crome.org

Asymmetry in snails. They use the same gene we do for the purpose.

Humans are asymmetric — especially internally.  It’s critical that we are, we couldn’t live if we had symmetric innards.  PZ Myers just posted a really interesting article on the new discovery that snails use the same gene for asymmetry as we do.  Some scientists idientified the gene, then knocked it out.  The snails with that gene knocked out come out as straight tubes instead of curled up in an asymmetric manner.

For a science geek like me, it’s a pretty nifty experiement.

Dolphis can steer their sonar using some kind of beamforming technology.

Dolphins can steer their sonar +- 20 degrees left and right by emitting multiple clicks.  This seems somewhat similar to beamforming, or perhaps more akin to a directional microphone.  I don’t understand the physics of it, but perhaps I can get hold of the actual paper and figure out more.  Sounds pretty nifty.

http://www.crome.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dolphin-sounds.mp3

Not only is Obama a non-moron, he’s damn awesome!   Here’s his speech before lifting Bush’s ban on stem cell research.

If there were a god, he clearly would have had a monkey hurl a coconut at W, not some poor Thai guy.

Watch this video:  You will not be sorry.  You may be late for work however. Click on the ‘Watch this video’ button when you’re t the site.

Looks like some fun with explosives at home. Maybe a little dangerous, so be careful.

http://www.whynotchemeng.com/uk-and-ireland/teachers/top-ten-flash-bang-demos

Bedbug sperm depositor

Bedbugs reproduce by directly injecting little sperm-balls directly through the abdomen and into the female reproductive tract, bypassing the normal ‘use the opening that already exists’ method.  That’s normal for bedbugs and their ilk.  Turns out that there are some bedbug species that have figured out they can reproduce effectively by raping other males, putting their sperm into another male’s reproductive tract.  Then, when that male goes and mates with a female, he injects the other guy’s sperm into the female!

Click to read about the bedbugs and other terrifying penises.

One well hung crab

Rob and I were talking bout weird parasites. He told me about Rizocephala. This is a type of barnacle that, in its adult stage infects a crab, looses appendages, segmentation, and most organs. It attaches to the host crab, and grows like roots into the crab, centering on the digestive system. There is a bit of the barnacle that hangs out of the crab, its gonads. It grows in just the right spot shape and size to trick the crab into thinking it has a crab egg sack. And, crabs only molt after releasing their egg sack, so once infected, the crab never molts again. Oh yeah, and if this barnacle infects a male, well, the male treats the faux egg sack as if he were a female, and never molts again.

Click on the photo for the full story

I still like the green sea slug plantimal as the best cross-species gene transfer, but wasps are pretty good too.

There’s no consent for these surrogate parents. Tens of thousands of wasp species lay their eggs inside caterpillars [ed.  Google says there are more than 200,000 species of wasp], injecting toxins that paralyze the hosts and allow their young to feast on the innards with impunity. Researchers have long wondered what exactly these toxins are and where they came from. The answers, a new genetic analysis reveals, have to do with a virus that infected wasps millions of years ago.

That’s pretty sweet.  Wasp gets infected by toxic virus.  Wasp co-opts virus genes and uses it as toxin to let babies feast on a caterpillars.  Wasp has 10,000 descendant species.

Or…. if you prefer…. God made 200,000 species of wasps, and gave only 10,000 of them the ability to lay their eggs inside catapillars, and inject the caterpillars with virus-like toxin that coincidentally perfectly matches the DNA from an actual virus.  He does this just to tweak the collective nipples of anybody who might be sequencing DNA strands 6,000-10,000 years after the creation.

You know.  Whichever works for you.

Don't ya just hate it when that happens?

This guy seems to be a little worse for the wear after being struck by lightning.

So, remember that 325 pound python that almost ate a kid?  Well, turns out a 325 Lb python is just a mere baby compared to the largest snake found in the fossil record.

He was 40 to 45 feet long, and weighed in 2,500 lbs.  Click the photo for more information.