Category: Nature

The Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics tells us that more than 7 billion predatory mites were released in greenhouses in 2004 to combat thrips and other pests. Pie charts and bar charts are here. Just thought you’d like to know.

Along with a passion for parasites, Carl Zimmer also has a fondness for Homo floresiensis (hobbits). He summarises the current state of play in the scientific controversy that’s currently underway. Let’s hope that now the cave is open for business once more, we will see evidence emerging that will tip the scales one way or the other.

Well, that’s if you can stretch the concept of Star Wars into "Art". Tara C. Smith asks: what bacterium was named after a George Lucas invention?

As we all pick up the pieces after last week’s storm, it probably comes as little comfort to learn that, with global warming, such storms are likely to become more common. That’s according to a new report about to be published.

 

I think that majority opinion in the UK is about to accept that global warming is real and a threat. The reason is less to do with authoritative reports, and rather more to do with the fact that a media figure, whom they all instinctively trust, has been on the telly in the last week with, not one, but three programmes saying that, basically, we’re all screwed. Yup, no less a figure than Sir David Attenborough has announced, in those grave tones of his, that "climate change is the biggest threat facing our planet". So it must be true. 

 

Now that the experiment is over, I can now remove the climate modelling client from my computer and switch it off when I’m not using it. There, that’s my bit to reduce my carbon footprint.

Back in May 2005, I blogged about my cunning plan to get a Wollemi Pine tree for the garden, since Martin wouldn’t countenance my having a Monkey Puzzle tree (which is what I really wanted) anywhere in a garden of his. Unfortunately, Wollemi Pines are too expensive to get.

 

However, in light of my getting Dutch citizenship, Martin has relented and presented me with a young specimen of Araucaria araucana. I’m going to have to choose its spot in the garden with some care, though. It can’t be too obvious, and it’s going to have to grow very slowly indeed so as not to offend Martin’s aesthetics…

There’s a very good article about consciousness by Steven Pinker in the current issue of Time magazine. Well worth reading.

 

(a tip of the hat to Mind Hacks for the link, and acknowledgements to Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett for stealing the punning title of their excellent book to be the title of this post)

I still haven’t seen the damn thing, and people keep on posting images like this to taunt me. Well, bugger it, I say.

Yesterday, the Netherlands, along with much of the rest of Western Europe, was hit by a major storm. We were very lucky, we had some tree damage in the garden, and some tiles got ripped off the garage roof, but that was all. I was concerned for the roof of the farmhouse, but as far as I can see, it came through unscathed.

 

Two pine trees came down during the height of the storm and blocked the road outside. Fortunately, a neighbour brought a tractor and chain and pulled them off the road. I think we’re going to have to cut down our poplar trees as well. One of them is leaning at a dangerous angle, and I suspect that the others may need to come down. Some of the other trees have lost branches, but all things considered, we’ve had very little damage, certainly in comparison to some of our neighbours, who have lost large sections of their roofs in some cases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m getting the feeling that everyone except me is seeing comet McNaught. Take this picture, for example. I still haven’t seen the damn thing. Now I learn that it’s even possible to see it in the daytime, but, of course, today there is heavy cloud cover so that plan dies stillborn as well.

Ball lightning is the name given to a phenomenon occasionally reported during thunderstorms. It takes the form of a glowing ball of intense light that persists for several seconds. There have been several theories as to what causes ball lightning.

 

New Scientist reports this week on a laboratory experiment in support of one of the theories. It’s quite possible that this is good evidence in support of the theory. Watch the video clip. Mind you, unlike one of the researchers, I don’t think I would wear flip-flops while doing this particular experiment.

I’m still being frustrated by the weather in my attempts to see comet McNaught before it gets too close to the sun. We’ve had cloudy skies for the best part of a week now.

 

Some people have had more luck with the weather, as these pictures show. And here’s the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, talking about the comet.

There’s a new comet in the night sky. So far, all I can see are clouds and pouring rain…

There’s another very good presentation from the TED conference of 2003 is now posted. It’s by Wade Davis, talking about his experiences amongst a wide variety of idigenous peoples of the earth. Worth watching.

 

 

Vaughan, over at the Mind Hacks blog, draws our attention to studies that appear to show that pessimists are more likely to die earlier than optimists. Bugger, that’s me done for, then. However, the entry does point out one interesting chicken-or-egg aspect of this:

Iinteresting questions. And I take some comfort from the fact that I enjoy good health – I’m just a pessimist by nature…

The BBC reports on a new astronomical study of the "dark matter" in the Universe. For more detail of what the study is about and its findings, read what the Bad Astronomer has to say about it.

A short animation that compares the size of planets and stars. I hadn’t appreciated before just how big Betelgeuse is, and it’s not the biggest star that we know of…

Sometimes, I just love the Dutch. Who else could pack so much into an education film, designed to be shown in a Science Museum. Ladies, gentlemen, and small furry animals, may I present to you: Hormones. I remember it well, it just didn’t seem quite so funny at the time.

…Take the BBC’s handy-dandy quiz to find out.

 

I came out as an average male brain, but I got a full score on the spatial reasoning test, which ties in with the engineering background…

 

(hat tip to PZ Myers)

An interesting series of alternate earths – many taking our own earth as the starting point and altering one or more variables, for example, the planetary tilt…

 

(hat tip to Nicholas Whyte)

Here’s an excellent guide to stargazing and skywatching for 2007. It’s available in hardcopy, but also as a free downloadable PDF.

 

(hat tip to Phil, the Bad Astronomer)