Showing posts with label fungi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fungi. Show all posts

Mysteries of 2015

KIC 8462852 star mystery
Well what happened in 2015? Some odd claims were made. In October KIC 8462852, a star doing strange things, was observed. Some said that it was created by intelligent life. Actually it is a comet swarm.

Bacon in frypan
The barbecue charcoal theory was taken a step further with suggestions that processed meat such as bacon causes cancer. However, the risk is statistically insignificant. Just don't eat too much of it.

Maunder Minimum London
NASA's mysterious EM Drive was announced which apparently is a microwave "powered" warp drive. Roll on Star trek. Thrust was produced from nothing but at a such a low level as to be unusable.

We do not have to worry about global warming because the sun will take care of it. The Maunder Minimum phase will push us into an ice age in the 2030s. Have no fear. Such a drastic 5º C fall will not happen. We have done far too much damage for the Maunder Minimum to have any effect.

Electron micrograph scan of tardigrade
The little Tardigrade creature picks up genes from the environment by horizontal transfer. That is why its DNA is a combination of virus, bacteria, fungi, plant and animal. This was the assertion anyway. Another research team ended the speculation when it found that only 36 genes were acquired by gene transfer, not the massive 6,000 plus in the earlier paper.

The world is a wonderful place, particularly when scientists get things wrong. We will still have to wait for the discovery of little green men. And what we do in our daily lives will always be suspect: saying that "the usual" is bad for us is easy to do and can cause short term panic.
 Science by Ty Buchanan 
 Australian Blog
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what happened in the year 2015 mysterious odd peculiar weird claims observations scientists papers articles news politics economics society anthropology historiography history sociology people nations country asia europe africa u.s. south america central Mediterranean eastern western interesting funny technology free news

Caenorhabditis elegans Worm Travels by Slug Intestine

Everything is interrelated in this world. Nothing stands alone. Life itself is a community process. One animal lives with and off another. Indeed, many creatures cannot survive without the presence of particular others. Caenorhabditis elegans worms living "alongside" slugs is a case in point.
Caenorhabditis elegans worms
Slugs eat decomposing plants. Worms get a ride to new destinations by going through a slugs' intestines and being dropped out in poo in other locations. Consequently, worms can better exploit food resources. Surviving another animals digestive system is something unexpected.

C. elegans is the leading lab guinea pig. More is known about it than mice. However, its journey to regions anew has just been discovered. Moreover, they live on the surface of the ground not in the soil as previously supposed. Their food supply of bacteria and fungi are quickly exhausted so they have to move to new pastures.
 
Biology by Ty Buchanan 
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Caenorhabditis elegans slugs worms bacteria fungi