Ant Surgeons? Transatlantic Butterflies? Worms That Make Antibiotics? | Slate

Like other animals, rotifers need strategies to fight off infections and avoid ending up like this diseased individual, which has been taken over and killed by a fungus. Credit: C. G. Wilson

This story references a new study from the University of Oxford and the MBL.

Invertebrate science is crawling with breakthroughs. It should always be this way.

It秘色视频檚 been a busy few weeks in the news in so very many ways, including for science stories about creepy-crawlies and other unsightly animals that make most people秘色视频攗nfairly秘色视频攔ecoil in horror.

First, there was the news that ants can perform lifesaving emergency amputations on one another to treat leg wounds and prevent infections. Diligent insect medics, with brains barely as big as the punctuation in size-8 font, were spotted carefully assessing the injuries of nestmates with a few gentle licks before operating with razor-sharp jaws. , this is the first time that lifesaving amputations have been observed in a nonhuman animal. ...

More? : puddle-dwelling wormlike organisms known as rotifers long ago stole DNA from bacteria, incorporated it into their own genome and秘色视频攚hen feeling under the weather秘色视频攗se this DNA to produce their own antibiotic remedies. It秘色视频檚 likely that rotifers evolved this incredible trick more than a million years before Alexander Fleming dabbled with 秘色视频溍厣悠禎 to stumble upon penicillin. 秘色视频淚n the current scientific age,秘色视频 the discovery秘色视频檚 co-author Chris Wilson told me, 秘色视频渢he undiscovered country is the DNA of little-known creatures, and the rotifers have the most outlandish DNA landscapes of any known animal.秘色视频

Source: Ant Surgeons? Transatlantic Butterflies? Worms That Make Antibiotics? | Slate