Sloths are drowsy tree-dwellers that spend most of their time eating and sleeping in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. These adorable, mysterious creatures melted the hearts of millions way before Kristen Bell lost it on Ellen. I’ve crafted what I believe to be the most comprehensive video list explaining why sloths are the coolest (and cutest) mammals on the planet 🙂 Click away!
Scientific American shared a list of the top 10 most interesting new species discovered last year. The fascinating list was published by the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry on May 21. Explore the new creatures below!
WALKING STICK Measuring at 23 centimeters long—yes, as long as a human forearm—Phyganistria tamdaoensis is a member of the family of “giant stick” insects, the largest insects in the world. The creature’s stick like body makes it a master of camouflage, which helps explain how it eluded discovery in its habitat in Vietnam—until now. Photograph by Jonathan Brecko
CHICKEN FROM HELL Anzu wyliei is a bird like dinosaur that inhabited North American 66 million years ago. Because its relatives are chicken-size and the fossils were discovered at the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota, A. wyliei received the nickname “chicken from hell.” Its genus name, Anzu, derives from the feathered demon “Anzû” of Babylonian mythology. Illustration by Mark A. Klingler
CARTWHEELING SPIDER Meet the arachnid world’s top gymnast. Cebrennus rechenbergi is a hunting spider found in the deserts of Morocco. This spider is the only species to “cartwheel,” which allows it to move two times faster than running when escaping from danger. Its unique movement inspired a biomimetic robot that walks and rolls. Photograph by Ingo Rechenberg, Technical University Berlin
SOLITARY BROMELIAD: Tillandsia religiosa, a solitary flowering plant with rose-colored spikes and flat green leaves, grows in rocky terrain in Morelos, Mexico. T. religiosa has long been known to native people of the region, who incorporated it into nacimientos (altar scenes depicting the birth of Christ) at Christmas. Yet scientists have only recently described it. Photograph by A. Espejo
PHOTOGENIC SEA SLUG: This gastropod, Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum, sports vivid shades of blue, red and gold. Its discovery helped scientists understand the symbiosis that occurs in members of this genus. Algae called zooxanthellae typically exist symbiotically with coral, where they exchange nutrients via cycles of respiration and photosynthesis. In sea slugs a type of tri-species symbiosis occurs when algae residing in a slug’s gut draw nutrients from coral its host consumes, in turn furnishing the slug with the nutrient products of photosynthesis. Photograph by Robert Bolland
WHITE-SPOTTED PUFFERFISH: In 1995 scientists described an underwater phenomenon akin to crop circles on the sea floor off the coast of Japan’s Amami-Oshima Island. Marine exploration led to the discovery that these large geometric designs are actually the nests of a pufferfish known as Torquigener albomaculosus. The fact the culprits who made them eluded scientists for 10 years earned T. albomaculosus a place on the list. Male pufferfish build these intricate nests by wriggling around in the sand on the ocean floor. The nests are intended to attract females and designed to minimize ocean current at the center of the nest to protect the eggs. Photograph by Yoji Okata
THE X-PHYLA: Residing on the sea floor off the coast of Australia, Dendrogramma enigmatica is notable for its tiny size and mushroomlike shape. It resembles members of the phyla Cnidaria (jellyfish, corals, sea anemones and hydras) and Ctenophora (comb jellies) but lacks key evolutionary traits of both. Consequently, scientists have proposed that D. enigmatica might be a member of its own new phylum. Photograph by Jørgen Oleson
BONE-HOUSE WASP: A wasp found in the Gutianshan National Nature Reserve in eastern China, Deuteragenia ossarium has gained notoriety for its morbid nesting habits. It builds its nests in hollow plant stems made of cells separated by soil walls, with each cell hosting an individual egg. To prepare the nest, it kills and deposits a spider in a cell as food for the larva when it hatches, lays an egg in that cell, then repeats the process for each consecutive cell. The wasp fills the last cell with up to 13 dead ants, which serve as a chemical barrier to the nest by camouflaging it with the odor of decay. Photograph by Merten Ehmig
INDONESIAN FROG: Limnonectes larvaepartus is a small fanged frog found in forests on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is unique in that the female’s eggs are fertilized internally and she gives birth to live tadpoles. Of the 6,455 known species of frogs, fewer than a dozen undergo internal fertilization. And apart from this new species, all frogs either lay eggs or give birth to froglets. Photograph by Jimmy A. McGuire
CORAL PLANT: Found only on the southwestern slopes of Mount Mignan in the Philippines, Balanophora coralliformis is an endangered plant that parasitizes the roots of other plants. Its rough, elongated, repeatedly branching, aboveground tubers set it apart from other species of its kind. Photograph by P.B. Pelser & J.F. Barcelona
National Geographic Japan shared this amazing time-lapse video of a bee being born. I love when science videos get over 1,653,803 views on YouTube 🙂 Click here for more information about a bee’s life cycle!
Over the course of 21 days, you can watch this bee egg hatch into a larva – the larva swims in its cell, feeding on liquid food from the queen bee – the legs and head evolve as it develops into a pupa – the tissue reorganizes in its body and the eyes form – then, the skin shrivels and it sprouts hair. BOOM. Bee time.
This video is the work of biologist turned photographer, Anand Varma.
Beauty giant L’Oreal USA has announced a partnership with 3-D bioprinting company Organovo to develop 3-D printed skin tissue for product testing and other areas of advanced research.
L’Oreal is no stranger to the field of skin engineering. The company has spent decades exploring skin culture technologies that could take them away from forms of animal testing.
L’Oreal has roughly 60 scientists working on site, at a lab in Lyon, France, growing more than 100,000 skin samples annually. According to Bloomberg – In a year, their efforts produce a cowhide worth of human skin samples. The process yields nine different types of human skin samples, representing different ages and ethnicities, that can be used to test various products.
For this partnership, L’Oreal will provide skin expertise and all the initial funding, while Organovo, which is already working with such companies as Merck to print liver and kidney tissues, will provide the technology – with the hopes of automating the process.
What is the end game?
L’Oreal wins exclusive rights to the 3D printed skin developed with Organovo for uses related to non-prescription skin care products.
Organovo will retain rights to the tissue models for efficacy testing of prescription drugs, toxicity tests, and the development and testing of therapeutic or surgically transplanted tissues.
The end of animal testing?
The beauty industry has famously been at war with animal rights activists protesting the use of animals – with watchdogs like PETA creating lists of companies that are either ‘cruelty-free’ or ‘still testing’ on animals.
In 2013, the European Union banned the import and sale of cosmetics containing ingredients tested on animals. L’Oreal, which is based in France, was one of the first beauty companies to respond. L’Oreal said it would respect the ban and “no longer sell in Europe any finished product with an ingredient that was tested on animals.”
L’Oreal’s current stance on animal testing as posted on their website: The Group no longer tests on animal, anywhere in the world, and does not delegate this task to others.
3-D printed skin tissue will not only protect animals from unnecessary product testing, it will also greatly impact the fields of medicine and cosmetic surgery.
What does L’Oreal have to say about the new partnership?
Guive Balooch -VP of L’Oreal’s global Technology Incubator- said the potential for this new field of technology is ‘boundless.’
Balooch told The Washington Post, “Some of the biggest potential advantages are the speed of production as well as the level of precision that 3-D printing can achieve… L’Oreal’s focus right now is not to increase the quantity of skin we produce but instead to continue to build on the accuracy and consistent replication of the skin engineering process.”
Organovo Holdings, Inc & Bioprinting
Organovo is one of the first companies to offer commercially available 3D-printed human organs. This deal with L’Oreal is their first foray into cosmetics.
Last year they launched their first product, the exVive3D human liver, for use in toxicology and other preclinical drug testing. They struck a deal with Merck & Co. last month to use this liver system for testing as a supplement to in vitro and animal testing.
Click below to watch Organovo’s video explaining the bioprinting process
Astonomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered surprising new information regarding a massive, one-of-a-kind star, whose behavior has never been seen before in our Milky Way galaxy. The star’s new nickname, ‘Nasty 1,’ is a play on its official catalog name, ‘NaSt1’ – because the rapidly aging star is just that weird.
The star’s catalogue name, NaSt1, is derived from the first two letters of each of the two astronomers who discovered it in 1963, Jason Nassau and Charles Stephenson. Credits: NASA/HubbleImage: Hubble Site
Nasty 1 was originally identified as a Wolf-Rayet star when it was first discovered several decades ago. Wolf-Rayet stars are incredibly hot, massive stars (20x larger than our sun) with a high rate of mass loss – some believe they represent a final burst of activity before a huge star begins to die.
The thing is, Nasty 1 doesn’t look like your usual Word-Rayet star. Astronomers expected to see twin lobes of gas flowing from opposite sides of the star. Instead, they saw a pancake shaped disc of gas encircling the star that is nearly 2 trillion miles wide! This disc could be the result of a binary interaction – which there are very few examples of in the galaxy because this phase is so short-lived.
The Team’s Scenario:A massive star evolves very quickly, and as it begins to run out of hydrogen, it swells up. Its outer hydrogen envelope becomes more loosely bound and vulnerable to gravitational stripping, or a type of stellar cannibalism, by a nearby companion star. In that process, the more compact companion star winds up gaining mass, and the original massive star loses its hydrogen envelope, exposing its helium core to become a Wolf-Rayet star.
But the mass transfer process in mammoth binary systems isn’t always efficient. Some of the stripped matter can spill out during the gravitational tussle between the stars, creating a disk around the binary.
“That’s what we think is happening in Nasty 1,” Mauerhan said. “We think there is a Wolf-Rayet star buried inside the nebula, and we think the nebula is being created by this mass-transfer process. So this type of sloppy stellar cannibalism actually makes Nasty 1 a rather fitting nickname… what evolutionary path the star will take is uncertain, but it will definitely not be boring”
The team’s results will appear May 21 in the online edition of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
It looks and feels human. It’s even made of salt, water, and fiber – just like you and me. But, this incredible replica of the human body isn’t human; it’s SynDaver Lab’s synthetic human patient.
Human cadavers can cost up to $10,000, and that doesn’t take into account transportation and disposal fees, as well as the need for specialized storage facilities and trained staff. Plus, you can only use them once! The SynDaver ultra-realistic human is meant to be educational and reusable.
According to their official website, The SynDaver Synthetic Human is ‘the most elaborate and sophisticated full-body surgical simulator ever devised. An exquisite 3D jigsaw puzzle; every muscle, bone, vascular component and organ is removable and replaceable.’
This synthetic human can be used in the medical industry to replace live animals, human cadavers, and even human patients – mainly for trauma training, sugerical training, and medical device development.
‘It is obviously good not only for ethical reasons, but also because avoiding animal use saves a great deal of time and money,’ said SynDaver Labs founder Dr Sakezles. ‘So, I started designing synthetic organs to test devices and over time they became very elaborate.’
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How much does all of this cost?
The SynDaver Anatomy “base model,” which has all of the organs, muscles and bones a human cadaver has, sells for $25,000 and is used worldwide at hospitals with simulators and at universities and community colleges teaching anatomy.
The SynDaver Patient is the newest addition to the SynDaver Synthetic Human (SSH) product line. In addition to all of the existing features that have made the Synthetic Human world-famous, the SynDaver Patient also includes an open-source physiology engine that controls body motions and all aspects of synthetic biology.
The SynDaver Patient can be used for practicing ultrasound, fluoroscopy, X-ray and CT imaging, along with surgical procedures involving tools such as lasers, plasma knives and sonic blades. According to GizMag, it’s available now, for $85,000.
Later this year, the company should be releasing a Basic version of its existing Synthetic Human – the latter model not only features full human anatomy, but also functioning circulatory and respiratory systems – along with Preemie and Newborn models. All three should be priced at about $15,000.
Even the ‘Product Description’ on the website gave me chills!
Product Description
SynDaver synthetic tissues have been validated over the last two decade to simulate the mechanical and physico-chemical properties of live tissue. With this technology, our products have created an entirely new field known as live tissue replacement. The SSH is capable of standing in for a human cadaver in medical procedure training but unlike a cadaver, the SSH can last forever.
Features
The model pumps heated synthetic blood (pulsed flow away from the heart and drainage toward the heart) and can be used to simulate procedures with ventilation, insufflation and intubation.
Anatomical attributes include:
Skin with fat and fascia planes (Optional)
Every bone, muscle, tendon and ligament
Fully articulating joints
Functioning respiratory system
Complete digestive and urinary tracts
Visceral and reproductive organs
Circulatory system
Muscles, bones, organs and vasculature are all removable and replaceable to allow onsite servicing and upgrades.
Customization
A variety of pathologies and injuries are available based on patient images, CAD drawings or simple descriptions. Client may also select gender and skin tone.
Included Services
Onsite installation and training, one full year of anatomy and tissue upgrades and a three-year warranty. Annual service contracts covering every aspect of the body are also available.
Imaging Equipment
Compatible with all known imaging techniques including MRI, CT, fluoroscopy and ultrasound.
Surgical Equipment
System is compatible with all known surgical devices including lasers, RF ablation, plasma knives, sonic blades and cryocatheters as well as bipolar, monopolar and harmonic devices.
System Components
Full body with storage and display container, stainless-steel table, deluxe battery-powered heart pump and all required plumbing. The model may be skinless or covered with either the standard SynDaver synthetic human skin (pure wet chemistry) or our new organosilicate-synthetic human hybrid skin (polymer outer – wet inner).
Shark Tank Let Down
SynDaver Labs was awarded a $3 million dollar deal on ABC’s Shark Tank, but unfortunately the deal fell through.
Dr. Christopher Sakezles accepted the deal last week from investor Robert Herjavec in an episode of the hit show. The agreement would have given Herjavec 25 percent equity and equal board representation.
Erin McLean, vice president of marketing for the Herjavec Group, said she could not comment on a deal that hadn’t closed. “We were not able to progress through our due diligence process,” she said, “but we wish them well.”
Dr. Sakezles views this not as a setback, but as an opportunity. “With the exposure that we’ve recently received, we’re looking at much more lucrative opportunities with other investors,” he said.
Click below to see the full video of SynDaver Labs on Shark Tank.
There is a reason this video of a chameleon hatching – posted in 2008 – has over 1,715,098 views. I could do without the epic music, but overall this video is absolutely captivating; it starts changing colors within minutes. You can watch its tiny two-toed zygodactylous feet and independently mobile eyes experience the world for the first time. Click below to watch the incredible footage!
Chameleon Reproduction
Most chameleon species lay eggs (oviparous), while a few give birth to live young (ovoviviparous).
The oviparous species lay eggs three to six weeks after mating takes place. The female will dig a hole in the ground and deposit her eggs, covering them with dirt, keeping them warm and safe. The mom then leaves the eggs to hatch and fend for themselves – which can take anywhere from 4-12 months, even longer for some species. Chameleon babies are independent at birth and must find their own food and shelter.
A batch of chameleon eggs is referred to as a ‘clutch.’ Clutch sizes vary greatly depending on the species. Click here to view an African Flapneck chameleon burrow her eggs and wait for the babies to hatch and catch their first snack!
The ovoviviparous species, like Jackson’s chameleons, have a five to seven-month gestation period. Each young chameleon is born within the sticky transparent membrane of its yolk sac. Once the membrane bursts, newly hatched chameleon babies free themselves and climb away for their first feeding.
NASA’s latest proposal looks like a sci-fi film in the making. The project calls for the use of a soft-robotic rover that resembles a squid -tentacles included- for missions that can’t be accomplished with conventional power systems.
The ‘robosquid’ looks like an eel with a short antenna on its back. The antenna harvests power from locally changing magnetic fields. Ideally, NASA would like to enable amphibious exploration (both land and sea) of gas-giant moons like Europa!
This artist’s rendering depicts 2015 NIAC Phase I Fellow Mason Peck’s soft-robotic rover for planetary environments for missions that cannot be accomplished with conventional power systems. It resembles a squid, with tentacle-like structures that serve as electrodynamic ‘power scavengers’ to harvest power from locally changing magnetic fields. The goal is to enable amphibious exploration of gas-giant moons like Europa. Credits: NASA/Cornell University/NSF
Side Note: If they made Sharknado they can make Robosquid. I grew up loving movies like Anaconda, Congo, and Sphere. I’m picturing the same vibe, starring Nathan Fillion, Jon Bernthal, Ludacris, and Kate Upton. Hey J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon – Think about it! 😉
Image: KrystianScience
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
The ‘robosquid’ is just one of 15 proposals selected by NASA for study under Phase I of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), a program that aims to turn science fiction into science fact through the development of pioneering technologies.
“The latest NIAC selections include a number of exciting concepts,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are working with American innovators to reimagine the future of aerospace and focus our investments on concepts to address challenges of current interests both in space and here on Earth.”
NASA hopes the knowledge gained from these proposed studies will bring it closer to its goal of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, and missions to asteroids and Mars.
The projects are chosen through a peer-review process that evaluates their potential, technical approach and benefits that can be realized in a reasonable timeframe. All concepts are very early in the development cycle and represent multiple technology areas, including aircraft propulsion, human life support, science instruments, unique robotic concepts and exploring other diverse technology paths needed to meet NASA’s strategic goals.
NIAC Phase I awards are valued at approximately $100,000, providing awardees the funding needed to conduct a nine-month initial definition and analysis study of their concepts.
The World Health Organization is so fed up with us giving infections, syndromes, and various diseases catchy nicknames, that they have made an official request.
Not Acceptable: Swine Flu, Monkey Pox, Mad Cow Disease, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, Bird Flu, West Nile Virus, Lou Gehrig’s disease, etc.
8 MAY 2015 | GENEVA – WHO called on scientists, national authorities and the media to follow best practices in naming new human infectious diseases to minimize unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people.
The concern is that diseases are often given common names by people who work outside of the scientific community, and once these names are established on the Internet and in print, they are very hard to change. So, WHO argues that it is important that whoever FIRST reports on a newly identified human disease uses a ‘scientifically sound’ and ‘socially acceptable’ name.
“In recent years, several new human infectious diseases have emerged. The use of names such as ‘swine flu’ and ‘Middle East Respiratory Syndrome’ has had unintended negative impacts by stigmatizing certain communities or economic sectors,” says Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General for Health Security, WHO.
Dr Fukuda went on to explain that, while this may sound trivial to some people, disease names can have serious consequences for those directly affected. We have experienced certain backlash against members of religious or ethnic communities, and witnessed unjustified barriers to travel, commerce, and trade. Worst of all, some of these names have triggered the needless slaughter of food animals 😦
If you need an example of how WHO thinks new human diseases should be handled you can look to the Swine flu epidemic in 2009, which WHO asked we call A(H1N1)pdm09.
So, what does WHO consider to be ‘inappropriate’?
Terms that should be avoided in disease names include geographic locations (e.g. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Spanish Flu, Rift Valley fever), people’s names (e.g. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Chagas disease), species of animal or food (e.g. swine flu, bird flu, monkey pox), cultural, population, industry or occupational references (e.g. legionnaires), and terms that incite undue fear (e.g. unknown, fatal, epidemic).
Interesting Fact: The final name of any new human disease is assigned by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is managed by WHO. Doctors, nurses, researchers, coders, policymakers, insurers, and patient organizations around the world use the ICD to classify diseases in a standardized way.
As a member of the media, and a lover of the science/tech/health community, I see both sides of this issue. But, I don’t see this plea having much of an impact on publications that push eye-catching, SEO driven, headlines. That being said, I will try to use WHO approved disease names moving forward! 😉
I have to admit, I’m a bit terrified of deep sea creatures. I mean, 95% of the ocean floor remains unexplored. That is A LOT of room for giant squid to roam. Lucky for me, NOAA decided to explore the waters off of Puerto Rico in search of the deep sea life that haunts my dreams.
From April 9 to April 30, 2015, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer explored largely uncharted deep-sea ecosystems and seafloor in the vicinity of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. What they found – using state of the art technology – will amaze you!
Quartz posted this incredible video to their Facebook page, using footage gathered from NOAA. Some of these creatures are so new – they don’t even have names.
Océano Profundo 2015
Legs 1 and 2 of the mission focused on mapping the seafloor where primarily only low-resolution satellite or topographic data existed previously. Leg 3 of the expedition featured some of the deepest remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives ever conducted in the region and collected critical deep-water environmental data that will improve ecosystem understanding and inform federal and local resource managers.
Why Puerto Rico?
According to NOAA, a diversity of seafloor features lie just offshore Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that include trenches, seamounts, numerous submarine canyons, valleys, and troughs. These features likely contain valuable and vulnerable ocean resources, but very little is known about them, making this an important area to survey.
It is crucial to explore this area for several reasons:
It is tectonically active, with seismic hazards
It includes a large section of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone
One of the major fisheries in the area is deepwater snapper, but little is known about snapper populations there
It is of potential interest for marine protected area managers, those creating ocean usage planning maps, and sanctuary managers
Mission map showing the operating areas, with priority areas outlined in black, for Leg 3 of Océano Profundo 2015: Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs. Map created with ESRI ArcMap software and data displayed is provided by ESRI, Delorme, GEBCO, USGS, NOAA NGDC, and other contributors. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.
Communication Technology
NOAA did a fantastic job of documenting their journey, allowing scientists and the public access to mission logs, daily reports, photos, video, and live underwater video feeds.
During the dives, Okeanos Explorer’s two-body ROV system continuously captured high-definition video, which the ship transmitted to the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research’s website, www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov, where anyone could follow along in near-real time!
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer uses telepresence technology to transmit data in real-time to a shore-based hub where the video is then transmitted to a number of Exploration Command Centers located around the country as well as to any internet enabled device. Access to the video and a suite of Internet-based collaboration tools allow scientists on shore to join the operation in real-time and allows the general public to follow along with the expedition. Image courtesy of the NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program.
Okeanos Explorer
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, “America’s Ship for Ocean Exploration,” is the only federally funded U.S. ship assigned to systematically explore our largely unknown ocean for the purpose of discovery and the advancement of knowledge. Telepresence, using real-time broadband satellite communications, connects the ship and its discoveries live with audiences ashore. Visit the NOAA Marine Operations Center Okeanos Explorer page for operations and crew information 🙂
Sloths are drowsy tree-dwellers that spend most of their time eating and sleeping in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. These adorable, mysterious creatures melted the hearts of millions way before Kristen Bell lost it on Ellen. I’ve crafted what I believe to be the most comprehensive video list explaining why sloths are the coolest (and cutest) mammals on the planet 🙂 Click away!
National Geographic Japan shared this amazing time-lapse video of a bee being born. I love when science videos get over 1,653,803 views on YouTube 🙂 
Astonomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered surprising new information regarding a massive, one-of-a-kind star, whose behavior has never been seen before in our Milky Way galaxy. The star’s new nickname, ‘
There is a reason this video of a chameleon hatching – posted in 2008 – has over 1,715,098 views. I could do without the epic music, but overall this video is absolutely captivating; it starts changing colors within minutes. You can watch its tiny two-toed 
Most chameleon species lay eggs (oviparous), while a few give birth to live young (ovoviviparous).
Krystian Science 