December 2010
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Caterpillars whistle for safety →
From the Journal of Experimental Biology comes news that caterpillars are able to force air through their bodies to ‘whistle’ as a defense mechanism when they’re spotted by predators. These aren’t exotic bugs, either: they can be found all over the U.S., even here in Austin, Texas (guess I’d better listen carefully next time I’m in the backyard). From the Nature...
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“To grumble further would be, as the saying goes, akin to pointing my Water...”
– From A.O. Scott’s Swiftian review of the new Gulliver’s Travels.
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“One time my son had a friend over. I heard the friend say in a stage whisper,...”
– James Gurney, creator and illustrator of Dinotopia, on growing up with art. (His Gurney Journey blog on illustration, drawing, and painting is very much worth reading, by the way)
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Ancient astronomy: Mechanical inspiration →
New research on the Antikythera mechanism hints that we might be looking at its use and meaning from the wrong perspective. From Nature:
Now, however, scientists delving into the astronomical theories encoded in this quintessentially Greek device have concluded that they are not Greek at all, but Babylonian — an empire predating this era by centuries. This finding is forcing historians to...
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