Who knew dinosaurs were in his future? Brian Switek certainly didn't, though he grew up gawking at their skeletal architecture, figures, and fossils. Despite having a deep love for these reptile ancestors, the New Jersey resident took it upon himself to study other topics, until he found himself back where he started--seeking out the paleontology he grew up enjoying immensely.

Perhaps the study of dinosaurs was meant for this paleontology buff and he took it upon himself to get all he could from his paleontology prospects.

Along the way, he picked up some blogging prospects, too, creating Laelaps for the Scienceblogs.com crew and Dinosaur Tracking for a blog with Smithsonian magazine.  

Most of us would probably sit down with a comrade or a co-worker to talk topics like science, history, relationships, culture, etc. 

Chad Orzel is not one of them. Instead, he finds man's best friend the best--er--person? to share ideas with. 

His dog Emmy, a mixed-breed canine, is perhaps Chad's best listener as he rolls off ideas to her and explains the unexplainable--quantum physics!  

It's become so normal for her to sit down with her and--er--HEAR her thoughts that he's taken to including her in his blog, Uncertain Principles, and writing a book about their conversations.

We're lucky to have both Chad and Emmy here to shoot the breeze, relay their story, share pet care tips, and of course, tote the perks of quantum physics (which begs the question, are there any?) 

Matt Young may be a professor and an optical physicist, but the theory of evolution, a hobby he never studied in school, appears to be his true calling.

Or so he says while "peppered" with questions about the Peppered Moth ;-), the role of animals in evolution, his book Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) with co-author Paul K. Strode, and the blog, The Panda's Thumb (a site that isn't about pandas!), where he is a contributor.  

Check out what this evolutionary blogger has to say.

And perhaps he'll figure out your animals next.

No, not literally! We're talking studying animal intelligence here! 

This Neuroscience buff has a Ph.D. from a US university and has expertise in primate neuroanatomy, immunohistochemistry, rodent and monkey behavioral testing, small animal surgery, and stereological analyses. He also did graduate work focusing on modeling menopause in monkeys, specifically the effects of ovarian hormone loss and estrogen replacement on neuroanatomy and cognition.

He's also the founder of Neurotopia, a blog about all things behavior, neuroscience, and strong opinions.

Friend and fellow animal blogger, Eric Michael Johnson of The Primate Diaries, (he likes to blog about Bonobos too!), has had one of his articles nominated for a national science writing contest. The article nominated was selected by the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE as the best science article of the month so now he has a chance at a national award, too.  The winning entry will be chosen by evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker.

To read this article please see Eric site at the journal Nature's online network. The article is called: Male Chauvinist Chimps or the Meat Market of Public Opinion.

The options for pet parents that have just received the ashes of their recently deceased pets can be somewhat limited or impersonal.  Perhaps you don’t have a good space for a burial, or you don’t care much for putting your pet’s remains up on a shelf.  Soft-hearted products has designed a very compassionate alternative, a custom pillow to contain your pet’s remains.

Each pillow contains a pouch in which you or your vet can insert the plastic bag containing a portion of your pet’s ashes.  This pouch is then zipped discretely away into the pillow.  Now you have a pillow to snuggle with, or sleep beside to help you through the difficult loss.  Your pet can now remain by your side on their favorite comfy couch or their spot on the bed.