The Birth Of Brain Cells

regular lobsters start out as just little lobsters but spiny lobsters start out as these beautiful weird larvae that also evolved to ride on top of jellyfish. This jellyfish is too small though!!!

ID credit: divingfirst on 小红书

(please like, reblog and give proper credit if you use any of my gifs!)

the deep sea creatures when a scientist shows up with a flashlight outta no where

Some of you may be familiar with model organisms in biology but even so, you may think about mice, rabbits or flies rather than ctenophores. The whole purpose of having a model organism is to be able to understand particular biological functions/processes by using an organism that can be maintained easily, has a relatively short generation time and has its genome sequenced (this allows us to really understand their genetic makeup). Since this species of ctenophore (Mnemiopsis leidyi) has had its genome sequenced it allows us to identify key genes/proteins and try to determine their function.

The work I am currently doing for my project is focused on understanding the origin of the nervous system.

There's been a long standing debate amongst scientists over which species of animal first diverged from all other metazoans whether it be sponges or ctenophores. For a long time it has been thought that sponges are the sister group to all metazoans, although more recently studies have suggested that ctenophores are. Sponges are really simple animals that lack nervous systems, whereas ctenophores are more complex and have a nervous system. If ctenophores are then in fact found to be the sister group to all other metazoans, it poses the questions about whether the complex structures such as neurons and synapses evolved once or multiple times independently?

If you check you can see a diagram showing what I mean by the "sister group" to all metazoans. The first pic identifies sponges as the sister group, but with more analysis on a molecular basis, the 3rd pic could be possible.

Since most of the studies on neurons and nervous systems more generally are focused on metazoans, the work at this lab uses ctenophores to understand more about their complex biology with the aim of understanding the origins of neurons.

Zebrafish Stripes Caused by Cells That Chase Each Other

A cellular game of run-and-chase could help form the iconic stripes on zebrafish skin. Contact between two types of skin cells, the black “melanophores” and the yellow “xanthophores,” prompts the melanophores to move away and the xanthophores to follow in hot pursuit, developmental biologists report online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers’ models suggest that such interactions lead to the pigment cells separating into the distinct bands of zebrafish stripes. To understand how interactions between cells might lead to striped or spotted skin, the scientists found a way to grow pigment cells from zebrafish tail fins in lab dishes. Pigment cells of the same type didn’t seem to interact. But when xanthophores and melanophores were near each other, the yellow cells (apparently attracted) reached out to touch the black ones. The black ones, in turn, were repulsed by the overture and moved away. Undeterred, the xanthophores followed. (In the gif [video], a yellow xanthophore chases a gray melanophore across the screen.) Cells from a zebrafish mutant called jaguar, which has broader, fuzzier stripes, behaved differently. Their black melanophores do not run from the yellow xanthophores, and the xanthophores do not chase them as ardently. This, the researchers say, could explain the mixed populations of yellow and black cells in the stripes’ fuzzy borders. The team hasn’t yet observed the cell movements in developing fish, but the work may help explain why mutations in genes that make proteins that are part of cell membranes can lead to different skin patterns in fish. It may also help explain how other animals—zebras, jaguars, leopards, or Dalmatians—get their patterned skin.

Via sciencemag.org

for real though imagine being one of the first botanists to study fern and lycophyte sex and you put the sex water (the water in which they are having sex bc they love it soooooo much) under the microscope and theyre cranking out these damn Doohickies that swim like people sperm.... what is going On down there

A new giant-screen film is on view in the Museum’s LeFrak Theater, starting today! In Turtle Odyssey, discover the wondrous life of a sea turtle named Bunji, from hatchling to adulthood, and the great migration undertaken by generations before her. As this turtle leaves the rookery on the Great Barrier Reef and swims hundreds of miles, she encounters many marine animals—including humpback whales, parrot fish, and even a great white shark—as well as threats to her survival, like plastic waste.

Beat the heat, visit the Museum, and enjoy this immersive giant-screen film on a 40-foot-high, 66-foot-wide screen with state-of-the-art digital sound!

hello 🐙

Wake up babe new fish dropped

Enjoying the little things and taking life one day at a time