The world is too crazy for the bad guys to figure it all out:
Mammals can breath through their intenstines:
Researchers show that both mice and pigs are capable of oxygenating their blood via the colon—a capacity that, if shared by humans, could be leveraged in the clinic to minimize the need for mechanical ventilation …
In a study published today (May 14) in Med, researchers present an alternative oxygenation route: through the anus. They introduced oxygen in either gas or liquid form to the intestines of both mice and pigs that had experienced asphyxia or low-oxygen conditions and showed that the animals survived much longer than did those without the treatment.
Abby Olena, “Mammals Can Use Their Intestines to Breathe” at The Scientist
So the discovery could even be useful in the fight against COVID-19.
The paper is open access.
Severed sea squirt can regrow as three new animals:
“This is a novel result, and it opens new areas . . . for people to look at a number of different ascidians going forward,” says William Jeffery, a developmental biologist at the University of Maryland who was not involved in the current study. Jeffery has spent many years using Ciona to study regeneration, and after so long, he adds, “it was surprising to see that a solitary [species] would regenerate in the way it did.”
Amanda Heidt, “When Severed, This Solitary Tunicate Regrows as Three New Animals” at The Scientist
The paper is open access.
The researchers theorize that squirt Ciona is evolving into a colonial organism, hence the lack of individuality. We shall see. Maybe our classification systems re too rigid for these types of life forms.