The Beautiful Life of the Leopard Slug

The Leopard slug has migrated to North America from Europe and much to the dismay of gardeners and squeamish 5 year olds they can be found anywhere from underneath boards and rocks to inside flower pots. The Leopard slug is unusually slimy with an overall tawny brown, a light "sole" and attractively spotted and streaked with dark brown. It is as beautiful as a common garden pest could possibly be.

The Leopard slug is claimed to have an unusually wild sex life. The slugs do not have distinct genders and are hermaphrodites, meaning, more likely than not both will leave the sex encounter pregnant. They will then find a dark, damp spot and deposit about 200 large. clear eggs.

What is interesting about Leopard slug mating is one member of the pair will overhang on a ledge or branch on a long bungee made of their own slime. The pair will intertwine hanging on the mucus and exchange their spermatophores. Fortunately, this ritual is performed exclusively after dark.

Slugs are gastropods and are distantly related to squids, oysters and snails. Did you know Leopard slugs do have a shell? It is hidden each one's mantle and looks like a small fold of skin or a fingernail, but is in fact a vestigial shell. If you stumble upon a Leopard slug on the streets of New York City are brave enough to squeeze it gently, you can feel the evolutionary evidence for yourself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/nyregion/the-double-life-of-the-slimy-acrobatic-leopard-slug.html?_r=0

http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/terrestrial.html?/gastropoda/terrestrial/limax.html

Rare Whale Discovered in Pacific

Scientists have discovered a rare new whale species within the waters stretching from Japan to Aleutian islands in Alaska. The new discovery shows just how much of the ocean is still yet to be explored and studied by humans. The new species which has not yet be named is approximately twenty four feet long as an adult. It has a slight different head shape and location of its dorsal fin as a Baird whale or the Arnoux beaked whale which are all in the genus and closely related. 

The new found whale has not been seen or found alive. All of the specimens have either washed ashore or been caught by Japanese fishermen. Further research needs to be done to find a common ancestor between the rare whale and the Arnoux beaked whale. Now that the whale has been discovered scientist can work together to protect it.

Even More Related to Orangutan's Than We Thought

In a new study conducted by researchers at the Indianapolis Zoo, the exact pitch and tone of human sounds were observed in the mimicry of an Orangutan. The research team on this study say that this discovery gives us incredible insight into the "evolutionary origin of human speech". It was commonly thought that speech originated in humans but with this new discovery, it may just be our great ape ancestors that originated speech patterns.

Rocky the Orangutan who was able to mimic human vocal patterns 

Its believed that rocky picked up on this ability during his time spent in entertainment. (follow this link to see Rocky with fergie.)The researchers observed that Rocky's noises are proof that great pass have the ability and brain capacity to control their muscles in order to create sounds in a somewhat conversational manner.

Crazy to think we share 97% of DNA with these creatures and yet no one has ever documented such a close relationship to human speech patterns and Orangutan mimicry!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/science/rocky-the-orangutan-mimic-sounds.html?action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0 

Ancient air bubbles and Earth's Oxygen levels

Researchers have discovered ancient air bubbles trapped in inclusions found with rock salt. The chemical makeup of the air bubbles revealed that Earth's atmosphere was made up of roughly 11% oxygen 815 million years ago. This discovery puts an oxygenated atmosphere 200 million years ahead of when animals first began to appear. Scientist had previously thought oxygen didn't reach such high levels until approximately 600 million years ago at a similar time as when animals began to emerge. The new finding also puts the evolution of animals into question. There is now the question of whether or not the high oxygen levels had excelled the evolution of animals. Some scientists and universities are already disputing the evidence found claiming there must have a form of outside contamination within the samples.

Paleo Gut Used To Study Evolutionary History

Biologists have began to study gut bacteria in order to study the evolutionary history of mammals. This was done in hopes of following gut bacteria all the way back to the to carnivorous creatures 100 million years ago. Gut bacteria is considered microbes, and they have been found to be co-evolving with humans for a long time. They have been found to train our immune systems to fight pathogens and guide development of intestines. Andrew Moeller, a Fellow in UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, decided to study feces of different species. Moeller and a couple colleagues obtained feces from gorrillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and people. Then they isolated and amplified the DNA of bacteria in order to study it. They found three families of bacteria that composed about 20% of the human gut. The bacteria found are Bacteroidaceae, Bifidobacteriaceae, and Lachnospiraceae. Lachnospiraceae was found to be transferred between host species due to their ability to grow spores and survive outside of a host. Bacteroidaceae and Bifodobacteriaceae were found in both the apes and humans, with more diversity in the ape species. 
Their study concluded: 

"Once we calibrated the molecular clock, we were able to date the split of human and chimp bacteria at around 5.3 million years ago, and the human-gorilla gut bacteria split at around 15.6 million years ago, which are roughly in line with what we know from fossil and genomic data of the hosts," Moeller said. "It is one more line of evidence that gut bacteria have cospeciated with humans."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649005/

The Call of the Sea: Mammalian Evolutionary transitions back to the sea

According to a new study by Maria Chikina and Nathan Clark evidence has shown that during main evolutionary events land animals made their way back into the sea. One of these marine animals is the modern day mannatee. The call for these creatures to go back to the sea stemmed from certain genes that had evolved charactistics that preferred a marine environment. The evolved genes had led to new functions for skin and connective tissue formation as well as a diminished sense of taste and smell. The study also found the specific genes responsible for such function. A gene coding for a lung surface protein evolved to increase lung capacity and diving depths.  These land creatures that went back to the sea evolved and adapted to their environment efficiently and quickly.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160622164320.htm
http://www.manatee-world.com/manatee-evolution/

Are Kangaroos Left-Handed?

The kangaroo, a marsupial species, is thought to exhibit left handed favorability. Researchers in Australia have studied two bipedal species of kangaroos and one bipedal species of a wallaby. The study showed that the two kangaroo species favor their left hand in all activities, whereas the wallaby favors the left hand in activities such as feeding. However, quadruped marsupials are known to have relatively weak forearms and do not exhibit hand favorability.

Red Kangaroo in Australia 

This new information is strange because true 'handedness' was thought to have evolved from primates and eventually humans. This shows that there is a connection in the evolution of the kangaroo and other handedness species. Although, most handedness mammals are right handed, rather than left handed. I found this study interesting because it shows more information on the kangaroo and their behavior. I always thought they were a strange species, because of their habits and characteristics. This new insight adds to my previous perspective of the strange, but unique species.

The Importance of the Polar Bear's Y Chromosome

The well-known polar bear is one species that is particularly difficult to study it's evolution. This is due to the environment they live in and how it is hard to find their remains. Because of this, scientists have been studying their genes to fully understand their development. The Y chromosome has been studied extensively because of its ability to provide insights of genetic history. Using the Y chromosome gives access to unique information because it is only passed on to males. Their research concluded that there are two different male polar bear lineages across the world. This suggests that polar bears have roamed for many years and distributed their genetic information along the way. I found this article interesting because of how scientists found information on a species, despite the level of difficulty. Also, from this finding, the area of further investigation of polar bear development is endless.

The polar bear's genetic information is being used to study the development of the species.

Lungfish evidence to "evolution"

This article was about the African Lungfish. This creature with thin arms and an eel like body would seem to be an example of the evolutionary track. This creature uses its arms to do walking like movements. The recent study done at the University of Chicago revealed that the African lungfish can use its thin pelvic limbs to not only lift its body off the bottom surface but also propel itself forward. Both abilities were previously thought to originate in early tetrapods, the limbed original land-dwellers. Lungfish also demonstrated both "bounding" motions, where both limbs moved at once, and "walking," marked by alternating limbs. Coupled with the ability of the lungfish to fully rotate the limb and place each subsequent footfall in front of the joint, the motion suggests that similar creatures would have been capable of producing some of the fossil tracks credited to tetrapods. This article was found at:http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/12/12/a.small.step.lungfish.a.big.step.evolution.walking

The Spider Mite

This article talks about how a group of international scientists were able to decipher the genome of the spider mite. The spider mite is also the first known genome of an arachnid. This helps bring new light to the evolution of arthropods and to help stop the destruction the spider mite causes. The spider mite feeds on crops and plant juices. The spider mite likes over 1100 different plant species including tomato, strawberry, peppers, cucumbers, and corn. They bite into the leaves of the plants and completely suck them dry. Spider mite bites are usually spotted because they leave a yellow spot behind. The tricky part about these spider mites is that they are not affected by many types of pesticides. They also produce silk which they then wrap around the plant or its leaves. Hopefully now that they were able to figure out the genome of the spider mite they can create a pesticide to stop them. We may be able to use their silk for material in the future as well.

They call it Guppy Love

In the article “They call it guppy love” UCLA scientists discovered an evolution mystery. The male guppy has consistently changed color for over a half a million years but one thing always stayed constant an orange patch. It slightly changed being redder or more yellow at times but it was always consistent. These scientists discovered that it is because that’s what the female guppies
like. The males have evolved over and over again because that is what the ladies like. The orange patches are made up of two things, carotenoids, which are digested, and drosopterins which are produced. They discovered that the males with the middle color orange. Not to yellow and not to red. The females chose the males with intermediate amounts of drosopterins by a significant margin. Males with the right color orange typically produce more offspring because the
females are more attracted to them.

Alien Planet

Scientist say, as of December 5, 2011 an alien planet could host new life. Discovery News posted an article online showing the new planet's region. Scientist have named the planetKepler-22b, has been found in the "habitable zone" , where water could exist. The planet is the smallest to be found past our orbit system, but could be 2.4 times the size of earth. Scientists are still doing research to figure out if this planet can withstain life. Kepler-22b is just one of ten planets that resembles earth. To think new life can consist on a new planet, is something I dont think any one can imagine, but to see that it could be a possibilty is showing how far our technology has grown.

http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-planet-found-in-habitable-zone-111205.html

Acquired Traits Can Be Inherited Via small RNA's

I found this article to be extremely interesting because of the research saying that there was evidence that an acquired trait could actually be inherited without any involvement of DNA. A theory was developed a while back by Jean Baptiste LarMarck. It was suggested in this theory that species wouldn't evolve until they have adapted to their environments and transmit and give these newly acquired traits to their offspring. An example that supports LarMarck's theory is during the famine mothers who were starving and gave birth during that time had children who were more susceptible to obesity and other metabolic disorders. It's really interesting to see how exactly it all works and how species can adapt the way they do and the acquired traits they do have they can pass down is amazing. To learn more about RNA click here.

Lazy for a Reason

An article on MSNBC.com explains the reason why sloths are the way they are. Sloths move through trees in a similar fashion to monkeys. The only difference is the slothful way sloths move about. Researchers at the University of Jena studied two-toed sloths using X-ray video. They studied how the muscles and joints moved while the sloths traveled. They found that the sloths moved basically like other mammals, like monkeys do. The way they position their legs and the movement of their joints are exactly the same as how a mammal moves, except upside down.

John Nyakatura, an evolutionary biologist at the university, revealed that the sloths have reason to be lazy. Through evolution, sloths ended up with long arms and short shoulder blades, enabling them to have a large reach with minimal movement. This provides them the luxury of conserving energy while moving the same way as other mammals.

This article was interesting because it shows the different adaptations an animal will make in order to better their survival. Martin Fischer, a professor at the University of Jena simply put, "Sloths lead their lives in energy-saving mode." We could definitely learn a thing or two from these sloths. Maybe we can find a way to use our laziness as an advantage!

PHOTO: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/007/cache/two-toed-sloth_744_600x450.jpg

Jawless Fish Demise Still A Mystery

According to the New York Times, jawless fish may have died off for reasons other than not being efficient predators. Jaws first appeared on fish around 420 million years ago. Prior to this, fish sucked their prey through their mouths. Today, however, only two types of jawless fish remain, lampreys and hagfish. A study that was performed shows that jawless fish coexisted with jawed fish for 10 to 20 million years. This lead them to question whether competition was the downfall of jawless fish. Dr. Philip Anderson, an evolutionary paleobiologist at the University of Bristol in England, studies fossils to research jaws. He found that 10 million years after the first jawed fish appeared, there were a variety of distinct jaws. Slender jaws for capturing, and thick and robust jaws for power appeared amongst others. A study suggests that perhaps jawless fish utilized different resources to survive longer. Although, no definitive answer is known right now, the scientists firmly believe that competition with jawed fish is not the key reason for their demise.

Chewing Evolution

An article in Science Daily described the research ongoing at Brown University concerning the evolution of the tongue in different organisms. Every organism has their own way of getting the nutrition they need in order to survive. Specifically, fish, mammals, and amphibians were used in their research. They all used their tongue for the process of digestion, but in different ways.

Research at Brown University found that fish use their tongue in order to thrust food backwards further into their system. On the other hand, mammals use their tongue for better placement of food in the mouth to chew.

The researchers were curious as to where the split in evolution took place between the two types of tongue movements. Amphibians seemed to be the answer because of their tongue characteristics which Brown University plans to further research.

Box Jellyfish Have Eyes, Allowing it to See the World Above

According to an article published on April 28, 2011 in Current Biology, box jellyfish may be more complex than what meets the eye. Though it is well known that the jellyfish is a much simpler organism in comparison to a human, box jellyfish have no fewer than 24 eyes of four different kinds. Four of these eyes, called the upper lens eyes, always peer up out of the water, regardless of how the rest of the organism is oriented. Since box jellies live in mangrove swamps, it was hypothesized that the upper lens eyes help navigate the jellyfish around their environment. Anders Garm of the University of Copenhagen said, "It is a surprise that a jellyfish - an animal normally considered to be lacking both brain and advanced behavior - is able to perform visually guided navigation, which is not a trivial behavioral task. This shows that the behavioral abilities of simple animals, like jellyfish, may be underestimated." Scientists have known that box jellies have a unique array of eyes, which help the animal respond to light, avoid obstacles, and control their rate of swimming. When studied, the researchers noticed that the jellyfish used their upper lens eyes to navigate their way by means of looking at the canopy of mangrove trees. When the canopy was obscured from their vision, the box jellies could no longer get around and did not move. Garm says, "Instead of having a single pair of general-purpose eyes like most other animals, box jellyfish have several different types of eyes used for special purposes. This means that each individual eye type is dedicated to support only a limited number of behaviors. The eyes can then be built to collect precisely the information needed, minimizing the need for further processing in a big brain. The automatic orientation of the upper lens eyes to constantly look through the water surface is a clear example of this."

I thought this article was really interesting because I, like I'm sure most people do, assumed that jellyfish were stupid creatures that cannot do anything complex because of their simplicity. Also, I thought it was REALLY cool that they have so many different types of eyes, each with its own special purpose. It makes sense why each type of eye has only a certain number of functions, though, as Garm said. It cuts down on the jellyfish's necessity to process that information through the brain. So that explains why jellyfish have such a small brain and can still perform complex behavioral tasks, like navigating through a mangrove swamp. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to navigate myself through a mangrove swamp, and I'm much more complex than a jellyfish! Props to the box jellies. =]

Selaginella genome adds piece to plant evolutionary puzzle

A Purdue University-led sequencing of the Selaginella moellendorffii(spikemoss) genome - the first for a non-seed vascular plant - is expected to give scientists a better understanding of how plants of all kinds evolved over the past 500 million years and could open new doors for the identification of new pharmaceuticals.

A team of 100 from 11 different countries was to sequence the genome of Selaginella, a lycophyte. Lycophytes are the oldest living vascular plants, which shed pores to reproduce and have a singular vascular vein through their leaves.

Scientists also discovered that the Selaginella is the only plant that has not experienced a polyploidy event, which means it does not create one or more sets of extra chromosomes. It also is missing genes that most flowers have such as controlling flowering and the stages of changing from a juvenile phase to adult. They are unsure as to how it does what other plants can do with its missing genes.

The genome of the Selaginella would help scientists understand how its genes give the plants its unique characteristics and how other plants are evolutionarily connected to it. There research is to help them understand how plants evolved as well.

This article was interesting to read. I really was never aware of how much we still have to learn about almost everything. Scientists are researching so many things and we discover/learning so many important things that will help us later in life.