Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
One can make principled arguments about how intellectual property in the digital age stifles creativity, or perhaps an historical argument that copyright is overextended beyond what the founding fathers intended in the Constitution. I would be impressed, honestly, if even one of my many infringers responded to a takedown request with just such a line [...]
This is a typical satellite capture from the middle regions of North America. We can gnash our teeth and pull our hair about disappearing bees and butterflies, but until we address the fact that approximately 100% of the ex-prairie landscape above is either plowed under, paved over, or lawned in, we’re just fiddling at the [...]
I’m curious. Given the imminent demise of Google Reader, how many of you actually use it to follow blogs?
Boy? Or Girl? Several months hence, one Myrmecos point will be awarded to each person who guesses whether our little first instar is XX or XY.
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Apparently Google has decided my gallery site, alexanderwild.com, isn’t worth listing. Yesterday I was the #1 hit for “insect photography”. Today, nothing. It’s like the site never existed. Needless to say, invisibility is not good. I am looking into it. [update 2/12] I’m back to being visible again! Possibly, the problem was the way I’d set [...]
Back from one trip and off to the next! This week I’ll be attending the Science Online conference in North Carolina, a significant event for science bloggers. As this will be my first one I’m pretty excited. If you are also going to be there, don’t be shy about introducing yourself. In the meantime, here’s what’s left [...]
The oddly contradictory activity of nature blogging means there are times when I actually have to leave the keyboard and go find some nature. This is one of those times! We’ll be off in the warm jungles of Belize for the next week or so holding BugShot’s first tropical insect photography workshop. Internet access will [...]
Ten years ago I bought my first digital SLR, a 6-megapixel Canon D60. I wasn’t good at it, but my lack of skill didn’t deter me from carrying the new camera all over California to photograph ants anywhere I could find them. I still discover forgotten gems hidden among the archives. This 2004 photograph shows [...]
In the comments, Vladimir Dinets asks a deceptively simple question: A quick question: why do so many tropical ants sting, while those in Boreal latitudes never do? My first response is that Vladimir’s premise isn’t quite right: after all, the jack jumper stinging me above is from temperate, not tropical, Australia, and some of the [...]
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net; or follow @Myrmecos on Twitter.
