Speaking of cirrate octopods (as I have been recently), BBC News In Pictures: Monsters of the deep is strongly dominated by a cirrate octopus! Yay! Three of the eight photos feature Grimpoteuthis:
Picture #1 is very much dead, probably preserved in ethanol?
Picture #6 is the first photo I've seen of a person holding a cirrate octopus. Really brings home the size and the gelatinous consistency.
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Life Sciences
“Come on into the hot tub,” I told my three year old boy. But he wouldn’t budge. No way was he joining his older sister in there. “It’s warm, and it feels nice!” I urged, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” But it was only when I turned off the jets that I could eventually coax him in.
I told my friend Sue about this site so she is sending me interesting items. She has an interest in gender things and brains differences. I was surprised at how young puberty and more active behavior comes, especially in girls! Oh my.
Neuroendocrinologists Unlock Chemical Trigger to Puberty
May 1, 2005 — Researchers have discovered the precise chemical chain reaction that could be the much-sought-after puberty trigger: The KiSS-1 gene, which produces a protein in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain, which regulates metabolic activity. When the protein connects with a receptor on another gene called GPR54, puberty is believed to begin. This knowledge may guide the development of better drugs for treating hormone disorders related to puberty.
Neuroendocrinologists Unlock Chemical Trigger to Puberty
May 1, 2005 — Researchers have discovered the precise chemical chain reaction that could be the much-sought-after puberty trigger: The KiSS-1 gene, which produces a protein in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain, which regulates metabolic activity. When the protein connects with a receptor on another gene called GPR54, puberty is believed to begin. This knowledge may guide the development of better drugs for treating hormone disorders related to puberty.
While surveying monkeys in the Magombera Forest in Tanzania, environmental scientists this week unexpectedly discovered a new species of chameleon called Kinyongia magomberae, or the Magombera chameleon.
The researchers distinguished the new specimen by collecting, testing and comparing it to two others found in the same area of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park. Their results are documented in the African Journal of Herpetology.
"Discovering a new species is a rare event so to be involved in the identification and naming of this animal is very exciting, said co-discoverer Dr Andrew Marshall.
The researchers distinguished the new specimen by collecting, testing and comparing it to two others found in the same area of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park. Their results are documented in the African Journal of Herpetology.
"Discovering a new species is a rare event so to be involved in the identification and naming of this animal is very exciting, said co-discoverer Dr Andrew Marshall.
I wrote the following about the toothed sucker rings of the Humboldt squid in Squid Says: What's For Dinner? Probably Not You:
Each ring would barely fit on the finger of an infant, and the "teeth" range from the length of a pinhead to microscopic. An armful of these sucker rings raking across your skin is like being scratched by a lot of very small cats. Ouch, but far from deadly. If you were a fish, the sucker teeth wouldn't even get under your scales. Their purpose, like the "toothed" tongue, is similar to Velcro, and consequently the arms and tentacles are very, very good at holding onto things.
I discovered that Giant Squid was a band when I was searching for squid products on Amazon (yes, that is pretty typical behavior for me). Okay, I thought, rather miffed, some punk band thinks it's cool to name themselves after an enormous marine invertebrate, but I'm sure their songs are all angst and anger, not axons and . . . wait . . . Ampullae of Lorenzini?
Yes! Contrary to all my expectations, these kids know their marine biology. Their first album, Metridium Fields, is the name of a dive site in Monterey, which is densely populated with Metridium, this beautiful anemone:
Yes! Contrary to all my expectations, these kids know their marine biology. Their first album, Metridium Fields, is the name of a dive site in Monterey, which is densely populated with Metridium, this beautiful anemone:
According to a recent GENETICS study, a family of genes (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, or ACS genes) are responsible for production of ethylene and since this gas affects many aspects of plant development, it could lay the foundation for future genetic manipulation that could make plants disease resistant, able to survive and thrive in difficult terrain, increase yields, and other useful agronomical outcomes.
The discovery was made with the weed Arabidopsis thaliana but is applicable to plants used in agriculture, they say.
The discovery was made with the weed Arabidopsis thaliana but is applicable to plants used in agriculture, they say.
A nifty news story about students in a Florida classroom watching a giant squid dissected in Melbourne, Australia, led me to hunt down an article about the dissection itself. Was it really a giant squid, I wondered wearily, or merely a very large squid?
It was indeed a true giant squid! And the article is quite good, gushing alliteratively about "the museum's mollusc master" using "surgical sweeps of the scalpel" to investigate. Just a few points to clarify:
It was indeed a true giant squid! And the article is quite good, gushing alliteratively about "the museum's mollusc master" using "surgical sweeps of the scalpel" to investigate. Just a few points to clarify:
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