Wouldst thou … learn the secret of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers
Comprehend its mystery!Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was talking about sailors in that 1850 verse, and it was indeed the mariners of ancient times who braved the uncharted dangers of the ocean, encountering mysteries aplenty.But they didn’t always fully comprehend what they saw. In a time when uncharted areas on maps were decorated with dragons and other mythical creatures, sailors of old likewise embellished th ...read more
One of the workhorses of in any biology lab is Caenorhabditis elegans or nematode worm just 1mm long. Biologist regularly use C. elegans to gain insight into topics ranging from embryonic development and aging to genetics and neurobiology. In 1986, C. elegans became the first to have its entire nervous system mapped out. This creature, it turns out, contains just 302 neurons with 7000 synaptic connections between them, the fewest of any animal. Scientists hoped that such a map — a connectome ...read more
Long before the Ancient Egyptians walked the Earth and the great pyramids were constructed, something else inhabited what is now Egypt. Some 41 million years ago, Egypt's desert was covered by an ancient sea and was once home to the now-extinct whale species, Tutcetus rayanensis.According to a recent study published in Communications Biology, the newly discovered T. rayanensis is the smallest basilosaurid whale species known to date, and one of the oldest specimens of the whale family fou ...read more
The Atlantic hurricane season could be busier than normal, with as many as 11 hurricanes, five of which could be major storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting this busy hurricane season with 70 percent confidence.NOAA’s forecast might have residents on the Atlantic or Gulf coasts thinking this is the year to invest in storm shutters or thicker garage doors.Hurricanes, however, aren’t new, and people have been coping with these fierce storms for thou ...read more
If you hang around on the right parts of YouTube for long enough, you may come across the web district of rat tickling. You’ll see scientists tickling rats in the lab to boost their well-being and owners tickling their pets, among other things.Now, new research has identified the parts of the brain that may be responsible for play and laughter by tickling rats in the lab, according to a study published recently in the journal Neuron. “Play is really a not-well understood behavior,” says Mi ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine