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Ticks are exquisitely sophisticated blood-extracting, pathogen-injecting tools. In the June 2013 issue of Outside Magazine, I give these little beasts their due.
(The Complex and Pathogen-Laden World of Ticks | Science | OutsideOnline.com)
This Thursday, I’ll be part of a Google Hangout chat about a remarkable fish (and a close cousin to us), the coelacanth. Details here: A most amazing fish: Join our Google Hangout about coelacanths on Thursday – Phenomena: The Loom
Pulling Life Out of Thin Air (Science Ink Sunday) – Phenomena -
Jason Affourtit writes, “The encircling equation represents biologicalnitrogen fixation, which was at the core of my undergrad/graduate labwork. Working in that research lab (which was originally just part of requirements for med school!–my intended goal) totally changed my focus…So it’s an homage to that period of time, my wonderful advisor, and that lab. DNA has been central to my work life in genomics and has run through as a common theme. So to me, a G-C basepair seemed a natural symbol of that.”
You can see the rest of the Science Tattoo Emporium here and in my book, Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed.
Here is Martha, the last passenger pigeon. She died in 1914 and is now stored at the Smithsonian. Could fragments of DNA from her cadaver—and those of other passenger pigeon—allow us to bring the species back from extinction? I look at the possibility of de-extinction in the April issue of National Geographic.
Photo by Robb Kendrick
Single-celled organisms are evolving into proto-bodies made up of hundreds of cells—in real time.
(via Watching Bodies Evolve – Phenomena: The Loom)
American chestnut trees once dominated the eastern U.S., until a fungus wiped them out. Should they be altered to let them bounce back?
Resurrecting A Forest – Phenomena: The Loom
Tardigrade (water bears) are tiny animals that are so tough they can survive in space. (via Astronomy Picture of the Day)
Image Credit & Copyright: Nicole Ottawa & Oliver Meckes / Eye of Science / Science Source Images
A parasitic crustacean that replaces a fish’s tongue. Details (including its odd sex life) here: Tongue-Eating Fish Parasites Never Cease to Amaze – Phenomena: The Loom
Photo from University of Salford
Scientists have just discovered a virus with an immune system. See The Virus That Learns – Phenomena: The Loom