tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59803222626789061002024-03-14T01:22:05.255-05:00Analyze everythingJames Larson's blogJLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.comBlogger176125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-24598834262978893302011-11-21T07:19:00.000-06:002011-11-21T07:20:20.326-06:00CERF 2011Where have I been? I've been in Daytona Beach Florida, where the 2011 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation's Biennial conference was held. But wait! What am I doing at a coastal/marine conference? Excellent question. I've been working for the last year plus on Great Lakes rivermouth ecosystems, which are the freshwater analogs to estuaries on the coasts. In fact, they JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-2702087697479378782011-10-28T09:10:00.000-05:002011-10-28T09:11:15.613-05:00Interesting papers: Wind in Kansas and spider-hopping riversI wrestle quite often with whether or not to use this blog space to criticize individual papers or presentations. On the one hand, I feel that scrutiny is a critical part of science, and we should point out all the problems with studies that make them questionable. On the other hand, actual people are really sensitive to criticism. I most cases, irrationally sensitive. I can't count the JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-87961879781374863372011-10-25T09:00:00.000-05:002011-10-25T09:00:06.673-05:00Ecosystem function in a brown world
I highlighted this paper a few days ago as looking interesting, but after reading it, I felt like expanding a bit. The paper is by Rubbo et al (2011, Aquatic Sciences) and is entitled "Species loss in the brown world: are heterotrophic systems inherently stable?"
Before I get into this paper, I think it is probably worthwhile to put this in some sort of JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-69960277605609905342011-10-19T08:51:00.000-05:002011-10-19T08:52:24.300-05:00So many interesting papers: Stream fragmentation and the end of NABS. I think I mentioned before, but the North American Benthological Society elected to change its name during the last annual meeting (last Spring). I don't think changing the name was a horrible idea by any means (the "North American" part is semi-ridiculous and "Benthological" doesn't cover everything the society/journal covers), but it feels really weird to think of JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-38057689488507397862011-10-17T16:11:00.000-05:002011-10-17T16:12:11.663-05:00Interesting papers: The search for paleo-shoreline caves, burning through carbon reduces N accumulation, and more! I'm not going to lie. This paper, on how increasing temperature affects nutrient ratios, is in my queue, but I haven't read it yet. So I shouldn't try to briefly tell you how amazing it looks or that I think it is great...because theoretically it might not be. But here I am, telling you I think it looks really interesting and I can't wait to read it! I'm fascinated by JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-2684946824992210462011-10-17T07:00:00.000-05:002011-10-17T07:00:10.080-05:00Caddisflies through time
I recently had a paper from a co-worker (Jason Veldboom) come across my semi-ridiculous RSS feed. This paper does something a little bit different than any other publication I've seen: Follow the elemental composition of a population and its (presumably) primary food resource through time.
The study is straight-forward, in that the authors simply sampled a filter feeding JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-6152411320413659232011-10-13T15:27:00.000-05:002011-10-13T15:28:01.254-05:00Interesting Papers: Trophic levels matter, recharging aquifers, and a special issue on intermittent streams! I saw Mary Power talk last night at UW-La Crosse. Dr. Power is famous for having demonstrated the effect that trophic cascades can have on aquatic ecosystems. She did this study where she showed adding fish to a mesocosm can decrease algal production, even though fish preferentially feed on algal grazers. The reason is that fish aren't very good predators on these algal grazers (they hideJLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-47844421013799495852011-10-12T19:19:00.000-05:002011-10-12T19:20:34.867-05:00Interesting Papers: Inadvertant management, dissolved organic matter in large rivers, and other cool studiesSometimes management with the best intentions can result in active detriment to an intended beneficiary. Take this example of supplemental feeding for a European eagle: The supplemental feed contained pharmaceuticals, so the eagles that were given the supplemental feed were actually worse off than those who weren't. I haven't read this paper on DOM dynamics in large rivers yet. JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-72555738865385569422011-10-11T22:29:00.001-05:002011-10-11T22:31:28.689-05:00I'm so confused: Comments and Rebuttals in ES&T
So on October 5th, this article by Liao and Kannan entitled “Widespread Occurrence of Bisphenol A in Paper and Paper Products: Implications for Human Exposure” popped up in my google reader (from the journal Environmental Science and Technology). Hmm... I glanced over the article, there’s a bit more exposure risk than I thought apparently. Then, October 10th...5 days later...aJLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-10085676861776712502011-08-09T20:43:00.000-05:002011-08-09T20:43:23.516-05:00August 9th notes
This story about "DNA" being found on rocks from space is really hard to wrap my head around. The headlines generally seem to be wrong: They didn't find DNA on a space rock. If they had, that would have been really amazing. What they found was molecules that go into building DNA. Is that even surprising? Even the official release from NASA is pretty unclear asJLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-10970026659497873672011-07-28T13:45:00.000-05:002011-07-28T13:45:10.656-05:00Home Sick Notes (July 28th)Bad Astronomy brought to my attention the discovery of an asteroid in one of the Earth's stable Lagrangian points. At some point in the future, I imagine these points are going to be valuable real-estate.
Sport hunting is considered a very minimal impact to lots of North American game species that are in need of conservation (e.g., Lesser Prairie Chickens), but apparently the role of JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-73035518162500255532011-07-10T08:49:00.000-05:002011-07-10T08:49:56.156-05:00Interesting weekend postsWhen it comes to the bounty of the ocean, the only thing that appears to be capable of causing the collapse of fisheries is human appetite. As humans, we've managed to eat our way through a massive assortment of marine species. So it is no surprise that when it comes to invasive species, people tend to put two and two together and decide: "Hey, maybe we can eat all the JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-38771537432173232902011-06-29T21:55:00.000-05:002011-06-29T21:55:43.374-05:00Interesting stuff (6/29/2011)Every day, we seem to learn more about animals that lived tens of millions of years ago. Including the approximate body temperature of sauropods. This feeds into the story about dinosaurs being warm blooded or cold-blooded, but to me the real question is how an organism so large kept its body heat down.
I think hyenas are really interesting (and apparently so do others). JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-69754136732210244702011-06-24T21:48:00.000-05:002011-06-24T21:48:59.957-05:00Internet PathsI don't know if anyone else does this, but when I get online, there's a certain sequence of sites that I run through. My way of getting to know what's happened in the world that I care about.
So in case anyone else is interested, here is my "Science Path" for exploring science news online:
The New York Times Science Section: Started reading this because of Carl Zimmer's articles. I JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-8771835872815331132010-11-07T21:13:00.000-06:002010-11-07T21:13:58.430-06:00The long exhaleOnce again, my blog went defunct! Let me give a quick explanation:
1. I changed jobs. I decided to get out of regulatory work and back into research. There are a lot of reasons for this, which I would be happy to discuss in person if we ever meet. The short version is: I missed research.
2. I'm now working for the U.S. government. I'm not totally JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-11961714202734904582010-07-08T09:41:00.000-05:002010-07-08T09:41:30.360-05:00Notes for July 8thHappy Birthday Sis!
This isn't exactly a wonderfully fun story.
Squirrels are actually pretty interesting. Although we typically think of invasive species as annoying and frustrating, there's something sorta amazing about a species that can be this successful.
Humans where in Europe a lot longer than previously thought. Or maybe just a lot earlier?
I'm just going to repeat the JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-67862127034397980912010-07-07T08:53:00.000-05:002010-07-07T08:53:27.094-05:00Notes for July 7thMore about perennial grains. I agree, it would be great if we could have them. I don't know why we don't.
A fairly interesting look at the food preferences of man-eating lions (obviously, they don't only eat people).
Ants with worms...broadly speaking ants with mind-control worms.
Holy cow, I can't believe this is a problem. Because of some unexpected storms, a JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-15464481315758419262010-07-01T08:38:00.000-05:002010-07-01T08:38:55.079-05:00Notes for July 1st2.1 billion year old multicellular life. At least, it looks mutlicellular, hard to tell really. But wouldn't early multi-cellular life essentially just be unicellular organisms stuck together and liking it?
Quantum effects at the macro scale. Although very interesting, I was expecting a lot more 'macro' effects from the reddit headline "Dartmouth researchers describe one JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-90889928042830303102010-06-29T09:34:00.000-05:002010-06-29T09:34:42.836-05:00Notes for June 29thThe evolution of cats is interesting, even if the image accompanying the article doesn't make any sense.
Generalists go extinct too. Not sure I really buy the idea that they might be less like to.
Allen's rule is about the length of extremities in tropical and temperate animals. Apparently there's now some evidence that temperate/cold weather animals have shorter limbs (or JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-12281726153356818552010-06-28T09:00:00.009-05:002010-06-28T09:10:49.681-05:00Notes for June 28thTet Zoo talking about turtles. I ended up going through about 10 old Tet Zoo articles on turtles.
Interesting bit of detective work to try and determine how the Stellar's Sea Cow went extinct.
Genetically engineered salmon are on their way. Take a look at the picture accompanying the article. No wonder the industry is investigating this.
Small mammals eating dinosaurs. JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-90032192781863336832010-06-25T09:18:00.001-05:002010-06-24T09:19:08.276-05:00Notes for June 25Yes. Confirmation bias is real. Or am I only seeing evidence for it because of...confirmation bias? Uh...down that path lies madness.
I'm not sure what to make of the absence or reduced abundance of sunspots. Does this mean something?
The strange and somewhat wonderful story of a man who woke up with a stroke, and without the ability to read.
The world of information is a JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-35922582069393081872010-06-24T09:00:00.000-05:002010-06-24T09:00:05.728-05:00Notes for June 24thRoad kills are really hard on certain species. Especially those with low reproductive rates.
That whole komondo dragon and bacteria story is still interesting, even with venom playing a major role.
Interesting question: Why did dinosaurs have all those horns and spikes and armor and etc.?
Interesting info about influenza and how swine and human interactions are likely to JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-55644202153911065432010-06-23T09:00:00.000-05:002010-06-23T09:36:36.083-05:00Notes for June 23rdBirth control pills fueled the sexual revolution, but who could have envisioned at the time that they would also fuel a pervasive problem to fish sexuality. Come to think of it, a lot of people probably saw that coming.
White-nose syndrome is really going to end north American bats if it continues at this rate. That's not an exaggeration. And now it's extended into Oklahoma, a JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-34928291037413764382010-06-22T09:00:00.000-05:002010-06-22T09:00:02.146-05:00Notes for June 22I'm constantly hearing claims on reddit of really high rates of inaccurate paternity. This fits with reddit's general attitude towards reproduction and male rights issues. However, I've never seen any actual evidence. This article nicely sums up the available evidence, and seems to fit much more closely with what my expectations would be.
The fight aging website may deserve someJLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5980322262678906100.post-42875191861427915962010-06-21T10:05:00.001-05:002010-06-21T10:42:05.362-05:00Notes for June 21stFaster than light travel...kinda. The author of this post asks you to consider dominoes. If you tip one domino, it slowly tips, and falls into the next, and then into the next, and so on. However, you could (if you wanted to) run your hand along the dominoes and knock them down faster than they would if you just allowed each domino to fall into the next. Now, imagine that JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205270658129485041noreply@blogger.com0