Among mammals, humans are known for having exceptional endurance. For example, persistence hunters can run for 2-5 hours to wear out their prey, while marathoners routinely run ~4.5 hours on average (Schulte et al., 2015). Sure, a cheetah can run fast, but it can’t run as long as a human. How did humans develop such exceptional endurance? When vertebrates moved to dry land, they needed to develop lungs to extract […]
We are excited to feature Dr. Frank van Breukelen and his graduate student, Gilbecca Rae Smith, from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. They presented exciting new research at the 2024 American Physiology Summit examining some little-known functions of the spleen. Q: We often associate the spleen with its ability to filter blood and make white blood cells to fight infections. We don’t often consider the importance of its ability to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Back in 2012, the American Physiological Society put together an amazing list of the top ten articles cited in each of their journals every quarter of a century in honor of their 125th anniversary. In looking through the website this week, I stumbled upon this collection and was reminded about the amazing early foundational work and excellence in physiology research found within this body of work. So, I’d like to […]
A lack of available food resources drives many species to forego reproduction until conditions improve. In other words, there is a trade-off between reproduction and foraging. This link was the subject of a recent study of Drosophila melanogaster published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. To examine the link, researchers placed fed or food-deprived Drosophila into a testing arena with another animal of […]
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 