Seasick Steve – Chiggers

Maximum blues, a musical interlude for your listening pleasure. I am a huge fan of Seasick Steve and couldn't resist linking to this performance from the Jools Holland Hootenanny of 2007/08. Here Steve sings of the perils of taking a walk in long grass and being attacked by these nasty little creatures. Chiggers are tiny, six-legged wingless organisms (larvae) that grow up to become a type of mite that are found in tall grass and weeds. Their bite causes severe itching. Steve offers some of his homegrown tips to avoid them: 'I wear my socks up to my knees'.

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Posted by Astrojenny

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Mouse Plague!

In 1993 Australia was witness to a mouse plague of biblical proportions. Millions of mice attacked farms and homes with the residents helpless against such numbers. The mice attacked livestock, crops and destroyed farm equipment and buildings. The problem is that mice are SO prolific. One pair of mice can produce thousands of offspring within months. WARNING: This video shows scenes some may find distressing.

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Posted by Astrojenny

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Something For The Weekend – Seduce Me – Bees

Your weekly dose of scientifically accurate yet highly entertaining insect sex! Isabella Rossillini takes us through the social and sexual lives of bees. I get the impression that she thoroughly enjoys making these films, almost as much as I know we all enjoy watching them.

Watch Video on You Tube. WARNING: Adult Content

Posted by Astrojenny

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Mosquito Versus Raindrop

Mosquitoes seem to thrive in humid places where heavy rainfall is common. Can mosquitoes fly in the rain and if so, how? A raindrop may be similar in size but weighs 50 times more than a mosquito. David Hu, a mechanical engineer at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta used high speed cameras and a specially constructed "rain box" to film the insects in flight. The mosquitoes showed no sign of trying to avoid the raindrops. They received both glancing blows and direct hits from drops, which momentarily knocked the insects off course before they re-stabilized and continued on their way.

Read More and Watch Video at io9

Posted by Astrojenny

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Bugnadoes!

Here is some amazing footage of a natural phenomenon affecting Missouri USA after recent flooding of the Missouri River. Swirling vortices of flying bugs appearing out of tree tops, ditches and cornfields at dusk. Clouds of other insects such as dragonflies, attracted by the swarms, are then entering into a feeding frenzy.

Watch Video at Gizmodo

Posted by Astrojenny

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TED Talk - Louie Schwartzberg: The Hidden Beauty Of Pollination

In this TED Talk, Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shares stunning high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life." Motivated by the worrying decline of the honeybee, due to Colony Collapse Disorder, his film takes us deep into the beautiful world of pollen and pollinators and the complex interaction between plants and insects. He reminds us that we depend on pollinators for a third of the fruit and vegetables we eat. We are part of nature, not separate from it.

Watch Talk & Video at TED.com

Posted by Astrojenny

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Whale Fall – The After Life Of A Whale

A wonderful video animation. Sweet Fern Productions have used intricate paper cutouts to show the different stages of decomposition that a whale carcass undergoes once it falls to the bottom of the ocean. Each phase is beautifully illustrated with music by the Kentucky-based band Rachel's.

Watch Video at Radiolab Blog

Posted by Astrojenny

Hat tip to Adam Rutherford

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Video - How The Flu Virus Invades Your Body

With the flu season upon us here is a timely animation by NPR’s Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky that shows how flu viruses invade your body and trick a single cell into making a million more viruses, and how your immune system then goes into action to defeat the invaders.

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Posted by Astrojenny

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Something For The Weekend: Bedbug - Seduce Me!

I love Isabella Rossellini's award-winning Green Porno. A series of short films about the reproductive habits of various animals . They are scientifically accurate yet extremely entertaining and definitely adult in nature. I will be linking to this series over the coming months. What more could you want than one of the most beautiful women in the world, dressed as bedbug, acting out bedbug sex?

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Posted by Astrojenny

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Timelapse - Stink Bug Sucks a Worm's Guts

America is currently suffering from an invasion of stink bugs. Named due to the the pungent odour of rotting cabbage that they emit when disturbed or squashed, these pests are infesting American homes looking for a place to hibernate over the winter. Here is a truly revolting timelapse video of a stink bug using its straw-like mandible to suck out the insides of a helpless hornworm.

Read More & Watch Video at New Scientist

Posted by Astrojenny

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Here Be Dragonflies

Dragonflies are the most ancient groups of insects and also among the fastest flying insects, capable of amazing aerial acrobatics. They can fly upside down, straight up or straight down, or hover in mid air. So how do scientists go about studying a dragonfly's hunting or mating techniques? This fascinating video shows how one group of scientists are using high speed cameras to learn more.

Read More & Watch Video at Physorg.com

Posted by Astrojenny

 

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Earth 100 Million Years From Now

Earth's continents have always been on the move, driven by tectonics plates. Watch as this amazing animation from  Northern Arizona University shows the history of Earth's dynamic surface & how  the continents have shifted, collided and separated from 600 million years ago to 100 million years into the future.

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Posted by Astrojenny

 

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Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad Science

The fastest talking epidemiologist on the block, Ben Goldacre gives a wonderful TED talk in which he highlights the ways that evidence can be manipulated and distorted to mislead the public. He covers sensational media headlines that shout the latest cause of, or cure for, cancer, nutritional claims for superfoods and the tricks used by pharmaceutical companies to misrepresent research in this rapid fire and razor sharp talk.

Watch Video at TED.com

Posted by Astrojenny

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New Life Discovered In The Dead Sea

In the 1950s the Jordan River's entry into the Dead Sea was cut off to provide drinking water. Since then the water level in the lake, which already sits in the lowest place on Earth, continued to fall by about four feet every year . It has fallen by more than 80 feet (25 meters) in the past 40 years. Now freshwater springs have been discovered spewing from giant craters on the bottom of this apparently barren lake. In and around these springs colonies of new bacterial species thrive.

Read More & Watch Video at PopSci

Posted by Astrojenny

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Sex & Society In The Insect World

In her book "Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World" Marlene Zuk takes us deep into the complex societies of a dazzling array of insects. In this short video she explains that most of an insect's life revolves around food and sex, and she argues that of these, sex is the more important, as finding food is only a means to survive long enough to mate.

Read More & Watch Video at BBC News

Posted by Astrojenny

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Fish Using Tools

We are getting used to seeing various primates, and birds using tools but this amazing video is the first I have seen of a fish doing so. The wrasse digs up a clam, carries it over to a rock quite some distance away and then throws it repeatedly at the rock to break it open. That the fish swims passed various other rocks until it gets to one that suits its needs shows some forward planning. All other cases of tool use within fish have involved one or other species of wrasse crushing shellfish by using a rock as an anvil.

Read More and Watch Video at Physorg.com

Posted by Astrojenny

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Daddy Long Legs?

This video made me laugh. Flula Borg has a You Tube channel where he regularly rants about the absurdities of life. Here he turns his exasperation and unique way with language on the naming of the harvestman (from his description I am guessing he is not referring to the crane fly or the cellar spider, both of which are also confusingly called daddy long legs, but we won't tell him that) I love that he gets SO irritated by it all.

View Video at Astropixie's Blog

Posted by Astrojenny

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Ants & Lizards Show Evolution In Action

Most lizards will freeze when threatened, relying on their camouflage to protect them, but when fire ants attack this strategy wont work. The fire ants will attack until, in under a minute, they sting the lizard to death. In areas where fire ants & lizards have been coexisting it has been found that most of the lizards have learned to employ the twitch and flee defence strategy. The twitchers are more likely to survive to reproduce while the freezers get killed off.

Watch Video at Discovery News

Posted by Astrojenny

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Watch Mosquitoes Sucking Human Blood In High Definition!

This video is definitely NOT for the faint hearted. If you are even remotely squeamish just move along, there is nothing to see here. If you have the stomach for it though this is quite fascinating. Kudos to the guy who served himself up as a mosquito buffet but be doubly warned, in the end, he gets his revenge!

Watch Video at io9

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