Science Friday’s Post

In this episode of ASI’s Defining Human-Animal Studies Video Series, Dinesh Wadiwel draws on the work of Foucault to discuss biopolitics as a useful tool for understanding contemporary power relations between humans and nonhuman animals. Learn more in the link below. #HumanAnimalStudies #AnimalsandSociety #Biopolitics

#Elephants, with their massive brains & tender hearts, may just teach us a lesson in #empathy. Their profound bonds & communal care highlight a #DepthOfEmotion we're only beginning to understand. https://rb.gy/tmasm5 via Discover Magazine by Hazra Khatoon #AnimalScience Based on their social structure and brain size, elephants show a great deal of empathy. Is it more than humans express? Elephants are #EmotionallyIntelligent & form deep familial bonds within their herd. They can understand & share feelings, even with different animals. In their book, "When Elephants Weep," Jeffrey Masson & Susan McCarthy described elephants clustered around a dying matriarch. Other studies show elephants can recognize another’s emotional state and react to the emotions of their herd. The elephant's brain is one of the largest, weighing ~11 pounds. Their brains are found to have ~257 billion #neurons, ~3x more than a human brain. Structurally, the elephant brain has many similarities to the human brain. “The cerebral cortex of an elephant has about one-third of the number of neurons compared to a human brain,” says Alex Van der Walt, BSc. in animal science & author at Animals Around The Globe. “The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain responsible for high-level processing such as memory, reasoning, thought, learning, decision-making, emotions, and intelligence.” She believes elephants are exposed to more death, struggles for survival, and dependence on the herd. They form deeper bonds with their herd members, and when they experience the loss of a herd member, they could feel grief more greatly than we do. Elephants express emotions in different ways. If one of the herd members is injured, the rest of the herd will slow down. When an elephant gets stuck in mud or snare, herd members will try to pull them free. Elephants also mourn when they have lost a member of the herd. “They often show this behavior by lowering their head over the corpse while the herd remains silent,” Walt describes. “Elephants can express their emotions through sounds, like trumpeting, and by moving their bodies in different ways,” says Ronald Oldfield at Case Western Reserve University. “When they touch each other gently with their trunks, it's like they're being kind and caring.” The “loudness, pitch, and frequency of these sounds can tell us how they are feeling,” says Oldfield. Eg, a loud & high-pitched trumpet might mean an elephant is in pain. And “the leader elephant, called the matriarch, may nudge their young in the correct direction or help them up a steep bank.” “Some humans might be more empathetic than others, and it's likely the same for elephants,” Oldfield says. “However, proving that one species is generally more empathetic than another is really hard to do with an experiment.” For example, animals rely on different senses, so it's hard to find a stimulus that both humans and animals react to the same way.”

Day 7 Question 7 The ampullae of Lorenzini were described in 1678 by the Italian physician Stefano Lorenzini. These are jelly filled pores on the skin, mostly concentrated on the head of sharks, connected to nerve receptors at the base of the dermis. They are specialized organs, a modified part of the lateral line that are very sensitive to electrical fields. Primarily, the ampullae pick up the weak electrical signals from muscular contractions and can even detect electrochemical fields emitted from paralyzed animals! That's the reason why, sharks are believed to have the strongest electroreception of any animal on the planet. Of course, as there are so many different species of sharks, the length and distribution of the ampullae vary significantly between species based on the role they play in their specific environment. Image of the Ampullae on the vast hammer of Queen, Great Hammerhead; these sharks are known to detect prey hiding under the sand. Image by Kewin Lorenzen

It's Microphysiological Systems Monday! Microphysiological systems (MPS) are currently considered most promising for early discovery studies prior to animal research and for use in conjunction with animal or human models. If you aren't sure what an MPS is, or you want to become more familiar with a specific organ model, our Microphysiological Systems initiative has created a webinar series that provides an introduction to MPS and an overveiw of nine different organ systems. Access the webinars here: https://lnkd.in/eUSCdTUG

Researchers, policimakers, funders of biomedical research, you might want to join us! Find out what it takes to change your research practice towards non animal models. Watch the preview: Webinar (free) 29/2 13h15-15h00 - TEN HELPATHONS - organizing trust

A new post is up on my blog: "Masturbation in Animals." In this post, I delve into the scientific aspects of the topic from an evolutionary perspective. I explore various hypotheses and evidence regarding why and how different species engage in masturbation. I hope you find the post insightful and thought-provoking. https://lnkd.in/dbAVNQnM

Really looking forward to hosting this panel discussion! Check out the talent that is coming to #ANZLAA24

Translation in Vision Science with Animal Models: In the spirit of #ThrowbackThursday, we're revisiting an insightful 2020 interview with Prof. Dr. Botond Roska from the IOB in Basel, Switzerland. He shares his perspective on the relevance of animal models in vision research.   What is your take on this? We’d love to hear your thoughts! #Striatech

Dr. Frans de Waal, the primatologist who proved through his research that the cognitive abilities of other species not only rival those of humans but often surpass them, has died. At a time when scientists overwhelmingly dismissed theories in favor of animals’ sentience, he persisted. It would be difficult to overstate his contributions to our understanding of other animals’ remarkable intelligence and deep emotions. De Waal changed not only the scientific community’s long-held biases but also those of people around the world. His 16 books were translated into 20 languages, his speaking tours sold out, and his TED Talks were viewed millions of times. Frans de Waal made the undeniably just argument that animals are entitled to be treated as thinking, feeling, and valuable individuals—a right that we humans are too eager to reserve for ourselves. The more we acknowledge how clever and capable other animals are, the fewer excuses we can make to harm them. https://lnkd.in/g_8WbHpu #NotOurs2Use #NotOursToUse #AnimalExperimentation #AnimalRights #AnimalWelfare #AnimalActivism #LetThemBeFree #CrueltyFree #NotAnExperimentation #Activism #SpeakOut #EndSpeciesism #Advocacy #AnimalAdvocacy

Meet Masi, one of the FRAME lab PhD students. Masi is studying neuroinflammation, which is key to understanding diseases like Alzheimer's, using human-relevant methods that will help replace current animal 'models' of research. It's a better future for animals and humans! We recently sat down with Masi, where he explained why he's so passionate about human-relevant research and what it's like being a non-animal researcher at conferences where animal research is the 'norm'. https://lnkd.in/epy23nY4