#biol

[the-elysium-collective]

give a treat to your local physical and biological dragon today!! (me. give me a treat. i'm begging)

[thoughtportal]

Cave Fish Adolescence Means Sprouting Taste Buds in Weird Places

Cave fish develop taste buds on their head and below their chin—and even in humans, taste cells grow in truly unexpected locations

In eastern Mexico’s underground caverns and streams, a blind fish undergoes a peculiar adolescence: as it approaches maturity, taste buds begin to sprout under its chin and on top of its head, creeping toward its back.

“It’s a pretty wild amplification of the sensory system of taste,” says Josh Gross, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Cincinnati and a co-author of a recent study on the cave fish in Nature Communications Biology. Gross and his team discovered that the new buds blossom around the time when the fish transition from eating larval crustaceans to gobbling up their adulthood staple: bat guano. Taste buds outside their mouths might be helping the fish detect bat droppings in the utterly dark, “food-starved” caves, Gross says.

Wandering taste buds aren’t unheard of elsewhere, especially in other fish. Some damselfish cultivate taste buds on their fins, and channel catfish have them across their midsections. And as alien as it may seem, many cells throughout the human body can taste, too. They’re just not sharing the flavors with your brain like taste buds do.

Lora Bankova is a Harvard Medical School respiratory biologist who studies tuft cells, a cell type sprinkled within human mucous tissues like those lining your nostrils, throat and gut. These “rapid responder” cells trigger the immune system if they detect an outside threat, and many of them rely on built-in taste receptors (the same kinds found on taste-bud cells) to do so. Bankova notes that many potentially harmful bacteria communicate via signaling chemicals called lactones—which also happen to activate taste receptors attuned to bitter flavors, prompting tuft cells’ immune response. And it turns out that even environmental allergies may be a matter of taste: dust mites and several mold species can also set off a tuft cell’s taste receptors, Bankova says.

“Evolutionarily, taste receptors [have moved around] the body to protect us from the air we inhale and all the attacks we’re getting through the orifices,” Bankova says. “They’re in the inner ear, the urethra, everywhere something can get into your body.”

Such “extra” taste receptors aren’t just bouncers at the door—they taste test for our internal systems, too. Receptors for sweet tastes help to tune insulin production in the pancreas and make sure neurons in the brain have access to enough glucose. Sweet, bitter and umami receptors in the gut modulate digestion.

Gross says it’s still a mystery what taste receptors the bat guano activates in the blind cave fish. “There may be some sugar content if it’s a fruit bat, maybe some protein content if it’s a carnivorous bat,” he says. So far only the cave fish has signed up to sample it.

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Throwdown Thursday

As folks who traverse the internet on a regular basis we have all come across people who have somehow managed to miss every scientific advancement made in the last century (or more) and just refuse to accept they are on the losing end of their own arguments. So, how do you handle these people?

Well, the most important thing is to NOT try and convince them you are right and they are wrong. In the following screenshots, you will see bits of a conversation on a tiktok video of someone I follow meant to adress this comment made on another of his videos. I won't show the whole conversation because, frankly, it's ridiculously long and shouldn't be but the poor person trying to refute him didn't know how to just...well, let the guy live in oblivion. They tried the poor thing.

Anyway, let's dive in with his initial comment:

I bet you can see where this is going. The video was a brilliant explanation on taxonomy and how we classify animals now (we no longer use Linnean classification as genetics have proven it simply doesn't work).

Now, this same commenter turned up in the comments to the new video with more biting stubbornness and some poor soul tried to make him see reason but I could tell from the start this guy wasn't gonna budge. So, how do you deal with someone who won't accept the facts? Use their own methods against them. Here's how you would approach some of the statements and questions this person puts forth in this insanely long debate.

Let's start with his original comment: reptiles never turned into birds.

Where is your proof? How do you know that statement is false? Can you prove it's false? Or, you can use his own words:

Now, for his first comment on the new post, I think oblivion nailed it. Stating that his one and only example of what differences there are is not a solid defense of his statement. You would then ask if he had other, more irrefutable examples and go from there.

Again, use his own words: "Since you won't accept the evidence fibsh has already put forth, what do you consider 'real evidence'?" Or maybe "What real evidence is there that you are related to you 100th great grandfather besides some written word?"

This one we don't answer with a question, more of a statement. Something like "well, yeah, everything has been interpreted by 'some guy'. A well known example is the Bible.

There's lots that can be brought up here like a list of mesotherms (animals that are neither warm or cold blooded but somewhere in between) such as crocodiles, tegus (technically a warm blooded lizard but I am tossing it in for funsies), leatherback sea turtles, tuna, great white sharks, some species of bees, naked mole rats, hyraxes, echidnas. Notice none of these are all in one group. We have "reptiles", fish, insects and mammals all listed. This just goes to show that body temp is not a good way to classify animals.

However, a guy like this will probably use his favorite catch phrase in this conversation:

Reptiles also are not the only animals to have scales. What about fish? Butterflies? Pangolins?

He claims that you can't use scales as a grounds for relationship (even though he just said all reptiles exclusively had scales) so then ask him "what is a ground for a relationship then?" Make him explain his statement.

This one can be a bit tongue-and-cheek: hell yeah, we're both mammals so we are distantly related. Don't even acknowledge the rest. Agreeing with their statement will confuse the stubborn soul.

Two things I can say to this, one using his own arguments:

Fact: it is your opinion that evolution is an opinion. Give me evidence to back up your claim.

Again, what proves a relationship?

Three times he makes exceptions to this unspoken rule (we think he's using Linnean reasoning but it's a bit hard to tell as he kind of goes all over the place). So I would ask "How many exceptions can be made before the rule is considered invalid?"

Continuing on from his first exception he asks:

So, what do you do when they ask for an answer after arguing a bunch?

"Why? You've haven't accepted any of the other viable scientific evidence given why would this instance be any different?"

I mean, you look like your family, don't you? (And yes, I am including extended family and ancestors) Where is your evidence that you can't know something had offspring? We can only trace human DNA back 10 generations so how to we know they reproduced beyond that? Oh...right, we all exist. (Sarcastic line probably should be left out but I couldn't help myself).

By that logic, identical twins would be considered the same person.

You...you recognize this and don't see ANY connection...AT ALL? And to the second point:

Of course, when he does actually use this he doesn't give any evidence to back up any of his arguments so...bring that up as much as possible.

I thought evolution was pseudoscience. Or only when it doesn't support your opinion?

You weren't alive in the 1940's to collect data so did the Holocaust actually happen then?

What proof do you have? They aren't even attached to anything...(hint, he things they need them to mate).

Then explain why gharials looks so different from all the other crocs.

Do you know what an expert is? It is the opposite of an amateur...which is what you are.

Oh boy...wait till you find out about Mandarin Ducks (they can't breed with other ducks).

It keeps going so if you are interested in seeing the full conversation here is the link:

#greenscreen Don't you just love when people don't know #taxonomy or basic #biology #birds #dinosaurs #paleontology #ornithology #feathers #science #learning #educational @Dino Guy @GT @Paleo🧑🏾‍🔬🧬🔬 @Aaron

Anyway, good luck with the tough cookies and remember it's not about being right. It's about making them eat their words.

[selkiestudies]

13 Sept 2020

I’ve been super busy trying to get ready for the move to in person classes and staying on top of homework. I feel like I’m getting a little burnt out but I don’t have a stopping point anytime soon :/ But I found out yesterday that I’ll be making Two posters for a biology conference!!

Thing I’m excited and happy about:

I made kale chips and stuffed shells last night

I’m making progress in my research

I have a 570 day streak on Duolingo

My autumn candles smell wonderful

I made my Halloween/October movie playlist to get into the Spooky mood

Artist of the Day: MIKA

[lumiei]

“While I'm gone," Gansey said, pausing, "dream me the world. Something new for every night.”

[gingerstvdy]

I’ve been watching the Olympics all week while revising biology, all the competitors are so talented! I’m so stressed for mocks (;^_^A

[moo-studies-science]

Day 3 of New Me

Only one hour of uni today, a biology workshop. While inclined to skip it because it was just one hour, I went and did actually learn some stuff. I missed 2 lectures last week for biol, the first 2 I had not gone to in that course all semester so I felt largely behind, but this workshop helped me somewhat.

I found my stats paper for my ethical review, it was one where they inflict trauma to mice brains and see how the animal recovers from it. There will definitely be some interesting ethical points to discuss. Paper all registered and approved 3 weeks ahead of the due date, with 500 words left to write.

[attempted-study]

considering starting the the 100 day productivity challenge… i mean, i’m doing school work pretty much everyday anyway but doing the challenge will keep me motivated and i’ll be less tempted to slack off y'know?