No, we are not talking about the luxury sports car. The tuatara is a reptile that’s even cooler. Found only on 37 small offshore islands in New Zealand, this rare creature is often mistaken for a lizard. Don’t let their good looks fool you though, the tuatara is the last surviving member of the ancient order Sphenodontia, which thrived back when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth. In other words, it’s […]
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 […]
Meet the honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus). These animals are small and rather unusual marsupials with few teeth and a specially adapted tongue to aid in the consumption of a diet consisting of only nectar and pollen. Because they feed primarily at night, rely on fresh flowers, and tend to stress easily, they are difficult to study. In fact, their adrenal gland, which produces the stress hormone cortisol, weighs about 1,600 […]
A recent review of the existing scientific literature found evidence suggesting that warm-blooded animals may be literally shape-shifting to adapt to climate changes. According to Allen’s rule, animals living in warmer climates have larger appendages than those living in cold climates, which helps increase the available surface area for heat loss to the environment. Such heat exchange mechanisms are very important in thermoregulation to avoid retaining excess heat. The authors […]
I have been opening Christmas cards and pondering the science of sugar addiction, admittedly while snacking on sugar cookies – ‘tis the season after all! Excess consumption of highly palatable (i.e. quite tasty) foods as well as sedentary lifestyles are thought to be at the root of the current obesity epidemic. In fact, it is thought that as many as 30% of people living in developed countries are either overweight […]
Could you imagine eating a pile of chile peppers or spicy hot mustard and not feeling any pain? The ability to sense pain is physiologically quite important as it alerts us to potentially dangerous or poisonous chemicals. Many plants (stinging nettles, pungent bulbs, hot chilies) and animals (stinging ants, scorpions, snakes) produce noxious chemicals to protect themselves from predators. In turn, some predators have evolved resistance to these chemicals. An […]
Scientists Xueping Wang, Deidra M. Balchak, Clayton Gentilcore, Nathan L. Clark, and Ossama B. Kashlan from the University of Pittsburgh are presenting their research today on how sodium channels evolved as animals moved onto land at the 9th Aldosterone and ENaC in Health and Disease: The Kidney and Beyond Conference in Colorado. Sodium channels found in epithelial cells (ENaCs) are very important in regulating salt and water balance especially in the […]
Researchers interested in the evolution of air breathing in bony fishes (Osteicthyes) recently published a fascinating review in the Physiologist. The ability to breathe air made life on land as we know it possible. What is interesting though is that the ability to breathe air actually evolved independently possibly 38-67 times in history. Currently, there are over 400 air-breathing fishes belonging to the Sarcopterygii and Actinopterygii classes. To adapt to life on land, […]
Although oxygen is essential for air-breathing species and allowed for the evolution of multicellular organisms, it is also a dangerous molecule that can lead to cellular toxicity through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, it is important to point out that cellular ROS also play several physiological roles in the body. I just read an interesting review article published in Physiological Reviews that explored natural oxygen delivery and availability […]
About a year ago we talked about how Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) may hold the clues to treating diabetes. New research shows that is not all these tiny fish can teach us. Researchers at the University College London and the University of Oxford now think these fish may hold clues to regenerating damaged heart tissue. Their findings were published in Cell Reports. Mexican tetra are freshwater fish. Over millions of years, […]
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 