Category Archives: science

The Whole Challenger Expedition – Online

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Chuck

Tip o’ the hat to Mike L for this sweet find.  The manuscripts and plates from the Challenger expedition are available in their entirety online.  This is a huge boon for ocean nerds, and I intend to spend considerable time … Continue reading →

Posted in dorkiness, science, sharks, skates | Leave a comment

The Dags of War: Basic Science in the Debate on Shark Finning

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Chuck

My esteemed colleague Andrew over at Southern Fried Science made me aware of a piece of gray literature that is directly related to sharks, fishing, and the debate over the shark finning ban currently trying to worm its way through … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, fisheries management, research, science, sharks | 16 Comments

Isurus oxyglinkus

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Chuck

Unfortunately a punishing round of grading exams and lab reports has kept me from posting since about Monday.  I’m through it now, but now I’m far too brain-fried to offer up any substantial posts.  While I recover my aching brain, … Continue reading →

Posted in Donor's Choose, dorkiness, evolution, linkage, oil spill, science, sharks | Leave a comment

All Science Begins in the Field

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Chuck

Apologies for all the short posts lately.  I’ve got a nice fat research post on deck, so don’t worry.  There’s just this matter of a huge stack of stats homework to get through first (damn you, grad school!).  In the … Continue reading →

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Help Support Science Education

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Chuck

You hear about it all the time: American schools are trailing the rest of the world at science and math, leading to us losing our competitive and creative edge and generally creating a situation where the movie Idiocracy seems painfully … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, Donor's Choose, science | 1 Comment

The Jaws of Death: How Spiny Dogfish Destroy Their Prey

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Chuck

One of the paradoxes of public opinion on dogfish is that they’re simultaneously considered a swimming wall of teeth annihilating everything in their path and wussy, poor excuses for sharks.  I’ve heard a lot of hearsay about the “weak bite” … Continue reading →

Posted in research blogging, science, spiny dogfish | 12 Comments

Bait in the Water

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Chuck

Both fishing and a lot of marine science are generally all about dropping some bait in the water and seeing what happens.  Swiped from Climate Shifts by way of DSN, here’s a selection of possible outcomes when you drop a … Continue reading →

Posted in science, sharks, video | Leave a comment

The Trouble with Models

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Chuck

Today I’m going to talk about something that has proven to be both a blessing and a curse to fisheries management.  I’m going to talk about modeling.    Tasteful humor.  From Sports Illustrated. Unfortunately we’re not talking about the merits … Continue reading →

Posted in fisheries management, methods, science, ugh... math | Leave a comment

In Defense of the Spiny Dogfish

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Chuck

“Voracious beyond belief, dogfish deserve their bad reputation among many fishermen.”  – Bigelow and Schroeder’s Fishes of the Gulf of Maine As anyone with any kind of familiarity with Squalus acanthias will tell you, these are deeply unpopular animals.  Fishermen … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, fisheries, science, spiny dogfish | 3 Comments