Creature feature

The human microbiome project revealed the vast numbers and types of microbes that live on and in the human body. While this thought may be unpleasant, humans can have larger, more gruesome passengers hitching a ride, such as the several-centimeter-long nematode Loa loa, which infects millions of people in Western and Central Africa.

Usually, I'm disappointed when I email someone and immediately get an out-of-office message back, but this reply, from Harvard professor Jonathan Losos, made my day:

"I'm wrangling lizards in Ecuador. In the mountains, where it's cool. Back in my office August 24. If you don't hear from me by then, you might try me again."

I saw a mention today that the purported oldest elephant in North America died yesterday at the age of 71. Taj, who resided at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, was an Asian elephant - a smaller elephant compared with the African savannah elephant, Loxodonta africana. Aside from being long-lived, Taj also appears to have had an artist's sense creating paintings sold for charity.

Ignore the ick factor, for a moment, and consider the lowly roundworm.

Also known by its more formal name, Caenorhabditis elegans, the 1 millimeter-long nematode has helped scientists all over the world uncover new insights about biology and genetics since the 1960s.