Mice and Rats

Oh my god, Bill Bryson. I love your writing and aspire to be you one day, but I will never write such a frightening section of a book unless it deals with flesh eating viruses. 

Here's what Bill taught me today:

- "Two mice, breeding prolifically, could theoretically produce a million descendants in a year."

- "Each mouse voids about fifty pellets a day... Because of the impossibility of achieving perfection in storage, hygeine regulations in most places allow up to two fecal pellets per pint of grain."

- "Rats are smart and work cooperatively.  ...one rat would embrace an egg with all four legs, then roll over on his back.  A second rat would then drag the first rat by its tail to their burrow..."

- "It is commonly written that there is one rat for every human being in a typical city, but studies have shown that to be an exaggeration.  The actual figure is more like one rat for every three dozen people."

Why am I reading this??  I just wanted to learn about why a study exists in a home!

Anyway, all of this excellent info comes from Bill's newest book "At Home," which is wonderful, if not a little unsettling about all the things in your home.

I had to find the cutest picture of a rat ever after reading all this this morning.  I succeeded.

Skara Brae

I have never heard of this place!  I've even been to Scotland, saw Edinburgh Castle and an entirely unsettling stage show in Glasgow, but missed out on St. Andrews and, apparently, a pre-historic village.

Uncovered during a horrible storm in 1850, Skara Brae is all that is left from an ~ 2000 B.C. settlement.  At nearly 5,000 years old, the buildings are older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Egypt. 

I would love to go see it.  Next time I get over the pond!

Info from Scotland's Tourism site:  http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyresults/propertyoverview.htm?PropID=PL_244&PropName=Skara%20Brae%20Prehistoric%20Village

Birds are Astronomers

Exactly how animals are able to migrate across the Earth with accuracy and precision is still a somewhat murky topic.  Some use geographical markers (like lakes or land masses) while others rely on the Earth's magnetism the way compasses do and still more use devices that we have not yet uncovered.  They seem to just know.

One particular animal, the Indigo Bunting, uses stars.  A series of experiments showed that baby birds in the nest are watching the night sky and how the stars rotate around Polaris, or the North Star.  From this, they learn which way is due north are able to fly accordingly during migration.

A set of experiments placed baby Indigo Buntings in a planetarium and rotated the stars around Betelgeuse instead of Polaris.  When the birds were released, they flew as if Betelgeuse were the North Star.  It seems they are learning the pattern of star rotation before they can even fly.  Further support has found that Indigo Buntings have difficulty with direction on cloudy evenings.

Very interesting!

More Info: http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_10_99.html

Near-sightedness Research

Myopia, or near-sightedness (or short-sightedness), is when eyes can focus on objects close by but vision of far away objects remains blurry.  This condition occurs due to the formation of the eye.

Anyone who reads my main blog Amedeo will know that I'm simply fascinated by the story of The Bounty, William Bligh and Fletcher Christian (link!).  Recently, I wrote a post concerning migraine research among a group of the Bounty mutineer descendents on Norfolk Island.  It seems this genetic pool is also being used for research on near-sightedness!

In an article on The Daily Mail, researchers say that Norfolk Island residents suffer from myopia at half the rate of the general population.  Since this condition is genetic, scientists are looking into the DNA to see what genes are present and absent.  Hopefully, this will shed new light on myopia and potentially lead to new therapies.

Daily Mail Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2177576/Surprise-Bounty-Mutineers-descendants-lowest-rate-short-sightedness--DNA-hold-key-cure.html

Poor Little Lion

Look at this lion.  Look at him.  Aw..

This picture comes from an article in the Knoxville News Sentinel (clicky) that discussed a recent procedure at that the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.  Tsavo is an 11 year old, 360 pound lion who has cancer.  This is his second round of radiation therapy; the first round successfully shrunk his 10 cm tumor down to 6 cm.  Vets are hoping it will continue to shrink, but are prepared to do surgery if it does not. 

The article is reasonably in depth about cancer treatment for animals and carries lots of Tsavo pictures!  Definitely read it if you have a chance.  Also, had the cancer spread to other areas of his body, the vets wanted it to be known that they would have put him down rather than suffer.  Since his chances of recovery are excellent, this course of treatment was decided. 

Link to article: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jul/08/ut-uses-targeted-radiation-to-tackle-lions-tumor/