An article describing a “lungless” frog species residing in Borneo was retracted at the request of the lead author earlier this month in light of new data.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 […]
Swim bladders are special organs filled with air that help regulate the buoyancy of some bony fish, like teleosts. Check out this YouTube video which explains how the swim bladder works: Because the inner surface of this organ is lined with mucosa, researchers suspected it may contain immune cells and microbes – similar to the inner lining of mammalian lungs. In a study published in Cell Discovery, researchers confirmed the […]
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 […]
The Plenary Lecture at this year’s Comparative Physiology meeting was given by Dr. Colleen Farmer at Trinity College in Dublin who spoke about the diversity of vertebrate respiratory systems including aerodynamic valves that are found in birds and various species of reptiles. These aerodynamic valves allow air to flow in one direction during both inspiration and expiration as opposed to bidirectional flow in mammals. Examination of red-eared sliders (shown above) […]
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 