Jelly Sandwich | Birdie Buffet | Bacteri-Eye

Super stoked for all the animal news this week! Make sure you check out Clickables for the latest findings on shark poop, freeze-dried mammoths, and an ultra-rare frog.

-Steve

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Jelly Cellwich

Deep-sea pressure is crushing, but jellyfish thrive in it. In fact, comb jellies require it to avoid disintegrating.

• Studies ranged from the surface to ~2.5 miles deep

• Deeper jelly cell membranes had 5x more PPE lipids

• Low pressure = PPE lipids fan out and cells die

Extreme pressures that crush low PPE membranes fall in a Goldilocks zone for high PPE membranes which require more structure. This discovery could lead to a better understanding of PPE lipids in other animals, such as humans. Can we turn these up before a big meeting?

Hi, pressure situation

Birdie Buffet

Hurricanes are like amusements parks for some birds. Desertas petrels fly directly into storms for the ride, and feast, of a lifetime.

• Desertas petrels = pigeon-sized seabird native to Bugio Island, Portugal

• 1/3 of tracked petrels followed hurricanes for days across 1k+ miles

• No tracked birds were harmed by the storm

Hurricanes bring deep-sea prey to the surface, making foraging far easier than petrels’ normal 7,500 mile routes. These findings could inspire research into how storms impact marine life at various depths. And maybe a new Olympic sport?

Wind surfing - send it!

Bacteri-Eye

Dry eyes? Just add bacteria! Researchers developed self-lubricating contact lenses with a living boost.

• Engineered corynebacteria release hyaluronic acid (HA)

• HA = natural lubrication with limited absorption

• Outer ring of lenses contain active corynebacteria

Natural HA production increased over 3 weeks and had lower friction than lenses without bacteria. While researchers have a proof of concept, commercial viability is still up in the air. I’m not crying, just got too many bacteria in my eye.

Bacteriummmm…

It’s me, Steve!

I’m looking for a day job! If you or someone you know is hiring data analytics or operations roles in healthcare or tech, I’d love to chat! (also ok just talking about science 🤓)

Let’s connect on LinkedIn!

Unnatural Selection

Last week: “Who would you rather have as a doctor?”

Congrats for voting AI!

Artificial Intelligence walked so Ant Intelligence could run, on 5 or 6 healthy legs.

st3v on site

Under Pressure

Something about singing underwater through a snorkel doesn’t quite capture Freddie Mercury’s voice. But st3v’s pretty sure the jellies caught his drift.

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Catch-up here: 🔬Dr. Ant | Frog Sauna | Rail Robot

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