Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY)

Seeing beneath the skin

It’s not always easy to find a vein under a patient’s skin, especially if they have a darker complexion. This device, called the VeinViewer, solves that problem with augmented reality.

First, the device scans a patient’s skin using infrared light. By capturing and processing the reflected radiation, it identifies the locations of blood vessels and projects a bright green light onto the surface to highlight the where they are.

In honor of World Elephant Day, we present you with 12 little known facts about one of our favorite creatures…in GIFs, of course.

1. Elephants know every member of their herd and are able to recognize up to 30 companions by sight or smell. 

2. They can remember and distinguish particular cues that signal danger and can recall locations long after their last visit.

3. An elephant’s memory is not limited to its herd, nor is it limited to its species. In one instance, two circus elephants that performed together rejoiced when crossing paths 23 years later. Elephants have also recognized humans that they once bonded with after decades apart. 4. 

4. The elephant boasts the largest brain of any land mammal as well as an impressive encephalization quotient (the size of the animal’s brain relative to its body size). The elephant’s EQ is nearly as high as a chimpanzee’s.

5. The elephant brain is remarkably similar to the human brain, with as many neurons and synapses, as well as a highly developed hippocampus and cerebral cortex.

6. Elephants are one of the few non-human animals to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

7. Elephants are creative problem solvers. 

8. Don’t try to outsmart an elephant! They have an understanding of basic arithmetic and can even keep track of relative quantities.

9. Elephants communicate using everything from body signals to infrared rumbles that can be heard from kilometers away. Their understanding of syntax suggests that they have their own language and grammar. 

10. Elephants can recognize 12 distinct tones of music and recreate melodies.

11. Elephants are the only non-human animals to mourn their dead, performing burial rituals and returning to visit graves. 

12. Elephants are one of the few species who can recognize themselves in the mirror.

Given what we now know about elephants, and what they continue to teach us about animal intelligence, it is more important than ever to make sure that these magnificent creatures do not vanish.

Check out some more fun elephant facts here and be sure to watch the TED-Ed Lesson Why elephants never forget - Alex Gendler

The Narrownose chimaera (Harriotta raleighana), occurs in deep waters of the continental slopes in depths of 380 to 2,600 m in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  They are oviparous but nothing is known of spawning and reproduction and very few juveniles have been collected. It was filmed swimming 10 m above the seafloor in Hydrographer Canyon, off the coast of Nantucket Island in the US.

Why do pupils come in so many different shapes? A new study suggests it all has to do with the animal’s size and whether they are predator or prey.  

For example, longer pupils are found in predators that lie in wait for their prey, like small cats. These predators need to accurately judge the distance to their prey, and the vertical slit has optical features that make it ideal for that.

But that rule only holds if the animal is short, so its eyes aren’t too high off the ground. Larger cats like lions (who chase down their prey) tend to have round pupils.

And why do goats have horizontal pupils? Find out here.

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