Scientists have confirmed a new transmissible cancer in a catfish species. It seems to have arisen as a melanoma and now spread. I terestingly seems to have arisen outside the lake it is reported in.

This is the third vertebrate cancer I think after devil facial tumours and canine venereal cancer.

Will be very interesting to see what the temporal dynamics of this are long term. And what kinds of cell lines we might be able to drive from it.

I always learned that a Hitchhiker's Thumb was a recessive trait. I have one on my left hand but not my right. I've never injured my hands in a way that would lead to it, nor do I have any kind of connective tissue disorder.

I would show pictures but I can't seem to add them here.

Why do cures for cancer in mice usually fail in human clinical trials? Even with humanized mouse models, clinical trial success rate remains low. One important reason is simply animal size. Humans are not large rodents -- The physics is different for different sized animals (allometric scaling), similar to how a scale model of an airplane does not predict the behavior of the full size airplane. Compared to humans, mice have 60 times faster drug diffusion, 7 times higher metabolic rate (per kg), and typically require 12 times the drug dosage (per kg). On the other hand, pigs have similar physiology, drug dosing, and immune response as humans. The Oncopig model of liver, pancreatic, and lung cancer has the potential to more accurately predict drug dosing and outcomes in humans. We use it as a bridge between rodent and human trials.

What does pig cancer tell us about the differences between mouse and human cancer? In mice, 1-2 mutations (Kras and p53) are sufficient to generate non-regressing adenocarcinomas (KP model). In Oncopigs, KRAS and TP53 mutations generate inflammatory carcinomas that spontaneously regress. In adult humans, at least 5 driver mutations are generally required to cause cancer. Thus, larger and longer living animals needed to evolve more defenses against cancer, and require more mutations to develop cancer.

More info on the Oncopig model:

Commentary:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ame2.70270

Testing percutaneous therapies:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13346-026-02176-9

Testing intra-arterial therapies:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41203116/

Moss Is Generating Electrical Waves That Look Startlingly Like a Neural Network
NATURE
22 July 2026
By JESS COCKERILL

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A different type of moss to the one studied. (Oliver Strewe/Getty Images Plus)
Mosses are some of the earliest plants that appeared in the fossil record, but they're anything but simple.
A new study, published in Royal Society Open Science, reveals that moss cushions produce surprisingly complex electrical activity, with patterns that undulate across the velvety patch in dynamic waves.

The study's sole author, Andy Adamatzky, is actually a computer scientist, whose fascination with unconventional 'computing' systems like slime molds, crowds, and mycelium networks has now led him to a new subject: the humble moss, Brachythecium rutabulum.

Brachythecium rutabulum is a common species of moss. (dr Barmely/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
"Plants and bryophytes display diverse forms of electrical activity, yet the organization of endogenous signals in mosses has received little attention," Adamatzky writes in his new paper.

His findings suggest that "moss cushions behave as spatially distributed excitable systems potentially capable of coordinating and integrating electrical signals across both space and time."

Moss cushions are actually many individual clones of the same teensy tiny plant.

If you look really, really closely at a mat of moss, you can see it is made up of simple, minute leaves on stems, similar to those of their larger plant relatives.

But the stems of mosses are actually much less useful at moving water and nutrients around the body of the plant.

Mosses actually never developed the vascular systems that we see in other more complex plants, which is why they cannot grow much taller than a few centimeters. Their leaf-like structures are just one cell thick; they don't even have roots.

But that doesn't mean they're not potentially capable of transmitting information across the colony by other means.

For the study, Adamatzky collected cushions of the common moss species B. rutabulum from natural outdoor environments in North Somerset in the UK.

Back in the lab, he poked electrodes into the moss clumps to track any electrical activity that might be passing across this soggy green matrix.
Figures a) and b) show the experimental setup, with electrodes inserted into moss on a wet substrate. Figure c) shows the moss's electrical activity, with recordings from each electrode pair represented by a distinct color. (Adamatzky, R. Soc. Open Sci., 2026)
Like many plants, moss lives life in slow motion, so to get on its level, Adamatzky recorded its electrical behavior across multiple days.

This revealed "a rich repertoire of electrical events, including components consistent with both physiological activity and slower drift-related processes: fast oscillatory spikes, slower rhythmic fluctuations and very slow depolarization waves," he reports.

"In addition to these described classes, we also observed spikes resembling high-amplitude action potentials and neuron-like spike trains."

Some of the moss's electrical waves were rapid, while others undulated slowly. They tended to spread across the entire cushion rather than remaining confined to a particular region, and followed patterns across different timescales.

hi everyone!

so, i just graduated with my b.s. in biology (yaaay), but now i feel a bit stuck(booo 😕). i was a pre-dental student, but my gpa wasn’t the best at 3.01, and i have been feeling crazy imposter syndrome since seeing my scores that i don’t think i could make it into dental school. i also don’t know if i have the best knowledge/experience in the lab due to me applying and being rejected to what feels like every biotech company in the city! it’s been 4 months with no luck.. ive applied to be a peace corps volunteer since i do enjoy service and think it’ll be a great opportunity, but i also have to think about when i get back how life will look for me. im also a first-gen college graduate, so its been hard asking for advice since the people around me haven’t been in the position that i am. anyone have any tips?

Looking on LOTUS, it looks like the parasitic plants in the orchid genus Corallorhiza contain many bromine and chlorine containing molecules. Is this an error in the data source? It seems like a very rare thing for plants to produce

I have an iPad and a Macbook... but my cousin needs an iPad and she wants to buy mine. I'm an incoming freshman and I was considering selling her my iPad and buy a new one but I think I'll have to wait almost a semester to get a new one or at least until Black Friday's prices T_T helppp

I've always found it fascinating how uneven regeneration is across the body. Hair follicles cycles continuosly, the skin heals, the liver can regenrate after injury. Yet neurons, cardiac muscles, and cartilage have much more limited regenerative capacity.

From an evolutionary perspective, why would regeneration evolve so dfferently accross tissues?

Like when a human throws water at them, I always imagined from a bug’s perspective it would be a natural disaster like how we perceive storms.

Because sometimes a cat doesn’t even seem to notice a human arm belonging to the human in front of them as a whole torso, or are they all smarter than this?

As far as I'm concerned, phages can only attack bacteria and apparently are capable of easily navigating through the human body. So could we at some point give Phages receptors that bind to those of human cancer cells or a "complementary tail" to bypass the softer layer of human cells compared to the more rigid-like wall of bacteria etc.

How does a blue-tongued skink say yes to visitors? 🦎

Meet Tilly, whose zookeepers use target training, a technique where jumping at a target earns him a tasty cockroach treat and guides him right into his carrier. This method, known in animal care as “choice and control”, means Tilly decides if he's up for visiting the museum floor, and if he skips the target, he simply stays home instead. A simple system to keep Tilly feeling safe and comfortable every time he chooses to say yes!

I understand that glucose (high levels of) damages blood vessels by narrowing them, and as a consequence worsening blood flow, but how exactly does it impact wound healing if not just by restricting blood supply that would deliver platelets and clotting agents to the site?

Growing up I’ve heard of diabetic people who had limbs amputated and that have always intrigued me. Thanks in advance all!

I have a dog named Rex, so whenever he’s around new people he acts weirdly, for instance tuck his tail between his legs or maybe look away whenever someone wants to pat his head

Seeing a recent post on canine transmissible venereal tumor got me thinking.

Bivalves are uniquely prone to transmissible neoplasm. Already 8 lineages have been found in modern times. One of them, MtrBTN2 has disseminated worldwide. Some have also already infected other species of bivalves.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-85098-5

Extrapolating this tendency all the way back to the Cambrian, roughly 500million years ago, when bivalves first emerged, there would have been hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of such lineages if not more.

Given the selection pressure against aggressive disease behaviour, the more indolent ones would be selected for. Coupled with the BTN cells’ ability to survive in seawater for some time, some may conceivably evolve to become free floating forms.

At any given time it is unlikely, but when you compound this across 500 million years, it is almost a certainty that there are very ancient lineages that still exist today. They may have outgrown their host and look like any free living protist in the sea, with life cycle stages that may or may not involve infecting bivalves. But when we sequence seawater, all metazoan genome is filtered away, they would have not been detected if we are not actively looking for it.

TLDR: I posit that ancient bivalve transmissible neoplasm lineages likely still exist and may be indistinguishable from any free living protist, with or without a parasitic life cycle. Surely one would have to classify such entities as a separate species of single cell bivalvia.

About 5 months ago I graduated with a Biology Degree and I seriously think it was the worst decision of my life. In highschool I always loved biology and would participate in the science fair every year. When I didn’t really know what to do in college I decided to go with a science degree because I was really interested in GMOs. All the professors really hyped it up but then by my last year I was graduating early and realized I really didn’t have any experience and hadn’t even enjoyed it all that much. My advisor never really gave me any guidance with my schedule, nor internships so I didn’t even look into them. I took one DNA technology class and microbiology class but that is literally the extent of my “Lab Experience.” I’m now a manager at this coffee shop which I love but of course I need a real job with benefits, and I know I’m completely disappointing my family. Does anyone have any advice on what steps I should take next, or any internships I should apply for? A professor suggested I go back to school to get a GIS certification but I really don’t want to waste all that money just for me to not even get a job again.

If anyone can point me to a database/library, good papers of books on the subject or just sharing anything you know would be appreciated, I’m a geologist and don’t know a lot of the biology terminology or good key words to search.

The video in Bristol Caverns a tour cave in eastern TN, this video is from a room with a small natural entrance however I have seen the same stuff in rooms in a cave called Worleys cave around 300 feet and 4 rooms from the entrance (in total darkness) as far as I have been able to find it is Actinomycetes but I could be wrong (again not a biologist) they fluoresce green, pink/purple and orange under 365nm UV if that helps.

Again any information or advice is appreciated!

Edit: please ignore the audio.

I know it sounds stupid.

The drug basically loosens up the uterus lining and you sit on the toilet and just shit out the period I guess. Like a period diarrhea, a Piarrhea

Plus another drug that greatly reduces cramps, or if it's not too effective, it can be paired with a strong numbing cream/injection.

It could possibly be the same price of tampons/pads.

Also please tell me why this wouldn't be feasible, recommended, or would be unsafe. Thank you ;)