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April 19, 2011 02:16 pm PDT
Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/f3-aQxx5Quc/bugs-and-bad-attitud.html
Bugs and bad attitudes—profile of a renegade entomologist
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video from the World Science Festival, in which naturalist and photographer Mark Moffett recalled an ill-fated trip to Colombia to photograph poison dart frogs. I'd not previously heard of Moffett, but he turns out to have a very interesting backstory. A protege and favorite student of E. O. Wilson, Moffett has become a polarizing figure in the world of entomology—someone who is able to tell the stories of science in an engaging way, but who is also well-known for making scientific pronouncements without basing them on real scientific study. Over at The Atavist—a site that publishes long-form, narrative non-fiction and sells these longer-than-a-magazine but shorter-than-a-book pieces to readers for a couple bucks a pop—you can read a preview of a story about Moffett, written by Nicholas Griffin. The full thing is an intriguing story, all about the conflict between observation-based popular storytelling and detailed research, centered around a man who is controversial not only because of his ideas and way of working, but also because of his personality. And it starts with everybody's favorite tropical insect, the bot fly. When I shook Mark Moffett's right hand, I glanced at his left and noticed it was swollen with a distinct red mound the size of a grape. He followed my gaze. "Have you met my botfly?" he asked, grinning. It was late October, and we were standing outside a research station at the foot of the Sierra Nombre de Dios, in northern Honduras. Or at least Moffett and I were standing: His botfly, a white maggot that had been implanted through a mosquito bite and had grown to three quarters of an inch in length, was apparently dead. "I could see its breathing tube, but then I banged my hand on a door, and I think I've killed it," he said, sounding disappointed. "Does it hurt?" "No ... it's dead." "Should it be removed before we head into the rainforest?" "No," said Moffett. "I'm waiting for my body to absorb it." The Atavist: Before the Swarm...
Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/f3-aQxx5Quc/bugs-and-bad-attitud.html
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