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About Erika

I was a high school science teacher for 7 years but am now unemployed. I hope to get back into the field someday- in the meantime, I write about...

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By Erika Wunderlich | October 6th 2009 06:23 PM | 2 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
I always like to hear who got the Nobel Prize (well at least the one in medicine, anyway- I am definitely not a physics person), because lately it is almost someone who researched something that I remember learning about in school, when it was "new". 

This year, it's telomeres- the particular sequences on the ends of chromosomes that protect the actual genes from getting broken down.  It's also nice to see 2 women getting the prize.  Oh, and a man, too, don't want anyone to think I wasn't paying attention.


By Erika Wunderlich | June 9th 2009 12:37 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Some enterprising scientists at NOAA have studied the health of animals suffering from bacterial infections by studying shrimp running on a treadmill.

I don't think this is recent news, but I just heard about it today and the video is too cute to pass up if you haven't seen it before, so check it out.

By Erika Wunderlich | June 4th 2009 06:09 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
Very cool news- a ROV recently dove to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.  Here's the basics over at Discover.

I can't wait until they release more images.  It's very exciting that technology is starting to catch up with our desire to know more about the oceans, and pictures of crazy ocean critters are good attention-getters, particularly for my students.  (Also, the kid inside me can't help but hope that the bottom of the Marianas Trench is kinda like this.)


By Erika Wunderlich | May 22nd 2009 10:09 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
I just saw over on Science Daily that they have found lots of new Green Flourescent Proteins in Amphioxus, aka the lancelet (which is the closest invertebrate relative to our phylum, Chordata).

The article, with a nice green glowing picture, is here.


By Erika Wunderlich | April 13th 2009 05:35 PM | 1 comment | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
That question, specifically, is: "What if a cuttlefish attacked an octopus?"

And the answer can be found here.  It's a pretty amazing video.

By Erika Wunderlich | March 30th 2009 07:14 PM | 6 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
If you don't know the story of the cane toads, here's the short version: imported to Australia in hopes of controlling the cane beetle, which came to the continent with the sugar cane when *it* was imported (are you sensing an unfortunate pattern here?), they now run amok and wreak havoc on natural Australian ecosystems.  It's one of the best invasive species horror stories that I know.


By Erika Wunderlich | March 18th 2009 10:19 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
was a SEA PIG!  (Sorry, giant squid. Maybe next time.)
This cool critter is an Echinoderm, which means it's related to sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers.  Despite several months studying invertebrates with my Marine Science class this year, I was stumped when trying to figure out which phylum this little critter belonged in- but the internets saved me, of course.

Here is another picture where you can see it more clearly.  It's the Scotoplanes globosa in the middle column about halfway down.


By Erika Wunderlich | March 11th 2009 08:09 PM | 3 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
...and the depth vs. breadth argument in science education continues, even though .
This article chimes in with some updated information.  A new study shows that students who studied basic topics more in depth in high school did better in college introductory courses than those who had the "we must cram everything we can think of about this topic into your heads so that you can pass the state-mandated graduation exam" approach.


By Erika Wunderlich | March 2nd 2009 09:48 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
An octopus flooded the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium (note the link on the 2nd page to a video showing an octopus climbing through a very small hole- really cool if you haven't seen them in action before)!  And here's another take.


By Erika Wunderlich | February 24th 2009 05:43 PM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
You guys....this is SO COOL!  Apparently this fish, which has a TRANSPARENT HEAD, has been known since the 1930's, but scientists just got video and photos of it for the first time.  It's scientific name is Macropinna microstoma.