dr. dolittle | October 2, 2016Scientists have taken notice that humpback whales may shown signs of heroic altruism in this video posted by CNN on YouTube:
dr. dolittle | September 30, 2016 By Uroš Novina from Semič, Slovenia - Bee close up, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50974889
A new study was designed to test whether bees can experience some kind of primordial "emotions". In the study bees were trained to associate a tunnel marked with a blue flower with a sugar water treat at its end. In contrast, a green flower meant no reward at the end of the tunnel. However, when bees were exposed to flowers with both hues, they either chose not to enter the tunnel or took a long time to choose to enter. But, when half of the bees were given a sugar water…
dr. dolittle | September 28, 2016 Image of big eared bats By Stihler Craig, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
According to a press release from Northern Arizona University, Drs. Faith Walker and Carol Chambers at the Bat Ecology & Genetics Lab have developed a system called Species From Feces to identify bat species from guano collected in field locations such as mines, caves, bridges, etc. The system takes advantage of DNA sequencing technology and an assay to look for genetic identifiers unique to different species using DNA barcodes. The sequences can then be compared to a…
dr. dolittle | September 27, 2016 Image of C. diff from BBC News
As the name implies, Clostrodium difficile (C. diff.) bacterial infections are difficult to treat because of antibiotic resistance. The problem with C. diff is that these bacteria release toxins that cause inflammation and diarrhea. In fact, C. diff is the number one cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals as well as long-term care facilities. Studies have shown that probiotic yeast may help prevent C. diff infections. While these studies are exciting, much of this prior research has not looked at strains of C. diff that are commonly involved in outbreaks.…
dr. dolittle | September 21, 2016No joke: California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to regulate 'gas' emissions from cows along with other sources of greenhouse gases, of course. According to an interview from NPR, dairy cows are the number one producer of methane in California. The problem with methane is that it is a major component of smog, although according to scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara, it is not the leading cause of global warming. In fact, agriculture-related methane and carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for only 6-7% of greenhouse emissions.
Researchers at Penn State…
dr. dolittle | September 21, 2016
Don't let their small size fool you. Tardigrades, or 'water bears', are really tough animals. According to a review published in the American Scientist, these microscopic invertebrates can survive extreme variations in temperature from near absolute zero (-459 deg F) up to +302 deg F. They can also tolerate pressures that are 6 times greater than the deepest ocean, exposure to ionizing radiation (UV and x-ray) and the vacuum of space, as well as exposure to carbon dioxide and monoxide, nitrogen and sulfur dioxide. What's more, they can survive nearly complete dehydration, an ability called…
dr. dolittle | September 16, 2016 Image from Wikimedia commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1475156
Until now I had assumed that a "peep" was that squishy sugar-covered marshmallow treat that we enjoyed as kids and a "yo-yo" was a toy on a string. As it turns out, peep and yo-yo are also term used to described types of diving patterns. A square dive is one in which there are no excursions to the surface, known as a "peep", except at the end of the dive, of course. This is in contrast to a yo-yo dive in which divers repeatedly "peep" for a moment at the surface during a dive. The problem is that yo-yo…
dr. dolittle | September 16, 2016 Video of C. elegans from Wikipedia. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/CrawlingCelegans.gif
A new study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University examined the costs of reproduction in roundworms, otherwise known as C. elegans. They discovered that male roundworms can send two kinds of pheromones that prime females for reproduction. One type of pheromone they studied sparks the onset of puberty in young female worms while the other prolongs fertility in aging females. The problem is that these changes come at a cost as it shortens the lifespan of female…
dr. dolittle | September 8, 2016 Image of a rat in the New York City subway By m01229 from USA, from Wikimedia commons
News out of Flagstaff, Arizona reports that a biotechnology company in the area, SenesTech, has developed a birth control for rats that was recently cleared by the Environmental Protection Agency. The new drug comes in the form of a sweetened liquid bait that has been shown to reduce rodent populations by as much as 40%. It works in female rats by inducing loss of eggs whereas in male rats it disrupts development of sperm.
The drug is also being tested in other feral animals such as dogs, cats, and mice.…
dr. dolittle | August 31, 2016Tasmanian devils are rather large carnivorous marsupials. By large, I mean the world's largest.
In only 2 decades, the population of Tasmanian devils have declined by about 85%, landing these animals on the endangered species list. The cause: an infectious cancer called devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). As the name implies, this cancer causes facial tumors that grow so large, the victims starve to death in as little as 6 months from an inability to eat. What makes this cancer particularly devastating to a population is how it spreads between animals through bites and the one thing Tasmanian…
dr. dolittle | August 23, 2016Check out this new YouTube video of an adorable baby baboon with leucism, not to be confused with albinism as discussed in the video:
dr. dolittle | August 22, 2016 Merino sheep. Original: User:Fir0002 Derivative work: Charles Esson at en.wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons
Researchers from Friedrich Schiller University (Jena, Germany) and Heinrich-Heine-University (Düsseldorf, Germany) teamed up to test whether a heart failure medication that is currently being tested might also improve blood flow in the brain. Their findings were published last month in the American Journal of Physiology, Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
According to the study authors, the small blood vessels in the brains of sheep closely resemble those in the human brain. Using…
dr. dolittle | August 20, 2016 Photo of Astronaut Robert Overmyer from NASA, via Wikimedia Commons.
I recently went on a trip to visit the Endeavour space shuttle currently on display in Los Angeles. Seeing the shuttle up close brought back memories of watching the space shuttle launches on TV and the childhood dream of visiting other planets...a dream that also inspires Hollywood to continue to produce movies and TV shows about space exploration. Turns out, The Martian movie may soon become reality. In fact, NASA is working towards sending astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030's. Aside from the technological…
dr. dolittle | August 18, 2016I was checking out the award-winning American Physiological Society's I Spy Physiology blog and came across a couple of really interesting posts about animals:
"If Only Birds Could Compete in the Summer Games"
Photo of a frigatebird in the study. Credit: Max Planck Institute.
This post reported a study of how frigatebirds manage to sleep during flights out at sea that can last for weeks. By measuring brain activity, the research team found that the birds were capable of actual sleep, during which time both sides of the brain showed sleep patterns for seconds at a time. In addition, they…
dr. dolittle | August 17, 2016 Photo of a pigeon (Columba livia) by Wardrin - Own work, GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5739797
With reported lead poisonings in cities such as Flint Michigan, methods to detect risk of exposure are desperately needed. Since pigeons live in close proximity to humans, could pigeons be the 'canary in the lead mine'? Researchers at Columbia University in New York City measured the concentrations of lead in the blood of 825 ill or injured feral pigeons to determine whether the animals could serve as bioindicators of levels in the environment. Their results were …
dr. dolittle | August 12, 2016It must be Friday. I found myself perusing YouTube videos and I came across these showing pet tortoises that have figured out how to solve some interesting problems such as:
Using the doggie door to enter a house...
If that does not work, many have figured out how to just open the back door...
Some have even figured out how to open the refrigerator...
After watching these videos, I naturally went in pursuit of any information I could find as to whether tortoise intelligence has been tested scientifically. In support of many pet owner claims, tortoises do exhibit signs of intelligence. In…
dr. dolittle | August 11, 2016 Sketch of a rainbow trout from Wikimedia Commons
Ceramides are a type of sphingolipid composed of both fatty acids and sphingosine that are important in maintaining the structure of cell membranes and cell signaling pathways. Given their structure, it is perhaps not surprising that levels of ceramide are increased in the brains of mammals after eating a diet high in fats as well as in individuals who are obese. In mammals, ceramides are also known to help regulate food intake.
Since rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) do not rely on glucose as heavily as proteins or fats for metabolism,…
dr. dolittle | August 5, 2016By now you have probably seen the video showing the discovery of a strange purple blob during an exploration off the coast of California. As a scientist what do you do when you find something new? You bring it back to the lab of course. Although it may take years to identify what it is, the researchers have speculated it might be some new species of soft-bodied mollusk. Check out the newly uploaded YouTube video:
dr. dolittle | August 5, 2016I am very excited to report that the American Physiological Society in partnership with the The Physiological Society held a joint meeting from July 29-31 in Dublin, Ireland. The keynote lectures were given by Dr. Jerry Friedman from Rockefeller University and Dr. W Jon Lederer from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Friedman spoke about his research on obesity and how genetic factors might play a role. In fact, his team was responsible for discovering the obesity (ob) gene in mice in 1994 and identifying the similar gene in humans. The gene encodes the now iconic hormone leptin, which is…
dr. dolittle | July 18, 2016 Images of snorkels (arrows) found on Asian Alycaeus snails from Science News.
Scientists have been wondering why Asian Alycaeidae snails have a snorkel that was seemingly functionless. While other snails that live on land have a similar tube with an opening that allows them to breathe while inside the shell, the end of the breathing tube (i.e. snorkel) on the Asian snails appeared to be sealed.
A new study published in Biology Letters shows that the tube of Alycaeus conformis is not sealed after all. They used electron microscopy to examine the snorkel and found around 50 microscopic air…