Browsing the internet the other day I found some amazing work one man and his father had completed over the past year. Nick Risinger quit his job and travelled around the globe taking extremely well-planned photos to piece together an entire picture of the Earth's night sky. The picture itself is 5 gigapixels in size (5,000 megapixels) and was stitched together from 37,440 individual photographs. It features ten of millions of stars, red clouds of glowing hydrogen, and is absolutely breathtaking. The fact that the stars seen in this photo are thought to be less than 0.001% of the total in our galaxy alone is beyond belief and really poses the question - in time, what amazing thing will we discover throughout the universe?
The night sky
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
LSU
In August I will be moving to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, to study for a PhD at Louisiana State University (LSU). This will take about 5-6 years to complete, and will include around two years of coursework, some teaching of undergraduate students, and a major component of research in the field of evolutionary ecology, which I'm excited and a little nervous about.
The research I will be conducting will be looking at the evolution of latitudinal gradients in plant-herbivore interactions between the Common reed (Phragmites australis) and its suite of insect herbivores. I'll be doing field work in both Phragmites native (Europe) and invasive (North America) home ranges. This is something I'm particularly excited about as it will provide me with a good opportunity to travel up North America's east coast and the west coast of North Africa and Europe.
For those interested in a bit more detail on the project, the Phragmites genus consists of at least 27 haplotypes, basically a term for organisms which are genetically (and often morphologically) distinct, but are not recognised as separate species as they may still interbreed. There are up to 15 different haplotypes of Phragmites in North America, most of which are native, but at least one of which is an aggressively invasive species originally from Eurasia, which is slowly displacing native Phragmites haplotypes throughout the United States. Because the native and invasive haplotypes occur together in many places (especially along the east coast of the United States), this provides a unique study system with which to look at the effects of short term evolution (i.e. the separation into separate haplotypes of the Phragmites genus) on plant-herbivore interactions. By examining any differences in plant-herbivore interactions between haplotypes (such as herbivore diversity, density and abundance, and plant palatability and chemical defence levels) along an eastern North America transect and a similar North Africa/Europe transect, we can investigate just what factors contribute to particular haplotypes of Phragmites being successful invasive species. This is just one of several interesting research questions which I will be investigating during the course of my PhD research. Even more information on the project can be found here.
All in all, I think this is actually the perfect PhD research project for me. It is based around studying evolutionary processes with a highly regarded advisor (Dr. Jim Cronin), includes amazing travel opportunities, expands on some skills I have already acquired, and will teach me a wide range of new skills for my future career.
Aside from the academic side of things, LSU seems like it is an amazing university to go to and has plenty to offer in the way of socialising and extracurricular activites. The main thing I'm excited about is watching College Football. LSU has one of the best college league american football teams in the whole country, and a stadium with a reputation that appears to even succeed their sparkling football history. The stadium is called Tiger Stadium, holds 92,400 people (sixteenth largest stadium in the world!), and is known by the nickname Death Valley. This is because it's known to be the loudest stadium around - the noise coming from the stadium on one occasion resulted in an earthquake being recorded at the LSU's geological sciences department.
Approximately 75 days until I leave...
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| Phragmites australis seed head |
For those interested in a bit more detail on the project, the Phragmites genus consists of at least 27 haplotypes, basically a term for organisms which are genetically (and often morphologically) distinct, but are not recognised as separate species as they may still interbreed. There are up to 15 different haplotypes of Phragmites in North America, most of which are native, but at least one of which is an aggressively invasive species originally from Eurasia, which is slowly displacing native Phragmites haplotypes throughout the United States. Because the native and invasive haplotypes occur together in many places (especially along the east coast of the United States), this provides a unique study system with which to look at the effects of short term evolution (i.e. the separation into separate haplotypes of the Phragmites genus) on plant-herbivore interactions. By examining any differences in plant-herbivore interactions between haplotypes (such as herbivore diversity, density and abundance, and plant palatability and chemical defence levels) along an eastern North America transect and a similar North Africa/Europe transect, we can investigate just what factors contribute to particular haplotypes of Phragmites being successful invasive species. This is just one of several interesting research questions which I will be investigating during the course of my PhD research. Even more information on the project can be found here.
All in all, I think this is actually the perfect PhD research project for me. It is based around studying evolutionary processes with a highly regarded advisor (Dr. Jim Cronin), includes amazing travel opportunities, expands on some skills I have already acquired, and will teach me a wide range of new skills for my future career.
Aside from the academic side of things, LSU seems like it is an amazing university to go to and has plenty to offer in the way of socialising and extracurricular activites. The main thing I'm excited about is watching College Football. LSU has one of the best college league american football teams in the whole country, and a stadium with a reputation that appears to even succeed their sparkling football history. The stadium is called Tiger Stadium, holds 92,400 people (sixteenth largest stadium in the world!), and is known by the nickname Death Valley. This is because it's known to be the loudest stadium around - the noise coming from the stadium on one occasion resulted in an earthquake being recorded at the LSU's geological sciences department.
Approximately 75 days until I leave...
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| LSU campus featuring Tiger Stadium |
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Best Country in the World
While I'm overseas studying I'm pretty sure that there are going to be moments when I feel homesick. I'm not really looking forward to it, because let's face it, New Zealand is a pretty damn good place to live. I think the single best thing is the large amount of unspoilt wilderness. From almost anywhere in the country you can drive for less then two hours and find yourself on a deserted beach with golden sand, in a patch of native bush, or halfway up a snow-covered mountain. So, I put together a video of some of my favourite places in New Zealand to help remind me of home.
The footage was shot on various trips around the South Island of New Zealand with work, university, and my friends and family, and I edited the video in Windows Movie Maker (I thought this program was crap, but the Windows 7 version actually works quite well!)
The song is by my old band, Mammoth, and is called Two Weeks.
The footage was shot on various trips around the South Island of New Zealand with work, university, and my friends and family, and I edited the video in Windows Movie Maker (I thought this program was crap, but the Windows 7 version actually works quite well!)
The song is by my old band, Mammoth, and is called Two Weeks.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sport
Sport is one of the greatest passions in my life.
I love to play sport. I love to watch sport. I love to talk about sport. I think this stems from my competitive nature and the unpredictability and excitement live sport brings to the table. For instance, you can watch a movie and often know exactly how it's going to end. With sport, the unpredictable and unthinkable can (and do) regularly happen, and you can always see the best players surpassing records and achieving feats that have never been done before.
My favourite sport to play is hockey. For the last three years I've played for the mighty High School Old Boys Burnside (HSOB) club in Christchurch. It is a great club to play for. We have a great social vibe, with a clubrooms we regularly attend, and also play some decent hockey from time to time. Hopefully we can play good hockey more consistently and make an attempt at winning the Canterbury Premier League this year.
I've also played basketball, cricket, dodgeball, touch and volleyball over the years. While I'm in Baton Rogue I won't be able to play hockey as it's not very popular in the United States, especially in the southern states. I'm a bit gutted about that, as I'm enjoying it more than ever before and also playing to quite a high level (I represented Canterbury last year in the National Hockey League). I will most likely take up basketball again instead, although I will probably get totally dominated over there.
I love to play sport. I love to watch sport. I love to talk about sport. I think this stems from my competitive nature and the unpredictability and excitement live sport brings to the table. For instance, you can watch a movie and often know exactly how it's going to end. With sport, the unpredictable and unthinkable can (and do) regularly happen, and you can always see the best players surpassing records and achieving feats that have never been done before.
My favourite sport to play is hockey. For the last three years I've played for the mighty High School Old Boys Burnside (HSOB) club in Christchurch. It is a great club to play for. We have a great social vibe, with a clubrooms we regularly attend, and also play some decent hockey from time to time. Hopefully we can play good hockey more consistently and make an attempt at winning the Canterbury Premier League this year.
I've also played basketball, cricket, dodgeball, touch and volleyball over the years. While I'm in Baton Rogue I won't be able to play hockey as it's not very popular in the United States, especially in the southern states. I'm a bit gutted about that, as I'm enjoying it more than ever before and also playing to quite a high level (I represented Canterbury last year in the National Hockey League). I will most likely take up basketball again instead, although I will probably get totally dominated over there.
My favourite sport to watch is cricket. A lot of people (particularly girls, for some reason) think that cricket is the most boring sport in the world. This may be because you can play a test match for five entire days and still have a draw at the end of it. In reality, cricket is one of the most exciting sports. Once the rules and nuances of the game have been learned it is easy to appreciate how a match can have so many twists, turns, plots and subplots. My favourite form of cricket is the test match game. I do also enjoy ODIs and T20s, but the epic ebb and flow of a test match makes it just that much better.
Teams I support:
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Me (with the ball) playing hockey for the Lincoln University Lions against Canterbury University in the Christchurch Earthquake charity game. |
My favourite sport to watch is cricket. A lot of people (particularly girls, for some reason) think that cricket is the most boring sport in the world. This may be because you can play a test match for five entire days and still have a draw at the end of it. In reality, cricket is one of the most exciting sports. Once the rules and nuances of the game have been learned it is easy to appreciate how a match can have so many twists, turns, plots and subplots. My favourite form of cricket is the test match game. I do also enjoy ODIs and T20s, but the epic ebb and flow of a test match makes it just that much better.
Teams I support:
The Black Caps
The All Blacks
The Crusaders
The Black Sticks
The Kiwis
The Kiwis
The Tall Blacks
The Warriors
The Warriors
Friday, April 8, 2011
Rhythm, melody and tone
So, anyone who knows me will know that I like music, especially when it's played LOUD.
I'd like to think that my music tastes have broadened in the last couple of years. From what was once a mainly narrow-minded heavy metal focus, I now enjoy numerous genres including post-rock, ambient, dub, electronica, indie, and various types of metal. However, my favourite type of music is one which can't be pigeonholed by a genre - New Zealand music. NZ music has a distinctive and unique feel about it, where you just know it has been crafted on the shaky isles.
I've played the drums for about eight years now, but never really put the time in to become really good at it, mainly due to my other interests. I played in three bands; Mammoth, Varraghor and Innard Splatter, playing gigs all over the country and making various recordings. The times I had with my friends in these bands were some of the best of my life so far. While I'm in the United States I plan to learn how to play the guitar so I can record some tunes of my own in the future.
Below I've decided to list some of my very favourite bands, including my favourite album by each band (click on their name to link to a myspace/bandcamp page to listen to their music).
Favourite NZ bands:
Jakob - Solace
HDU - Fire Works
Akaname - Akaname
Little Bushman - Pendulum
Ender - Ender
Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All
Salmonella Dub - Inside the Dub Plates
Favourite international bands:
Isis - Panopticon
Dredg - The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
Lights out Asia - Eyes Like Brontide
Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality
Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway
Sigur Ros - ( )
Braveyoung - We are Lonely Animals
I'd like to think that my music tastes have broadened in the last couple of years. From what was once a mainly narrow-minded heavy metal focus, I now enjoy numerous genres including post-rock, ambient, dub, electronica, indie, and various types of metal. However, my favourite type of music is one which can't be pigeonholed by a genre - New Zealand music. NZ music has a distinctive and unique feel about it, where you just know it has been crafted on the shaky isles.
I've played the drums for about eight years now, but never really put the time in to become really good at it, mainly due to my other interests. I played in three bands; Mammoth, Varraghor and Innard Splatter, playing gigs all over the country and making various recordings. The times I had with my friends in these bands were some of the best of my life so far. While I'm in the United States I plan to learn how to play the guitar so I can record some tunes of my own in the future.
Below I've decided to list some of my very favourite bands, including my favourite album by each band (click on their name to link to a myspace/bandcamp page to listen to their music).
Favourite NZ bands:
Jakob - Solace
Akaname - Akaname
Little Bushman - Pendulum
Ender - Ender
Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All
Salmonella Dub - Inside the Dub Plates
Favourite international bands:
Isis - Panopticon
Dredg - The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
Lights out Asia - Eyes Like Brontide
Rosetta - A Determinism of Morality
Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway
Sigur Ros - ( )
Braveyoung - We are Lonely Animals
So...this is my blog
Well, I've finally done it.
I've been meaning to start a blog for a while, but have never got around to it. Tonight I suddenly found the motivation, summoned my inner Nike, and just did it. Basically, this blog is going to be useful to me for a couple of main reasons:
Anyway, for the first few blog entries I'm going to write about things which interest me and that I consider important in my life. This will allow people who don't know me so well to get an idea of what things I like doing, and what sort of person I am. The topics of these future blogs (in no particular order...):
I've been meaning to start a blog for a while, but have never got around to it. Tonight I suddenly found the motivation, summoned my inner Nike, and just did it. Basically, this blog is going to be useful to me for a couple of main reasons:
- It will provide a place for me to organise my thoughts, keep track of interesting things I find, and provide a place for some incoherent ramblings on various subjects. I'm always stumbling across great articles, videos, music and other such things on the internet, but I'm also prone to never being able to find these things again when I want to. This blog should allow me to catalogue these tidbits for future reference and for others to discover also.
- In August this year I will be moving to Baton Rogue, Louisiana, to live for the next five years at least. I'm going to be studying for my PhD in evolutionary ecology at Louisiana State University (LSU), and this blog will be a great way to keep my family and friends updated with what I'm up to. More on this in a later post.
Anyway, for the first few blog entries I'm going to write about things which interest me and that I consider important in my life. This will allow people who don't know me so well to get an idea of what things I like doing, and what sort of person I am. The topics of these future blogs (in no particular order...):
- Sport
- Music
- Nature
- Family
- Friends
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