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Stories filed under: "cephalopod"

DailyDirt: Is It All In The Genes?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Nature vs Nurture debate may never end, but it could become more interesting as researchers quantify the Nature aspects with genetics (and epigenetics and microbiome information and …). But we’ve really only just started to learn about the vast genetic world of biology. We still have a lot to learn from simple fruit flies, so we’re not about to crack the enormous number of genomes that exist (or that could even be synthesized). Here are just a few genomes that scientists have started playing with.

• Octopus DNA is unusually large, but that’s maybe not so surprising given how intelligent and complex these creatures are. In case you didn’t know, octopuses can regrow limbs, change their skin color for camouflage, expel a cloud of ink to escape predators, and manipulate their boneless bodies to their advantage — in surprising ways. The California two-spot octopus is the first cephalopod to have its genome fully sequenced, and while its genome is slightly shorter than the human genome, the octopus seems to have more genes than we do. [url]
• The genome of ixodes scapularis (aka the common tick) has been published, and it could lead to better ways to control these blood-sucking arthropods (and maybe Lyme disease, too). Tick saliva contains all kinds of possible pharmaceuticals (antimicrobials, analgesics, blood thinners, and immune suppressors) that help the bug feed on a variety of host animals. [url]
• Immortal HeLa cells have been useful in research because they were one of the first human cell lines to be conveniently grown outside of a person’s body. However, HeLa cells originally came from a patient’s tumor, so its DNA is filled with errors and is very different from normal human DNA. Cancer cells might even qualify as a new species — if researchers can agree on a definition of what “species” is. [url]
• A platypus is just a weird animal, so it’s not at all strange that its genome is weird, too. Platypus DNA codes for traits that are mammalian, reptilian and avian — and the animal itself lays eggs, produces milk for its offspring and has unusual sex chromosomes. [url]

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Filed Under: arthropod, biotech, cancer, cephalopod, dna, genes, genetics, genome, hela cells, ixodes scapularis, octopus, platypus, tick

DailyDirt: Are You Smarter Than A Dolphin?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

We may think we’re pretty smart, but animals like dolphins are pretty smart too. For over 30 years, scientists have been trying to determine how smart dolphins really are. Bottlenose dolphins have a brain-to-body-weight ratio that is only second to humans, and they also have a very complex neocortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for traits typically associated with human intelligence, such as problem-solving and self-awareness. Researchers have even found that dolphins have von Economo neurons, which are associated with emotions, social cognition, and the ability to sense what others are thinking. Besides dolphins, people may be underestimating the intelligence of animals in general. Here are just a few links related to animal smarts.

• Recently, divers off the coast of Kona in Hawaii caught video footage of a bottlenose dolphin asking a human for help to get out of a tangle of fishing lines. The dolphin swam up to one diver as he gestured with his hand for it to come closer. The diver removed a fishing hook out of the dolphin’s left pectoral fin, and at one point the dolphin had to surface for air, but it went back so that the diver could finish untangling it. [url]
• Dog owners can now figure out just how smart their dogs are with Dognition. It’s a web app that lets dog owners record the results of their experiments, which involve playing games with their dogs designed to assess five dimensions of intelligence (empathy, communication, cunning, memory, and reasoning). The data collected from the Dognition project could help scientists better understand the way dogs think and behave. [url]
• Dogs are able to subtly alter the timing, pitch, and amplitude of their barks to produce a variety of sounds that could have different meanings. While humans may have trouble distinguishing between a “food growl” and a “stranger growl,” studies have shown that dogs can recognize the meaning of particular barks and growls of other dogs. [url]
• Here are eight other animals that show notable signs of intelligence: Chimpanzees have DNA that is more than 98% identical to human DNA; elephants exhibit self-awareness; cephalopods are curious and have the ability to learn and use tools; crows are crafty; squirrels can be deceptive; dogs can understand people’s intentions; cats are extremely adaptable; and pigs can distinguish between familiar scribbles on a screen and ones that they have never seen before. [url]

If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

Filed Under: animal intelligence, animals, brains, cat, cephalopod, chimpanzee, crow, dog, dognition, dolphin, elephant, intelligence, pig, smart animals, squirrel