Oleh Chris Grinter, pada 4 Oktober, 2011 Beberapa bulan yang lalu yang luar biasa kunci kepada Lepidoptera Kanada (mereka semua) telah diterbitkan oleh Jason Dombroskie – seorang pelajar PhD dari U. Alberta. Program ini boleh didapati untuk pengguna tingkap hanya jadi saya tidak mempunyai peluang yang baik untuk meneroka ia belum – tetapi PDF tersedia dalam talian dan merangkumi bahan yang sama. Semua Lepidoptera Kanada yang dikenali disertakan dalam kunci ini dan kebanyakannya turun ke subkeluarga atau bahkan suku! Terdapat 222 taksa, 73 watak dan 266 menyatakan watak yang membantu menyempitkan perkara. Ini adalah rujukan pertama seumpamanya untuk meliputi fauna seluruh negara dengan tepat dan lengkap dan yang pertama menggunakan kunci yang digambarkan dengan baik dan interaktif. Sungguh menghairankan betapa terkenalnya leps tetapi betapa sedikit rujukan yang baik wujud, hampir tiada satu pun yang mempunyai kunci yang boleh digunakan. Bagi semua orang di luar sana yang telah bergelut untuk mengenal pasti leps sebelum ini akan menjadi sumber yang sangat membantu. Diberikan, berkemungkinan terdapat beberapa rama-rama AS yang boleh membuang sepana ke dalam aliran sesuatu, tetapi secara amnya saya ragu akan ada banyak masalah.
Oleh Chris Grinter, pada 3 Oktober, 2011  Pasangan Gnophaela vermiculata
Ini rama-rama Isnin adalah Arctiinae, Gnophaela vermiculata. Rama-rama terbang hari yang indah ini banyak terdapat pada warna kuning Helianthus bunga sekitar 9000′ dalam Santa Fe Hutan Negara, Mexico baru. Ulat memakan Bluebells, tetapi orang dewasa lebih suka kualiti sumber madu yang paling tinggi di kawasan itu – yang untungnya menjadikan subjek foto yang mudah dan menarik.
Oleh Chris Grinter, pada 30 September, 2011 Hari ini menandakan hari yang sedih dalam sejarah Fizik, yang Tevatron accelerator at Fermi Lab in Batavia Illinois was powered down for the last time. Setelah pemecut kedua paling berkuasa di dunia (dan paling berkuasa di Amerika Syarikat), the new LHC has made this beautiful machine obsolete. I can only assume the teams of scientists working at Fermi were hopeful for further funding, but the grand ol’ days of big-budget physics was crushed by congress in 1993 with the cancelation of the SSC. Off to Europe our physicists go!
I have many fond memories of visiting Fermi with my grade school science class. Every year Mr. House would take us to explore the physics and nature surrounding the lab. I recall a feeling of privilege when you visited a real working lab where there were no public displays with cute goggly-eyed atoms, just chalk boards full of Feynman diagrams and 3 day old cups of coffee. But it was probably the fully restored big bluestem prairie that grew on and around the 4 mile collider ring was where I had the most fun and is what left a lasting impact on my scientific career.
And so it goes, the evolution of science in the US. I have noticed this particular trend: 1) An active science facility with lots of research has a tiny museum for public tours. 2) The research loses funding and the tiny museum takes over. 3) The museum is renovated to be more “family” friendly and “interactive”, while science is pushed into the basements. 4) Whatever scientists are left (or students hired to act like scientists) are put under glass for the public to watch like strange creatures; all while true research fades into memory.
 Tevatron at Fermi: Reidar Hahn/Fermilab
Oleh Chris Grinter, pada 30 September, 2011 Yang 2011 Ig Nobel majlis berlangsung semalam di Teater Sanders Harvard. Anugerah ini ditaja oleh Improbable Research, sebuah organisasi yang mengumpulkan menarik, ganjil, dan kertas penyelidikan kelakar secara terang-terangan yang memenangi idea bahawa tidak semua sains membosankan. Antara penerima cemerlang tahun ini ialah rakan ahli entomologi dan blogger David Rentz, yang menerima IgNobel dalam Biologi untuk a penemuan dibuat dalam 1983 dengan rakan sekerja Darryl Gwynne di pedalaman Australia. Amat mengejutkan mereka dengan gaya botol coklat tertentu dengan lekukan di bahagian dasarnya (“stubbies”) terbukti tidak dapat dilawan oleh jantan kumbang Buprestid Julodimorpha bakewelli Julodimorpha saundersii (melihat kertas sumber dan komen di bawah).
Tahniah Dave dan Darryl!
 Julodimorpha bakewelli cuba bersetubuh dengan sebotol bir. Foto oleh D. Gwynne
Oleh Chris Grinter, on September 19th, 2011 [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 egg parasites of Lepidoptera (amongst other groups undoubtedly) and can be used as effective biocontrol agents. As you’ll see in the video it’s been long understood that these wasps hitchhike on adult Lepidoptera waiting for fresh eggs, but it wasn’t know how they got there and if they were even flying onto the adult hosts. Stunningly, this wasp flaps its wings at ~350 times per second to achieve some astounding feats of movement. The biomechanics of this wing mechanism must be fascinating.
Scroll ahead to 1:07 and watch the interaction of the two wasps – the one that flips off to the left of the screen moves in such a bizarre way it looks like bad CGI. I sure hope they record more species of minute flying insects!
Oleh Chris Grinter, on September 19th, 2011  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 months at a time and relying mostly on hand written correspondance. It must have made the world feel like a much larger place than it is today.
Oleh Chris Grinter, pada 13 September, 2011 This is a pretty epic fail. Saya kira “dewasa muda” garis panduan penerbitan kurang ketat dengan “fakta”.
Thanks to Richard Lee Brown for first posting this on Facebook.
Oleh Chris Grinter, on September 12th, 2011 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)
Oleh Chris Grinter, pada 4 September, 2011  Plebejus Samuels
Kita semua melihat hari akan datang, kebangkitan rama-rama, hari mereka akan membalas dendam kepada kami. Tiada lagi mereka pasif terbang di sekitar habitat mereka kerana mereka diranapkan untuk pusat membeli belah dan tercemar dengan air larian. One particularly angry Karner Blue has submitted a letter to the Onion warning us that our time is about up. Endangered little Lycaenidae will join hands and come after us some quiet night while we’re asleep in our beds. We at the Lepidopterists’ Society have even made their list for failing to take action. Together we should act before it is too late – let us preemptively strike before the rise of the blues. Save your families! Burn those styrofoam containers, pave the prairies, drive your off-road vehicles and take a stand against these fluttering fanatics!
(or we could just save them…)
Oleh Chris Grinter, on August 31st, 2011 There has been a continuing discussion over the last few years of why so few women remain in science. While I’m not going to dive into that topic here, you can find great discussions di sini, di sini, di sini dan di sini. I don’t however think anyone argues about why women don’t enter science in the first place, especially when you see things like this. Way to print that soul crushing stereotype right on the front of your daughters shirt, JCPenny.
(melalui Skepchick)
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