Leaf Sheep
Leaf sheep (Costasiella kuroshimae) is a species of small sea slugs that can perform photosynthesis. Not many animals can do that. They are also adorable. You should watch this youtube video of leaf sheep crawling about and / or read more about them on wikipedia,…
T-Rex in time
Especially if you grew up with “The land before time” it’s easy to imagine a T-Rex frolicking with a Stegosaurus. However, the Stegosaurus existed about 155-150 million years ago while the T-Rex existed about 68-66 million years ago. They would never have met, unless they…
Efflux pumps
Efflux pumps are a really cool way for bacteria to get rid of harmful substances. Bacteria have used them for a long time, for a lot of different substances. They certainly predate prescription antibiotics by a lot. It’s also good to remember that it was…
Cook your burgers
The US Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends cooking burgers to an internal temperature of at least 71.1 °C (160 °F).See the FSIS website for more information on how to store and cook ground beef safely One of the bactieria commonly associated with food poisoning…
Air in chips bags
I have seen a lot of people complain about air in chips bags, but really this is kind of a blessing in disguise. I didn’t bother to dig up any scientific research to prove this, since I could just show you. I found a free…
Owls
Other animals achieve the same result by tilting their heads, but these owls have this built in. Read more in https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2010.1145 which references Knudsen and Konishi (1978.”A neural map of auditory space in the owl” for some of its owl-related information. PS. This mouse escaped,…
Milk
This was originally the front page of my master thesis (at least after the university mandated official front page). The full thesis is available here: https://nmbu.brage.unit.no/nmbu-xmlui/handle/11250/2678490 It’s in norwegian, so it might be hard to understand. Sorry about that. But I can confirm that cows…
Horizontal gene transfer
Transformation is the process whereby bacteria can “ingest” DNA from the environment and incorporate it into its own genome. It is incorporated either into the “main” DNA or as a plasmid, which is a separate form of “bonus-DNA” that bacteria have. Either way, the DNA…
Hemophilia
Mayoclinic.org has more on hemophilia. —– Mayoclinic “Hemophilia” https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemophilia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373327 last accessed 6. february 2021
Kiwi evolution
Evolution doesn’t allways result in outcomes that are “fair” or optimal. Evolution doesn’t actually “care” to make any one species the best that they can be. As long as you survive, and your offspring survives, you pretty much have to deal with the crap you…