Ocean Acidification Effects

Climate change is closely related to our life. Interestingly, the increasing pH of the ocean will also bring benefit to the whole ecosystem. In one paper “How ocean acidification can benefit calcifiers,” scientists tried to use the volcanic CO2 vents to test the relationship between the increasing concentration of CO2 with calcifying herbivores. By analyzing the data, they concluded ocean acidification of the primary producers, such as algae, has a positive indirect effect to some calcifying herbivores, and may “overwhelm any direct negative effects.” Another paper, which is named “ Ocean acidification can mediate biodiversity shifts by changing biogenic habitat,” also told other effects of acidification. The main point in this paper is ocean acidification may cause some indirect influence on lower species diversity in coral reefs but increase the diversity of seagrass. However, the mechanism of how the increasing ocean pH will increase the diversity of habitat-forming species is still unknown.

Source:
1. Connell, S. D., Doubleday, Z. A., Hamlyn, S. B., Foster, N. R., Harley, C. D., Helmuth, B., ... & Russell, B. D. (2017). How ocean acidification can benefit calcifiers. Current Biology, 27(3), R95-R96.
2. Sunday, J. M., Fabricius, K. E., Kroeker, K. J., Anderson, K. M., Brown, N. E., Barry, J. P., ... & Klinger, T. (2017). Ocean acidification can mediate biodiversity shifts by changing biogenic habitat. Nature Climate Change, 7(1), 81.

Alzheimer’s & Gingivitis

Alzheimer’ Disease is one of the irreversible, progressive brain disorder. Although scientists think amyloid-β (Aβ) may be the main causation of this, there is no evidence that can support its causation. Recently, researchers have determined that gum disease (gingivitis) plays a decisive role in whether a person develops Alzheimer´s or not. They examined 53 persons with Alzheimer´s and discovered 96 percent of patients have the gingivitis bacteria. Scientists think the bacteria produces a protein that destroys nerve cells in the brain, which in turn leads to loss of memory and ultimately, Alzheimer´s.
So, how to slow down or avoid Alzheimer’s? Remember to brush your teeth every day!

Source: Dominy, S. S., Lynch, C., Ermini, F., Benedyk, M., Marczyk, A., Konradi, A., ... & Holsinger, L. J. (2019). Porphyromonas gingivalis in Alzheimer’s disease brains: Evidence for disease causation and treatment with small-molecule inhibitors. Science advances, 5(1), eaau3333. 038/s41591-019-0459-6

chemical warfare against the invading zebra mussels

An interesting topic which I didn't have time to delve into during my talk today is the chemical methods that communities along the great lakes are using to mitigate the spread and overpopulation of zebra mussels. 

 Potassium chloride is dumped into Zebra Mussel infested areas where it interferes and essentially halts their respiratory system. Some cities lace the water with copper compounds and substance that is toxic when consumed by mussels. Some areas have even utilized bacterial warfare, employing the C145A strain of bacterium. This microbe deteriorates the digestive lining of mussels of mussels when consumed.

As you can imagine, these techniques can be effective but often have catastrophic implications for the natural aquatic ecosystem.

Accessory Bones in Feet

Accessory bones are additional bones that would normally not be present in a person, yet 2 to 21% of people in a population carry them. I myself have an extra tiny bone in my left foot. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but for myself and others, such a tiny thing can make things miserable. Oftentimes they can be misdiagnosed as fractures, and go unnoticed. However, once diagnosed, their attributes and effects can be fascinating. Accessory bones in the foot can cause degenerative changes, stress, and can fracture themselves. They can also cause irritation and stress to the surrounding soft tissue, degrading stability in the foot. Because of this, they can be detrimental in their affect on a person's arches and leg stability overall. Luckily most people don't have to worry about this, and those that do can usually maintain stability by using supports and or removing the bone with surgery.

Reminder that plants are cool

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share a couple articles about plants and their affect on our health, be it physical or mental. Interacting with plants is an easy, cost effective way to boost your mood, especially during dead week and finals.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/counties-with-more-trees-and-shrubs-spend-less-on-medicare/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5663018/

Each of these look at the relationship between vegetation and correlations with our health. The publisher for the first article also has some other fun articles you can look at. Enjoy!

Fish Slime and Antibiotic Resistance

Hi guys,

We went over antibiotic resistance earlier this quarter and I thought you might find the following article interesting, seeing as we have a lot of marine bio people in our class.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/amp/324837

Researchers at OSU Corvallis and CSU Fullerton have been looking into the relationship between protective mucus found on fish and and antibiotic qualities that it may possess, and their early findings show some promise. Pretty interesting!

What's Moving in your Eye?!

A few months back a woman in Taiwan went to the hospital for severe swelling in her eye, thinking she had a bacterial infection, only to find four sweat bees had been living under her eyelid for at least a day. They had been feeding on her tears underneath the skin. This is a medical first, as sweat bees have never been recorded infesting a human body before. Typically they'll just feed on our sweat or fallen tears. Luckily, evidence suggests that this was an accident on their part, as the woman believes they arrived by a gust of wind and dust that hit her face and were subsequently trapped. Fortunately the woman didn't rub her eye, otherwise their venom could have blinded her. With extreme fortune, all five individuals have come out safe and alive, and the bees were subsequently taken in as scientific specimens.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47876130
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/10/asia/bees-found-in-taiwanese-womans-eye-scli-intl/index.html

SpongeBob debunked!

My grad student and I have been working with copepods for about two weeks now. I had seen them under a microscope and while my naked eye and they looked like a incredibly small, transparent, tear drop shaped creature with two antenna and a segmented tail.

Today my grad student said "did you ever watch SpongeBob?", to which I responded "of course!". He then proceeded to tell me that Plankton from SpongeBob is in fact a copepod. This was beyond exciting to me because from what I had observed under the scope I would have never made that connection!

FIRST LEFTY SNAIL

Prior to reading this article I had never bothered to pay attention to the shells of snails. I have seen many a snail in my life and never did I once realize that all of their shells coil to the right. However, the New York Times has an article that discussed the life of Jeremey, a lefty snail. Apparently he worked very hard to find a lefty to mate with and found one right before he died in 2017. Scientists have taken to crispr, the gene editing tool, to try to understand why such few snails are lefties.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/science/snails-lefties-crispr.html

There is proof that extreme cold air outbreak and wavelike course of jet stream is the result of climate change

Jet Stream is a powerful band of westerly winds over the middle latitudes, which are driven by temperature between the tropics and the Arctic and in the past often reached peak speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour. However, recently, the winds are increasingly faltering. These change has created more and more cold air that struck North America. Researchers have found a computer model, which allows us to represent the ozone layer as an interactive element in the model, and in so doing, to reflect the interactions from the stratosphere and ozone layer. The warmer of the stratosphere has caused the jet stream to be weaker, which produce the weather extremes. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190528140115.htm

A New Way to Prevent Intestinal Damage during Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is traditionally the most effect therapy when treating cancer. However, when it kills cancer cells, it also destroy healthy cells, especially in the intestines. This causes gastrointestinal syndrome, which will decrease the efficiency of chemotherapy and may also lead to death of the patient. Recent discoveries have found out that URI protein could protect cells dying from radiation. The new discovery has been proved in mouse, as mice protected by excessive amount of URI protein survived high does of radiation, while 70% of the mice without protection die from the same amount of radiation. However, URI protein is still a mystery to humans, as its function has not been fully understood. It is believed that the protein has such a narrow window to regulate the proper functioning of other protein that scientists have not been able fully distinguish it. Therefore, URI protein is capable of both promoting and protecting against tumor development within a very narrow difference. So, this new technology still need a long way to go.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190530141522.htm

UCSB Wellness and Fitness Institute

After our discussion about obesity and overall wellness I thought that I would share some resources that UCSB offers.  The UCSB Wellness and Fitness Institute provides one free comprehensive fitness and heath consultation per student per year.  During this consultation a staff member will run a series of test and measurements to asses overall level of heath and fitness.  Upon completion of the assessment resources will be provided, based on the results, to help improve your overall health and wellness.   Their drop in hours are Mon-Thurs 3-5 in Rec Cen room 1502.  UCSB also provides services at a cost such as personal training, massage therapy and nutrition consultation.  If you would like to learn more about nutrition ESS 3 is a 3 unit class that you can take!

http://recreation.sa.ucsb.edu/facilities/services/wellness-fitness-institute

http://recreation.sa.ucsb.edu/fitness-wellness/gauchopulse(test) 

Update on the Twins with CRISPR Edited Genes

Last fall, He Jiankui announced that he used CRISPR to edit the CCR5 gene of an embryo that developed into twin girls. This gene is known to protect those that express it from AIDS, but make them more vulnerable to many viral pathogens such as West Nile and influenza.
Following this very poorly received announcement, the health records of over 400,000 people were analyzed and it was found that those who express the CCR5 gene are 21% more likely to die before age 76. Though the reason for this is not clear, it is hypothesized that it is due to an increased vulnerability to viral diseases.
In an NPR article, Professor Rasmus Neilson from UC Berkley and Dean George Daley of Harvard Medical School use this example to underline the costs of rushing to use new technology prematurely.

Stein, R. (2019, June 3). 2 Chinese Babies With Edited Genes May Face Higher Risk Of Premature Death [Shots - Health News from NPR].

Chiton Teeth!

Chiton teeth are made of magnenite and have the maximum hardness and stiffness of any known biomaterial!  While magnetite is common in the Earths crust very few animals produce it.  Chitons have radular teeth meaning that hey are in rows and are a sort of equivalent to our tongues.  The strongest teeth, where there were magnetite deposits, were found after 8-12 rows of teeth. 

 It was found that these Chitons have a lot of mitochondria near their magnetite teeth.  It was hypothesized that these mitochondria proved the extra energy needed to produce these super strong teeth.  The mechanism of formation of these super strong teeth has the potential to lead to new abrasion resistant materials along with materials that can be used underwater.  I thought that he intersection between biology and materials was very interesting and shows how much we learn from nature! 

Michiko Nemoto, Dongni Ren, Steven Herrera, Songqin Pan, Takashi Tamura, Kenji Inagaki, and David Kisailus. "Integrated Transcriptomic and Proteomic Analyses of a Molecular Mechanism of Radular Teeth Biomineralization in Cryptochiton Stelleri." Scientific Reports 9.1 (2019): 1-10. Web.

Find out if you're a synesthete!

Though we commonly experience synesthesia by attributing qualities such as textures, tastes, and visuals to music, the actual neurological condition of synesthesia has much stricter criteria. In order to be considered a synesthete, one must experience synesthesia as an involuntary, consistent, and convincing experience that is unique to the individual and is usually unidirectional (ex: a number will be perceived along with a color but that color will not be associated with a number). Unlike synesthesia induced from drug use, the neurological condition has no effect on everyday life, and does not detract from or replace reality, only adding on to the individuals perception of their surroundings.

If these sensations seem familiar to you, there is quiz you can take linked below that will indentify if you exhibit the neurological trait! If you do there is also a grapheme-color matching demo where you can pair a number with the color evoked when you see it. This same exercise has been used in studies linking synesthesia to improved memory and learning.

Synesthesia Questionnaire

Grapheme-Color Pairing Model

Braganca, G. F., Fonseca, J., & Caramelli, P. (2015). Synesthesia and Music Perception. Dementia and Neuropsychologia.

Without, N., & Winawer, J. (2013). Learning, Memory, and Synesthesia. Association for Psychological Science.

Braganca, G. F., Fonseca, J., & Caramelli, P. (2015). Synesthesia and Music Perception. Dementia and Neuropsychologia.

Braganca, G. F., Fonseca, J., & Caramelli, P. (2015). Synesthesia and Music Perception. Dementia and Neuropsychologia.

Without, N., & Winawer, J. (2013). Learning, Memory, and Synesthesia. Association for Psychological Science.

Witthout, N., & Winawer, J. (2013). Learning, Memory, and Synesthesia. Association for Psychological Science.

Braganca, G. F., Fonseca, J., & Caramelli, P. (2015). Synesthesia and Music Perception. Dementia and Neuropsychologia.

Without, N., & Winawer, J. (2013). Learning, Memory, and Synesthesia. Association for Psychological Science.Braganca, G. F., Fonseca, J., & Caramelli, P. (2015). Synesthesia and Music Perception. Dementia and Neuropsychologia.

Without, N., & Winawer, J. (2013). Learning, Memory, and Synesthesia. Association for Psychological Science.

My Aquarium Collection

Hello Everyone!

A hobby of mine since I was 7 years old has been keeping aquariums. Over the years, I've kept and maintained about 30+ aquariums in my home. I've kept some really cool and exotic species, and wanted to share! It's what fueled my passion for marine biology, and the amount of research it takes to set up a marine aquarium is honestly mindblowing. Check out some cool animals that I've kept over the years!!

Top down; Purple sponge, Fromia starfish, Dragonface pipefish, Sea apple, flams scallop, erectus seahorse

Measles Causes Immune Amnesia

Measles cases in the United States have surpassed the highest number on record since the disease was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000. Besides the signature splotchy red rash, fever, and watery red eyes; measles causes transient immune suppression, leading to increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections.

Previously, scientists determined that in non-human primates, measles virus depleted pre-existing memory lymphocytes. A measles outbreak in the Dutch Orthodox Protestant community in the Netherlands gave scientists the opportunity to study the pathogenesis of measles immune suppression in unvaccinated children. Parents part of the community there refuse vaccinations, a decision that ushers in regular bouts of measles. The community’s last measles outbreak ended in 2000; it was just a matter of time before the virus took hold again. The researchers got permission from parents to take blood samples from healthy, unvaccinated children to study their immune cells. Then, the researchers waited for an outbreak, so they could test the kids again after an infection. The data found that measles patients had similar levels of memory T and B cells as observed in non-human primates, supporting the immune amnesia hypothesis and offering an explanation for the previously observed long-term effects of measles on host resistance.

The immune system might take months, or even years, to bounce back from this memory loss. Researchers compared health records of U.K. children from 1990 to 2014. For up to five years after their bout of measles, children who had previously had the virus experienced more diagnosed infections than children who hadn’t. Children who'd had measles were 15 to 24 percent more likely to receive a prescription for infection than children who never had measles, the researchers reported. The study emphasized the importance of maintaining high measles vaccination coverage.

Laksono, B. M., de Vries, R. D., Verburgh, R. J., Visser, E. G., de Jong, A., Fraaij, P. L., ... & van Zelm, M. C. (2018). Studies into the mechanism of measles-associated immune suppression during a measles outbreak in the Netherlands. Nature Communications, 9(1), 4944.

Potential Biomaterials Cure to Type 1 Diabetes: Type 1 to Type None

Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that affects millions of people by preventing the beta cells in their pancreas from producing proper amounts of insulin, a key regulator of blood sugar homeostasis in the human body. Through innovative research, it was discovered that this lack of insulin could be relieved through the introduction of exogenous insulin developed synthetically from other animals utilizing genetic recombination and biochemical techniques. Although this proved to be effective at first, it is extremely impractical for those who must endure this treatment, as seen in this image of a depiction of the number of needles of insulin a diabetic must use just within a year:

Other treatments that I have found, such as isolating beta cells from cadavers, tolerogenic vaccines, etc., are costly ($14 billion annually), must be carried out for a prolonged period of time, or require intense immunosuppression that makes the body susceptible to many other issues. Although treatments are still being developed and approved, emerging techniques have been using biomaterials in order to create safe ways to provide insulin to the body long-term without the fear of an autoimmune response. An example of these treatments is exogenous beta cells inside a semipermeable membrane that allows insulin to exit and necessary materials for cell survival to enter, but prevents immune cells from reaching the beta cells (pictured below):

With the combinations of further immunological study of this malicious condition and advancements in the field of biomaterials, a long-term cure may not be too far away.

For those who are interested in the medical history of T1D and its potential treatments, I found this recent review paper really interesting and thorough:

Stabler, C.L, Li, Y., Stewart, J.M., Keselowsky, B.G. 2019. "Engineering immunomodulatory biomaterials for type 1 diabetes". Nature Reviews.

Also, this TEDx Talk was very interesting from the perspective from a leading member of the biotech industry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBx14vFSP4&t=781s

First-Ever Video of Deep Sea Anglerfish Mating

Because of the intense underwater environment anglerfishes live in, the mysterious deep-sea dwellers have rarely been seen alive in their natural habitat. However, a new video released by the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation, the third-time deep-sea anglerfish behavior has ever been caught on film, shows a female fanfin sea devil slowly drifting along with a small male fused to her underside.

Only female anglerfishes have a bioluminescent lure produced by symbiotic bacteria, the esca, which they use to attract prey. Discovered in the video, the female fanfin sea devil also has whispy bioluminescent filaments that appear function independently, each equipped with its own set of muscles and nerves. The fish use their toothy mouths and expandable stomachs swallow prey larger than themselves in a single gulp. Male anglerfish are only a fraction of their mates' sizes and have sensitive sensory receptors to follow a chemical released by the females. Once a male finds a female, he bites down and latches onto her body. His body will fuse with hers, only serving to provide sperm for when the female is ready to spawn.

Deep-Sea Anglerfish Caught Mating in First-of-Its-Kind Video

Possible Explanations for Plant Coexistence

  In class, we learned about Gause's Principle that states a stable coexistence between competing species requires them to occupy different niches, as in they must utilize different sources of food and shelter. However, applying this principle to plants has proven problematic because most plants occupy the same area and require the same nutrients/resources that are mostly obtained in the same ways. The review paper that I have cited below looks at many different possible explanations for how this coexistence might occur and is a very good read if this sort of thing interests you. I believe that microbial mediation is probably one of the most likely answers to this problem because microorganisms in the soil (such as mycorrhizal fungi) can be species specific and can access different pools, which would allow for niche separation. On the other hand, I think the idea behind Hubbell's Unified theory is very interesting (although probably not true) which is that all plant species are basically competitively equivalent and niche differences are irrelevant, species diversity is simply governed by a process called drift (similar to what determine genetic diversity among neutral loci in population genetics).

Silvertown J. 2004. Plant coexistence and the niche. Trends in Ecol. and Evol. 19(11): 605-611

The Evolution of Human Emotions

   After learning about certain physiological systems of the human body in class, I decided to research on how these systems are impacted by emotion and how emotion evolved in the first place. What I learned is that, while researchers still don't completely agree on everything, there are some interesting theories on how different emotions evolved based on certain advantages they provided for humans in the past.
   Before looking at these evolutionary origins of emotions, it is important to define what emotions are and what function they serve. Emotions are "specialized modes of operation shaped by natural selection to adjust the physiological, psychological, and behavioral parameters of an organism in ways that increase its capacity and tendency to respond adaptively to the threats and opportunities characteristic of specific kinds of situations" and because of this they can potentially provide benefits to motivation, communication, and cognition. Based on this idea of emotions, each basic emotion (fear, anger, happiness, sadness, and love) should correspond to a certain situation where they increase fitness that allowed for them to evolve.
   Fear, to me, seems like the easiest emotion to understand in an evolutionary sense because it basically increases fitness by increasing blood flow, muscle strength, and rates of respiration so that an individual is prepared to get out of a potentially dangerous situation. There are many different subtypes of fear that may seem a little less obvious, such as social anxiety and obsessive hoarding, but they are usually just exaggerated forms of normal, healthy fears that correspond to situations like threats to group membership or a lack of food/resources.
   Mood (happiness and sadness) is a little more complex than fear because some of its benefits can be more indirect. Being happy or sad can cause physiological changes, but usually your mood isn't based off of any specific action and is just a mental state. However, repeating things that make you happy and staying away from actions that result in sadness could have potential benefits and is often correlated with your role in society.
   Many emotions, including anger, seem to be related to the ability of humans to hold relationships that are much more complex than a simple exchange of reciprocity. These longer term, intense relationships provide more benefits that short-term ones and are mediated by emotions. For example, aggressive interactions between potential relationship partners may be explained as a test of a bond that tests a partner's reliability and sincerity. Anger seems to help with relationships because signals of anger show that a problem in a relationship has been identified and won't be tolerated and through this it can protect against exploitation.
   The answer to how human emotion evolved is clearly complex and can be looked at in many different ways, and there are clearly many emotions to be looked at, but we do have a general idea of how some of the most basic emotions may have had some selective advantage. It should also be noted that there are some arguments over whether or not emotions are innate (nature vs. nurture sore of thing), but even though individuals and cultures differ slightly in how their emotions are elicited, there are still fixed patterns of emotions that suggest an evolutionary approach is reasonable.  Either way, there is still much more for us to learn about human emotions and their evolution which could potentially even provide benefits to the treatment of different emotional disorders.

Nesse, R.M. 1990. Evolutionary explanation of emotions. Human Nature. 1(3): 261-89

Exposure to different colors of light impacts circadian rhythm and speed of embryonic development in bird eggs

What if eggs are just greenhouses for embryos – their colors, markings, and thicknesses all working together to create the optimal light environment for growth inside the shell?

A leading German oologist, Max Schönwetter, first came up with this hypothesis in the 1960’s. Since then, we’ve been finding a growing body of evidence for his idea. Commercial poultry breeders shine colored LEDs on chicken eggs to make them hatch faster, and the eggs of some species fluoresce under UV light.

In their 2015 paper, First Light for Avian Embryos: Eggshell Thickness and Pigmentation Mediate Variation in Development and UV Exposure in Wild Bird Eggs," ornithologist Golo Maurer and his team explored Schönwetter’s hypothesis. Using reflectance spectroscopy, they measured the percent light transmission, thickness, permeability, water vapor conductance, and pigment concentration in the eggshells of 74 different British breeding species! Here’s a link to their paper for a closer look!

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2435.12314

Air Pollution Destroying Developing Immune Systems?

Last week we discussed how impressive our immune systems are, so I decided to look more into the innate immune system. I wanted to research the importance of white blood cells, and I came across a paper that analyzed the effects air pollution has on developing immune systems. This study specifically focused on school children in China since children have weaker immune systems and air quality there is horrendous!

In this study, the researchers took a group of students that were chronically exposed to air pollution, and then another group that was from a controlled area without as much exposure to air contaminants. They compared the levels of immune cells, immunoglobulins classes, and complements between schoolchildren living in areas with different air pollution levels in eastern China.  They also determined 2 systemic inflammatory biomarkers as they might help us to understand the biological processes related to the alterations of immune biomarkers.The results concluded that the total lymphocyte, T lymphocyte, CD4+ T lymphocyte, CD8+ T lymphocyte, and NK cell counts of schoolchildren in the polluted area were not significantly different from those in the control area. In contrast, the B lymphocyte count and CD4+/CD8+ ratio of schoolchildren in the polluted area were borderline significantly lower than those of children in the control area.

Overall, exposure to a higher level of air pollution was associated with a decreased B lymphocyte count and C3 and C4 levels, as well as an increased monocyte count and CD8+ T lymphocyte proportion. Out of all the other types of white blood cells, only monocytes showed a significant difference between groups of children, with a higher monocyte count in schoolchildren in the polluted area. These results suggested that air pollution may affect the immune function of children, but not in a very concerning way. Surprisingly, we did not observe differences in the IgG, IgA, or IgM levels between schoolchildren from the different areas. It might be due to that B lymphocytes were more activated in the circumstance of higher air pollution level. This suggests that there were some adaptive responses that boosted immune function to compensate for the immunotoxic effects of air pollution.

Although these results didn’t present alarming results, that doesn’t mean that the effects of air pollution on the immune system of children should be ignored. Air pollution is still a rising issue today, and as the next generation, we need to make sure we can discover ways to not just protect our own health, but also the health of our planet!

Li, X. (2019) Air pollution exposure and immunological and systemic inflammatory alterations among schoolchildren in China. The Science of The Total Environment, 657, 1304-1310

T.gondii: General Microbe Profile

T. gondii, otherwise known as toxoplasmosis gondii, is an apicomplexan that causes the disease toxoplasmosis; apicomplexans are endoparasitic protozoans that have apicoplasts (a photosynthetic plasmid) and an apical structure. T. gondii was first discovered in 1908 at Tunis by Charles Nicolle and Louis Manceaux in the tissues of a gundi.[1] Nicolle and Manceaux noticed that the gundis only were infected when in captivity and found the parasites only in the blood of the rodents, leading them to believe arthropods had transmitted T. gondii. It was not until 1938 that additional research was conducted on the parasite, as T.gondii was found in an infant girl’s body, then infected into mice and rabbits. Despite T. gondii’s ability to infect multiple species, its main vectors tend to be felids, the only organisms that can shed oocytes through feces.

            T.gondii can infect a host in one of two primary ways: through oocyte ingestion, or in tissue cysts—which are primarily found in the meat of infected animals; however, it can be transmitted via blood transfusion or organ transplants.[2]Once in the host, it has the potential to alter the behavior of its host to favor transmission. For example, when mice are infected, the parasite rewires its mind to favor the scent of cat urine, leading to these mice to be eaten by cats—the end goal of T. gondi. The reversal of prey’s aversion to their predators is not exclusive only to mice; other studies with different animals have yielded the same result: in 2004, infected sea otters were found to be 3.7 times as likely to be attacked by sharks, and in 2016, chimpanzees with toxoplasmosis were found to have an exclusive attraction to leopard urine—their only feline predators. Humans are not exempt from T.gondii’s effects—while they do not rewire our brains to be attracted to predator waste, people infected with it tend to exhibit higher aggression, suspicion, mental illness, and have a penchant for careers related to entrepreneurship or business. In 1992, an ongoing study by Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague revealed that not only did the parasite affect personality traits in humans, but also had separate effects on men and women. Men were more likely to be more “expedient, suspicious, and dogmatic,” and women tended to be “warmer and had higher superego strength.” [3] Separate research has concluded people infected with toxoplasmosis tend to have slowed development, lower IQ scores for the first seven years of life, and slower reaction time.

---

[1] Dubey, “History of the Discovery of the Lifecycle of Toxoplasma gondii.”

[2] Hill, Dubey, “Toxoplasmosis gondii: transmission, diagnosis, and prevention.”

[3] The Stanley Research Institute, “Effects of T. gondii on Behavior and Psychiatric Symptoms.”

Facts about Bird Feather Colors!

·     Birds= most colorful land vertebrates ( not sure how validated this claim is ) 

·     Bird Feathers have two basic sources of color: 

o  1.) Pigment= chemical compounds located in the feather or skin itself

§ Absorb every wavelength of light except for one; that is the color that is reflected instead and seen by the human eye

o  2.)Structural colors= produces blue or iridescent colors

§ Produced by minute particles within the feather that are smaller in diameter than the wavelength of the color red

§ These colors appear the same when transmitted in different angles of light, however, if the feather is put in between the sight of vision and the light the colors appear clear, ( as if you are seeing straight through the feather ) 

·     Most colors in bird feathers evolved as a form of attraction to a gender of the same species, ( males trying to attract a mate ) 

o  Ex: peacock feathers 

·     Non-demonstrative colors typically help a bird avoid predation

·     Many birds experience “Counter-shading”    

o  Counter-Shading= darkest along the back and gradually become lighter while ending up as white on the belly

o  This tactic tends to eliminate a sharply defined shadow for any predator bird watching from above, ready to swoop down for some dinner

·     Many birds experience “Disruptive coloration”

o  Disruptive Coloration= use of striking patterns to break up the outline of the bird

o  Technique used to avoid detection by predators

o  Another word for this= CAMOFLAUGE ( duh ) 

·     Other reasons for coloration on birds: 

o  Birds often use certain colors to identify within a flock thus helping them keep all of their flock members together

o  Some colors within the inside of the mouths of hungry chicks may also function to stimulate the adults brains into wanting to feed their children

o  Other colors may be a way to keep track of the young

§ Ex: Red spot of the bill of the herring gull? 

·     Some colors don’t hold a purpose but are a product of another purpose: 

o  Some colors are produced accidentally by pigments deposited within the bird for a different reason

§ Ex: Feathers on the wingtips of birds are more subjected to wear and tear

§ Feathers with a lot of pigment are tougher feathers for things such as wear and tear

§ Thus, it is hypothesized that the this is the reason most birds have darker colored wingtips

Fun-Facts about Sharks!

·     Shark embryos attack each other: 

o  The largest embryo in a shark litter is known to eat it’s fellow embryos= intrauterine cannibalism

o  This strategy proves helpful especially to Sand Tiger sharksàit allows them to have larger children at birth which allows the offspring to be less vulnerable to predators

·     Sharks have a “sixth sense”

o  While dolphins have echolocation, sharks are able to identify prey by tapping into the small electrical around them that other animals generate= ampullae of Lorenzini

o  Small pores located near their nostrils are connected to long “jelly-filled tubes” that in return are connected to the sharks nervous systemàsignals when a fish is near

o  Hammerheads are the best at this with 3,000 pores

·     Sharks have a long gestation period

o  Some sharks can be pregnant for up to 2 years!

o  This is the longest gestation period to any known vertebrate

·     You can ride a shark! 

o  Largest shark species= whale shark ( also the largest fish in general )= also the easiest going

o  You can “hitch a ride” on a whale shark as they generally cause no harm to humans

o  Marine life experts disapprove of this as people holding onto the shark chips away at their slime covering and ultimately can cause harm to the fish

·     You can have shark half-siblings 

o  Female sharks can be impregnated by multiple sharks at once meaning the same litter of shark can have the exact same mother but different fathers- creating half siblings within the same bunch of shark eggs 

·     Female Sharks can reproduce without Male sharks! ( Talk about girl power) 

o  Two cases, ( Zebra shark from Australia and a Hammerhead shark from Nebraska), displayed female sharks that had been isolated from males and yet still ended up giving birth to multiple baby sharksàpossible asexual reproduction? 

o  Another theory is the sharks had been storing male sperm, however during DNA testing, the baby sharks were found to have only had DNA from their mother

·     Sharks don’t sleep like people

o  In order to breath numerous sharks must keep swimming to allow the water to pass through their gills and provide oxygenàthus when sharks “sleep” they are still semi-conscious as they swim

·     Sharks have teeth for days! 

o  Sharks have an average of over 50,000 teeth in its lifetime! 

o  The ocean floor is riddled with shark teethàpeople collect this and turn it into jewelry ! 

·     Sharks have scales?

o  “Dermal denticles” or shark scales are on their exterior! As the shark grows larger however the scales do not grow with it, instead the shark grows extra scales to fill in the gaps

·     Shark eggs are smart!

o  Shark embryos can sense danger and have been found to deploy a similar electrical receptor as adult sharks do when finding a predator

·     Shark age? 

o  A shark’s vertebrae tell you it’s age

·     Sharks have got the senses down!

o  Sharks have incredibly acute hearing, eyesight, and smell! 

o  They can hear their prey up to 3,000 feet away!

o  For better eyesight, sharks apart of the Laminid group have a special retina that warms up their eyes and brain in order to detect movement easier

·     Sharks are loyal to their first home

o  Some shark’s ( Lemon sharks ) will return to their birth place in order to reproduce

·     Sharks have no vocal chords and do not express anything audibly

o  Instead sharks use their own version of “sign language” and express things physically through flips, swimming maneuvers, etc.

·     Surprise, surprise!

o  A sharks biggest threat/predator is humans