Last post

Decided to kill off this blog.
On the one hand, I failed to make it mine. There were only few post that really had something novel in them, not previously posted somewhere on the net.
On the other hand, I've found a new interest in life, augmented reality. I have another blog on the subject, which feels just right.
Someday, I plan to revive this one, once I find a unique topic (I'm thinking of digital forensics).
Till then, goodbye.
- rouli

Sand Dollars

Here's a wonderful video on the development stages of sand-dollars (also known as sea biscuits)



A Sea Biscuit's Life from Bruno Vellutini on Vimeo.

Some points to take home:

• The larval form of sand dollars, has bidirectional symmetry, unlike the (more dominant) radial symmetry of the adult form.
• Sand dollars have male and females individuals. However, sand dollars larvae can clone themselves.
• Echinoderms, in general, are cool. One of my fondest memories of visiting Seattle is petting a sea urchin in the city's aquarium.
  

The mind reader game

GreyThumb features this nice little game, where on each turn you choose either 0 or 1, and the computer tries to predict your choices.
The first time I played it, I lost miserably, even though I seemingly pressed randomly on the 0 and 1 buttons. Luckily, I found a non random strategy to win this game, which you can read about in the comments section of the original post.

In other news - too many projects keep me busy from updating the blog, blah blah blah.

Contagious cancer on the New York Times

The always interesting Olivia Judson has a column on the contagious cancer inflicting (and infecting) the Tasmanian devils population (see also this previous post).
While Tasmanian devils are susceptible to such cancer due to the very little genetic variance between individuals, Judson proposes a way for contagious cancer to evolve in humans:

What about us? Humans have lots of MHC diversity. But we have another risk factor. Owing to the failure to treat H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, in many parts of the world, large numbers of people have compromised immune systems. This is the sort of environment that could, perhaps, allow a transmissible cancer to evolve. Initially, it would circulate only among those who are immunocompromised. But, over time, it might evolve to infect healthy people too. It’s an alarming thought — though happily, a thought is all it is. For now.

link

Evolution Watch

I would have bought myself one, alas, the online store carrying it is in Japanese.
From Cabanon Press

Marsupials

After countless years of living in a blissful ignorance, I finally decided to check out whether male marsupials have a pouch (after all, male humans have nipples). Although I couldn't find the answer in Wikipedia (by the way, the answer is no).
Anyhow, Wikipedia does have answers for questions I would have never asked:

Marsupials reproductive systems differ markedly from those of their placental mammal cousins (Placentalia) Females have two vaginas, both of which open externally through one orifice but lead to different compartments within the uterus. Males generally have a two-pronged penis, which corresponds to the females' two vaginae. (link)

For some reason, they don't tell you that when you're young.

And don't get me started on the odd number of nipples the Virginia Opossum has.

iNaturalist

A rather nifty site, where you can mark on a Google map interesting things (e.g. animals) you encounter in nature, and see what others have encountered.
I'm not sure how useful it is, but I'm sure the days are numbered till someone would mark an encounter with bigfoot :)