Mokele

Precisely. The physics of living beings, at the organismal level, is called Biomechanics (what I do), and is basically all about muscles, joints, hydrostatic skeletons and the like. Most of it deals with how animals move, since that's generally more interesting than them standing still. Mokele

You know what would help clear up a lot of useless clutter? A "Creationist Bull****" forum. Of course, you could probably name it something a bit less direct (though I feel my proposed title is quite accurate). But there's a large amount of this crap that clogs up boards and distracts from genuine scientific threads. By putting in it's own forum, those who want to debate it can just go to that forum, while preventing it from wasting space in other forums. Mokele

Absolutely magnificent! Can one of the admins pin/sitcky this at the top? IMHO, it's *more* than worth it. Mokele

Yep. Over here, at least in the southern US, "swamp" usually refers to the bayous, wetlands, deltas, etc. Typically, those places are high in nutrients, and defined as swamps by the presence of gators, more or less. "Bog", I believe, is the term in use for carnivorous plant style habitat. Frustrating, an ex of mine from Minnesota used "swamps" to refer to "bogs", so evidently this isn't the case universally. But even still, the trick is just not to plant them. Instead, I keep mine outdoors in pots, with the pots placed in a tray of distilled water to keep them damp. Mokele

Actually, I live in southern Ohio (central US, temperate clime with snow in winter for those who aren't in the US), and I grew them just fine outside, with the exception of the tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes genus). American pitcher plants actually are usually frost tolerant and can be found in bogs as far north as southern Canada in some species' cases. The Venus Flytrap is actually native along the Atlantic coast as far north as New Jersey. The cobra plant lives in Oregon, and I actually can't grow it because my location is too warm during the summer. Many sundews (especially the cape sundew) are cool or cold tolerant, as are some of the lesser-known carnivores, like Heliamphora, Pingicula, and Utricularia. In fact, the only group I know of that has no cool-tolerant members is Nepenthes, the giant tropical pitcher plants. So in short, it's not hopeless for those in cool climates. And a terrarium with grow-lights does wonders too. Mokele

Well, I figure I should introduce myself, though I really suck at these. I'll start with academics: I graduated 2001 from Florida Inst. of Tech. with a degree in Aerospace engineering, and came to U of Cincinnati for my MS. Upon being exposed to actual engineering, I came to realize the nagging doubts that'd haunted me since undergrad: I detest engineering as a career (though the subject is marginally interesting), and could never stand doing it for the next 40 years, no matter what the pay. So I did what I should have done long ago and transferred to my lifelong love: biology. Currently I'm slated to graduate this june (if the language requirements don't kill me first) with my second BS, and then stay here for MS with the prof I've been working under. I've got two papers in the works, if I can manage to squeeze them in between classes. My main focus is herpetology, mostly reptiles at the organismal level, though I still need to focus myself more. I'll probably wind up specializing in biomechanics and thermal systems of reptiles. I aspire to eventual professorship, and to work with both living reptiles and extinct ones (mmmm, triassic archosaurs...) On a more personal note, I'm usually pretty laid back. I am convinced of the perfectability of humans, since I'm dating an example of it (yeah, I'm also sappy), a beautiful, brilliant female geek. I grow carnivorous plants, go to dance clubs, and have my own collection of wonderful herps, including a 9 foot boa, a 3 foot rescued ball python, a greater siren (weird amphibian species, aquatic and eel like), and a 4 foot long Blue Tegu (south american lizard that congervently evolved to a monitor lizard form). Well, that's about all for now. Seeya all around. Mokele