MAMMAS: Isabella Rossellini is awesome and yes...biology can be sexy!

'I am not a monster...' begins the dramatic plea of an exhausted and jailed hamster mother.

 

Why is the pitiful mother in jail?  

She has eaten one (or more) of her babies.  We learn that this behavior is somewhat commonplace among hamsters.

She goes on to explain her reasoning.  To raise more pups would have been impossible...  This is a case of limited resources being divided among competing processes (trade-offs).  If she had cared for all of the young perhaps she would have perished mid-way through lactation (prior to weaning her young) and all of the babies would have died.

Nature... red in tooth and claw- and overall a good (albeit cold-hearted) economist.

If you want to know more please watch the video below from the new Sundance Channel series 'MAMMAS'.

 

The story of a hamster mama is told by the lovely Isabella Rossellini.  Apparently when asked "if she drew inspiration from the relationship with her own mother (for the series), the Oscar-winning star of Casablanca, Rossellini is quick to respond. “No, it’s biology,” she firmly asserts. “I cannot write Mammas about a worm and think of Ingrid Bergman. It’s too far away.”

  

I love worms but I think I have to agree here... also- can you imagine having Ingrid Bergman as a mother!?  Crazy!

And no- despite a surely glamorous childhood and life as a model- Isabella is most certainly not just another pretty face...

Rossellini is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Animal Behavior!  

I guess that makes her a bio-nerd.... Kinda like Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory.  Amy Farrah Fowler is supposed to be a neurobiologist in the show.  I'll admit I love the show and I like Mayim Bialik as Amy.  Mayim by the way REALLY is a biologist... just like her character (she has a PhD I believe from UCLA in fact).  (*Just like Pauley Perrette has actually studied forensics)...

But lets be honest... her character in the BBT does not depict us lady biologists in quite the same light... 

 Do you see what I mean? 

    Dear Isabella, 

  Thanks for helping us biology ladies make a strong case that science can be smart AND sexy!  I   unfortunately am too busy with doing microscopy to actively pursue my modeling career but perhaps my career as a hand-model will be launched when someone... somewhere publishes an image of my hand changing magnifications and Rolex simply 'must know' who's hand that is (sigh)....

Surely one can dream- no?

Now back to the point:

Ah yes- check out MAMMAS - and while you are at it I also highly recommend the previous series 'Green Porno'.