Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

Sponsored by the American Physiological Society

Comparative Physiology

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Hurray for Experimental Biology 2022!!

It is that time of the year again…I am so excited to be attending the upcoming Experimental Biology conference! This year’s program is packed with interesting Comparative Physiology sessions including the August Krogh Distinguished Lecture which will be given by Dr. Patricia Schulte from the University of British Columbia. Her lecture is titled, “Physiology in the Anthropocene: Insights from Intraspecific Variation in Response to Environmental Stressors.” Other seminars will include […]

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And a Happy New….Kidney!

Spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus) are amazing animals. For starters, they are reportedly one of the only known species to date, in addition to primates, that menstruate (McKenna et al., 2021). They are also capable of regenerating skin tissue, complete with hair follicles and blood vessels without scarring, after an injury (Siefert et al., 2012). This is an important skill for animals that escape predators by shedding their skin. Add to […]

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Exploring the tree of life

Dr. Yan Wong (University of Oxford) and Dr. James Rosindell (Imperial College of London) have created the most comprehensive tree of life to date. Their tree, a culmination of over 10 years of research (image above, from OneZoom.org), is an exquisite interactive tool that can be used to decipher genetic connections between more than 2 million species. Each tiny leaf represents a single species and clicking on the leaf will […]

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Why sharks should be afraid of leopard seals

Leopard seals in New Zealand have a dangerous appetite. Although the animals were known to eat penguins and other seals, researchers only recently discovered that sharks were on the menu as well, which was really surprising. They made this discovery while analyzing fecal samples collected from more than 100 leopard seals. Leopard seals appear to have joined a growing list of animals (orcas, giant octopus) that dine on what we […]

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Arizona Physiological Society’s annual conference: Part 2

Arizona’s physiologists met in October to talk about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, urbanization, the evolution of walking and vocalizations, snow leopards, and diet. Here are the highlights… Oral Presentations: Graduate student Luke Endicott from the Arizona College of Medicine at Midwestern University, working with R. Potter and Dr. C.R. Olson presented their research exploring how zebra finches learn to sing and the importance of vitamin A in this process. Does […]

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Now featuring: Arizona Physiological Society

Now featuring the Arizona Physiological Society, who held their annual meeting October 29-30. In attendance were students, postdocs, and faculty from the Downtown, Tempe and West campuses of Arizona State University, AT Still University, Glendale University, Midwestern University, Northern Arizona University, as well as the Phoenix and Tucson campuses of the University of Arizona. The Keynote Address was given by Dr. William Karasov, from the University of Wisconsin Department of […]

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Today’s Feature: Midlands Society of Physiological Sciences

October was a great month for physiology! The Midlands Society of Physiological Sciences also held their virtual annual meeting on October 23rd.  Highlights from Oral Presentations: Lucas Wang, undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska – Omaha (in collaboration with Lie Gao, Bryan Hackfort, and Irving Zucker) presented research exploring how upregulating a pathway in skeletal muscle that protects from oxidative stress and inflammation prevented age-related declines in heart and […]

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Snoring seals can teach us so much about sleep apnea

When I think of sleep apnea, the first thing that comes to mind is snoring. People, and animals, that have sleep apnea periodically stop breathing when they are sleeping and wake up when their brain senses the drop in oxygen. Understandably, people with sleep apnea often feel tired and have difficulty concentrating. Just imagine having your sleep interrupted night after night. Because of the changes in blood oxygen, people with […]

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Featuring: Ohio Physiological Society, Part 3

Granted the following topics are not comparative physiology research, I think they are certainly worth mentioning: Sayani Bhattacharjee, a graduate student at The University of Toledo, presented research on a novel way to overcome drug resistant prostate cancer, at least in cancer cells. A common treatment for prostate cancer is to block androgens. The problem with this treatment is that nearly all patients become resistant to the treatment. Fingers crossed […]

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Oddity of mammalian red blood cells

Mammalian red blood cells do not have a nucleus, which is different from birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish (see image above). Many textbooks report that the absence of a nucleus provides room for more hemoglobin within the cells, which is important to fuel the relatively high metabolic rates of mammals. Hemoglobin is an important oxygen-binding molecule that allows the red blood cells to transport oxygen to tissues throughout the body […]

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