Animals & Insects

May

2010

Mice Show Pain on Their Faces Just Like Humans

WIRED Science blog, May 10th, 2010.

Mice in pain have facial expressions that are very similar to human facial expressions, according to scientists who have developed the “mouse grimace scale.” The pain expressions of mice could help researchers gauge the effectiveness of new drugs.

People have been using similar facial-expression coding systems in babies and other humans who are unable to verbally express their pain. “No one has every looked for facial expression of pain in anything other than humans,” said Jeffery Mogil of McGill University, co-author of the study published on May 9 in Nature Methods. Read More >

Apr

2010

Sea Creatures Travel Far to Colonize After Volcanic Eruptions

WIRED Science blog, April 22, 2010.

When volcanic eruptions wipe out life at hydrothermal vents, some of the new species that set up camp afterward may come from as far as 200 miles away.

“We don’t understand how they get from one vent to another,” said biological oceanographer Lauren Mullineaux of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. “But because we now see that they can move these long distances, it expands the scale of connectedness between different vents.” Read More >

Apr

2010

Bats, Birds and Lizards Can Fight Climate Change

WIRED Science blog, April 9th, 2010.

BIRDS, BATS AND lizards may play an important role in Earth’s climate by protecting plants from insects that forage on foliage. A new study suggests that preserving these animals could be a low-tech way to fight climate change.

“The presence, abundance and diversity of birds, bats and lizards, the top predators in the insect world, has impacts on the growth of plants,” said ecologist Daniel Gruner of the University of Maryland, co-author of the paper published April 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “If you don’t have plants, you don’t have organisms that are recapturing carbon.” Read More >

Feb

2010

Learn more about sharks and their relatives during “Shark Days” at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 17, 2010.

MONTEREY — “Shark Days” at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Saturday and Sunday aims to set your brain swimming with shark facts.

The celebration will include activities, videos and presentations about the aquarium”s seven sharks and their relatives, the rays and skates.

“We are hoping people will learn more about sharks, get closer to them and be inspired to want to help and conserve them,” said Jenny Slafkosky, an aquarium spokeswoman. Read more >