Learn Something: Siphonophorae

This is gonna have to be a quick post, I've got a whole lot going on today!
This past week I went to an exhibit about bioluminescence.
The museum itself was incredibly disappointing; (a rant for another time.)
But I did find one creature(s) there that caught my fancy.

Just to start out, look at how gorgeous these guys are!

There are a lot about these creatures that I am still trying to understand, they are incredibly complex. But let's start with the basics.

Siphonophores belong to the cnidaria. This group also consists of corals and jellyfish. They are found in the ocean, some at greater depths than others. They are gelatinous and fragile, extraordinarily easy to break apart. 

These guys are giant. They can reach up to 130 feet in length, which is longer than a blue whale!
They are bioluminescent, using their light show as an alarm to ward of predators.
Now here's the kicker: this isn't actually just one organism at all! It is a giant living rope created by hundreds of tiny co-dependent and colonized zooids.

The crazy thing is that these zooids have become so specialized that they could not live without each other. Some of them are in charge of propulsion, others eating, others reproduction, etc. without the abilities of each specific zooid, the colony as a whole would die off. None can do the job of another.
 Some of these structures have exclusively male colonies, some exclusively female, and some are comprised of both.

These zooids are attached in a very specific pattern along the stem.  You can see that here:

There is something that always gets me about organisms that work together to become a larger organism. This reminded me in some ways of the reproduction habits of the anglerfish, where the male attaches to the female and in essence becomes her parasite- relying on her for survival through their shared circulatory system.

Siphonophores have confused scientists for a long time because of the debate about their "individuality." Ecologically, these function as one individual organism. In other ways however, each part of the siphonophore can be seen as an individual.

This little post is just the beginning of a whole lot of information about these astounding creatures. More info can be found HERE

Learn Something: Moth Dust

Once upon a time I used to be scared of moths.
Okay, also once upon a time, I used to be scared of butterflies.
But also I was 5 and anything that could move independently was indubitably possessed by the devil. How else would they be capable of purposeful movement? Life's mysteries.

Anyway, now that I have grown old and wise in my ways, I have realized that butterflies and moths (and robots and cats)((well actually the robots have yet to gain my trust)) are actually not in the least bit dangerous. Or out to destroy my immortal soul and bring evil to the land.

You see, the part about moths that always terrified me was the strange dust that they would always leave on your fingers after you touched them. (Or after they ferociously attacked you with malicious forethought.)
What WAS it? Poison? Tiny poison? Was this the moth-version of anthrax, a tiny deadly defense mechanism hidden upon otherwise incredibly mediocre looking wings?
Was it small confetti from a giant moth celebration, and the moth was freaking out about me touching it because it had a MASSIVE hangover? (Little known fact, moths are proven to be amongst the world's hardest partiers.)
Once again, life's toughest questions.

So now that I have become grown and capable of rational thought (most of the time) I decided I'd find out what exactly this business was.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I have the answers I have been seeking.

Moths and butterflies both belong to the order Lepidoptera which actually means "scale wing." Turns out, moth and butterfly wings are both covered in tiny modified hairs that form little miniscule scales. Here's a cool picture that I found thanks to discover magazine. This is an image of the wing scales of a Urania ripheus (Sunset Moth) through Reflected-light microscopy.

Cool, eh? Gotta love them colors. According to Focus.com,

"The scales are pigmented but they also contribute to the pattern on the wings by diffracting light through a complex microscopic structure of ribs and holes. A 2005 study at Princeton University in the US found that the scales showed differences in their structure that depended on their location on the wing and were independent of colour."

Apparently these scales are thought to be used for a number of reasons. These include

• Thermoregulation

The scales could provide an extra layer of insulation to keep them warm when the sun goes down.

• Camouflage

Moths tend to fly around more at night, and so the colors of their wings could often help them to blend in with their environment. 

• Mate attraction

The right configuration of color and pattern may help a moth attract its true love.

In conclusion, moth dust is not tiny anthrax. It is scales! To show that I have made my peace with the tiny winged creatures, here is a cool picture of a little tiger moth I liberated from the confines of my garage the other day.

Tiger moth being glam on some rocks.

This Week's Tunes

This post is inspired by a the Sunday trip to Jackson that my friends and I made this past Sunday. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL (my camera couldn't capture it at alll) and it was so nice to get outta dodge. So... here we go.

May You Be The Road- Bedouin Soundclash

Taro- Alt-J 

Flood Pt. 1- The Acorn

Lions In Cages- Wolf Gang

You're A Cad- the bird and the bee

Learn Something: Plague Doctors

This is quickly just becoming a random facts blog, but there are so many cool things I keep finding! This time I was simply drawn in by the strange costume that these guys wore. Take a look:

Can you imagine being sick and then having this guy come knocking on your door? 

So these people were essentially doctors hired to treat people during outbreaks of the bubonic plague. Their work was paid for by the government and so they were able to treat both the wealthy and the poor. Unfortunately some were known for charging extra for false "miracle cures" and the like. 

Generally speaking these doctors were not professionally trained surgeons. Usually they were younger doctors seeking to establish themselves or second rate doctors who were struggling to create their own businesses. 

It is believed that the long wooden cane was either used to keep patients at a distance or to move them around when necessary. Probably both.

The hats were generally worn by physicians of the time and so was symbolic of the doctor's purpose. 

Probably the earliest textual description of the mask dates back from the 17^th century. Charles de Lorme, who was chief physician to Louis XIII, wrote a bit about it:

The nose [is] half a foot long, shaped like a beak, filled with perfume with only two holes, one on each side near the nostrils, but that can suffice to breathe and carry along with the air one breathes the impression of the [herbs] enclosed further along in the beak. Under the coat we wear boots made in Moroccan leather (goat leather) from the front of the breeches in smooth skin that are attached to said boots, and a short sleeved blouse in smooth skin, the bottom of which is tucked into the breeches. The hat and gloves are also made of the same skin…with spectacles over the eyes. [1]

At this time the prevalent theory about disease was called the "maismatic theory." Essentially, it was believed that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia and the black death were caused by rotting organic matter that made its way into the air.
Because little was understood about the way germs and viruses travel, it was believed that the herbs and other sweet-smelling things which were stuffed in the beak of the mask purified the air; thus keeping the doctors safe. Some of the things that were used included ambergris, lemon balm, mint leaves, camphor, cloves, laudanum, myrrh, a sponge soaked in vinegar, rose petals, storax and hay.

These were basically old-fashioned biohazard suits!

Unfortunately, they didn't do much to protect the doctors, who had extremely short life spans because of their line of work. If they weren't called upon to help someone, they would essentially wander about the countryside like pariahs. They had to be quarantined so that the disease wouldn't spread.

These doctors would also travel around taking down data about the sick, as well as performing autopsies on dead victims for research.

Their methods are much as one would expect for that time period, leeches, frogs, bloodletting, etc.
Today these masks are used by authors, screenwriters, etc. pretty often because of their creepy look.

Learn Something: Stabilimentum

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to take a trip through Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington with the geology department where I work. It was so much fun! While they were studying the rocks (which I learned a lot about as well) I encountered some pretty big orb weaver spider webs; namely this one here:

Can you see it? It blends in pretty well as cameras aren't awesome at picking up webs.

Anyway, that night at the hotel I decided to go back and do some more research on orb weavers and more specifically their webs. Which lead me to stumble upon something really cool called the "stabilimentum" or, a bit easier to remember, "web decoration." I'm gonna start out right away by saying that the function of these web decorations is still a huge matter of debate. Originally they were thought to be built to stabilize the web (hence 'stabilimentum') but that theory has long since been dismissed. What got my attention is how dang cool these things look. (If you have a distaste of spiders maybe don't continue)

(Images found on google/wikipedia)

Aren't those beautiful? No wonder they call them decorations. They're pretty cool. Depending on the species of spider, these can be made out of silk, egg sacs, or debris. This is one of the reasons there is so much debate about their function, they are made in so many different ways and with so many different patterns! For this reason, it is assumed that different species may create them for different purposes. The theories are wide ranging and include

• Camouflage: (the thick banding breaks up the form of the spider)
• Reflection of sunlight (to keep birds and other larger creatures from running into the web)
• Vibration amplifier
• Thermoregulation (regulation of temperature)
• Attract insects
• Stress
• Get rid of extra silk
• Aesthetics
• To attract male species (the stabilimentum would show that the female is ready to mate)

The oxford journal also pointed out that spiders do not always create these web decorations, showing that there may be a large cost and effort included in making them. 

Another fun fact: orb weavers that actually do build webs will often eat their web every night, rest for an hour, and then build a new one in the same general area. This is the reason that their webs are so often clear of detritus; unlike other spiders such as the black widow. 

This Week's Tunez

This week has been pretty crazy what with finals and also A GIANT FLASH FLOOD (which I will post about later) so as always, I have relied on some good music to get through it. Here are the highlights for this week:

Codex- Radiohead

 Lazy Place- Caravan Palace

Leave Your Lover- Sam Smith

Stay With Me- Sam Smith

So Long- Fruit Bats

Tony The Tripper- Fruit Bats

AND I have to include my two guilty pleasures. I'm usually way too prideful to admit when I enjoy music like this (emphatically a music snob) but I needed some pump-up songs and these music videos are wacky enough to make me feel like I'm on a sugar high.

Acapella- Karmin

One Less Problem- Ariana Grande

Art Journal Pt. 2

I finished some more art journal pages that I like better than I thought I would! Here they are:

Some sleepy tulips

Robots! Their heads are scans of watch faces.

Woven

My friend and I did these- add on pictures

Scorpio constellation

Hagrid!

This looks crappy because of the glare on the tape- it's the phases of the moon. I taped it so the pennies wouldn't leave marks on the other pages.

A bit sideways, but this is a graphic of my favorite poem "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Elliot

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Learn Something: Necrotizing Fasciitis

Sorry about all of my learn somethings lately being really gross. This is fascinating stuff okay!?

If you have hypochondria or are generally easily grossed out, maybe don't continue.

So this week I've been studying up a bit on a lovely little infection called 'Necrotizing Fasciitis' or, as it is more commonly known, "flesh eating bacteria."

-'Necrotizing' means "causing the death of tissues" and fascia is just a layer of fibrous tissue that surrounds and connects certain muscles, etc. in the body.

Essentially, NF is a very rare bacteria that will go through and destroy the soft tissues of the infected person. For the mental health of readers, I will not add in any gross pictures. Believe me, they are not enjoyable to look at.

This infection can be caused by a string of different bacteria, the most common including group A Streptococcus (group A strep), Klebsiella, Clostridium, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Aeromonas hydrophila, to name a few. Group A strep is seen as the most common cause of necrotizing fasciitis.

Generally speaking, the most common way for this specific bacteria to enter a person's body is through an open cut or wound. Most of the time, people who become infected also have other significant illnesses that make it hard for their body to fight back. (Kidney disease,  cancer, diabetes, etc.)

Once the bacteria takes hold, it is extraordinarily fast acting. There was a story that was featured on the show Strange Ways To Die of a woman who shaved her legs with a very old razor before a night out and got a cut. The next morning she woke up to find half of her face had been eaten away and she died soon thereafter. It is speculated that the bacteria traveled through her system and broke through a pimple on the surface of her face. Generally speaking though, the bacteria is more likely to affect the entrance site.

In fact, this can be so fast acting that often times, removal of the effected limb is required to save the rest of the body. Various antibiotics will first be pumped through the body and then amputations will commence if necessary. 

'Flesh eating bacteria' is actually a bit of a misnomer. In fact, the bacteria does not eat the tissues at all! They simply destroy the tissue by emitting toxins which contain  streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins.

Here is an image found on Wikipedia. The caption reads: Micrograph of necrotizing fasciitis, showing necrosis (center of image) of the dense connective tissue, i.e. fascia, interposed between fat lobules (top-right and bottom-left of image). H&E stain

Pretty crazy, right? Don't worry though, this infection is extremely rare. As long as you are cautious and hygienic in how you take care of your wounds and prepare food, you should be good to go. 

Symptoms can be hard to pin down, at first it may seem just like a regular illness. A patient will vomit, have diarrhea and a fever, etc. There may also be some swelling and purple/redness at the effected site, and patients will report that they feel more pain than what the wound looks like it would produce.

If let get far enough, Necrotizing Fasciitis can cause organ failure and death. The mortality rate is 73% without treatment.

This stuff is super creepy but super interesting.
More information can be found
Here and Here.

Decoratin'

I love to decorate. It's so much fun and inexplicably really relaxing. Here are some pics from my recent room re-decorations!

My bedside table- complete with an opal, a coral, crow feather, and some succulents.

The top part of my bookshelf. I got that large edition of all of Poe's works for only $7 on Amazon!!!

Cute lil' zen table with my bowl of fossils.

This is the wall over my bed. It always makes me super happy to look at. Found those butterflies at a thrift shop!!!


Also, I should note that most of the graphics I have hanging on that wall are found at the lovely Graphics Fairy website. Their stuff is amazing! Go check em out!

Sing the Thing: Sia

This is my little cover of one of my favorite songs by Sia called "Soon We'll Be Found." Sia's creativity is incomprehensible and I absolutely looooove her voice. Still trying to get over that stage fright, so I've just been posting little covers to start getting used to the idea of performing. Baby steps. Once again, just a disclaimer, I am no professional. But I love love love to do that music thing! Also, that loud thump at the end, that's one of my pictures falling off the wall. Like I said, not a professional.