The Ed's Up #113
Inside the Bizarre Genome of the World’s Toughest Animal
"In the tun state, tardigrades don't need food or water. They can shrug off temperatures close to absolute zero and as high as 151 degrees Celsius. They can withstand the intense pressures of the deep ocean, doses of radiation that would kill other animals, and baths of toxic solvents. And they are, to date, the only animals that have been exposed to the naked vacuum of space and lived to tell the tale—or, at least, lay viable eggs. A new study suggests that this ability might have contributed to their superlative endurance in a strange and roundabout way. It makes them uniquely suited to absorbing foreign genes from bacteria and other organisms—genes that now pepper their genomes to a degree unheard of for animals." (Image: Science Picture Co)
The New Gene-Editing Technique That Reveals Cancer’s Weaknesses
Humans have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes, but which of these really matter? Which are essential, and which are merely optional add-ons? It’s crazy to me that we still don't know, even though it’s been almost 15 years since the first draft of the human genome was published. Enter the revolutionary gene-editing technique called CRISPR. Two different groups have used CRISPR to systematically inactivate almost every gene in human cells in a bid to identify all the essential ones. (Image: Science Picture Co)
Why So Blue, Tarantulas?
"Although most of the 900 or so species of tarantulas are varying shades of black or brown, the majority of sub-groups have at least one blue species. They are wonderfully named, too: the cobalt blue, the greenbottle blue, the Singapore blue, the Brazilian blue-green pinktoe, and plenty more. “Everywhere you look in the tarantula family tree, you can find examples of blue,” says Todd Blackledge form the University of Akron. “No, I didn’t realize either, and I work on spiders." But why are they blue?" (Image: Michael Kern) 
The Innovation That Doomed The Very Fish It Helped
"A few hundred thousand years ago, a group of fish in an African lake evolved something new—a set of strong chewing jaws in their throats. They became better at eating a wide variety of tough foods. They thrived. They diversified into endless forms most wonderful. And in doing so, some of them doomed themselves." (Image: OakleyOriginals)
More good reads
- "To weather something is, after all, to survive." The peerless Kathryn Schulz takes us on a tour of weather in literature. (Bonus: The 10 best weather events in fiction.)
- Five Year Watch, an awesome new thing from Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus, analysing the "in five year's time" claims for biomedical stories.
- The wild turkeys took one look at the wilderness, went "Screw this", and moved to the city. By Yoni Appelbaum.
- A beautiful MRI image of a mother and child. "We made this one because we wanted to see it." By Rebecca Saxe
- Phobos, a Martian moon, is set to become Martian rings. By Alex Witze
- Life is Rescue: a beautifully told story about Icelandic rescue teams, by Nick Paumgarten
More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.
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And that's it! Thanks for reading.
-Ed