Tardigrades In Space

The Invincible Wasserbär! What? What do you mean it's not a water bear??

Some how that title just screams "Piiiigs iiiinnn Spaaa-aace!" to me...
but the news is in about the space faring water bears aboard the shuttle.
Vacuum ? bah,
Freezing ? Ho-hum
Dessication? So what!
Uh, oh cosmic radiation?!
Nope got that covered too.
Cosmic radiation plus direct solar radiation?
Ok, that one hurts.
But still enough of us will survive and quickly start up again!!
We haz no kryptonite! We iz invincible!

For more see Miriam's posting at The Oyster's Garter.

Next stop MARS!!! Bwaa ha ha!

American Invasion of Scottland

According to the BBC, Scottish Environment Minister Mike Russell has declared war on the American signal crayfish

"Any angler who catches one is urged to kill it on sight, not to throw it back into the water or take it away alive and contact the Scottish Government, Fisheries Research Services, Scottish Natural Heritage or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency."

It seems the crayfish have been carrying off the young fish and flooding the countryside by boring holes into the stream and river banks.

Personally I recommend they have a wonderful Crawdad Étouffée

I'll even help with a starting point of a recipe.

Crawdad Étouffée

2 lbs crayfish tails, peeled and cleaned
1 medium brown onion, chopped
1 large bellpepper, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tblsp tomato paste
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp cayenne pepper, ground
1 tsp sweet basil
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 cup butter or vegetable oil (or bacon fat / lard)
1/2+ cup flour

Make medium roux
In large skillet heat 1/2 cup of butter or vegetable oil (or you choice of fat!!) over medium high heat to 300 degrees F. Using wooden spoon slowly add flour, stirring constantly until peanut butter in color (around two minutes). Don't let yourself get distracted while the roux is cooking.

The Trinity + Spices
When the roux reaches the proper color, lower heat to simmer, add the onion, bell pepper, and celery (the trinity) along with the garlic. When the vegetables are tender add tomato paste and water. Bring to a boil, adding bay leaves.

Simmer, Simmer
Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the crawfish tails and basil and simmer 15 minutes more.
Add salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme and parsley to taste.

I have no idea what they should do with the other two American species which, along with a Japanese seaweed, fill out the rest of the ministers top invaders. Those animals are vertebrates and I'm not sure I could recommend eating American mink and grey squirrel, though I know some as would.

Ants vs HP 3-in-1

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Climbing on up

Looks like sea lice are climbing that ladder too... only this isn't the corporate ladder or social ladder but a ladder to higher up the food web. Actually a new study looked at an interesting question, how is a poor ectoparasite, like parasitic copepods (including the sea lice that often plague salmon farms), supposed to survive if its host gets eaten. It looks like these pesky crustaceans will often jump ship when their hosts are eaten and then infect the predator that ate their former host. At least they're not using some form of brain control to force their initial host to get eaten like so many endoparasites do. The study was published online by the Royal Society's Biology Letters and a summary is available at AAAS.

Crustacean Crash

Discovery News is carrying a news piece about the decline of a key great lakes species: Diporeia. This tiny crustacean, which feed primarily on planktonic algae, is eaten by many species of fish, importantly alewives (a type of herring) which are eaten by larger fish. The population crash coincides in general with the introduction of the Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) to the great lakes. Another clue that the zebra mussels are responsible (at least in part) is that the Diporeia are disappearing from all the lakes except Lake Superior which has a much lower population of zebra mussels - probably due to the lake's low calcium levels which the mussel needs to build its shell. The zebra mussels

... settle above the small crustacean's sediment homes and filter out algal plankton, which Diporeia must feed upon. They then leave behind copious amounts of waste -- literally defecating on the hapless crustaceans -- and transmit disease.

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Declining Diporeia
population density in
Lake Michigan

A shopping cart
covered by zebra mussel

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Get the complete story at Discovery News...