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Ancient Fossil Reveals Oldest Known Circulatory System

By Guest PostApril 13, 2014Nature, Scienceaurora australis, cambrian period, cardiovascular system, China, circulatory system, craig aumack, don perovich, earliest known, fuxianhuia protensa, ice breaker, ice pond, kate crawford, ken golden, life of ice, lili cheng, nicholas strausfeld, pompeii, united kingdom, university of arizona, vascular system, xianguang hou, xiaoya ma, yunnan province

A fossil creature buried in an “invertebrate version of Pompeii” more than half a billion years ago reveals the first-known cardiovascular system in exquisitely preserved detail.

An international team of researchers from the University of Arizona, China and the United Kingdom has discovered the earliest known cardiovascular system, and the first to clearly show a sophisticated system complete with heart and blood vessels, in fossilized remains of an extinct marine creature that lived over half a billion years ago. The finding sheds new light on the evolution of body organization in the animal kingdom and shows that even the earliest creatures had internal organizational systems that strongly resemble those found in their modern descendants. (more…)

Human’s Oldest Ancestor Found in Burgess Shale

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2012Scienceamerican palaeontologist, burgess shale, cambrian explosion, canada, charles doolittle walcott, chordate family, earthworms, fossil, jean bernard caron, leeches, marine organisms, myomeres, nerve cord, pikaia, pikaia gracilens, predator, primitive, primitive chordate, rom, royal ontario museum, scanning electron microscopy, simon conway morris, siphusauctum, tegopelte, university of cambridge, university of toronto, vascular system, vertebrate, worm, yoho national park

*Pikaia is most primitive vertebrate known*

Researchers from the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the University of Cambridge have confirmed that a 505 million-year-old creature, found only in the Burgess Shale fossil beds in Canada’s Yoho National Park, is the most primitive known vertebrate and therefore the ancestor of all descendant vertebrates, including humans.

The research team’s analysis proves the extinct Pikaia gracilens is the most primitive member of the chordate family, the group of animals that today includes fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. Their study is based on the analysis of 114 specimens and is published in the British scientific journal Biological Reviews. (more…)

Everest Expedition Suggests Nitric Oxide Benefits for Intensive Care Patients

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2011Health, Sciencebody response, caudwell xtreme everest, chemical compound, cxe expedition, denny levett, expedition to mount everest, heart, highlanders, hypoxia, infectious diseases, low oxygen levels, lowlanders, lungs, martin feelisch, nitric oxide, no, no production, oxygen level in human blood, regulation of blood pressure, sea level altitudes, shortage of oxygen, tibetan plateau, ucl, university of warwick, vascular system

The latest results from an expedition to Mount Everest that looked at the body’s response to low oxygen levels suggest that drugs or procedures that promote the body’s production of a chemical compound called nitric oxide (NO) could improve the recovery of critically ill patients in intensive care.

Many critically ill patients suffer from a shortage of oxygen (a condition known as ‘hypoxia’), which can be life-threatening. NO is produced by virtually every cell and organ in the body where it serves many important functions including the regulation of blood pressure, learning and memory formation, and protecting us from infectious diseases. (more…)

Replacing Body Parts Now More Than ‘Science Fiction’

By Guest PostFebruary 19, 2011Sciencecells, clinical trials, clotting, engineered lungs, genetically different cells, human body, human veins, infection, laura niklason, lunatic fringe, natural lungs, obstruction, regenerative medicine, science fiction, time of my life, tissue engineered lungs, tissue engineered replacement, vascular surgeons, vascular system

If Dr. Laura Niklason has her way, vascular surgeons will someday be able to pull human veins off a shelf, whenever they want, to save lives.

Niklason is a pioneer in the science — and art — of tissue-engineered replacement of human body components. Last year, she led a research team that successfully implanted tissue-engineered lungs, cultured in vitro, in adult rats. For short intervals of time, the engineered lungs exchanged oxygen and carbon dioxide similarly to natural lungs. (more…)

Tag Archives: vascular system

Ancient Fossil Reveals Oldest Known Circulatory System

Human’s Oldest Ancestor Found in Burgess Shale

Everest Expedition Suggests Nitric Oxide Benefits for Intensive Care Patients

Replacing Body Parts Now More Than ‘Science Fiction’