by Matthew Cobb
In Poland, Paulina, a student and Malgorzata and Andrzej’s lodger, is working hard:
Paulina: Przygotowuję się do kolejnego egzaminu.
Greetings and good morning it’s Monday rush hour #farmrushhour #rushhour @caro_painter pic.twitter.com/z4ALurjhEc
— caenhillcc (@caenhillcc) November 18, 2019
Spellbinding starling murmurations at Rough Tor this evening ! @CBWPS1 @BBCSpringwatch @BBCCountryfile pic.twitter.com/ufVc9U1C7X
— Bob Bosisto (@BobBosisto) November 17, 2019
Some more bird action here:
Sanderlings reliably greet me at nearly every beach trip. I love to watch them run like little windup toys as they play tag with the waves. pic.twitter.com/leMXqMBR1i
— Get To Know Nature (@GetToKnowNature) October 26, 2019
It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what TikTok is (it’s a teen thing), this is good:
it’s official this is the best tiktok to exist pic.twitter.com/aADZh5jJKm
— cara🪴 (@outgrwnthings) November 14, 2019
Gruesome at the beginning, but the planarians all seem OK about it:
I was just reading a pub on planarians and one thing led to another so now I must share this 1-min video of how these flatworms can grow a whole body from a fragment after being chopped.
[More info here: https://t.co/wmS5C2dCNt] pic.twitter.com/ETmDauOo5O
— Efra Rivera-Serrano, PhD (@NakedCapsid) October 26, 2019
And where would Monday be without an amazing fly?
The amazing stalk eyed flies. Stalk-eyeness has arisen in flies independently 22 times 👊 https://t.co/sYikj3C0GM
— Dr Erica McAlister (@flygirlNHM) October 25, 2019
The idea that the planarians can all then recall a maze the original learnt – is that something from my head or a real thing?
https://everything2.com/title/The+ability+of+planarian+worms+to+run+a+maze+more+successfully+after+being+fed+the+remains+of+a+successful+worm
Should have done this once –
https://study.com/academy/lesson/experiments-with-planaria.html
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4797/can-flatworms-learn-a-maze-by-digesting-other-flatworms
What a great way to greet the dawn. Cuddly Hili, flashy Sandpipers, magic planeria, stalk-eyed flies…
Let’s hear it for Matthew!
+1
Years ago, I would teach a developmental biology lab where we would do experiments on planaria regeneration. Cutting them into pieces is easy, but the other experiment to do is to split their head in order to get them to regenerate as two-headed worms.
That was tedious, actually, since one had to re-split their head every day over several days. Weekends included.
That must be where the term, splitting headache, came from. 😎
The Wise One has you there. (Second paragraph, specifically.)
A very interesting and well illustrated Wikipedia entry. I never knew Rembrandt painted her, and such a beautiful painting, (didn’t we have a post about ciaroscuro recently?).
She is depicted with her ‘regalia’ on many pictures: shield, helmet, spear, owl, snake and the winged Nike, but none of them show all. She is the goddess of wisdom and war, and, I’m sure if they had these concepts at the time, of science and engineering.
Various terms for these identifying bits of equipment. “Regalia” certainly fits, but I think I’ve seen “attributes” used commonly as well, particularly in the context of painting saints. So, you’d know that the brawn in the picture was Hercules from his lion-skin cloak and club (Labour #1 – slaying the Nemean Lion ; but I’ll have to start counting fingers now.) while the wrikly dude is St Peter from the key he’s carrying. Stuck with arrows like a pin cushion is … Saint Sebastian, IIRC.
That sandpiper murmuration was a thrill. Loved the sanderlings as well, and what a perfect name for those birds. Thanks for keeping the Hili dialogs going Dr. Cobb, much appreciated!
I imagine there’s been some wacky science fiction where intelligent planarian type things are on topic. “And so, my parents decided when I was 2 that they wanted me to have a brother, so I had to go to the vivisector to get cut in half.”
The goat-hugging video is the best! I’d love to do that.