Biology
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Vancouver Aquarium rescues weeks-old sea otter
YouTube Video
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24113865
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Researchers at MIT Use Light-sensitive Proteins to Stimulate Muscle Contractions
news.mit.edu MIT scientists learn how to control muscles with lightMIT researchers developed a way to help people with amputation or paralysis regain limb control. Their optogenetic technique could offer more precise control over muscle contraction, along with a dramatic decrease in muscle fatigue.
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New Patient: EL2401 Female Otter Pup (Name TBD)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/23517604
> Link to patient profile: https://mmrpatients.org/patient/el2401-female-otter-pup-name-tbd/ > > Patient Record (as of 2024-06-20) > >
> Species: Sea Otter > Patient ID: EL2401 > Admitted on: 2024/06/17 > Collection Site: Wikkaninnish Island > Reason for Admission: Maternal separation > Weight at Admission: 2.10 kg > Patient Status: in care > Time in Care: 2 days > Current Habitat: Hospital (Intensive Care) >
> > Photos: > > ! > > ! > > ! > > ! > > ! -
Such a perfect ending for a paper!
Such a perfect ending for a paper!
"The animals themselves did not long survive in the aquarium. A slow process of dissolution set in at some point on the body, and gradually more and more of the tissue melted away till only the tentacle- and brain-region remained. This crept about for a few days, but finally it, too, disintegrated. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, May 12, 1893."
Wheeler, W. M. (1894). Journal of Morphology, 9(2), 195–201. doi:10.1002/jmor.1050090203
- phys.org How plants heal wounds: Mechanical forces guide direction of cell division
Plants are made up of very rigid cells. Much like bricks in a wall, this feature gives them the structural support to maintain their shape and to stand upright against gravity. However, just like any living organism, plants can be injured, for instance, by wind or animal grazing. While humans and an...
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[Veritasium] What Jumping Spiders Teach Us About Color
YouTube Video
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Found this moth today
!photo of a fuzzy palm sized moth
Any chance someone knows anything about it? It was found in the Great Lakes area. It's about palm sized, found near a tree by the playground. I returned it to an out of the way place where kids wouldn't mess it it.
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TIL about spider number 16, the longest lived spider on record, and the decades long study by researcher Barbara York Main
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/21700185
> The article is short so I recommend reading it. I started adding the key points below, but ended up including almost the entire article: > > > Number 16 (c. 1974 – 2016), also known as #16, was a wild female trapdoor spider (Gaius villosus, family Idiopidae) that lived in North Bungulla Reserve near Tammin, Western Australia. She lived an estimated 43 years and became the longest-lived spider on record, beating a 28-year-old tarantula who previously held the title. When Number 16 finally died in 2016, it was not of old age but from a parasitic wasp sting. > > --- > > > On March 1974, Australian arachnologist Barbara York Main began a long-term study of spider families. [...] Main returned to the site annually, sometimes more frequently, for more than four decades. > > > Like other trapdoor spiders, Number 16 spent her entire life in the same burrow, subsisting off the edible insects that walked on her burrow's trapdoor-like silk roof. > > > For her 40th birthday, research assistant Leanda Mason wanted to give the spider a mealworm, but Main denied the request since it would interfere with the study > > > Because of Number 16, Main's project took far longer than she had expected. She continued to work into her late 80s, but she "began to look forward to the project's end," The Washington Post reported. Finally, when Main's own health declined before the spider's, she passed the project on to Leanda Mason. > > > On 31 October 2016, researcher Leanda Mason discovered Number 16's burrow in disrepair. The spider was gone. Evidence suggested she was killed by a parasitic spider wasp > > > “She was cut down in her prime [...] It took a while to sink in, to be honest," said Mason > > > After retiring, Barbara York Main moved to a care facility for Alzheimer's. Leanda Mason, who kept in contact with her mentor, said in 2018 that Barbara "remembers No. 16" but "forgets that she’s died."
- news.illinois.edu Back from the dead: Tropical tree fern repurposes its dead leaves
Zombie leaves? A species of tree fern found only in Panama reanimates its own dead leaf fronds, converting them into root structures that feed the mother plant. @LASillinois @DallingJim
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New paper from Ikeda et al. on the biogenesis of chitin bristles in the annelid #Platynereis with nice #vEM reconstructions and a chitin synthase knockout.
New paper from Ikeda et al. on the biogenesis of chitin bristles in the annelid #Platynereis with nice #vEM reconstructions and a chitin synthase knockout. Bristles are formed in a process of biological 3D printing. @biology \#microscopy https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48044-3
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[SciShow] Virgin Births: Inbreeding with Yourself
YouTube Video
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Six stories of parthenogenesis:
- Rays
- Sharks
- California Condors
- Honeybees
- Whiptail lizards
- Amazon Mollies
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Spider adaptations to aquatic life
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20257123
> From this article: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/04/swimming-and-spinning-aquatic-spiders-use-slick-survival-strategies/
- phys.org Researchers systematically investigate efficacy of CRISPR antimicrobial agents
The antimicrobial potential of CRISPR-Cas systems is promising, yet how to best design or implement CRISPR nucleases remains poorly understood. An international team led by the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg has now addressed this knowledge gap.
- www.nature.com Scientists discover first algae that can fix nitrogen — thanks to a tiny cell structure
A newly discovered ‘organelle’ that converts nitrogen gas into a useful form could pave the way for engineered plants that require less fertilizer.
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Still time to sign up to our COS Symposium 2024
Still time to sign up to our COS Symposium 2024
"Life in Context: Organismal sensing and adaptation in the natural environment"
in Heidelberg July 22-23, 2024.
Free registration.
with @vincentflora, @NicoleDubilier, @GonzalezLab and many other great speakers
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Beautiful new study by Michael Bok, Macali & Garm on the high-resolution eyes of the enigmatic alciopid annelids, from Ponza island.
Beautiful new study by Michael Bok, Macali & Garm on the high-resolution eyes of the enigmatic alciopid annelids, from Ponza island. "Our results show that the eyes of alciopids possess the anatomical, morphological, and physiological properties requisite for high resolution tasks and object vision" https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.055 \#annelid #Evolution #eye @biology @mikebok
- www.mpg.de Cells inherit protection from sunburn
Stress granules protect cells from the effects of UV radiation
- www.sciencenews.org This naturally occurring molecule forms a fractal
The protein assembles itself into a repeating triangle pattern. The fractal seems to be an accident of evolution, scientists say.
- phys.org Scientist taps into lobsters' unusual habits to conquer the more than 120-year quest to farm them
Their dragon-like appearance has earned lobsters the moniker "dragons of the sea." It is one reason why they are a favorite fixture during Lunar New Year banquets. The Chinese call them longxia or dragon shrimps. And in some Asian cultures, eating them means imbibing the good fortune, rosy health, a...
- phys.org Study highlights the potential of cyanobacteria as biofertilizers
One ecosystem's trash could be another ecosystem's treasure, according to scientists studying cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae.
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We have now published a new and massively extended/reworked preprint of the whole-body #Platynereis larval #connectome with over 50 figures
We have now published a new and massively extended/reworked preprint of the whole-body #Platynereis larval #connectome with over 50 figures
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.17.585258v1
All the analyses, plots and figures should be reproducible in #rstats with the code provided:
https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10825370
by querying our public #CATMAID database:
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Press release at @eLife of our paper exploring the mechanism of pressure sensing by UV light sensors in #Platynereis larvae
Press release at @eLife of our paper exploring the mechanism of pressure sensing by UV light sensors in #Platynereis larvae
Luis Alberto Bezares Calderón et al. paper here: https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/94306
- www.livescience.com Oldest known sex chromosome emerged 248 million years ago in an octopus ancestor
The oldest-known sex chromosome emerged in octopus and squid between 455 million and 248 million years ago — 180 million years earlier than the previous record-holder, scientists have discovered.
- www.nytimes.com Researchers Dispute Claim That Ancient Whale Was Heaviest Animal Ever
A new study argues that Perucetus, an ancient whale species, was certainly big, but not as big as today’s blue whales.
- phys.org Linking environmental influences, genetic research to address concerns of genetic determinism of human behavior
It has long been known that there is a complex interplay between genetic factors and environmental influences in shaping behavior. Recently it has been found that genes governing behavior in the brain operate within flexible and contextually responsive regulatory networks. However, conventional geno...
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Interesting review by Maria Sachkova on the #ctenophore nervous system and the challenges of studying it.
Interesting review by Maria Sachkova on the #ctenophore nervous system and the challenges of studying it. https://doi.org/10.1111/ede.12472 \#neuroscience @biology
- www.newyorker.com Will Plants Ever Fertilize Themselves?
Biologists aim to engineer crops that can eat nitrogen straight from the air.
- www.nature.com Mechanisms of extracellular electron transfer in anaerobic methanotrophic archaea - Nature Communications
Anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea are uncultivated microbes that oxidize the greenhouse gas methane and engage in extracellular electron transfer with other microbes, metal oxides, and electrodes. Here, Ouboter et al. observe strong methane-dependent current associated with high enrichment of ...
- botany.one Women in Science: 6 Pioneers in Plant Photobiology
To celebrate the “International Day of Girls and Women in Science”, Botany One highlights six exceptional female researchers who greatly contributed to shed new light on Plant Photobiology – a scientific discipline that studies the effects of light on biological processes in green organisms.
- www.scientificamerican.com Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems--Simple Cells Can Do It
Tiny clumps of cells show basic cognitive abilities, and some animals can remember things after losing their head