The end of an era

Today marks a sad day in Physics history, the Tevatron accelerator at Fermi Lab in Batavia Illinois was powered down for the last time. Once the second most powerful accelerator in the world (and most powerful in the USA), the new LHC has made this beautiful machine obsolete. I can only assume the teams of . . . → Read More: The end of an era

Sexy, Sexy Beer Bottles

The 2011 Ig Nobel ceremony took place yesterday at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre. The award is sponsored by Improbable Research, an organization that gathers fascinating, odd, and outright hilarious research papers that triumph the idea that not all science is boring. Among this year’s distinguished recipients was fellow entomologist and blogger David Rentz, who received the . . . → Read More: Sexy, Sexy Beer Bottles

The Soaring Microcosmos

[youtube kZyIN23Cy4Y 480 360]

The microscopic insect world is a very different one from ours and we rarely are given glimpses into it. Thanks in part to the impressive Phantom camera system and the Flight Artists project researchers have filmed the minute (1mm!) Trichogramma wasp (Chalcidoidea) in flight. These insects are . . . → Read More: The Soaring Microcosmos

Monday Moth

Trosia nigrorufa (Megalopygidae)

 

This Monday moth is a stunning female of the Neotropical Megalopygidae – Trosia nigrorufa. Ed Ross and Ev Schlinger collected this specimen in Peru in 1955, and I’ve heard many stories about these epic expeditions. I can’t really imagine travelling via cargo ship, being gone for six or more . . . → Read More: Monday Moth

Genius of the Press XXI

This is a pretty epic fail. I guess the “young adult” publishing guidelines are less strict with “facts”.

 

 

 

Thanks to Richard Lee Brown for first posting this on Facebook.

Monday Moth

Oops, I skipped last monday’s moth, so here are two! These are some stunners from the CAS Philippines expedition and I think I have figured out their names. If you know better, please correct me.

 

Parasa darma (Limacodidae)

 

Parotis marginata (Crambidae)

 

. . . → Read More: Monday Moth

Butterfly Vengeance

Plebejus samuelis

We all saw this day coming, the rise of the butterflies, the day they will take vengeance on us. No longer will they passively fly around their habitats as they are bulldozed for malls and polluted with runoff. One particularly angry Karner Blue has submitted a letter to . . . → Read More: Butterfly Vengeance