Tyrannosaurus sex

A discussion on Ravelry about knitting anatomically correct animals led to a post offering these two fascinating articles on dino-sex. I must say, though, that the comments are just as amusing. People are so stupid! :)

A true healer

I recently heard from my friend Karah Pino. As the picture implies, she is wild with zoinging energy (hey, she's the kind of girl you feel compelled to make up words for). She also runs deep with an extraordinarily sensitive and powerful soul, the kind you develop from surmounting impossible odds. She's an artist, a shaman, and an acupuncturist. Now she has a blog, and WOW is it worth reading. Start here. Readers in Portland, watch for her on the street. She's likely to be smiling, and she often wears orange.

The Bodies Exhibition

This show should be required viewing for anyone with a human body. Utterly amazing. My two favorite pieces: The one pictured here, which actually has the discs separated from the vertebrae, and one that has a skeleton facing the rest of the cadaver. The dissections are simply brilliant. Run, don't walk, to get your tickets! The audio tour is useful for laypeople, but medical types can skip it.

Weird science: Surgeon wasps and zombie roaches

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/03/wasp_performs_roachb.html

Teeny amazing critters - TARDIGRADES!

How did I not hear about these little guys before?

"Water Bears" belong to a lesser known phylum of invertebrate animals, the Tardigrada. They are similar to arthropods, which include crustaceans and insects.

Tardigrades are supertiny critters, typically 0.3 to 0.5 mm (For you non-scientists, a millimeter is about the thickness of a dime). They need water, but if the environment is too dry they just go into hibernation…. For up to TEN YEARS! They can also survive staggering amounts of radiation (5700 grays, while five grays would be fatal to a human). Oh, and they can survive being heated for a few minutes to 151 °C or being chilled for days at -272.8 °C (almost absolute zero). How sweet is that?

They have 4 pairs of legs with claws and five body-segments. They move like little bears, with a slow lumbering gait. The first link below has a short video. Tardigrades are found all over the world, including salt and freshwater environments, in humid rain forests and dry deserts, in low canyons and high altitude mountain-tops. Tardigrades are aquatic organisms and need to be in water to eat, breath, reproduce, and move. They are commonly found in the interstitial (water between leaves) environment of moss and lichen. Some tardigrades are carnivores, others are herbivores or omnivores. They feed on each other, as well as mites, aphids, nematodes, and other microscopic organisms. These microscopic creatures play an important role in the cycling of nutrients. And they’re really really cute.

More reading:

http://www.tardigrades.com/
http://www.iwu.edu/~tardisdp/tardigrade_facts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

Want to help pay my tuition while wearing coolness? http://www.cafepress.com/tardigrades

Matt's got myocarditis. No funny headline here.

Matt has contracted viral myocarditis, probably from a patient. That means a virus has infected his heart. He will be in the hospital for a few days at least, then he will have at least 90 days off work to recover. We won't know for a long while if there is any permanent damage, but the odds are very good. He's young, healthy, fit, a non-smoker, non-drug user, non-drinker, and he's got ridiculously resiliant genes. The only scary signs so far are that his ejection fraction is only 45% and his troponin levels keep rising. He's getting the very best medical care (I am SO GRATEFUL we live here and not in some tiny 3rd world country - I could have lost him!!). All we can do is wait and see. Your prayers / magic / healing Qi are all appreciated. Please check back for updates.

I really really really love this man.