#papillae

When you just got out of the tub, but the buddy you met in Wonderland is part cat, so he insists on that tongue-bath

Taste of Danger

A mouthful of delicious food is a true joy, but our mouths are actually quite full even when we’re not eating. Countless microbes bustle around inside, and a new study suggests that our taste cells play a role in keeping watch of these outside elements. Researchers examined gene activity in taste cells and found a very similar pattern to that of microfold cells, immune cells which carry out surveillance in the tonsils and intestine. Adding a factor that boosts microfold cell growth to mouse taste cells made them act even more alike. Mouse papillae (the little bumps on the tongue, pictured with immune cells in red and taste cells in green) developed fewer immune cells when a particular gene linked to microfold growth was silenced. Cells’ response to flavours was affected too, suggesting taste cells behave as immune cells and may influence taste in response to oral microbe activity or infection.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Yumei Qin and colleagues

Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Biology, January 2023

Ask Prof. Yew #6: On Handling Poison Types:

A wild cat will bite but a tame house-cat loves to be pet. The same applies for pokemon. Pokemon with toxic capabilities will only use it when threatened or angry. For the most part, the venom used by pokemon is nonlethal to humans. 

The venom is generally used to stun prey or disable predators, while not all pokemon are safe to have around young children, most pokemon can be tamed with the proper training. 

Cutaneous respiration in real animals and in the speculative neo-pterosaurs.