Someone Crack a Window!

Happy Tuesday, friends! Today’s post is one of my best friend’s favorite facts and will be one of yours too if you enjoy a second graders humor. It is also something you will always remember and think about…


Why is your colon shaped the way it is?
As always, let’s start with the basics…

The human colon is a key part of the digestive tract and is present to remove excess water and salts from your solid waste. There are four portions of the human colon (the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon and the sigmoid colon) and when you take those four sections and add the rectum and cecum, you get the large intestine. The large intestine is a little shy of 2 meters long. Chyme (contents of digestion) comes into the colon already striped of the vast majority of its nutrients and water. As muscle contractions (peristalsis) move the chyme along, it comes in contact with your body’s lovely supply of gut bacteria that help turn the chyme into feces (that’s the scientific word for poop – just in case you didn’t know). The feces will move into the rectum, which will fill and stretch until nerve endings on the internal recto-anal sphincter tell the body it’s time to hit up a bathroom. A sphincter if like a valve – it can open and close to allow things to move through or not. Your internal sphincter is involuntary (meaning you cannot control it), but thankfully your external recto-anal sphincter is voluntary. As a baby you learn to control this sphincter to regulate when you should get rid of your last meal.

Another byproduct of digestion is gas production. Gas can build up in your body in lots of different ways: forming from the breaking down of food, swallowing air, production by the bacteria in your colon, etc. This gas is known as flatus and is a mixture comprised mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. Just like chyme, flatus is passed through the colon via peristalsis and when it hits that internal sphincter, nerves send messages to the brain that it is time to crack a window. Luckily, just like with feces, flatus can be controlled with the external sphincter.

Basic anatomy and physiology, done - back to the question: why is it shaped the way it is?

If you look at a cross section of your colon (the majority of your large intestine, really), you will see it is not just a hollow tube. It would look more like a scrunchie (with wavy edges that are able to stretch, creating an irregular internal tube appearance) rather than a straw (with smooth internal edges and a constant diameter). This is for a very simple reason.

As peristalsis moves the flatus and feces through your large intestine, it is going to move at different rates and eventually run into each other. The irregular shape and ability to stretch helps allow the gas to move around and past the feces. If it were shaped like a smooth, rigid tube, the gas would build up behind the feces and create lots of pressure. The gas would push the feces through the colon too quickly to be properly processed. That pressure would also be very painful and trying to hold it in would probably be a waste of time. Worst of all, it would also mean every time you passed gas, you would go #2 too. Thanks to evolution, you can release gas and still hold in your #2 until you can get somewhere to get rid of it.

Kind of a gross post, but think about how impressive the body is to figure out that it needs to be designed this way!

And the next time you make a stinky, you are totes going to think about this post.

The Birdcage: A Story of Queens in Feathers

Today’s topic was a request by my cousin. Despite my deep hatred and fear of birds (yes, I hate them - like, hate hate hate them), I love her enough to do a post about the Birds of Paradise.

I will say that if I did have to pick a bird to like, these would win.

Birds of Paradise is the common name given to 38 species of birds that are all members of the Paradisaeidae family. The majority of these species (34 of the 38) can only be found on New Guinea and its closely surrounding islands. These birds are similar in anatomy and diet to their ugly step-cousin, the crow, but what sets them apart are their looks and attitude. The Birds of Paradise are the divas of the avian world.

Varying greatly between species, Birds of Paradise come in almost neon colors. These are some pretty birds, with everything from brightly colored and elongated feathers (referred to as streamers) to enormous head plumes and fans. The males are usually the brightest and most ornate so they attract the ladies. Girl birds are not that shallow though – they need more than looks.

Male birds will spend a large portion of their time trying to impress the super critical females. A boy will clear away large areas to serve as a stage and then gather an audience of girl birds to come watch him perform. He will spend hours dancing around, showing off his feathers and showing how fast he can run. These shows are meticulously rehearsed and perfect by the time an audience is here. Good thing because the females are not a nice audience – they will leave if they don’t like the show. This male obsession with getting all pretty and then performing is why Ed Scholes of New York’s Museum of Natural History refers to the male Birds of Paradise as drag queens. And we all know that makes me like these birds a little more.

So why did evolution make bird drag queens?

Looking pretty and showing off to attract a mate is nothing out of the ordinary, but these birds take it to a whole other level. No other animal puts this much energy towards being flashy. This much attention on superficial things takes away from energy that could be spent on getting food. The shows put on by the males for the females do not even demonstrate what a good nest builder, food gatherer or protector the male is. Not to mention, performing in the middle of a wide open stage in an elaborate costume is a giant, “come and eat me” sign to predators.


This wouldn’t fly anywhere but New Guinea. It’s a classic, “location, location, location!” The birds of paradise live in a paradise. The island of New Guinea may be swarming with countless species of birds, but there are no mammal predators that want to eat them or compete with them for food. With no need to worry about finding food or protecting themselves, the birds have more time to look pretty. Sexual selection began favoring the prettier birds because being attractive became important to these species. Being a Bird of Paradise is as tough as being a model at fashion week in Paris – only the prettiest survive. If you think about it, finding a mate based on looks and not having to worry about survival skills is a lot like human dating.

So from one diva to another, keep dancing you sassy feathered queens!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

Jellyfish are some of the ocean’s most graceful swimmers. I personally think watching them swim is very soothing. All jellyfish are found in the phylum Cnidaria (meaning they are not fish at all and are actually closely related to coral), but come in lots of diverse species that can be found at every depth of every ocean on the planet. Some species even live in freshwater. They are relatively simple organisms with no specialized digestive, circulatory, nervous or respiratory systems. These fragile animals (they are 98% water) have a fun life cycle with two distinct stages...

… I’ll keep the background information to a minimum (look it up if you’re interested) and get to the more interesting part…

When you think of jellyfish, you are probably not thinking about their lifecycle. You are actually envisioning how scary it would be if you fell into the middle of a bloom of jellies (more than one jellyfish = a bloom) and got stung to death! Hopefully that will never happen to you, but if it did wouldn’t you want to know how they were stinging you?

Members of the phylum Cnidaria have specialized stinging structures called cnidae (the phylum is named after these structures). When you think of a jellyfish, chances are you are imagining a species with a specific type of cnidae called a nematocyst.

Warning: I am going to talk about 2 different things: nematocyst and nematocyte. I won’t bring up the nematoblast. Just try to keep them straight.

All along the tentacles of a jellyfish (and in some species, a few other places) are specialized cells called nematocytes. Inside these cells are the long, hollow, tubular nematocysts; all coiled up and covered in barbs. Now let’s say you are swimming and you happen to brush your leg up against a jellyfish. This is what happens…

First, by coming in contact with the tentacle, you touched a small hair-like structure (cilium) that acts as a trigger. Once triggered, the trapdoor to the nematocyte cell (operculum) will spring open and allow the nematocyst to fly out at you. Like a glove with a finger inside out, the nematocyst will pop out while twisting. This twisting motion, coupled with a forceful discharge and sharp barbs, will drill through your skin. Thousands of nematocysts can be fired into your skin within an instant of a second. Once in you, the barbs will keep the nematocysts embedded in your skin and also serve as the deposit sites of the jellyfish venom. Depending on the species, this venom may be an issue.


The toxins are not well studied and their effects range from bursting surrounding cells, to rupturing red blood cells, to shutting down the central nervous system. Stay away from the venom of a Sea Wasp or Portuguese Man-of-War.

The nematocyst remains in the victim, so jellyfish are constantly making new ones. It takes about 2 days.

It is unknown how jellyfish actually fire their nematocysts with such force. It only takes 2 milliseconds to fire these little spears with around 140 atmospheres of pressure.

Flippin' your fins you don't get too far, Legs are required for jumpin' dancin'...

For Valentine’s Day, I went with a friend to see Disney on Ice. It was magical. Obviously all of the princesses were there including Ariel (the little mermaid for you morons that don’t know who that is). In honor of Ariel, I am going to post about real mermaids today. OK, really they are just humans born with a birth defect that makes them look like mermaids.

Sirenomelia (mermaid syndrome) is a super rare (1 in 100,000 live births) congenital birth defect where the newborn’s legs are fused together, appearing to look like a mermaid’s tail. Sirenomelia is not a genetic disorder and occurs randomly. A mom can have tons of healthy children, then a child with this disorder and go on to have more normal babies. The exact cause is not certain, but there are two main theories.

The first is the theory of caudal regression syndrome. Under this explanation, sirenomelia is caused by the failure of the cells within the caudal mesodermal axis. This includes a failure of both axial and intermediate mesodermal cells… just kidding (that was a line from a paper I wrote in an embryology class about sirenomelia). Basically this theory just says there are problems with the developing baby’s cells and therefore the cells end up developing improperly.

A second possible cause of sirenomelia is the vascular steal theory. Babies born with sirenomelia are usually from pregnancies associated with the presence of only a single umbilical artery (there should be two). This one umbilical artery is believed to “steal” blood supply (and thus oxygen supply) away from the developing embryo, mainly the lower (caudal) portion. Not enough oxygen means poor development.

Those born with sirenomelia suffer from a lot of other complications besides just fused legs. Most are born with messed up bone structures (lubrosacral and pelvic bone abnormalities), kidney development failure (bilateral renal agenesis), a malformed rectum (anorectal atresia) and malformed or completely absent boy/girl parts (agenesis of the external genitalia). These are serious complications and often lead to death within 2 days of birth. Depending on the severity of the condition and availability of health care, surgery may be an option to survive sirenomelia. There are only four known cases of children with sirenomelia living into childhood.

Talk about a welcome to the world!

Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are some of my favorite animals and have been since I was little. There are a lot of fun facts about the worlds tallest land species, like how they only have 7 vertebrae - the same number as all other mammals (including humans). What I think is most amazing about this species is how they come into the world.

After a girl giraffe meets a boy giraffe and they fall in love and call the giraffe stork, the girl giraffe will spend around 15 months pregnant. Then one day, a baby giraffe will start popping out - literally, it just starts popping out of the mom. The mother will deliver her baby while standing to prevent squishing the baby. Just like all other mammals, the mom will push until gravity takes over and pulls the 1.8 meter tall (6 foot) baby out. The baby giraffe will enter the world in free fall.

The newborn will fall 1.5 meters (5 feet) to the ground - basically landing on its head. Then the embryonic sack will burst. At this point momma giraffe bends over and starts nudging at and licking her newborn to make sure it is alive. Mom will also start making the baby giraffe try to stand. The newborn will be able to stand and walk within the hour. In nature this helps protect the baby from getting attacked and eaten by predators.

Tell me that is not an intense way to enter the world!

Here is a great clip I found, but I will warn you, this is an actual giraffe birth. It is not that gross, but maybe not watch this while eating.

‘Cause I’d get a thousand hugs, from ten thousand lightning bugs…

I don’t know about you, but I’m over this winter. And now we have more snow coming to DC tonight – bleh! I am so ready to be sitting outside at Screen on the Green on a warm, humid night, with a lovely little picnic, some wine and my amazing friends! The next time you are doing something like that outside in the summer, point out the fireflies around you and then inform everyone with you how and why fireflies create their light…

Fireflies are actually nocturnal (roam the night) beetles (in the order Coleoptera) and are sometimes referred to as lightning bugs. There are approximately 2,000 species of fireflies around the world, but no matter where you find them, all of them create their light using a process called bioluminescence. In the abdomen of fireflies there are specialized light-emitting organs. Within these organs can be found an enzyme called luciferase. Luciferase mixes with another enzyme (luciferin) and if oxygen is also present, some basic (but too technical for this post) chemistry occurs and then, voila, the firefly has a butt that is glowing! Very simple mechanism: two enzymes and oxygen. Uric acid containing cells in the abdomen act like mirrors and help reflect the light out and away from the firefly’s body. Although scientists know how the light is made, it is still unclear how fireflies regulate the light.

Each species of firefly has a unique flashing pattern that they use to attract a mate. Depending on the species, the flashes can range from quick flashes to long light burst. Some species of tropical fireflies can even get together and synchronize their flashes. While still a baby (larval) firefly, the flash is a way to keep away predators.

To be completely fair, I have to say there are a few species of firefly that are diurnal (they roam about during the day and night) and most of them do not produce any light. Why would you if you lived during the day? The ones that do still produce light tend to stay in the shade of trees.

Totally unrelated, but still a fun fact: Female fireflies deposit their eggs underground. When the larval fireflies hatch they stay underground and eat worms and slugs by injecting them with a numbing solution. When they grow into adults they eat pollen and nectar and some stop eating altogether.

Back since the days of old Methuselah, Everyone loves the big bambooz-a-ler…

I’m not much of a plant person, but every so often I learn about a plant that definitely deserves snaps.

Methuselah is the oldest known living (non-clonal) organism in existence. It is 4,842 years old! It was germinated (popped out of its seed) in 2832 BC!

Helpful clarification: A non-clonal organism means that it was created sexually and not just the product of asexual reproduction where all offspring are genetically identical to the parent (i.e. bacteria).

Methuselah is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) that is named after the biblical figure, Methuselah that was said to have lived for 969 years. For being so old, Methuselah is still happy as can be – growing and thriving and still producing seeds. If you want to see Methuselah – good luck! It is happily growing in the “Forest of the Ancients” in California’s White Mountains, but the exact location of the tree is being kept a well guarded secret to prevent stupid people from messing with it.