Spiders Can Be Beautiful - Interview with Mariella Herberstein

In my first year at Macquarie University, first semester, I had this really awesome and interesting Austrian lecturer who would play a random animal noise at the beginning of the lecture and let us guess what it was. Each time, it would sound like something we knew, but it always ended up being an animal no one could guess. Because of this, Mariella Herberstein became one of the most engaging and memorable lecturers of the year. The other thing that I took away from the lectures was that she loved spiders and found them really fascinating.

Later that semester, in another subject, we were watching an episode of ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ by David Attenborough. It got to the end of the episode and the credits started rolling and someone spotted this lecturer’s name, ‘Mariella Herberstein’. Everyone who had done first year biology was stunned to know someone who had worked with and helped David Attenborough (he’s like an idol to most biology students). This is where my interest to interview Mariella stemmed from.  

At Macquarie University, Mariella is an Associate Professor and the head of the Biological Sciences department. In her scientific research on the behavioural ecology of invertebrates, she looks at how spiders are significant models in behavioural and evolutionary research, the deceptiveness of spiders and orchids, and the mating behaviour and sexual selection of spiders and other insects. She is a well known academic who is constantly sought out by masters and PHD students who want to specialise in behavioural ecology of insects. I’m actually volunteering for one such student at the moment.

In this interview, you will learn more about how she became a science academic, what helping with a BBC documentary was like, the huge range of different scientific research papers she has helped with and that she doesn’t only love spiders. 

My Interview with Mariella Herberstein.

Sascha Bokelmann Feature - Photo Manipulation

A few days ago I had a look at the Daily Deviations on deviantart and came across this amazing photo manipulation. For those of you who aren't familiar with photo manipulation, on wikipedia it is defined as 'the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception.' In other words, using several images (usually photos) and mash them together to create something that just doesn't even seem real and yet it could be.

The artist of this amazing work deserved the Daily deviation. His work is amazing! Especially the few works I'm about to showcase.

His first Daily Deviation: Dragonfly

Creatures I've Discovered Recently

I've been lucky enough to spot some really cool creatures in the past week. I have posted all these photos onto a website called Project Noah. A website that hopes to document all the world's organisms with the help of everyone on earth who are willing to share their captures. They hope that by making it easy for people to upload and share their encounters with nature, they can build a ecological data collection which will serve as an important educational tool for wildlife awareness and preservation. If you enjoy finding little creatures in your backyard or out in the 'wild', I greatly encourage you to join in and help us discover the great diversity of organisms that live on this Earth.

And here are the little guys I've discovered.

"Chris the Phototog" - Interview with Chris Hansen

I was on Google + when a photo caught my eye. It was a photo of a crawling spider silhouette in front of the sun. It was absolutely amazing! I HAD to look at the blog and find out who took the photo. I discovered that the blog belonged to an American man who blogs about his daily photography adventures. The writer of the blog is Chris Hansen and this is what I learnt about him and about photography.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Even More Peacock Spiders

Back in February I interviewed the Peacock Spiderman: Jurgen Otto (can be read here). Today I'm going to revisit Peacock Spiders (Maratus sp.)and show you the photos of the many other species discovered in Australia. The majority of these spiders have only been recently discovered and photographed. Some species still don't have names.

Maratus volans

Source: Jurgen's Flickr

This was the first peacock spider which Jurgen captured it's courtship dance on video. 

This species is found in Sydney.

Alland Dharmawan Photography Feature

 Alland Dharmawan is an amateur photographer from Indonesia. He is currently still a student but takes joy in photography as a hobby. On Deviantart, he was able to capture the attention of a Daily Deviation with one of his amazing photos showing insights into the small world of ants and their daily dilemmas. Although he is an overall photographer, his macro photography it still intricate and shows the behaviors of a few insects. However, not all of his photography is showcased on his Deviantart page: allanddharmawan, most of his photography is stored on his online portfolio: www.allanddharmawanphotography.co.cc.

I hope you enjoy this feature.

Alland's Daily Deviation given this year: Trying Hard

Tamyl91 Interview - Bugs Show a Playful Side

With 3 Daily Deviations (DD), Tamyl91 is doing pretty well as a amateur hobbyist photographer on Devintart. Tamyl91's real name is Kamil. He lives in Poland where he apparently has "easy access" to the little creatures he captures with his camera. Take a look at his photos and interview!

Dressage - Given a DD in 2010

The Schmidt Sting Pain Index - What Sting Hurts the Most?

Today when I was reading mX, I came across an interesting article about an entomologist from the University of Arizona. This man is Justin Schmidt. His area of expertise is Hymenoptera, the family of insects which includes wasps, bees and ants, so it's no surprised he's been stung over 100 times.

Throughout his career, he conducted personal research and "unintentionally" came up with the The Schmidt Sting Pain Index, a system developed to compare the relative intensity of Hymenoptera stings. This "research" involved provoking the insects to the point of rage, when they would attack/defend themselves. Each sting is on a rank between 1 to 4. Here is a sample from Wikipedia which includes their rank number and a description of the sting by Schmidt:

1.0 Sweat bee: 

Source: public-domain-photos.com

"Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm."

Velian Jagev Photography Feature

There is a photographer on Deviantart who goes by the name of VJagev. Although a small collection, his gallery is full of amazing macro photos of insects, mainly covered by condensation and droplets of water. He has had one Daily deviation and is surely on his way to a second. I really did think that he could be a professional and had a great interest in insects. However, turned out to be someone who just spends a lot of time outdoors and wants to show extraordinary things to ordinary people.

I hope you enjoy our mini interview. :)

Autumn Beauty

Interview with Dark-Raptor from Deviantart

So if you missed out on what is happening today, take a look at my previous photography feature, which gave a sneak peak into some of Dark-raptor's work and also just some general info about them.
To recap, Dark-raptor is a deviantart account which contains photos taken by Dariusz Kucharski (who also does all the post-processing and uploading of photos) and his wife, Kornelia Kucharska.

So, without further ado, here is my interview Dariusz Kucharsk.

 This received a Daily Deviation in 2011: Calliteara pudibunda by Dark-Raptor

#10 The Dancing Peacock Spider - Interview With Jurgen Otto

In the bushlands of Sydney, lives an most unexpected resident. It is rarely ever seen but if you keep your eyes open, you may spot it. It's a 4mm long spider with the most spectacular array of colours and an even more spectacular dance. This tiny jumping spider is the peacock spider (Maratus volans).

Photo taken by Jurgen Otto Source: Jurgen's flickr

#5 The Damsel-fly in Distress

Okay so, they're not really in distress, I just like using puns but, the damselfly does seem to live a life full of distress as it doesn't live for very long as an adult. Imagine only having two years of your life growing from a baby till you reach sexual maturity (probably 12yrs for humans) and the moment you step out into the world as an adult, you have to quickly find a mate in the next few days or you wont have any children. Well! That's the dilemma of the damselfly.

Source: Nick Upton's Royalty Free Photos