Secreted from the glands of poison dart frogs in South America, batrachotoxin is fatal at a dosage of just 0.1 milligrams. That’s equivalent to around two grains of table salt. After exposure, the toxin jams open the ion channels in its victim’s nervous system, forcing muscles to fire continuously. In around 10 minutes, the heart and lungs will seize.
Batrachotoxin just about the most potent toxin on the planet. But killing power aside, the most compelling thing about batrachotoxin is how it reveals large holes in our understanding of evolution.
In 1989, a graduate student from the University of Chicago named Jack Dumbacher was studying birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea. He was trying to catch them in nets but kept getting another bird, called a pitohui, instead.
“So I had two or three in a net and was pulling them out, and they scratched my hand,” he recalled over the phone. “I licked my cuts and instantly felt my tongue start to tingle and burn. After a moment it went numb and I thought Hey, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”…
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“ A cane toad [Rhinella marina] enjoying a romantic, star-filled evening in the Cordillera Escalera Conservation Area, Peru. Photographer Anton comments,
“Due to their abundance cane toads have been serving as my photographic...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6de0da7a1d294afbc6851316e485323c/tumblr_ob708qqxyk1u0gizpo1_1280.png)
A cane toad [Rhinella marina] enjoying a romantic, star-filled evening in the Cordillera Escalera Conservation Area, Peru. Photographer Anton comments,
“Due to their abundance cane toads have been serving as my photographic experimental guinea pigs during my time in Peru. If I want to try something new photographically its often as simple as going to the river, picking a suitable toad, and experimenting away. The toads are out in force most nights and can be found all along the river running through the jungle, they sit all along the edges in pools of water or on rocks. This was perfect for me as I wanted a shot with the sky playing a large part of it, in the jungle this type of shot is only possible at certain wide parts of the river as otherwise the canopy of the forest completely hides the sky. “
These remarkable fossils, described today in a new Nature Communications study, were discovered by paleontologists Lida Xing, Ryan McKellar, and their colleagues at a site in the Kachin Province of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Incredibly, the 3D fossils still contain traces of hair follicles, soft tissue, and feather arrangements—this from a winged creature that lived about 100 million years ago. This is the first time that scientists have had the opportunity to study these particular physical characteristics in bird that became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period…
Star Trek - “The Klingon Gambit”
While investigating a Vulcan ship full of corpses the Enterprise crew starts getting all loopy, like Spock becomes a major horn-dog and Uhura becomes boy-crazy (uh, early writers for Uhura were pretty sexist when they were men I guess). Anyway, there’s some Klingons as you may guess and a mystery as to who’s behind it, or should I say what, or should I say it’s a shiny rock.
RATING: 38%
(Where to place: During the second season, between “By Any Other Name” and “The Ultimate Computer,” if we’re going chronologically)
Star Trek - “Battlestations!”
So we’re supposed to believe that Piper, from the novel Dreadnought, is best pals with the whole bridge crew after one measly mission?
RATING: 21%
(Where to place: The third year of the five-year mission, between By Any Other Name and The Ultimate Computer.)
hychlorions
