I Know You Have Bugs…

Okay galleons, I’m… well, I’m not a fan of bugs. Which is really a gross understatement, but I wanted to avoid saying “I have a bad habit of flipping out and flailing my extremities and screaming like a girl (in registers I didn’t know I was capable of even reaching) whenever insects come near me/are within my line of sight/touch me/look at me wrong with their creepy bug eyes, no matter what type of insect we’re talking about (with the weird exception of fireflies, which I can tolerate being on me, but only by a strong application of my will), yes, even butterflies, because I’ve never thought butterflies were that pretty and I don’t care how fucking harmless any of these creepy fucking things are, I don’t want them near me and I will let you and the world know, vocally, that I detest their presence and that I had to do an insect project in my high school biology class that resulted in me having a sobbing breakdown on my kitchen floor while holding a pair of pliers over the three pieces of a butterfly that used to be one piece that I had been attempting to pin to my board”… but since I just love telling on myself, I guess I said that anyway, so now you know my shame.

Actually, compared to how bad I was as a child, I really have gotten better. I mean, I’m still a pathetic girly wuss, but I’m less of a sniveling pathetic girly wuss.

I’ve really matured over the years.

But, despite my dislike of the insect world, we’re gonna talk about an insect today. Because it’s actually pretty interesting.

And also, it may be extinct. Which means it will never come near me. And that makes it the best kind of insect.

Lucihormetica luckae is a species of bioluminescent roach found in Tungurahua, a volcano in Ecuador. Now, when I say found, I mean found in the past tense. This glowing roach was just getting recognition in the scientific community when Tungurahua went and fucking erupted in 2010.

What the fuck, volcano?

Since then, nobody’s been able to find any of these strange roaches. It looks like they may be extinct. Which is kind of a sad day for science.

See, Lucihormetica luckae was kind of an interesting specimen. It was the first example of asymmetrical bioluminescence scientists had ever documented (and the only example- all study of the species came from one subject gathered 70 years ago). See, the little (well, not that little) guy has two spots up…

You know, it would be a lot easier if I just showed you what the fucking thing looked like, wouldn’t it? Okay galleons, meet Lucihormetica luckae:

You’ll notice that it has two large glowing spots on its upper back, as well as one small one on the right side (thus its asymmetry… though with only one example of the species, it’s kind of difficult to tell if that tiny spot is an aberration or the norm, now isn’t it?).

But not only is the bioluminescence of Lucihormetica luckae asymmetrical, it’s also a rare example of mimicry through bioluminescence.

…No, Lucihormetica luckae is not mimicking a jawa (though if it was, it’s doing a really good job):

Nor is it pretending it’s one of those creepy ghosts that attack Romani Ranch in Majora’s Mask:

No, Lucihormetica luckae‘s glow patterns (provided by symbiotic bacteria that dwell in divots on the insect’s body) actually resemble the glow patterns of another insect in the area, the click beetle:

Because click beetles are poisonous, mimicking their glow patterns may have made the predators of Lucihormetica luckae less likely to try to gobble them up. Which is a smart strategy, but thanks to a pesky volcano, it looks like Lucihormetica luckae might not have been as lucky as its name sounds.

Poor little fella… Oh, who the fuck am I kidding? I may love science, but I’d high five the shit out of that volcano if I could.

On Cyborgs, Singularities, and the 2045 Initiative

Oh, you vodka-soaked Russian bastards, what madness are you cooking up this time?

Dmitry Itskov, a mad Russian billionaire, has decided its high time humans cast off their mortal shells in favor of a sleeker, digital form. He believes its time we push our technology to the limits to create a method of immortality for the personality, a freeing of consciousness from the fleshy sac it’s currently attached to.

Itskov’s baby is the 2045 Initiative, a grand plan to create machines complex enough to house a human personality, paving the way for the technological singularity (rise of superintelligence through technology).

It’s like he’s never read his O.C. Bible. “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.” That ringing any bells, buddy?

The 2045 Initiative is comprised of four phases (avatars):

Avatar A (2020)

Using a brain-machine interface, a human will control a robotic human replica. While it’s not as impressive as killing someone with your brain, I suppose it’s something.

Avatar B (2025)

Okay, here’s where things start to get freaky. The second phase of Itskov’s plan involves planting a human mind into a machine at the end of his/her life, effectively granting him/her immortality. But this immortality will come at a terrible price- at this stage, emotions and personality will be lost in the transfer.

I’ve seen this before. Now, where was it…

OH YEAH. They’ve already done this shit on Doctor Who:

You will be upgraded.

A recurring baddie on the long-running British show are the Cybermen, machines who take humans and “upgrade” them by making them into emotionless robotic beings.

And Itskov wants to start them up here on Earth? WAY TO GO… wait, if it means a certain blue police box is going to appear on a street somewhere, I say fucking go for it. Robotize the masses, Itskov. I’d love to meet The Doctor.

Avatar C (2035)

At this point, Itskov figures we’ll have successfully created a computer model of human consciousness, so we’ll now be able to move a human personality (emotions, memories, and all) into a machine.

Oh yeah, that’s never ended badly:

Oh… it’s you.

Avatar D (2045)

The final stage of Itskov’s master plan is to free humanity completely from physical forms. Humans will be digital creatures, living online in a kind of hive mind, with individual personalities surfacing as holographic avatars to interact with the physical world.

…

…

Why?

I guess that’s my main question here. While I (like many people) have always been fascinated by the idea of downloading a human personality into a machine (along with the ethical quandaries surrounding such a notion), this final stage just seems ridiculous to me. Something you read about in a good (or utterly awful) sci-fi novel, ponder for a bit, then promptly dismiss.

Then again, if all this goes down, I could be a digital Kerrigan. And all you bitches can be my zerglings. Mwa ha ha.

…Mine is an evil laugh.

To be completely honest, I guess the final stage of the 2045 Initiative is so repulsive to me because it seems utterly impossible to create an internet-based “hive mind” scenario that still maintains the individuality of the personalities within it. There’s a reason every goddamn swarm/hive mind of sci-fi is comprised of unemotional, non-individualistic creatures- group/hive consciousnesses are essentially one consciousness. There can be no real individuality because every unit within the hive is just a piece of the same whole, a cog in the same machine. Personalities get in the way of this kind of collective consciousness, impeding the group (by daring to dissent or have new ideas) and never achieving the snap decisions and power of many individuals acting as one singular unit.

There is a power in collective consciousness, but it’s a power that comes at the cost of individuality. We see this scenario play out time and time again in the sci-fi world. Halo’s flood, Starcraft’s Zerg, Star Trek’s Borg, Doctor Who’s Ood… The list goes on.

Now, in fiction, we see a handful of these group conscious that allow for the retention of some individuality. But could such a thing occur in a digital world? When we are all electric signals, bytes of memory, moving around the globe through the same channels, exchanging information and interacting at unbelievable speeds… would there be any real way to preserve individual consciousnesses? Or would we all eventually merge into one collective, global consciousness, humanity becoming one massive superintelligence?

Of course, Itskov faces a great many obstacles on this path. Technology is currently not progressing at the rate he would like, and it’s going to take more than just his billions to fund this venture. Personally, I don’t think he’ll ever raise the necessary monies to push this plan along according to his timeline. But if the money is found and that major hurdle is no longer standing in his way…

I ask you, galleons, to think about this idea. What kind of man would even put forth such an idea? This man would:

Look at him, galleons. I’m pretty sure this guy’s a goddamn robot already. He’s a Cyberman in disguise, trying to make us all a crazy, digital consciousness to suit his alien creators. Look at those dead, soulless eyes.

DON’T LET HIM GET YOUR DELICIOUS HUMAN MEATS, WORLD.

Just Because Robots Are Cool

And also a little scary, but I think it’s important to stay abreast of all advances in robot technology. Just so I know how advanced they’re getting (and so I’ll know when to start building my bunker and stocking it full of the size 10 cans of dried foods available in the “Emergency Preparedness” section of the local grocery stores- I shit you not, that’s totally a thing here).

But despite what I think is a very reasonable fear of my future robot overlords, I am utterly fascinated by robotics.

Scientists (despite all the sci-fi books and films depicting humanoid robots rising up and taking over the world) have been trying for a very long time to creating human-sized robots capable of doing tasks like make a bed, prepare a meal, or dig a ditch. One of the biggest problems they run into, though, is that current robots do not function well on soft or shifting (like sand or loose dirt) surfaces. Hard, flat surfaces? No problem. Carpet, grass, or the beach? Well… that’s another story.

And so, being thwarted by nature, scientists have decided to study their enemy to find a clue as to how to overcome it. And lo, they came across an idea- while watching lizards run across the ground.

Folks at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with some exciting new predictive algorithms that help compensate for ground shift/flow. They then built a six-legged “lizardbot” using a 3-D printer to test these predictions. The little robots was able to scamper across sand just like a real lizard:

“It was our first attempt [at building a robot based the new algorithms] and we’re happy it works,” said biophysicist Daniel Goldman.

Like most advances in robotics, this is a small achievement that will (hopefully) pave the way for further advancements and research. Bit by bit, scientists are figuring out how to mimic the movement of a variety of animals. This is opening the door to more complex robotic creatures in the future.

In fact, Goldman and his team hope the lizardbot’s predictive models will serve as a big step toward putting legged robots on Mars.

That’s good- Curiosity and Opportunity could use some company.

Through the Looking Glass

Galleons, this may come as a surprise to you, but I love science. Yes, it’s true. And I also happen to love art. Thus, my geek flag tends to be at full, quivering mast (oh yeah) when the two get together.

Just like this, but less ear-rapingly annoying and more awesome.

A U.K. artist named Luke Gerram has created a series of blown glass sculptures he’s calling Glass Microbiology. And it is exactly what it sounds like- Gerram has created gorgeous glass representations of viruses and bacteria.

No joke.

Working with virologist Andrew Davidson of the University of Bristol, Gerram has made a series of giant, translucent viruses, crafted to the highest level of detail known to science.

Here are a few of Gerram’s beautiful (and unsettling) creations:

T4 Bacteriophage

Enterovirus 71

Malaria

HIV

E. coli

Definitely my new favorite depiction of large microbes (sorry little plush dudes).

Do Fish Dream of Electric Eels?

And now, because I’m a crazy loner who lives on her own, it’s time for a story about Sam’s fish.

Johnny spent all of yesterday building a bubble nest in the middle of the little ruin that graces his fishbowl. Now, The Professor does this regularly, but this was the first time I’d ever seen Johnny at the task. And boy, was that little guy determined. He was resolutely at the top of his bowl, little mouth gulping at the air as he made his bubbles. Nothing would distract him from his task, including me, trying to distract him (because I am an asshole). Not even feeding time could pull him from his duty. It’s like he knew that if he worked long and hard enough, I’d give him a lady Betta to make sweet, sweet fishy love to.

Unfortunately, Johnny learned what The Professor learned long ago- I am a withholding bitch who will not give them any ladiez. This morning, I wandered over to his bowl to find his magnificent bubble nest gone, destroyed in what I can only imagine was the rage-induced thrashings of a fish who realizes he’s wasted a whole day trying to woo a lady that will never come. Poor little guy.

At least, that’s what I assume he was thinking. Because I am not a fish and do not know anything about fish thoughts.

But while I am in the dark about fish thoughts, researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Genetics are not. Or, at least, they’re less in the dark. The group managed to capture the first video of a thought passing through a fish’s brain. Check it:

True, it’s probably not a terribly complex thought (but I can’t be too judgmental, seeing as my most recent thought was “Why the fuck is my lip bleeding?”), but it’s still freaking awesome. The researchers were able to capture this little thought using a super-sensitive fluorescent probe they created to detect neural activity, as well as a genetic probe that can be inserted directly into the neurons of interest. This two-pronged attack allows us to see neuronal activity at the cellular level.

Badass.

The thought pictured above occurred when the little zebrafish being observed was checking out a paramecium flitting around it. We don’t know what that thought was, but it was probably something along the lines of, “Mmm, lunch.”

This probe is just beyond cool. It opens new doors in neural studies, and it could potentially help us understand how connections between brain cells work together to produce thoughts. You get that? It could help us understand how thought works, not just in humans, but in animals as well.

And until then, it allows us to see a little fish thinking. And while the thought itself remains a mystery, it’s beautiful to watch it.

‘s not gonna help me understand Johnny or The Professor, though. Thankfully, their rage and spite comes across loud and clear.

The Birds and the Bacteria

A double dose of science goodness for you, my galleons. Aren’t you lucky?

Scientists in Savannah, GA (can anyone read this city’s name in anything other than a lazy, rolling Southern drawl?) have spent the last 30 years studying the songs of sparrows. Which probably does not involve them sitting out on their large porches, sipping mint juleps and listening to the local wildlife, but dammit all, that’s how I want to imagine it went down.

Anyway, the Savannah scientists have discovered that the songs of their sparrows have changed over the course of 30 years. Which might not be too surprising (one would think they’d have to vary their songs every so often, to keep the ladies interested), but considering sparrows actually only learn one type of song in their lives, it is very interesting. The scientists liken it to human speech patterns, making the comparison that the way people spoke in the 80s is quite different than how we speak today. After all, slang terms rise and fall, becoming a central feature of the language of a certain time period. The same holds true for birds- their songs are full of little bits of “slang”, clicks and trills that change over time.

It’s a fascinating look at cultural evolution. Male sparrows learn their song from the males around them, meaning the changes in song are learned changes being passed to new generations. It’s likely the changes came about thanks to the fickle nature of females- their preference for males with shorter trills, for example, means those males will reproduce with them and will teach youngsters the same trilling technique. And all this happened in a mere 30 years, allowing us to study the evolutionary patterns. Awesomesauce.

***

Even astronauts have to worry about splattered bugs on their windshields, even if those bugs are microscopic little bacteria. A recent study by NASA of the middle and upper troposhpere has revealed that a host of microorganisms hang out in the trophosphere, a region of the atmosphere 4-6 miles above the Earth’s surface. This raised some sciencey eyebrows, seeing as the trophosphere is a difficult environment for life to flourish in.

The microorganisms consisted of a variety of bacteria types, as well as a few fungi. The types of bacteria varied depending on where the air samples were taken- marine bacteria were found in air samples from above the ocean, while terrestrial bacteria were abundant in the above-ground air samples.

Of course, whether the microorganisms actually make their home in the troposphere is not yet known. While the troposphere does contain carbons than many of the varieties of found bacteria could thrive on, it’s also likely the microorganisms get kicked up there from the planet’s surface. Frankly, based on the concentrations of marine bacteria over water and terrestrial bacteria over land, I’d wager the latter. Still, it was surprising for the NASA group to find so many of the little buggers kickin’ it way up there.

Atmospheric scientists are keenly interested in this discovery for a few reasons. The first is that these microorganisms might play a role in the formation of ice, impacting weather patterns. And second, it could represent a new form of long-distance bacteria transport that would be of note for disease transmission models.

Who knows, maybe there are whole bacterial colonies hanging out in the clouds… An odd ecosystem (unless you are a Care Bear), but hey, whatever works for you, little bacteria.

Happy Anniversary, Opportunity

With all the fuss being made over dear Curiosity landing on Mars last year (which I still contribute to), it became far too easy for us to forget about Opportunity, another rover already trekking around the surface of the red planet.

We love ‘em and leave ‘em up there, to be sure. Poor little robots.

But Opportunity made a name for itself and Mars research long before Curiosity dropped down on its sky crane. In fact, today marks the 9 year anniversary of Opportunity’s own landing. Opportunity wasn’t lowered down by fancy crane, but instead bounced onto the surface of Mars on giant airbags along with its twin rover, Spirit. The rovers were expected to do their little robot research for 3 months…

Turns out, both were a bit more dedicated to science than NASA planned. Spirit continued operating until 2010, and Opportunity is still going strong and is now starting its 10th year on Mars (meaning it’s lasted 36 times the three months it was supposed to).

But, as JPL’s John Callas, manager of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Project, said:

What’s most important is not how long it has lasted or even how far it has driven, but how much exploration and scientific discovery Opportunity has accomplished.

Too true. After all, it was the work of Opportunity that gave us the first hard evidence that there had once been flowing water on the Martian surface (As an aside here, my galleons, do you lot remember receiving the news of that find? Because I do. Man, I was beyond excited. I can still remember us all talking about it in our algebra class. One of those rare times science got a front-row seat over celebrity gossip and hunting stories.). And it’s still up there, rolling along, doing some science.

Right now, while Curiosity continues getting the limelight over in Yellowknife Bay, Opportunity is on the other side of the planet at Endeavor Crater, looking around for some clay. Scientists are hoping to find specific minerals (like smectite) in the clay around the crater, which would indicate there had previously been Martian water with less acidity than previous water sites Opportunity has discovered in its 9 year sojourn. These minerals would speak of an environment more hospitable to life.

Interestingly enough, this means that Opportunity is moving to the next phase of the Mars Program architecture, going from simply “Following the Water” to “Determining Habitability”. This was something Opportunity was never supposed to do (and is actually Curiosity’s mission).

While there’s enough science to be done up there for both robots, I can’t help but quietly think, “You show that young whippersnapper, Opportunity.” Curiosity certainly has big shoes to fill, but Opportunity’s not quite ready to take them off yet. Opportunity is a grand scientific accomplishment, both for its own amazing self and the incredible work its doing.

Our hats are off to you, Opportunity. Happy anniversary.

Brown Eyed Girl: A Study in Bullshit Studies

Galleons, I loves me some science (which you should really know by now). And I love to share with you lot some of the interesting, astounding, and odd research occurring around the world. But, while I’m prone to girlish squeals of glee at the mere mention of new particles and breakthroughs in quantum teleportation, I always try to remember (and remind you) that we must take all this new research with a grain of salt.

And by a grain of salt, I mean we need to apply the RULES OF SCIENCING to these studies. While established scientific theories have many years of rigorous testing and re-testing, figuring and re-figuring to verify the results of the initial studies behind them, fresh studies introducing new ideas still need to undergo that check-and-double-check process. So, while the scientists involved may have done everything they could to create a strong, objective study, other people may find flaws in their designs (the OPERA neutrinos, anyone?).

When reading science news, it can be easy to slip into a haze of joy/fear over all the studies rolling in… but if you are reading a science news site, it’s likely you are a rational being (most of the time). And so, you’ll be able to take a step back and read these things with a more discerning eye. You’ll be able to separate the quality studies from the questionable ones.

And, in the case of ludicrous “studies” like the following, you’ll get a hearty chuckle. So come, my galleons, and laugh with me at the absurdity.

***

Some folks over at Charles University in the Czech Republic decided to do a little study about what makes a person’s face appear trustworthy. An interesting idea (and one that’s probably a combination of factors, let’s be honest), but you can’t help but wonder how you’d frame an experiment to really study that.

Basically, the group created a simple little test and asked their test subjects to rate a variety of male and female faces based on perceived trustworthiness, basing their test on two features (…somehow): eye color and face shape.

According to the study’s… results, brown-eyed faces were found more trustworthy than blue-eyed (for faces of both genders), while more rounded male faces with larger mouths and chins were seen as more trustworthy than narrow male faces (apparently, female face shape makes no difference- we’re all untrustworthy snakes or something).

So then, to find which was more important (eye color or face shape), they introduced a third test. The third test used photographs of male faces that were identical except for one difference: eye color. And they found? Well, they found that both eye colors were fairly equal on the trustworthiness scale. Seems facial features were more important than eye color.

***

Now, this study is bullshit and a half for so many reasons.

To begin with, how can you make an accurate test for trustworthiness based on eye color? The supposed third test is actually the only test that can actually single out eye color as a factor- everything else has to be the same (the goddamn control of the experiment) in order to test for one specific thing. Using any other type of test, tests without the proper fucking control, make any statements regarding eye color as a potential factor for trustworthiness laughable and a strong case of correlation not implying causation. As test three (what should have been the “eye color test” to begin with) shows, eye color doesn’t seem to actually impact perceived trustworthiness. The researchers falsely assumed (from their flawed ass tests) that eye color caused a change in perceived trustworthiness, but that data was coincidental.

Or, more amusingly, as one of the researchers said, “We concluded that although the brown-eyed faces were perceived as more trustworthy than the blue-eyed ones, it was not brown eye color per se that caused the stronger perception of trustworthiness but rather the facial features associated with brown eyes.”

…Because brown-eyed people all have the same facial features, and all blue-eyed folks have extremely different features. Uh huh.

Not to mention that they were supposedly look at “face shape”, then suddenly start describing facial features. Were the tests designed to test the supposed trustworthiness of various facial features? Well, based on what we learned from the fucking eye color portion, we can assume it’s a hearty “fuck no” there.

The study is just junk. Utter horseshit. I mean, one look at this has you laughing, right? They can’t possibly consider this valid science. This is the kind of shit a bored middle school student does for a science fair project.

Remember, galleons, not everything posted as “science news” is good science. Some of it is crap. Worth nothing more than a derisive snort and an eye roll before clicking away. Don’t be drawn into their lies. Keep a level head when reading any purportedly scientific article. I have faith in your good sense and intelligence, dear galleons. Science is all about questioning the universe around you- questioning the validity of experiments is part of that.

(500) Phases of Matter

Oh galleons, remember when you were in primary school and learned about the three states of matter? Matter could be a solid, a liquid, or a gas. Those were its only phases.

And then you got a bit older, and your science textbooks introduced you to plasma, a special, ionized state of matter that doesn’t occur terribly often on Earth, but is actually the most common state of matter out in spaceland.

So, four states of matter. Solid, liquid, gas, plasma. And that’s it. Those have been the sturdy pillars of our understanding of condensed matter physics for ages.

Turns out… our “four phases of matter” belief is off by, oh, about 496 phases or so.

To be fair, to say that there are 500 or so phases of matter isn’t actually saying we have solid, liquid, gas, plasma PLUS 496 unnamed states of matter insanity. Instead, it’s a matter of reclassifying phase states. And to understand this reclassification, we first have to look at where the four original matter states came from.

The phases of matter have traditionally been classified by their symmetry in a method known as the Landau paradigm. Liquids are extremely symmetric, for example, while solids are much less so (which isn’t to say they aren’t symmetric- solids possess their own symmetry, but it isn’t the universal symmetry of liquids). Landau’s paradigm allows scientists to not only arrange the phases of matter on a chart, but to understand the behaviors of known phases.

And then…

We found a handful of phases Landau’s paradigm couldn’t describe.

Well, shit.

It’s all the fault of that pesky quantum mechanics, which always seems to wiggle in and throw a wrench into long-held scientific beliefs. When investigating quantum systems, some condensed matter researchers found numerous ground states that existed with the same symmetry.

Well, shit.

It became apparent that a new classification system was needed for states of matter. And thus, topological order was born. Topological order doesn’t describe phases of matter by their symmetry, but rather by patterns of entanglement.

And this new method of phase classification was powerful, but… well, it wasn’t perfect. Turns out, there were a few phases that still didn’t fit into the new classification system. These were short-range entangled phases that didn’t not break the symmetry (and therefore couldn’t be classified by topological order, which requires breaking through the symmetry to study the underlying patterns of quantum effects), aptly named symmetry-protected topological phases.

WELL, SHIT.

And so, some condensed matter researchers have recently come up with a new system to classify the phases of matter, one that should be able to classify all phases, including the symmetry-protected ones.

The new classification system (currently nameless) uses group cohomology theory and group super-cohomology theory. These two algebraic theories study groups by using functors, which are ways of mapping from one category to another by mapping objects to objects and morphisms to morphisms in such a manner that the composition of morphisms and the identities are preserved- which seems to make sense for phase description, no? This new classification system has allowed the researchers to describe all states of matter (including the symmetry-protected phases) in any number of dimensions and for any symmetries.

This new system, while not necessary for children understanding how liquid water transforms into ice, will help us understand quantum phases of matter, allowing us to design specialized matter states for use in quantum computers and superconductors.

Fascinating, to be sure, but don’t worry about having to run out and memorize 500 new states of matter- good ol’ solid, liquid, gas, and plasma are good enough for those of us who don’t work in the fields of theoretical, experimental, and condensed matter physics.

Frog Milk: Babushka’s Tale or Surprising Scientific Breakthrough?

There is an old Russian fable about two frogs who fell in a bucket of milk:

Which seems like a silly premise (but hey, it’s a fable, and much weirder shit happens in those stories), it is apparently based in more fact than you’d expect. See, over there in Mother Russia, there is an old practice of dropping frogs into buckets of milk to prevent the milk from going sour.

An odd practice, to be sure. However, this very practice has led to the discovery of new antibiotic substances. Crazy, no?

Researchers at Moscow State University discovered these antibiotic compounds in the skin of the Russian Brown Frog, the very frog that used to get tossed into the milk to keep it good.

Hey baby, bring a little milk over here and things are gonna get FREAKY.

See, amphibians secrete antimicrobial peptides through their skin to protect themselves against bacteria and the like. The researchers at Moscow State discovered a whopping 76 antimicrobial compounds (in addition to the 21 already known) in the frogs’ skin. Some of these substances performed very well against salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria, giving us the potential for new treatment options (particularly against pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacterial strains) and explaining why the Russians kept tossing the little guys into their milk.