hair

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 used a scanning electron microscope to take a closer look at the skin of box-patterned geckos (Lucasium steindachneri), which is how they discovered the dense microscopic spiny hairs that are also found in other species of geckos. The hairs trap air and the tips of the hair help gather water into…
Hair on an Asian elephant (right) compared to an African elephant's head (left). Image taken by: Conor Myhrvold Researchers think that the hair on an elephant might actually function to keep the animals cool as opposed to keeping them warm as it does for other mammals. Living in hot climates (as high as 122 degrees F) since the last ice age means the animals have had to evolve ways to tolerate the heat. Until now, it was only known that elephants kept cool by dissipating heat from their ears (circulating warm blood to their large flat ears, where the heat could escape, and returning the…
Hair breaks. It singes. It falls out. It might not be the strongest feature of living human bodies, but hair is one of the best-preserved tissues of dead ones, providing a record of diet, age, metabolism, and, sometimes, even the cause of death. Ferdinand II* With intense beams of x-rays at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), a team of researchers is using hair samples collected from the decomposed bodies of two 15th century Italian royalty to determine how they really died. The subjects: Ferdinand II (1467-1496)* and Isabella (1470-1524) of Aragon, a medieval kingdom…
Many years ago, during The Roe v. Wade Fight (Part II: The Rise of the Right Wing Yahoos) a student came to me and asked for a break because she wanted to join a bus full of Brandeis students heading down to DC to protest stuff. I told her not to worry about the quiz coming up, just go and do her civic duty. That's when she chose to casually mention that "at least these days, we know how to do it, not like in the old days when protesters against the Viet Nam War were violent. This caused me to whup her up side the head. Verbally, of course. I explained that in the old old days, when the…