This is the third and final installment of our guest blog by Kevin Wolfe, a PhD student at TAMUCC How marine science benefits by studying a simple brain The biomedical benefits of studying Aplysia are fairly obvious; learning about the human brain is easy using a simpler analogue. Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and … Continue reading
Part II of III in a series of guest posts by TAMUCC grad student Kevin Wolfe! How a marine snail became a cornerstone in learning and memory research I cannot emphasize enough how important Aplysia has been for the fields of learning and memory. Though the structure and function of the neuron itself was obtained … Continue reading
Today we have another guest post. This time from Maya, a fellow graduate student at UNC. Hello there, readers of UndertheC!! My name is Maya Nadimpalli, and I’m a PhD student in Environmental Microbiology at UNC’s School of Public Health. I’ve been taking a great Science Communication class this past semester with some of the … Continue reading
This post is part one of a series of guest post by Kevin Wolfe, a 2nd year PhD student at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, writer for Charged Magazine, co-founder of ScienceisFunnyFilms, and writer of funny Princess Bride related titles. I make my living torturing snails and playing with their brains. It must seem … Continue reading
Dinoflagellate; the combination of the Greek δῖνος/dinos, “whirling” and Latin flagellum, “whip, scourge.” I recently ran across a poem, written back in 2001 by a scientist named Mary Harrington who was in the midst of some phytoplankton research. She published her poem, transcribed below, in the Journal of Biological Rhythms. Science to follow! — FEEDBACK If the lazy dinoflagellate … Continue reading
The above video might call to mind the “jellyfish forest” in a certain Pixar movie, but divers have nothing to fear from the eponymous inhabitants of Jellyfish Lake. (I’m pretty sure oceanographers can only mention Finding Nemo once every few months or they start to lose credibility, so you bet I waited for an optimal … Continue reading
When you were little, did you ever do that thing where you cut a worm in half because someone told you two new worms would grow from the parts? I did that thing. And it was the first of many somewhat morbid scientific disappointments in my childhood. It’s half true – the head half might … Continue reading
Largest: Blue Whale These marine mammals can grow up to 100 ft long and weigh up to 200 tons. They maintain this huge size on a diet of small shrimp-like animals called krill which they filter out of the water with plates called baleen instead of teeth. Fastest: Sailfish Although this is still debated, the … Continue reading
Happy Valentine’s Day! Can you spot all three marine organisms in this picture? Vase Sponge The heart in our Valentine’s Day photo is actually a uniquely-shaped vase sponge. These sponges are usually found on coral reefs and can be pink, purple, or even fluorescent blue. As members of the Porifera phylum, these organisms lack true … Continue reading
A few years ago, if I saw a cat with glowing green fur wandering around my yard, I’d assume that the poor animal had experienced radiation exposure that had left it eerily lit from within. After checking it for other superpowers and taking a few pictures (first things first, you know), I’d probably head online … Continue reading
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