Least Favorite Lab Equipment?

oh to be in a forest while it's raining <3 🌲🌿🌧🍄

Giant whale sharks have hundreds of tiny teeth-like structures around their eyes

https://sciencespies.com/nature/giant-whale-sharks-have-hundreds-of-tiny-teeth-like-structures-around-their-eyes/

Giant whale sharks have hundreds of tiny teeth-like structures around their eyes

Whale sharks, the majestic creatures that also happen to be the world’s largest fish, are far more gentle than the name suggests. They swim lazily around tropical waters, filter-feeding on plankton.

Now, biologists have discovered the enigmatic giants have a curious trick up their sleeve – teeth-like scales adorning their eyeballs. It appears to be the whale sharks’ version of eyelids, and one we haven’t seen in any other vertebrate.

“Eyeballs face a potential risk of damage from mechanical, chemical and biological hazards,” the researchers write in a new paper describing the find.

“This report elaborates on adaptations of the eyes of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), including the discovery that they are covered with dermal denticles, which is a novel mechanism of eye protection in vertebrates.”

Dermal denticles, also known as placoid scales, are the tiny tough scales that cover sharks and rays. But although they are scales as we think of them, they’re also structurally very similar to teeth, and include an inner core of pulp, a middle layer of dentine or bony tissue, and a hard enamel-like coating on top.

We already knew that many sharks – including whale sharks – are covered with these denticles. However, finding them on the eyeballs of these fish is quite the surprise.

Eye denticles of the whale shark. (Tomita et al., PLOS One, 2020)

That’s partially because it’s long been assumed whale sharks don’t have to use their sense of sight much: their eyes are incredibly small compared to the rest of their body, and they don’t have a lot of midbrain, the part of the brain that processes vision.

“However, the highly protected features of the whale shark eye, in contrast to the traditional view, seems to suggest the importance of vision in this species,” the team argues in their study.

Researchers took a CT scanner to a preserved whale shark eyeball, as well as taking ultrasounds of two captive live whale sharks at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan.

3D rendering of the morphology of each eye denticle. (Tomita et al., PLOS One, 2020)

As well as discovering the eye denticles, the researchers also elaborated on the mechanisms whale sharks use to retract their eyes back into their head. Most of the time this can be for just a short period of time, however not always. Once, a particularly unfortunate shark ended up with its eyes retracted for 10 days after it was transferred to a new aquarium from Taiwan to Atlanta, Georgia.

“It is likely that whale sharks maintain their vision during eye retraction because the pupils of the whale sharks in this study were not completely covered with surrounding white tissues when their eyes had retracted, though their visual field would be much more restricted than when their eyes are positioned normally,” explain the researchers.

“In fact, the animal that kept its eyes retracted for approximately 10 days at the Georgia Aquarium appeared to have no problem navigating the exhibit space, until its eyes returned to their normal positions suddenly and, apparently, spontaneously.”

So, while whale sharks aren’t exactly a fearsome predator of the ocean, these two eye-protecting features are a fearsome competitor to… eyelids.

The research has been published in PLOS One.

#Nature

Why are all dating app options like “long-term” “short-term” “date’s” “friends” where’s my option for “wants to get married and live out a cottagecore life in the countryside”

North Idaho Gothic

-The pines in the forest don’t bend, and they don’t break. No matter how heavy the rain or how strong the wind, they will stand perfectly still. Nobody asks why.

-Do not cut down the trees here. They will be back.

-The sky is blue, not a cloud to be seen. Rain falls. Nobody ever wonders why. Still, the sky is clear, and rain falls.

-Do not swim in Lake Pend Orielle. It will draw you in. Do not touch the water. The things that live in its depths are waiting.

-The towns may seem small, but you will get lost. The streets keep going, on and on, ever narrower. The buildings watch you lose your way, and they smile.

-The dogs don’t bark after nightfall. Ever. They keep their silent vigil until dawn. You wonder why, but the look in their eyes tells you everything.

-Nobody ever comes or goes. If someone does come, they won’t be here for long. They don’t know this land, or its laws. Sooner or later they will break one, and they will be gone.

-The missionaries will be at your door with a smile and you turn them away. They smile, and you turn them away. Something about the smile seems hollow, empty. You never look at their eyes, nobody does. Nobody knows what they will see, and they don’t want to find out.

-There are children’s toys littered around almost every yard, but you never see any children. Every time you look out the window, the toys have moved.

-On every street, all but one streetlamp is dead. No one goes out after nightfall, because they know what is under the dark streetlamps. If you ask them they will deny it, but they know.

-If you see a river stone with a hole in it, don’t touch it. And no matter what, never look through it. When you return home, it won’t be the same as when you left it.

-It’s quiet in the forest, but don’t let that deceive you. They are watching. You know it, because you hear the distant tinkle of windchimes and the chill on the back of your neck.

-Don’t wander. You won’t find your way back. You never will.

That's what everyone wants... Some mucus with their corn. ☹️

nsfw (not safe for water)

alkali metals

In many cultures, ethnic groups, and nations around the world, hair is considered a source of power and prestige. African people brought these traditions and beliefs to the Americas and passed them down through the generations.

In my mother’s family (Black Americans from rural South Carolina) the women don’t cut their hair off unless absolutely necessary (i.e damage or routine trimming). Long hair is considered a symbol of beauty and power; my mother often told me that our hair holds our strength and power. Though my mother’s family has been American born for several generations, it is fascinating to see the beliefs and traditions of our African ancestors passed down. We are emotionally and spiritually attached to our hair, cutting it only with the knowledge that we are starting completely clean and removing stagnant energy.

Couple this with the forced removal and covering of our hair from the times of slavery and onward, and you can see why so many Black women and men alike take such pride and care in their natural hair and love to adorn our heads with wigs, weaves, braids, twists, accessories, and sharp designs.

Hair is not just hair in African diaspora cultures, and this is why the appropriation and stigma surrounding our hair is so harmful.

Pass the happy! 💜 When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications!

Five things...

-Friends

-A rainy day

-Soft blankets

-Wild flowers

-Old books

🧚🏽‍♀️🌿cakes i saw on facebook today. 🍄 wish i knew who made them! 🪵✨