Tag Archives: blog

natural history, science

Nature’s Legs

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A few days ago I spotted a mosquito on the bathroom wall. Now we’ve all seen mosquitos before but on this occasion I was fascinated by it’s size and anatomy – especially its incredible legs; thin as the finest silk thread.

Culex mosquito
Culex mosquito

How does Nature make such structures – and make them functional? Scientist though I am, it baffles my brain and I can quite see why some people believe in “intelligent design”.

Surely those legs cannot be anything more than stiff supports. Insects have an exoskeleton in contrast to our endoskeleton. The legs need nerves, muscles and circulation to make then more than fixed supports. Legs can move, allowing their owner to walk, clean itself, and even jump. The muscles have to attach to the inside of the exoskeleton, and there have to be nerves – and a method of supplying energy – to trigger them into action.

Insect circulation doesn’t work the way ours does as they do not have hearts: basically they use haemolymph which can diffuse around their small bodies, or be pumped by, for instance, muscular membranes. Some insects use this as a system of hydraulics, in combination with the muscles, to move legs etc. – apparently muscles to move a joint one way, and hydraulics for the reverse. All of which must be under some form of nerve control – and they don’t have that many nerves running from their tiny brains.

Even more weirdly, some insects (eg. jumping spiders, plant hoppers) have a system of gears which work their legs. Crazy or what?

two rice brown plant hoppers
Rice brown planthopper

Just how can these structures be created? You would think they’re so tiny they cannot be even one cell thick – but they have to be many, many cells thick. Which just goes to show how tiny our cells are.

I know evolution has had billions of years to achieve its designs, but I still struggle with how any living thing works or has evolved. Yes, I know the theories, and I can understand it as abstract pieces of mechanics and chemistry. However I really struggle coming to terms with how it all evolved, how it all works – together – and the sheer complexity of living organisms. When you think about it, it really shouldn’t be possible.

quotes

Monthly Quotes for April

Here is this month’s selection of recently encountered quotes …

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
[JRR Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring]

Intricacies of social life make English habits unyielding to simplification, while understatement and irony – in which all classes of this island converse – upset the normal emphasis of reported speech.
[Anthony Powell; The Acceptance World]

There were a lot of fools at that conference – pompous fools – and pompous fools drive me up the wall. Ordinary fools are alright; you can talk to them, and try to help them out.
[Richard Feynman]

What’s the difference between prose and poetry? The most parsimonious explanation is this: a poet dictates where the lines end.
[Simon Barnes; Anthony Powell Society Newsletter; Spring 2025]

A Naturist is simply a human being without “Artificial Additives”.
[Leah Crowley]

I should think there would be more chance of your child choking to death on a chocolate bar than of becoming seriously ill from a measles immunization. So what on earth are you worrying about? It really is almost a crime to allow your child to go unimmunized.
[Roald Dahl]

Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not to offend the imbeciles.
[Fyodor Dostoevsky]

Politicians sometimes have trouble believing in the reality of things that can’t be intimidated, co-opted, or bought off. Fools, as I say.
[Derek Lowe, Science.org]

I hate small talks. I wanna talk about atoms, death, aliens, sex, magic, intellect, the meaning of life, faraway galaxies, the lies you’ve told, your flaws, your favourite scents, your childhood, what keeps you up at night, your insecurity and fears. I like people with depth, who speak with emotion, a twisted mind. I don’t want to know “what’s up”.
[unknown]

What if plants are actually farming us, giving us oxygen until we expire and turn into manure (their food) which they can consume?
[unknown]

If a man will stand up and assert, and repeat, and re-assert, that two and two do not make four, I know nothing in the power of argument that can stop him.
[Abraham Lincoln]

By the numbers, the tariffs are less an expression of economic theory and more a Dadaist art piece about the meaninglessness of expertise.
[Derek Thompson; The Atlantic; 03/04/2025]

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.
[Edward R Murrow]

memes, science

April Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Geography

  1. In what country would you find Mount Kilimanjaro? Tanzania
  2. What is the largest desert in Asia? Gobi Desert
  3. Which river flows through the Grand Canyon? Colorado River
  4. Which country bordering India measures it’s success in terms of “gross national happiness”? Bhutan
  5. Which country makes up more than half the western coastline of South America? Chile
  6. There’s a town in the Peloponnese region of Greece with a namesake food item known for its purple colour and smooth meaty texture. What is this fruit? Kalamata Olive

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

books, memes, quotes

This Month’s Poem

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The Hunting of the Snark (opening)
Lewis Carroll

“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.”

The crew was complete: it included a Boots –
A maker of Bonnets and Hoods –
A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes –
And a Broker, to value their goods.

A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense,
Might perhaps have won more than his share –
But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense,
Had the whole of their cash in his care.

There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck,
Or would sit making lace in the bow:
And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck
Though none of the sailors knew how.

Find this poem online at Poetry Foundation

amusements, memes

Ten Things

This year our Ten Things column each month is alternating between composers and artists a century at a time from pre-1500 to 20th century. As always, there’s no guarantee you will have heard of them all!

Ten Artists Born in 16th Century

  1. Pieter Bruegel the Elder
    Pieter Bruegel the Elder
    The Peasant Wedding
  2. Nicolas Poussin
  3. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
  4. Anthony van Dyck
  5. Giuseppe Arcimboldo
  6. El Greco
  7. Nicholas Hilliard
  8. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
  9. Frans Hals
  10. Hendrick Avercamp
memes, science, words

April Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Geography

  1. In what country would you find Mount Kilimanjaro?
  2. What is the largest desert in Asia?
  3. Which river flows through the Grand Canyon?
  4. Which country bordering India measures it’s success in terms of “gross national happiness”?
  5. Which country makes up more than half the western coastline of South America?
  6. There’s a town in the Peloponnese region of Greece with a namesake food item known for its purple colour and smooth meaty texture. What is this fruit?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.