Hey guys,

Moved on over to wordpress: http://ohtheplacesbrigoes.wordpress.com

Here's to many a new adventure!

Almost a year later...

Well I slacked on this quite a bit, many apologies.  I have been to Hawaii, Thailand, and Cambodia, and back again.  I am gearing up for my Hawaiian adventure and am getting excited.  This past year has been a lot of hard work all aiming at the end goal, vet school.  Now I am in the process of applying and will be completing my application at the beautiful Three Ring Ranch. 

Hopefully I will be better about keeping this blog, AND maybe even do some retro active posting!

We shall see...

Bri

This video is pretty powerful

yes, I am procrastinating, but this is nerd-tastic

Researchers have found a vertebrate with a symbiont (smaller organism in a symbiotic relationship where host species may or may not benefit, think coral or the casiopia jellyfish )! This is literally unheard of! They are dubbing it the Solar Salamander. This "solar salamander" is really the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) and is a widely studied species.

Now I know some of you are giving me the tilted head, what on Earth are you talking about now Bri look, BUT hear me out!  This is a fascinating find because vertebrate cells, as the article points out, have what's known as an adaptive immune system.  In theory this defensive line should destroy the algal cell and make it impossible for it to thrive.  This study shows it doesn't!  This finding challenges the doctrine of how cells work...this is why I love science.  You can't prove things in biology, only disprove, which always leaves room for new discoveries!  Evolution has so many tricks up its sleeve we haven't even begun to understand yet!  We are playing catch up with an ever-dynamic process. Biologists know this and account for it!  We get to live in the middle of this big mystery and try and figure out what's going on around us! We get to be that curious little kid always asking why.  Biology rocks my socks!

Back to this salamander find....the hypothesis that the ability of salamander cells to house algae is due to pluripotency is really interesting.  Does the fact that regeneration can occur in salamanders somehow lessen the effects of the adaptive immune system? Is this specific to A. maculatum or are other salamanders exhibiting this too? What if it has nothing to do with pluripotency, does that mean vertebrates can actually house symbionts contrary to the common consensus?   I am excited for these studies!

Hope you enjoyed the article, subsequent science speak and my boundless nerdiness!