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science

NATURE: This Vampire Parasite Eats Tongues

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tongue-eating louse

When scientists recently X-rayed a fish’s head, they found a gruesome stowaway: A “vampire” crustacean had devoured, then replaced, its host’s tongue. The buglike isopod, also called a tongue biter or tongue-eating louse, keeps sucking its blood meals from a fish’s tongue until the entire structure withers away. Then the true horror begins, as the parasite assumes the organ’s place in the still-living fish’s mouth. Biologist Kory Evans, an assistant professor in the Department of BioSciences at Rice University in Houston, Texas, discovered the tongue biter while digitizing X-rays of fish skeletons. He shared images of the surprising and horrifying … Read more

FOR READERS: Whiz-Bang tech

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Robotech Veritech

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: What kind of sci-fi tech makes you go “OOOOOOOOOOOH!!!”? For a long time, for me it was transforming vehicles. The Veritech’s from “Robotech,” the cars from the short-lived “Pole Position” cartoon, and of course “M.A.S.K.” among others. I think, from a nostalgia perspective, “Mighty Orbots” is my favorite of them all, if only because of the specific mention of matter manipulation tech in the transformation and unity process. Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works … Read more

SCIENCE: Turns Out Sperm Don’t “Swim” Like We Thought

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sperm swimming

Under a microscope, human sperm seem to swim like wiggling eels, tails gyrating to and fro as they seek an egg to fertilize.  But now, new 3D microscopy and high-speed video reveal that sperm don’t swim in this simple, symmetrical motion at all. Instead, they move with a rollicking spin that compensates for the fact that their tails actually beat only to one side.  “It’s almost like if you’re a swimmer, but you could only wiggle your leg to one side,” said study author Hermes Gadêlha, a mathematician at the University of Bristol in the U.K. “If you did this … Read more

They Came From the Deep

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Microbes

Microbes found themselves buried in the dirt 101.5 million years ago, back before even Tyrannosaurus rex when Earth’s biggest meat-eating dinosaur, called Spinosaurus roamed the planet. Time passed, continents shifted, oceans rose and fell, great apes emerged, and eventually human beings evolved with the curiosity and skills to dig up those ancient cells. And now, in a Japanese lab, researchers have brought the single-celled organisms back to life. Researchers aboard the drill ship JOIDES Resolution collected sediment samples from the bottom of the ocean 10 years ago. The samples came from 328 feet (100 meters) below the 20,000-foot-deep (6,000 m) … Read more

SCIENCE: What is Consciousness?

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writer brain - pixabay

Humans once assumed our planet was the physical center of the solar system, so it’s no surprise that we also think highly of consciousness, the apparently unique quality that allows our species to contemplate such matters. But what is consciousness? The topic has been extraordinarily controversial in the scientific and philosophical traditions. Thinkers have spent an immense amount of time and ink trying to unravel mysteries, such as how consciousness works and where it resides. The short answer isn’t very satisfying. Scientists and philosophers still can’t agree on a vague idea of what consciousness is, much less a strict definition. … Read more

Earth: The Lost Continent of Zealandia

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Zealandia Map

Earth’s mysterious eighth continent doesn’t appear on most conventional maps; that’s because almost 95% of its land mass is submerged thousands of feet beneath the Pacific Ocean. Zealandia — or Te Riu-a-Māui, as it’s referred to in the indigenous Māori language — is a 2 million-square-mile (5 million square kilometers) continent east of Australia, beneath modern-day New Zealand. Scientists discovered the sprawling underwater mass in the 1990s, then gave it formal continent status in 2017. Still, the “lost continent” remains largely unknown and poorly studied due to its Atlantean geography. Now, GNS Science — a geohazards research and consultancy organization … Read more

Gorgeous, Intricate Sea Creatures Are Actually Giant Blobs of Snot

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Larvacean

You’re welcome: Hundreds of feet below the sea surface, teeny-tiny sea creatures secrete snotty blobs from cells on their heads to build their oversized mucus dwellings. With lasers, researchers are now peering inside these impressive structures to learn the delicate craft of these deep-sea architects. These tadpole-looking sea animals are called giant larvaceans (Bathochordaeus); but despite their name, the animals are less than 4inches (10 centimeters) long, according to a statement from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute (MBARI). But their homes are another story: they each carry around a giant mucus bubble that can reach up to 3.3 feet (1 … Read more

STUDY: Blind People Can “See” Letters Drawn on their Brains With Electricity

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brain - pixabay

Scientists sent patterns of electricity coursing across people’s brains, coaxing their brains to see letters that weren’t there. The experiment worked in both sighted people and blind participants who had lost their sight in adulthood, according to the study, published today (May 14) in the journal Cell. Although this technology remains in its early days, implanted devices could potentially be used in the future to stimulate the brain and somewhat restore people’s vision. Known as visual prosthetics, the implants were placed on the visual cortex and then stimulated in a pattern to “trace” out shapes that the participants could then … Read more

Could Aliens Breathe Hydrogen or Helium? This Bacteria Says Yes

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yeast bacteria - deposit photos

Could aliens that breathe helium and hydrogen live on exoplanets throughout the cosmos? A new study of life on Earth suggests it’s possible. And if so, that would mean the hunt for life in the universe may need to look beyond oxygen-bathed planets to ones with seemingly inhospitable atmospheres. There is no question that an oxygen atmosphere is conducive to life — after all, it’s what we breathe on Earth. But oxygen isn’t common in the cosmos. It makes up about 0.1% of the mass of the universe. Far more common is hydrogen (92%) and helium (7%). The planet that … Read more

SCIENCE: Naked Mole Rats, CO2, and Seizures

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naked mole rat - deposit photos

Naked mole rats are supremely weird creatures — they don’t need much oxygen, and instead have seizures if they don’t get enough carbon dioxide, the chemical humans exhale when we breathe, researchers just found.The scientists found that the wrinkled rodents will even seek out areas that have been infused with the gas. But why? Turns out, due to a genetic mutation, naked mole rats lack an important switch in their brains that helps to tamp down electrical activity in the organ, and thus, prevent seizures, according to a new study published today (April 30) in the journal Current Biology. This … Read more