Monday, April 24, 2017

Lauren Cargill - This Mammal Can Act Like a Plant

Summary: Naked mole rats are surprising science again. They are cold blooded, resistant to pain and cancer, and they can live up to 100 years. Scientists now believe that they can survive without oxygen. "Naked mole-rats are very social animals and typically live in underground colonies of up to 200 in East Africa," says Gary Lewin, who co-led the study, "with so many animals crowded into such a small living space -- all of them taking in oxygen and producing carbon dioxide -- they are used to oxygen-deprived environments." They tested it by putting the naked mole rats into an environment and gradually reducing the oxygen. They were hardly affected, though less than 10% oxygen kills humans. Then, they took all of the oxygen away. The rodents went into a sort of coma-like state but were completely fine 18 minutes later when the oxygen was reintroduced. Naked mole rats possess tons of new things that humans can learn.

Analysis: Naked mole rats are so cool! Before, I only really new naked mole rats from Kim Possible so to learn this is really cool. I like how these small creatures possess so many things. I feel like the world is going to end and all that'll be left are the naked mole rats. This could relate to all of  the other naked mole rat related discoveries that have happened in the past. I can't wait to find out what else these creatures have in store!

Article:  http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/health/naked-mole-rats-oxygen-study/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

4 comments:

  1. This is interesting science. I wonder if we study the DNA of naked mole rats, if we can develop something similar as humans. Perhaps in the future, we will have seemingly superhuman powers because of these naked mole rats.

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  2. JADA BROWN- Same, the kim possible reference. Until this article, I never even payed attention to naked mole rats. This interests me and I'm so glad I've learned a litte more about them. -JADA BROWN

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  3. Wow! I didn't know this and that is actually so cool. I didn't know naked mole rats were such interesting creatures!

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  4. This is really cool! The naked mole rat is a lot more interesting than I thought.

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