ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Hi All,

For many, many years we did an exhibit which utilized the California Sea Hare, Aplysia californica.  It has one of the most easily accessible nervous systems and they're colorfully labelled, with large neurons of small numbers.  Aplysia ink in response to predators, like many mollusks (think octopi and squid).  The ink has the ability to obscure vision, and it also gums up sensory cells.  

This link takes you to a pretty cool video of an Aplysia defending itself from a Spiny lobster.  It turns out that one compound in the ink in particular decreases chemical sensitivity.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/03/video-never-mess-with-a-sea-hare.html 

Such effects have long been suspected but in the study, researchers were able to isolate one compound.

For those of you familiar with Aplysia, the video also shows an Aplysia leaving the scene of the confrontation at a record pace, for an Aplysia.

C

Charles Carlson
Senior Scientist | Teacher Institute

http://blogs.exploratorium.edu/whyintercept/
Twitter: @charliec53
email: [log in to unmask] 
Tel:   415-528-4319
Fax:  415-885-6011
exploratorium.edu
facebook.com/exploratorium twitter.com/exploratorium
The Embarcadero, Piers15 & 17
S.F., CA 94111





***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]