Last week I blogged about the #SciFund project I'm participating in over at RocketHub as an experiment in crowdfunding science. My goal for the Catsnails project is $5,000 - a very modest amount compared to the usual grant proposal budget. Thus far the project is at 12% of the funding goal (thank you to all the fuelers!). There are only 38 days left to reach the goal, and the response rate has dropped off dramatically since last Friday.
Would you like to help? There are some pretty cool rewards for donating - every little bit will help - so please consider donating to the project. I'll be very grateful on behalf on the undergraduate students who conduct research in my lab. All of the funds raised will be going toward a project that is underway right now with three very bright undergrads doing the benchwork. If you could help spread the word by sharing the link, that would be a big help as well.
Here's the link to the #SciFund site that describes my project: Cats Nails - a parasitic plant of South Africa.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
My scientific "bake sale"
Dear Readers,
I'm participating in the SciFund challenge, which is an effort to raise money for research via unconventional methods. Usually scientists have to wait for grant proposal opportunities, which are becoming more and more challenging every year because Federal and state budgets are being cut back all the time. So, this is a first attempt at work outside the box.
My goal is to raise $5,000 by December 15, 2011 - a modest amount that will go towards field research and laboratory supplies. Please contribute (every little bit helps), and please spread the word. This is a crowdfunding effort, which needs to take advantage of social media and personal contacts. Every contribution level has a reward (check out the $1000 level if you are a collector of wood art). Thanks for your help!
Here's the link to my RocketHub site: Cats Nails - a parasitic plant of South Africa
I'm participating in the SciFund challenge, which is an effort to raise money for research via unconventional methods. Usually scientists have to wait for grant proposal opportunities, which are becoming more and more challenging every year because Federal and state budgets are being cut back all the time. So, this is a first attempt at work outside the box.
My goal is to raise $5,000 by December 15, 2011 - a modest amount that will go towards field research and laboratory supplies. Please contribute (every little bit helps), and please spread the word. This is a crowdfunding effort, which needs to take advantage of social media and personal contacts. Every contribution level has a reward (check out the $1000 level if you are a collector of wood art). Thanks for your help!
Here's the link to my RocketHub site: Cats Nails - a parasitic plant of South Africa
Monday, October 31, 2011
Foxglove
Digitalis - introduced from Europe, it is now widespread along roadsides, trails and disturbed areas in the western United States.
Despite its introduced status, I'm always heartened to see this plant in bloom when I'm in the Pacific Northwest. This one was photographed along a trail in the Seattle, Washington area.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Phyllaries
What's a phyllary, you may ask? Well, maybe you wouldn't, so I'll tell you.
A phyllary is a modified scale-like bract that subtends the inflorescence of a flower in the Asteraceae. That's the sunflower family for you non-botany nerds out there.
I like this presentation of the common sunflowers we have in our Ohio prairies. It highlights the interesting phyllaries that support the big flower heads of these beautiful plants.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Tree in the mist
We've had a severe fog warning for parts of Franklin County this morning. I didn't get out to do a photo shoot this particular morning, but this photo is from last Saturday.
Fog photos are really hard to do. If you add any contrast, you lose the effect of the fog, but if you don't do something in the post process, the image is flat and uninteresting. For this photo, I did a filter in Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 that enabled me to get some detail extracted without losing the soft effect of the fog and blue-hour lighting from just before sunrise.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
St. John's Wort
Something for a gloomy day. Hypericum is the botanical name for this plant, which is used for treating depression in the herbal remedy market. I've heard from some that it works wonders, but I'm always a bit hesitant to dabble in herbal remedies. This industry has no safeguards for the American public, and there are no standards for dosage, quality, processing, purity, etc.
At any rate, it's a lovely flower. This one was seen in the Oregon Siskiyous last June while I was at the American Penstemon Society meeting. We had a lovely day in the field looking for Penstemons, serpentine outcrops, and as many wildflowers as possible.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Bee's eye view
Penstemon laetus from the Siskiyous of Oregon. I visited this during a field trip for the American Penstemon Society meeting last July.
The weird thing about this population of P. laetus was that most of the flowers were missing their anthers. Some insect munched on them. So, it was a treat to find a flower that still had the anthers.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tiger Lily
Just needed a reminder of warmer and sunnier days. This is from July 9, 2011 - taken in the Siskiyous of southern Oregon.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Harvest time awaits
I was really undecided about which version of this photo to post today. I did it in color first, which is really nice, but when I converted to monochrome and experimented with some filter settings, I liked the effect here a lot. I'll post the color version below this so you can see the differences.
Here is the color version for comparison. I really like both images, but the monochrome has a much different feel to it than does the color version.
Here is the color version for comparison. I really like both images, but the monochrome has a much different feel to it than does the color version.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Pumpkin time!
Today we were in Granville because Meghan was taking the ACT test at the high school. Steve and I enjoyed a pre-sunrise stroll in the fog and took lots of interesting photos at sunrise. After warming up at a local coffee shop, we strolled through the farmers market. I bought 7 lbs worth of butternut squash, several pounds of pie pumpkins, fresh tomatoes and a selection of interesting jams.
The famers market was very colorful and full of interesting people to chat with.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Blue Hour
There is a special time between sunset and full dark known in photography as the "blue hour." The lighting features the soft hues of blues, pinks and magentas, and it's a lovely, but challenging time, to shoot photos.
This one is from Lincolnville Beach, Maine, taken August 22, 2011.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Mount Cadillac
Back to Maine today for a view of Mount Cadillac in the fog. This is in Acadia National Park - a beautiful place to see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
