The Ed's Up #87
The Dragon Autopsy
Last month, I watched a team of four dragon-flayers dissecting a Komodo dragon. Here's what happened, featuring Game of Thrones, some fascinating biology, and the best anecdote I've heard in ages.
"Try to imagine how hard it would be to skin a Komodo dragon.
It is harder than that.
The problem is that the giant lizard’s hide is not just tough and leathery, but also reinforced. Many of the scales contain a small nugget of bone, called an osteoderm, which together form a kind of pointillist body armor. Sawing through these is tough on both arms and blades."
More good reads
- Fascinating piece on people who experience psychosomatic blindness or paralysis w/o any neurological problems. By Suzanne O Sullivan
- “So you’re related to Charlemagne? You and every other living European… “ Superb piece by Adam Rutherford on the value (or lack thereof) of genetic ancestry testing. Featuring Charlemagne... and Hugh.
- "But how do expenses work if you're a spy, doing secret work?" This is an amazing piece by Sarah Laskow about espionage and bureaucracy
- More than 19,000 saiga antelope have died in Kazakhstan in the last two weeks, and no one knows why.
- Antibiotics aren’t profitable to make, so who will pay for the new ones we desperately need? Maryn McKenna reports.
- When did consciousness begin? Veronique Greenwood on the weird world of Julian Jaynes & how his 1970s theory of consciousness fares in the present day.
- This robot can perform brain surgery on fruit flies, while this one can recover from a broken leg.
- "6 Extra Pairs of Genitals Is Just Too Much of a Good Thing." By Gwen Pearson
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