— Evolver Zone is a resource for students, teachers, and researchers with an interest in evolution. The site was created by T. Ryan Gregory (University of Guelph) and contains links to multimedia, software, databases, professional societies, journals, and books, with new content added regularly.
— Shuttle mission to Hubble: “It’s really something to have lunch with somebody willing to risk their life for this science.”
— Digital field guides are coming. ID trees by snapping pictures of their leaves and letting a program match the shape to the appropriate species. Individual dolphins can also be identified by fin markings.
Among other automatic identification programs for flora and fauna is one developed by a team of researchers at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., which includes Kelly R. Debure, an associate professor of computer science. The program identifies individual dolphins based on photographs of their dorsal fins, which have characteristic nicks and notches. At one time, the matching was done by hand, “but the task becomes daunting when the catalog grows enormous,†Dr. Debure said.
The group primarily studies dolphins in Tampa Bay. The Florida Aquarium there may use the program at a kiosk, she said, so that people can identify individual dolphins in photographs, perhaps leading to a greater concern with water quality and boating regulations affecting dolphins. The software is free to download at code.google.com/p/darwin-ec and is being used by groups around the world, Dr. Debure said.
— They carry disease. They chew through wires. They can have babies every 28 days.
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— Happy mother’s day!
 
