dr. dolittle

Meet the first newly discovered mammalian species in 35 years, the olinguito, as presented by Rob Nelson from Untamed Science:

Figure from Journal of Experimental Biology. Researchers Tal Shomrat and Michael Levin at Tufts University have found that planaria worms are able to quickly relearn lost skills after literally losing their heads.  The researchers trained the worms to find food in an environment with bright…

Image of wet spider web from www.photoforum.com The US Navy has decided to sponsor research conducted by Dr. Randy Lewis, a specialist in spider silk, at Utah State University. Their interest in the research lies in the ability for spider silk to maintain adhesiveness even under wet conditions.…

  Kai, a dolphin involved in the study, was able to recognize the whistle of a fellow dolphin that Kai had not seen in years. Image by: Jason Bruck Another reason to marvel at dolphins. As a follow up to the previous blog on dolphins calling each other by name, new research from Dr. Jason Bruck…

Image of creme brulee by Moniza, from www.allrecipes.com Researchers at the University of Washington have shown that a trace component in burnt sugar (like the creme brulee above) and Caramel Colour III (used to color dark beers, brown sugar, etc) has been shown to help regenerate muscles in …

I just watched a neat video describing how animals adapt to their environments to increase survival:

A drug currently used to treat colon cancer in people successfully treated a type of brain tumor, called a glioma, in a dog named "Petey". After removing the tumor, Dr. Simon Platt administered the drug to the brain where it prevented the tumor from returning. The next step is to conduct a larger…

A fly landing in the ear of a tourist visiting Peru turns out to be more than just annoying. The screwworm fly had sufficient time to lay eggs that hatched flesh-eating maggots in her ear canal. Warning: the video may be disturbing to some viewers As strange as this sounds, it is not that…

Dying nematode worm. Image: Cassandra Coburn Dr. Gems, University College London, and colleagues  were studying aging using nematode worms. They discovered that dying nematode worms emit a wave of blue light from dying cells. It was previously thought that damaged components of aging cells…

    Image of Canis lupus by Gary Kramer, from US Fish & Wildlife Service. Researchers have designed a computer program that can identify an individual wolf in the wild analyzing the frequency and amplitude of their howls. They were able to accurately identify an individual Eastern grey wolf…

  Image of bottlenose dolphin pod from www.deography.com, Dylan O'Donnell 2010 A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence that bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) use "signature whistles" to identify and call each other by "name".   Dr.…

Image from: Noa Safra, UC Davis Weimaraner dogs are helping researchers to understand neural tube birth defects, like anencephaly (where the brain or skull do not fully develop) and spina bifida (where the spinal column is not fully enclosed). In new research published this week in PLOS One, Dr…

Image of the 52 Hertz whale song from Wikimedia Commons, NOAA. According to Discovery News, scientists and filmmakers are on the hunt for what people have called the Loneliest Whale in the World. In 1989 William Watkins (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) discovered the vocalizations of a…

Image from www.KidsHealth.org Babies born prematurely are predisposed to necrotizing enterocolitis, in which portions of the intestinal lining dies. Infant formulas are thought to contribute to the development of this disorder in premature babies. This is a serious condition that can lead to…

Ever wonder what dogs and hyenas have in common? Would you be surprised to learn that hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs? In fact, according to this video thesis, the shared bone-crushing abilities of dogs and hyenas is actually an example of convergent evolution.

I am currently watching a re-run of the NOVA special called Dogs Decoded. If you have not already seen it, you should check it out! It was actually the subjects of a prior blog that you can read here. 

Bone fragments used for sequencing the ancient horse genome. Image credit: LUDOVIC ORLANDO as published in The Scientist. Researchers have successfully created a draft sequence of the complete genome of a 700,000 year old horse from a bone fragment extracted from permafrost in the Yukon…

Dogs, like people, are susceptible to a form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) known as canine compulsive disorder (CCD). In fact, the news story at the end of this blog describes CCD and also discusses a form of OCD in Siamese and Persian cats that is related to stress. A prior study…

I am thrilled that Comparative Physiologist Dr. Jessica Meir, who was featured in a prior post, has been chosen as a 2013 Astronaut Candidate by NASA! I really enjoyed learning more about her life story in this video and I am looking forward to hearing more about her accomplishments as an Astronaut…

  Image of common model organisms from European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). A recent article posted in the BBC News provided a good explanation of why scientists commonly study these organisms as models for human diseases and conditions. Model organisms are chosen because their…

Image source: AKIKO KUMAGAI & ATSUSHI MIYAWAKI as posted in Scientific American Dr. Miyawaki from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan and colleagues have identified the first example of a muscle protein in Japanese freshwater eels (Anguilla japonica) that fluoresces under…

Dr. Liz Phular and colleagues at the University of Minnesota have been testing an experimental cancer treatment for brain tumors in dogs that also offers hope to humans with brain tumors: KMSP-TV

Find out why most species of birds do not have a penis in this video abstract of new research published yesterday in Current Biology: Source Herrera AM, Shuster SG, Perriton CL, Cohn MJ. Developmental basis of phallus reduction during bird evolution. Current Biology Published online June 6, 2013.…

Blackbird image from: Ernie Janes/naturepl.com A recent study has provided some evidence supporting the hypothesis that light and noise pollution alters the biological clocks of birds living in cities (compared to birds living in rural areas).   Dr. Dominoni (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology…

Caribbean sun anemone. Image from Wikimedia, Omar Spence Photography. Dr. George Chandy at the University of California, Irvine discovered a toxin in Caribbean sun anemones (see photo) in 1984 and has spent his career studying the toxin. Prior work by his team suggested that a synthetic version…

The top 10 new species discovered in 2012 has been announced by the International Institute of Species Exploration at Arizona State University. Tope 10 new species discovered in 2012. Image from: International Institute for Species Exploration, Arizona State University My favorites: The adorable…

I was just digitally flipping through a new book called "Crime Against Nature", which describes various reproductive behaviors in the animal kingdom. It is written by an artist, Gwenn Seemel, not a scientist, so I cannot vouch for the scientific accuracy of the book as a whole. However, the…

Image of atopic dermatitis from www.itchfreepet.com Dr. Kerstin Lindblad-Toh at Uppsala University (Sweden) who specializes in comparative genomics and Dr. Åke Hedhammar, SLU (Sweden) recently identified a novel gene in German shepherd dogs, PKP-2, that encodes a protein (plakophilin-2)…

A Cold War bunker at Loring Air Force Base in Maine that has been converted into a winter haven for bats. Image from: BBC News, USFWS/S. Agius Scientists in Maine have converted two Cold War bunkers at Loring Air Force Base into winter havens for bats in an effort to protect the animals from the…

Clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus).Image credit: Thomas Kleinteich Live Science posted a story recently on the sticking power of clingfish. Northern clingfish, like the one shown in the image above, live in turbulent waters off the Pacific Coast of North America. In order to cling to surfaces, the…