Ideas, commentary & geekery

Tag: Biology (page 1 of 1)

Episode 4 – Cleaning up space junk, crystal armored ants & get moving

Featured in this episode:

Space Junk and the mission to clean it up

The European Space Agency has embarked on a noble mission to clean up Earth orbit with the help of a start-up based in Switzerland.

Crystal-armored ants

Leaf-cutter ants have crystal armor in their exoskeleton thanks to evolution

Doing more exercise to fight off the ill-health effects of sitting

WHO has come out with a recommendation to address the growing health concerns from having a sedentary lifestyle.

Episode 3: Stopping the pandemic, rapid tests & social spiders

Featured in this episode:

What have been the most effective method in stopping COVID-19 spread

Stopping the spread of COVID-19 involves layers of methods coming together in unison

Frequent & rapid testing can help stop the pandemic in weeks

Early detection of those who have the virus, isolating or treating would speed up the victory against the pandemic

Social spiders

Spider colonies do exist and it’s remarkable!

Episode 2: Mosquitoes, dog heaven, and the dark secrets of pet cloning

Featured in this episode:

Mosquitoes can learn to avoid humans that swat

A clever way on how mosquitoes improve their chances of survival by remembering which humans to avoid

How mosquitoes distinguish between blood and nectar

Only the female mosquito bites as it needs blood to lay eggs while their male counterparts feed mainly only nectar. Now we know how a mosquito tells one food source from the other.

Do all dogs go to heaven? Tracking human-animal relationships through the archaeological survey of pet cemeteries

Not only do we believe in life after death for pets, we also think they go to the same heaven as we do.

The ugly & cruel side of cloning pets

Genetics and cloning technology has given pet lovers the chance to have their pets back among the living. However, it usually comes at a heavy price.

Scientific names of Vegetables in Bahay Kubo

Most Filipinos grew up learning the song “Bahay Kubo” (Nipa Hut) as it’s one of the staples of folk songs taught to children. Remembering all the vegetables mentioned in the lyrics is often given as a trivia challenge especially to adults just to test how well they still know the song. Being able to list all is already an amazing feat.

A more difficult challenge, even for geeks, is knowing the scientific names of each vegetable. I remember kicking off our Taxonomy class with this homework back in college and it was quite a daunting yet fun challenge.

So to help out anyone, call it a public service, I share to you a table of all the vegetables in the song “Bahay Kubo” along with its respective scientific name.

Filipino nameEnglish nameScientific name
SingkamasJicamaPachyrrizus erosus
TalongEggplantSolanum melongena
SigarilyasWinged beanPsophocarpus tetragonolobus
ManiPeanutArachis hypogaea
SitawString beansPhaseolus vulgaris
BatawHyacinth beanDolichos lablab
PataniLima beanPhaseolus lunatus
KundolWinter melonBenincasa hispida
PatolaAngled luffa/Chinese okraLuffa acutangula
UpoBottle gourdLagenaria siceraria
KalabasaSquashCucurbita maxima
LabanosRadishRaphanus sativus
MustasaMustardBrassica juncea
SibuyasOnionAllium cepa
KamatisTomatoLycopersicum esculentum
BawangGarlicAllium sativum
LuyaGingerZingiber officinale
LingaSesame seedSesamum indicum

The basic rule for writing a scientific name

  1. Use both genus and species name: Felis catus.
  2. Italicize the whole name.
  3. Capitalize only the genus name. (In the past you would capitalize the species designation if it was derived from a proper name, e.g., Megalonyx Jeffersonii, but now the species designation is always lowercased: Megalonyx jeffersonii.)

Hope this helps!