David Winter • Jul 22, 2012 •
When I tell people I study snails for a living I get one of two replies. There's either some version of the "joke" that goes "that must be slow-going" or "sounds action packed", or there's "oh, you mean those giant killer ones we saw when we went tramp... Read More
David Winter • Jul 11, 2012 •
It's the first week of semester two down here at Otago, which means I will helping with undergraduate labs for the first time this year. I suspect most students end up not liking me all that much, because I find my self teaching in the parts of the genetics program that undergrads like the least. Population genetics, as the name … Read More
David Winter • Jul 08, 2012 •
One awesome mollusc deserves another, so let's follow up last weeks octopus post with one on that group's close relatives the cuttlefish. Cuttlefish are relatively small (the largest grow to 50cm) squid-like cephalopods that present a n... Read More
David Winter • Jul 01, 2012 •
Here's a really cool animal, a female argonaut (sometimes called a paper nautilus): It may not be immediately obvious from the photo, but argonauts are octopuses. Strange octopuses, because the seven s... Read More
David Winter • Jun 17, 2012 •
Here's something cool that I've meaning to write about for a long time. A native Powelliphanta land snail with an apparently pigment-less foot and head: That snail (a close relative of speedy carnivore featured here) popped up... Read More
David Winter • Jun 03, 2012 •
I'm off to the Transit of Venus Forum next week. I'm looking forward to meeting all sorts of clever and interesting people (and escaping the coming snow), but travelling and conferring won't leave much time for a few projects I rea... Read More
David Winter • May 27, 2012 •
I really like the leaf vein slugs (Athoracophoridae) that live in our garden and have featured here in the past. Here's the latest one to pass under my camera: As much as I like them, I have to admit these guys are actually one of the m... Read More
David Winter • May 20, 2012 •
I though I'd do something a little bit different today. Instead of coming up with anything new to say or show you I'm going to steal from give a shout-out to a few New Zealand organisations that highlight some of the amazing ways that spinel... Read More
David Winter • May 10, 2012 •
As you may have seen, stuff.co.nz, the online portal for the Fairfax conglomerate of papers, has launched a science section. I would like to think one of the largest news websites in the country increasing their focus on science could only be a force f... Read More
David Winter • May 06, 2012 •
In Dr Zhivago Boris Pasternak describes an epiphany that sneaks up on one of his characters thus: For a moment she rediscovered the purpose of her life. She was here on earth to grasp the meaning of its wild enchantment and to call each thing by ... Read More