Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

Zombie photo of ants are upside down? Amy attempts to turn us right side up.

Squids can sometimes get a bad rep (unless they are breaded and deep fried). But has CJ found the exception? Potentially the worlds cutest squid picture. Ever.

As spring approach, can you feel the electricity in the air? Bees can! Amy is reading about bees sensing flowers using bright colors, petals, aroma and the electrical field of the flower.

Hysterical but slightly inaccurate video about what overweight animals might look like. It almost like “Biggest Loser: Serengeti Special”

Devin is reading about the H-index from someone with a big one. Does side matter? When it comes to how many times your works get cited it does.

Medicine is so far behind the technology curve. But Jonathan is hopeful it will improve! Using their iPhones and iPads to share procedures and journal articles.

Having a little trouble picking a favorite species concept? Here’s an article making an argument for a universal phylogenomic species concept. Although for the record Sarah thinks it should be called the “global species concept” instead of “universal species concept”. Seems to her it’s a little premature to say aliens are made up of DNA.

As if there wasn’t enough fear associated with having children, Sarah is outraged over this fearmongering. Having boys is more energetically costly than girls?

Jeremy is not beating around the bush, he’s got some seriously hot controversy. 80% of the human genome is functional, absurd statement or solid?

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

Noah has a pretty random link, but the sad takeaway is, by mass there are now more boats in the ocean than fish.

Sarah is showing some Tiger pride and bringing us some cool research out of LSU. Life under the Antarctic ice, yet another example of life persisting in extreme habitats.

Have you hugged a paleontologist lately? CJ has! Find out why you should, and how paleontology is a “gateway science” (inherently cool and will draw in non scientists).

Jeremy is also thinking about paleontology, but more about humans than dinosaurs. First step? Taking off your clothes.

Also from CJ, an interesting and rather bleak view of the job market for PhD. Enough bad news to make all our contributors cry a little.

Dolphins can call each other maybe? Although they don’t use names, there is a particular eeeeee that distinguishes one individual from another. Although Sarah is knee deep in dissertation she still has time for the dolphins.

Jonathan is worried about the children! Specifically the scary low levels of vaccination for whooping cough in Vermont. Herd vaccination anyone?

Devin has yet another video! This time on the floral polymorphism: heterostyly. It is only 6 minutes, so you can watch it twice while you sip your coffee.

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

Coevolution is not just about the two interacting species?!?!?! An excellent link from Jeremy that may cause me to rethink my dissertation. Pollinator/plant mutualisms are actually all about… the microbial communities.

Although this is less evolution and ecology orientated, and more just shear awesomeness, Devin brings us global population growth rate data visualization by Hans Rosling. Because he just rocks!

Is feeding pigs antibiotics causing increased resistance? Sarah is reading about a study out of China that has found 200 times more resistance genes in pig manure from those treated with antibiotics than those pigs that had never received treatment. Yikes!

Use em and leave em… I mean it… behind? From CJ, a sea slug who sheds its penis after sex. Not to worry though, it grows back.

Devin is aiming to make you itch and scratch in your seat (and more than succeeded with me) with a video about the evolution of bird lice.

It is that wonderful time of the year again, Valentine’s Day. A day filled with love, bitterness, or per my own Valentine’s traditions, red wine. While I can not confirm when I start drinking red wine on Valentine’s Day (earlier is better), I openly admit wine is an integral part of my holiday celebration.

Celebrating Valentine’s Day the right way

As all fellow wine enthusiasts know, wine is made when the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae eats up the sugars provided by grapes and leaves behind deliciously alcoholic grape juice. What I am sure most winos do not know however, is that the fermentation process is not where the biological interest ends, but rather is just the beginning.

Continue reading →

Today we celebrate awesomness:

There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Stay tuned for a new Valentine’s Day post on Thursday!

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

First it was caterpillar zombies, but Amy has uncovered something even more profoundly disturbing. Moths driving robots….

Have you ever looked at animals and thought “WTF Evolution?” Well Jeremy found a tumblr for that! I’m particularly puzzled by this bird.

Jeremy has also found bayesian statistics this week liberating to psychologists and controversial to economists.

Additionally Jeremy has written a terrific post about heritability and where to find it.

Sarah is still thinking about the link she posted cats and their impact on biodiversity. This follow up is asking whether cats really are the vicious killers they are portrayed, although she’s not sure which of the comments are real and which are just silly. Either way, it’s an interesting look on how emotional reactions can get in the way of creating productive policy.

While thinking about cats Sarah is listening to the animals they may impact. The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has just released a digitized version bird songs, mammal cries and reptiles.

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

From Noah:

A clever green heron uses bread as a tool to catch fish (video)

“Such lovely birds.  But the most amazing thing is that they use tools.  Some of them fish with bait, putting a piece of food or an object in the water and then snatching the fish that are attracted to it.”

From Sarah:

Keeping an eye on the storm

And a beautiful distraction to think about other watery things

From CJ:

Awesome pictures of moths that are taking the interwebs by storm!:

“The photo of the Venezuelan Poodle Moth–someone likened it to a Pokemon character–had been in mothballs since 2009 until someone plucked it out of Anker’s Flickr account and posted the funny-looking insect online within the past week or so. Not surprisingly, it subsequently took off in cyberspace.“

Every Friday at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! our contributors pass around links to new scientific results, or science-y news, or videos of adorable wildlife, that they’re most likely to bring up while waiting in line for a latte.

From Noah:

Scary new unclassified spider discovered:

“it’s a large spider that is so unique scientists were forced to create a new taxonomic family for it. This is the first new spider family to be discovered in North America in over 130 years.“

From Sarah:

Aphids that can photosynthesize:

“Although unprecedented in animals, this capability is common in other kingdoms. Plants and algae, as well as certain fungi and bacteria, also synthesize carotenoids, and in all of these organisms the pigments form part of the photosynthetic machinery.“

From CJ:

A phylogeny of Dragons:

“The Dragon Phylogeny is an effort to map hypothetical evolutionary relationships among dragons. It’s true that these are mythical creatures, but the detail of their portrayal in historical art and literature makes them amenable to scientific analyses based on morphological variation.“

From Devin:

A scientific look at beer making:

“While brewers like to think of themselves and the craft beer-makers, the original brewmasters have been practicing the art for over 200 million years!“

From Jeremy:

A rat incapable of gnawing or chewing:

“on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, Jacob Esselstyn has discovered a new species of rodent that radically departs from this universal body plan: a “shrew-rat” that he calls Paucidentomys vermidax.Its name –a mash-up of Latin and Greek—gives a clue to its lifestyle. It means “worm-devouring, few-toothed mouse“