dr. dolittle
Posts by this author
October 30, 2013
Clip Art from www.LeeHanson.com
Just in time for Halloween:
Besides being an excellent way to avoid predators, roosting or hanging upside down is optimal for taking off into flight. Bats are not able to launch into flight from an upright position because their wings do not generate sufficient…
FDA is looking for your help to determine source of illnesses and deaths related to dog jerky treats
October 22, 2013
Image from Vin News Service (http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=22697)
The FDA is calling for help to determine the source of roughly 580 deaths and over 3600 illnesses (gastrointestinal and kidney) related to jerky treats that were made in China. The mystery dates back to 2007 when…
October 18, 2013
A recent article published in The Scientist about the use of robots to study animal behavior is a must-read! I had no idea this was such a seemingly common use of robots. Some researchers use them to mimic the movements of ants along paths of least resistance. While others have developed robots to…
October 16, 2013
A guide from the Catalina Island Marine Institute discovered the carcass of an oarfish (Regalecus glesne) off the coast of Catalina Island this week. Oarfish are the longest bony fish (reports up to ~50 feet long) in the ocean. Because oarfish live deep in the ocean, there have been limited studies…
October 11, 2013
Image from Reuters and The NY Times
Congratulations to Drs. Randy W. Schekman, Thomas C. Südhof and James E. Rothman (above left to right) for earning the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research in "discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport…
October 9, 2013
Photo credit: Margaret C. Hardy
Drs. Glenn King and Maggie Hardy at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Australia have discovered a small protein, aptly named orally active insecticidal peptide-1 (OAIP-1), in the venom of Australian tarantulas (Selenotypus plumipes…
October 9, 2013
An article came out today in Wunderground.com about an iconic bird (in both good and bad ways) in South Africa, the Hadeda Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash). There are stores named after the birds, songs dedicated to them and even a documentary called "Hadeda Sunrise" that you can watch here:
October 9, 2013
Image from: www.beagleworld.net
I should have read this article before adopting my beloved pet, who is certainly not on the top 10 list of smart breeds.
A cute article from pet360.com published the top 10 smart breeds according to the American Kennel Club:
1. Border collie
2. German Shepherd
3.…
October 8, 2013
Image of C. difficile from BBC News.
You may recall a prior post about a dog that could smell when patients were infected with Clostridium difficile. C. difficile causes about 14,000 deaths per year in the United States. Recent breakthroughs in understanding gut microbes have led to the…
October 5, 2013
Dr. Janet Yamamoto from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine was quoted in a press release this week saying, “One major reason why there has been no successful HIV vaccine to date is that we do not know which parts of HIV to combine to produce the most effective vaccine." Her…
October 3, 2013
Image of a Chinese red-headed centipede from Wikimedia Commons.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and The University of Queensland have discovered a venom from centipedes capable of blocking pain more effectively than morphine!
According to the study authors, centipedes have…
September 29, 2013
Eran Levin in front of a blacklight screen.
Eran Levin, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona studies Hawk Moths. He used a technique called backlighting to catch them and in the process catches numerous other insects as well.
Moths navigate by keeping bright objects like the…
September 29, 2013
Amazonian butterflies drinking turtle tears.Image from: Jeff Cremer / Perunature.com
The Amazon region is notoriously deficient in sodium because of its large distance from the ocean and because the Andes mountains block the delivery of windblown minerals from the West. Some minerals travel from…
September 28, 2013
This was just too cute (and funny!) not to share. I came across a blog in Scientific American that discussed a "standardized test" created by Hannah Bonner, illustrator and children's writer, to help determine whether someone (or some creature) is a mammal:
Excerpt from "When Dinos Dawned, Mammals…
September 26, 2013
...for rodents and men at least.
A team of researchers at UC Berkeley have discovered that mice infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii lose their innate fear of cats, even months after the infection is cleared. In fact, infected mice were mildly attracted to the odor of cats. This side effect…
September 23, 2013
Image from: 41 ACTION NEWS KSHB.COM
Image from: Myfoxdetroit.com
Outlandish stories about a 25-pound Savannah cat, known as "Chum", on the loose in Detroit (above) may have been responsible for his untimely death last month. The 3-year old cat was owned by a local family but was spotted…
September 23, 2013
Image of male great tit from BBC Nature News.
A new study published in Ecology Letters suggests that shy male great tits build stronger bonds with birds in their own flock. This population of birds has been studied in Wytham Woods, near Oxford, UK since 1947.
In case you are wondering, the team…
September 17, 2013
Image from www.123rf.com
A new study published in the American Journal of Physiology presents data suggesting that birds do not carry a specific anti-inflammatory protein critical for keeping inflammation under control in mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
The specific protein is tristetraprolin…
September 13, 2013
Image of young planthopper by study author Malcolm Burrows.
Scientists have discovered what they believe is the first example of interacting gears in young planthopper insects, Issus coleoptratus. The gears are on the upper portion of the insect's rear legs and help ensure the legs work in…
September 13, 2013
233,000 gallons of molasses has leaked from a pipeline near the shore of Honolulu suffocating thousands of fish. The pipeline is used to load molasses onto ships. Officials have warned people to stay out of the water as sharks may be attracted to the area. The Hawaii Department of Health is working…
September 12, 2013
I came across this video showing thousands of migratory birds circling the Tribute in Lights yesterday. The birds were migrating along the Atlantic Flyway and were disoriented by the lights. Other birds may have been attracted to the large number of insects and smaller birds caught up in the lights…
September 9, 2013
You have to see this to believe it. This video from CNN shows how a 31-pound cat is losing weight by walking on an underwater treadmill.
I wonder how they were able to get this cat to even stay in the water. I think my cat would lose more weight in the process of fighting to stay out of the water…
September 5, 2013
Image of bonobos from www.freewallpaperspot.com
Photographer Graham McGeorge has captured remarkable images of bonobos, our closest living relative that share 98.7% of human DNA. The photos depict bonobos engaging in similar behaviors as humans, like the image above from another photographer of…
September 5, 2013
Scientists at the Smithsonian National Zoo have now confirmed that the new panda bear cub born on August 23rd is a girl and Tian Tian is her father.
September 3, 2013
Image of Indian Flying Fox from Wikipedia, Fritz Geller-Grimm
An ambititous project seeks to identify all unknown viruses in mammals to determine the relative risk of infection to humans and to develop strategies to prevent and treat infections before they become pandemics. The pioneering…
August 29, 2013
A virus is to blame for the deaths of hundreds of bottlenose dolphins along the East Coast of the United States:
August 27, 2013
Dr. Pierre Legagneux (University of Quebec in Rimouski, Canada) and Dr. Simon Ducatez (McGill University, Canada) published a new study in Biology Letters suggesting that birds judge the speed limit of cars to determine when to take flight. In areas with higher speed limits, birds were observed to…
August 26, 2013
Image of panda bear cub at its first exam from the National Zoo.
Exciting news from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park! Mei, a giant panda bear at the zoo has given birth to a cub weighing in at 137 grams (~4.83 ounces)-too cute!! DNA tests will determine the sex as well as the paternity…
August 23, 2013
Image of velvet worm from: Oliveira et al / Zoologischer Anzeiger
A new species of velvet worm (Eoperipatus totoros) is the first to be described from Vietnam after its discovery in 2010. This 2.5 inch long worm is distinguished from other velvet worms by hairs with unique shapes that cover its …
August 20, 2013
In honor of Maine Lobster month, this video from the American Chemical Society describes why lobsters always turn red when they are cooked, regardless of what color they were prior to being dropped into the stock pot. I don't know about you, but this video has made me crave lobster for dinner…