If you have ever experienced a nasty scrape or burn, you know the process of healing is not very fun. Human skin can take several weeks to regenerate after an injury and that often comes with a fair amount of pain. For a bigger injury that involves tissue damage, there is often little the human body can do to regenerate larger parts. However, thanks to a small rodent – the African spiny mouse – regenerative medicine for humans could be making huge advances in the near future.
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How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It
African Elephants have the largest volume to surface-area ratio of any living land mammal; it’s not a surprise then that they have to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat. You and me eat 2,500 calories a day – an adult male elephant might consume over 70,000 calories each day! This means these gigantic beasts need to remove several kilowatts of heat. So how do they do it? And can we learn anything from these biological marvels?
Continue reading “How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It”African Elephants have the largest volume to surface-area ratio of any living land mammal; it’s not a surprise then that they have to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat. You and me eat 2,500 calories a day – an adult male elephant might consume over 70,000 calories each day! This means these gigantic beasts need to remove several kilowatts of heat. So how do they do it? And can we learn anything from these biological marvels?
Continue reading “How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It”Down to the Bear Bones: How Polar Bears evolved from Grizzlies to hunt in the Arctic
Katmai National Park in Alaska holds an annual “Fat Bear Week”, in which Twitter followers are asked to vote for the fattest bear in the park. This year’s winner was Holly, somewhere in the range of 500 to 700 lbs. That’s a big bear. However, in 1960, a male polar bear in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, weighed in at 2,209 lbs. In fact, on average, polar bears weight up to 60% more than Grizzly bears, their closest animal relative.
Continue reading “Down to the Bear Bones: How Polar Bears evolved from Grizzlies to hunt in the Arctic”Canine Hip Dysplasia: What You Should Know
Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is a degenerative hip disease that tends to develop in large breed dogs, such as the Bernese Mountain Dog, affectionately referred to as Berners. CHD significantly decreases the quality of life of a dog and often leads to complete immobility if left untreated. Experts estimate that about 28% of Berners are affected by dysplastic hips, making them the 8th most susceptible dog breed.
Continue reading “Canine Hip Dysplasia: What You Should Know”3-D Print a New Leg for Your 4-Legged Friend
3-D printing is a quite exciting technology that has come to light in recent years. The process involves a nozzle much like in a regular inkjet printer that layers material upon material to build up a 3D structure. The printer receives this data from a computer designed file that maps out where the printer should add material. Combine this with filler material that serves to hold everything in its final upright position, and the final product is born, after setting and clearing off the filler. This process has been used to make many different things, from simple objects like phone cases and luggage tags to complex scaffolds used to hold cells for tissue engineering, or as in this post, specific implants for dogs and other animals. The usual types of orthopedic implants that have somewhat of a cookie cutter size distribution for humans do not always fit in dogs or other animals. So, 3-D printing has been employed to create implants used to repair and replace bones in veterinary situations.
Continue reading “3-D Print a New Leg for Your 4-Legged Friend”Secret Behind Kangaroos’ Tail
Red kangaroos can reach speed of more than 35 miles an hour, they can also cover an area 25 feet long and get up to 6 feet high in one jump using their tail like a spring to give them more power. When kangaroos want to move slowly, they do kind of lean on their tail, to support their body. When kangaroos are grazing they move their hind pairs of feet together which makes their movement awkward but the power behind them in their tail is keeping them balanced. There was always a question of why Kangaroos are placing their tail on the ground when they are walking slowly.
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