I remember when Discovery Channel first aired Chasing Giants. I was so excited. I planned my schedule around it so I could eagerly watch while munching on popcorn. Needless to say, it was a big let-down. They never found a live giant squid swimming around in the deep ocean. It’s always boggled my mind that something so large has never been captured live on tape. The giant squid is truly a mystery of the deep…until now.

Finally, someone has captured images of the squid in its natural environment. Zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera caught images of the squid off the coast of the Ogasawara islands in Japan by setting up bait lines, each one equipped with a camera, timer, strobe light, depth sensor, data logger and depth-activated switch, at depths between 400 and 500 meters to 800 and 1,000 meters.

Sperm whales come to the area between September and December to hunt food (giant squid) and are known to dive to depths of 800 to 1,000 feet during the day and 400 to 500 feet during the night. Kubodera used this data to determine 23 deployment areas for his bait line. The pictures show the squid attacking the bait and strangling the prey. It also got tangled up in the line and left behind a 5.5 meter severed tentacle.

It’s been a longtime theory that the giant squid use the longer tentacles like a fishing line, dangling them down to attract prey. These images show that theory to be false. The giant squid is much more aggressive than scientists thought and strangle its prey in the same way a boa constrictor does.

So, no swimming off the coast of Japan between September and December in depths of 400 feet or more at night.

Ninja Nun asked:
1. When did you first start collecting elephants, and why?

I can’t remember when I first started collecting elephants. It started after the Strawberry Shortcake craze. I think the first elephant was Ella. Ella is (I say is, because I still have her) a silky puffy stuffed animal that went everywhere with me. After Ella, I just decided that elephants were my thing. They’re smart and really cute and I love them all. You know that MasterCard commercial that takes place in a “candy� shop except the candy is represented by cruise ships and safari trips? I truly believe that one day science will allow me to have a pet elephant that can be kept in an aquarium like the one on that commercial.

2. What are a few of your favorite things in life (I’ll leave this one completely open to your interpretation)?

When I think of favorite things in my life, I don’t really think of things. They’re more like people and experiences. As sappy as it sounds, Chris is one of my all time favorite “things� in life. I think we have a very unconventional relationship because I don’t see us as a normal couple. We’re more like best buddies (with benefits). My family would probably have to be another favorite. They drive me completely insane half the time, but when ever I think of them, little funny memories flash through my brain that make me smile. One time we went on a short trip to Branson. It was me, Chris, Mom, Dad, Randy, Katrina, and JR. JR was little, like two or three, and the two of us road next to each other in the van and laughed the entire way to Branson. I think of that day and get the giggles. Hooper is also another favorite. I’ve never had a dog with as much facial expressions as he has. He totally cracks me up. Actually, in general, things that make me laugh tend to be my favorite things in life.

3. If a Boggart was in your closet, what shape would it take when it saw you?

Easy question. It would be a spider. No, not just one spider, but thousands of them. Crawling out of the closet and on to me and into my hair. Ok, I have to go take a shower now. I just creeped myself out.

This has been a big year for the hurricane season, with our second category 4 hurricane hitting the US today. Hurricane season is supposed to end with September, but the NOAA predicts hurricanes and tropical storms well into November. So what’s with all the storms this year?

Hurricanes are brought on by warmer than normal water temperatures and low wind shear. The big debate lies in why the waters are warmer than normal. Some scientists say it’s just normal weather cycles, but others believe the warmer waters are due to global warming. Simulation studies have shown that increased levels of atmospheric CO2 may not increase the number of hurricanes, but does increase the intensity of the hurricane.

I’m one of those people who straddle the fence on this debate. The earth does go through different weather cycles (the Ice Age is a good example), but we also can’t deny the influence of man on weather conditions. For instance we know that it’s always going to be hotter in cities then country areas. Pavement and smog all contribute in trapping heat. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist put two and two together.

So, Ninja Nun wants the blog world to ask her questions and if you ask her you have to be prepared to answer some too. This seemed like an OK idea ’cause it would give me something to blog about. I’ve become the blaze blogger.

1. Ask me 3 questions. Any 3, no matter how personal, private or random.

2. I have to answer them honestly. I have to answer them all.

3. In turn, you post this message on your own blog or journal and you have to answer the questions that are asked of you.

I’m adding a fourth rule.

4. I stop answering questions when this entry disappears at the end of the week (I’m afraid will end up answering questions for ever).

I’m still slowly scanning old photos into iPhoto. I just can’t get over the difference between enhanced and non-enhanced pictures. It’s amazing! The below image is a good example, and yes, that’s me in the backpack.

My dad is not a computer person, so he doesn’t really understand any of this stuff. I showed him the before and after pictures and even he was impressed. He couldn’t believe that the image had faded that much over the years. The thing is I always remember that picture looking yellowish. I thought it was supposed to look that way. I think that is why I am so amazed at the differences.

“These analyses were phenomenological in nature because none of the specific components making up the autophagic machinery were known.”
- Daniel J Klionsky et al

I know, I know. I totally spaced on Friday Science, but I was too busy at work this week to even prepare anything. Now it looks like Friday Science is going to turn into Random Science. Fridays are going to get a little more hectic since I’ve decided to start going to a noon yoga class at the Y on Mondays and Fridays. So, unless I think ahead and get the entry done before Friday, it’s just not going to happen.

In the meantime, I will entertain you with old family photos because I’ve finally started scanning them into iPhotos. Maybe it’s a sense of impending doom or just recent catastrophes, but I would like to have my photos in a safe place. Everytime I’ve scanned a picture in, then clicked the enhance button in iPhotos, I am constantly amazed at how much the original photo has deteriorated. I have this one picture where it looks like my sister is wearing a navy blue sweater, but really she was wearing a bright blue sweater. Crazy!

The above photo is proof that I’ve always had a gut and that my sister has always been the rail thin stick-figure girl. That was probably the only time I’ve ever worn a bikini and its only because I didn’t know any better.

There’s this really nicely paved trail that starts out at our local library and I’m always wondering where it goes. So, the other night, Chris and I decided to walk it. It leads under I-40 into Ray Trent Park and I think it’s about two miles long or so.

Parts of the trail are kind of creepy, like the part that goes under I-40. You really get a good up-close look at how bad our roads and bridges are. But, for the most part, it’s not a bad place to walk.

We didn’t notice the graffiti can until our second trip to the park.

Since then, I’ve been trying to work this phrase into daily conversations.

So PBS has been running the Origins series and Chris and I were able to catch one of the episodes this week. What we saw made us sit up on the edge of the couch in total awe. The episode we caught was talking about early earth, before any form of life. During that time the earth was bombarded with asteroids and comets. Earth was a scary unpredictable place. One impact was so large it broke off enough fragments that eventually formed our moon. But there was no life. So where did the building blocks of life come from?

Many scientists believe that the chemicals or amino acids needed to form life were brought to the planet on one of the many asteroids or comets that hit earth. Comets would be the best explanation because it’s basically a big ball of frozen debris. The comet evaporates upon impact, but the left over dust particles get dispersed.

Geochemist Jennifer Blank and her research team built a sort of cannon that would simulate a comet impact by placing the sample under pressure. She created a core that could be filled with amino acids and then fired out the cannon. First they wanted to see if the core itself would survive impact and secondly to see what would happen to the amino acids. The cool thing is that not only did the amino acids survive, but they formed together to make up polypeptides (more complex chemicals that make up things like cell walls).

This of course doesn’t prove that life came from comets, but it does prove that it’s a good possibility. Be sure to check out more of the Origins series on your local PBS channel. You’re sure to learn something that will completely surprise you.