050121

 

Dinosaur calendar by Mark Witton doesn't identify the paintings--what the heck! Mark, I know you know this.

111020

 

harvesting

magnetic bacteria

processor goes down

 

101820b

 

our dreams
of life as we know it
look to other stars

101620

 

Imagine if Lucas had known about bobbitt worms when he made Star Wars' desert scenes: "Imperial Walker! Wait, where did it go?" Or Frank Herbert, when he wrote Dune: No riding those worms! Or flying low, either.

091620d

 

No life possible on a gas giant, as this article says?

https://scitechdaily.com/can-alien-life-survive-a-stars-death-webb-space-telescope-will-reveal-the-answer/  

 

a million Earths

in Jupiter's Goldilocks skies

nothing wonders there?

life floats above hot Venus

J ain't chopped liver ya know

081020c

 

Like a two-headed flatworm he maintained the bicephalic condition when bisected: each half regrew another head and arms. A few minutes work with a machete generated a small army that was twice as handy as a typical force. Too bad none of them were adept at walking on their hands.

081020b

 

bacteria

in zero g

express their genes

so differently

breaking the glass

ceiling means more

when empty space

is lurking there

bullets couldn't 

stop them; the lack

of air sure did

072620c

El Dorado

We can’t afford to store each kind of life,

Nor yet the code that generates the beasts,

A trillion trillion suns within our reach,

Their planets crawl with living things whose strife,

Engenders kinds and more that grow and move,

Uncountable by any such as we,

So genes we snip and hope the cosmos prove,

Our sampling strategy be error free.

But refuges are stuffed with creatures rare,

Their healing traits will surely pass the test,

Genomics, their odd chemistries, suggests,

Host biologic jewels beyond compare,

Has any place in nature these begot?

Such pearls we’ve sought, but we have found them not.

070920

hybrid sea turtles

fill the south Atlantic

gulls veer off

True about the turtles; maybe not the gulls.

052720d

The day Chalmers learned how fast an alligator could run was his last. His fleet young photographer got several money shots that day.

022420c

Last evolution lecture of the year in the ALLELE series at the University of Alabama: Why are women shorter than men?

http://evolution.ua.edu/2019-20-series.html#Dunsworth

Free and open to the public, Thursday, March 5, 7:30 PM

011420b

The next ALLELE lecture at the University of Alabama is Thursday of next week: January 23. Who isn't excited by spiders? Free and open to the public.

It can be difficult to find parking on campus, but there is a parking lot right across the street, and the ticket writers don't work that late at night.

122119b

The Biology of Metazoa


under your clothes
a mass of cells
megalopolis you
I love every tenement, high rise, and untamed park
your shy smile
the mountains and valleys of New-World you
I claim this land, not like Columbus
but in the worship
of every immortal cell
your brown-eyed ringlets
and all your moving parts

102919c

Next evolution lecture in Tuscaloosa.

090919d

This Thursday evening at 7:30

The first lecture in the 2019-2020 ALLELE lecture series at the University of Alabama

This long-running series of lectures has covered a myriad of subjects that are informed by evolutionary theory, ranging from hard sciences like geology and biology, to other disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, speech, and religion.

David Sloan Wilson on completing the Darwinian revolution http://evolution.ua.edu/

 

Follow the series on twitter  @UA_ALLELE 

 

All of these lectures are free and open to the public.

081019

Five-Dimensional Comparative Anatomy of Four-Dimensional Beings

(An address before the Synoptic Society)

Observe small differences among continua:

Age at removal of organs,

Variation across the dimensions

In presence/absence of limbs,

Of partners, family groups, offspring.

Ribbons of being are long or short,

They divide or wither,

Respond with surprising sensitivity

To parametric permutation, cluster

According to statistics of stochasticity.

We cannot perceive without meddling

When we choose parameters,

So must we not seek love,

Must we not seek places where love thrives?

Is this not our obligation?

071119c

Genetically modifying
an ordinary chicken
I re-created
the 10 foot tall
Pleistocene terror bird
an amazing achievement
if I do say so myself
but one that I shall regret
as long as I ca

032819

infected ant
dies after climbing a tree
spores to the wind

032818b

My latest published poem: "Bring Me Moa"

http://www.alteredrealitymag.com/bring-me-moa-by-david-c-kopaska-merkel/

030618c

reasons to like snakes

1. They are smooth and free of projections (except the ones with  eye ridges)
2. The most famous snake is the biggest creature on earth
3. And it has a cool name: Ouroboros
4. Some are so fast they can chase you down and kill you with one bite
5. For the timid, there are some that resemble worms
6. But they are smooth and cool and not slimy at all
7.  Like most arthropods,  you can escape them if you are willing to live in the frozen north
8. They make S's out of themselves — how cool is that?!