Symphony of Science

Mysterious (to me at least) frog identity found.....

The mysterious green frog that climbed my window last September is a Gray Tree Frog! Hyla versicolor! What threw me in attempted identification was the colour. It took me a three-month interaction with specimens at the Natural History Museum to finally make the discovery. The main problem that I had in identification was the gray bit. I didn't know they could be green, nor that they could be metachrosis, or change colour to match their environment.

Here's the breakdown of the species: http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Hyla&where-species=versicolor&account=amphibiaweb

Geology question: Pukaskwa

Two ladders in this photograph, one is a close up the other is very far away, so look closely. How can a ladder like structure form in a rock face? Is it weathering? Was there a mineral in this rock face that weathered away and the rocks remaining are more resistant? Was freeze-thaw action working on the rocks? How did this develop?

Scientific Thought

Basic Definitions of Science: If it's green or wiggles, it's biology. If it stinks, it's chemistry. If it doesn't work, it's physics.

Things are only impossible until they're not.

Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity. -- Albert Einstein

Cole's Axiom: The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant. The population is growing

Black holes are where God divided by zero

In theory, there is no difference
between theory and practice.
In practice, however, there is

Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same
thing as division

The atom of modern physics can be symbolized only through a partial differential equation in an abstract space of many dimensions. All its properties are inferential; no material properties can be directly attributed to it. That is to say, any picture of the atom that our imagination is able to invent is for that very reason defective. An understanding of the atomic world in that primary sensuous fashion...is impossible
- Heisenberg

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny..." ~Isaac Asimov

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. ~Wernher Von Braun

The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music. ~Lewis Thomas

Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. ~Robert K. Merton, Social Theory, 1957

The whole history of physics proves that a new discovery is quite likely lurking at the next decimal place. ~F.K. Richtmeyer

Science, in the very act of solving problems, creates more of them. ~Abraham Flexner, Universities, 1930

Science is always wrong. It never solves a problem without creating ten more. ~George Bernard Shaw

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ~Eden Phillpotts, A Shadow Passes

Mysterious Frog

September 13th, I look up from my computer and see a frog on the other side of the glass door. Small, able to climb glass. I take pics, use hand to reference size. About a half hour later, a second frog is beside the first. By morning, both were gone. The night was about 10-15 C. Neither frog made a sound. I cannot identify them. Are they even native to Canada?

September 13th, 2008 - Waterloo, ON