A billion balconies facing the sun

The hotel room was booked via work’s travel agent. The view and facilities were rather lacking.

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My colleague is a rare creature, an Englishman who will complain. He got both our rooms upgraded.
The view is significantly better now.

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QMUL Canalside

Some recent photographs from the Regent’s Canal as it passes though the QMUL campus.

Chorthippus Parallelus - Meadow Grasshopper
Chorthippus Parallelus – Meadow Grasshopper

There were several of these grasshoppers chirping away, trying to find a mate. They were very approachable, not vanishing just as the shutter clicks. Common species, both male and female have short front wings and no hind wings.

Continue reading “QMUL Canalside”

Too Hardcore

I caught this Rosemary Beetle early today with the intention of CT scanning it for #CTguess & #xraystuffinmylab on Twitter, also because I’m genuinely interested in these beetles.

Consulting the literature, it seemed that nitrogen asphixiation & several hours in a freezer should painlessly euthanise the beetle, leaving it in good condition for scanning.

The one that got away
The one that got away

This little fellow, survived in 100% nitrogen for more than four hours at -10 C. It was still crawling around when I fished its testube from the freezer to scan it.

You’ve got to respect tenacity like that, so I let the beetle go free again. Too hardcore to kill.