Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

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Environment

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Domestic zebrafish are less plastic

Zebrafish have been used in medical research since at least the 1970’s as their anatomy, physiology, as well as genetics are similar to humans. Other advantages to studying zebrafish is that they are inexpensive to raise, and they reproduce well in captivity. The ability to adjust one’s physiology in response to varying environments is called plasticity. An organism may encounter any number of environmental fluctuations (light/dark, temperatures, predation risk, noise, […]

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Are declines in food availability to blame for the menu change?

Yesterday, we marveled over the recent sightings of two killer whales targeting sharks off the coast of South Africa. The recent uptick in shark hunting has scientists wondering how the loss of great white sharks will impact the ecosystem. But it also has some wondering why the orcas are targeting so many sharks when their diets typically consist of a variety of fish and marine mammals.   Clues may lie […]

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Killer whales scare off sharks

A pair of killer whales, nicknamed ‘Port and Starboard’, has been terrorizing great white sharks. In recent years as many as 8 sharks (possibly more) have succumbed to the pair. Many of the discovered sharks were missing their fatty liver and sometimes their heart. While orca hunting escapades are not particularly newsworthy, the antics of these orcas have attracted the attention of scientists as they are altering the ecosystem. Once […]

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Turning up the heat

There are several ways to stay warm on a cold day. If you are human, you can turn up the heat in your home, put on a sweater, snuggle, and even produce body heat through shivering as well as non-shivering metabolic pathways – although the ability to produce heat metabolically typically declines with aging. If you are a small mammal, turning up the heat or putting on a sweater are […]

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Nitrites and noses

If you have ever had a fish tank, you may be familiar with monitoring ammonia levels in the water. Ammonia levels can rise due to overcrowding, overfeeding, as well as fish waste. Nitrite levels in the water also require monitoring as nitrite can bind to hemoglobin, which prevents oxygen from binding. In effect, by preventing oxygen from binding, the fish can succumb to hypoxia. Hannah Hughes, a graduate student working […]

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More than milk

Prolactin is an important pituitary hormone in mammals that works with oxytocin to provide milk for offspring. It also plays a role in promoting bonding between new mothers and their offspring. But did you know that non-mammalian vertebrates have prolactin too? Considering non-mammalian organisms do not have mammary glands, it must serve a different purpose in these animals.   As it turns out, prolactin is very important in the ability […]

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EB2022: Facing Oxygen Challenges

I learned a lot about how animals adapt to changing environmental oxygen levels in the Experimental Biology symposium on “Functional Integration across the Oxygen Cascade in the Face of Challenging Environments.” Here is what I learned… The first presenter, Dr. Lara do Amaral-Silva (postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro working with Dr. Joseph (Joe) Santin), spoke about her research on adaptations in the bullfrog “super-brain” that […]

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EB 2022: Adapting to a changing climate

EB 2022 was a fantastic meeting (as usual) for comparative physiology. This meeting marked the last Experimental Biology conference as each society will be hosting their own meetings going forward. I soaked up as much as I could and will be sharing what I learned at the meeting over the coming weeks. “Predicting Species Physiological Responses to a Changing Climate” The first speaker in this symposium was Dr. Hollie Putnam […]

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2022 August Krogh Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Patricia Schulte

Each year, the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section of the American Physiological Society presents their highest award, the August Krogh Distinguished Lecture, to a comparative physiologist who “has made major and meritorious contributions” to the field. Dr. August Krogh (1874-1949) was a physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1920. He was very interested in zoology and joined the University of Copenhagen as an Associate Professor […]

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Understanding genetic factors contributing to COPD

According to a study published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, we have a lot in common with fruit flies when it comes to the layer of cells that line our airways. So much so, that researchers claim Drosophila melanogaster are important models for lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is a debilitating disease that claimed the lives of over […]

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