The hornworm larvae feed off of coyote tobacco plants. Hornworms possess the cytochrome P450 6B46 which passes the nicotine from the midgut to the hemolymph, which can then be used on the exhale of the spiracles. Basically the caterpillar uses their nicotine induced halitosis to defend themselves from being eaten by wold spiders.

Marcus Roper spoke to livescience.com and explained how some species of mushrooms can generate a wind effect that moves their spores vertically and horizontally.

My fascination with space continues in this blog post. I'm not a huge fan of David Bowie, but I love the concept of Space Oddity. I just wanted to share some other fans beautiful translations of Space Oddity.

India has recently launched their own spacecraft dubbed the Mars Orbiter Mission with the goal of reaching Mars.

An older article from NPR that talks about the alarming number of publications of faulty research with the advent of information on the internet. These days you can pay a fee to online journals mimicking their legitimate counterparts to boost your curriculum vitae. Unfortunately, there is nothing in place currently to regulate the deceptive peer review publications. Hopefully, in the future there will be some sort of consequence for these online journals.

Researchers, Ayako Wada-Katsumata, Jules Silverman, and Coby Schal, found that some German cockroaches have developed an adaptive behavior of glucose aversion. Glucose, a simple sugar, is used to cover the poison in man-made traps for cockroaches. The German cockroach has gustatory receptor neurons (basically taste buds) in their mouths. The researchers focused on the sweet and bitter gustatory receptor neurons.

This article in Scientific American reveals a tiny sponge that can soak up the toxins released by MRSA in mice, therefore allowing the infected mice to survive.

This is video of a thought in action!!! Original research by A. Muto, M. Ohkura, G. Abe, J. Nakai, and K. Kawakami

A recent article states that the asexual reproducing organism, Bdelloid rotifer have the ability to engage in horizontal gene transfers (as oppose to vertical gene transfers which arise from  human parents to their human offspring) with eubacteria, algae, protists, and fungi. It is thought that the main benefit of asexual reproduction is that the organism is surviving in a constant environment.

One of my goals in life is to start an open laboratory in Detroit. The lab would encourage the community to join and start their own experiments as science is best experienced in action. Every age and level would be welcomed. I hope to share my passion for science to the community. I believe that it could help alleviate the struggle of Detroiters access to science education. Unfortunately, the way science is taught currently with rote memorization and the lack of engagement with students would dampen anyone's budding curiosity into science. On top of that I feel that science should not be taught as just a singular subject as some of the best discoveries comes from the collaboration of multiple disciplines. An open dialogue between scientists and the rest of the world needs to be fostered so that greatness can be achieved.