Fixed Behaviours and Migration in Parasitic Flatworms

     Parasites can have a detrimental effect on all animal and plant life.  They infest their host, and more often than not, causing extreme illness, or, very often, fatality.  By learning how parasites function and their different behaviors, it can become possible to prevent sicknesses and death because of parasites.  Dr. Suzanne Sukhdeo, a parasitologist at Rutgers University, is doing just that.  Dr. Sukhdeo primarily studies the behavioral and migration patterns of parasites that infest many plants and animals that are consumed by humans.  In Dr. Sukhdeo's research paper, published in the International Journal for Parisitology, "Fixed Behaviours and Migration in Parasitic Flatworms", she studies how parasites know which direction to travel and how to get to their designated area of the body.  As many already know, eating an organism with parasites will almost always allow the parasite into your own body, causing you to become extremely ill.  The study of parasite behavior is a relatively new field, because it was unknown for centuries that parasites had very distinct behaviors and migratory patterns.  How does a liver fluke almost always know which direction to travel in order to get to the liver?  How does a tapeworm know how to get to the intestines?  This study has the potential to prevent fatal sicknesses stemming from the infestation of parasites.  

Found DNA Can Create a 3-D Model of Strangers

   Heather Dewey-Hagborg, an information artist from Brooklyn, has found a way to create a portrait of a stranger using only DNA found on the ground or in the garbage.  You are leaving trails of DNA behind you everywhere you go, like chewing gum you spit out, a hair that falls off you while walking, or a cigarette butt you stomp out. 

Dewey-Hagborg collects bits of trash laced with strangers’ DNA and it is coded.  As of right now, the only traits she is capable of reading is eye color, gender, and maternal ethnicity.  She then searches through a database of possible faces and choses the most aesthetically pleasing face to be showed as a printed 3-D model in her most recent project, "Stranger Visions" in an art gallery.  Although they are only printed 3-D pictures that in no way fully resemble her ‘subject’ the pictures are still very life-like because she uses a high quality 3-D printer.

This project is still in its beginning stages, but it has loads of room for evolution and perfection.  This could be used to search for missing children or criminals after it is nearly perfected.  Just remember, any time you give spit your gum out, you are leaving your DNA behind for anyone who wants it.  

How Did The Dinosaurs Evolve?

     Dinosaurs are one of the most famous groups of living organism ever to inhabit the Earth, but an interesting question is, where did they come from?
     Dinosaurs arose from a family of prehistoric reptiles called the archosaurs, who evolved from a common ancestor between fish and reptiles, one of the first creatures to make the transition from water to land.  From that common ancestor, three branches formed, the pelycosaurs, the therapsids, and the archosaurs.  The therapsids gave rise to the first mammals, who existed somewhat in secrecy along with the dinosaurs, but were unable to flourish with them.
     The archosaurs rose up after the Permian/Triassic Extinction Event, which was a massive extinction that wiped out three quarters of the world's terrestrial animals. The archosaurs, who thrived for thousands of years evolved and gave rise to the dinosaurs, who thrived for millions of years.
     The dinosaurs 'ruled' the Earth for an extremely long time, up until the K/T Extinction , that wiped out 70% of Earth's land animals, including the dinosaurs.  The most accepted theory behind this extinction is that a massive meteorite struck the Earth, clouding the sky for years killing many plants and many animals.  Without any plants, the herbivores starved and died out, and without herbivores, the carnivores had nothing to eat and also died out.  Also, the impact caused earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, destroying much of Earth as it was known 65 million years ago.
     Very few animals survived, but the ones that did consisted of some avian-like dinosaurs, that gave rise to birds, many mammals, and tortoises. With the extinction of dinosaurs, animals such as mammals were able to rise and evolve.

http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/dinosaurevolution/a/dinevolution.htm