Biology posts
- May 29, 2013
- 01:43 PM
- 116 views
What Has No Legs And The Most Amazing Feet Ever?
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
This starfish photo is by Mike Murphy at Wikimedia.We often think of echinoderms, like starfish, sand dollars, and sea urchins, as static ocean decorations. But if you watch them for long enough (or on fast-forward if you lack the patience) you will find that they have exciting motile lives. They hunt, they flee predators, and they mate. But how do they get around without any legs to stand on? Their secret is tube feet. If you look at the underbelly of these critters, you will see lots ........ Read more »
Lesser, M., Carleton, K., Bottger, S., Barry, T., & Walker, C. (2011) Sea urchin tube feet are photosensory organs that express a rhabdomeric-like opsin and PAX6. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278(1723), 3371-3379. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0336
Santos, R. (2005) Adhesion of echinoderm tube feet to rough surfaces. Journal of Experimental Biology, 208(13), 2555-2567. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.01683
- May 29, 2013
- 01:13 PM
- 59 views
A new microbe that correlates with weight loss
by Brooke N in Smaller Questions
Meet the bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila. It’s new to me too. I’m scared but excited.... Read more »
Everard, A., Belzer, C., Geurts, L., Ouwerkerk, J., Druart, C., Bindels, L., Guiot, Y., Derrien, M., Muccioli, G., Delzenne, N.... (2013) Cross-talk between Akkermansia muciniphila and intestinal epithelium controls diet-induced obesity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(22), 9066-9071. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219451110
- May 29, 2013
- 12:20 PM
- 57 views
The viruses that made us
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Viruses make their living by breaking into cells and using the machinery and energy in the cell to reproduce. Once …Continue reading »... Read more »
Jacques, P., Jeyakani, J., & Bourque, G. (2013) The Majority of Primate-Specific Regulatory Sequences Are Derived from Transposable Elements. PLoS Genetics, 9(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003504
- May 29, 2013
- 10:00 AM
- 33 views
How do snails coil?
by Greg Laden in Greg Laden's Blog
Typically, snails coil as they grow. The exact shape and characteristics of the coil are known to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors, depending on the snail. There is an interesting story involving snails and the young Jean Piaget. Piaget is famous for his work in psychology, but before that, when he was…... Read more »
Shimizu, K., Iijima, M., Setiamarga, D., Sarashina, I., Kudoh, T., Asami, T., Gittenberger, E., & Endo, K. (2013) Left-right asymmetric expression of dpp in the mantle of gastropods correlates with asymmetric shell coiling. EvoDevo, 4(1), 15. DOI: 10.1186/2041-9139-4-15
- May 29, 2013
- 09:33 AM
- 56 views
Video Tip of the Week: QIIME for Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology
The other day I was watching scientists in my twittersphere discuss things they were observing at the American Society for Microbiology meeting (#ASM2013 for more chatter). I like to see what kinds of tools are being discussed at meetings–and twitter is quite useful for that–and this particular tweet caught my eye: True RT @phylogenomics: I [...]... Read more »
Caporaso, J., Kuczynski, J., Stombaugh, J., Bittinger, K., Bushman, F., Costello, E., Fierer, N., Peña, A., Goodrich, J., Gordon, J.... (2010) QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data. Nature Methods, 7(5), 335-336. DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.f.303
- May 29, 2013
- 09:29 AM
- 38 views
Worm sperm
by Mostly Open Ocean in Mostly Open Ocean
You may have never thought about what feature distinguishes males from females. After all, in mammals the differences are often clear to us. In other groups too, the differences between male and female traits are often conspicuous. But, there are many species where male and female reproductive organs are both present in the same individual. Even in these species we can tell male parts from female parts.To distinguish male from female we look at the relative size of the sex cells or gametes. Male........ Read more »
Johnson, D., Monro, K., & Marshall, D. (2013) The maintenance of sperm variability: Context-dependent selection on sperm morphology in a broadcast spawning invertebrate. Evolution, 67(5), 1383-1395. DOI: 10.1111/evo.12022
- May 29, 2013
- 08:25 AM
- 44 views
Gas, Knuckles, And The Little Blue Pill
by Mark Lasbury in As Many Exceptions As Rules
Recent studies have shed a little more light on the state of gas in your body. Besides the obvious, gas bubbles play a role in cracking your knuckles and in decompression sickness after scuba diving. A 2013 study indicates that drugs that regulate nitric oxide generation for vasodilation have a tendency to increase the chances of decompression sickness. This means you might want to skip the Viagra if you plan on diving. In terms of joint manipulation, a study shows that despite the annoying soun........ Read more »
Blatteau, J., Brubakk, A., Gempp, E., Castagna, O., Risso, J., & Vallée, N. (2013) Sidenafil Pre-Treatment Promotes Decompression Sickness in Rats. PLoS ONE, 8(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060639
deWeber, K., Olszewski, M., & Ortolano, R. (2011) Knuckle Cracking and Hand Osteoarthritis. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 24(2), 169-174. DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2011.02.100156
- May 29, 2013
- 07:38 AM
- 49 views
Plants Frozen Under a Glacier for 400 Years Can Come Back to Life
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
From 1550 to 1580, the period of cooling known as the Little Ice Age hit Ellesmere Island, in extreme northern Nunavut, Canada. As temperatures plunged, most of the island was swallowed by the advance of glaciers. The vegetation that had blanketed the terrain—mostly mosses and lichens—was buried under dozens of feet of ice.... Read more »
Joseph Stromberg. (2013) Plants Frozen Under a Glacier for 400 Years Can Come Back to Life. Smithsonian Magazine. info:/
- May 29, 2013
- 04:46 AM
- 34 views
the social organism
by Ignacio Gallo in populations, function and meaning
The Social Organism is a 20-page essay published by Herbert Spencer in 1860. Nowadays Spencer is mainly known for having invented the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe Charles Darwin's process of Natural Selection, and in particular for applying this concept to social phenomena in his Principles of Sociology. For this reason Spencer is usually [...]... Read more »
Andreski, S., & Spencer, H. (1971) The Man Versus the State, with Four Essays on Politics and Society. Man, 6(2), 313. DOI: 10.2307/2798298
H., F. (1903) Mutual Aid, a Factor of Evolution. Nature, 67(1731), 196-197. DOI: 10.1038/067196a0
- May 29, 2013
- 04:28 AM
- 65 views
Where Does Identity Come From?
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
A fascinating new neuroscience experiment probes an ancient philosophical question—and hints that you might want to get out more... Read more »
Jason Castro. (2013) Where Does Identity Come From?. Scientific American. info:/
- May 29, 2013
- 03:57 AM
- 45 views
Impulsivity and uric acid
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
A few years back I posted about an interesting body of research on purine metabolism in relation to the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and how some work from the likes of Mary Coleman and Ted Page had reported high levels of uric acid to be coincidentally present in cases of ASD.The gout @ Wikipedia As with other research angles, the initial interest in this finding of hyperuricosuria - elevated urinary uric acid - and autism did not seem to last. Just like the dusty research d........ Read more »
Sutin AR, Cutler RG, Camandola S, Uda M, Feldman NH, Cucca F, Zonderman AB, Mattson MP, Ferrucci L, Schlessinger D.... (2013) Impulsivity is Associated with Uric Acid: Evidence from Humans and Mice. Biological psychiatry. PMID: 23582268
- May 29, 2013
- 02:21 AM
- 23 views
Cryptosporidium, the understudied killer
by Kasra Hassani in The Parasite Diary
Diarrhea is the second major killer of children under the age of 5 in developing countries (second to pneumonia). We know much less than we should about the causative agents, severity, burden etc. of diarrhea in developing countries. Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, A Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) picked up the task […]... Read more »
Kotloff, K., Nataro, J., Blackwelder, W., Nasrin, D., Farag, T., Panchalingam, S., Wu, Y., Sow, S., Sur, D., Breiman, R.... (2013) Burden and aetiology of diarrhoeal disease in infants and young children in developing countries (the Global Enteric Multicenter Study, GEMS): a prospective, case-control study. The Lancet. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60844-2
Elliott, D., & Clark, D. (2000) Cryptosporidium parvum Induces Host Cell Actin Accumulation at the Host-Parasite Interface. Infection and Immunity, 68(4), 2315-2322. DOI: 10.1128/IAI.68.4.2315-2322.2000
- May 28, 2013
- 04:31 PM
- 50 views
Shape-shifting Nanoparticles Flip from Sphere to Net in Response to Tumor Signal
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have designed tiny spherical particles to float easily through the bloodstream after injection, then assemble into a durable scaffold within diseased tissue. An enzyme produced by a specific type of tumor can trigger the transformation of the spheres into netlike structures that accumulate at the site of a cancer, the team reports in the journal Advanced Materials this week.... Read more »
Susan Brown. (2013) Shape-shifting Nanoparticles Flip from Sphere to Net in Response to Tumor Signal. UC San Diego News Center. info:/
- May 28, 2013
- 03:38 PM
- 31 views
Staying Sticky, a Frog's Journey
by Melissa Chernick in Science Storiented
Climbing is good. It allows for gaining access to habitats that would otherwise be unavailable. And while this access is important (otherwise, why climb in the first place?), equally important is not falling to a gruesome death. This means that your method of adhesion to the surface you are climbing needs to be effective. For example, on rough surfaces, friction pads and claws work rather well. Smooth surfaces and overhangs offer a bit more of a challenge. If you want to climb one of these surfa........ Read more »
Crawford, N., Endlein, T., & Barnes, W. (2012) Self-cleaning in tree frog toe pads; a mechanism for recovering from contamination without the need for grooming. Journal of Experimental Biology, 215(22), 3965-3972. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.073809
- May 28, 2013
- 02:35 PM
- 48 views
Preventing ‘Traffic Jams’ in Brain Cells
by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos
Imagine if you could open up your brain and look inside. What you would see is a network of nerve cells called neurons, each with its own internal highway system for transporting essential materials between different parts of the cell. When this biological machinery is operating smoothly, tiny motor proteins ferry precious cargo up and … Read More →... Read more »
Gunawardena S, Yang G, & Goldstein LS. (2013) Presenilin controls kinesin-1 and dynein function during APP vesicle transport in vivo. Human molecular genetics. PMID: 23710041
- May 28, 2013
- 10:17 AM
- 73 views
Everyone Underestimates Fast-Food Calories (But Especially at Subway)
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
At a McDonald's shareholder meeting last week, a nine-year-old girl accused CEO Don Thompson of sneaky advertising. Stop "tricking kids into eating your food," she demanded, saying that McDonald's ads tell kids to "keep bugging their parents" until they get that Happy Meal. In the world of fast-food chains, though, the golden arches may not be the sneakiest purveyor of excess calories. Diners in all kinds of fast-food restaurants underestimate the calories they're taking in—and the most dra........ Read more »
Block, J., Condon, S., Kleinman, K., Mullen, J., Linakis, S., Rifas-Shiman, S., & Gillman, M. (2013) Consumers' estimation of calorie content at fast food restaurants: cross sectional observational study. BMJ, 346(may23 3). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.f2907
- May 28, 2013
- 06:18 AM
- 39 views
Life Below Zero Degrees
by gunnardw in The Beast, the Bard and the Bot
What do you do when you’re looking for life? Well, while there are a lot of new ideas and discoveries lately, expanding the limits of where we know life can occur, an often used phrase is ‘follow the water’. But what if that water’s frozen? Recently, bacteria from the Antarctic permafrost (aka Planococcus halocryophilus strain […]... Read more »
Mykytczuk, N., Foote, S., Omelon, C., Southam, G., Greer, C., & Whyte, L. (2013) Bacterial growth at −15 °C; molecular insights from the permafrost bacterium Planococcus halocryophilus Or1. The ISME Journal, 7(6), 1211-1226. DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2013.8
- May 27, 2013
- 11:30 PM
- 68 views
Mathematical models of running cockroaches and scale-invariance in cells
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
I often think of myself as an applied mathematician — I even spent a year of grad school in a math department (although it was “Combinatorics and Optimization” not “Applied Math”) — but when the giant systems of ODEs or PDEs come a-knocking, I run and hide. I confine myself to abstract or heuristic models, […]... Read more »
Shoval O, Goentoro L, Hart Y, Mayo A, Sontag E, & Alon U. (2010) Fold-change detection and scalar symmetry of sensory input fields. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(36), 15995-6000. PMID: 20729472
- May 27, 2013
- 06:13 PM
- 30 views
Tapeworm genomes guide drug design
by Valerie Ashton in The Molecular Scribe
Thoughts of tapeworms conjure up horror stories. Visions of wriggling worms inching through intestines fill the mind.
Although this may be a disturbing reality in many tropical regions of the world, tapeworm infections are rare in temperate climes. Specifically, tapeworm diseases are prevalent in Africa, central Asia, southern South America, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, but are rare in the UK and the US. They are so uncommon that pharmacies in the UK do not stock anti-tapeworm drugs........ Read more »
Zarowiecki M, & Tsai IJ et al. (2013) The genomes of four tapeworm species reveal adaptations to parasitism. Nature, 496(7443), 57-63. PMID: 23485966
- May 27, 2013
- 09:56 AM
- 82 views
Fixing Science, Not Just Psychology
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Neuroskeptic readers will know that there’s been a lot of concern lately over unreproducible results and false positives in psychology and neuroscience. In response to these worries, there have been growing calls for reform of the way psychology is researched and published. We’ve seen several initiatives promoting replication and, to my mind even more importantly, [...]... Read more »
Mobley, A., Linder, S., Braeuer, R., Ellis, L., & Zwelling, L. (2013) A Survey on Data Reproducibility in Cancer Research Provides Insights into Our Limited Ability to Translate Findings from the Laboratory to the Clinic. PLoS ONE, 8(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063221
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