Although I often miss the mountains, one of the benefits of living in North Carolina's Coastal Plain is the tree frogs. During my summer at Duke's Marine lab in Beaufort, we would often return to our apartment to find the building and our door absolutely covered in frogs; in the morning, they'd be all over the car, and we'd have to pull them out of the tires. They don't seem to be quite as prevalent in Greenville, but there are plenty (they seem to like sitting on the porch, where they can taunt the cat). During a trip to Washington, NC, we ran across this stunning green little guy, and I decided to find out what he was. Read more
Identifying frogs and toads in NC
Cortney North Carolina, Random + anura, biology, frogs, north carolina
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Cat life
Cortney Random + cat life, cats, kitties, vash
Sometimes you just have to admit who owns who.
Crawdads in NC
Cortney North Carolina, Science & Technology + arthropods, crawdads, crayfish, north carolina
In late July, my husband and I found a bunch of crawdads, including a 3-4 inch monster that is easily the biggest crawdad I've ever seen near the mountains, resting in a small pool along the Roaring River in North Carolina. My toes have been at the receiving end of one too many pinches and I found this thing terrifying, but even though I refused to touch it, we managed to catch it a bucket. Fortunately, my Ohio-raised grandfather fearlessly displayed it for a few photographs before we returned the creature to its kingdom. There were several other crawdads much smaller and, based on coloration, of different species than the big guy. Read more →
Why Cnidarians (jellyfish, coral) are awesome
Cortney Science & Technology + biology, cnidarians, corals, jellyfish, nematocysts, why invertebrates are awesome
Everybody knows that coral are essential for marine biodiversity. Most people don't know, however, that they are also secretly brutal bad asses. As cnidarians, corals and anemones (anthozoans) are related to the feared jellyfish (medusazoans). The common thread that unites cnidarians is the presence of stinging cells. Read more →
Hawaiian volcano rift zones
Cortney Science & Technology + fissures, geology, hawaii, rift zones, volcanoes
In Hawaii, volcanoes form over a hot spot, an area where magma rises from the mantle and breaks through the crust. The Pacific plate moves northwest over the hot spot—which remains stationary—eventually carrying the old volcano away from the hotspot. A new volcano then begins to form, with repeated basaltic eruptions building a broad shield volcano. Read more →
Force new windows to open in tabs in Firefox
Cortney Computers, Web & Design + firefox, tabs
For some reason, the administrators of my university's portal think that I want pages to open in brand new windows. They're wrong; I'd much rather these pages open into tabs. Fortunately, Firefox allows me to force these renegade pages to behave civilly. Read more →
Huge green and purple moth: luna moth
Cortney Science & Technology + biology, lepidoptera, moths
I've lived in North Carolina for over ten years, but until today I had never seen or heard of a luna moth (Actias luna). I was pleasantly surprised to find a large gorgeous green moth waiting for me on the bricks of my apartment building. It had beautiful light green wings with purple trim, golden fern-like antennae, a fuzzy white body, four lovely eye spots, and long tails. Read more →
Mafic & ultramafic rocks
Cortney Science & Technology + geology, igneous, mafic, rocks, ultramafic
Most geology students know what a basalt or gabbro is, but occasionally even introductory texts will refer to different mafic rocks and ultramafic rocks. This list very briefly describes a few of these, just enough to differentiate between them based on composition and formation.
Pros & cons of commuting on a dual sport
Cortney Wheels + commuting, dual sports, motorcycles
My commute to school/work on a Honda CRF250L is a short one lasting between ten and thirty minutes, depending on traffic. From that perspective, here is my list of the pros and cons.