But I just went over the whole last week of my web browsing and discovered that most of my time has been on Google, looking for marine life or insects. Repetitive, mostly.
So, stretching the concept a bit, my "science" will include nature photography. And one question, since Google has been no help at all; maybe someone out there has an idea.
Beasties: Sand bubbler crabs. This was down a blind alley on my Google search. Interesting, even if far afield; I wasted a good hour on these. AbelKane Adventures, Wikipedia and a photo on Flickr.
Julie Zickefoose discovers a new cockroach. Not my favourite animal, but then, I spent too much time in Texas battling with cockroaches the size of mice. This one seems a little more congenial. A slowpoke.
An article on insect photography. I adapted a technique from here.
And this, from yesterday. Amazing and funny and somehow sexy, even if I'm not a spider. A jumping spider mating dance. From Zooillogix.
Nude mice, and why coffee is good for me. From The Cheerful Oncologist.
Owls and heat relief. Scroll down to the end of Susan's post. That last photo is a classic begging for a caption. Can you think of one?
How to make a lemon battery. From YouTube.
PZ is Mostly Normal. I'm not. (I got a 38) How about you?
And, the question:
I found this on the beach last week. This is the 4th I have found so far, at Boundary Bay and off the Ladner dykes.
And no, it isn't a scoop of chocolate ice cream. It is a piece of what looks like pumice. It's rock, but it floats. I have had them in water for 3 days to see if they would get water-logged and they are still as buoyant as ever.The ones I have found vary between marble-size and pea-size.
Somewhere, I think I heard something about bubbles of lava. I know there are great floating beds of pumice in some areas of the ocean. But none of the photos I found, or websites dealing with this, show little round balls.
Anybody have any hints?
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Update: I just found Carnival of the Blue II over on Malaria, Bedbugs, Sealice and Sunsets. Lots of good links!
i'm certainly no geologist, but this sounds (and sort of looks) like volcanic pumice... actually it does look an aweful lot like a scoop of chocolate ice cream, so maybe this is a goof... but i've found rounded bits of volcanic ejecta floating around the northern california coast... the clockwise current flow of the northern gyre--from volcanically active areas along the pacific rim--could easily carry bits of pumice along...
ReplyDeletejust my guess...
Thanks, Rick,
ReplyDeleteNo, no goof.
It feels like pumice, and the weight fits. It's the shape that confuses me.
All the pumice I have seen is in random, jagged shapes. I am having a hard time imagining what would shape it like this.
Did you ever find out what this is? I have found several in eastern Washington. Exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteNo,I never did.
ReplyDeleteIt's lava. There are thousands of them on my property. I live on an extinct volcano.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Delete