drug

Image from the American Physiological Society's website.http://www.the-aps.org/mm/Conferences/APS-Conferences/2014-Conferences/… As anticipated, the meeting today was excellent! Here are some highlights from today: Dr. Michael Joyner (Mayo Clinic) spoke about how we should reconsider animal models that are used in research as laboratory rodents can be manipulated to match their genotype to their phenotype. In other words, researchers modify the animal's genome to produce a specific disease or attribute they are interested in studying. The problem with this approach is that genes can be…

A new documentary from BBC called "Spy in the Pod" has captured what they claim to be footage of dolphins using puffer fish to reportedly "get high". According to a quote from the Daily Mail, "Zoologist and series producer Rob Pilley said that it was the first time dolphins had been filmed behaving this way." The toxins apparently have a narcotic-like effect on the dolphins. The "Spy in the Pod" two-part series begins tonight at 8:00pm on BBC1. Additional source:Daily Mail

Trace amounts of oxazepam in rivers has large effects on wild perch. Image credit: Brent Christensen Dr. Tomas Brodin (Umea University, Sweden) and colleagues have discovered that trace amounts of the drug oxazepam that ends up in rivers and streams (from toilets) greatly effects local fish. The drug is used to treat anxiety in humans and also calms fish. However, for wild perch, which normally hunt in schools, the antisocial effects of the drug in fish makes them more vulnerable to predation.     Psychiatric medications are not the only drugs found in potential drinking-water…

If you search for decent definitions of evolution, the chances are that you'll see genes mentioned somewhere. The American Heritage Dictionary talks about natural selection acting on "genetic variation", Wikipedia discusses "change in the genetic material of a population... through successive generations", and TalkOrigins talks about changes that are inherited "via the genetic material". But, as the Year of Darwin draws to a close, a new study suggests that all of these definitions are too narrow. Jiali Li from the Scripps Institute in Florida has found that prions - the infectious proteins…

It's 1964, and a group of Canadian scientists had sailed across the Pacific to Easter Island in order to study the health of the isolated local population. Working below the gaze of the island's famous statues, they collected a variety of soil samples and other biological material, unaware that one of these would yield an unexpected treasure. It contained a bacterium that secreted a new antibiotic, one that proved to be a potent anti-fungal chemical. The compound was named rapamycin after the traditional name of its island source - Rapa Nui. Skip forward 35 years and rapamycin has made a…

This may be the best BBC story EVER. Seriously: Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite", a government official has said."We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Lara Giddings told the hearing. "Then they crash," she added. "We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high." I have nothing to add. At a complete loss here. I can't even come up with a bad pun. PS - Oops, I forgot to say this was courtesy of reader Jake! Thanks Jake…

I finally got around to reading my backed-up RSS feeds, and had the chance to peruse these, well, demented 1970s biology textbook illustrations uncovered by Crooked Timber. I mean, what? No - what??! Crooked Timber calls it a "Groovy Prog Rock Wannabe Biology Text." I don't know what to say, except that I went to Artomatic yesterday, which had something like a thousand artists, and this psychedelica is far trippier than anything I saw there. Whoa, man. For the record, if I had, as a child, learned to associate biology with angry disembodied leopard heads flying towards me on Frisbees of fire…

The Associated Press reports that lawyers working on a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Pfizer are close to reaching a settlement. Nigerian authorities allege that Pfizer conducted deadly drug experiments in Nigeria's northern Kano state during devastating meningitis outbreak. They claim that the pharmaceutical giant used children there for an unlicensed trial of what it hoped would be a new "blockbuster" drug - a broad spectrum antibiotic that could be taken in tablet form. Pfizer disagrees, insisting that it acted with approval from the Nigerian government and with the consent of…