I have scanning electron microscopy theory class today and I’m feeling quite giddy and excited about it.
That is all.
Trivia Hoedown #8 August 30, 2007
1. In Darwin’s time, bumble bees were called humble bees. (Yes, I am reading journal articles from the 1800s – crazy.)
2. When you are gleaning seed and separating it from the chaff by hand in order to count each seed, you must breathe very gently and preferably direct your breath away from the dish you are working on or your seeds will be jettisoned to distant planes. And you will curse.
3. It takes about 6 hours for a brand spanking new exoskeleton to harden on a freshly molted Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. They are extra hissy during these 6 hours.
4. In 1910 in the UK, for a variety of reasons, the native honeybee population plummeted to just 10% of its previous numbers. It’s happened again there and other places over the years, and generally, they rebound.
5. The nectaries that many flowers have at the base of the corolla are partially refilled by atmospheric dew. Whether or not a particular pollinator can feed on the nectar depends on how far the nectar level rises within the flower. The morphology of the flower and the length of the pollinator’s tongue as well as its body and leg structures determine if the nectar will be available to that insect.
6. A honeybee with a full load of pollen carries upwards of 200,000 pollen grains. Some literature puts the number at over 300,000 grains.
7. Something as similar as different species of clover can be completely different reproductively. Pollen behaves differently, seed set is different, inflorescences bear little resemblance to one another. Trippy.
8. 95% ETOH will find its way into the tiniest wound on your skin and burn like the dickens. Then, just as you near screaming aloud, it evaporates and is gone.
Cognitive Overload August 28, 2007
I have read so many journal articles in the last 24 hours, I’m thinking in methods and materials: “The coffee was poured at a 90-degree angle from a 12-cup glass carafe into a 12 ounce collegiate ceramic mug and taken black. It was duly appreciated by the author.”
In the midst of reading about pollen physiology and how it appears that the stigma does not inform the germination or development of the pollen tube for the species in question, I surfaced and was momentarily amazed that I understood WTH was being talked about. When I transferred to the 4-year university last fall, I knew a lot about a variety of seemingly unrelated topics: natural selection, salt bridges, Koch’s postulate, how it came to be that spontaneous generation seemed like the real deal. A year later, I have this huge new body of knowledge that kind of amazes me.
I’m creating an annotated bibliography and writing summaries of the papers I have the hardest time with. In one column of the bibliography (thanks Fern for reminding me to include citation information!), I have to make some assessment of the article, and I feel like I have no business doing that. Like, what do I know?
Some things that made my antennae twitch:
- an “observer” sitting beside a 3m x 3m x 1.8m caged stand of the plant in question noted not only which florets were visited by a bumble bee on the solitary forage of this virgin inflorescence, they also noted the inflorescence that was visited just previous that that one. I’m a little suspicious. That’s a big cage. A whole colony of bees had access to the cage. The flowers are identical and the bees pretty much are too. And yet, you were able to mark individual florets visited on an inflorescence of up to 75 florets and have some level of certainty about where that bee had been just prior? Hm. I’m not saying it can’t be done. I’m saying I’m suspicious.
- with a small amount of data gleaned from the observations above, a statistical model was created to do a 3-variable parabolic probability diagram. My knowledge of stats is scant, but I don’t trust a little bit of data, a lot of statistical manipulation, and a big old theory popping out the other side. Not when it comes to animals. Of course statistics apply to them, I’m just not ready to accept sweeping assertions about behavior under these circumstances.
And that leaves me in the position of knowing that if I was so inclined, I could repeat their experiment and at least see how feasible and reliable the observation part is. I’m still not in any position to evaluate the statistical model, or for that matter, really understand what it means.
These are the things I was thinking about lying in bed at midnight, unable to sleep.
Bullets of I’ve Been Bed-Bound Too Long August 21, 2007
- There’s a really good, mostly unknown movie called Between starring Poppy Montgomery of Without a Trace fame. I knew from the opening credits it was going to be excellent, and I don’t even like movies. I can’t tell you what other good movie it is a little like, as this would spoil the plot and twist immediately. Good cinematography; surreal plot. Five stars.
- Percocet. Five stars.
- I haven’t been able to drive for almost a month. This is the longest period of not driving I’ve experienced since obtaining my driver’s license. I have mixed feelings about it, but it’s getting old. Two stars.
- Cat belly. Three stars, because it’s delicious, but he bites.
- Rerelease of The Traveling Wilburys. Five stars. It’s as good as I remember.
