Science funding is important, people

Scientific research is important. Scientific research takes money. A lot of that money comes from the government (unless we can come up with more creative ways of funding it, see my link here.)

This deserves much more time and attention than I can spare at the moment (writing a dissertation will do that to you), so I'm going to let Carl Zimmer do the talking for now and add my two cents later: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/25/ducks-meet-the-culture-wars/

Rescue plant

Awhile back, I noticed someone left a large potted plant by the dumpster in my building. It was actually more like a tree, since it is about as tall as I am (5'6"). The leaves were yellowing a bit, but I thought, hey I could use a tree as a houseplant. After all, what's the point of tall ceilings if you don't fill up the vertical space? And of course I like plants and want green things in my home. So I adopted the plant.

It took me a little while to figure out what it was, because lots of tropical plant leaves look alike--but at least I knew it was tropical, so that narrowed it down to you know, one of hundreds of thousands of species. I realized it had little shriveled up fruits hanging off it, and I cut into one to find...coffee beans. Now, coffee berries as they are called are usually red, but these were dry which is why I didn't recognize them at first. It turns out coffee plants are commonly sold as houseplants but are not always labelled.

Coffee is tropical (originally native to northern Africa, now grown all over the tropics), so growing it indoors can be a wee bit challenging. As far as I can tell, most people who have this as a houseplant are growing it in Florida, and mostly outside. I got a humidifier for it and gave it plant food and lots of love, and slowly the plant became greener and greener. Now I won't say it's growing gangbusters or anything, because I feel like it's still a little touch and go--it's probably way too dry, even with the humidifier, and definitely not as warm as the poor coffee plant would like. So imagine my surprise this morning when I found flowers on the tree! A bunch of flowers were open, and they smell delightful! 

I'm not expecting to have a bumper crop of coffee beans--even if I got some, I think there might be enough for about 1/4 cup of coffee. And roasting coffee beans sounds labor intensive. But hey, it's the first step in my urban farm. Not the virtual kind of farm, either.

Dolphin language

This is so cool. A new study found that dolphins call each other by name, building on research that found they refer to themselves by name, too. When they become separated from a dear friend or loved one, dolphins call for them using a whistle--but each whistle is specific to one particular dolphin.

Dolphins have signature whistles that they use to announce themselves to other dolphins--a "Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Brian." Researchers found out that when separated, a dolphin looking for his friend will copy his friend's signature whistle while looking for him. Apparently they only use each other's names in positive interactions, never in aggressive situations. Cute dolphins. We have so much more to learn about them.

Read this while I'm working on my next post

So I think I may have mentioned that nudibranchs are some of my favorite animals. Why? Well, they are weird and cool looking and really awesome colors. But it turns out they have interesting sexual behavior too (well, lots of animals do). First off, nudibranchs are hermaphrodites so that is pretty interesting. But interesting news hit last week about this species that has a detachable male reproductive organ. Yes, you read that right. Click for more.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34378/title/The-Detachable-Penis/

Spinybacked orb weaver

The name Spinybacked orb weaver is pretty cool, but what else would you expect for such an awesome looking spider? I know you are probably thinking, wait, that is a spider? Even people who are afraid of spiders aren't afraid of this little guy.  At least, I wouldn't be if I were afraid of spiders...does that make sense? It's pretty tiny, too. They also come in white with red spines, which you might see in Florida.

Upside down jellyfish

Upside-down jellyfish are awesome. I mean, regular jellyfish are pretty cool looking, but these guys take the cake. And not the upside-down pineapple cake, but the upside-down jellyfish cake. What are they called? Cassiopea, similar to the constellation although to be honest I'm not sure if it has an extra i in the pea or not. The internet is giving me mixed results. They do excrete stinging cells, so if you get too close you might not be very happy. Just admire from afar, and you're all good.

Moonwalking birds

Did you know birds can moonwalk? Manakins can! I've never seen one of these but the video is more than enough.

The whole video is cool, but the moonwalking starts at about 2:40.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI_quJRRGxk