Seed Media Group

Reality is always more complicated than you think.

Profile

jake-head-shot.jpgJake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.

Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.

Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.

DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.

Search this blog

Archives

Blogroll


raptor.jpg

« Elsewhere on the Interweb (3/13/08) | Main | In honor of Pi Day... »

Sand dollar larva clone themselves in response to danger

Category: Biology
Posted on: March 14, 2008 5:39 PM, by Jake Young

I wish I could do this:

Scientists exposed 4-day-old sand dollar larvae to fish mucus, a sign that danger is close. They found that the larvae created clones of themselves within 24 hours.

"It's the first time we've seen anything clone itself in response to cues that predators are near," said researcher Dawn Vaughn, a biology doctoral student at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories.

Sand dollar larvae are tiny globs that float along with plankton in the sea, an easy target for hungry fish. When they are 6 weeks old, they settle to the seafloor and eventually become adult sand dollars with their distinctive petal-patterned shells.

After being exposed to fish mucus, the larvae formed embryo-like buds that eventually detached and developed into new, genetically-identical larvae that were much smaller than the originals. The parent larvae were left smaller, too, measuring about half their beginning size.

Larvae that were not exposed to the fish mucus did not clone themselves.

How friggin' awesome would it be if humans did this?

"Muahahaha! You can kill me, but you can't kill me and all my clones. Now we run in different directions. Muahaha!

...Hey!...Wait...stop trying to kill me and all my clones! Just because we can't run very fast doesn't mean this shouldn't work."

It would be like that character from X-men: the Last Stand, only much more "not-total-nonsensey."

exclusivexmm.jpg

Post a Comment

(Email is required for authentication purposes only. Comments are moderated for spam, your comment may not appear immediately. Thanks for waiting.)





Having problems commenting? (UPDATED)

Blogs in the Network

Advertisement

Top Five: Most Active

  1. Baylor rededicates itself to bible college status 07.25.2008 · PZ Myers
  2. One goofy site 07.25.2008 · PZ Myers
  3. Comments from the McDonald's Boycott 07.25.2008 · Ed Brayton
  4. When Political Labels Become Useless 07.25.2008 · Ed Brayton
  5. Oh no! My cell phone's going to kill me! 07.25.2008 · Orac

Search All Blogs

Top Science Stories

powered by SEED - seedmagazine.com