Some friends have asked what it’s like to have a concussion, and how my recovery is going. I think it’s hard for them to understand why, almost six weeks after the accident, I’m still having so many problems. Since this is my first concussion I don’t really know what to expect, but having consulted with…
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Accident report
Saturday, 21 May 2016 — We had spent two hours tootling around the bay on Murray’s boat and had a late (and for me, second) breakfast at Aldo’s at about 11:00. We came out of the upper harbor and turned right onto 7th Avenue. Murray was driving his car, I was in the front passenger seat,…
Busting through
At 07:40 on Tuesday 5 January 2016, the sandbar at the mouth of Younger Lagoon broke open for the first time this rainy season. The Younger Lagoon Reserve (YLR) is located directly west (or “up the coast,” as we say; the terminology gets a little weird because the coastline runs east-west in Santa Cruz) of the…
The short drive home
Among some members of my family we have a not-quite-regular New Year’s tradition of meeting up for dim sum in one of the Bay Area restaurants. I’d say we can usually pull this event together 3-4 of every five years. It’s a totally casual affair: anybody who can, shows up at the designated time, friends…
Gyrations and gymnastics
Today is Monday, which means Scott and I changed the water for our Pisaster larvae. I should have taken some pictures to show you how we do it. Maybe next time. The largest and most developed larvae are now 2.2-2.5 mm long, not including the long brachiolar arms, which is about as big as they’re…
From zero to cleavage in. . . nine hours
A recent college graduate and fellow marine lab denizen (Scott) and I are collaborating on a project to quantify growth rates in juvenile Pisaster orchraceus stars. This is one of the intertidal species whose populations in the field and in the lab were decimated by the most recent outbreak of sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS)….
I’m famous!
Well, fame is all relative, right? VICE magazine’s May 2015 issue is focused on environmental crises of various kinds. One of the feature articles is on sea star wasting, which I’ve blogged about before, beginning in September 2013. The author of the VICE article, Nathaniel Rich, came out to the marine lab and interviewed me…
A whole lotta pink
The temperate rocky intertidal is about as colorful a natural place as I’ve seen. Much of the color comes from algae, and in the spring and early summer the eye can be overwhelmed by the emerald greenness of the overall landscape due to Phyllospadix (surf grass, a true flowering plant) and Ulva (sea lettuce, an alga)….
The plague abates?
As of today, I am cautiously optimistic that the Pisaster wasting disease I’ve been dealing with for the past couple of weeks has run its course. There has been quite a cost, however, as a mortality rate of 90% leaves me with one lonely star remaining. This lone survivor reminds me of Brother John Clyn, a Franciscan…
More sex and real estate
The birds do it, the bees do it, and now the frogs are doing it. There’s a small clump of trees between two of the houses across the street, and I think that’s where a male Pacific chorus frog has staked his claim. Every evening for the past few weeks I’ve heard him singing away….