Dumbo octopus is a rare species of octopus living in the deep sea

The octopuses of the genus Grimpoteuthis are also known as Dumbo octopuses from the ear-like fins protruding from the top of their head-like bodies, resembling the ears of Walt Disney's flying elephant Dumbo. They are bathyal creatures, living at extreme depths of 3,000 to 4,000 metres (9,800 to 13,000 ft), with some living up to 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) below sea level, which is the deepest of any known octopus.[citation needed] They are some of the rarest of the Octopoda species. They can flush the transparent layer of their skin at will, and are pelagic animals, as with all other cirrate octopuses. The largest Dumbo octopus ever recorded was 6 feet (1.8 m) in length and weighed 13 pounds (5.9 kg), although the normal size for the various species is thought to be smaller.

 

They hover above the sea floor, searching for polychaetes, pelagic copepods, isopods, amphipods, and other crustaceans for food. The Dumbo octopus is strange in the way it consumes food in that it swallows its prey whole, which differs from any other kind of octopus.[citation needed] They move by pulsing their arms, shooting water through their funnel, by waving their ear-like fins, or any combination thereof. Males and females differ in their size and sucker patterns. Dissected females have yielded eggs during different stages of development, which has led to the conclusion that females lay eggs constantly, with no distinct breeding season. Male Dumbo octopuses possess an enlarged segment on one of their arms, similar to the hectocotylus arm of other cephalopods. It is likely that this modified arm transfers masses of spermatophores into the female during copulation, as occurs in other cephalopods.

Oryginal article

Strawberries can stay fresh longer when exposed to UVC light emitted by LED diodes

Strawberries are a treat to treasure, but if stashed in the fridge for a handful of days, they're likely to grow an undesirable goatee of mold. Those days may be numbered, according to researchers who've shown that exposing the red fruit to low levels of ultraviolet light doubles their shelf life.

The proof-of-concept results stem from a challenge given by an undisclosed refrigerator manufacturer to the maker of new light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit ultraviolet (UV) light at wavelengths found in sunlight transmitted through the atmosphere.

What exactly the lights are doing to the berries to stave off mold is unknown, according to Steven Britz, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Components and Health Laboratory, who led the experiments as a side project with funding from the LED maker, Sensor Electronic Technology Inc.

"We have a hypothesis that we have tested," he told NBC News. "We could be activating defense genes in the strawberry in part. That's been shown by other people in published papers."

Other possibilities include a germicidal effect on the mold spores or a modification of the cell walls on the strawberries that somehow make them less hospitable to the growth of mold.

Whatever the reason, tests in Britz's lab found that when the strawberries are stored in a fridge under the lights continuously, spoilage was delayed for at least nine days, which is more than 50 percent longer than they unexposed berries.

Analysis of the strawberries revealed slightly higher levels of the red pigment in strawberries, normal levels of sugars and acidity, he noted.

"The strawberries, from what we could deduce, looked good," Britz said.

But did the researchers eat them?

"No, we didn’t' have enough," he said, explaining that the experimental setup allowed for just four strawberries in each container, which they kept for other analytical tests. "But they looked good, and they smelled good … I wouldn't have hesitated to eat them."

Oryginal article

Planarian worms are able to regrow their decapitated heads, along with the memories inside

Some memories just won't die — and some can even be transferred to a whole new brain. Researchers at Tufts University have determined that a small, yellow worm known as a planarian, which has long been studied for its regenerative properties, is able to grow back a lot more than just its body parts: after the worm's small, snake-like head and neck are removed, its body will even regrow a brain that's capable of quickly relearning its lost skills.

The researchers tested the memory of planarians by measuring how long it took for them to reach food in a controlled setting. The small worms dislike open spaces and bright lights — but they had been trained to ignore it so that they could find their meals. Even after decapitation, worms that had gone through training were able to overcome their fears and start eating much faster than worms that hadn't been trained. However, the memories didn't come back immediately. Each worm still had to be reminded of its earlier knowledge, though it only took a single lesson for it to all come back.

Why this happens is still unclear. Planarians' brains control their behavior, but the researchers suggest that some of their memories might be stored elsewhere in their body. Alternatively, they suggest that the worms' original brain may have modified their nervous systems, and their nervous systems may have then altered how the new brains formed during regrowth.

The researchers' findings appears in The Journal of Experimental Biology. They say that more work needs to be done to nail down the specifics of how planarians recover their memory, but the hope is that the worms can be used as a way to study how memory and learning work. That may sound complicated for a seemingly basic creature, but existing studies are already using them to research drug addiction and withdrawal.

Oryginal article