As you have probably heard, tests confirm that a wild animal market selling exotic meats in Wuhan China is at the epicenter of the current coronavirus outbreak. This leaves many people wondering just how viruses jump between species. Here is a timely video from YouTube answering that question:
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada compared how pigs and fish absorb glucose (i.e. sugar) from the diet. They did this by measuring how well glucose moves across the intestinal wall. Their findings appear in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Transport of dietary glucose from the gut to the blood is facilitated by glucose transporters that pick up glucose and move it […]
While we are on the topic of whales, I found additional research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA on these animals and how their hearts function that I find fascinating. Talk about extreme physiology! Researchers from Stanford University were able to attach surface electrodes to blue whales using suction cups. This allowed them to measure – for the first time – how heart rate changes during […]
Ever wonder how baleen whales (Mysticeta) get enough to eat? The mechanism is described for rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) in a review article published this past October in Physiology. Researchers have found that rorqual whales (ex: blue whales and fin whales), in particular, have an interesting strategy for foraging. The process includes 5 steps that take place in rapid succession (about 20-90 sec total): quick forward lunges toward prey; opening their […]
…at least when it comes to dealing with warming temperatures. In contrast to their reputation for being able to withstand almost any extreme environment (radiation, cold, drought, vaccuum of space), researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that tardigrades may have an Achilles heal. They appear intolerant of sustained increases in temperature. Study author Dr. Ricardo Neves was quoted in Science Daily, “The specimens used in this study were […]
I just read an interesting article from the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association that explained why human cells are typically quite resistant to bird flu. Bird flu (H5N1, H7N9, H5N6) does not readily spread between infected humans. In fact, most outbreaks involve only a handful to a few hundred individuals. But, on occasion, the infection can spread more easily leading to a pandemic. New research […]
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 