Using Mosquitoes to ‘Smartbomb’ Breeding Grounds

So let’s continue the theme of the AWESOME papers I ran across this semester and didn’t get to blog about. I find every aspect of this paper to be simply cool. Controlling mosquitoes consists of two main methods, to put things as simply as possible. You can kill adults and larvae and you can destroy [...]

Bad Religion: Won’t Somebody?

I make a big deal of Bad Religion on this weblog because I think they’re the quintessential athiest band. They make many, many good arguments against religion through their music in a diverse set of genres which ranges from hardcore punk to some songs which I would consider pop (The Process of Belief…entire album). A [...]

Do bats REALLY eat mosquitoes?

One of the debates a lot of entomologists have is whether bats actually have an impact on mosquito populations. Sure, we hear all the time that bats eat mosquitoes, but there are good reasons to doubt this. I’ve had this discussion with instructors before and there’s really no consensus. We know bats occasionally eat mosquitoes. [...]

Doctor Who: The End of Time

I’m a fan of the new Doctor Who Series. Unfortunately, BBC makes it’s content very difficult for us Americans to get. Fortunately, it’s not completely impossible; I have my ways. Spoilers below the fold.

Merry Christmas!

Even as an athiest, I totally celebrate Christmas. I love the idea of getting together with your family at a set time of year, especially one near the end of the calendar. This holiday has no religious significance to me, instead I view it as a secular mid-winter celebration. Sure I’m ripping off the predominant [...]

Preventing release of alarm pheromones increases homosexual pairing in bed bugs.

I really don’t think it’s possible to write a boring post on bed bugs. The way in which they reproduce is simply one of the most bizzarre…and brutal…methods of insemination in the animal kingdom. One of my favorite webcomics, Dinosaur Comics described their reproduction quite well: I also like writing about the biological basis behind [...]

More Sketchy Science: Do Tomatoes Really Eat Insects?

I’ve been seeing this story more and more around the news, exemplified by this Telegraph article…apparently, there are some researchers that discovered that tomatoes have hairs on them which trap and kill small insects. The Telegraph reports: New research shows that they capture and kill small insects with sticky hairs on their stems and then [...]

Insects use tools, but do they self-medicate?

This is my first researchblogging post in awhile…so I figured I’d make it worthwhile by writing a really, really long post and actually deconstructing a scientific paper. I’ve seen the video of the tool using octopus…and it is neat. Here’s a science daily article, and here’s the video below: Using tools is something which is [...]

The SNL Tiger Woods Sketch

Okay…I really feel the need to say something about the SNL Tiger Woods sketch, as well as all the others floating about. As y’all probably know, sometime last week Tiger’s wife chased him down the driveway and assaulted him with a golf club, causing him to crash into his neighbor’s mailbox, causing him to need [...]