My Science School

Oral care experts under the ocean

'Cleaner' fish are much in demand among bigger fish. The cleaner fish are allowed to enter in through the mouth and eat up bacteria and other parasites, thus getting a meal and giving their clients a healthier mouth. However, the fish are known to engage in wrongful actions sometimes they eat mucus or scales, causing a jolt of pain to the client. The client, in return, chases the cleaner fish fiercely, giving the message! Apart from the fact that cleaner fish are too small to make a meal out of, the bigger fish face difficulty finding one. So, usually once trust has been established, the two are inseparable.

A relationship that's spot on!

Tarantulas are scary as it is - the Colombian Lesserblack Tarantula is huge, formidable and capable of eating small creatures! Yet, these mighty tarantulas spare spotted frogs. Maybe they don't taste good, but there's another reason for this special act of kindness. As mighty as they are, these tarantulas still need to protect their eggs from ants. And it turns out that spotted frogs are pretty nifty when it comes to eating up these ants, so living together offers great perks for both.

An assistant for pistol shrimp

The pistol shrimp has one mean weapon that makes other creatures jealous - rapid snapping claws! The shrimp snap their claws so rapidly that a jet of water shoots out in that direction. Despite having this weapon, nature has been cruel enough to give the shrimp lousy eyesight. That's where the goby comes into the picture. Like a guide dog leading its blind owner, the goby lets the shrimp's antennae hang onto its tail fins while it leads the way. In return, the goby gets free accommodation in the shrimp's tunnel, so all's well.

All for a sweet tooth

Meat ants have a mean reputation they're known to be violent towards other meat ants from a different territory as well as other species. Kicking, biting and spraying foul chemicals are some of their classic defence mechanisms. Yet, like everyone else, they have their weakness - a sweet tooth. What do they do to satisfy their need for sugar? They warmly welcome certain caterpillar species to their abode for the sake of the sugary fluid that the meat ants adore. In return, they even carry the caterpillars to places where plants grow so that they can feed. Talk about royal treatment!

Polar bears and arctic foxes

In the snow-filled Arctic world, finding friends and food isn't easy. So when Arctic foxes willingly join polar bears to hunt for prey, the bears don't really complain. As far as they know, the foxes don't cause any major inconvenience and the bears let them eat the scraps. The foxes are glad to get what would normally be difficult to, if they hunted by themselves.

Let's fish together

Last but not the least, dolphins work alongside fishermen! Believe it or not, without any kind of training, dolphins round up fish and alert fishermen when to throw their nets. What do they get in return? Fish that escape the net swim right into their mouths! How much better can it get? Turns out that dolphins interested in helping humans. hang out together in groups.

Picture Credit : Google 

The housefly is one of the short-lived insects. The males have a lifespan of 28 days. But the little fly is dangerous to humans it can transmit at least 60 different diseases including cholera and dysentery.

About 90 percent of all flies occurring in human habitations are houseflies. Once a major nuisance and hazard to public health in cities, houseflies are still a problem wherever decomposing organic waste and garbage are allowed to accumulate. The adult housefly is dull gray with dirty-yellowish areas on the abdomen and longitudinal lines on the thorax. Body size ranges from about 5 to 7 mm (0.2 to 0.3 inch), and the conspicuous compound eyes have approximately 4,000 facets. Because it has sponging or lapping mouthparts, the housefly cannot bite; a near relative, the stable fly, however, does bite. The housefly can walk on vertical window panes or hang upside down on a ceiling probably because of the surface-tension properties of a secretion produced by tiny glandular pads (pulvilli) beneath each claw on the feet. The female deposits more than 100 slender whitish eggs (0.8 to 1 mm long) at a time, producing between about 600 and 1,000 eggs in her life. These eggs hatch in 12 to 24 hours. After several molts the dirty-whitish maggots (larvae), about 12 mm long, transform into pupae. The adults, when developed, expand a pouch (ptilinum) on the head and break off the end of the puparium to emerge.

Houseflies may carry on their feet millions of microorganisms that, in large enough doses, can cause disease. Garbage, manure, and similar wastes that cannot be made inaccessible to flies can be treated with larvicidal drenches or dusts. Residual insecticidal sprays are effective against flies for several weeks; however, some houseflies have developed resistance to certain insecticides, such as DDT.

Credit :  Britannica 

Picture Credit : Google

In 2018, when Russia defrosted some prehistoric worms for analysis, two came to life. Collected from the permafrost in the Arctic, the two were among 300 defrosted. After thawing out, the worms started moving and eating. One is said to be 32,000 years old, and the other, 41,700 years old.

Robin M. Giblin-Davis, a nematologist and acting director of the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, tells Gizmodo’s Ed Cara that the feat is theoretically possible. He said the worms, if “protected from physical damage that would compromise their structural integrity during their frozen internment, … should be able to revive upon thawing/rehydration,” but cautions that the team’s “ancient samples” could have been contaminated by contemporary organisms.

Although the Russian scientists acknowledge the possibility of such contamination, they believe it is unlikely. The team followed procedures designed to ensure complete sterility, according to the study, and claims that the depth at which the nematodes were buried—100 feet and 15 feet below the surface—eliminates the possibility of inclusion of modern organisms. As Science Alert’s Mike McRae explains, nematodes generally don’t burrow deep into the Siberian permafrost, as seasonal thawing only reaches a depth of about three feet.

This isn’t the first time researchers have purportedly resurrected long-dead organisms; in 2000, a team claimed to have revived 250 million-year-old bacteria, though this extraordinary claim requires more evidence before the scientific community will wholeheartedly accept it. Still, the new announcement, which centers on multicellular organisms rather than single-celled bacteria, marks a significant milestone for scientists. McRae reports that nematodes have previously been revived after 39 years of dormancy, while their close relatives, the tardigrade (or water bear), have been successfully revived after roughly 30 years on ice.

Byron J. Adams, a nematologist at Brigham Young University, tells Gizmodo’s Cara that the researchers’ claims are feasible, but he believes that further testing should be conducted to definitively assess the worms’ age. He is particularly interested in what the ancient worms might reveal about their species’ evolution, noting that “after 40 thousand years, we should expect to detect significant differences in evolutionary divergence between ancient and contemporary populations.”

If proven true, the new findings offer tangible hope for the resurrection of similarly ancient organisms. The return of the woolly mammoth may remain far in the future, but in the meantime, we have two 40,000-year-old roundworms to spark our dreams of a Pleistocene revival.

Credit : Smithsonian 

Picture Credit : Google

Yes, lobsters have teeth in their stomach. These teeth are part of a system called the gastric mill. Did you know lobsters have two stomachs? One is located behind their eyes. This stomach has teeth-like features to crush food. Once the food is crushed, it goes to the other stomach located in the abdomen.

Lobsters “smell” their food by using the four small antennules on the front of their heads and tiny sensing hairs that cover their bodies.

A lobster will use its crusher claw to break open shellfish and its ripper claw to tear food apart. The two sets of walking legs (or pereiopods) immediately behind the claws are also used for catching and eating food and have many “taste” sensors. They are used to move food into the mouthparts or maxillipeds. The teeth of the lobster are in its stomach. The stomach is located a very short distance from the mouth, and the food is actually chewed in the stomach between three grinding surfaces, called the gastric mill, that look like molar surfaces.

Credit : University of Maine 

Picture Credit : Google

Yes, there is a rare species of tree snail named after the late Steve Irwin, a famous Australian wildlife enthusiast. Called Crikey steveinvini, the tree snail was discovered in 2009 in Queensland. The scientists named it in his honour, as its shell was khaki in colour, like the signature outfit of Irwin.

The snail was found in the mountainous regions of north Queensland's wet tropics, near Cairns.

"This is an extremely rare species of snail," Dr Stanisic said.

"So far it has only been found in three locations, all on the summits of high mountains in far north Queensland and at altitudes above 1,000 metres, which is quite unusual for Australian land snails.

"These mountainous habitats will be among the first to feel the effects of climate change and Steve Irwin's tree snail could become a focal species for monitoring this change."

The scientist described crikey steveirwini as "a colourful snail, with swirling bands of creamy yellow, orange-brown and chocolate giving the shell an overall khaki appearance".

"It was the khaki colour that immediately drew the connection to the late Crocodile Hunter," Dr Stanisic said.

Terri Irwin says her husband would have been delighted to have a new species bear his name and signature catch-cry.

"Steve worked tirelessly to promote conservation, wildlife and the environment and his work enabled the plight of endangered species to reach a whole new audience," Ms Irwin said.

"Steve also had a long history of collaborating with staff at the Queensland Museum and I'm sure he would be pleased to know his name is continuing to highlight a rare and endangered Queensland species."

Credit :  ABC News 

Picture Credit : Google