Physiology:
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...
Posted on May 13, 2008 11:11 AM • 0 Comments •
You really think I am going to put this above the fold? No way - you have to click (First posted on July 7, 2006):...
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Posted on May 5, 2008 8:57 AM • 2 Comments •
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...
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Posted on May 4, 2008 4:53 PM • 3 Comments •
(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,...
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Posted on April 28, 2008 4:53 PM • 7 Comments •
"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...
Posted on January 10, 2008 9:55 AM • 4 Comments •
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...
Posted on September 28, 2007 10:10 AM • 3 Comments •
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...
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Posted on September 27, 2007 1:19 PM • 5 Comments •
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...
Posted on September 24, 2007 1:54 PM • 4 Comments •
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...
Posted on August 28, 2007 1:48 PM • 4 Comments •
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...
Posted on July 17, 2007 11:47 PM • 1 Comments •
What?.......
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Posted on July 8, 2007 8:51 AM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on June 29, 2007 11:36 PM • 0 Comments •
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!)...
Posted on June 9, 2007 5:50 PM • 3 Comments •
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...
Posted on June 7, 2007 10:18 PM • 7 Comments •
Good luck...
Posted on May 5, 2007 11:00 PM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on April 11, 2007 4:09 PM • 7 Comments •
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...
Posted on March 26, 2007 9:59 AM • 1 Comments •
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)......
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Posted on February 15, 2007 10:56 AM • 0 Comments •
The penultimate installment of lecture notes in the BIO101 series. Help me make it better - point out errors of fact and suggest improvements:...
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Posted on February 8, 2007 10:58 AM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on February 5, 2007 2:27 PM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on December 16, 2006 1:20 AM • 0 Comments •
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3...
Posted on December 11, 2006 12:42 AM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on December 9, 2006 8:20 PM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on November 27, 2006 11:06 PM • 1 Comments •
Does eating turkey meat make you sleepy? Some people say Yes, some people say No, and the debate can escalate into a big fight.
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Posted on November 22, 2006 10:53 AM • 6 Comments •
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....
Posted on October 14, 2006 9:00 AM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on October 10, 2006 9:32 AM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on October 4, 2006 9:55 AM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on October 3, 2006 11:09 PM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on September 24, 2006 9:41 PM • 2 Comments •
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...
Posted on September 12, 2006 5:01 PM • 3 Comments •
It takes balls to write about balls.
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Posted on September 2, 2006 1:37 AM • 5 Comments •
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...
Posted on August 21, 2006 1:54 PM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on August 19, 2006 3:16 PM • 8 Comments •
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...
Posted on August 19, 2006 2:40 PM • 2 Comments •
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...
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Posted on August 18, 2006 2:12 PM • 0 Comments •
When I saw this article in SEED Maagazine, I had only one thought - Mokie-Koke!
Posted on August 2, 2006 8:59 AM • 4 Comments •
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...
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Posted on July 22, 2006 9:59 AM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on July 21, 2006 10:43 AM • 24 Comments •
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...
Posted on July 18, 2006 1:22 PM • 0 Comments •
You really think I am going to put this above the fold? No way - you have to click:...
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Posted on July 7, 2006 9:59 AM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on June 29, 2006 1:08 PM • 1 Comments •
Do Cnidaria have real circadian rhythms? Survey of daily rhythms in corals, sea anemones and jellyfish.
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Posted on June 27, 2006 11:59 AM • 0 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
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...
Posted on June 23, 2006 4:57 PM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on June 21, 2006 6:19 PM • 1 Comments •
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:...
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Posted on June 21, 2006 10:59 AM • 0 Comments •
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:...
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Posted on June 19, 2006 10:59 AM • 2 Comments •
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):...
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Posted on June 19, 2006 10:42 AM • 3 Comments •
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...
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Posted on June 17, 2006 2:18 AM • 8 Comments •
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...
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Posted on June 16, 2006 12:35 PM • 1 Comments •
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...
Posted on June 15, 2006 1:32 PM • 0 Comments •
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...
Posted on June 15, 2006 1:40 AM • 0 Comments •
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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Posted on June 11, 2006 3:53 PM • 2 Comments •
