A Zebrafish Will Develop Its Nervous System in The Time You Are Awake Today (!)

      This week's post was inspired by the Zebrafish Research Center at Smith College.

       Well, that discovery, and this Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image of a zebrafish embryo:

      These remarkable fish are the topic of many research projects throughout the world, including at Smith College in Northampton, MA, USA. They are used in researching cancer, spinal cord development, sleep-related disorders, and the autism spectrum.

      "Smith Professor Mary Harrington has used the Zebrafish Research Center for her teaching and research on circadian rhythms, or sleep-wake cycles. She uses a group of specially designed zebrafish with a firefly protein attached to their circadian gene."

     "The gene causes the fish to bioluminesce each time their circadian clock turns on. Harrington and her students can add drugs to the water, then observe changes in the fish’s circadian rhythms to explore sleep-related disorders like depression."

      Zebrafish are ideal for this type of research, she explains. “They’re transparent, so light just comes right out of them.”

       The rapidity of zebrafish development makes them ideal research subjects. During the past 17 hours of this day (extremely busy for me and maybe for you, too), a zebrafish nervous system has developed!

       . . .Which could lead to this:

     
       Or even this. . .

Ah, the Denver Bronco-North Carolina Panther (Hello, Kitty?) hype has even gotten to Partial Ellipsis of the Sun.

{Here's some tutu fun from today at school. . .}

Any experience in Zebrafish research?

Steph

"Sapphire of the Sea:" A Hexagonal Chitinous Invisibility Cloak on This Critter

     The hexagonal chitinous invisibility cloak of the Sapphirina or "Sapphire of the Sea" 

allows it to change from deep violet-indigo colors to blue-green to

 all colors of the spectrum to nearly completely invisible.

        This exquisite ability is due, in part, to the hexagonal plates on its surface (here seen under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)):

      The male of this parasitic copepod species shine their colors while the females are mostly translucent all the time. This structural coloration, first described by Isaac Newton and Robert Hooks, allows the intense and varied bright colors (as seen in peacock feathers).

     The Sapphirina reminds me a bit of our old friend the water bear or Tardigrade. 

        How could one not be enchanted by this beautiful aquatic creature, first described in the early 1800's, that looks like a gem and has ties to  hexagonal packing ?

       It's the perfect ambassador to ring in 2016! Happy Hexagonal New Year!


       

Looking forward to the power of 6 in the coming year; how about you?!
Steph


2016 blowing in via a Bernoulli Blower!