C.J. Moseley's Blog, page 171
December 25, 2013
rhamphotheca:
Unidirectional airflow in the lungs of birds,…
Unidirectional airflow in the lungs of birds, crocs…and now monitor lizards!?
by Matt Wedel
Today (12/11/13) sees the publication of a new paper by Emma Schachner and colleagues in Nature, documenting for the first time that unidirectional, flow-through breathing–previously only known in birds and crocodilians–happens in freakin’ monitor lizards. The image above, which is most of Figure 1, pretty much tells the tale.
Some quick background: until the early 1970s, no-one was quite sure how birds breathed. Everyone knew that birds breathe, and that the air sacs had something to do with it, and that the bird lungs are set up as a series of tubes instead of a big array of little sacs, like ours, but the airflow patterns had not been worked out.
Then in a series of nifty experiments, Knut Schmidt-Nielsen and his students and colleagues showed that birds have unidirectional airflow through their lungs on both inspiration and expiration. Amazingly, there are no anatomical valves in the lungs or air sacs, and the complex flow patterns are all generated by aerodynamic valving. For loads more information on this, including some cool animations, please see this page (the diagram below is modified from versions on that page).
For a short, eminently readable summary of how undirectional airflow in birds was first discovered (among many other fascinating things), I recommend Schmidt-Nielsen’s wonderful little book, How Animals Work…
(read more: Sauropod Vertebrate Picture of the Week)
images by Emma Schachner
Wow, dinosaurs must have had similar lungs…
December 24, 2013
A Yule-tide gift
To celebrate Yule, Xmas, Crimble, or the mid-winter retail festival I have decided to make the first of my books completely free to download from this page. Follow the link, download the version you like (OFF, epub, mobi) and maybe leave me a comment or goodreads review if it’s not too much trouble. (C;
December 23, 2013
Fractal indignities drifting by
December 22, 2013
fastcompany:
Do You Know What Life Will Be Like In 5 Years?…
Do You Know What Life Will Be Like In 5 Years? IBM’s Top Scientist Does
In the 5 in 5 report IBM’s top scientists report on what the world, supported by smart sensing and computing, will look like in five years. Last week, Fast Company previewed the report with the physicist who heads up the research team: Dr. Bernard Meyerson, IBM Fellow, and Vice President of Innovation.
We can hope…
December 21, 2013
December 20, 2013
apljax3:
barackboomama:
bluelippedlifelesskiss:
a-r-i-s:
thei…
Finally.
I FINALLY UNDERSTAND.
WHY DON’T THY JUST SHOW US THIS CHART IN GEOGRAPHY???
DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG O HAVE USED GB AND ENGLAND AND THE UK INTERCHANGEABLY??????????????????????????????
A LONG ASS TIME. NONE OF MY TEACHERS EVER CORRECTED ME.
WTF, AMERICA.
dude wtf this is worse than us not using the metric system
I need to print this.
British Islands? Who uses British Islands? I’ve lived on them for 39 years and have NEVER heard the term. Besides that should include the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands and Scily Isles as well as the Isle of Wight, Alderney and a few (dozen) others. Otherwise good effort.
December 19, 2013
Star Wars + Planets
George has always given good…
Star Wars + Planets
George has always given good planet…
December 18, 2013
paleoillustration:
lostbeasts:
Doug Henderson
Official…
December 17, 2013
Still ill…
I might not even get my "science in science-fiction" post ready this month the way things are going, the monthly game didn't happen, as I was too feverish to run (and it'll be new year before the next session).
All in all this has been a pretty unproductive month. So in an effort to do something with my time this month (besides hacking up a lung or two and feeling awful) I am going to see if I can manage to create Lulu versions of Cu1ture B0mb and Chronoclysm, I might also finally get around to making An0ma1y a free download on this site.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with a thought from the Christmas Assembly at my kids' school. The Vicar asked loudly, "Does anyone know the true meaning of Christmas?" and a lone and anonymous child's voice replied "Vengence!". Well made me chuckle (and then nearly die from a coughing fit).
