Leafy Sea Dragon (Phycodurus Eques)

Back when I asked for some concepts in September on my Instagram, @ sammithyst suggested a mon based on Petrie duals, a term in topology that refers to a loop of edges that can split a 3D shape in half in a certain way. Although that was incorporated into the design of this mon (skew polygon "teeth on each dish"), the name reminded me of Petri dishes.

Petri dishes are shallow dishes with a cover that is used to grow all sorts of cells, like bacteria, fungi, and even human cells. Cells can be grown with the growth medium that is put into the dish, some sort of food like some agarose gel or a liquid mixture of nutrients.

Cantri (Poison/Psychic): When dormant, they reside completely inside their dish, only coming out when they run out of the food that dragged in. Despite having many protozoan-like cells in their body, they seem to be resistant to the antibiotics of this world.

When sodium hypochlorite (bleach) solution is added to luminol, a chemical reaction occurs that releases energy in the form of light. This is called chemiluminescence. The bleach solution acts as an oxidizing agent, which means it takes electrons away from the luminol molecule. This causes the luminol molecule to become excited, and it releases the energy as light.

🎥 Courtesy: Kendra Frederick

The luminol molecule is made up of two amino groups, a carbonyl group, and an azo group. The amino groups are electron-rich, while the carbonyl group is electron-poor. The azo group is a conjugated system, which means that the electrons in the double bonds can move freely from one atom to another.

When sodium hypochlorite (bleach) solution is added to luminol, the bleach molecules react with the amino groups of the luminol molecule. This reaction takes electrons away from the luminol molecule, which causes the luminol molecule to become oxidized. The oxidized luminol molecule is in an excited state, which means that it has more energy than it normally does.

The excited luminol molecule then releases the extra energy as light. This light is called chemiluminescence. The light emitted by the chemiluminescence reaction is blue because the luminol molecule has a blue fluorescence.

The chemiluminescence reaction between luminol and sodium hypochlorite is catalyzed by the presence of a metal ion, such as iron or copper. The metal ion helps to stabilize the excited state of the luminol molecule, which makes it more likely to release the extra energy as light.

The chemiluminescence reaction is very sensitive to impurities, so it is important to use pure chemicals. The reaction can also be affected by the pH of the solution. The optimal pH for the reaction is around 9.

The chemiluminescence reaction between luminol and sodium hypochlorite can be used to detect blood, as the iron in hemoglobin can catalyze the reaction. The reaction is also used in some commercial products, such as glow sticks and emergency lights.

I hope you enjoyed learning about this. ❤️🙏

NYC Subway Bacterial Petri Dish Art by Craig Ward

Conifer tufts

Watch what happens to Germs when you wash your hands with Soap at microscopic level. 🔬 The Soap molecules surround germ cells and disrupt their cell walls, causing them to burst.

Germ cells are surrounded by a cell wall that protects them from the environment. This cell wall is made up of a layer of peptidoglycan, which is a polymer of amino acids and sugars. Soap molecules are made up of two parts: a hydrophobic (water-fearing) tail and a hydrophilic (water-loving) head. When soap is added to water, the hydrophobic tails group together and the hydrophilic heads face outward, forming micelles. These micelles can surround germ cells and the hydrophobic tails can then disrupt the cell walls, causing the cells to burst.

The hydrophobic tails of the soap molecules can disrupt the cell wall in two ways. First, they can bind to the peptidoglycan molecules and weaken the bonds between them. Second, they can create holes in the cell wall. Once the cell wall is disrupted, the germ cells lose their internal contents and die.

It is important to note that soap only works to kill germ cells that are surrounded by a cell wall. Germ cells that do not have a cell wall, such as viruses, are not affected by soap.

The size of the soap micelles is important. Micelles that are too small will not be able to surround the germ cells. Micelles that are too large will not be able to penetrate the cell walls.

The concentration of soap is also important. A higher concentration of soap will be more effective at killing germ cells.

The temperature of the water can also affect the effectiveness of soap. Soap is more effective at killing germ cells in warm water than in cold water.

I hope this post has helped you understand the importance of handwashing and why doctors always ask you to do it regularly. Washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs and stay healthy. So please, wash your hands often and help keep yourself and others safe!

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it informative and helpful. Please share it with your friends and family so they can learn about the importance of handwashing too. 😊🙏

Can a bat protein treat human inflammation?

A protein from bats shows promise for fighting inflammatory diseases in humans.

“Bats have attracted great attention as a likely reservoir of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Professor Wang Lin-Fa of the Duke-NUS Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Programme and senior author of the study in the journal Cell. “But this unique ability to host yet survive viral infections could also have a very positive impact on human health if we can understand and exploit how they achieve this.”

The research is focused on multi-protein complexes called inflammasomes that are responsible for the overactive inflammation that causes serious symptoms in many diseases. Inflammasomes are also implicated in functional decline in aging.

The researchers discovered that a bat protein called ASC2 has a powerful ability to inhibit inflammasomes, thereby limiting inflammation.

“This suggests that the high-level activity of ASC2 is a key mechanism by which bats keep inflammation under control, with implications for their long lifespan and unique status as a reservoir for viruses,” explains Matae Ahn, first author and co-corresponding author of the study and an adjunct research fellow with the EID Programme and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Medicine Academic Clinical Programme.

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Stemonitis sp.

photo source-The MacroClub Project (Myxomycetes)

Slime Mold

Microglossum viride

little creature of the day: Euglena gracilis

micro organisms time

image source

Scientists make 'disturbing' find on remote island: plastic rocks

A 'plastic rock' found by Brazilian scientists on Trindade Island,one of the most remote places on the planet.

There are few places on Earth as isolated as Trindade island, a volcanic outcrop a three- to four-day boat trip off the coast of Brazil.

So geologist Fernanda Avelar Santos was startled to find an unsettling sign of human impact on the otherwise untouched landscape: rocks formed from the glut of plastic pollution floating in the ocean.

Santos first found the plastic rocks in 2019, when she traveled to the island to research her doctoral thesis on a completely different topic—landslides, erosion and other “geological risks.”

She was working near a protected nature reserve known as Turtle Beach, the world’s largest breeding ground for the endangered green turtle, when she came across a large outcrop of the peculiar-looking blue-green rocks.

Intrigued, she took some back to her lab after her two-month expedition.

Analyzing them, she and her team identified the specimens as a new kind of geological formation, merging the materials and processes the Earth has used to form rocks for billions of years with a new ingredient: plastic trash.

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