The Tongue

 

Science has this interesting story on how the tongue shaped life on this planet. A sample:

THE DEMANDS OF FEEDING may have prompted the emergence of the tongue, but natural selection then tailored and honed it for myriad other purposes, sometimes creating “ridiculously crazy specialized systems,” Schwenk says. For example, web-toed salamanders (Hydromantes) whip out a sticky tongue to nab insects or other small arthropods, shooting their entire throat skeleton out through their mouth. This feeding mode involved retooling throat muscles, with one set storing elastic energy that could be instantaneously released to shoot out the tongue, and another set reeling the tongue back in.

....TONGUE EVOLUTION helped reptiles and amphibians capture animal prey, but in birds, some of the most outlandish tongue adaptations reflect a taste for plants. Most avian tongues are a stiff sliver of keratin (think fingernails) or bone, with little muscle or other living tissue. They “are just a conveyor belt to move food from front to back,” Schwenk says. But there are exceptions—most notably in hummingbirds and other birds that feed on nectar. “The tongue is probably the most vital component for nectar feeding in birds,” says David Cuban, a graduate student at the University of Washington (UW) who works with behavioral ecophysicist Alejandro Rico-Guevara.

Cheers, 

Colin

Fisk and Alcohol: Its Relation to Human Efficiency and Longevity (1917)

Just making a note of this historical piece for future research.  Book can be accessed here.

Cheers, 

Colin

Genetics and COVID

Nature news has this interesting news piece on why COVID is life-threatening for some people- it may have to do with immune genes.  A sample from the story:

Baillie and his colleagues analysed data from more than 24,000 people and combined this information with data sets from around the world. They found 49 DNA sequences that are associated with becoming critically ill from COVID-19. Sixteen of these had not been reported previously.

Among these sequences are some that could affect the activity of genes and proteins involved in the immune system. Raging immune cells have long been implicated in causing some of the tissue damage seen in late-stage, severe cases of COVID-19. Baillie and his colleagues found genetic links to inflammatory responses and the activation of immune cells — processes that can damage the lungs and reduce their capacity to send oxygen to the body’s tissues.

“It definitely expands our understanding of the genetic determinants of severe COVID,” says Brent Richards, a human geneticist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Richards is an investigator on another project called the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, a global effort in which scientists from more than 54 countries share data.

The study mentioned in the news piece is here.

Cheers, 

Colin

Aging Cell Perspective article (forthcoming)

I was thrilled to learn that Aging Cell has accepted my latest Perspective piece for publication, entitled "Geroscience and Climate Science:  Oppositional or Complementary?".  The image above captures the predicament I address.  Below is the abstract:

Two of this century’s most significant public health challenges are climate change and healthy aging.  The future of humanity will be both warmer and older than it is today.  Is it socially responsible, in a warming planet of a population exceeding 8 billion people, for science to aspire to develop gerotherapeutic drugs that aim to reduce the burden of aging-related diseases that may also increase lifespan?  This question is the “elephant in the room” for geroscience advocacy.  Science communication concerning what constitutes empirically valid and morally defensible ways of navigating the dual public health predicaments of climate change and healthy aging must be sensitive to both the interdependence of the environment (including planetary health) and the mechanisms of aging, as well as the common (mis)perceptions about the potential conflict between the goals of climate science and geroscience.  Geroscience advocacy can transcend narratives of intergenerational conflict by highlighting the shared aspirations of climate science and geroscience, such as the goals of promoting health across the lifespan, redressing health disparities, and improving the economic prospects of current and future generations. 

Cheers, 

Colin

Stress and Aging

Cell Metabolism has an interesting study out on stress and aging.  Here is the abstract:

Aging is classically conceptualized as an ever-increasing trajectory of damage accumulation and loss of function, leading to increases in morbidity and mortality. However, recent in vitro studies have raised the possibility of age reversal. Here, we report that biological age is fluid and exhibits rapid changes in both directions. At epigenetic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic levels, we find that the biological age of young mice is increased by heterochronic parabiosis and restored following surgical detachment. We also identify transient changes in biological age during major surgery, pregnancy, and severe COVID-19 in humans and/or mice. Together, these data show that biological age undergoes a rapid increase in response to diverse forms of stress, which is reversed following recovery from stress. Our study uncovers a new layer of aging dynamics that should be considered in future studies. The elevation of biological age by stress may be a quantifiable and actionable target for future interventions.

Cheers, 

Colin

Dewey on History

 

Proofs of New Chapter

 Just making the final edits to the proofs of this chapter, which will be published in this book in the summer.   

Cheers, 

Colin