Arkansas Science Festival

Since I love science and technology, some of you have probably heard me say, "All science, all the time" when asked about my interests and this blog. Well, here is another chance to share science research and discoveries. On October 6th, 2014, I will be hosting a Science Cafe at Godfrey's in Jonesboro, AR, starting at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Arkansas Science Festival.

The topic is: Rocket Science - Motors, Models, and Microorganisms in Space Exploration. My panelists will be David Thomas, Ph.D., Prof. of Biology, Lyon College, Ed Wilson, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, Harding University, and Tillman Kennon, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Science Education, Arkansas State University. Each of these folks do research in various aspects of space exploration. It will be a fun and relaxed evening with each panelist speaking for a few minutes about his work and then the event opened up for Q&A.

I may also be persuaded to provide a few stories from my 13 years at NASA- Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX and will have a some of my science books available for purchase afterwards. I look forward to seeing you there! Go science!

Crickets in Hawaii Go Silent

Flatwing cricket )Teleogryllus oceanicus)

Some people might not like the chirping sound that crickets make. I love it (except in the middle of the night from under the bed). 

In Hawaii, happy chirping crickets (trying to attract mates) attracted parasitic, burrowing flies (Ormia ochracea) that preyed on them by listening for their sounds. 

University of Minnesota biologist, Marlene Zuk, Ph.D. has studied crickets in Kauai since 1991. Every year that she traveled to the islands offered fewer and fewer cricket calls until there was silence in 2003. 

It turns out the crickets hadn't disappeared, but simply evolved into stealth mode to survive the predatory flies. Original males that rubbed their wings together like a file on comb teeth to attract females were targeted by the flies, but new and improved males with newly mutated wings (without the file/teeth structures) were safe. The silent crickets flourished "under the radar" of the burrowing flies and grew in numbers.

The same thing happened on the island of Oahu roughly 3 years later in a case of independent evolutionary convergence. (Mother Nature catches on when she has a good thing!)

It looks like the strong, silent type of male is attractive in the cricket world, too.
Go science!