BBC Focus 02.2020

NATRE’SWEIRDEST CREATRES...

THE AXOLOTL

With their bald heads, buon eyes and gummy smiles, axolotls are

undeniably cute... and weird. Aside from their chunky bodies and

comically short limbs, they sport some seriously outrageous headgear

in the shape of six feathery gills that frame their adorable baby faces.

Their unusual appearance harks from the fact that the axolotl is the

Peter Pan of the animal kingdom. They never really grow up because

they are ‘neotenous’, which means that – unlike most amphibians –

they never metamorphose into lung-breathing, land-living adults.

Instead, they retain juvenile features such as gills, tails and a

preference for living in water.

The axolotl – a species of salamander – is critically endangered

and native only to Mexico City’s Lake Xochimilco. However, captive

populations are thriving in labs around the world, as researchers

study the axolotl’s extraordinary ability to regrow whole limbs,

bits of brain, and segments of spinal cord when injured. Genes will

be at the heart of this superpower, and, in 2018, scientists decoded

the axolotl’s genome, in the hope that we may one day be able to

harness this ability for ourselves. They found that the genome

contains 32 billion DNA base pairs, making it 10 times larger

than the human genome, and the biggest animal genome

deciphered to date. Why that is, no one knows! HP

It’s possible, but patches are likely

to be less addictive than cigarees.

You inhale about 1mg of nicotine

from each cigaree. Daily nicotine

patch doses vary from 5mg to 25mg,

so a nicotine patch can give the

same amount of nicotine as a pack

of cigarees. However, cigaree

smoke is absorbed through the

lungs much faster than the steady

dose delivered through a skin patch.

The sudden spike of nicotine from

smoking, followed by the

corresponding low, is part of what

creates the addiction in the brain.

Patches also don’t come with the

social rituals associated with

cigaree smoking. A small number

of people have reported feelings of

dependency from nicotine

replacement mouth sprays and

gum, however, so using any nicotine

replacement products, except as a

way to quit smoking, isn’t

recommended. LV

MARTIN COX, NEW MILTON

IF A NON-SMOKER WAS TO WE AR NICOTINE PATCHES,

WOULD THEY BECOME ADDICTED TO NICOTINE?

The Ancient Egyptians noticed that the veins and arteries,

as well as many nerves, radiate outwards from the heart,

and concluded that it was central to both reason and

emotion. Later, the Ancient Greeks moved responsibility

for rational thought to the brain, but passion has always

remained associated with the heart. The adrenaline surge

from any strong emotion has a powerful eect on our

heart rate, so naturally we feel the pangs of love and

araction in our chest first. LV

SANDRA MEYER, EXETER

HOW DID THE HEART

BECOME SYNONYMOUS

WITH LOVE?