Leave it to the Scots…

This is the most epic bottle of beer I have ever seen. 55 percent alcohol, $760 per bottle, and packaged inside a taxidermied rodent. I’m getting a hangover just looking at it:

What hath man wrought?

Is this sort of abomination commonplace in Scotland?

Of Protostomes and Deuterostomes

Here is a cute cartoon about evolutionary divergence and bittersweet reunion by Abstruse Goose:

Via PZ posting at the Panda’s Thumb.

Where do you fall on the beard spectrum?

Check out this handy graphic that organizes various beard choices on a descending scale from trustworthy to disastrous. I like to constantly change up my facial hair situation, so I have hit a lot of points across the entire beard spectrum:

Luckily, it seems that my beards are mostly weighted overall on the trustworthy side. Where does your face garden fall?

Via PZ at Pharyngula.

Best entomology paper concept ever?

Barron, A., Maleszka, R., Helliwell, P., & Robinson, G. (2008). Effects of cocaine on honey bee dance behaviour Journal of Experimental Biology, 212 (2), 163-168

Yes, I know those aren't honeybees. Beewolf Alexander Fleming needs to kick back too. Photo: Alvesgaspar

Via Wired

King Crab Attack!

Check out this awesome trailer to the intentionally-hilariously-bad movie, King Crab Attack, from French director, Grégoire Sivan:

While the script and plot of this movie appear to be on par with Avatar, King Crab Attack’s special effects clearly blow James Cameron’s opus out of the water!

There is another, equally amusing, trailer for King Crab Attack here, and a satirical video in the same vein, from The Onion, here.

Via, i09.

“Science Channel Refuses To Dumb Down Science Any Further”

The satire news magazine, The Onion, has an article up that is both amusing and depressing. This piece hits an unfortunate nail on the head.

I’ve mentioned before, my contempt for the current state of science programming in the US. I’ll admit that the Science Channel is still the best of the “educational” TV channels, but that isn’t saying much; the other networks seem to continuously rotate between Monster Quest, Paranormal Investigators, and UFO Hunters.

You can tell that all of these channels are under constant pressure to make their shows more extreme and appealing to the lowest common majority of society. I am sure that there are lots of hard working people at the Science Channel who want to give people good, solid science programming, but their efforts are constantly challenged by the marketing department. If we won’t watch good science, they’re not gonna’ show any.

This exemplifies the modern problems with science communications. Somewhere there is a disconnect between researchers and the general public; forcing exciting science to be watered down to the point of inanity. Who is at fault? The scientists, the media, or the average Joe?

How not to capture a giant huntsman spider with Tupperware

“I told you it’s not a friendly spider”

Tree Lobsters

Not to be confused with endangered arboreal octopi; this is an awesome web-comic about tree dwelling crustaceans that discuss science, pseudoscience, and skepticism. Personally, I am shocked that I just discovered this gem now, as its premise abstractly sums up a decent chunk of my intellectual fascinations.

I like this one because it takes a shot at the drivel that passes for science and nature programming on TV these days:

Hat tip to the Bad Astronomer.

Flee before the unstoppable might of The Crush-stacean!

Behold, the brutal, car-crushing synthesis of monster trucks and lobsters:

Photo by Phil Stilton. Via Jackson NJ Online

Evolution Going Great, Reports Trilobite

The always hilarious satire periodical, The Onion, has put up a list of the top 10 news articles of the last 4.5 billion years. According to the list, a trilobite extolling on how great it is to be alive during the Cambrian, is the top story in Earth’s history.

The final paragraph is actually quite poetic:

The trilobite then settled down in his murky lagoon, where for the third straight night he would rest soundly while thoughts of someday becoming a brine shrimp, or perhaps even a crustacean—each of which, he knew, would be just a small part of the beautiful upward arc of life, forever changing, forever moving toward balance and harmony—danced in his tiny, insignificant head.

One minor nerdy nitpick, however. Trilobites did not evolve into crustaceans or brine shrimp (which are crustaceans themselves). They were a distinct sister group to the other arthropod sub-phyla. The trilobite lineage is completely extinct; no descendants of these arthropods exist today.