I used an electron microscope for the first time recently to take a picture of shark skin. I’m not sure why this excited me so much, but I guess it felt a little like the first time I went scuba diving – like I had managed to sneak into a world where I didn’t really belong. As a kid I remember seeing photographs taken from an electron microscope and I always imagined some prestigious scientist, locked in the depths of a high-security laboratory, peering down into the eyepiece of a house-sized microscope and revealing the tiniest secrets that nature had tried so desperately to hide. Suddenly, I was that scientist – only, without the prestige or the high-security laboratory, and the microscope was only about the size of a computer. And the process was completely different from my schooldays’ experience when I’d throw a sample on a slide, wet it, cover with a cover slip and stick it under a light microscope. No, in fact, the pinky-nail sized sample of shark skin had to be completely dry so it could be glued to what almost looked like a metal thumbtack. Then, I put the skin into a vacuum-sealed machine that performed what I can only describe as a magic trick as it produced electrical current and purple light to cover the shark skin in a microscopic layer of gold dust. That’s right, I had to make gold-plated shark skin in order for this whole process to work! Apparently, anything put into an electron microscope needs to have a metallic surface to produce a proper image. The microscope fired a focused beam of electrons down onto the gold-coated shark skin, and the electrons then bounced back up into the imager and gave me a look at the bonnethead shark skin magnified large enough to see every detail of the tiny, tooth-like scales called dermal denticles. Amazing! You can’t see it with your naked eye, but these tiny scales are what make shark skin feel rough to the touch. Dermal denticles are one of the defining characteristics of sharks, and I’m using this photograph in my film The Shark Riddle, the newest episode of my half-hour children’s series The Riddle Solvers.
A winning poster from Maire Elementary's poster contest to encourage reading
Ahoy all ye book lovers! We recently visited Lewis Maire Elementary in Michigan, who had a poster contest to raise awareness about reading. Every year, the school celebrates March is reading month by inviting an author to visit, and then the students read throughout the month (with pledges) to raise money toward the March of Dimes. Part of this year’s festivities included a challenge to create posters that encouraged reading, based on our children’s book A Pirate’s Quest and movie The Riddle in a Bottle. Why not use pirates and ocean creatures to encourage reading? Before each assembly, we were lucky enough to judge the posters and choose a few winners. Read more »
It’s here! A sneak peek at one of the songs from our new movie First Snow in the Woods, based on the children’s book. We have been filming the animals in the brilliant fall season of Michigan for two years . . . and needless to say, a groundhog inspired me to write this song. If you like groundhogs, chipmunks, woodpeckers or any music with a banjo, you are in for a real treat. I hope this is a joyous song about hibernation, Read more »
Well folks, what do toasters have to do with gardening? And what do toasters have to do with sharks? And where can you get a shark microphone? If you are wondering about any of these questions, I suggest you watch this short, shark-related piece. When I was visiting the Sanibel Sea School to film children at a shark camp for The Riddle Solvers shark episode, I conducted some behind-the-scenes interviews for fun, in the blazing hot Florida sun, and this is what happened. And I should mention that you’ll see some stunning HD footage of sharks, from the Save Our Seas Foundation’s amazing library of footage.
“Are you a shark? Are you worried about constantly losing your teeth and having to see a dentist? Well don’t be. You don’t need a dentist. You’re a shark!”
That is the opening line to a short sketch we are filming called “Your Teeth and You,” featuring a 1950’s dentist (my brother Rob) and a dental assistant (me), who teach sharks about the different kinds of teeth they have. The sketch is for our new episode of The Riddle Solvers, and we just finished filming it in a lovely dental office in Oregon, where we were fortunate enough to find people who would let us take over their surgical room for a day. We were also lucky to work with a great makeup artist who could give Robert a dashing mustache, and who could give me very styled hair (and darker than usual eyebrows). Read more »
Robert sleeps in a bed on the beach during the shark lullaby, on the Oregon coast
I am going to state the obvious here – cameras don’t like water. Water and electronics hardly ever mix in a good way. Cameras also don’t like sand. Sand is very tiny and very good at finding all of the tiny crevices on a camera. Knowing this, then why on earth did we decide to make a movie on the beach? Because it looked awesome – that’s why! Read more »
We are happy to announce the winners of our first annual Pirate’s Quest Contest! Thanks to all who entered. It was a really tough choice, and all your entries really brightened our day. We laughed. We smiled. We yelled “Yarrrrrrr!” And it was all because of your entries.
In our next episode of The Riddle Solvers, we find an ancient journal with a riddle about shark teeth, and we go on quite a journey to find various kinds of teeth. I have been busy collecting props for the movie (from sea captain costumes to shark-themed bedding to actual shark teeth). I just received two whale shark teeth in the mail . . . and I knew they would be small. But wow. I am absolutely blown away by how tiny they are, and how the biggest fish in the ocean has such tiny teeth. Read more »
Well folks, it’s that time of year again for International Talk Like a Pirate Day. If you’re in that scalliwag kind of mood for talking AND singing like a pirate, click here for our sea-worthy Peg Leg Song.
And are you in the mood for a pirate joke? We get lots of them during our author visits to schools. Here is one from a boy at Orchard Primary School.
Question: What are pirates afraid of at night? Read more »
A contest for all ye pirate lovers, story lovers, art lovers and cookie lovers!
Ahoy mateys! Arrrrrrrrr you ready to think like a pirate and win some loot? International Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming soon (September 19), and in honor of such a fun-filled, swashbuckling kind of day, we have created a pirate-themed contest based on our book A Pirate’s Quest and the toe-tapping pirate tune The Peg Leg Song that inspired the book!
Do you like eating? Writing? Drawing? Then we have a contest category for you.
The book A Pirate's Quest with companion movie The Riddle in a Bottle
We will choose one winner from each category. Each winner will receive a free autographed copy of the book A Pirate’s Quest and the movie The Riddle in a Bottle(the movie with the song that inspired the book). Winners will also receive an official “Pirate Certificate of Approval,” signed by the book’s one-legged pirate and his two-legged sister (authors Robert and Laura Sams), making you an honorary pirate! Winning entries will be featured on our Web site and e-newsletter.
