Komodo

Image of a Komodo dragon By Charlesjsharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Researchers at George Mason University have created a synthetic version of a peptide found in the blood of Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis). They dubbed the synthetic peptide DRGN-1. Living up to its name, DRGN-1 proved to be pretty tough against microbes (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) as well as biofilms. Bacteria stick together to create biofilms that attach to surfaces and help to protect themselves during an infection. Even infected…

Image of Indonesia's Komodo dragons from Scientific American. Dr. Tim Jessop from the University of Melbourne, Australia and colleagues  spent eight years following 400 Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) to learn more about their growth rate, lifespan as well as differences between populations on isolated Indonesian islands. Their most surprising finding was that female Komodo dragons only live an average of 32 years whereas males live for about 60 years. Females are additionally smaller (1.2 meters long, 22 kg body mass) than males (1.5 meters long, 70 kg body mass). The researchers…