Non-science diversion: Liebster Award

We here at Wee Knight Science have been nominated for the eminent Liebster Award!

Yay! Matthew has handed the reins to me on this one. I suspect he just doesn't want the world knowing his secrets (i.e. favorite condiments).

So the dealio here is that I'm given 10 questions to answer, and I'm supposed to nominate 8 more people, preferably smaller, up-and-coming blogs, and give them 10 more questions. Sadly the only blog I read under that category is the one of the person who nominated me, Mini MD! Go check her out if you want the skinny on med school and being a vegan yogi, she is an awesome person and blogger.

And bathroom selfie enthusiast.

Enough of that. On to the questions!

1) What is your favorite ride at Disney (or equivalent)?

J: I've never been to Disney! I guess my favorite amusement park ride is the carousel, because I am a wuss and hate roller coasters and have only been on one. But I did go on the biggest one at that park (240 feet straight down), just in case.

2) What's the best vacation you ever took?

J: Door County, Wisconsin, last summer. It is just the most idyllic little countryside vacation spot, and every one of the little towns scattered about has at least one fudge shop. Cherries everywhere, cherry flavored everything. Just go there. It's great. 

3) Do you have a hidden talent?

J: How hidden? I can play piano, and on a very very VERY good day I can put a grown man on the ground, but if someone were actually attacking me I'd probably just get squished.

BONUS: Matt's hidden talent is a fantastic goat impression.

4) Who was your favorite teacher in grade school?

J: Greg Goble, my eighth grade algebra teacher. I already knew algebra at the time, but he was a funny guy and he let us read in class.

5) What is the first thing you do every morning?

J: Check my email.

6) If you had to do a job that wasn't medicine/science related, what would it be?

J: I think I would be an author (strictly fiction).

7) Do you prefer ketchup or mustard? Coffee or tea? Vanilla or chocolate?

J: Ketchup, coffee, chocolate >>>>>>>>>> vanilla.

8) What is the best life-hack you've come across or invented?

J: This one is for my science homies out there. If people keep taking your reagents without asking, mis-label them, or don't label them at all.

What is this? 6 XLD's? A tube of food coloring? Gonorrhea? NO ONE KNOWS

9) Who is your favorite band/singer?

J: Sick Puppies.

10) What three things would you take with you to a deserted island?

J: My boyfriend (for cooking/cuddling), my Kindle, and a metric butt-ton of chocolate.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for reading, this has been Monday Morning at the Lab!

Microbiota, invasive species, and Star Trek

So I've had a notion knockin' around in my noggin, and for once it doesn't involve me just regurgitating interesting facts at you. You may have noticed that the title of this post seems somewhat...erratic. Don't worry, we'll clear up that confusion posthaste.

As my fellow Trekkies well know, the crew of the starship Enterprise (my personal favorite was NC 1701-D, but this applies to all) were frequent visitors to new and unknown worlds, many of which happened to have their own suspiciously humanoid* life forms.

Now, those of us who are up to date on our yogurt commercials will also know that the human body, and indeed every multicellular organism we've dared to study, is just brimming with bacteria, viruses, and even a few fungi for funsies. Thusly, it is fairly safe to assume that if we did find other multicellular life, those life forms would probably be teeming with unicellular organisms themselves.

And if in addition to a working knowledge of Star Trek and fermented dairy products you also know that a baby giant tortoise has not been seen in the Galapagos isles for over a century because of rats introduced by humans, then either you see where this is going or you need another cup of coffee!

That's right! I'm wondering why none of the aliens ever get irritable bowel syndrome from being visited by humanity!

Sorry, that might have been too much of a leap. Basically, would we even be allowed on another civilization's planet? Smallpox wiped out the Native Americans, could our microbiota not just as easily massacre innocent Martians? Conversely, perhaps the Martians would inadvertently massacre us!

At the same time, one has to recognize that microbes have evolved to inhabit absolutely every single ecological niche in which earthly life can exist. This raises the point that perhaps there would be no niche for a human microbe to invade on planet Vulcan. They're all full!

I regret to say that I don't have enough frequent flyer miles to get to Romulus right now, so I have no empirical evidence to sway you one way or the other. But maybe this is something to think about when we finally do find our way to the stars.

*If you remember the two part episode in The Next Generation where they explain this, let's be friends.

Informal Digression: Part 1: An exploration into your fat cells

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us here on the blog. Julia has been doing a great job of putting the words on the page and getting you to read it. And look at that Knight! He's so Wee, and there isn't even anything around him to show that he's wee. Pretty rad.

So, I must admit that I have been slacking in putting up some/any posts, but all that's about to change! I want to talk to you today about something that everyone encounters, but some people to a larger extent than others. Yup, that's right. I'm talking about adipocytes, your fat cells. Now let's level here and admit that we all have them, no matter how much we diet or exercise or whatever, they're there. And for that we are thankful. Adipocytes are an important part of your life.

This is the life.

In fact, the average adult has about 30,000,000,000 fat cells that add about 30 lbs to your weight! That's pretty impressive.

Wowie!

Fat cells generally come in two different types (well, I've read about a new type, but it seems like a mix of these two). The first type of fat cell is called white adipose tissue. These cells do what you probably think a fat cell would do. They hold a bunch of fat. I mean a LOT of fat. These puppies have such a big ol' ball of fat inside of them that they squeeze the nucleus onto the outskirts of the cell.

The other type of fat cell is called brown adipose tissue. These cells have a look to 'em. Instead of one big lipid droplet (lipid=fat), they have a bunch of smaller ones. They are also home to a whole bunch of mitochondria. The mitochondria contain proteins with iron, which is what gives these cells their brown color. What are all those mitochondria doing there, you ask? They're making heat.

Burn baby burn!

Brown adipose tissue is quite abundant in babies and in hibernators. The brown adipose tissue has all these mitochondria, and these mitochondria produce a lot of this protein called thermogenin. Yeah, that's right. Thermogenin. What a cool name. Let's break it down. Thermo, for heat, and genin, for genesis or generation. Now you probably remember from one of your biology classes that the mitochondria is the energy producer for the cell. The way the mitochondria produces the energy currency of your body, ATP, is by pumping protons (hydrogen atoms without an electron) out across its membrane and then letting these protons come back in through a special port that makes ATP as the protons come through. It's a pretty cool deal. Maybe I should do a blog post on that...

Well what's special about the mitochondria in brown adipose tissue is that they have a lot of thermogenin. This thermogenin is another way for the protons to come back through the membrane, but instead of making ATP, the thermogenin converts that electrochemical potential into heat! That's why babies (and hibernators) don't need to shiver. They instead have little biochemical space heaters. Pretty neat.

The toothpaste conspiracy

Dearest readers, I became aware of a great injustice this evening while shopping at Target.

Clever readers, do not spend $5 on toothpaste. Toothpaste is sand (usually diatomaceous earth, i.e. gook from a hole in the bottom of the sea), fluoride, and minty flavor. That is all toothpaste will ever need to be: fluoridated, minty sandpaper. There will never be any new innovations in the science of tooth scraping. Crest Pro-Health will not make your teeth any whiter than Crest 3D Brightschnazzles, and truly, your teeth should be slightly yellow because that is the natural color of enamel.

Thus I implore you not to be taken in by toothpaste chicanery, and instead buy the cheap stuff.

Unless you really want mint lime zest flavor, then I guess do what you want. Just don't expect it to make you more adventurous.

Killing for Science: Sterilization with Gamma Radiation

As with most of my posts, this story begins with me and my curiosity.

We enjoy back scratches and long walks on the beach. I am so good at Photoshop. Wow. Just wow.

In the depths of the windowless labs that grad students such as myself call home, one will often find a number of things saying, "Sterilized with gamma radiation."

I'm having trouble actually finding one at the moment, so enjoy this blurry picture instead.

Being an eminent scientist of highest regard, I of course know what gamma radiation is. It is the highest energy, shortest wavelength of light (electromagnetic radiation).

Thank you, Victor Blacus of Wikipedia, for this nice image!

But the question remains, and has quietly niggled at the back of my mind, of how one creates such radiation in a controlled manner. In addition, how does one protect oneself from these Death Rays of Death(TM)? To answer these questions, I once again don my Internet armor and brave the wilds of Google!

Pretty much exactly like this.

Gamma radiation is generally produced in commercial settings by cobalt 60, an isotope of cobalt that is artificially created in ATOM SMASHERS (capitals used for dramatic effect). These Death Rays of Death(TM) are incredibly good at penetrating matter (are you thinking something dirty? Stop that. Shame on you), which is why they are great for sterilizing things, particularly things that are already packaged. When they actually do hit something, they whack electrons off of it. Inside of cells, that creates ions and radicals that go on to react with ans destroy everything else. Because the Death Rays are so good at getting through stuff, it takes a lot to keep them off you. You know how, at the dentist, they put that lead vest on you to take a tooth x-ray? Same concept, just a slightly bigger vest. Maybe like a foot thick.

Is that it, I imagine you asking? Well, some stories are short. Plus, I'm on vacation right now, so I'm shocked I actually finished this post before the new year! I wouldn't count on any more for a week or two, unless my co-blogger feels his spirit moved to write. Merry Holidays!



UPDATE: Super cool extra bit of awesome (that I forgot to add before):
According to my microbiology professor in undergrad, ground black pepper is chock-full of wee bits of insect and whatnot, because the producers can just sterilize it post-grinding. I've never actually tried it, but he said that you can see shiny pieces of beetle shell if you look at ground pepper under a microscope. Bon appetit!

Where do animals go in the winter? The tale of the wood frog

I spent the first 18 years of my life in North Carolina, and I can count the number of times it snowed in my hometown (village, really) on one hand. Now that I've moved to Wisconsin, deep in the frigid North, I find myself wondering every year around November where all the little critters go in anticipation of the impending deluge of snowflakes. Birds obviously migrate South, and bears hibernate in cozy holes, but what about squirrels and rabbits?
Optional digression: Earlier this year I met two baby bunnies! There are a ton of rabbits around my apartment complex. One evening I was walking up to the front door when I noticed some movement. Being a nature enthusiast, I stopped immediately because I suspected there might be an interesting critter in the vicinity. Sure enough, two little bunlets (if that's not the term, it should be) and their mama were in the grass right in front of my building. I crouched down to try to look less threatening, and one of the little fellows hopped right up to my foot! He (or she) touched me! I have high hopes for that bunlet and his family.

HE'S SO CUTE

Back to original story! It's entirely possible, I suppose, that other furry creatures also migrate in the harsher months, but what about snakes and frogs and insects? Surely they don't ALL migrate. So, I've been curious for several winters and I finally bothered to do some in-depth research (i.e., I googled it). Because this topic has already been covered by other intrepid bloggers, I've included a bonus look into the life of the wood frog!

It turns out that two of the animals I mentioned before, squirrels and rabbits, actually stay active in the winter and just do their best to find food and keep warm in trees and burrows [1]. Chipmunks, on the other hand, hibernate like bears [2].

Reptiles like snakes will also take shelter in burrows. Fish will move to the bottom of lakes and ponds where the water won't freeze, and turtles and frogs hide out in water bodies too, entering a dormant state and absorbing oxygen from the water through their skin [3].
Some insects, such as the silkworm Bombyx mori, will enter a hibernation-like state called diapause during the winter [4]. Others lay eggs which will hatch in the spring, then die. Still others simply hang out in various hidey-holes (tree bark, fallen logs, dirt). An interesting variation on this theme is the gall. You've probably seen plants that seemed to have warts, like so:

Ewwwwwwww

This is actually a wee insect's home. Bugs like eriophyid mites secrete compounds that bulge out the plant tissues, then live there and munch on the plant throughout the winter like a bunch of degenerates [5].
And then there's the wood frog. Rana sylvatica, much like Geobacter sulfurreducens (I have a blog post on that, too!), just doesn't give a fuck.

Pretty cool background, huh? Even if it's not as cool as Arya. I got it here.

These frogs can survive being frozen in the winter, so when it starts to get nippy they just hunker down under some dead leaves near a woodland pool (gotta be ready to start making babies in the spring) and turn into frog cubes.

Like this. Except, you know, frog.

Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh.

They are able to do this because they accumulate cryoprotectants--antifreeze*, basically--in their blood and tissues to decrease the formation of ice crystals that would rip their cells open. Soooper cool (that was a pun).
I'll leave you with this video of scientists playing with frozen wood frogs because...science?

*Not technically true. Antifreeze prevents freezing, while these compounds minimize the size of ice crystals that form, which reduces the stress on the cells (less stabby stabby = good). They do also prevent freezing to some extent because of freezing point depression, but that does not seem to be their main purpose. There ARE critters that have antifreeze in their blood (some Antarctic fishes come to mind), but those are a topic for another day :)




References:

1. http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/rabbits.html
2. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/chipmunk/
3. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/400-499/nb485.htm
4. Okitsugu Yamashita (1996). Diapause hormone of the silkworm, Bombyx mori: Structure, gene expression and function. Journal of Insect Physiology 42(7):669-679.
5. Robert Wawrzynski, Jeffrey Hahn, and Mark Ascerno (2005). Insect and mite galls. University of Minnesota. http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/insect-and-mite-galls/

Self-medication in animals

Hi there! Did you know that when your dog eats grass, it's probably because it has an upset stomach and is trying to puke/poop out the problem? Apparently other animals do that too! I found this neat article while traversing the interwebs this morning.Give it a read!

News Feature: Animals that self-medicate by Joel Shurkin