RWU Science - Student's-Eye View

This past semester, Dr. Scott Rutherford, one of RWU's Environmental Science faculty (and resident climate change expert), had a great idea to have our science students carry their camera with them for a couple of weeks and document "Science at Roger Williams University". He ended up receiving over a 100 photos that showcase RWU science as seen through the students' eyes. Quite frankly, I think these pictures do a better job of showing what it's like to be a science major at RWU than any perfectly-lit-but-choreographed University PR photo shoot. I think we should make this an annual event.

Student's-Eye View full gallery

Fall Beachcombing

The beach isn't only for the summer!

(click on image for larger version)

I love this photo

courtesy of the Natural History Museum in London's upcoming exhibit (via Karen at the Beagle Project)

Tenacious

I found this little snake in my backyard this afternoon. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but at only about 8 inches long, it must have been literally 1,000s of times smaller than me. Did it care? Did it quickly slither away upon being discovered? Uh, no. Gotta respect that.

Fits two people? Really?

I meant to post this photo weeks ago, after our D.C. vacation, but had forgotten about it until now.

Here's Jack peering into the bathysphere on display at the National Geographic Society:

Run away! Run Away!

Lincoln Memorial

Jack and Jellies

While visiting the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History:

In the garden

Inspired by the wonderful photos by Kathy over at Skippy's Vegetable Garden, here are a few pics of what's growing over here. (Oh, and for you marine-only types who may not otherwise be interested in my terrestrial biota, check out the first two pics and notice the shells of Mytilus edulis from the Coast of Maine compost I used this year.)

Photo challenge

Anyone game for a little contest?

Below are a couple of photos I took today down in the wet lab at RWU - the second one is a close-up of the first. Any guesses as to what they are? The first person to answer correctly will be held in awe and respect for their vast and varied knowledge...perhaps I'll throw in a RWU rum-drinking vessel as well.

(note: family and current or recent RWU faculty/staff/students are ineligible)

To help with the scale, each black thing is approximately 1 inch (2.5cm) long. Good luck! Click on each image for a larger view.

HINT #1 (7/1/08): Check the comments. Kevin Z has part of the answer.

HINT #2 (7/2/08): The critter's common name and taxonomic class start with the same letter.

HINT #2 (7/6/08): Phylum Mollusca, but not Class Gastropoda

UPDATE (7/8.08): Congrats to Kevin Z for his correct identification. See the comments for the answer.

Garden Inverts

(click on images for larger view)

Wolf Spider with egg case (family Lycosidae; female)

Aphids (Uroleucon sp?) on Heliopsis

Ebb & Flow

Would have been better if had a tripod. Next time.

Weekly urchin - new toy edition

Part of my job as coordinator of the Undergraduate Center for Marine Life Sciences is to purchase equipment that could be used by students and faculty for research. The newest edition to the Center is a Sea & Sea DX-1G digital underwater camera and strobe. It seems on first inspection to be a marvelous piece of equipment. (Thanks, Rick, for using your power and influence to coerce some useful camera feedback from your "peeps" for me)


The second the battery finished charging, I grabbed the camera and headed down to the RWU wetlab to try it out. I must say that I'm really impressed with the quality of the images this camera takes, especially since these test shots were taken with me just sticking the camera into a bunch of tanks, hoping I was focusing on something, and using only the built-in flash instead of the big strobe. With some fine-tuning I think this will take some phenomenal shots out in the field.

First up, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, of course:

Here's an oyster toadfish trying to hide:

Apparently tautog like to snuggle with toadfish:

Lined seahorse:

Fire shrimp:

Baby Juvenile jawfish:

The clownfish thought I was going to feed them:

Going, going, gone

Here's a quickly-done composite of some photos I took last night of the lunar eclipse.

Winter Garden

A cold front bringing a "wintery mix" came through here this past weekend, leaving a coating of ice on everything. I grabbed these shots this morning before work before everything could melt away. Compare to the shots of the garden a few weeks ago.

digital cameras - blessing or a curse?

I got my first digital camera just over a year ago - a Pentax K100D. Since that time I have taken nearly 3,000 photos - mostly of the kids with a smattering of other family. Unfortunately, most of those photos are sitting on my computer's hard drive. When I was shooting film I took fewer photos, but at least I had really nice prints that went into albums and that I could give to family and friends. Now I am simply overwhelmed with digital files.

So, I recently plunged in and formated a small subset of these pictures and got them online and had prints made. I decided that I should start with the most recent (Jack on skates) and work my way back through the summer. I'm rather proud of myself and these images and what good is taking pictures if you don't share them. So, if anyone is interested, go check out my online photo albums. (you'll need Flash Player to see them)

Fall Garden

Even without the flowers, our perennial garden is looking rather nice.