dr. dolittle
Posts by this author
March 29, 2015
I was very impressed by the graduate and undergraduate students who presented their research at the Scholander poster competition sponsored by the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section of the American Physiological Society this afternoon. I am sure the winner of the competition will be…
March 26, 2015
I am so excited about the Experimental Biology conference this year in Boston, MA! I have packed my bags, prepared my posters and am on my way to the airport. As usual there will be several seminars and poster sessions about various comparative physiology topics sponsored by the American…
March 19, 2015
A new study demonstrates that the blue oxygen carrying haemocyanin pigment in the blood of an Antarctic octopus (Pareledone charcoti) protect the animals from freezing temperatures. In fact, when compared to other octopus species from warmer climates, they have up to 40% more haemocyanin. Dr.…
March 15, 2015
A new study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface from a team of researchers (University of the Sunshine Coast, James Cook University, University of Queensland, Australia, and the University of Oxford) described how geckos living in humid areas manage to stay dry.
The researchers…
March 6, 2015
I had no idea that matchmaking was this complex for zoo animals:
World News Videos | US News Videos
March 2, 2015
Image from Wikimedia Commons, Author: Alvesgaspar
New research from the University of Lincoln, UK suggests that cats may prefer to find food using their eyes as opposed to their nose. The preference for vision vs. smell was tested in 6 cats placed in a maze that required cats to make decisions…
February 27, 2015
I really never thought of spiders as being "pretty" until I came across these two new species of peacock spiders discovered in southeast Queensland, Australia by Madeline Girard (graduate student from the University of California, Berkeley, who is specializing in peacock spiders). Peacock spiders…
February 26, 2015
Image of penguin from http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/fl/What-Do-Penguins-Eat.htm
Researchers sequencing the five different taste receptors in penguins were surprised to discover that the animals do not have genes that encode for receptors that are specific for savory meaty flavors (like…
February 24, 2015
Photo by: Leif Richardson, Dartmouth College
I came across this neat press release from the University of Massachusetts:
AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers studying the interaction between plants, pollinators and parasites report that in recent experiments, bees infected with a common intestinal…
February 21, 2015
Pictoral abstract showing the use of nanofibers from fish collagen in wound healing. Image from Zhou et al., 2015.
Researchers in China have discovered that collagen isolated from the skin of tilapia effectively reduce wound healing time in mice. The usefulness of collagen, a major structural…
February 18, 2015
Congratulations to Mallory Ballinger, a graduate student from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, who is the 2015 recipient of the Dr. Dolittle Travel Award! The purpose of this award is to recognize an outstanding graduate student or postdoctoral fellow involved in comparative and evolutionary…
February 12, 2015
Official New York City Subway Map
Dr. Christopher Mason (Weill Cornell Medical College, Manhatten, NY) decided to sequence DNA found in NY subway stations...468 of them to be precise. At each station, his research team collected DNA samples by swabbing the kiosks, turnstiles, benches, railings,…
February 5, 2015
Image of Gould's long-eared bat from http://www.wiresnr.org/Microbats.htmlImage by: Lib Ruytenberg
I came across a neat study published recently in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology which examined how bats arouse from hibernation, a period…
February 3, 2015
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that cone snails use a pretty neat tactic to capture prey. They release insulin to lower blood sugar (i.e. hypoglycemic shock), which immobilizes fish for an easy meal. The venomous insulin is molecularly different…
January 31, 2015
I am pretty excited about Puppy Bowl XI tomorrow afternoon on Animal Planet! So cute! (3pm)
Team Ruff vs Team Fluff
http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/puppy-bowl/about-this-show/about-p…
January 26, 2015
A fish found swimming under 740 meters of ice. Credit: Reed Scherer (NIU)
An unexpected find and very exciting moment for researchers exploring what lies beneath 740 meters of ice in Antarctica...fish! An amazing find given the perpetual darkness and cold.
In an expedition sponsored by the…
January 22, 2015
Photo of a red-eared slider turtle by Nightryder84.
Dr. Thane Wibbels (University of Alabama at Birmingham) is interested in studying how temperature affects the sex of red-eared slider turtle embryos. For humans, the answer is simple: sex chromosomes. You know, the combination of XX means girl…
January 20, 2015
I came across an interesting study published last month in American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is a disorder in which the upper airway is repeatedly obstructed during sleep resulting in bouts of intermittent…
January 16, 2015
Image of bar headed geese in flight from John Downer/Nature Picture Library/Corbis
I listened to a really interesting story on NPR this morning about new discoveries regarding the flight patterns of bar-headed geese. These birds are known for their incredible ability to fly over the Himalayas on…
January 12, 2015
Varroa mites can be highly destructive to bee colonies and are a big concern for beekeepers. They get inside honeycombs where they lay eggs and feed on the bee pupae. When the adult bees are released from their cells, so are the mites, which then go on to lay more eggs. Bees that live with these…
January 11, 2015
Few fish can survive the immense pressure of living in the deep sea. The Mariana Trench can reach around 36,200 feet deep with pressures of over 1,000 atmosphere. Scientists have placed landers at various depths ranging from 16,400-34,750 feet along the walls of the trench and have discovered what…
January 2, 2015
Male (left) and female L. Larvaepartus frogs discovered in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image from Figure 2 of PLOS ONE article.
A new species of frog (Limnonectes larvaepartus) has been discovered in the rain forest of Sulawesi island in Indonesia. This species challenges the grade-school…
January 2, 2015
Image of llama from www.healthline.com
Research has suggested that llamas may pack a powerful punch against HIV. This is because they not only have conventional heavy and light chain antibodies like those found in humans, they also have heavy chain-only antibodies as shown below.
Depiction of…
December 23, 2014
Image of Aoluguya reindeer from www.chinatouradvisors.com
Scientists have now determined the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Aoluguya reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). I wonder if the sequence will hold any more clues as to why Rudolph's nose is so red and bright. Although according to…
December 20, 2014
Photo credit: Pixabay as posted in Discovery News
New research shows that pearlfish (Onuxodon fowleri) not only reside in black-lip pearl oyster shells, they also use the shells to amplify sounds created by vibrating their swimbladders. According to lead study author Dr. Loic Kéver, "…
December 17, 2014
Ever wonder what lies beneath the polar ice? Turns out several researchers did as well. This past July a team of scientists led an expedition designed to image life under sea ice. The video below was captured with the Nereid Under Ice (NUI) vehicle and shows brown algae living on the bottom of sea…
December 13, 2014
Image from APiS UK
Propolis is a resin-like compound honeybees collect to coat their hives. New research suggests that this compound may increase hair growth as observed in studies of mice. Although the researchers did not test propolis on balding mice, they did find faster hair growth in mice…
December 10, 2014
New research from Vanderbilt University shows that hummingbirds and insects have a lot in common...when it comes to flying at least. The researchers placed nontoxic paint on the wing of a ruby-throated hummingbird at 9 different spots then videotaped the animal flying at 1,000 frames per second…
December 5, 2014
Image from Scientific American (Credit: S Gart, J Socha, Vlachos, Jung)
I have to be honest. I have always wondered whether my dog actually got any water in his mouth. It always seemed to me that the majority of water ends up on my floor. High speed video collected and analyzed by a team of…
December 4, 2014
Image from The Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk Photo credit: Alamy)
Granted this is not comparative physiology, I thought this study was really interesting.
Research has shown that exposure of developing embryos to caffeine in utero can alter the expression of genes in the heart leading to…