• About the blog
  • About Sedeer
  • Series
    • Words of Science
    • Discussions
    • Foraging
    • Natural Selection
    • QM Workshop
  • Contact me
  • Accumulating Glitches
  • Collective Marvelling

Inspiring Science

~ Casting light on great ideas

Inspiring Science

Tag Archives: parasite

The wasp and the cockroach: a zombie story

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by sedeer in Arthropods, Hymenoptera, Insects

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Ampulex, behaviour, biology, Emerald cockroach wasp, manipulation, nature, parasite, Parasitism, Parasitoid, Parasitoid wasp, Popular science, science

Ampulex compressa, commonly called Emerald Cockroach Wasp. Pictured in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The world of parasites is full of incredible tales of manipulation and mind-control as these creatures twist their hosts to their needs.  Ever since I first heard of parasitoid wasps, I’ve been drawn to them by a delicious mixture of schadenfreude and intellectual fascination.  (Technically, parasitoids are slightly different from parasites, but that’s not important right now.)  Some of the examples of manipulation by parasitoid wasps are just wonderfully, horribly macabre.  I briefly mentioned the emerald cockroach wasp in a previous post; this time I’ll give a few other examples and explain the emerald wasp more thoroughly.  Hopefully I’ll manage to share some of my excitement about these amazing creatures, which made Darwin once write: “I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae [a group of parasitoid wasps] with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or the cat should play with mice.”
Continue reading →

Found while foraging (December 31, 2012)

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by sedeer in Foraging

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

brain, gender, Genetics, glaciers, Good Men Project, gut bacteria, lego, memory, mental illness, parasite, photography, science, science and society, Science in Society, sexism, stars, stem cell, virus

I was hoping to spend lots of time writing during the winter holidays, but instead I’ve been enjoying the opportunity to spend time with my family.  I’ve got a few promising posts in the works for early in the new year, but until then here’s another collection of odds and ends from around the web to keep you going.  As always, feel free to add more links in the comments.  I hope you’ve all enjoyed the winter/summer solstice and associated holidays.
Continue reading →

Found while foraging (December 11, 2012)

11 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by sedeer in Foraging

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

famous psychology experiments, games, gender, Genetics, math, memory, mind, parasite, photography, rape, science, science and society, Science in Society, sexism, stanford prison experiment, video, videogames, virus, woman scientist

It’s been a while since I last shared a mish-mash of assorted links.  Unfortunately I’ve been too busy recently to have the time to trawl aimlessly around the web, so there are fewer fruits from my foraging forays.  Anyway, enough mixed metaphors and strained writing; here’s my latest collection of tidbits from the web for you to enjoy.  Feel free to add more in the comments if you’d like.
Continue reading →

Search

Donate Button with Credit Cards
Follow @inspiringsci
Follow Inspiring Science on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,099 other followers

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

Ongoing discussions

  • I want you to hear me loud and clear – IntentionallyMonika on No secrets by the lakeside: how water affects sound
  • Melissa Beard Broshears on The Ten-legged Spider
  • Giuseppe Bertini on Head to tail: segmenting the body
  • beermattuk on How does an ant colony coordinate its behaviour?
  • beermattuk on How does an ant colony coordinate its behaviour?
  • HOW TO CURE YOUR VEGAN ACNE IN 7 SIMPLE STEPS – Prime Herald on Sex, hormones, and the microbiome
  • Simon Wells on The laws of biology
  • 7 myths from biology class that most people still believe. | | MAJORPRESS on Five common biology myths (or “Science in the service of the anthropocentric patriarchy”)

What’s popular now?

  • No secrets by the lakeside: how water affects sound
  • Telling left from right: which side gets the heart?
  • Natural selection: On fitness
  • Do ants really count their steps?
  • What makes you who you are?

Blogs to check out

  • Accumulating Glitches
  • alternative viewpoints
  • AntyScience
  • Baldscientist
  • Eyes on the Environment
  • Language Log
  • Letters of Note
  • naked capitalism
  • Raising My Rainbow
  • The Scorpion and the Frog
  • The Smaller Majority

Copyright

Creative Commons License
All text and original images by Sedeer El-Showk. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Thanks to

  • Arkadia International Bookshop
  • The Book Hive
  • The Television and Movie Store
  • Rönnels Antikvariat
Inspiring Science is part of:
  • Collective Marvelling
  • SciComm Network

I'm on ScienceSeeker-DNA

Nature
Blog Network

Categories

Archives

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy