ohyeahdevelopmentalbiology:

ramblin-woman:

A great article on the importance of media’s ability to influence girls and women to pursue science and technology.

(via fuckyeahneuroscience)

joshbyard:

Brainless Slime Molds Shed Light On The Evolution of Memory

“We have shown for the first time that a single-celled organism with no brain uses an external spatial memory to navigate through a complex environment,” said Christopher Reid from the University’s School of Biological Sciences.

…“Results from insect studies, for example ants leaving pheromone trails, have already challenged the assumption that navigation requires learning or a sophisticated spatial awareness. We’ve now gone one better and shown that even an organism without a nervous system can navigate a complex environment, with the help of externalized memory.”

The research method was inspired by robots designed to respond only to feedback from their immediate environment to navigate obstacles and avoid becoming trapped. This “reactive navigation” method allows robots to navigate without a programmed map or the ability to build one and slime molds use the same process.

When it is foraging, the slime mold avoids areas that it has already “slimed,” suggesting it can sense extracellular slime upon contact and will recognize and avoid areas it has already explored.

…“We then upped the ante for the slime molds by challenging them with the U-shaped trap problem to test their navigational ability in a more complex situation than foraging. We found that, as we had predicted, its success was greatly dependent on being able to apply its external spatial memory to navigate its way out of the trap.”

(via Brainless slime mold uses external spatial ‘memory’ to navigate complex environments | KurzweilAI)

hydrogeneportfolio:

Minimal Posters - Six Women Who Changed Science. And The World.

(via monanotlisa)

(via scipsy)

elysemarshall:

nprmusic:

smithsonianmag:

Squid Chromatophores React to Cypress Hill’s Insane in the Membrane

During experiments on the axons of the Woods Hole squid, we tested our cockroach leg stimulus protocol on the squid’s chromatophores. The results were both interesting and beautiful.

Video: backyardbrains

Ed note: Now that you know squid cells like hip hop, here are 14 more facts about cephalopods.

h/t Geekosystem

“Yes, I’m the pirate, pilot of this ship / If I get with the ultraviolet dream / Hide from the red light beam / Now do you believe in the unseen?”

Science is SO COOL.

(via neil-gaiman)

mcgarrsworld:

Earth, Jupiter and Venus from the skyline of Mars!

(Source: theweeklyansible, via littlemoresonic)

ohyeahdevelopmentalbiology:

wishingfire:

Before I started studying today, I checked on CNN.

I saw this article on the homepage. It’s a longer read for me, but I found it very interesting. When I got to the “riddle” she puts in this piece, I have to admit, the real answer never crossed my mind. That made me upset…

ohyeahdevelopmentalbiology:

kqedscience:

Baby mice created from stem cells

“Scientists have created mouse eggs from stem cells and used them to make healthy baby mice. The technique will help them study how eggs develop and also offers the potential to create eggs for infertile women.”

Read more here from The Guardian.

(Source: meme4u, via lacktoast-and-tolerance)

spiffysavannah:

View from the International Space Station at Night