Do you see what I see?

Do you see it?

No?

Do you see it now?

No??

How about now?

Isn't it cool! Yes, that is indeed a tomato hornworm being parasitized by a wasp - the white things are the wasp eggs, and when the larvae hatch, they feed on the hornworm.  Bwahahahahhahahaha!  I love nature in action, especially when it means I don't have to squish that damn thing!

If you ever see a parasitized hornworm in your garden, do NOT kill it. Let it live, so that the wasps can reach adulthood, and go out and kill more hornworms. Natural insect control for the win!

Word.

"I have concluded, through careful, empirical analysis and much thought, that somebody is looking out for me, keeping track of what I think about things, forgiving me when I do less than I ought, giving me strength to shoot for more than I think I'm capable of. I believe they know everything that I do and think and they still love me and I've concluded after careful consideration, that this person keeping score, is me. "


Adam Savage, Reason Rally 2012

P is for...

... pathologist.

Plant pathologist, to be specific.  You see, for almost 15 years of my life, I was paid to kill plants.

Yes, to kill them.  I did research on biological weed control  - basically, finding and developing fungi that would kill weeds, without harming crop plants.

It was very cool (in a geeky way, of course) and I got to travel a lot in the summer, looking for weeds.  I'm now an expert at identifying certain weeds in crops while driving by at 80 km/h.  Really, with these talents of mine, it makes you wonder why people aren't knocking at my door, offering me a job...

I left research for various reasons, and while I miss some parts, I am very glad for the experience. And if you ever tell me that germ theory has been disproven* get ready for an argument, k?

And yes indeed, that picture is of one of my experiments!


_______________________________________________
* That is one "argument" anti-vax peeps throw out on a regular basis.  When I mention my past experience, and that I proved it, with my own two hands, almost every day for 15 years, they tend to mumble something about something, and change the topic.  Or try to explain to me that fungi only infect plants because fungi are "small plants".  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............

Who put the fun in fungi?

I was taught mycology by Dr. George Barron - one of the best, most inspirational and funniest professors I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.  In addition to being an excellent teacher and an untiring researcher, he is an incredible photographer.

If you are at all interested in mushrooms, or nature, or excellent photography, grab a cup of your favourite beverage, and spend some time on the site.  The links may take a while to load, and some are broken (the site hasn't been updated recently, probably due to Dr. Barron's age), but it is worth the time spent.

Dr. Barron's main area of research, at least when I knew him, was on predatory soil fungi, and one of my most sentimental items is the framed photo he presented to me for getting the highest lab mark in the class.

He is the major reason I am where I am today, and why I was lucky enough to spend 15 years of my life working with fungi.

And why I still get a joy out of finding fungi in nature, from the largest bracket to the smallest birds-nest.

His field guide to mushrooms is on my want list, and I think I'll include it on my very next book order - just for the amazing photographs, if nothing else.

As an aside, he was the first to instill in me the difference between "edible" and "palatable", a distinction more "forage experts" should keep in mind!

 All photos copyright of Dr. Barron, and they are all of spoulating slime molds!  Now you see why I think they are simply amazing :)

Please excuse my inner geek.

So, I'm not saying this is like me AT ALL, or anything, but some might remember the day I found the slime mold on one of my petri plates, and got way too excited...

Source:  The funniest comic on the web.  Click to embiggen.

 

is it a bad thing that slime molds are among my favourite things??  The structures they produce while spoulating are absolutely stunning - in a microscopic sort of way.  And yes, it is actually called dog vomit slime mold :)

My immune system goes all the way to 11

"Dog Vomit" slime mold

Argh.

There is yet another washed-up actress trying desperately to promote herself by jumping on the "I'm not a doctor, and I didn't even play one on TV" bandwagon. 

First we have Jenny McCarthy on autism*.  Now, it's Susanne Somers on cancer (I think - her "interview" on Larry King Live was a bit.... asinine idiotic laughable vague).

I'm not against alternative medicines, homeopathy, "natural" remedies, etc.  But I am against medical "miracles" that cannot be proven - especially when people are making money off of them. 


This site mentions that what she may have had was a fungal infection - one that generally only affects people with a compromised immune system.

One wonders if she sees the irony in that??

* Please note - I am in no way denying the severity of issues like autism, just mocking the face time "famous" people get who have NO idea what the hell they are talking about, and the people who for some reason look to these "stars" for information...

Swine flu rant

This is a quick rant - I need to work on a longer post about the public's perception of diseases, vaccine safety and science, but I don't have time at the moment.  But this drives me nuts. 

Long story short - a family member most likely had the "dreaded" swine flu last week.  No problems, she's fine this week.  But another family member was incredibly worried, since "1 in 6 people die of it".

I heard that comment in passing, and it made me think for a moment, but the topic veered to other things, and I didn't get back to it right away.  Later on though, I happened to come across an internet news article about it.

Indeed, the death rate is 1 in 6.  For people sick enough to be admitted to ICU.  Not those admitted to the hospital in total, but the subset who are sick enough to be in need of intensive care.  The article actually made this quite clear if it was read, but skimming it would lead one to a false conclusion. 

And that drives me 'round the bend.  Statistics are generally so mangled by the media, and then further mangled by the public, that it's no wonder that we are in the midst of swine flu hysteria.  It's no wonder that there are many people how believe that vaccines are useless, or even worse, dangerous.  Who believe that "nature" is all that's needed to have healthy people (and canines).  And trying to debate with these people is worse that trying to push string.  Anything you say is dismissed, since you are obviously close-minded, not a critical thinker, or worse, university educated!!!!  GASP!  Okay, enough for now.  But I'll be back...