Malik Science Academy

Blue-ringed octopus:

Blue-ringed octopuses, comprising the genus Hapalochlaena, are four extremely venomous species of octopus that are found in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans, from Japan to Australia.

🐙 Identification:
They can be identified by their yellowish skin and characteristic blue and black rings that can change color dramatically when the animal is threatened.

🐙 Lifestyle:
They eat small crustaceans, including crabs, hermit crabs, shrimp, and other small sea animals.
The species tends to have a lifespan of approximately two to three years. This may vary depending on factors such as nutrition, temperature, and the intensity of light within its environment.

🐙 Structure:
They are one of the world's most venomous marine animals. Despite their small size—12 to 20 cm (5 to 8 in)—and relatively docile nature, they are very dangerous if provoked when handled because their venom contains a powerful neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin.

🐙 Defense:
Like all octopuses, they can change shape easily, which allows them to squeeze into crevices much smaller than themselves. This, along with piling up rocks outside the entrance to its lair, helps safeguard the octopus from predators.

🐙 Dangerous:
The blue-ringed octopus, despite its small size, carries enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within minutes. Their bites are tiny and often painless.



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Box jellyfish:

Box jellyfish (class Cubozoa) are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like (i.e. cube-shaped) body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom delivered by contact with their tentacles.

🐟 Structure:
The rim of the bell is folded inwards to form a shelf known as a velarium which restricts the bell's aperture and creates a powerful jet when the bell pulsates.

🐟 Nervous system:
The box jellyfish's nervous system is more developed than that of many other jellyfish. They possess a ring nerve at the base of the bell that coordinates their pulsing movements, a feature found elsewhere only in the crown jellyfish.

🐟 Eyes:
Their eyes are set in clusters at the ends of sensory structures called rhopalia which are connected to their ring nerve. Each rhopalium contains two image-forming lens eyes.

🐟 Behavior:
Box jellyfish also display complex, probably visually-guided behaviors such as obstacle avoidance and fast directional swimming.

🐟 Toxin proteins:
When the venom of the box jellyfish was sequenced, it was found that more than 170 toxin proteins were identified. The high quantity of toxin proteins that the box jellyfish possess is the reason they are known to be so dangerous.

🐟 Sting:
Stings from the box jellyfish can lead to skin irritation, cardiotoxicity, and can even be fatal.



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Portuguese man o' war:

🐡 The Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war or bluebottle, is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

🐡 Painful sting:
It has numerous microscopic venomous cnidocytes which deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill fish, and even, in some cases, humans.

🐡 Movement:
The pneumatophore or bladder is the most conspicuous part of the man o' war. This large, gas-filled, translucent structure is pink, purple or blue in color; it is 9 to 30 cm (3.5 to 11.8 in) long and rises as much as 15 cm (6 in) above the water. The pneumatophore functions as both a flotation device and a sail, allowing the animal to move with the prevailing wind.

🐡 Defence:
The gas in the pneumatophore is mostly air which diffuses in from the surrounding atmosphere, but it also contains as much as 13% carbon monoxide, which is actively produced by the animal. In the event of a surface attack, the pneumatophore can be deflated, allowing the animal to temporarily submerge.



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Motivational quote.



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Lion's mane jellyfish:

The lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) is one of the largest known species of jellyfish. Its range is confined to cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans.

🦑 Largest recorded specimen:
The largest recorded specimen was measured off the coast of Massachusetts in 1865 and had a bell with a diameter of 210 centimetres (7 feet) and tentacles around 36.6 m (120 ft) long.

🦑 Common names:
The lion's mane jellyfish is also known as the arctic red jellyfish, hair jelly, snottie, sea blubber or giant jellyfish.

🦑 Reason for naming:
Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) are named for their showy, trailing tentacles reminiscent of a lion's mane.

🦑 Color changes:
Juveniles are lighter orange or tan, very young lion's manes are occasionally colorless and adults are red and start to darken as they age.

🦑 Bell and lobes:
While most jellyfish have a circular bell, the bell of the Lion's Mane is divided into eight lobes, giving it the look of an eight-point star. Each lobe contains about 70 to 150 tentacles, arranged in four fairly distinct rows.

🦑 Sting:
The lion's mane jellyfish uses its stinging tentacles to capture, pull in, and eat prey such as fish, zooplankton, sea creatures, and smaller jellyfish.



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Bird's-foot trefoil:

Lotus corniculatus is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae, native to grasslands in temperate Eurasia and North Africa. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon and birdsfoot deervetch.

🏵 Habitat:
It can survive fairly close grazing, trampling, and mowing. It is most often found in sandy soils. It flowers from June to September.

🏵 Leaflets:
Five leaflets are present, but with the central three held conspicuously above the others, hence the use of the name 'trefoil'.

🏵 Description:
The height of the plant is variable, from 5 to 20 centimetres (2 to 8 inches), occasionally more where supported by other plants; the stems can reach up to 50 cm (20 in) long.

🏵 Uses:
It is used in agriculture as a forage plant, grown for pasture, hay, and silage. It is a high quality forage that does not cause bloat in ruminants.

A double-flowered variety is grown as an ornamental plant.

It can also prevent soil erosion and provide a good habitat for wildlife.

🏵 Harmful effect:
Fresh bird's-foot trefoil contains cyanogenic glycosides, which release small amounts of hydrogen cyanide when macerated.



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Studies explore converting wastewater to fertilizer with fungal treatment:

🍀 One way of doing this is through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), which converts biomass into biocrude oil through a high-temperature, high-pressure process.

🍀 The process yields wastewater, called hydrothermal liquefaction aqueous phase (HTL-AP), which is usually discarded. We know it contains nutrients that can be used for fertilizer, but they are mostly in organic forms that plants can't access.

🍀 We explored the use of Trametes versicolor, a white-rot fungus, to break the organic nitrogen compounds into ammonia or nitrate and potentially remove toxic components.

🍀 This study demonstrated that treating a solution containing 5% HTL-AP with T. versicolor for 3 days increased nitrate and ammonia concentrations significantly.

🍀 In 2nd studies, we found the treatment produced an enzyme that has been shown to degrade toxins.

🍀 The first study is published in Heliyon.

🍀 The second study is published in Agriculture.

Source: phys.org



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Scientists created a genetically engineered cow that produces human insulin in its milk:

🍶 The new method harnesses the cow's natural milk-production capabilities as a biological factory for human proinsulin, the precursor to insulin.

🍶 This proof-of-concept study demonstrated the remarkable potential for transgenic cows to produce massive quantities of insulin.

🍶 A single liter of milk contains enough insulin that could meet the needs for a diabetic patient for several years.

🍶 Unlike current bacterial production methods, this approach wouldn't require sophisticated facilities.

🍶 This development could herald a new era of insulin availability, making this life-saving medication a reality for all diabetics, regardless of location or income.

Source: Hashem Al-Ghaili



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❓Natural gas is odorless but why we feel smell when there is any leakage?

Natural gas is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic gas. A chemical odorant, similar to the smell of rotten eggs, is added to natural gas as a safety measure so that any gas escape can be detected and corrected.

☑ The smell in natural gas is "mercaptan", a chemical inserted into the gas stream by pressurized atomization.



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Blue Java Banana:

The Blue Java (also known as the blue banana, Ice Cream banana, Vanilla Banana, Hawaiian banana, Ney Mannan, Krie, or Cenizo) is a hardy, cold-tolerant banana cultivar known for its sweet aromatic fruit, which is said to have an ice cream-like consistency and flavor reminiscent of vanilla.

🍌 Fruit:

The fruit bunches are small, bearing seven to nine hands. The fruit are 18 to 23 centimetres (7 to 9 in) in length and exhibit a characteristic silvery blue color when unripe. The fruit turn a pale yellow when ripe, with white creamy flesh.

The bananas have bumps called "knuckles" due to their passing resemblance to human knuckles.

🍌 Uses:

They are also popular as ornamentals and shade plants for their unusual blue coloration, large size, and tolerance to temperate climates.

🍌 Reason for blue color:

Blue Java bananas are a real kind of fruit. They have a "silver-green" or "blue-green" color, which they get from a heavy coating of wax.



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Lion mane mushroom:

Hericium erinaceus, commonly known as lion's mane mushroom, yamabush*take, bearded tooth fungus, bearded hedgehog, or old man's beard, is an edible mushroom belonging to the tooth fungus group.

🍄 Occurrence:
Native to North America, Europe, and Asia, it can be identified by its long spines (longer than 1 centimetre or 1⁄2 inch), occurrence on hardwoods, and tendency to grow a single clump of dangling spines. The fruit bodies can be harvested for culinary use.

🍄 Saprophytic nature:
Usually H. erinaceus is considered saprophytic, as it mostly feeds on dead trees. It can also be found on living trees, so it may be a tree parasite. This could indicate an endophytic habitat.

🍄 Fruit body:
The fruit bodies of H. erinaceus are large, irregular bulbous tubercules. They are 5–40 centimetres (2–15+1⁄2 inches) in diameter, and are dominated by crowded, hanging, spore-producing spines, which are 1–5 cm (1⁄2–2 in) long or longer.

🍄 Phytochemicals:
H. erinaceus contains diverse phytochemicals, including polysaccharides, such as β-glucan, as well as hericenones and erinacines. From its essential oil, 77 aroma and flavor compounds were identified. Low concentrations of ergosterol are present.

🍄 Uses:
H. erinaceus produces edible fruiting bodies that are used as food and in traditional medicine. H. erinaceus is common in gourmet cooking, with young specimens considered the best.



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