ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 733

Fossil Friday

Fossil Friday

This week for Fossil Friday, we have an unusual presentation of something many of you could easily identify. The UIowa fossil curator, Tiffany Adrain, thought the specimen looked particularly toothsome laid out this way. Collected in West Union, Iowa, in the late 1800s: identify it in the comments and win bragging rights for the week!

Fully Implantable Artificial Pancreas Delivers Insulin as Needed

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

The tablet interface for the adult artificial pancreas, in a pouch worn by the patient. UC Santa Barbara.

With type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that produce the glucose-lowering hormone insulin. Without insulin to convert sugar into energy for cells, glucose levels build up in the bloodstream. For diabetes patients, this means constantly tracking blood sugar levels and taking daily doses of insulin. Researchers have been working on a fully implantable artificial pancreas that continuously measures a patient’s glucose level and delivers appropriate amounts of insulin as needed.

The Fish With Human Teeth

A fish with eerily human-like teeth was caught in a New Jersey lake. And scientists have learned to speak Bird!

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Sources:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130813-pacu-piranha-testicle-biting-fish-invasive-species/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150624-pacu-fish-new-jersey-lake-testicle-eating-myth/

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/strangest-animals-youve-never-heard

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/12/pacu-freshwater-species-of-the-week/

http://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2015-06/p-keo062615.php

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002171

http://www.fishthailand.co.uk/species/pacu.html

http://www.blankparkzoo.com/en/explore_the_zoo/meet_the_animals_2/pacu/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/10/world/europe/scandanavia-swim-warning

First North American Measles Death Since 2003

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

A cell with measles pneumonia. CDC/Dr. Edwin P. Ewing, Jr.

For the first time in twelve years the United States has experienced a death from measles. You know, that disease that had pretty much been wiped out before the anti-vaccination movement brought it back. The tragic news comes less than a week after the first death from diphtheria in Spain in 28 years, also a direct result of the lies spread by anti-vaccinators.

What Happens When you put a Mouse in Mountain Dew for 30 Days?

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

You want to do WHAT?! CreativeNature R.Zwerver/Shutterstock

If you are eating, or if you're within an hour or two of eating, stop right now. Stop. Leave the tab open, and come back later to watch a tiny mammal dissolved into a mushy goo.

Okay, well, I warned you.

The back story is this: Ronald Ball innocently popped open a can of Mountain Dew, ready for some sugary refreshment, when he noticed something sloshing around in the can. On closer inspection, Ball claims to have found the carcass of a mouse in the liquid. Gross.

What Does a Nuclear Explosion in Space Look Like?

Physics





Photo credit:

Curraheeshutter/shutterstock

Pretty damn spectular it turns out.

On July 9th 1962, the U.S detonated a nuclear weapon, dubbed Starfish Prime, over 386,000 meters (240 miles) in the sky – with an explosive yield of 1.45 megatons, roughly 100 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

This time, Jerry Brown makes no mention of religion in vaccine signing

by David Siders

Three years ago, in a relatively mild precursor to this year’s school vaccination bill, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring parents to consult a health professional before declining vaccinations for their schoolchildren.

But he made a special case for people who objected on religious grounds.

In a signing statement at the time, Brown said he wanted the law administered in such a way that “parents are not overly burdened by its implementation,” and he directed his Department of Public Health to ensure “people whose religious beliefs preclude vaccinations” were exempt.

Three years later, the vaccine bill Brown signed Tuesday undoes that allowance and more, eliminating the state’s religious and personal belief exemptions altogether.

California will now have one of the strictest schoolchild vaccination laws in the country.

Read the full article by clicking the name of the source located below.

Survival of the Fittest: How Brain Tumours Adapt Through Complex Ecosystems

The Brain





Photo credit:

OliverSved/Shutterstock

Despite advances in medical technology and a constantly evolving understanding of the mechanisms of cancer progression, researchers and clinicians are faced with a litany of challenges along the road to finding a cure for the most aggressive forms of cancer. This is particularly true of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and most aggressive form of human brain cancer.

This Microchip That Could Reduce Animal Testing has Designers Excited

Health and Medicine





Photo credit:

Micro life. Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Author provided

One of the greatest challenges to our healthcare system today is creating effective new drugs. Despite ever-increasing investments in research and development, the number of drugs that win approval for clinical use each year has steadily decreased over the past 50 years. It now costs of more than $2.5bn (£1.6bn) to bring a single compound from the bench to patients.

Celebrity Selfies Helped us to Uncover How Memories are Formed in the Brain

The Brain





Photo credit:

Memorable man. Josh Brolin has done his bit for science. Siebbi/wikimedia, CC BY-SA

In the science fiction movie Inception, Leonardo Di Caprio and his gang set out to implant specific memories into individuals' brains in order to pull off the perfect crime. But in the real world of science implanting memories is actually quite easy – the challenge is tracking the brain cells involved in the process. Our research has now started to unveil some of the basic mechanisms of how new memories are encoded in the brain, simply using selfies to implant the memories.