Common Science

I've recently been to Japan and whilst there came across one scary looking spider. An Australian girl helpfully informed me that it was called a Golden Orb spider, however she didn't supply me with the information as to whether it could kill me or not. Judging by the vivid "I will kill you" colouring I decided to keep my distance. The only problem was the sheer density of them in this small Japanese forest garden I'd visited. Added to this, they produced their orb shaped webs in trees and annoyingly always around head height, I therefore found myself flushed with panic whenever I turned. Lest to say I never made it to the Coi Carp lake in the midst of the forest. Later when I returned to the UK I researched my curious East Asian arachnoid and found out that they do contain some venom (as apparently to my ignorance all spiders do), but that it was relatively harmless to vertebrates. However, if anyone is reading this for information due to a search on "Orb ...

I came across an astonishing fact about the female Komodo dragon, and was surprised it hadn't been publicly announced with all the bells, banners and general pomp which I imagined would surround such a finding... Hold your breath now.... I hope I haven't built this up too much..... but...... female Komodo dragons are able to provide virgin births.....!!!!! Unbelievably it's true, this finding came about when females kept in zoo's deprived of males still laid eggs, and surprisingly they hatched! The fascinating thing is that these offspring aren't clones either, i.e. they aren't genetically identical to their mother, so where do they get there genetic differences? God?... I think not. Normally a male sperm and female egg contain half of the genetic information of each parent, when the sperm joins the egg an embryo is formed with a complete number of chromosomes which is then capable of growing. In the female Komodo Dragons' case, the half chromosome it do...

I saw an advert on the tube today for the latest installment at the Welcome Trust called 'Things': a public exhibit where people are encouraged to bring along a "thing"... simple enough, however I didn't think it had the pull of the previous exhibition called 'SKIN'. Much better I'm sure you'd agree. The SKIN exhibition documented numerous objet d'peau including a section on "dermographism": carving into your own skin. I shared an anecdote with my friend about people in school we knew who used to scratch (harmlessly) their latest crush onto their arm with a compass as a sign of childish devotion. When we strolled further around the exhibits we came across a picture of one of these school friends, had they been in a 1920s French lunatic asylum. Pictured was an inmate who had carved the name of her condition into her back in 6inch high gashes. We paused, not only due to the sheer specticle, but also to question why she chose such an ina...

I'm currently the same amount of time away from having to hand in my PhD thesis as a baby is from viewing the world for the first time. I'm feeling nauseous in the morning and often have cravings for beer at night time, added to this I think parts of me are swelling... Currently my baby is in need of the folic acid equivalent of experimental data, as my wordy foetus is severely malnourished! Up until my due date (and hopefully beyond the delivery) I'll aim to post any interesting bits of science related "stuff" I come across. In the mean time check out Werner Herzog's documentary about scientific researchers living in Antarctica - most scientists aren't this stereotypically odd, but I'm currently feeling like emigrating. P.S Look out for the penguin that feels it doesn't fit in with the rest of the gang - genius!