The ocean is home to some strange and mysterious critters – including some that could give the Justice League a run for their money. From immortal invertebrates to flying fish, here are four super powered ocean animals. The one that can walk on land While there are a number of amphibious fish out there, … Continue reading
This week I was interested in writing about something wacky in marine systems. Being an ecologist, I tend to discuss organisms and their environment. So as I brainstormed what to write, I thought back to my time as a research technician at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS) with Dr. Emmett Duffy. While working … Continue reading
In 1915 a strange new sea creature was discovered that resembled a “purple sock”. This creature was eventually named as Xenoturbella bocki in 1949, but no one really had any idea what this weird creature was (Westblad, 1949). Unable to clearly establish more information about the creature’s fit in the evolutionary tree or even its … Continue reading
Venoms are complex chemical cocktails designed to be actively injected into another organism and wreak cellular havoc (not to be confused with poisons, which need to be ingested). Venoms have a rich evolutionary history, with each independently evolved lineage accumulating new duplicate genes that can then mutate and alter existing proteins to produce an extraordinarily … Continue reading
This guest post was written by Anastasia Quintana. Anastasia is a 2nd-year PhD student at Duke (please don’t stop reading) who used to study marine parasite ecology at UCSB with Armand Kuris. Now she has switched fully into the social sciences, and studies with advisor Xavier Basurto how communities organize to manage their environmental resources. She is enthusiastic about … Continue reading
In the Southern Outer Banks, taking walks on the beach is a routine activity rather than an aspirational line for one’s OK Cupid profile. I don’t know how an affinity for beach walking became the clincher for personal ads rather than, say, “likes cooking gourmet meals and then doing all the dishes,” but it’s true … Continue reading
This week, another attempt at a comic! The paper it discusses is open access, so check it out for more information (and a heck of a lot more math, if you’re into that sort of thing). Continue reading
Last year, we brought you 12 Days of Marine Science Graduate Student Christmas. And this year, we’ve tackled the holidays again with our very own remix of a beloved children’s poem (with Christmas gifs, could you ask for more!). Best enjoyed with a mug of hot chocolate (or something stronger) and with this playing in … Continue reading
It amazes me that humans are capable of doing the math to send stuff into outer space (which might say something about my own math skills, if I’m being honest). I’m still impressed that we can land things on the Moon or Mars, so you can imagine my excitement when the European Space Agency landed a probe … Continue reading
Recent headlines have reported that a mass coral bleaching event is currently threatening coral reefs throughout the Hawaiian Islands. But what exactly does that mean? Corals turn white.. so what? Why does that matter? Here are a few things you need to know about coral bleaching and how it is like a bad break-up: What exactly is a coral? … Continue reading
UNder the C 