Organisms
pharyngula | February 21, 2011As long as I'm stranded in a snowstorm (thankfully fading right now) and unable to teach my human physiology class this morning, I thought I'd at least put a small part of the story I was going to tell on the web. We're currently talking about muscle physiology, and I've already gone over the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction…oh, you know that one, right?
Muscles contract using interlaced filaments of myosin (in red, above) and actin (blue), and myosin acts as a kind of motor gear, burning ATP to ratchet the actin filaments along their length, shortening the muscle. The ratchet…
pharyngula | February 17, 2011My parents never got me nice things. Sure, there was that one Tony the Tiger cereal bowl we kids all fought over back in the 1960s, but they never got us one of these.
See? If I'd been born just a little earlier, 14,000 years ago instead of in the 1950s, Dad might have given me the skull of one of his enemies from which to dine on my Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. I was deprived.
This cool paper by Bello, Parfitt, and Stringer describes finds from a cave in Somerset, England which, among many other relics of Upper Paleolithic habitation, included several human skull caps with clear signs of…
pharyngula | February 14, 2011It's amazing how many videos of human sexual behavior you can find on the web. Try it; type in a few well-known keywords, and you'll have no trouble finding plenty.
I'll just leave you with this one.
pharyngula | February 11, 2011It will soon be Valentine's Day, and it's not just the bipedal mammals that turn to amorous thoughts. TONMO has a fabulous series of photos of courting and mating Abdopus aculeatus — here's one small sample.
Your mission for Valentine's Day is to get together with your partner and do your best to recreate the poses in the series. You will fail, but it will be fun trying.
pharyngula | February 9, 2011I'd almost consider retiring to Florida, just for the marine life, except that by the time I retire the state will probably be underwater, and all the marine life exterminated by careless tourists in expensive boats. At least now you can occasionally spot the splendid blanket octopus out for a swim.
Trust me, watch the video, ignore the babbling newscaster: these really are spectacular beasties.
pharyngula | February 7, 2011It was! We had salmon for dinner tonight, which must have inspired this choice.
(via National Geographic)