John Acorn with his (unofficial) badges of honor.
♦ The big story this week is that John Acorn, Alberta’s famed ‘bugster’ and author, has received an imperial nod from the Royal Society of Canada. While well known for his work in the Nature Nut series, this time the recognition is largely due to his work as an author and a communicator of science. John received the McNeil Medal, which is ” …awarded for outstanding ability to promote and communicate science to students and the public within Canada”
And from the 2012 Medal & Award Recipients pdf:
“The McNeil Medal
ACORN, John – Department of Renewal Resources, University of Alberta
John Acorn has a passion for promoting science. As an internationally acclaimed author, speaker,
photographer and broadcaster, John makes science fun and accessible and inspires adults and children to
venture outside and engage with the natural world.”
Congratulations, ‘Sir‘ John Acorn (Or should that be Sir Nut?), we Albertans are very proud of you and your work.
And it just occurred to me….
If he is such a great communicator and photographer, why on earth doesn’t he have a blog?
Answer me that!
Science
♦ Bees can do it: nurse to forager and back again… What triggers these changes? Read Ed at Not Exactly Rocket Science.
♦ Giant honey bees. Migrating bees. See Migrating Giant Honey Bees (Apis dorsata) Congregate Annually at Stopover Site in Thailand
♦ So what does it take to boost spider populations? Snakes, and lots of them. See where and how they do this at ‘Natural experiment’ Demonstrates Top-Down Control of Spiders by Birds on a Landscape Level.
Photography
Hey! I should have done this last week, but Terry Thormin did post on photographing dragonflies in flight. Cool!
And, I found it: bug photographer Thomas Shahan has a website. Spiders, art and design, and guitars and music…. Go figure!
And just for fun….
The Worlds Biggest and Baddest Bugs, full length – watch it in full screen in HD -
