclosure: I am…
View More Plastics expedition departs for North PacificOctopus Steals Food and Casually Wrestles Shark
In the video above taken in False Bay, South Africa, a octopus simultaneously holds a shark at bay with one arm while simultaneously wrestling three…
View More Octopus Steals Food and Casually Wrestles Shark