Is it just me, or is that our favorite naked mole rat today on icanhascheeseburger?

If you skirt the question about accredited articles, then it is no wonder you are having trouble finding people to debate. Debate is not science, it is playing upon the prejudices of the audience. Scientific conclusion is about peer reviewing work from accredited scientific journals. I really can’t see Professor Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers or any real scientist taking seriously or bothering to debate about alien abductions even though millions believe it to be true. There are just no credible studies on this as there are no credible scientific studies that support creationism.

Wieland of course went to PZ Myers himself, who responded with nothing but the image presented above.

2. Has science validated the ancient Ayurvedic ‘Neti pot’ as a legitimate medical treatment? – I first heard about the Neti pot a few years ago when it was featured in an episode of Six Feet Under. At the time, I didn’t know what to make of it but had since become somewhat skeptical of it from the little literature I’ve seen on it. A recent review article in American Family Physician found it effective adjunctive therapy for symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis (and they say real “Western” medicine only treats the symptoms). Well a new study made some interesting findings about the Neti pot. It seems that while it may be effective in treating short-term nasal irrigation, long-term use can be harmful.

3. Freedom From Religion Foundation gets strong atheist sign up in Illinois Capitol Building for second year in a row – The text is very similar to the text used on last year’s Washington display that I wasn’t too pleased with, so this is kind of a mixed bag. While I’m willing to be more abrasive towards religion in other venues, I don’t think it’s appropriate to stick such a mean-spirited message on a federal building, regardless of the cause. You choose your battles and you take your audience into account. I don’t even encourage strong anti-religious sentiments on billboards but sticking it on government land is far harder to reasonably defend. It’s one thing when cranks complain that the entirely inoffensive billboards are attacks on their faith because they’ll be seen for what they are, cranks. But you put out actual attacks on people’s beliefs on government property and you’re the one who looks like the giant douche. And I’m really starting to think Dan Barker is a douche.

The Rufus Factor

4. Naked mole rats may be key to human survival from stroke -

Two University of Illinois at Chicago researchers report in the Dec. 9 issue of NeuroReport (now online) that adult naked mole rat brain tissue can withstand extreme hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, for periods exceeding a half-hour — much longer than brain tissue from other mammals.

The findings may yield clues for better treatment of brain injuries associated with heart attack, stroke and accidents where the brain is starved of vital oxygen.

A recent study led by Vera Gorbunova of the University of Rochester has focused on the naked mole rat and why it has never been observed to develop cancer.

The findings, presented in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat’s cells express a gene called p16 that makes the cells “claustrophobic,” stopping the cells’ proliferation when too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start. The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to induce a tumor, the cells’ growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells became fully cancerous.

This gene is on top of another gene which contributes to restricted growth. Humans (and other animals) only have one, p27, and it gets ‘worked around’ by cancer commonly enough. Cancer in the naked mole rat is theoretically possible, but since it has to breach two barriers to uncontrolled cellular growth, it is unlikely.

As always, there is an excitement with any discovery which could contribute significantly to curbing or stopping many of the major diseases afflicting humanity, but it must be met with temper.

It’s very early to speculate about the implications, but if the effect of p16 can be simulated in humans we might have a way to halt cancer before it starts,” [says Vera Gorbunova].

Might is the key word, and I think Gorbunova’s caution is appropriate. Cancer is a bit of a devil, to say the least, and every discovery seems to lead to a more complicated understanding of how it works. We’ll see what this research turns out to really mean.

A recent study led by Vera Gorbunova of the University of Rochester has focused on the naked mole rat and why it has never been observed to develop cancer.

The findings, presented in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat’s cells express a gene called p16 that makes the cells “claustrophobic,” stopping the cells’ proliferation when too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start. The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to induce a tumor, the cells’ growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells became fully cancerous.

This gene is on top of another gene which contributes to restricted growth. Humans (and other animals) only have one, p27, and it gets ‘worked around’ by cancer commonly enough. Cancer in the naked mole rat is theoretically possible, but since it has to breach two barriers to uncontrolled cellular growth, it is unlikely.

As always, there is an excitement with any discovery which could contribute significantly to curbing or stopping many of the major diseases afflicting humanity, but it must be met with temper.

It’s very early to speculate about the implications, but if the effect of p16 can be simulated in humans we might have a way to halt cancer before it starts,” [says Vera Gorbunova].

Might is the key word, and I think Gorbunova’s caution is appropriate. Cancer is a bit of a devil, to say the least, and every discovery seems to lead to a more complicated understanding of how it works. We’ll see what this research turns out to really mean.

To the Editor:

Your article was balanced in presenting the varying perspectives that parents and guests have toward raising children.

The 40,000 members and their families who belong to the American Association for Nude Recreation have opted to raise children and grandchildren with an open, matter-of-fact approach to the human body. My wife and I have found this very beneficial as we have raised our own four children. They respect the sensibilities of others but would prefer skinny-dipping at our favorite nudist club to a sandy swimsuit, if given the choice.

As your article notes, in the early years you don’t usually have to teach kids how much fun it is to play without clothes on.

To help explain to them the appropriate time and place to be nude, there is a new resource available: “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed,” a children’s book written and illustrated by Mo Willems. The story provides a springboard for talking with children about social nudity, social customs and making choices.

ERICH E. SCHUTTAUF

Kissimmee, Fla.

The writer is the executive director of the American Association for Nude Recreation.

This idea is sprawled out all through my life. For example, my favorite TV shows are reality shows, and nobody ever praises them for being quality television. My favorite movies are ones like Legally Blonde and 13 Going on 30, filled with pink and shiny things. Maybe this all stems from me being a Hanson fan growing up. They were definitely underdogs. Still are, I think.

Anyway. That reason, my “extreme polar favoritism” is why I believe my favorite animal is a cute little almost bald creature known at the naked mole rat.

There it is. I want to tell you about this incredibly little guy, because they’re just so awesome.

• Naked mole rats are eusocial, meaning they live like a herd of bees. There is one queen (who is kind of mean sometimes) who makes all of the babies. Most of the naked mole rats live a life of celibacy, because if the queen naked mole rat sees you are trying to make babies, she gets ANGRY and she pushes you with her nose for a long time. They have worker naked mole rats and even a nursery in their colony, so some are nursery worker naked mole rats.
• They have really bad eyesight but rely heavily on their sense of touch (their little whiskers help navigate the tunnels!) and smell and hearing. As far as taste goes, I don’t think they have a good sense of taste because they eat their own poop.
• NMRs are not moles or rats, but are more like a chinchilla or a porcupine.
• When the Queen NMR is dying, soldier naked mole rats will start getting big and fat and fighting to become the next one. Sometimes they even die in their fight to become queen! The queens kind of seem mean, so this makes sense.
• If a snake is trying to eat them, a soldier naked mole rat might try to block the tunnel.. but if that doesn’t work, it will attack the snake and risk (sometimes lose) its life so the other ones can get away.
• They’re not really big on hygiene. They roll in their own poo and pee so that their colony will all have a distinct smell. Maybe I don’t want to hold one so badly anymore.
• Basically naked mole rats are awesome and I want to have a colony of them as pets.

This is a big fat one, so I think it's a queen.

Star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata

Our first example is the star-nosed mole, the fastest eater in the world. By using the incredibly sensitive tentacles on its snout, it can decide by touch whether or not to eat something in a mere 8 miliseconds, and then bringing that object into the mouth to swallow in only 120 miliseconds. Be glad that object is not you or those you love.

A similar adaptation is found in the fringe-lipped bat, which uses its complex array of bumps and protrusions to identify from a frog’s skin whether it will be poisonous. Against this menace from beyond sanity, not even turning into a frog will save you.

Fringe-lipped bat, Trachops cirrhosus

Completing the mind-melting trinity is the naked mole rat, a mouse with the soul of an ant. They live underground in their vast colonies, all unswervingly loyal to their mighty queen. What are they doing down there? What are they planning? Why do they look like penises with legs? We know only three things: they feed their young on feces, they cannot feel pain in their skin, and when they emerge from their underground fortresses in the deserts of Somalia, humanity will be in mortal danger.

Naked mole rat, Heterocephalus glaber

However, Kalfax’s life was really impossible because her small intestine was also a brain. Luckily it did not have direct control over her body. Nevertheless, it was psychically linked with her own mind and had no qualms about giving her the worst indigestion ever if she did meet its many demands.

The brain intestine loved naked mole rats. Every few months it would demand that another one be acquired. If Kalfax refused, her bowels would know the brain intestine’s wrath. In the wake of such fury, Kalfax could only prey that she wouldn’t find herself with the runs.

The brain intestine also loved Dustin Hoffman. Years of Kalfax’s life were spent in pursuit of DH. During periods of self-determination on Kalfax’s part, the brain intestine silently protested in the form of stinky elevators and awkwardly interrupted conversations. By awkwardly interrupted, I mean interrupted by audible farts. The brain intestine showed no mercy when it couldn’t get its way. Even sex was not sacred to it. Eruptuous gasses turned many lover’s faces into twisted turnips. Collateral damage in the war between Kalfax and her entrails.

Kalfax once told her brain intestine that Dustin Hoffman wasn’t even the greatest actor in the universe and that naked mole rats weren’t even fit to be worn as socks for frog people. The next time Kalfax entered a public bus. Everyone in it was smoked out by lethal levels of methane. There were two casualties. Kalfax was arrested for terrorism and manslaughter. However, because no evidence could be found linking her to the chemical agent that filled the bus that day, she was released.

There was only one murder that she committed on purpose. A man once told her that he thought that she was just a crazy person with really bad gas. He died slowly at her hands and was found in a bookstore with raw fish on his person. Personally, I don’t blame her. If your life sucks that much, of course you’re going to kill the ruck sack who tries to tell you it’s just in your head.

The day of the murder, the wife of this man was with a wealthy software baron on Ivory Drive. The software baron discovered that she was married while they watched the evening news together. A creepy man in a cape watched their following conversation from the window until the police arrived.

Kalfax saw the same creepy man from time to time in elevators. He was the only one who ever seemed to think that it was funny when gas was passed. She would see him disappear in a dance club one evening as he passed under a black light, except for his eyeballs and teeth.

She would never learn what the creepy man was really was.

Starting this weekend, I have gotten an inordanite number of people visiting my site by searching for ‘nacktmull’ which is the German for ‘naked mole rat’. Would any of these visitors be willing to tell me…why? What is going on? I presume it is because of this other post, but still…what?

These mole rats are found in eastern Africa and live entirely underground. Their eyes are so devolved that they can only tell whether it is light or dark. Thanks to these little guys, I learned there is more to this whole “herbivore” vs. “carnivore” dichotomy than I thought: they are “radicivores” meaning they eat only tubers. But in fact they farm tubers! When they find one, they will eat the inside and then let it grow back. In this way, a single tuber can feed a colony for weeks to months. Also, strangely, the mole rats eat their own poo in order to get the maximal amount of nutrients out of everything they eat. Oh, and they don’t drink water and can’t feel pain. Didn’t I say they were strange?

The rats – even though they aren’t really rats, they are more closely related to hamsters – have a social structure with a queen at the top of the hierarchy. The rest of the colony is split into castes with some specialized as tunnelers, some as warriors, some as foragers, etc. The fattest and laziest caste sits around until one day they decide to wander off and start a new colony. After the queen of a colony dies, the remaining females fight to be the queen, upon which the winning female grows an inch or so and starts popping out huge numbers of babies. Because of this structure, individual colonies are incredibly inbred and their individual DNA is virtually identical. In fact, they are so socialized that if they are kept alone they will die. They need their hive!

The foragers use their giant teeth to dig through the dirt and create large underground tunnels, attempting to run into tubers at random. Great strategy. Their teeth are actually on the outside of the mouths, and can be moved individually, like chopsticks. In fact, up to a third of their cortex is devoted to their mouth area! That is ridiculous, oh silly naked mole rats. Now I suggest you watch this movie about them, and gaze in some awe.

We’re so excited to have Mo here again.  We had so much fun at our hot dog & pajama party last year, and we hope you did, too!  Today, since we are celebrating Wilbur the Naked Mole Rat’s love for dressing up, we hope you’ll come in your funnest, wackiest ensemble.  Go through your costume trunk, your grandma’s closet, your dad’s tie rack, and your mom’s hat collection.  Let’s show Mo how we do dress up here in Austin!

Of course, we love all of Mo Willem’s books.  Among my personal favorites is Knuffle Bunny, which actually takes place at a laundromat I used to patron (true story).  It’s no wonder the Caldecott Committee gave Mo a nod for this book (and the sequel, Knuffle Bunny Too), since its innovative use of black & white photography and color illustration make the book so much fun to look at.

And even though I adooooore the pigeon books, I’ve gotta give props to Leonardo the Terrible Monster.  Who hasn’t felt as miserable and disappointed  as Leonardo every now and then?  Hopefully we’ve all felt as happy as Leonardo did, too,  when he made a new friend.  Plus, this book is enormous, and you’ve gotta love that Mo included a monster that doesn’t even fit on the page.  Brilliant!  The design of this book goes way beyond the illustrations – every element is perfectly placed for ultimate aesthetic appeal.

So what are your favorite Mo Willems books?  Leave me a comment, we’ll discuss.  Or come on in to BookKids, meet Mo, and tell him yourself!

See you tonight!  I’ll be the one in the fuzzy pink fedora!

The Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
Willems’ latest is hysterically funny. We follow the plight of Wilbur the Naked Mole Rat who is reprimanded and ostracized by his fellow mole rats for – egad! – wearing clothes…in public! Wilbur doesn’t understand – he thinks clothes are a fun way to express himself. He can be a clown or an astronaut or a dapper young mole rat. Willems’ simplistic style and off-beat sense of humor carry this story perfectly, and it’s not long before we see Wilbur having his just desserts. Mark your calendars: Mo Willems will be here for a special event on Saturday, January 24!

I Want to be Free by Joseph Slate, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
This breathtaking tale of a young runaway slave is easily one of the most beautiful picture books to appear this year – it may only be January, but here at BookKids, we know a gem when we see one; I Want to be Free has Caldecott written all over it. Lewis’ watercolor paintings are rife with texture and accompany the narrative – based on writing from Buddha’s sacred literature – perfectly. I Want to be Free should find a place on every library’s shelves, in every classroom, and in the hearts of readers young and old.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Also from illustrator E.B. Lewis this month is this monumental interpretation of Langston Hughes’ classic poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” Several of us here in BookKids were moved nearly to tears by the beauty of the illustrations alone. Lewis’ watercolor style works so much into each page that one can’t help but be sucked into the world the artist has rendered. This book is as much a tribute to Langston Hughes as it is an expression of the artist’s own vision. The Negro Speaks of Rivers simply cannot be missed – come check it out today.

Well, the title says it all. Today has been probably one of those days where I keep noticing the little things and it freaks me out and so I start to hypothesize that there may in fact be a higher power watching my every step, wanting me to use my literary analysis techniques to squeeze out an underlying theme of life. Maybe yesterday and today.

The Aged and Routine:

Yesterday, after a what seemed like a never-ending class of Japanese, I sat near the entrance of PSU’s Smith Hall and watched an old lady come in, pushing her little cart. I was watching her every step. And as I did, I noticed her big shoes, which somewhat resembled platforms, and concluded that they were probably of that size to give her aching feet support. As she rolled by, she drew toward a payphone. She hung it up once, then twice, and instead of calling it, she stuck her hand in the change slot! And it wasn’t just that one, she went by the next one, and the next one, and the next one, until there were no more payphones. But it struck me peculiar because she didn’t look like a poor lady. Why would she do that? Then I figured her life was probably just so routine-like that she probably does this every time to see if maybe THIS day she would get a quarter or two, and smile.

Occurrences of Pointlessness:

Today was reaking pointless.

1) Let’s start at French class. Well, that class always is pointless, but today it was further emphasized. I did my test, and gave it to her for grammatical corrections. I got very excited, because for once, I was learning from my mistakes and she was helping me get better! And I rewrote it, probably 3 times. Turned it in, but she ended up not grading it.

2) Stephen and Cameron talking about how people who specialize and research in something as random and narrow as naked mole rats won’t really contribute to helping society. But yes, it could! In the long-run…perhaps. But if it doesn’t lead to anything, it really was pointless, wasn’t it?

3) Baby hunting. I have an art project due tomorrow and I’ve been going around several toy shops looking for a small plastic baby, like those found in King Cakes during Mardi Gras. Oddly enough, all the stores I’ve been going to have been “sold out”. Who the hell sells out of plastic 10 cent babies? I walked all the way to 23rd, went to WHAM! but to no avail. Went to Toys Store–YES! Found one lousy and miniscule baby that cost me 20 cents. 30 minutes later, while on the streetcar, I realize I lost it.

4) After I realize I lost the baby, I get on the skytram to go volunteer at the hospital! I go sign in, go all the way down to the 4th floor, and Hark! SOMEONE IS ON MY SHIFT! WTF! Now I have to wait for the bus to go all the way back downtown…

5) I’m at parents’ office. I’m thirsty. Let’s go all the way tothe 3rd floor to buy a Pepsi. I put in the dollar…but didn’t realize it’s $1.25. There goes my dollar…

And so I sit here and ponder…why have there been SO many occurrences of pointlessness in my day today? WHAT DOES IT MEANNNN?

• They live underground
• They’re naked
• They’re one of very few eusocial mammals
• When the queen mole rat becomes pregnant, you can see all of the baby mole rats squirming around inside her

And here’s a new reason (courtesy of Kristen): they’re the only animals that show no response to acid.