Yeah, watch us discover aliens and be unable to talk to them...but the dolphins can. Or worse, the dolphins can talk to their squid...

It all could have gone so wrong. Our primate cousins scare the bejeesus out of me. Especially when their gaze is fixed right on the camera. It's like they're saying, "you guys are such fucking jerks."

I'd be cautious but not overly worried. The gorilla body language in that whole sequence is very nonthreatening. A gorilla, a silverback especially, is certainly strong enough to do major damage, but they really aren't terribly aggressive. I'd be more nervous around chimps.

The other thing I wonder is why we always define the parameters of Places Life Can Exist based on just what we're used to seeing here.

I've often wondered about this too. From what I understand, there are significant reasons why water is really that special. I think it's just possible methane could play a similar role in a different ecosystem, but on the whole, water is hard to replace.

Ooh! I know this one! Hemoglobin! Right?

There's a lizard in Papua New Guinea with green blood. The pigment colours its muscles and tongue and other stuff too. It's a bile pigment, from the breakdown of haemoglobin; in this lizard, the pigment gets retained (and as I understand it, makes it taste pretty foul, which is probably the point).

There are a number of invertebrates, such as the horseshoe crab and most molluscs (including squid), with blue blood. Their blood carries oxygen bound with copper instead of iron (cslled haemocyanin).

There are a number of invertebrates, such as the horseshoe crab and most molluscs (including squid), with blue blood.

Yeah, I just learned about horseshoe crab bleeding! Their blood is MAGICAL!

I'd be cautious but not overly worried. The gorilla body language in that whole sequence is very nonthreatening. A gorilla, a silverback especially, is certainly strong enough to do major damage, but they really aren't terribly aggressive. I'd be more nervous around chimps.

Yeah, a group of gorillas clustering around me would be cause to think "this is so cool!" Chimpanzees would be "please God, don't let them get upset and tear stuff off me!"

My dad has been to a couple of zoos in recent years, and gorillas are apparently fascinated by his wheelchair, focusing on him the whole time he's visible from their enclosure. When you see them up close, they're so gentle and you really get a sense of something person-like looking back at you out of their eyes.

My dad has been to a couple of zoos in recent years, and gorillas are apparently fascinated by his wheelchair, focusing on him the whole time he's visible from their enclosure. When you see them up close, they're so gentle and you really get a sense of something person-like looking back at you out of their eyes.

Whereas when I visited the bonobo enclosure at San Diego Zoo, the reaction I got was a grinning bonobo plastering his erection on the glass. They're complicated animals.

My boss just sent me an email with the subject "pot distribution list". I think pot is an acronym for some sort of physician group, but it is cracking me up.

There are a number of invertebrates, such as the horseshoe crab and most molluscs (including squid), with blue blood.

Then there are the blue Fugates: [link]

Sophia, that's hilarious.

You better watch out for the NSA or ATF or someone -- you know They monitor all emails!

I am ready to go to my parents', but they aren't there! I need to ask if they have room in the fridge for my veggie platter before I leave.