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Title: Poet: Worm loves Worm Written by: J. J. Austrian illustrated by: Miike Curato Published by: Balzer & Bray, Jan 5th, 2016 Themes: celebration of love, marriage, wedding, worms Ages: 3-7 Opening: Worm loves Worm. “Let’s be married.” says Worm to Worm. Synopsis: A worm meets another worm and falls in love. One proposes; … Continue reading →

The earth is filled with many types of worms, and the term “planarian” can represent a variety of worms within this diverse bunch of organisms. The slideshow below highlights fun facts about planarians from Oné Pagán’s book, The First Brain: The Neuroscience of Planarians, and provides a glimpse of why scientists like Pagán study these fascinating creatures.

• Planarian Taxonomy

   

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  In taxonomic terms, planarians belong to a large class of organisms called Vermes, the Latin term for “worm.” Platyhelminthes, or “flatworms,” represent a phylum within the class of Vermes, though the Platyhelminthes are broken down into four additional categories. One of these categories includes the Turbellarians—flatworms that are free-living and non-parasitic. Turbellarians are then arbitrarily distinguished based on their size, creating two further divisions: the microturbellarians (worms that are shorter than 1 mm) and macroturbellarians (worms that are longer than 1 mm). There are two types of macroturbellarians, the triclads and polyclads. Though “planarian” is a general term used to describe many types of flatworms, it is most often used in reference to triclads.

• Planarian Size

   

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  Triclads are small worms. They do not typically exceed one inch in length, but many of these worms are even smaller than that. Though these planarians can usually be seen with the naked eye, they are often studied under a microscope for closer observation. The two distinctive bumps that you can see on both sides of a planarian’s head, even without a microscope, are called auricles. Though they are commonly mistaken for ears, auricles do not pick up sounds in the environment, and instead contain many chemoreceptors that help planarians sense both nourishing and toxic substances in their surrounding environment.

• Planarian Fossilization

   

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  Planarians are an ancient species. But like other invertebrates, it’s hard for planarians to fossilize because their bodies lack hard bones. Planarians’ tendency to autolyze—or dissolve head first—when they die makes the process of fossilization even more difficult. Though the fossil record for these organisms is a bit scarce, scientists have identified a fully intact turbellarian fossil from the Eocene period about 40 million years ago. Scientists have also found what they interpret as fossilized flatworm tracks from the Permian period (300 million years ago).

• Planarian Regeneration

   

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  Planarians possess the incredible capability to regenerate cells that are damaged or removed. Though the scope of regeneration varies from species to species, many planarians are capable of full regeneration. This means that if you chop up a planarian into several pieces—the current record is 279 sections—each piece can regenerate into a full grown worm, assuming that this piece of the worm is placed in an environment with adequate nourishment. Even the isolated tip of a tail from a planarian can develop into a full grown worm that possesses a brain and central nervous system.

• Planarians as Model Organisms

   

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  In the early 20th century, scientists began looking for organisms with which they could test the principles of Mendelian genetics. Most people are aware that fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) became a common test subject because of their short lifespans and ability to produce large quantities of offspring in a short period of time. However, planarians also became a great model organism for scientists to use. Though the planarian nervous system is simple, these flatworms display an immense array of complex behaviors—making planarians an ideal candidate with which scientists can study how the brains of more complex organisms, such as humans, function.

• Planarians in Popular Culture

   

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  Planarians are not only test subjects for scientists to study. These are also creatures of popular culture, making appearances in several movies and TV shows. For example, in an episode of Fringe, Dr. Bishop offers Agent Dunham a smoothie with chopped pieces of planarians—a gesture meant to pay homage to the memory transfer experiments conducted by McConnell. Planarians have also appeared in the first movie of the Twilight saga, in addition to episodes of The Big Bang Theory and Dr. Who.

Oné R. Pagán is a Professor of Biology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and the author of The First Brain: The Neuroscience of Planarians.

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Images: The first five photos in this slideshow have been used courtesy of Dr. Masaharu Kawakatsu. Photo six is copyrighted (2003) by the National Academy of Sciences, USA and has been used with permission.

The post Pagán’s planarians: the extraordinary world of flatworms appeared first on OUPblog.

        

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Just wanted to let you know that this week things will be short and sweet on the blog. Last week’s Librarithon was lots of fun, but left me short of time for other (blog related) projects so this week, whilst there will be a couple of posts this week normal service will resume next week.

In the meantime here’s the most beautiful book we discovered last week on our Librarithon :

Here’s the book that got us itching to get back in the garden with the arrival of spring:

And here’s the book that not only made us laugh out loud, but also made our stomachs churn…

Each of these books is brilliant. Astonishingly beautiful, interesting, funny, disgusting, breathtaking – a great mix! – and you’ll be doing yourself a favour to track down a copy of any of them for your own families

Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer by Carol Brendler, illustrated by Ard Hoyt

Winnie loves earthworms.  She knows all sorts of facts about them, pulls them around in her wagon, and even races them.  But when the county fair rolls around, she realizes that there is no category for her beloved worms to compete in.  She speaks with three neighbors.  One is growing corn for the fair and needs a good fertilizer.  Another is raising chickens and needs the right feed to make them the best egg layers.  And the third is raising puppies and needs something to get their coats shining.  She makes a deal with each of them that if she finds the answer to their needs they will share the prize with her.  Then she uses her worms to help with the corn, the corn to help with the eggs, and the eggs to help with the shiny coats.  It’s a clever solution from a bright, scientific girl.

I love any book that breaks with the stereotype of girls not liking worms, dirt or animals.  Winnie is a great protagonist for a picture book because she shatters that myth.  She holds and hugs worms with delight.  I also appreciate how intelligent she is and how she solves her own problems by using her brain. 

Brendler’s text is fun to read aloud.  She has taken a traditional tale format and modernized it.  Readers will find themselves in a traditional format and be surprised, which is delightful.  Hoyt’s illustrations are funny, sometimes frenzied, and wiggly with worms.  Any worm haters out there will love the reaction of Winnie’s cat as it grimaces about the worms she loves.

A strong heroine in a modern picture book, this wiggly mass of worms is loads of fun.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

NOTE TO SELF: DON'T JUDGE A WORM BY ITS LOOKS


A New Zealand inventor of the "wormorator" has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure. Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy. A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.

In Bell's invention, a colony of worms filters solids from the toilet waste and the leftover water is filtered into underground trenches.

When you think about it and some would rather not and for sure some don't care one way or the other (most likely the latter), the mere fact that they are turning...you-know-what into rich loam could be an indication that they i.e. the worms, enjoy the process. Or...on the other hand and we don't really know since the worms, can't express their true inner feelings, their action and end result could be a result of the trauma of having to deal with human feces. I mean - it's totally understandable.

So my next question is: just where does one find somebody with the right qualifications or indeed any qualification to deal with worm trauma? Can the testimony of a vermiculturalist be believed? What does she/he do to test out her/his theory? Pull a worm out of the earth and have a conversation with it?

"Hello worm," she would probably say. "How 'ya doin' today? I'm fine! So...how d'ya like dealing with all that sh**?"

How could the vermiculturalist know the difference between an unhappy and happy worm? More to the point, does a worm know if its happy or unhappy? Do worms suffer from depression?

Also, in as far as hygeine is concerned, who would sit on this compost toilet?

The Auckland Regional Council's concerns went down the pan after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu found the worms in excellent health and breeding happily. I guess one has to take her word for it.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071216/oddities/nzealand_animals_offbeat_worms