The Bio Stage is now in park!
Image from https://www.vecteezy.com/. Unfortunately, I have reached the conclusion that my site is no longer viable in its current incarnation. What does that mean? In simple terms, it means I have stopped posting. In fact, I actually stopped posting over a year ago.
I apologize if you were a regular visitor or even read something here one time and enjoyed it. I would love nothing more to continue bringing you well thought out content, but I just can’t find the time. I hope to re-incarnate the site one day into something that both justifies my effort and piques your interest. Until then….
Error admission and apology
Logo for The Intercept from https://theintercept.com/. In my previous post, I expressed my skepticism and disappointment with the contents of an online news source. I lamented the lack of transparency with the site, specifically who funds it.
Bears, wolves, oh my!
Photo of a wolf and bear in Yellowstone National Park. Photo from https://4.bp.blogspot.com/. This post isn’t really about bears or wolves per se, though they are the genesis for the post. Specifically, conservation efforts surrounding grizzly bears and wolves in Montana are what precipitated this piece.
Bumblebees and play
Photo of Bombus terrestris from https://antropocene.it/en/. Do animals play, at least within the context of how we define the word? That’s a question I often ponder or, more specifically, I ask myself, “Is the behavior I’m witnessing when I observe a creature a behavior other than utilitarian?” I am not a biologist (but I did sleep at Holiday Inn last night). That’s a joke probably only those who watch American television will get.
Anyway, there are an increasing number of articles appearing in popular media that suggest myriad creatures exhibit play. I ran across this article from Nature the other day about bumblebees, specifically the species Bombus terrestris.
Two specific aspects of this article caught my attention. One was a reference to the scholarly work of Gary Burghardt out of the University of Tennessee, who has outlined the five criteria for defining play in animals. I actually have cited Burghardt previously in The Bio Stage’s sister blog, The Cichlid Stage. The second aspect of this article that stood out was that it failed to adequately convince me that the observed behavior exhausted all other possibilities for behavior motivation other than play. Granted, I have not read the research from which the article originated, which may have sufficiently addressed this.
Nonetheless, the concept of play in animals, as anthropomorphic as it may be, is intriguing because it at minimum suggests a level of cognition not normally applied to most animals, much less bees. Communicating and translating behavioral motivations and labeling such behavior is critical to fully educating the human population about the creatures we share this planet with.
Changing the blog?
Image from https://anitamultitasker.wordpress.com/. I am considering changing the purpose and content of the blog because I am not posting anywhere near the frequency that I planned. I’m wondering if that’s because I lack the interest and enthusiasm in the blog’s current purpose.
What would you prefer to see instead of what I post now? My interests haven’t changed but the “drive” to do much media analysis just isn’t quite there. Not sure why I don’t have that motivation, so I decided to revisit this. The nexus between the news media and science will remain the focus but not sure how to approach this such that I maintain public interest in the blog content.
What are your thoughts? What about this subject matter would you like to read about?
Drop me a note via the comments or send me an e-mail via the contact form.
A dead owl
Photo taken from Facebook on 10-27-22 from post by Misia Del – Fabulous Lovers Of Weird Everything and shared by Austin Sprague. This morning before I left work work, I did what I always do. I caught up on some news sites and checked my Facebook groups for news about specific topics. I read something I wasn’t expecting that, quite frankly, hit me like a bus. I have thought about it off an on all day.
It’s just plastic! Oh really?
Image from https://www.brusselstimes.com/. I came across this fascinating article today about microplastics. Specifically, the effects of micro-plastics on the human body – how we ingest them, how we excrete them, and what happens in between. Shout out to Nautilus, a fantastic science news magazine. If you don’t subscribe, I highly recommend that you consider doing so.
An interesting and useful science information resource
Image from https://theconversation.com/us. I’ve pointed out this resource in the past, but it was within a specific context. If you aren’t familiar with The Conversation, you might check it out.
On animal welfare
I have read some positive reviews about the octopus documentary on Netflix titled “My Octopus Teacher.” Though I haven’t watched it yet, I am familiar with some of the topics raised in the documentary. One of these, perhaps not discussed explicitly, is animal welfare. If animal welfare is near and dear to you and if you haven’t already, I would encourage you to read the recent book by professor and scholar Ernest Freeberg, A Traitor to His Species. If the name Henry Bergh doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps you’re familiar with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, more commonly referred to by its acronym, ASPCA. Bergh was the founder. Cool, discreet environmental magazine
Hakai Magazine mast head. Image from https://www.hakaimagazine.com/. This past weekend, I was catching up on some reading and came across an interesting story about St. Matthew Island in Alaska. I was originally reading another article published in the digital version of Smithsonian Magazine where I found a pointer to the St. Matthew Island story. I clicked on the link to the article and discovered it was published in an obscure little resource called Hakai Magazine.