Alex Does Science!

Hey there! My name is Alex (They-them), and I am a 2014 graduate of the University of Oregon Computer and Information Science program. This blog prominently features (obviously) science, technology, science fiction, and fantasy. Occasionally some of my own original stuff gets written up or posted here if I feel it's related enough to the above.

[alex-does-science]

I don’t use this blog quite as often anymore, but is any more biologically-inclined folks would like to still follow me, I have a plants and botany-specific blog at @alex-grows-pomegranates!

[alex-does-science]

I don’t use this blog quite as often anymore, but is any more biologically-inclined folks would like to still follow me, I have a plants and botany-specific blog at @alex-grows-pomegranates!

[awkwardbotany]

Charles Darwin and the Phylogeny of State Flowers and State Trees

Charles Darwin and the Phylogeny of State Flowers and State Trees

This is a guest post by Rachel Rodman. Photos by Daniel Murphy.

———————

Every U.S. state has its own set of symbols: an official flower, an official tree, and an official bird. Collectively, these organisms form the stuff of trivia and are traditionally presented in the form of a list.

But, lists…well. As charming as lists can sometimes be, lists are rarely very satisfying.

So I decided to try…

View On WordPress

[nemertea]

I guess Colorado and South Dakota are bros; I approve

[many-paths-to--tread-deactivate]

That discourse markers [such as ‘like’] are used in written CMC with any significant frequency is in itself interesting. As all the discourse markers included in the count were superfluous to the utterances being made, why do users include them at all? The answer is probably that they undermine the more formal implications of written text, lending a more speech-like tone to the utterance. The use of unnecessary discourse markers could be interpreted as a display of sociolinguistic competence, as users are aware that their use of language is socially ‘marked’, and so adopting a more casual, speech-like tone makes the user appear more casual themselves.

@tumblinguistics, “Tumblinguistics: innovation and variation in new forms of written CMC” (via many-paths-to–tread)

[principleofplenitude]

Certainly, then, words like mama and dada wouldn’t necessarily stay the same, or even close to the same, in languages around the world and over tens of thousands of years. So what happened? The answer lies with babies and how they start to talk. The pioneering linguist Roman Jakobson figured it out. If you’re a baby making a random sound, the easiest vowel is ah because you can make it without doing anything with your tongue or lips. Then, if you are going to vary things at all, the first impulse is to break up the stream of ahhh by closing your lips for a spell, especially since you’ve been doing that to nurse. Hence, mmmm, such that you get a string of mahs as you keep the sound going while breaking it up at intervals. […] Nichols has proposed that the reason a language like Yukaghir’s pronouns for I and you look so much like the mama/tata alternation—as well as why French has moi and toi and English once had me and thou—is because even as these languages have changed over time, the sounds of the words for I and you have been influenced by the way mama and tata differ. The m sound is used for what is closest—mama for Mommy and “me” for the self. The t sound—often learned just after m—is for what’s just one step removed from the closest: Daddy hovering just over there, which we can understand would feel like “you” rather than “(Mommy and) me.

“Why ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ Sound So Similar in So Many Languages” from The Atlantic (via principleofplenitude)

[solarpoweredcabbage]

(p sure the reason english speakers tend not to know as many foreign languages is because we have to burn 3 of our language slots to deal with english)

[lehaaz]

GOFUNDME: SAVE OUR NAVAJO LANGUAGE

“I never learned my Navajo language and I was never inspired to learn it.  As I got older, I realized how valuable our language is to the livelihood of our Navajo Nation. ” -Dr. Shawna L. Begay

Our Navajo or Diné language is in danger of becoming extinct.  Help us create and develop the first Navajo-English educational media TV puppet show, “Diné Bí Ná’álkid Time” which means ‘The Navajo Movie Time.’  It will inspire and teach our youth basic language skills using media as a technology tool. Parents, grandparents, children and grandkids can learn to speak Navajo  fluently together within their own homes. Long-time friends and educators, Dr. Shawna L. Begay and Charmaine Jackson have teamed up to create this new TV pilot for an all-ages audience or for anyone who wants to learn the Navajo language.   With your support, it’ll be the first educational Navajo and English puppet show that will teach and preserve the Navajo language and culture through digital media.

After several years of extensive research on the Navajo Nation, Dr. Begay recently completed her PhD from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with her doctorate thesis, ‘Developing A Navajo Media Guide: A Community Perspective.’ As project director, she quickly realized she was a pioneer on the topic.

“When I decided what topic to study I realized there existed very little research in Indigenous educational media, especially with our Navajo people,” stated Dr. Begay.  “As Navajo people, we have our own learning objectives and Navajo way of knowing is completely different for Euro-Western schooling.  I decided that I had to research and develop our own curriculum guide that is meant to teach Navajo through media.” Dr. Begay and Jackson, co-writers of the show, developed the first 3-puppet characters and plan for many more. The pilot features Nanabah-a young Navajo girl, Gáh (Rabbit) and Dlǫ̀ǫ̀ (Prairie Dog) who will go on endless adventures learning about language, gardening, the environment and the importance of family values. Nanabah is fluent in Navajo and likes to teach children about life on the reservation with her animal friends and special guests.  Children who want to learn Navajo will also be an important part of the show by interacting with Nanabah, her friends and storyline. Dr. Begay’s research concluded there exists very little research in the area of Indigenous educational media. Currently media is a very powerful tool that can be used to teach. She is cognizant of the digital age we live in and the opportunities to utilize media to revitalize the Navajo language.   “Star Wars and Finding Nemo,” dubbed in Navajo, was a great place to start and it has garnered national exposure of our language. However, we need a show based on our own Navajo learning principals our ancestors set out for us to learn and live by. I don’t think a non-Navajo, non-Native or non-Indigenous person can do that for us, nor should they.  We, as Navajo, need to produce this show ourselves, if we are to be truly sovereign,” added Dr. Begay. Both educators, Dr. Begay and Jackson, of Naalkid Productions have been talking about this educational language project for about the past four years and still have a long way to go to finance their dream. “With the support of Navajo TV Anchor Colton Shone, our team of Navajo artists, filmmakers, family and friends, this video pilot is a huge step forward,” said Jackson.  “Our journey has just begun and the big next step is finding financial support to create a whole new puppet TV series.” We aim to raise $50,000 with this project which will allow us to continue with pre-production and production aspects of making this digital media project become a reality.  We need your help to save our language by teaching Navajo to our future generations. Pre-Production: -Script writing for the pilot show -Puppet Development/Creation -Casting for puppeteers and other talent that will be on screen -Hiring of all key cast and crew Production: -Locations and permits -Rental of Studio space -Equipment: cameras, sound, lights, etc. -Cast and Crew budget

[thejusticethatissocial]

Despite all the notes on this post, they’re still at $13,155 of their $50,000 goal. 

Please keeping sharing and donate if you can! 

[ainawgsd]

Lined Leaf Tailed Gecko

Of all of the species in the genus Uroplatus, U. lineatus is by far one of the most unique of the group. They’re one of the largest Uroplatus, reaching a total length of 10-11". U. lineatus primarily inhabits the tropical and bamboo forests in eastern Madagascar. 

Keep reading

[superlinguo]

The Indigenous meteorology of Australia, knowledge on weather, calendars and climate.

The Australian Bureau of Meterology (known affectionately as The BOM), has an Indigenous Weather Knowledge portal. This portal shows the different ways of thinking about the seasons in the different areas of Australia. In a country so large, and with so many different climates, traditional European concepts likes ‘Summer’ and ‘Winter’ are often not relevant.  

Here is the weather cycle from Tiwi, in the north of Australia, with its three major seasons and thirteen minor seasons:

And these are the seasons of Gariwerd country, in my home state of Victoria in the south. Gariwerd is home to Djapwurrong and Jardwadjali speakers, and has six major seasons associated with different flora and fauna.

Thanks to the Ngaralk Instagram, which is where I originally saw this. You can see other knowledge systems from different parts of Australia on the BOM’s Indigenous Weather Knowledge portal.

See also: The seasonal ‘calendars’ of Indigenous Australia, an Explainer from Alice Gaby and Tyson Yunkaporta in The Conversation

[allthingslinguistic]

Relevant to episode 15 of Lingthusiasm, Talking and thinking about time.

[allthingslinguistic]

How to crochet your own wug 

This DIY wug pattern was very kindly sent into me by Maida Percival, a linguistics grad student at University of Toronto. See the whole pattern as a pdf here. 

[sea-nerd-adventures]

“RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!”

One of our awesome volunteers brought in this submarine as enrichment for the octos, and this little sea monster has had a fantastic time sinking the ship, causing chaos, and finding food while doing so! I love the simplicity of this little vessel as a form of enrichment, and the potential it holds for more complicated activities.

[iopele]

@the-sparkbeat

[annekubis]

Just had to share a design I recently finished up! I’ve actually had this design on the backburner for years, but got the drive to come back to finally finish it.   It’s referencing the amazing youtube channel The Brain Scoop and a discussion on conservation efforts being spent towards marketable animals like pandas vs more environmentally necessary animals like unionid bivalves.

——- Please don’t remove the caption or the watermark. Please don’t repost without permission. Thank you!

[thebrainscoop]

WAIT

HOLD ON

I NEED THIS. I’M GOING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THIS SHIRT THANK YOU @annekubis

[abracadebrah]

Weird timing – just last weekend I found the poster I made when that episode came out haha

[thebrainscoop]

I am digging this surge in bivalve fanart 

[nemertea]

This is my angry murder noodle, Garnet. She wishes to inflict bodily harm upon you and everyone you ever loved, but don’t worry she feels that way about everyone. It’s an Amazon thing.

Portfolio | Prints

[sinobug]

Geometrid Moths (Plutodes sp., Ennominae, Geometridae) Plutodes is a genus of Geometrid moths which is easily distinguishable by their yellow and brown livery. (Click on individual images and scroll for individual IDs) by Sinobug (itchydogimages) on Flickr. Pu'er, Yunnan, China See more Chinese moths on my Flickr site HERE…..

[a6]

u kno when u keysmash but the jumble of letters dont convery the right Feeling so u gotta backspace and re-keysmash to turn ur HKELSXPXA to a JKFSDKAS

[anemotionallyunstablecreature-d]

Vaguely wondering how future anthropologists will explain this…

[stanzicapparatireplayers]

*raises hand* Hi. So - the use of a keysmash is emotive. You use it to indicate that you’re so overwhelmed with emotion that you can’t even type, you’re just flailing at the keyboard.

So why is there a difference between a “hkelsxpxa” and a “jkfsdkas” or an “asdfs”?

Because language evolves! It’s actually really exciting to think about, but there’s a reason why slang is continually changing and why Old People are usually characterized by not knowing the slang variants that are being used by The Youth - it’s because the way we use words changes over time, especially in response to technological or environmental changes.

And text-based communication - texting someone on your phone, or chatting with friends on Skype or Discord - is actually really new, this is something which started in my lifetime. And grammatical rules have been evolving and settling into place around that form of communication.

For instance, linguistic researchers have noticed that anyone who’s grown up with texting being a normal thing will usually not end their texts or IMs with a period unless they’re angry or annoyed. This is because it’s a lot harder to do a run-on sentence in those mediums; you can just hit ‘enter’ and go to a new line. A period, then, becomes an indicator of emphasis, instead of an indicator of “there is nothing missing from this sentence” - and it’s an indicator of negative emphasis (rather than the positive emphasis that an exclaimation mark can give).

So, the keysmash has its own grammatical rule. And it’s one that makes sense, considering that it’s entirely possible for a keysmash to be caused accidentally - by something falling onto the keyboard, or a cat walking across it. The rule, then, is that a deliberate keysmash and an accidental one need to be distinguishable.

So a deliberate keysmash will nearly always use keys only in the home row, and usually in a particular order that isn’t likely to have happened purely accidentally.

So, future anthropologists will likely explain it as a marker of language evolving to work with a text-based medium where expressions and body language are difficult-to-impossible to convey. Much like emojis, crytyping, and whether or not you put punctuation at the end of a sentence (and in what context you do so), keysmashing is used to convey how you feel - in a way that body language and facial expressions would usually be expected to fill in the gap.

[allthingslinguistic]

I did a survey once of people who use keysmash and over half of people reported that they’d adjust a few letters or delete and re-smash when it didn’t look “right” (except for the poor Dvorak users, who had kind of given up on keysmash entirely because their vowely home row made theirs emotionally illegible to other people).

[bogleech]

this is a single celled parasite of marine worms that really looks like this

[frumpytaco]

This is actually two cells of Pterospora floridiensis! As “adults”, they squelch around in their hosts until they find another compatible individual to hook up with, upon which they divide to become hundreds of gametes (sperm and eggs). Here’s some more info about Pterospora and their relatives, the gregarines

[lingthusiasm]

Lingthusiasm Episode 16:  Learning parts of words -  Morphemes and the wug test

Here’s a strange little blue animal you’ve never seen before. It’s called a wug. Now here’s another one. There are two of them. There are two ___? 

You probably thought “wugs” – and even kids as young as 3 years old would agree with you. But how did you know this, if you’ve never heard the word “wug” before? What is it that you know, exactly, when you know how to add that -s?  

Now try saying two cat__ 🐈🐈, two dog__ 🐕🐕 and two horse__ 🐎🐎. Why did you end up with catssss but dogzzzz, and have to add a whole extra syllable to horse? 

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne bring you into the realm of language between words and sounds, the realm of morphemes like “wug” and “cat” and “-s” and “pre-” and “episode”.  What do you know subconsciously about how morphemes fit together? How do kids learn them from such an early age? How do linguists test what kids know about words? 

Wugs, in fact, are no longer often used for the wug test, because their cute, birdlike shape has become so famous as an unofficial mascot of linguistics that we can’t assume people haven’t seen the word anymore! People have made wug cookies, crochet wugs, wug memes, and more fun wug items, and you can check out some of our favourite wuggish links below. 

This month’s Patreon bonus episode is an interview with Daniel Midgley of Talk the Talk about communicating linguistics, and how we are all linguistic geniuses. We also have a new Patreon goal: at $1,200 we’re going to commission a linguist-artist to illustrate a memorable bit from the show! Everyone will get to see the art, which we’ll also make available on merch, and patrons will also get a high-resolution download and behind-the-scenes concept sketches. 

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

Take the full wug test (or try it with a child in your life!) 

The original wug test paper (Berko Gleason 1958)

wugs, blicks, and kazhes

IOLing 2003 Adyghe morphology problem

“I cooked the wrong meat for them again“ in Mayali

-spiration

Teaching yourself morphology

Morphology meme

Today’s morphology is yesterday’s syntax

Here is a list of wug stuff mentioned in this episode:

Wug cookies (1) (2) (3)

Jumping wug

The wugs are breeding

More wugs

Noots

Arrival wugs

Renaming ponytails hairwugs

Wugs on mugs

A knitted wug

One wug, two wug, red wug, blue wug

Wuge

wugalicious mock battle

A wug poem

Jean Berko Gleason, creator of the wug test, with a very large wug

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, iTunes, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening, and stay tuned for a transcript of this episode on lingthusiasm.com.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm advertising-free by supporting our Patreon. Being a patron gives you access to bonus content and lets you help decide on Lingthusiasm topics.

Lingthusiasm is on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic. Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our audio producer is Claire Gawne, our editorial producer is Emily Gref, our production assistant is Celine Yoon, and our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

[allthingslinguistic]

We’ve finally done a wug test episode! I got to mine my very deep archive of wug posts to bring you this excellently wuggish list.