Golgi, Kinasin & Nuclease! Oh my!

Ch-ch-check it out! BIO NERDS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!

In the name of science this is so freaking cool! I love cells and this is an awesome way to see all the processes. The people at Harvard are so amazing for creating something like this. Look at those graphics!  It's completely unbelievable what they can do now a days. <3

Poor Ducky...

Finals

W

Whoever said, "college is the best time of your life" has clearly never been to college..or at least had so much fun at college they didn't get to experience the joys of "Finals Week".  I don't know who started the whole, 'finals tradition', but I think they were clearly insane and had nothing better to do with their lives. I also believe they received pure joy from torturing poor, innocent college students. Now, I understand education is important, but if you fry all of your brain cells during finals week, there's no way you can retain any new information in the next semester. Seems to me that finals are when students pay $30,000+ to be brainwashed so they have to repeat everything again the next semester.

Jinx

It now looks a lot like Christmas. I woke up this morning to find about 4 inches of snow covering my car. Though it looked gorgeous, I was not a fan of having to walk through it (in my slippers) and drive to school for classes. Now, any normal school would have closed in the morning, but not Unity. They thought it would be much better to gather all the students on campus for a few hours, then tell them they can go home. Too bad they weren't out plowing or putting salt down, because everyone had to risk their lives driving home.

Now the day wasn't a complete disaster. Shortly after skidding and sliding into my driveway, I was kidnapped and taken "sledding" for a few hours. I always believed sledding involved some type of hill, but apparently in Maine, all you need is a big truck, some rope and and old truck bed liner. Ahh, the glory of snowdays.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

I am not a fan of winter in any way, shape or form. So why I'm attending school in Maine is a question even I cannot answer. However, recently I haven't really had to worry about the typical Maine weather. It's currently sunny and almost 50 degrees outside. Strange if I must say so myself, but I'm not yet complaining. I have no interest in driving in the snow, or slipping on ice. 

Although I'm enjoying this type of weather, it raises the question of what is happening to cause this drastic change in climate? Could it actually be this mystery known as "global climate change" or has God just smiled upon my life and realized my dislike of cold weather. I haven't yet discovered the answer, but until then, I'll put on my sunglasses and suntan lotion and bask in this lovely weather!

Success!

US Fish & Wildlife Service --The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in conjunction with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association have been working since the early 1980's to successfully reintroduce the Mexican grey wolf into the wild. Guess what? They did it! There is currently a self-sustaining population of Mexican grey wolves that occupy their native ranges in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This once tragic tale, has made a complete turn around thanks to government agencies and citizen cooperation. Since before 1980, the Mexican grey wolf was seen as a pest to livestock farmers, as they were killing off valuable livestock (pretty reasonable if that's how you make your living). So to combat the wolves, bounties were given out to anyone who killed these animals and soon the population was nearly extinct. Thankfully, captive-breeding populations were established. The first captive-bred wolves were released in 1998 and since then there have been 49 released. The current wild population is at 92 and naturally breeding! This is a great step in large carnivore reintroduction, which has proved to be very difficult in the past. Congrats to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for taking on this project and leading it to it's success.

3,200

REUTERS- A surprising article was released the other day about how there are only 3,200 tigers left in the world. 3,200!!! How is this even being allowed to happen? Thankfully, several world leaders and other influential people were meeting this week to discuss the fate of these beautiful creatures. If nothing is done to slow the progression of their decline, tigers could easily become extinct within the next decade. The major cause of the demise, poaching of course. Thankfully, there are tigers in captivity to help with the populations and reintroductions, but with as few as 1,000 breeding females left, there isn't much hope for the future generations of wild tigers. Christmas is fast approaching and everyone should be doing something to save these critters in their time of need. After all, 'tis the season of giving.