Biology

Big Whales Have Nerves Like Bungee Cords

This nerve can stretch to twice its resting length. Did you just squirm? If you did, you probably know that the nerves of vertebrates are notoriously inelastic things, and that stretching them even a little bit can result in painful injury. But the nerve in this image is special. In fact, it’s evolved to stretch…

That Horrible Starfish Disease May Be Spreading To Northern Waters

There’s a plague currently afflicting starfish along the North American West Coast. Called sea star wasting disease, it’s a terrifying affliction that causes echinoderms to tear themselves apart. Now, for the first time ever, the disease has been spotted in northern waters—a possible consequence of global warming. The recent discovery of sea star wasting disease…

This Is What Happens to Your Body After You Die

Most of us would rather not think about what happens to our bodies after death. But that breakdown gives birth to new life in unexpected ways, writes Moheb Costandi. “It might take a little bit of force to break this up,” says mortician Holly Williams, lifting John’s arm and gently bending it at the fingers,…

How Bird Poop Helps Populate a New Volcanic Island With Life

In 2013, a new island was born off the coast of Japan. While some of these islands formed by volcanic eruptions are only temporary, Nii-jima (“new neighbor” in Japanese) kept growing, eventually consuming the nearby island of Nishino-shima as well. Now the entire landmass is coated in fresh lava just waiting for new lifeforms to…

Today’s XKCD Finally Takes Physics To Task

To be fair, though, physics has had this coming for years. Had this coming. What do I mean by that? Back in 2008, Randall Munroe published “Purity,” a single-panel comic that characterized sociology as applied psychology, psychology as applied biology, biology as applied chemistry, chemistry as applied physics, and physics as applied math. Maybe you’ve…

How Do Testicles Know When To Stop Making More Sperm?

Every time someone ejaculates, it produces millions of sperm. But the average pair of testicles produces billions of sperm cells over an entire lifetime. Why don’t they create all of their sperm in one go? Answer: Because testicles have a complicated process to avoid running out of sperm and endangering future fertility. Top image: Iqbal…

What You Can Learn By Drinking Pig Spit

In 2001, Ajit Varki drank a bunch of pig spit. What does drinking the extraction of pig salivary glands give you? Sialic acid, something every mammal in the world produces except humans. Why are we left out? As it turns out, we humans lost the genes which make the enzyme which modifies the existing sialic…

Two Leading Biologists Discuss The Next Step In Saving The Planet

Edward O. Wilson made his name by arguing that human society and the natural world are governed by the same principles. Sean B. Carroll made his name by unifying the study of humans and animals, showing that development in both is driven by the same fundamental molecular and genetic processes. So what happened when these…

Here’s Why Sharks Have Two Penises

Cartilaginous fishes, like sharks and rays, are blessed with something called “claspers,” dual sperm-releasing tubes jutting from their pelvic fins. Why two? Thanks to a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, we now know more about the sea creatures’ mysterious double dongs. Many animals, including humans, have a gene called Sonic hedgehog (Shh)—named…

Bats Fly by Touch, Using Sophisticated Sensors in Their Wings

As if bats weren’t badass enough, we now know that their wings are loaded with ultra-sensitive sensors that help the bats maneuver like airborne ninjas. This could lead to aircraft design that might reduce turbulence, improve flight control, and generally be a lot less clumsy. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and the University…

Why Has No Zombie Movie Made Use Of The Fact That Corpses Glow?

Oh the things we learn when we skim through forensic medicine textbooks for a living. Apparently, there is a phenomenon called “postmortem luminescence.” And it should make zombie movies both less and more frightening. Zombie movies get some things right. The “marbling” that we see on the skin of zombies is a real phenomenon. Without…

Journal Defends Its Publication Of Controversial Human Embryo Study

The science world was rocked last week by news that geneticists in China had modified the DNA of human embryos. In the face of mounting criticism, science journal Protein & Cell has issued a formal response explaining why it chose to publish the controversial study. As we reported last week, Junjiu Huang and colleagues at…

This “Liver On A Chip” Lets Researchers Forgo Animal Testing

Testing new drugs on animals can be costly, cruel, and ineffective. In the quest to identify an alternative, a U.K. biopharmaceutical company has developed a “liver on a chip,” an important advance in the effort to minimize, and even put an end to, animal experimentation. Image credit: CN Bio Innovations via Bloomberg Testing experimental medicines…

The Disneyland Measles Outbreak Is Over In The U.S., But Not In Canada

On April 17, California health officials declared the large measles outbreak that began last December at Disneyland over. But the outbreak remains active in Canada, where its persistence highlights the looming risk of measles’ return in the United States. Photo Credit: AP All told, the Disneyland measles outbreak infected 147 people in the United States,…

New Science Magazine Is All About The World’s Coasts And Their Residents

Hakai Magazine is a newly launched science publication that will report on science, society, and the environment along the world’s coastlines, which are home not only to nearly half of the planet’s human population, but countless other species of plants and animals. Our stories are about the coast—past, present, and future. Around the globe, coastal…

They’re Calling This Adorable Creature The ‘Platypus’ Of Dinosaurs

Meet Chilesaurus diegosuarezi, a newly described dinosaur discovered by a seven-year-old boy in Chile. The theropod was related to famous meat-eaters like T. rex, but researchers think it was a vegetarian. Stranger still: It possessed a mixture of anatomical features unlike anything researchers have seen before. Illustrations by paleoartist Gabriel Lio via University of Birmingham…

A new study published in BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that lower back pain is more frequent in people whose spines are similar in shape to those of chimpanzees. “[Our] study suggests that the pathological vertebrae of some people may be less well adapted for walking upright,” noted lead researcher Kimberly Plomp. Photo: Hans Hillewaert/CC

Watch an Embryo Turn Itself Inside Out

If you’ve ever felt like your life’s turned on its head, be thankful that you’re not this little embryo—which turns itself inside out. This is the first footage ever captured of a living algal embryo turning itself inside out. First it looks like a sphere, then sucks itself up and inside out to resemble a…

Scientists Mapped Activity In The Brain Of A Tinnitus Sufferer

Many people perceive a ringing in their ears when no sound source is present, a condition known as tinnitus. By mapping tinnitus inside the brain, scientists have shown just how complex these phantom sounds really are. Above right, the left hemisphere, and at left the primary auditory cortex. The circles show where brain activity is…

Though trial results published in The Lancet show malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01 to be only partially effective, the intervention is still being hailed as a breakthrough. It’s “a classic example of the glass half full and glass half-empty”, vaccine expert Brian Greenwood, who has been involved in the project for two decades, told The Guardian. Image:…