I’m still not officially a genius

Looks like I’ve been passed up for a MacArthur grant again this year. Sigh. It’s easier to get over it, though, when such cool people are being honored with this big chunk of cash. Kelly Benoit-Bird, one of this year’s geniuses, does squid research! She does other things, too, of course. In her own words, [...]

Read Full Post »

Artsy Manhattan Mollusks

Maybe I’m a tourist in my own city, but I always jump at the opportunity to bring visitors to certain places I love– the zoo, the Met, the Natural History Museum, etc. This weekend included both the Bronx Zoo and the Met. The zoo was fantastic– no mollusks, as usual, but excellent sightings of some [...]

Read Full Post »

Friday Linkstravaganza

Weekly link roundup time! 1. What are you doing this weekend? Watching Sharktopus I hope! I was going to embed the trailer, but in fact it looks so godawful I thought better of it. I’ll hold out for Bearsharktopus. 2. Purdue researchers working on what makes oysters stick together. It seems that oysters are producing [...]

Read Full Post »

Mystery Snails and Giant Whales

During my recent trip to the American Museum of Natural History, I stumbled upon a section I’d never been to before: The Hall of Mollusks! That’s not really what it’s called. I wish I had written down the name of the exhibition, because it was named after a person. Hopefully next time I’m there it’ll [...]

Read Full Post »

Whoa…mollusk rainbow…all the way across the shell

I went to the American Museum of Natural History yesterday, for the New York Paleontological Society’s first meeting of the ’10-’11 year. This is also my first year as a member. I’m constantly itching to get out of the city, and when I was both a youngster in the Adirondacks of NY and a college [...]

Read Full Post »

Friday Linkstravaganza

There’s been so many awesome things on the internet this week that I want to share. Linkstravaganza! First, the other participants in International Rock Flipping Day! It was a great crowd to be in; so many excellent sightings. Lynda at mainlymongoose Kordite in the Flickr group Bill Murphy at Fertanish Chatter Rebecca In The Woods [...]

Read Full Post »

Sea Lemon?

Nope. Harlem Meer orange. This amused me to no end when I saw it floating in the Meer the other day while I was checking out the cypress knees along the shore. It immediately reminded me of one of the more common nudibranchs to spot along the coast in the Bay Area, known as the [...]

Read Full Post »

This mollusk will kill you: blue-ringed octopus edition

I’ve been wanting to feature mollusks that will kill you, and I saw a video online today that reminded me that it’s pretty important that people are aware that mollusks can kill them. Here’s a link to a video of a man playing with a blue-ringed octopus. It is awfully cute, so I can understand [...]

Read Full Post »

Rock flipping adventures

I live here. (photo: Katy Silberger) Where I actually live isn’t in the frame there, but you get the idea. It can be very pretty in its own way. To wit: (photo: Andrew Mace) It’s not the kind of place one expects to see a ton of wildlife, as it were. It took me a [...]

Read Full Post »

Is this why I am so fond of goats?

For a long time now, I’ve wanted to keep goats. Not something I can do in New York, obviously, but it’s a long term goal. I’d like them for a few reasons: they produce fiber that I can make yarn out of, they are great lawnmowers, and they are hilarious when they headbutt things or [...]

Read Full Post »