SeaMonster blog
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ENSO update
As a very strong La Nina winds down, we are entering an “ENSO neutral” phase that should last through the summer. I say hurray to that: I will be working in the Galapagos in July and during La Nina, it is REALLY cold there, especially mid year. In fact, I was in the Galapagos last…
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Genie Clark, The Shark Lady
They say never meet your heros, but after meeting one of mine I can thoroughly recommend it. During my recent visit to Mote Marine Labs in Florida I had the chance to meet Eugenie Clark – aka The Shark Lady – and what a wonderful lady she is. I’d arranged to have lunch with Genie the…
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More of the Chagos underwater world
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/17274137[/vimeo] Here’s another movie clip from filmmaker Jon Slayer that catches a glimpse of the Chagos Islands’ beautiful coral reefs. There’s also some great top-side footage of hermit crabs, sea birds, and a moray eel in a shallow tidal pool catching, wrestling with, and swallowing a crab.
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The monthly climate report: April 2011
An excellent monthly summary of regional climate trends, news and science from Michael Searcy at Fresh Air. The Scent of Pine (here).
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Meet the elusive eels
Dan Laffoley from IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas tells a glorious story of the European eel and some of the crazy things it gets up to, in another installment of Naked Oceans‘ Critter of the Month feature.
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Plastic on the beach
I just returned from a trip to coastal Ecuador and guess what the beach was littered with? Plastic. All kinds of plastic. Plastic shoes, buckets and bottles. Especially plastic bottles. I see this everywhere I go and there seems to be more and more of it. In fact, the only beach I have ever visited…
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Solo kite boat
Crossing the eastern Pacific in a kite-powered boat! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54eDe1px8_o[/youtube]
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What lives above, on, and in the oceans?
What lives above, on, and in the oceans? Pelicans of course… and what’s not to like about a pelican? Here’s our very own Seamonster John Bruno taking his turn picking the Critter of the Month on the Naked Oceans podcast.
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Beautiful jellyfish that lost their sting – or have they?
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23079092[/vimeo] Hello beautiful jellyfish. Check out this gorgeous movie shot at that famous lake in Palau where the stingers have lost their sting – or have they? Have a read of this National Wildlife magazine article and interview with jellyfish scientist, Laura Bell, who busts a popular misconception and reveals that they do have stings,…
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When Scientists were Poets. And artists.
Ah, those were the days. Back when scientists were not just technicians tickling keyboards and gingerly thumbing pipettes filled with tiny volumes of nucleic acids — but the Poets of Nature. Like the ancient druids, our forebears in the profession were often consummate Renaissance Men (indeed, they were mostly men in those benighted times, though…
Got any book recommendations?