Salty Boogers | Scuba Lizards | Dr. Monster

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I’m exploring a corn maze today. So if you don’t see casualSTEM next week, check the maize.

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Salty Boogers

Every “achoo” could be a lizard fighting dehydration. Chuckwallas sneeze salt (aka “snalt”) to balance their electrolytes.

• Chuckwallas = largest North America desert lizard

• Thriving in temps up to 120 °F

• Desert plant diet overloads their bodies with salt

Specialized nasal glands filter and expel excess salt as crystals. Though a lifelong lack of tissues leaves most chuckwallas with white crusted nostrils.

New health craze: Chuckwalla Salt - more details here

Scuba Lizards

Scuba diving lizards nose breath underwater. Researchers studied how Anolis aquaticus trap air bubbles over their nostrils to evade predators.

• Natural dives last 20+ minutes

• Study applied moisturizer to prevent bubbles

• No bubble = 32% shorter dives

A. aquaticus joins the small group of known animals to intentionally bring oxygen on dives (like diving bell spiders and humans). Next up: determining if the bubbles pull in oxygen from water. And if lizards are PADI eligible.

You’ve got something on your nose — learn how to snorkel like a lizard

Dr. Monster

Monster venom can help detect tumors. Insulinomas are hard-to-find pancreatic tumors, unless you use gila monster (lizard) saliva.

• Substance in the saliva binds to insulinoma-specific GP1 receptors

• But the venom itself is unstable in humans

• Researchers developed a synthesized version, Extendin

Pairing Extendin with existing radioactive tracers lead to a 95% accuracy rate across 69 patient scans (compared to 65% in regular scans). Further research will review how similarly sourced enhancements can improve medical imaging.

Don’t bite — last year’s SpoOopy issue

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Unnatural Selection

Last week: “You’re a lemur! How will you catch 7 months of Zs?”

I suppose the people that would choose to hibernate where, in fact, hibernating. 🤣 

I’m debating keeping this section active. I need more weekly votes to make silly pie charts. Please vote on this week’s poll below!

st3v on site

Would you like snalt with that?

Salt intake has always been a corrosion concern for st3v. Much easier to limit consumption when it’s extracted from lizard boogers.

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