Strange biology
Sheep-goat hybrid Oreo and his mum at a NSW children's daycare centre. Picture: Gary Graham Source: The Daily Telegraph Meet Oreo, a genetic fluke born to a sheep and a ram with goat genes, leaving Oreo half sheep and half goat.
Oreo the geep rams genetic barrier
Fertility landmark as scientists make sperm from stem cells - Science, News
It is believed to the the first time that sperm cells made in the laboratory with stem-cell techniques have been used to generate offspring free of any obvious physical or genetic defects that have grown up and reproduced normally, the researchers said. Scientists took stem cells from the embryos of laboratory mice and converted them into mature sperm cells, then used them to fertilise eggs and produced the healthy, fertile offspring. The technology may one day form the basis of a new approach to treating infertile women incapable of making their own egg cells, the scientists said. One possibility is that skin cells taken from infertile men or women could be turned into stem cells and then converted into the "germline" cells that give rise to sperm and eggs. These sperm and egg cells could then be used in standard IVF procedures.
Giant Rat Kills Predators with Poisonous Hair
By utilizing the same plants that African tribesmen use to poison their arrows, the furry fury known as the African crested rat can incapacitate and even kill predators many times its size, researchers have found. "This is the first mammal that is borrowing a deadly poison from a plant and slathering it on itself without dying," said study researcher Jonathan Kingdon, of Oxford University in England. "This is an extraordinary thing to have evolved." Growing up in Africa, Kingdon was frequently exposed to these rats, even keeping one (very cautiously) as a pet. He had heard this animal was poisonous, but it look 30 years for him to figure out how and why this special animal kills and sickens its predators. [ Top 10 Deadliest Animals ]
Man who could hear his own eyeballs roll cured
"Eventually I could hear my heart beating and my eyes moving in their sockets. It was really distracting." Mr Mabbutt was referred to Martin Burton, a surgeon from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital who helped establish the Cochrane Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders Group. A CT scan found perforations inside the semicircular canals inside Mr Mabbutt's ear. He was diagnosed with superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS), a rare condition discovered by American surgeon Lloyd B Minor in 1995, which is thought to only effect one in 500,000 a year in Britain.
South Korean scientists said on Wednesday they have created a glowing dog using a cloning technique that could help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Yonhap news agency reported. A research team from Seoul National University (SNU) said the genetically modified female beagle, named Tegon and born in 2009, has been found to glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light if given a doxycycline antibiotic, the report said. The researchers, who completed a two-year test, said the ability to glow can be turned on or off by adding a drug to the dog’s food.
South Korean scientists seem to have produced a glowing dog | Posted | National Post
4/2/2007 under Weird Science - TAGS: sea monsters, sea animals, sea fish Viperfish The Viperfish (Mesopelagic - found at 80-1600 meters - about a mile down) is one of the most wicked looking sea monsters. Some of them are black as night all over with light organs (called photophores) in strategic places on their bodies, including one on a long dorsal fin that serves as a lure for the fish it preys upon. Some viperfish (and many other deep ocean fish species) don't have any pigment (color) at all - they're transparent.
10 Horrible Deep Sea Creatures - Oddee.com (sea monsters, sea animals...)
7/6/2011 under Strange People - by Nora Vega - TAGS: incredible people, hairy people Yu Zhenhuan The Hairy Chinese Kid (Yu Zhenhuan) was first mentioned on 12 October 2002 during Karl's first ever edition of Educating Ricky. Karl revealed the child was indeed quite hairy and apparently had trouble hearing due to a build up of hair in his ears.
10 Most Incredible Hairy People
Two-Headed, Five-Legged Tortoise Predicts Hockey Championship
Slovakia’s Ice Hockey Championship winner may rest in the hands of a two-headed, five-legged tortoise. According to CBS News , Magdalena is a tortoise who was born with two heads -- one head is named Magda, the other one, Lena. Her situation is similar to that of conjoined twins whose embryos don’t separate correctly during pregnancy. According to The Telegraph , the tortoise would probably not survive in the wild, due to other tortoises excluding her.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- What do mosquitoes like more than clean, human skin? Stinky socks. Scientists think the musky odor of human feet can be used to attract and kill mosquitoes that carry deadly malaria. The Gates Foundation announced on Wednesday that it will help fund one such pungent project in Tanzania. If they can be cheaply mass-produced, the traps could provide the first practical way of controlling malaria infections outside. The increased use of bed nets and indoor spraying has already helped bring down transmissions inside homes.
Scientists: Stinky Sock Smell Helps Fight Malaria
Wrinkled When Wet: Accidental or Adaptive? | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour
By: Jenny Marder Fingers wrinkled after an afternoon snorkeling. Photo by notanyron via Flickr Creative Commons Beachgoers know it well.11 July 2011 Last updated at 04:25 By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature Excreted snails can survive Snails are able to survive intact after being eaten by birds, according to scientists. Japanese white-eyes on the island of Hahajima, Japan feast on tiny land snails. Researchers found that 15% of the snails eaten survived digestion and were found alive in the birds' droppings.
BBC Nature - Tiny snails survive digestion by birds
Species: Melissotarsus insularis and three other Melissotarsus species Habitat: Down on the farm under the bark of African trees, particularly in Madagascar. Lots of ants practise a rudimentary form of agriculture . Some are gardeners, gathering leaf fragments on which they cultivate a crop of tasty fungus. Others are dairymaids, "milking" the sweet excretion known as honeydew from aphids , scale insects and other related insects. But the Melissotarsus ants of continental Africa and Madagascar are special.
Zoologger: The first non-human meat farmers - life - 30 June 2011
A rare blind snake has been rediscovered in Madagascar a century after its last sighting.