Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

Sponsored by the American Physiological Society

Archive for August 2020

Leave a comment

Researchers explore why wild canids live longer than domestic dogs and why size matters

Ever wonder why some breeds of dogs live longer than others? Or why wild canids, such as gray wolves, live longer than similar sized domesticated dogs (20.6 vs 10-12 years)? Drs. Ana Jimenez (Colgate University, New York) and Dr. Cynthia Downs (State University of New York, Syracuse) teamed up to examine a common marker of aging in animals – oxidative stress. Oxidative stress happens when there is a build-up of […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

There it is!

Somali elephant shrews were thought to be extinct until someone caught a glimpse of this little fellow. It is the first sighting of a Somali elephant shrew in 50 years! This adorable creature is actually related to elephants and aardvarks. While they typically eat ants, researchers were able to attract this shrew using oatmeal, peanut butter, and marmite…yum!

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

We all need to get some shut eye

I have to confess that I have been spending way too much time binge watching shows about sharks during this year’s Shark Week on Discovery Channel. I know I should be getting 7 hours of sleep a night…but could watching just one more show be that bad? Speaking of sleep, I am reminded of a study that I read awhile back examining whether sharks and rays need sleep. This may […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

It’s shark week!! Let’s talk about the spiny dogfish

I am so excited it is finally Shark Week on Discovery Channel! I look forward to this week every year. In honor of Shark Week, I found a neat study published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology examining the rectal gland of the spiny dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias). This gland is very important as it allows the animals to get rid of salt (sodium […]

Continue Reading →