Curio Cabinet

These little critters really know how to jell. Researchers at the University of Exeter in the U.K. have found that comb jellies are capable of fusing together when injured, according to a paper published in Current Biology. Comb jellies are small (around four inches long), translucent marine invertebrates in the Ctenophora phylum. They’re truly ancient; in fact, they branched off from the single-celled common ancestor of all animals earlier than any other creatures still living today. Since they originally developed, little about them has changed, leaving them with a relatively unusual, jellyfish-like anatomy (though they’re not actually jellyfish). However, a researcher noticed a particularly strange specimen in a lab’s observation tank. Comb jellies normally have one apical organ and one lobe on their rear end that is used to eject digested food. This specimen, though, had two of each, almost as if two individual comb jellies had been stuck together. Suspecting as much, the researchers successfully replicated the fusion in other comb jellies. Apparently, when comb jellies are injured, they can combine into one to increase their chances of survival. Within hours of being grafted together, the comb jellies began acting as one, responding to muscle stimuli in sync and even digesting food through a single canal. Stranger still, although the two act as one, they maintain their own separate sets of DNA, and their morphology isn’t passed on to the next generation. Researchers believe that understanding the mechanism behind the comb jellies’ fusion could lead to advances in transplantation and regeneration. In the meantime, don’t go gluing yourself to your friends every time you scrape your knee.

[Image description: A group of comb jellies in black water.] Credit & copyright: Benoît Prieur (1975–), Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
 

They can leap 20 feet and they have otherworldly senses, but they’re not superheroes, they’re marine mammals! Bottlenose dolphins are as famous for their playful nature as they are for their impressive intelligence. In fact, researchers have recently discovered that they “smile” at one another (or do the dolphin equivalent, anyway) while playing together. These incredible animals also have some of the strangest evolutionary history of any mammal.
 
Dolphins didn’t always live in the ocean—at least, their ancestors didn’t. Unlike many other large ocean animals, like sharks, dolphins aren’t fish, but mammals. They’re warm-blooded, have hair (not a lot, but some), give birth to live young, feed their young with milk, and breathe air. That last feature might make a life at sea seem like a strange choice, but it worked quite well for dolphins. The fossil record shows that, around 50 million years ago, dolphins’ terrestrial, four-legged, canine-like ancestors found the ocean to be a great source of food, and began spending more and more time there. Over millions of years, they lost most of their fur, their legs turned to flippers, and their bodies became streamlined for water travel. But many of their ancestors’ characteristics remain: bottlenose dolphins’ namesake snouts still have the same overall shape as their ancestors’ muzzles. Dolphins’ spines and ribs are still positioned in basically the same way their ancestors’ were, which means that they swim with an “up and down” motion rather than the “side to side” gait that fish have. This spinal position, and the fact that bottlenose dolphins retained their ancestors’ flexible necks, means that they can leap high out of the water and make extremely tight turns while swimming.
 
Recent research has shown that bottlenose dolphins use body language, as well as a complex series of vocalizations, to communicate. Open-mouthed facial expressions seem to serve a purpose similar to smiling, as dolphins often make such expressions while playing. It’s also been discovered that dolphins can sense weak electrical signals, thereby using Earth’s naturally occurring magnetic fields to navigate long distances in the open ocean. Bottlenose dolphins are so intelligent that those in captivity can learn complex series of words and commands. In fact, studies have shown that dolphins can not only problem solve but also recognize themselves in mirrors, making them one of the few known animals that are self-aware. This makes it all the more tragic that bottlenose dolphins are often killed when they become tangled in waste from the commercial fishing industry. It’s estimated that some 300,000 whales and dolphins die each year after coming into contact with nets and other fishing debris. It’s a good reason to eat fish from brands committed to ethical fishing practices, and to clean up after yourself when out at sea. Surely you’d rather have the dolphins smile at you than frown.

 
[Image description: A bottlenose dolphin swims with its upper body out of the water.] Credit & copyright: Rene~dawiki, Wikimedia Commons. This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Rene, at the English Wikipedia project. This applies worldwide.

This ain’t your grandma’s cloned sheep! When Dolly the sheep was cloned way back in the 1990s, it was a scientific breakthrough. Now, an 81-year-old Montana rancher will be going to prison after he cloned exotic sheep for money and fun. If you’re wondering how a rancher managed to clone sheep, he did have some help. Cloning, the replication of identical genetic material, can occur naturally, as when asexual organisms reproduce by creating identical copies of themselves. Identical twins are also natural clones, since they develop from the same egg and share 100% of their genetic material. However, artificial cloning is a tad more complicated—though it is commonly performed for biomedical research. It involves a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, where the nucleus of one egg cell is transferred to another cell, which is then allowed to grow into a genetically identical organism. There is still some ethical debate surrounding this kind of cloning (which is why it’s illegal to clone human beings in the U.S.).
 
One debate that’s settled, however, is the matter of rancher Arthur “Jack” Schubarth’s guilt. Apparently, he smuggled body parts from a Marco Polo sheep (the largest species of sheep in the world at 300 pounds) into the U.S., then hired a lab to create cloned embryos that he implanted in sheep at his ranch. When the first male Marco Polo sheep was born, he named it Montana Mountain King, or MMK, and used it to create hybrids to be used in his captive hunting operation. In addition, he sold the cloned sheep’s semen and hybrid offspring to other captive hunting operations across state lines for as much as $10,000. By introducing an exotic sheep species to the U.S., Schubarth violated both the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he also broke the law by threatening the genetic integrity of the wild sheep population in Montana and risking their exposure to exotic diseases. Seems this sheep enthusiast will have to live with a baa-ad reputation.

 
[Image description: A ram skull in a field of grass and yellow flowers.] Credit & copyright: NPGallery, item ID: 7e5f2229-adcc-40cb-a125-e591fd45a746. NPS / Jacob W. Frank. Public Domain.

When a butterfly flaps its wings, it threatens the electronics industry. The butterfly effect certainly does seem to be on full display as the devastation from Hurricane Helene is now, in a roundabout way, threatening to have a dire impact on everything from smartphones to AI. Many modern electronics rely on high-quality quartz to operate properly. Microwaves, televisions, computers, and a myriad of other products contain quartz somewhere inside. When an electric field is applied to a quartz crystal, it oscillates at a stable and reliable frequency, and this is used as a timing reference. The simplest example is a timepiece—most analog watches and clocks, despite their purely mechanical appearance, use electronics with quartz to keep time accurately. Quartz is actually very common, but not just any quartz will do. For it to provide precise, accurate timing, quartz of exceptional purity is needed. This kind of quartz is also used for semiconductors, which are essential components of any electronic device that doesn’t run on tubes. Such high-quality quartz is very rare, and only a handful of sites around the world are known to have significant deposits of it. One of those sites is located in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, a small town of around 2,000. Located an hour from Asheville, the town is also known as Mineral City for its abundance of the rare quartz. Unfortunately, when Hurricane Helene struck, it dropped two feet of rain on the small town and caused widespread power outages. Among the affected were two companies that provide up to 90 percent of all the world’s high-quality quartz. It’s not just the power outage that’s hampering operations, but damage to the quartz mines themselves. Luckily, many semiconductor manufacturers keep robust quartz stockpiles in case of supply disruptions, so there won’t be immediate repercussions. Still, they can’t go on forever unless Spruce Pine gets up and running again. It’s just one more reminder not to underestimate the importance of small towns.

 
[Image description: Quartz crystals against a black and gray background.] Credit & copyright: MartinThoma, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.