The Ed's Up #95

Why Do Glowing Sharks Glow?

"There are about 550 species of shark in the oceans. Around twelve percent of them glow. Claes has been studying these elusive fish for a decade, and has been slowly piecing together the purpose of their glow. The light comes from many small organs called photophores, which dot their bellies and sometimes their flanks. No one knows how these structures produce light, but Claes and his team are getting close to knowing why they do so." (Image: SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory)
 

Leaky Vaccines Enhance Spread of Deadlier Chicken Viruses

Over the past fifty years, Marek’s disease—an illness of fowl—has become fouler. Marek’s is caused by a highly contagious virus, related to those that cause herpes in humans. It spreads through the dust of contaminated chicken coops, and caused both paralysis and cancer. In the 1970s, new vaccines brought the disease the under control. But Marek’s didn’t go gently into that good night. Within ten years, it started evolving into more virulent strains, which now trigger more severe cancers and afflict chickens at earlier ages. Andrew Read from Pennsylvania State University thinks that the vaccines were responsible. (Image: Lance Cheung, USDA)
 

More good reads

• A new illness or mass hysteria? The village in Kazakhstan where people fall asleep for days. Incredible story by Sarah Topol.
• One of the big myths: scientists know how drugs work. By Carolyn Johnson
• Hospital checklists are meant to save lives — so why do they often fail? By Emily Anthes
• Fantastic piece by Christie Wilcox into the four-legged snake fossil that I covered last week, including the ethical snakepit that it crawled into.
• A rare condition causes Joel Salinas to experience other people's emotions and sensations. Is mirror-touch synesthesia a superpower or a curse? By Erika Hayasaki
• "Every means of confession creates a kind of person who confesses. "An essay on Fitbit and productivity tracking, by Moira Weigel.  
• The case of the night vision eyedrops "showed how biohacking works, and where it all falls apart". By Rose Eveleth.
• Cancer cells as cheaters in the game of life. By George Johnson
• American dentist killed Cecil the lion, and triggers an online storm. Henry Nicholls interviews a conservationist who studied Cecil, and David Shiffman and Brigid Hains wrote some good pieces.
• "It is so important for that empty chair to be there, so all of us who stay silent for whatever reason can know there is a place, waiting for us, if and when we are ready." Roxane Gay on New York Magazine's incredible cover and Bill Cosby

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