Learning something new

You can learn something new every day, even Halloween!

Plasmid shows us some weird biology to ponder:

Here it is, just in time for Halloween, three treats from the annals of animal oddities:

Repair Your Knee With Spider’s Silk

Can Flamingos Have Erectile Disfunction?

Jumbo and the Looking Glass

There are also bees in the news:

A scientist has found a 100 million-year-old bee trapped in amber, making it possibly the oldest bee ever found.

The bee is about 40 million years older than previously found bees. The discovery of the ancient bee may help explain the rapid expansion and diversity of flowering plants during that time.

In the competing journal Nature this week, there is an article about the unraveling of the genetic map of the honeybee. The recently completed sequencing of the honeybee genome already is giving scientists fresh insights into the social insects.

Carl Zimmer tells us a little bit about the honeybee genome at his blog, The Loom.

And for your grisly Halloween enjoyment, meet the owner of Skulls Unlimited. No, it’s not a costume shop.

“If I don’t want to talk to (other people), I tell them I manage a museum exhibit company,” said Eric Humphries, who’s worked at the company for 14 years and now is its production manager. “If I want to talk to them, I tell them I clean skulls and skeletons for a living.”

Skulls Unlimited takes skulls and skeletons — human and animal — strips them of tissue, sanitizes them and sells them. Almost all of the company’s business in human bones comes from museums and educational groups, with prices starting at $349 for a human skull to $3,700 for a full skeleton.

“We’re probably one of the few suppliers in the country that has real human skulls,” Villemarette said.

The process isn’t for the squeamish. Once a set of bones arrives at the company, workers carve off as much tissue as they can by hand. Then the dermestid beetles do the rest. Villemarette gladly removes the lid of one tank in which the bugs are feasting on tissue that remains on the skulls of two alligators, two dogs, a grizzly bear and a gazelle, picking up one of the skulls to offer an onlooker a better view of the process.

Flies can be a problem around the skulls, as a fly strip loaded down with the dead pests attests. Biohazard signs are numerous, as skulls in various states of preparation lie scattered on the floor.

About Brandon Haught

Communications Director for Florida Citizens for Science.
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