“When someone says, ‘hey, look at this weird #bug!’ they’re usually referring to an insect… you know, a six-legged exoskeleton-clad creature that has at least one pair of wings at some point in its life. To an #entomologist, someone who studies #insects," #bugs mean something a little different... Learn more with this #MinuteEarth#video.
Equipment question for those of you doing #twophoton imaging: anyone using a fixed wavelength laser from Axon / Toptica / Spark Lasers? Any recommendations / horror stories would be most welcome, as would boosts. I really don't want to ask over there. Maybe @MatteoCarandini@sls? Thx!
Emily Hardison reports on Donham & co's recently published Science Advances paper showing that #seaurchins, which tend #kelp forests along the #California coast, will suffer from #climatechange but the populations from the north appear better prepared for the warmth, raising concerns for southern sea urchins and their kelp homes #science#biology#zoology#marine#conservation
Mammals: 6400 species
Fish: 34000 species
Insects: 5000000+ species
The sheer scale of insect diversity is such that you’ll never run out of marvels and delightful oddities, even if you see 100 new ones per day for the rest of your life.
Intro: I'm a #Biology professor researching the #Neurogenetics of #learning and #memory in #Drosophila. I study how operant or motor memories are formed and how other forms of learning regulate these processes. As spontaneous behavior is required for operant learning, I also study how #spontaneity arises in nervous systems.
Fun fact:
Some species of turtles* during their brumation (equivalent to hibernation in mammals) at the bottom of ponds/lakes switch to anaerobic respiration!
Which means that they use glucose without requiring oxygen. A big downside of this type of reapiration is a huge buildup of lactic acid in blood. It could make blood very acidic (and probably kill a turtle) if they didn't have shells. Why?
Well, shell acts by releasing magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate to blood to neutralize lactic acid, thus blood pH!
Alsoo the same species make their heart beat only once in 5-10 minutes during brumation. Cool, they really mastered limiting metabolism.
Fun fact in fun fact: if oxygen level in water is enough high, turtles can "breathe through their butts". Also known as cloacal respiration. Some species also use this breathing method while swimming, which gives them around of 50% needed oxygen while doing that.
*only snapping #turtles and painted turtles I think
This is the first drawing of a #Tardigrade (from 1773) by Johann August Ephraim Goeze. 😳
“Strange is this little animal, because of its exceptional and strange morphology and because it closely resembles a bear en miniature. That is the reason why I decided to call it little water bear."
Brass cast little sculpture of a wood cube showing tunnels carved by a woodworm. Of course the tree was already firewood when I found it, I only cut it into a rough cube. And the woodworm was long gone: Wherever you are, I hope you're OK, it was nice making this collab with you.