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I am the Online Community Manager at PLoS-ONE (Public Library of Science). My job is to try to motivate you to comment on the papers there. My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com

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Physiology:

The Open Sleep Journal and The Phylogeny of Sleep Database

One of the latest additions (just two days ago, I think) to the Directory of Open Access Journals is a journal that will be of interest to some of my readers - The Open Sleep Journal. The first volume has...

Friday Weird Sex Blogging - Corkscrewing

You really think I am going to put this above the fold? No way - you have to click (First posted on July 7, 2006):...

Oxytocin and Childbirth. Or not.

When teaching human or animal physiology, it is very easy to come up with examples of ubiqutous negative feedback loops. On the other hand, there are very few physiological processes that can serve as examples of positive feedback. These include...

Hot Peppers - Why Are They Hot?

(First posted on July 21, 2006) Some plants do not want to get eaten. They may grow in places difficult to approach, they may look unappetizing, or they may evolve vile smells. Some have a fuzzy, hairy or sticky surface,...

The Dangers of Blogging, or, the Quest for Male Contraception

"Why isn't there a birth control pill for men?" is the latest "Ask A ScienceBlogger" question. I am sure my SciBlings will rise to the occasion and explain both the biological and social barriers to the development, production and marketing...

Running, breathing and being a horse

Yesterday, Chris Clarke wrote a post that I read three times so far, then finally submitted it myself for Reed's consideration for the anthology. Most science bloggers are excellent writers, but rare is the gift that Chris displays in many...

Oxytocin and Childbirth. Or not.

When teaching human or animal physiology, it is very easy to come up with examples of ubiqutous negative feedback loops. On the other hand, there are very few physiological processes that can serve as examples of positive feedback. These include...

Fungus eats radiation for breakfast at Chernobyl!

Sarah Wallace, Matt Ford, ScienceGoGo and Jason Stajich comment on the fungus that gets its energy from radiation. I've heard of Deinococcus radiodurans before, but this is a fungus! Well, if there is an energy source to tap into, even...

Evolution of Adoption

If we are not there at the moment of birth, how come we can bond with the baby and be good fathers or good adoptive parents? Kate explains. Obligatory Reading of the Day. Update: Related is this new article by...

Phylogeny vs. Aerodynamics in birds

A very interesting new paper was published today in PLoS Biology: Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects by Thomas Alerstam, Mikael Rosen, Johan Backman, Per G. P. Ericson and Olof Hellgren: Analysing the variation in flight speed...

Friday Weird Sex Blogging - Cooling The Balls

What?.......

A worm with an ur-hypothalamus?

Modern Brains Have An Ancient Core: Hormones control growth, metabolism, reproduction and many other important biological processes. In humans, and all other vertebrates, the chemical signals are produced by specialised brain centres such as the hypothalamus and secreted into the...

Why are dinosaur fossils' heads turned up and back?

OK, it's been about 20 years since I was last in vet school and I have fogotten most of the stuff I learned there. But I remember a few things. I clearly remember the Pathology class (and especially the lab!)...

Invisibility Cloak

When I was a kid I swallowed science-fiction by the crates. And I was too young to be very discerning of quality - I liked everything. Good taste developed later, with age. But even at that tender age, there was...

Give the spherical cow an orgasm!

Good luck...

In Memoriam: Knut Schmidt-Nielsen (September 24, 1915-January 25, 2007)

How did I miss this!? Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, one of my personal scientific idols, died on January 25th, 2007at the age of 92. He has re-invented, or perhaps better to say invented, the field of comparative physiology (now often refered to...

How Elephants Walk on Hot Coals? By Having Hot Feet

Russ noted that someone is using thermography to study thermoregulation in elephants: Wits University has just completed studies on how elephants cope with high African temperatures and how that influences their behaviour. In African savannahs, elephants are exposed to high...

Physiology: Coordinated Response

This is the last in the 16-post series of BIO101 lecture notes for a speed-course targeted at adults. As always, I welcome corrections and suggestions for improvement (June 17, 2006)......

Physiology: Regulation and Control

The penultimate installment of lecture notes in the BIO101 series. Help me make it better - point out errors of fact and suggest improvements:...

Just smelling food will make you live shorter - if you are a fruitfly

Just quickly for now without commentary: Totally cool paper in the last Science: S. Libert, J. Zwiener, X. Chu, W. VanVoorhies, G. Roman, and S.D.Pletcher Regulation of Drosophila lifespan by olfaction and food-derived odors: Smell is an ancient sensory system...

Friday Weird Sex Blogging

Teaching circulatory physiology is pretty much the same as teaching fluid physics. It can get a bit tough and boring. But, if it is taught like this, I bet ther would be no students sleeping in the back row and...

Why do we have sex?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3...

Cephalopods don't need a mirror test - they are mirrors themselves .

PZ probably already knows about this, but I found this discovery of super-reflective skin cells in squid, cuttlefish and octopus quite amazing! Hanlon's team discovered that the bottom layer of octopus skin, made up of cells called leucophores, is composed...

Why do Elephants Have Large Ears?

It's been almost three months since Arunn, in the comments to this post, promised to write a post about the thermoregulatory function of big, flappy elephant ears. Finally, he's gotten to it, and now you can go and read his...

Does Tryptophan from turkey meat make you sleepy?

Does eating turkey meat make you sleepy? Some people say Yes, some people say No, and the debate can escalate into a big fight.

Is Mothra making a comeback due to global warming?

Giant Insects Might Reign If Only There Was More Oxygen In The Air: The delicate lady bug in your garden could be frighteningly large if only there was a greater concentration of oxygen in the air, a new study concludes....

More on Antioxidants

I see that I was the only one answering this week's Ask The ScienceBlogger question (so far). Perhaps these two new studies will inspire some of my SciBlings to add their own thoughts: Everybody Dance: The Energy You Use Won't...

New study on evolution of vision

For easy-to-understand quick look at the evolution of vision I have to refer you to these two posts by PZ Myers, this post of mine, and these two posts by Carl Zimmer. Now, armed with all that knowledge, you will...

Viagra keeps you up at night

No, not (just) that part - your brain. A new study shows that a single dose of Viagra makes symptoms of sleep apnea worse. And sleep deprivation resulting from sleep apnea may be one of the reasons why you may...

A Question

My sister in law is an artist and is writing a proposal for funding a project. She intends to use red clay to make some figurines. She has heard an old story that the composition of red clay is similar...

Are cryptochromes involved in magnetoreception in migratory birds?

Scientists discover molecule behind birds' magnetic sense: "Some birds, notably migratory species, are able to detect the Earth's magnetic field and use it to navigate. New results from a team of Franco-German researchers suggest that light-sensitive molecules called cryptochromes could...

Friday Weird Sex Blogging - Cooling The Balls

It takes balls to write about balls.

Why All Lard Is White

Why Piglets Shudder To Keep Warm: Brown fat helps newborn mammals maintain their body temperature by burning fat, which converts into heat. The protein UCP1 (Uncoupling Protein 1) has a key role in this energy conversion, which takes place in...

Should we rewrite the textbook chapters on voltage-gated potassium channels?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is really ground-breaking: Study Finds Brain Cell Regulator Is Volume Control, Not On/off Switch: He and his colleagues studied an ion channel that controls neuronal activity called Kv2.1, a type...

So, elephants actually run (leave the ground with all four feet at the same time)

Have You Ever Seen An Elephant ... Run?: Dr John Hutchinson, a research leader at the UK's Royal Veterinary College (RVC), has already shown that, contrary to previous studies and most popular opinion, elephants moving at speed appear to be...

Why hibernating animals occasionally wake up?

One of the several hypotheses floating around over the past several years to explain the phenomenon of repeated wake-up events in hibernating animals although such events are very energy-draining, is the notion that the immune system needs to be rewarmed...

Mokie-Koke

When I saw this article in SEED Maagazine, I had only one thought - Mokie-Koke!

Teaching Biology Lab - Week 2

This is by far the most popular of the four installments in this series because it contains the nifty puzzle exercise. Click on the spider-web-clock icon to see the comments on the original post. Just like last week, I have...

Hot Peppers - Why Are They Hot?

Some plants do not want to get eaten. They may grow in places difficult to approach, they may look unappetizing, or they may evolve vile smells. Some have a fuzzy, hairy or sticky surface, others evolve thorns. Animals need to...

Why Is Cornea Clear?

Scientists Discover Why Cornea Is Transparent And Free Of Blood Vessels, Allowing Vision: The key, say the researchers, is the unexpected presence of large amounts of the protein VEGFR-3 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3) on the top epithelial layer of...

Friday Weird Sex Blogging - Corkscrewing

You really think I am going to put this above the fold? No way - you have to click:...

Why fish in the Arctic seas do not freeze?

Here is a wonderful new study that demonstrates that the antifreeze substances in notothenioid fish are not produced by the liver as was believed for decades and taught in Comparative Physiology courses. Instead, it is produced in two places: most...

Daily Rhythms in Cnidaria

Do Cnidaria have real circadian rhythms? Survey of daily rhythms in corals, sea anemones and jellyfish.

Viagra - The Future, part 2

From L.A.Times (you'll have to click - I am purposefully citing out of context for humorous purposes): Military researchers are considering a study to see whether Viagra could help soldiers function better at high altitudes. High altitudes? How high? Who/what...

Translated!

My post about sleep has been translated by Davide 'Folletto' Casali into Italian, and posted on his blog. You can see the translated post here. If you can read Italian (and even you do not - just for fun, and...

Sixth Sense? Give Me A Break!

This was my December 29, 2004 post written in reaction to media reports on the "sixth sense" in animals, avoiding the tsunami by climbing to high ground:...

ClockTutorial #1 - What Is Chronobiology

This is the first in a series of posts from Circadiana designed as ClockTutorials, covering the basics of the field of Chronobiology. It was first written on January 12, 2005:...

Melatonin in Human Milk

Melatonin is secreted in human mother's milk with a daily rhythm - high at night, undetectable during the day (see the figure under the fold):...

BIO101 - Lecture 7 - Physiology: Coordinated Response

Last week we looked at the organ systems involved in regulation and control of body functions: the nervous, sensory, endocrine and circadian systems. This week, we will cover the organ systems that are regulated and controlled. Again, we will use...

BIO101 - Lecture 6 - Physiology: Regulation and Control

It is impossible to cover all organ systems in detail over the course of just two lectures. Thus, we will stick only to the basics. Still, I want to emphasize how much organ systems work together, in concert, to maintain...

Teaching Update

This Monday night I taught lecture #7 of the 8-week Intro Biology course (adult education at a community college). First, I gave them their Exam #2 (on Diversity, see my lecture notes on those topics here, here and here). The...

Obligatory Reading of the Day

Amanda reviews the lies about sex and contraception that are peddled by the Catholic church in their pre-marital classes: Pandagon goes undercover the lazy way on a Catholic anti-contraception seminar and Pandagon goes undercover the lazy way on a Catholic...

BIO101 - Lecture 5: Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology

After three lectures on the basics, a long lecture on diversity, and a hard first exam, it is time to turn our attention to anatomy and physiology for the rest of the course:...

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