Tuesday, March 31, 2009

03-28-09 More cool Terrace stuff

Big honkin crawfish.

Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl? Check this post to see if you can figure it out!


Dragonfly larva. It's big. It's green. It's a sitting-still machine.
Praying mantis egg sac.
Exploring the cool hemlock swamps.
We found egg masses! Sarah is thrilled.
Wood frog egg mass up close.
Hooray for cheese!
A lonely skunk cabbage bids us adieu.

Monday, March 30, 2009

03-28-09 Chorus frog

The sound of an army of comb-teeth beckoned the Future Scientists to a drainage ditch next to a field. Upon exiting the van, the FS crew was greeted by this handsome frog. Similar to the spring peeper in size and shape, this chorus frog could be distinguished by its unique call and the three rows of dark patterns along its back (as opposed to an x-pattern). There are several species of chorus frogs, and range-wise, Northeast Ohio is in the kingdom of the Western chorus frog.

03-28-09 Dude! Red spotted newt dude!

The Future Scientists netted a couple nice adult red-spotted newts at one of the ponds at Grand River Terraces.
Spring, being the season of love for our amphibian friends, prompted us to examine the "love zone". Note the swollen cloaca (at the base of the tail) characteristic of males.
Male red-spotted newts also have dark "nuptial pads" running along the inside of the legs and toes, perhaps to help hanging on to those female newts playing hard-to-get. You know who you are, girls.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

03-21-09 Biorobotics Lab

After visiting Dr. Ritzmann's neurobiology lab, the Future Scientists walked over to the Case Biorobotics Lab headed by Dr. Roger Quinn. Two Ph.D. candidates, Andrew Horchler and Brandon Rutter showed off some of their cool creations with designs inspired from nature.

Check out http://biorobots.case.edu for more cool stuff from this lab!

Testing the strength of a pneumatic muscle.
This is where the magic happens. Everything is created in-house!
Lotsa cool stuff. Note the WEGS (wheel-legs) robot in the foreground and the robotic grey-hound hanging in the background.
Don't get too close!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

03-21-09 Roach neurobiology lab

Today, the Future Scientists visited a neurobiology lab at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Roy Ritzmann was generous enough to give the Future Scientists a personalized talk, and he showed how insect behavior and neurophysiology could could be used to develop novel robots that could navigate difficult terrains and make simple decisions. It is hoped that these robots could be used for dangerous missions such as exploring disaster sites or sniffing out bombs among other applications.

Here is a link to Dr. Ritzmann's lab, with cool videos!
http://www.case.edu/artsci/biol/people/ritzmann.html

Dr. Ritzmann shows off a prototypical robot

Dr. Ritzmann's lab uses tiny electrodes to map out cockroach brain activity, reflexes and how the insects react to stimuli. The Future Scientists visited the "roach room" and decided that the smell was ______ (choose the best answer here):
a.) invigorating
b.) inspiring
c.) vitalizing

A newly christened adult roach has emerged from the nymphs. The pale color will soon caramelize into the sweet roach hue we all know and love.
Showing off the titan death-head roach. It is used more for impressing Future Scientists than for actual science.
No pants!


03-21-09 Manor House, Case Farm

The Future Scientists visited Squire Valleevue Farm to run a dizzying orienteering course set up by their ruthless leader. Hopelessly lost at first, the Future Scientists found their way by the end of the course, and no one was hurt or resorted to eating lichens off trees for survival. Also, the Manor House was pretty.
Teamwork.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

03-07-09 Sandy Ridge

Presumably, the bald eagle is on the left side of this picture.

The Future Scientists visited Sandy Ridge Metropark in Lorain County with the hopes of spotting waterfowl migrants. Upon entering the wetland, the Future Scientists were greeted with calls of spring peepers and a magnificent bald eagle sighting. The binocular view was good, the camera view not so good.

Waterfowl seen during the day included blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, widgeon, lesser scaup, mallards, northern shovelers, ring-necked ducks and redheads.

Hiding in this picture are one turtle and one Sasquatch. Can you find them? Go!

A painted turtle was seen basking above the icy chill. Perhaps a few beams of sunlight warmed a few molecules of the turtle on this overcast morning. Spring must be coming!

Those fish are just "sleeping".

Many dead fish were seen at Sandy Ridge. Our naturalist (who happened to be a former CMNH Future Scientist!) explained that when the reservoir was frozen over during the winter, the water was unable to pick up oxygen. Fish with higher oxygen requirements such as these sunfish (pictured) and bass would not fare so well. Other fish with lower oxygen requirements, like catfish and carp were not as affected.
As the Future Scientists left the park, a juvenile red-tailed hawk bid them a fluffy farewell.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

2-28-09 Zoo recap

On 2/28 the Future Scientists visited the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. They had the fortune of taking a behind-the-scenes vet hospital tour and were thankful to Dr. Chris Bonar for offering his time and expertise. To respect patient confidentiality, no pictures are provided (animals are people too!). The Future Scientists also had the pleasure of meeting Grace Fuller, a behavioral scientist up at the Primate, Cat and Aquatics building...and in timely fashion, some odd (non-human) primate behaviors were observed...

Oh nothing, just a dead mouse in a tree


Mysteriously, the Future Scientists discovered a deceased white-footed mouse draped along the branch of a small beech tree, about one meter up from the ground at Observatory Park. One suspect of this carcass placement was the northern shrike, which is a bird that impales prey on thorns, barbed wire or branches and saves them for later. This behavior has been called "wanton killing" because the bird kills more prey than it is able to eat all at once. It did not appear that our mouse in question was necessarily "impaled" on the tree, and humans were not left off of the suspect list. The mouse was left in the tree so whoever put it there wouldn't miss it.