physiology
clock | September 10, 2008This month's Theme Of The Month in PLoS ONE are bats! Midway between the release of Batman II and Halloween, this sounds like an appropriate choice. Peter Binfield provides more information.
A number of our bat papers have received media and blog coverage (and not just by Anne-Marie!), but it is never too late. Bloggers tend to write about the newest papers, fresh off the presses. But nothing stops you from going back and covering one of the older papers if you find it interesting. Perhaps you were just not aware of it before.
Here are some of our bat papers to date, showcasing the…
terrasig | August 28, 2008A couple of colleagues turned me on the other morning to a press release by researchers at the University of Warwick who recently published in PNAS that their data apparently overturns the Meyer-Overton Rule regarding solubility of a compound in olive oil and its propensity for crossing biological membranes. I'm having trouble understanding exactly why their conclusions are earth-shattering.
At the turn of the last century, Meyer (1899) and Overton (1901) independently conducted experiments to demonstrate that the longer the carbon chain of a molecule, the better it partitioned into olive…
terrasig | August 15, 2008The statin class of cholesterol-lowering agents is rich with history and lessons in the power of natural products, the potential of the prepared mind, and just how precarious the path of drug development can be.
American Scientist, the official publication of the scientific research society Sigma Xi, hosts this issue an absolutely lovely article entitled, "Statins: From Fungus to Pharma."
Expertly and engagingly written by University of Pennsylvania biology professor Dr Philip A Rea, the article launches with the story of a then-young Japanese biochemist, Akira Endo. (Evidence of my…
clock | August 7, 2008...but if you do, I hope it was enjoyable! And edifying, of course. Kind of science that is amenable to experimentation at home.
clock | July 31, 2008Broca's Area, 1865:
This doesn't sound too out there to us now, but at the time it caused a lot of controversy. The problems wasn't the localization to the inferior frontal lobe, it was Broca's claim that it was the LEFT inferior frontal lobe. This didn't sit well with a lot of scientists at the time. It was pretty accepted that, when you had two sides or halves of an organ, the both acted in the same way. Both kidneys do the same thing, both sides of your lungs, and both of your ovaries or testes. Your legs and arms will do essentially the same thing, though due to handedness (or…
awild | July 21, 2008Oecophylla weaver ants are exceptionally cooperative subjects for photography, allowing for plenty of experimentation with lighting while the ants preen and pose. While developing the photographs from South Africa I discovered that strong backlighting allows a crystal-clear view of the tracheal system:
Oecophylla longinoda, St. Lucia, KZN, South Africa
The tracheae are visible as dark canals running through the body. These connect to the outside air in a series of circular spiracles and are essentially the lungs of the insect, channeling oxygen to the respiring cells and carrying away…
terrasig | June 25, 2008When I first heard that 24-year-old British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was hospitalized with early stage emphysema I said "what?" DrugMonkey, a drug-abuse research colleague, has a terrific post up now on the link between Winehouse's crack cocaine use, possible genetic predisposition, and the emergence of early-onset emphysema.
While sad to see a very young person so afflicted, I tend to be fascinated scientifically by these odd medical cases involving natural products - often drugs of abuse.
I'm also particularly impressed by Amy Winehouse's tremendous vocal talents and songwriting…
clock | May 13, 2008One of the latest additions (just two days ago, I think) to the Directory of Open Access Journals is a journal that will be of interest to some of my readers - The Open Sleep Journal. The first volume has been published and contains several interesting articles. One that drew my attention is The Phylogeny of Sleep Database: A New Resource for Sleep Scientists (PDF download) by Patrick McNamara, Isabella Capellini, Erica Harris, Charles L. Nunn, Robert A. Barton and Brian Preston. It describes how they built a database that contains information about sleep patterns in 127 mammalian species…
clock | May 5, 2008You really think I am going to put this above the fold? No way - you have to click (First posted on July 7, 2006):
Today's lesson is on the reproductive anatomy of the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica), which probably applies to the wild species in the pig family as well. Although we may reflexively think about invertebrates when pondering diversity of copulatory organs, mammals are not too bad in that department either. After all, the sperm is delivered in some species into the vagina (e.g., dog), in others into the cervix (e.g., pig) and in yet others into the uterus (e.g., horse), so…
clock | May 4, 2008
When teaching human or animal physiology, it is very easy to come up with examples of ubiqutous negative feedback loops. On the other hand, there are very few physiological processes that can serve as examples of positive feedback. These include opening of the ion channels during the action potential, the blood clotting cascade, emptying of the urinary bladder, copulation, breastfeeding and childbirth. The last two (and perhaps the last three!) involve the hormone oxytocin. The childbirth, at least in humans, is a canonical example and the standard story goes roughly like this:
When the…
terrasig | April 28, 2008Well, not only am I weaseling out of posting original content today but I'm going to direct you to an excellent repost by Bora Zivkovic at A Blog Around the Clock.
I am often asked why plants expend the bioenergetic capital to synthesize secondary metabolites. In his post, Bora notes that the synthesis of capsaicin by hot peppers results in selective avoidance by mammals but an interesting co-evolutionary relationship with thrashers.
And in other news, mosey on over to the newest member of the ScienceBlogs community, the superb ERV blog written by Abbie Smith, a graduate student in Middle…
clock | April 28, 2008(First posted on July 21, 2006) Some plants do not want to get eaten. They may grow in places difficult to approach, they may look unappetizing, or they may evolve vile smells. Some have a fuzzy, hairy or sticky surface, others evolve thorns. Animals need to eat those plants to survive and plants need not be eaten by animals to survive, so a co-evolutionary arms-race leads to ever more bizzare adaptations by plants to deter the animals and ever more ingenious adaptations by animals to get around the deterrents.
One of the most efficient ways for a plant to deter a herbivore is to divert…
terrasig | March 24, 2008Last week we spent some time discussing the shortcomings of the generic vs. brand name drug debate, focusing on an example of non-bioequivalence between the antidepressant Wellbutrin XL and its generic competitors.
Three days later, I then received an e-mail from one John Procter about a movement to get Washington to move forward on the approval of lower-priced generic biotechnology drugs now that original branded products are facing patent expiration. One source indicates that a $20 billion market value of biological products will be coming off patent by 2015. The US FDA has been reluctant…
terrasig | March 13, 2008[Hi Mom. Will call you soon but you really need not read this post. Love, Your son.]
Bora/Coturnix just alerted me to the FDA approval of a home sperm-check test that can be used to determine the effectiveness of one's vasectomy. The product, SpermCheck Vasectomy, was developed by Dr John C Kerr and fellow researchers at the University of Virginia through their faculty business start-up program. This test could minimize the embarrassment of the 500,000 US men who undergo the 3rd most popular contraceptive procedure by obviating the need to bring a 90-day post-vasectomy semen sample to the…
terrasig | February 22, 2008I am very deeply touched (as I was literally yesterday) by the outpouring of support and best wishes from fellow bloggers on the liveblogging of my vasectomy.
For all of the dark humor and puns, you have each been instrumental in supporting my aim of telling men relatively quick and painless the procedure is, or at least getting them to think about this as a contraceptive alternative to having their wives undergo a more involved tubal ligation.
I'll still never understand what makes things fly in the blogosphere as I spend hours writing what I think are thoughtful posts about drug safety…
terrasig | February 6, 2008I received a special missive this morning from the Foundation for Biomedical Research that reported the home of UCLA nicotine researcher, Dr Edie London, was vandalized/terrorized by a fire set to a "device" on her front porch. The story now appears at the Los Angeles Times:
London, a professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral sciences and of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, uses lab monkeys in her research on nicotine addiction.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller confirmed that officials with the Joint Terrorism Task Force were investigating the…
clock | January 10, 2008"Why isn't there a birth control pill for men?" is the latest "Ask A ScienceBlogger" question. I am sure my SciBlings will rise to the occasion and explain both the biological and social barriers to the development, production and marketing of such a pill. I will be more light hearted, with a brief look at alternative methods proposed over the years intended to make guys temporarily infertile. Let's start with this delightful, funny, yet informative, movie:
The movie can be found here, via Science of the Invisible (Thanks for the heads-up).
Perhaps this quack had a point after all! Would…
voltagegate | December 19, 2007The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science recently published an article discussing some progress in blue crab research and conservation, and mentioned a related report:
The Chesapeake Bay blue crab population has stabilized, but at historically low levels according to a recent report by the Chesapeake Bay Commission's Bi-State Blue Crab Technical Advisory Committee.
Though the news isn't quite heartening, it's better than nothing.
Blue crab populations have been declining tremendously over the past few decades, not only threatening a population of the animals, but also…
terrasig | November 28, 2007This question, posed in 1965 by a Gator football coach to University of Florida renal physiologist J. Robert Cade, MD, PhD, led to the development of Gatorade and the tremendously successful sports drink industry.
Yesterday, the revered Dr Cade went to that Gatorade cooler in the sky, at age 80.
What a remarkable renal physiology study back in the 1960s: Cade recognized that football players in "The Swamp," Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, were so dehydrated that they could not make urine.
But he and his colleagues took this one step further.
They collected sweat from football players to…
voltagegate | November 7, 2007Heather finally printed the follow up to her cellular self portrait (links to the first print), this time using plant cells. I particularly like the difference in movement between the prints.
A week from this Friday she's having her senior art show, which we are both looking forward to. She put up her banner yesterday and postcards are being distributed:
If you're in the area, feel free to stop by next week, check out some unique, science inspired art, have a cupcake and a cream puff (homemade of course), drink some yummy coffee and BS with me and Heather about art and science. Should be a…