Posted by Steven Goodheart on August 17, 2010 · 2 Comments
I have loved and read natural history books since I was a small boy. In my teens, I discovered the natural history writing of the great anthropologist Loren Eiseley. His writings and outlook made a huge impression on me. You can read some excerpts from his books at my Metta Refuge blog: The Star Thrower Finding … Continue reading →
Category astronomy, biochemistry, biology, botany, climate, earth-science, entomology, environmental-science, evolution, genetics, geography, geology, life-science, nature, paleontology, science, spirituality, weather, zoology · Tagged with Dawn-Light, Dawn-Mother, Dianne-Ackerman, dragonflies, dragonfly, dragonfly-eye, ecology, Eomaia-scansoria, fossil, fossil-ancestor, fossil-mammal, insects, Loren-Eiseley, natural-history, nature-books, Stephen-Daubert, The-Shark-and-the Jellyfish, wonder-of-nature
Posted by Steven Goodheart on July 6, 2010 · 1 Comment
Day after day, night after night, the oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil well boils out into the Gulf: Click HERE to see the oil discharge live. The speed and volume of the outflow is truly incredible. Largely due to BP’s unwillingness to share data with outside experts, it’s very hard to determine just … Continue reading →
Category biology, botany, earth-science, environmental-science, geography, life-science, nature, science, zoology · Tagged with BP, BP-Oil, BP-Oil-Disaster, British-Petroleum, Deepwater-Horizon, Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill, Exxon-Valdez, green-sea-turtle, Gulf-ecosystem, Gulf-of-Mexico, Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill, Kemp's-ridley-turtle, multinational-corporations, oil-disaster, porpoises, save-our-planet, save-the-Gulf, toxic-oil
Posted by Steven Goodheart on July 2, 2010 · 42 Comments
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! C. megalodon mega-shark demands rematch with old nemesis Predator X. Says newly discovered “Moby Dick” sperm whale is all tooth and no bite! Extra! Read all about it! OK, having a little fun here! Yesterday’s post was: Does prehistoric “Moby Dick” sperm whale dethrone the mighty Predator X? In … Continue reading →
Category biology, life-science, paleontology, science, zoology · Tagged with biggest-teeth, bite-force, blue-whale, C.-megalodon, controvery, fossil-evidence, great-white-shark, huge-teeth, killer-whale, largest-animal-that-ever-lived, Leviathan-melvillei, megalodon, most-powerful-bite, Peru-fossil-sperm-whale, Peru-fossil-whale, predator, Predator-X, prehistoric-shark, prehistoric-whale, scientific-measurement, sperm-whale, strongest-bite, teeth, ultimate-predator
Posted by Steven Goodheart on May 31, 2010 · 7 Comments
As readers of my Extreme Science blog know, I try to bring to people’s attention the environmental disaster Earth’s ocean’s face if humanity doesn’t radically change its relationship to our planet. Here are some past posts on the subject: We’re Killing Our Oceans Global Warming and the Loss of Earth’s Coral Reefs The Moral Math … Continue reading →
Category biochemistry, biology, chemistry, environmental-science, ethics, genetics, life-science, meteorology, oceanography, science, zoology · Tagged with AAAS, AAAS-oil-spill, Alcanivorax-borkumensis, bacteria, BP-Oil, BP-Oil-Disaster, British-Petroleum, Deepwater-Horizon, Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill, digest-oil, disaster, Exxon-Valdez, Gulf-ecosystem, Gulf-of-Mexico, Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill, hurricane, Loop-Current, moral-imperative, multinational-corporations, non-toxic-solution, oil-disaster, oil-eating-bacteria, oil-eating-microbe, oil-spill, save-our-planet, save-the-Gulf
Posted by Steven Goodheart on April 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment
You won’t want to miss these fantastic solar images from the new Solar Dynamics Observatory. The movies at the NASA Science News site are simply incredible, and well-worth the download time! At a press conference today in Washington DC, researchers unveiled “First Light” images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a space telescope designed to study … Continue reading →
Category astronomy, astrophysics, nature, science · Tagged with Dean Pesnell, First-Light, Goddard-Space-Flight-Center, Lika Guhathakurta, Living-With-A-Star, LWS, NASA, SDO, solar, Solar Dynamics Observatory, solar prominences, Sun
Posted by Steven Goodheart on March 26, 2010 · 11 Comments
Beetles rule! At least, beetles rule when it comes to the number of species. Species of beetles constitute about 25% of all known life-forms on Earth. In the insect realm, 40% of all insect species are beetles, numbering about 350,000. Every year, dozens of new species are discovered, and some believe the number of unclassified … Continue reading →
Category biology, entomology, life-science, nature, science, zoology · Tagged with beetle, Cicindela, Coleoptera, fast, fastest-beetle, fastest-insect, insect, predator, relative-speed, scale, sound-barrier, speed, speed-of-sound, tiger-beetle, world's-fastest-animal, world's-fastest-insect
Posted by Steven Goodheart on March 3, 2010 · 4 Comments
LADYBUGS! LOTS of ladybugs! If you love nature and enjoy amazing images from nature, stop by my Berkeley, Naturally! nature blog and take a look at my new post about my discovery of several hundred thousand ladybugs amassed in the Berkeley Hills near my home. The post is called: They are the Lady(bugs) of the … Continue reading →
Category biology, entomology, life-science, nature, science, zoology · Tagged with animals, aphid-eater, aphids, aposematism, beetle, Berkeley-Hills, coccinellids, ecology, ecosystem, God's-Hen, God's-Little-Cow, God's-Little-Sheep, God's-Oxen, house-is-on-fire, hundreds-of-thousands-of-ladybugs, Joni-Mitchell, Ladies-of-the-Canyon, lady-bird, lady-birds, lady-bug, lady-bugs, ladybird, ladybird-beetles, ladybirds, ladybug, ladybug-beetles, ladybug-larvae, magic, make-a-wish, nature, overwintering, predator, rains, rainstorm, storms, Strawberry-Canyon, swarm, weather, wonder
Posted by Steven Goodheart on February 5, 2010 · 14 Comments
My article “The Largest Snake that Ever Lived” proved to be my most popular post to date. It’s not surprising. First of all, snakes can be incredibly beautiful: And a truly big snake is an amazing sight: Big snakes naturally evoke both awe and fear—who knows, maybe we have ancient memories of being their prey: … Continue reading →
Category biology, environmental-science, ethics, life-science, nature, science, zoology · Tagged with 6th-great-extinction, animals, Barbados, Blair-Hedges, British-Virgin-Islands, endangered-species, extinction, loss-of-ecosystem, Madagascar, Pale-Blue-Dot, sixth-great-extinction, smallest, smallest-frog, smallest-lizard, smallest-snake, wonder, world's-smallest, world's-smallest-frog, world's-smallest-lizard, world's-smallest-snake
Posted by Steven Goodheart on January 27, 2010 · 32 Comments
The sea squirt is one of my favorite sea creatures. When I was a young boy, I first met my first one in a tidal pool in Laguna Beach, California. I remember bending down close to examine it, and like any kid, I gave it a gentle poke. Imagine my surprise when it squirted me … Continue reading →
Category biology, life-science, nature, oceanography, science, zoology · Tagged with animals, chordates, coral, coral-reef, hermaphrodite, invertebrate, Jan-Messersmith, larvae, oceans, reef, reefs, sea-squirt, tunicates, vertebrate
Posted by Steven Goodheart on January 26, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Readers of this extreme science blog might want to stop by my Berkeley, Naturally! site and take a look at my latest post: Berkeley Hills Landslide We had a series of very powerful El Niño-related storms last week in California, and I wrote about the effects here in the Berkeley Hills and San Francisco Bay … Continue reading →
Category climate, earth-science, geography, geology, meteorology, nature, physics, science, weather · Tagged with Berkeley-California, Berkeley-Hills, California-landslides, California-storms, debris-flows, El-Nino, flash-flood, Heyelan-Japan-landslide, Holbeck-Hall-landslide, landslide, mudslide, San-Francisco-Bay