billy dalto

No stranger to controversy, I am a supporter of algae postage...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:53:16 -0500

No stranger to controversy, I am a supporter of algae postage stamps. This one features Corethron criophilum, an Antarctic marine diatom, and would be perfect for mailing diatom party invitations.

Image source.

From here, either a periodic table or a board game.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:38:59 -0500

From here, either a periodic table or a board game.

mills: Ills Manor, Est. 2008 (larger) I got many nice presents...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:31:55 -0500

mills:

Ills Manor, Est. 2008 (larger)

I got many nice presents for surviving -in the face of no obstacles whatever- another year, from the gifts from the Locomotive Sisters to the kind note from Andy (happy birthday!) to Abby’s presence here in Louisiana to well-wishes from many to gifts from family, friends, and coworkers. It was all much more than I deserve, not solely because I’m a reprobate but also because -and I here channel my inner-athlete in the post-game homily of empty phrases- I just came out and tried to execute on metabolizing and not getting killed.

So I don’t want to slight anyone when I say that as far as presents go, Lacey’s absolutely incredible gift is hard to beat: a sturdy and beautifully-made wooden sign for application to the front of the ostentatious compound I share with Will and which is known far and wide as Ills Manor.

None fighting through the surrounding swamps to attend one of our lavish cocktail parties will ever again wonder, Which mansion do those guys live in? It’s the one that says Ills Manor, chum. Now get inside and grab yourself a Clearly Canadian.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lacey! What an awesome present!

An emissary has been dispatched to announce our presence to a nearby house called Shadows on Letitia.

As you may have read, Halloween in New Orleans with Calvin and...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:11:27 -0500

As you may have read, Halloween in New Orleans with Calvin and Hobbes was quite eventful, and unfortunately yielded images produced using electromagnetic radiation outside of the visible spectrum. Mills has posted an excellent flickr set of the evening.

Porphyridium: Unicellular. Eukaryotic. Single stellate plastid....

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:21:35 -0500

Porphyridium: Unicellular. Eukaryotic. Single stellate plastid. Chlorophyll a. Phycoerythrin. WANT.

Image from here.

Trentepohlia is a terrestrial genus of branched filamentous...

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:50:38 -0400

Trentepohlia is a terrestrial genus of branched filamentous algae named for mycologist Johann Friedrich Trentepohl. They are considered green algae, though the presence in their cells of carotene-containing lipid droplets gives a red-orange appearance. This group is believed to have evolved from marine ancestors but their transition to land, much like the continued operation of my car, is not well understood.

Photo from here.

From the Smithsonian Institute is this photo of Kathleen Mary...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:40:41 -0400

From the Smithsonian Institute is this photo of Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker, the British phycologist who elucidated the previously mentioned life cycle of Porphyra. Her discovery that the genus Conchocelis was actually the filamentous sporophyte phase of Porphyra allowed Japanese farmers to begin mass cultivation of this tasty seaweed.

This is the life cycle of the red algal genus Porphyra, which is...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:38:30 -0400

This is the life cycle of the red algal genus Porphyra, which is grown to produce nori, an important agricultural product. This group exhibits an heteromorphic alternation of generations. Interestingly, the foliose gametophyte phase and the much smaller sporophyte phase have such different morphologies that the latter was originally placed in genus Conchocelis, as it was not thought to be the same organism.

Diagram from here.

Requests: 1. Lose the freckles 2. Learn to drive 3. Stop trying...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:30:29 -0400

Requests: 1. Lose the freckles 2. Learn to drive 3. Stop trying to sell me that turtle

Photo of a photo by Mills.

I am an unbranched filamentous green alga of genus Spirogyra. I...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:52:55 -0400

I am an unbranched filamentous green alga of genus Spirogyra. I have beautiful ribbon shaped chloroplasts tastefully arranged in spirals within my cells.

I can reproduce both asexually and sexually. Embarrassingly, the latter is occurring in the photo above, where two neighboring filaments are connected by conjugation tubes. This image was mistakenly printed by a tabloid whose myopic editors thought they’d caught a member of Spyro Gyra in the act. Now I’m left to deal with a rug that’s been micturated upon and a jazz fusion band that won’t return my calls. FML.

Image from here.

Once again from the Nikon Small World galleries is this confocal...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:20:00 -0400

Once again from the Nikon Small World galleries is this confocal image of Coscinodiscus wailesii, its frustule in green and chloroplasts in red. It was originally found in the Pacific Ocean but has also spread to the Atlantic Ocean, where it’s considered an invasive species. C. wailesii can survive for long periods in darkness, which indicates it was transported to the Atlantic in ballast water.

jackjuly: Diatoms and algae, from this pictorial. Also my...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:47:28 -0400

jackjuly:

Diatoms and algae, from this pictorial. Also my first glimpse of the diatom party.

Since I don’t do bubble baths, this is my Sunday evening treat. Diatom party!

Neurons of this three day old zebrafish larva were labelled...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:18:34 -0400

Neurons of this three day old zebrafish larva were labelled using the Brainbow technique, developed by Harvard’s Jeff Lichtman and Joshua Sanes, I’ve mentioned previously. Jack July has also posted a few nice images from the Lichtman lab.

Photo by Y. Albert Pan from Nikon’s Small World.

I am the blue-green alga Merismopedia. I promised billy I...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:15:29 -0400

I am the blue-green alga Merismopedia. I promised billy I wouldn’t complain but he’ll never know because he’s at the gym right now. He left with his purple fanny pack which means it’s jazzercise night. When he gets home, I’ll distract him by asking for about the tenth time whether trans fats are good or bad. He’ll probably even diagram a hydrogenation reaction for me. Total snooze fest.

So here’s the deal: I’m unicellular. I’m found in freshwater and marine environments. My rectangular colony is held together by a mucilaginous matrix. I really want to try fun new layouts for our colony like a spiral or maybe even a pumpkin. The neighborhood association doesn’t approve of anything except the same boring grid arrangement we’ve always had. FML.

Image from here.

I’m a blue-green alga of genus Cyanothece. I don’t...

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:36:42 -0400

I’m a blue-green alga of genus Cyanothece. I don’t like to complain but here’s the problem: I’m forced to rely on temporal separation of nitrogen fixation and photosystem II in order to avoid deactivation of nitrogenase by oxygen. This is such a drag because I’m friends with Anabaena, who can form specialized cells for nitrogen fixation. I don’t have heterocysts. FML.

Image from here.

I’ve recently given a lot of attention to eukaryotes,...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:54:29 -0400

I’ve recently given a lot of attention to eukaryotes, completely neglecting my prokaryotic friends from genus Anabaena, a group of filamentous blue-green algae. In this photo, darker green vegetative cells are interspersed with translucent heterocysts, specialized cells where nitrogen fixation takes place.

Image from here.

Corroboration

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:22:37 -0400

I can confirm Mills, Abby, and I finally met Ngan before the LSU game on Saturday. Though LSU only managed to score a disappointing 3 points, I’m sure LSU’s mother still loves him and thinks he’s very handsome and talented.

I was glad to meet Ngan. Diatoms were mentioned but not discussed at any length (everyone knows a diatom party can only begin after halftime). I only hope her new entrepreneurial venture is meant to fund some very inexpensive addictions.

These two animals will be made to fight. The victor will feast...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:22:09 -0400

These two animals will be made to fight. The victor will feast at Medieval Times.

Photo from Life archive.

The Economist mentions a recent study pinning a series of mass...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:53:35 -0400

The Economist mentions a recent study pinning a series of mass animals deaths in Wyoming’s Fossil Lake on the release of neurotoxins by dinoflagellates. Although I was fully prepared to take a break from dinoflagellates, it seems they intend to continue provoking me.

Image from here.

While doing cardio this evening, I realized how tired I am of...

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:21:40 -0400

While doing cardio this evening, I realized how tired I am of not having any mention of Volvox on this blog. Volvox is a freshwater green alga that forms spherical colonies. As Jack July mentioned a few months ago, these colonies have some wicked dance moves made possible by outward-facing flagella that are also used to propel them towards light.

When a new Volvox colony is formed, all of its flagella are on the inside of the sphere, a configuration suited only for an algal fireworks show. Each colony solves this problem by turning inside out. In this video, this happens at roughly the :25 and :40 second marks.