Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

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Physiology on the Road: Midland physiologists search for answers

The Midland Society of Physiological Sciences, comprised of physiologists in Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota is hosting their annual chapter meeting this weekend at the University of South Dakota. Dr. Javier Stern, Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Center for Neuroinflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases at Georgia State University will present the Keynote lecture on the role of neuropeptides in the hypothalamus of the brain. The title of his […]

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Physiology on the road: 17th annual Arizona Physiological Society conference

Physiologists in Arizona also shared their research this past weekend at the 17th annual Arizona Physiological Society conference held at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 2024 Arizona Physiological Society Established Scientist Keynote Address The Established Scientist Keynote Address was given by Dr. Meredith Hay, Professor and former Executive Vice President and Provost of The University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr. Hay also served as President of the American Physiological […]

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Physiologists in California meet today to discuss the latest research

The California Society of Physiologists is hosting their annual meeting today at the University of California Davis campus! Adapting to high altitude The keynote address will be given this evening by Dr. Tatum Simonson (Associate Professor, University of California San Diego) who will speak about, “Variation in human responses to low oxygen: Insights from Mount Everest to Machu Picchu.” Together with Dr. Francisco Villafuerte (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru) […]

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Time Machine: Homeostasis and ‘The Wisdom of the Body’

In this time machine post, we travel back to 1929 to discuss an article written by Dr. Walter B. Cannon, published in Physiological Reviews. Among other achievements, Dr. Cannon is perhaps best known for being the first to coin the term “homeostasis” and to describe “fight or flight responses” in organisms. As a review article, Dr. Cannon summarized observations made by others about how organisms appear to “maintain their own […]

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From Hibernation to Healing: Unlocking Genomic Secrets for Human Therapies

I was just cleaning my desk and came across an issue of The Physiologist Magazine from March that had ended up under a pile of papers., some of which were admittedly much older. Clearly, I should clean my desk more often. Anyway, in perusing the issue I came across a gem… The March issue featured Dr. Joanna Kelley, associate professor at the University of California Santa Cruz. Dr. Cruz was […]

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2024 “Ig Nobel” prize-winning research

The results are in (drumroll please). Here are some highlights from the 34th First Annual “Ig Nobel” Prize ceremony held on September 12th at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Ig Nobel prize is designed to recognize “achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think”. Physiology Following the Covid-19 pandemic, an international team of researchers published a study in 2021 eloquently titled, “Mammalian enteral ventilation ameliorates respiratory […]

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Physiology on the Road: Mophys 2024!

The Missouri Physiological Society (mophys) is holding their annual chapter meeting tomorrow at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) campus! Here are just some of the highlights showcasing ways in which physiologists in Missouri are advancing science and medicine: Felix Yang (Graduate student at the University of Missouri, Kansas City; Mentor: Dr. Xiang-Ping Chu) will present research on certain ion channels in the brain that are associated with detecting […]

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Time Machine: Destruction of Red Corpuscles

In 1966, Dr. Peyton Rous of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries on viral origins of some cancers. In an experiment, he collected cancerous connective tissue from a hen. He then filtered the tissue to remove bacteria as well as cancer cells and administered the purified filtrate to healthy chickens. The chickens that received the filtered substance began to […]

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Time Machine: What in the world is ‘anhydremia’?

You’ve probably heard the term “dehydration”, but have you heard about “anhydremia”? We obtain water through food and drinks as well as metabolism. In fact, metabolic processes account for about 5-10% of water input (Lorenzo et al., 2019). We lose water daily through evaporation, breathing, urine, and feces. If an organism loses more water than they ingest, or can produce through metabolic processes, the water volume in their blood declines […]

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Lungless frogs are not so lungless after all

An article describing a “lungless” frog species residing in Borneo was retracted at the request of the lead author earlier this month in light of new data. Using traditional dissection and histology techniques, Dr. David Bickford (who worked at the National University of Singapore at the time) and colleagues had described the apparent lack of lungs in Barbourula kalimantanensis frogs, which would place this species among only a few known […]

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