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A 60 second lecture on "Human History"

Just caught this at Boingboing: Here you have history professor, Dr. Alan Charles Kors, attempting to encapsulate the entirety of human history in a 60 second lecture. The transcript goes: * First, tribes: tough life. * The defaults beyond the intimate tribe were violence, aversion to difference, and slavery. Superstition: everywhere. * Culture overcomes them partially. * Rainfall agriculture, which allows loners. * Irrigation agriculture, which favors community. * Division of labor plus exchange in trade bring mutual cooperation, even outside the tribe. * The…

Electric bidet catches fire

Now that is unfortunate: Japan's leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday. The electric bidet accessory of Toto's Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka. The bidet sent up smoke in 26 other incidents, the company said. "Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries," Tanaka said. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks." ... The…

A favorite quote

I want to share one of my favorite quotes ever from an historian of science: George Sarton writing in his magisterial (and sadly unfinished) A History of Science: The influence of Timaeus upon later times was enormous and essentially evil. A large portion of Timaeus had been translated into Latin by Chalcidius (IV-1), and that translation remained for over eight centuries the only Platonic text known to the Latin West. Yet the fame of Plato had reached them, and thus the Latin Timaeus became a kind of Platonic evangel which many scholars were ready to interpret literally. The scientific…

Expelled in Tempe: The Expected Happens

Remember the e-mail I received stating that tonight’s Expelled screening in Tempe was canceled? The e-mail simply stated: The Tempe, AZ Screening has been canceled. Well, Ken McKnight called the theater today two or so hours before the screening. Ken says: I just called the Arizona Mills Harkins theater and said that I had heard that the private screening of Expelled had been moved from 7:00 to 6:00 (I didn’t mention that I had been emailed that the showing was canceled). The person I spoke to confirmed that the movie is showing today at 6:00. Clearly the promoters are somehow screening the…

Stein on scientists

Never one who is afraid to paint with a very broad brush, Ben Stein gives us this gem (from a Christianity Today interview): I believe God created the heavens and the earth, and it doesn’t scare me when scientists say that can’t be proved. I couldn’t give a [profanity] whether a person calls himself a scientist. Science has covered itself with glory, morally, in my time. Scientists were the people in Germany telling Hitler that it was a good idea to kill all the Jews. Scientists told Stalin it was a good idea to wipe out the middle-class peasants. Scientists told Mao Tse-Tung it was fine to…

Expelled in Tempe ...

The Expelled boyos seem to be tightening up their act. Now you can’t RSVP for future events all of which have been removed from the list. Compare this (yesterday) with this. There’s a screening scheduled for Harkins Arizona Mills at 7pm on April 3rd. I RSVPed last night and got the following in reply: Dear John Lynch, This is a confirmation of your RSVP for the free "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" movie screening.Venue information is below. Theater: Harkins Arizona Mills 5000 Arizona Mills Circle Tempe, AZ 85281 Date: April3 Time:7:00 PM Number of seats reserved: 1 YOUR NAME WILL BE ON A…

That @#%^#^ DI list again

Over at The Questionable Authority, Mike re-iterates something I've been saying for years about the DI's "Dissent from Darwinism" signatories, 700 individuals who the DI's flacks claim "have signed the list because it is their professional opinion that the evidence is lacking for the claims for the ability of random mutations and natural selection to account for the complexity of life.": What basis does Douglas Keil, who is listed as having a PhD in "Plasma Physics" have for forming a professional opinion on evolutionary biology? How about Jeanne Drisko, "Clinical Assistant Professor of…

Genesis held to be literally true by 60% of adult Americans

One result from a Barna Group poll on biblical literalism: The Bible opens with the description of God creating the universe in six days. That report is accepted as literally true by 60% of the adult population. This passage brought out major distinctions across people groups. For instance, while 73% of the adults who did not attend college believe this account to be literal, just half as many college graduates (38%) hold that view. About half of the residents of the Northeast (52%) and West (50%) hold a literal view of the creation account, compared to 62% of those in the Midwest and 72% of…

So long, we hardly knew ya ...

Remember this? No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just…

George Gilder Godwins the argument

I'm sure PZ will comment on this, but I couldn't help but highlight this statement by George Gilder: The notion that "the whole universe contains no intelligence," Mr. Gilder said at Thursday's conference, is perpetuated by "Darwinian storm troopers." "Both Nazism and communism were inspired by Darwinism," he continued. "Why conservatives should toady to these storm troopers is beyond me." Way to go George! And his sock puppet, John West, once more tells us what the real agenda is: "Nor is it simply an irrelevant rehashing of certain esoteric points of biology and philosophy. Darwinian…

"It should be a fight for intellectual freedom, not a fight for science against religion."

Somewhat predictably, Dembski has posted this comment by Freeman Dyson: My opinion is that most people believe in intelligent design as a reasonable explanation of the universe, and this belief is entirely compatible with science. So it is unwise for scientists to make a big fight against the idea of intelligent design. The fight should be only for the freedom of teachers to teach science as they see fit, independent of political or religious control. It should be a fight for intellectual freedom, not a fight for science against religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Teachers - at…

Failure in Afghanistan

John McCain seems to think it is Europe's fault that things aren't going well in Afghanistan. He believes that Europe should follow Washington's lead and put more forces and resources into the country. Spake McCain: "Failure in Afghanistan risks a reversion to its pre-9/11 role as a sanctuary for al Qaeda terrorists with global reach, a defeat that would embolden Islamic extremists, and the rise of an unencumbered narcostate." Yes indeed. But perhaps failure will be more due to the administration opening a second front in the "War on Terror" before Afghanistan was taken care of. It is a…

Thirteen years on

Way back in 1994, the Internet was a much much smaller place. Only three years old, the World Wide Web really hadn't expanded much beyond academia. I have distinct memories of using NCSA Mosaic in 1993 and there wasn't much to see. Trust me. (Hell, I remember gopher, WAIS, Archie & Veronica ...) In March 1994 (two months after I arrived in the US), the following were the Top 10 linked sites among the 5738 that were available. How different this is from what todays Top 10 list would look like. http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/…

Something to look forward to

With the ASU football season winding down, it is time to turn to other things. So why not rugby? The Irish team are favorites for the coming Six Nations Championship, after winning the Triple Crown last year, and a series of victories over South Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islanders which left them the #5 ranked team in the world (bizarrely behind two teams that they beat fairly handily). The first home game will be played in Croke Park, the fourth largest stadium in Europe. This is fairly significant as the Gaelic Athletic Association (governing body for Gaelic Football and owners of…

Scampering away

A red squirrel runs through the Lazienki Park on a crisp autumn morning in Warsaw, Poland. Source: AP. Like this little guy, I'm heading out of here. Later on this week, I'm off to the History of Science Society meeting in Vancouver. The meeting is held with the Philosophy of Science Association so I'll get the opportunity to hang with some of my SciBlings: Janet, John, David & Ben. Janet is chairing a session at the PSA and I'm doing likewise at the HSS - the others, to the best of my knowledge, are are there to socialize contribute to the rich academic environment that is a meeting.…

Saturday morning sillyness

Since everyone is talking about the sequencing of the honeybee genome*, it seems appropriate (isn't it always?) to post some Monty Python. Ladies & gentlemen, I present, "Eric The Half A Bee": (Speaks) Half a bee, philosophically,Must, ipso facto, half not be.But half the bee has got to beVis a vis, its entity. D'you see? But can a bee be said to beOr not to be an entire beeWhen half the bee is not a beeDue to some ancient injury? (Sings) La dee dee, one two three,Eric the half a bee.A B C D E F G,Eric the half a bee. Is this wretched demi-bee,Half-asleep upon my knee,Some freak from a…

New species of finch

Yariguies brush-finch Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum New species described in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club (Vol. 126: June 2006). The new bird is named for the Yariguies indigenous people who formerly inhabited the mountain range where the bird was found. The new bird is a large and colorful finch with black, yellow and red plumage. It differs from its closest relatives in having a black back and no white markings in its wings. It is also found in other nearby mountains in Colombia's Eastern Andean range. Genetic, morphological and vocal studies have confirmed its…

It's now legal ...

for the government to torture and indefinitely detain individuals without criminal charge. HR 6166 ("the Military Commissions Act of 2006") passed 65 to 34 in the Senate, with 12 Democrats (including, surprise, surprise, Lieberman - but neither of the AZ Democrats) voting with the Republicans (only one of whom, Lincoln Chafee, dissented from his party line). As the WaPo notes: Thirty-one former ambassadors, including 20 who served in Republican administrations, jointly wrote Congress this week that "to eliminate habeas corpus relief for the citizens of other countries who have fallen into our…

Like all megalomaniac dreams it will fail.

I just have to share this comment from this thread: Actually, it is atheism that is the problem...more specifically, the attempt to make man (or at least some men through the power of the state) God. Then, when the idea of experimentation on humans, made acceptable by beginning with human embryos defined as not being human at all, is more and more accepted, cloning, combination of human and animal DNA and other perversions can be utilized on a grand scale to create a race of slaves governed by eugenically superior Supermen. Nietzsche's syphillitic atheistic ramblings made real by the power of…

Where Will You See Jesus Next? In A Beer?

This looks suspiciously like the pint of Sam Adams I had in the sleezy Detroit Airport lounge (waiting for my plane, delayed 2.5 hours.) But in fact, its a advertising campaign used by a British church! "The message is subtle but simple -- where is God in all the boozing at Christmas?" said Goodwin, whose group is made up of Christians of all denominations working the British media and advertising. "For many, Christmas is just drinking and partying and God is excluded, yet many young people are interested in finding deeper meaning and exploring faith." The poster is a nod to the occasional…

ScienceBlogs One Millionth Comment Party, the London edition

Scienceblogs is heading toward its one-millionth reader comment, and to celebrate bloggers are throwing millionth-comment parties all across the globe. The London edition will be held on Saturday, September 20th at the Calthorpe Arms. Starting from 7:00 PM, readers in the London area can join Nick, Mo, Selva, and myself for a few pints and some good conversation. We've got $100 a pop to put behind the bar for some drinks and sandwiches, so if you want to be sure to get a drink on Scienceblogs, come early! No RSVP necessary, but if you want to let me know you're coming, drop me a line or…

Fat Animals with Accents

Apparently obesity isn't just for American's anymore... make that humans in general. First we have George, the greedy little pig as old British women would call him. This hedgehog was delivered to the Wildlife Aid centre in Leatherhead, England five times heavier than his natural weight. At 5lbs, George is dangerously obese and a testament to the fattening properties of garden insects, fruits and mushrooms. Remind anyone else of this? More of a trailer park tiggywinkle if you ask me. Next we have Peaches, the fat baby wombat, from Tomerong, north of Sydney. In this series of caught-in-the-…

Cat Toilet Training Kit

Finally an invention Zooillogix can get behind! Inventor, Jo Lapidge from Canberra, Australia has unveiled a kit called the Litter Kwitter, designed to train cats to use the toilet rather than the unruly and unsanitary litter box. Inspired by the movie, Meet the Parents, Lapidge developed a three step program for teaching cats to balance on and use the toilet. Lapidge's follow-up invention, the Hidden Cat Toilet Cam, has not received quite as enthusiastic a response. First, the Litter Kwitter is placed on the floor beside the toilet. Then the litter box is place inside the toilet. Slowly…

Transition to ScienceBlogs

Zooillogix has been invited to join ScienceBlogs and we have decided to take them up on the offer. ScienceBlogs is a unique community of science related blogs that run the gamut from highly informed and technical to... errr.... us. What this means for you the reader (e.g. the bored desk slave, bored 12 year old boy or renowned zoologist doing research on your next paper): The Content Won't Change: You can expect the same fascinating stories and questionable attempts at humorTechnical Difficulties: There may be a short "outage" period of a day or two, during which time you will be forced to…

With Obama's Win, What to Expect at Fox News

Ten months ago the patterns of attacks among some of the leading personalities at Fox News were already emerging. With Barack Obama's win tonight in Iowa, expect the character attacks, innuendo, race codes, and islamo-phobia to pick up among various Fox News personalities. More than 10 months ago, filmmaker Robert Greenwald released a brilliant video montage of the emerging attacks on programs such as Hannity & Colmes and Fox & Friends. Watch the footage above. In coming months, expect the following themes to be emphasized: *Allegations that the only reason Obama could move from the…

Viral Marketing the Pope

The AP reports that organizers of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Austria next month are offering the faithful a foretaste: daily cell phone text messages with quotes from the pontiff. The Archdiocese of Vienna said the service, which began Sunday and will continue through the pope's Sept. 7-9 visit, will provide free excerpts of his sermons, blessings and writings. Currently on holiday, the Pope also framed an appeal on the environment in religious terms: We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us...We must respect the interior laws of creation…

Why is the media so hateful to Ken Ham's "museum"?

The man certainly has an ego. His new commercial features…Ken Ham himself. Speaking as a non-photogenic and not particularly heroically-voiced fellow myself, it's a big mistake from a purely commercial perspective for creeeepy, neck-bearded, thin-voiced weirdos with a foreign accent to be doing ads, unless he goes for the wacky angle. And this one might just feed the Christian persecution complex by highlighting the way all the media thinks his little freakshow in Kentucky is dumb, but everyone else is simply going to have their impressions confirmed when good ol' Kenny boy stands up to out-…

Proof positive that all forms of astrology are wrong

This is the Geek Zodiac, a spoof of the Chinese zodiac (the image at the link is larger and easier to read). It's horrible and wrong. I skimmed over that diagram and thought that all the choices were cool and geeky, except…well, this is just me, and you can feel differently…I thought the one I liked least and that was most boring was astronaut. And guess what, I was born in 1957, and therefore I fall under the sign of the Astronaut. Boo! Astrology is bunk! I was most hoping for Undead Alien Pirate, which would have required my mother to be pregnant for 5 years, and then stretch out labor…

Breaking Through? Anna Nicole Smith and Astronaut Scandal Dominate Coverage of Global Warming

Just how tough is it to sustain news and thereby public attention to the problem of global warming? Exhibit A: The week after the release of the IPCC report, the issue failed to even crack the top five news stories of the week, as tracked by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. The death of Anna Nicole Smith and the murder plot involving a love triangle of astronauts bumped climate change from top five news agenda status. Even this week, as shareholders organize to demand companies address the problem; British PM Tony Blair announces that he is focusing the remaining months of his…

Is Bush Setting the Stage for a Climate Change Bill?

As disappointing as this week's State of the Union address might have been to many climate change advocates, in today's Washington Post, Peter Baker and Steven Mufson have a revealing page one account backgrounding the evolution of Bush's thinking on the issue. According to the article, in the last year, Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sach's chairman Hank Paulson along with FedEx Chair Frederick W. Smith have been pushing Bush for policy action on greenhouse gas emissions and energy independence. It was at a Dec. 13 meeting with Paulson, Smith, and Goldman Sachs vice-chairman Robert…

UWISC-MADISON'S SCIENCE AND MEDIA RESEARCH GROUP: Faculty and Grad Students Examine Dynamics of Science Controversies

Last weekend, I was at the annual meetings of the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research, where I met up with longtime collaborators Dietram Scheufele and Dominique Brossard. Along with Sharon Dunwoody, the three faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have launched the Science and Media Research Group (SMRG). The interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students are currently working on projects related to stem cell research, nanotechnology, agricultural biotechnology, and global health issues, to name just a few topics. Pictured from left to right are Phd…

Mathematical Markings

Mark sent this picture in, with this explanation: I don't quite have a science tattoo, but I have a math tattoo. That's close enough, right? Now, for the explanation. This is a formula called the Y Combinator. It is a fixed-point combinator in the lambda calculus and was discovered by Haskell Curry, a rather prolific mathematician and logician whose work helped start Computer Science. What this formula does is calculates the fixed point of a function, which in turn allows for recursion by calling on that fixed point; recursion is perhaps the single most important concept in Computer…

Return of the Microcephalic Hobbit

The Sunday Times in the UK reported yesterday on an upcoming paper that claims that the ever-fascinating Homo floresiensis (a k a the Hobbit) is not a new species, as previously reported. Instead, it was a human with a genetic defect called microcephaly that gave it a small head. This is a long-standing criticism, but only a couple papers based on it have been published since the Hobbit fossils were discovered almost two years ago. The article doesn't have a lot of details. When the new paper comes out (in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) I guess we'll get more. For my…

I welcome our land conquering catfish overlords

I haven't catfish blogged in a while, so this is worthwhile. Another article in today's Nature is of interest. In this one, the authors describe the ability of the eel catfish, Channallabes apus to forage onland. Importantly, they note that the species' "capacity to bend its head down towards the ground while feeding seems to be an essential feature that may have enabled fish to make the transition from an aquatic to a terrestrial mode" and go on to point out that the species and others such as Ichthyostega, the recently described Tiktaalik, and terrestrially feeding Periophthalminae (…

It's cosmic, I tell ya

I used to do a Friday Random Ten over at my old blog, but haven't in a while. And then I find that PZ ran one today, and he featured "Strange Fruit" by Billy Holiday. I take that as a cosmic hint (is it design? who cares), so here's my Friday Random Ten: I'm Bound For The Promised Land / Johnny Cash / Unearthed Vol 4 My Mother's Hymn Book The Ascent of Man / R.E.M. / Around the Sun Verde Mar / Chambao / Flamenco Chill The Spoken Wheel / Flogging Molly / Within a Mile of Home Soon All Will Know / Wynton Marsalis / Ken Burns Jazz The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll / Bob Dylan / Bootleg Series…

Microcosm in the Boston Globe: You Get Old, I Get Old...E. coli Gets Old

The French biologist Jacques Monod once famously said, "What is true for E. coli is true for the elephant." At the time, he was referring to the universal rules of molecular biology--of DNA and proteins, for example, that are the same from one species to another. As scientists in the mid-1900s figured out the workings of E. coli, they were also figuring out the workings of life in general. In my new book Microcosm, I make the case that Monod's words were more true than even he realized. In the Boston Globe today, I explain how scientists used to think that there was one big difference between…

Bloggingheads and Coast-to-Coast: Both Get A Serious Does Of E. coli Tomorrow!

Just a quick note to say that, if all goes according to plan, I will be appearing on the Internets on bloggingheads tomorrow, and on the radio show Coast-to-Coast in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. In both cases I'll be talking about--you guessed it--Microcosm. I'll be swilling coffee Saturday night because I'll be talking from 2 am to 5 1 to 2 am EST Sunday. If you're not quite such a night owl, I believe they'll archive it on their site. A couple other Microcosm-related notes: Discover Magazine gives a nod: "With Microcosm, this award-winning science writer has turned out an…

Welcome back to the Midwest. Have some ice.

I've scarcely been back in the Midwest and already I have to tunnel out from under a layer of frozen crazy. Funny enough, we can't remember losing power in ice storms for more than a few hours when we were kids, but it was out for a good 14 hours on Tuesday. To make matters worse, half of the 60 foot tall pine tree in the front yard is now on the ground, so I'll have to find some way to get rid of that mess. In the meantime, I'll have my hands full gutting out the drywall behind the toilet and shower; a leak in the shower is making it crumble and triggered a growth of mold that needs to be…

Creation Museum and Public Perception: Tepid Waters

The Alliance for Science, a wonderful group of which I am a member, has a link about a survey that examines public perception of the new Creation Museum. Having recently visited the Propoganda Ministry Museum myself, I was very underwhelmed. I will report my experiences there in a future post replete with pictures. I feel bad because I haven't been keeping up on the evolution/science activism side of my life for a very long time now, aside from this post and pushing the Alliance for Science's Evolution Essay Contest, I have done very little this year to even address the issue. Might have…

Easy Indian Rice Pudding

This one is a really simple, quick treat that's virtually fat-free. Can't vouch for carbs though. 14 oz can Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 1/2 cups Jasmine or Basmati rice 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, or Seeds from 6 cardamom pods, ground 1-2 teaspoons Rosewater Directions: Empty Condensed milk into saucepan. Add 3 additional cans of water. Heat and stir, add the rice, cardamom, and rosewater. Cover and simmer until desired consistency, about 1/2 an hour. Tends to form lots of bubbles and bubble over even if only barely boiling; if this is a problem then crack the lid and keep…

Blogging on the Brain (Finally!)

Refining the Turing Test: If it looks like a human, plays like a human, fights like a human, it's probably a .... Using your own child in developmental research: An ethical issue? Mice, math and drugs: On science without understanding. How much will new data mining techniques subvert the scientific method? Distortions in Introspection: Do our intuitive assessments of our own abilities actually only reflect our mood? Clandestine Manufacture of MDMA (see comments section). The take-home for me: detached analysis of MDMA's therapeutic potential is complicated by the schism between the overly-…

Fluid Intelligence In Asperger's Syndrome: Higher Than Normal Controls?

Asperger's disorder is a subtype of autism, characterized by deficits in social interaction, delays in nonverbal communication and possibly also deficits in nonverbal IQ (such as on a test known as Block Design). However, a new study in Brain and Cognition challenges this latter claim - with surprising results. Hayashi et al gave 17 children with Asperger's a test of fluid intelligence called the Raven's Progressive Matrices. Fluid intelligence is thought to reflect problem-solving ability, to show large individual differences, and to be a distinct construct from general intelligence ("g…

Atheism and Science at The Huffington Post

My essay The Unseen and Unknowable Has No Place in Science has just gone up this morning in the Religion section of The Huffington Post:     Yes, religion is incompatible with science. This doesn't mean, of course, that religious people are incapable of doing science. Far from it. There are certain questions that don't probe too deeply into the foundations of a person's faith and they have no problem employing their reason to its fullest in those cases. But when reason starts to get uncomfortably close (as it has for Francis Collins, Deepak Chopra and Michael Behe) well, that's when the…

A Gentle Reminder to Republicans

To everyone on the political right who is now calling for an invasion of Yemen, take a breath. Reflect on the words of one of the few Presidents in history that actually commanded troops in the field before becoming Commander in Chief: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at…

Spiders inspire way to help premature babies

Photo by Mike Blyth via Flickr Commons Surfactant is a lipoprotein substance that is secreted by special cells located in the alveoli of our lungs. The alveoli are the grape-like structures where gas exchange happens. Without surfactant, these alveoli would collapse and prevent gas exchange. Drawing of alveoli by Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator (Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator) CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons Babies born prematurely often suffer from respiratory distress syndrome because their lungs do not make enough surfactant. Now researchers at the Karolinska Institute…

Synthetic peptide inspired by Komodo dragon blood speeds wound healing

Image of a Komodo dragon By Charlesjsharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Researchers at George Mason University have created a synthetic version of a peptide found in the blood of Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis). They dubbed the synthetic peptide DRGN-1. Living up to its name, DRGN-1 proved to be pretty tough against microbes (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) as well as biofilms. Bacteria stick together to create biofilms that attach to surfaces and help to protect themselves during an infection. Even infected…

Snorkeling snails

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…

Limb regeneration in brittle stars

Image of brittle star by Jerry Kirkhart from Los Osos, Calif. [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons A new study published in Frontiers in Zoology examined the developmental process involved in regulating limb regeneration in brittle stars (Amphiura filiformis) following amputation of an arm. Limb regeneration is a multi-stage process involving initial healing and repair of the wounded site, initial growth of the limb followed by development of more complex layers of cells until ultimately the limb has been fully regenerated. Understanding this…

2015 Experimental Biology - Day 5

Yesterday was the final day of the meeting with many late breaking poster presentations as well as this year's Nobel Laureate lecture. This year's American Physiological Society Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Lecture was given by Dr. Robert J Lefkowitz from Howard Hughes Med. Inst. and  Duke Univ. Med. Ctr. He was awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2012. What makes him famous is a tiny receptor located in the plasma membrane of cells called the G-protein coupled receptor. He is known for discovering the receptor for adrenaline (i.e. the fight or flight hormone) by attaching…

A dog's compass

Image from: The Poo Prejudice | The Arid Land Homesteaders League www.plantfreak.wordpress.com Okay, here is something rather interesting that I came across today. Scientists have discovered that dogs will align their bodies with the Earth's magnetic field before excretion. What is even more amazing is that the scientists actually observed over 5,000 pee breaks and over 1,800 defecations to come to this conclusion. Their findings suggest that when the magnetic field is stable, dogs will stand in-line with the North-South axis while avoiding the East-West axis. However, when the field…