The Atavism

Sunday Spinelessness – Updates

David Winter • Dec 19, 2010

• arachnophilia,
• bee,
• blog blogging,
• bumblebee,
• leaf veined slugs,
• sci-blogs,
• spider,
• sunday spinelessness

I'm going to round out Sunday Spinelessness for 2010 with a few updates from the creatures that have featured here over the year. But, since this is going to be last post here till the first week of January or so, I'm going to start by taking just a m... Read More

Not so flash short fiction

David Winter • Dec 14, 2010

• Fiction,
• sci-blogs

As I had predicted, I didn't make the short list for New Scientist's flash fiction competition. Here's what I had entered, reproductive health a Lamarkian world:Tuesday.He closed the door, put the pottle down and sighed. Tuesdays we... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – What makes a bee get busy

David Winter • Dec 12, 2010

• bumblebee,
• geekery,
• sci-blogs,
• statistics,
• sunday spinelessness

I've spend quite a lot of time peering into this little pile of weeds recently.That's not because I'm particularly proud of our ability to grow some of the most extensive chickweed and onion weed beds in town. Those weeds are covering the entrance to a... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – The origin and extinction of species

David Winter • Dec 05, 2010

• molluscs,
• Pacific,
• partulids,
• sci-blogs,
• snails,
• sunday spinelessness

I don't use these pages to write about my own work very much, partly because it's not yet published and partly because I write about that all day as it is. The shortest answer I can provide to the question "what do you do" is "I use genetic tools to st... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Wolf spiders

David Winter • Nov 28, 2010

• arachnophilia,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness,
• wolf spiders

Lately I've been trying to reclaim a little of our garden from the weeds that claimed it for themselves over the winter. My dedication to weeding is not absolute, and instead of diligently tugging each weed out seperately I almost end up plucking the b... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Another Angle

David Winter • Nov 21, 2010

• butterfly,
• Nymphalidae,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• Vancouver

I don't claim to be a great photographer, but I do feel a little smug about today's photo. But it's not even the photo itself that gives me an misplaced sense of satisfacton.Let me explain, the photo was taken inside the rain forest exhibit at the Van... Read More

Ken Ring can’t predict the weather

David Winter • Nov 19, 2010

• pretty data,
• sci-blogs,
• Skepticism

It's that time of year for academics in New Zealand. As soon as undergrad teaching finishes every department, organisation and society on campus decides to schedule some sort of meeting,conference or symposium - since everyone will have so much spare t... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – My own ID challenge

David Winter • Nov 14, 2010

• bugs,
• photos,
• psyllids,
• scale insects,
• sci-blogs,
• sunday spinelessness

Some of the cooler kids in bug-blog world post identification challenges from time to time (1,2,3). I seldom get very far on those challenges, in fact, they usually serve only to make me wonder if there is any obscure insect group Ted McRae can't ID fr... Read More

Flash Fiction

David Winter • Nov 10, 2010

• evolution,
• Fiction,
• human evolution,
• sci-blogs

A friend of mine send me a link to New Scientist's Flash Fiction competition. The idea is pretty simple, write a super-short (350 words) story on the way the world might have been if some now disproved scientific theory turned out to be true. Get an en... Read More

Sunday Spinelessness – Gymnast

David Winter • Oct 31, 2010

• phasmidae,
• photos,
• sci-blogs,
• stick insect,
• sunday spinelessness

It's been a very busy weekend after a very busy week down here, so I'll let a couple of photos do most of the talking today. A stick insect nymph skillfully traversing agapanthus leaves in order to escape a photographer:And a detail, with the chewing-... Read More