Boiling Point 21st November 2017; Gloomy Octopuses the New Tradie? Cloned Dogs and 80-million-Year-Old Sharks.

Image: Octopus Tetricus, Flickr Image, 2016 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Watch out Australia, octopuses are moving in! Not quite, in fact octopuses are making small communities. Specifically, Gloomy Octopuses or Octopus Tetricus. Surprisingly, this behaviour is not thought to be a new phenomenon. It is thought Gloomy Octopuses have been creating communities for some time.  To give you a sneak peak, debris, shells and even beer bottles over time form mounds. Octopuses create ‘homes,’ out of these mounds and live in them. These octopuses live much like we do, in bustling communities that do not quite get along. But I will leave it there. To find out more check out what Tim said.

Imagine cloning your dog? This would take dog memes to a new level! Cloning is not simple and it is something scientists have been working on for some time. The first successful clone was Dolly the sheep in the 1960s. Scientists are currently researching how to maintain the health of clones and re-clones. There have been successful cases of cloning; however, often the clone does not survive due to health complications.  Alex talked about the first cloned dog, Snuppy. Unfortunately, Snuppy did not survive. Scientists took cells from Snuppy the cloned dog and created re-clones. To find out about the re-clones and what Alex said, check out the podcast.

Image: Citron, 2010 (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Have you ever heard of a snake shark? If you have not heard of one that’s because they do not exist, but Frilled Sharks do exist. They look like what I would imagine a snake shark would resemble. They have 300 teeth and a lean body, similar in appearance to a slithering snake. The 300 teeth sit in the mouth of this shark that resembles a snake’s head. These frilled sharks sound like a character from Harry Potter. They live in the deep depths of the ocean and were alive when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, but these Frilled Sharks have not evolved over 80 million years. Want to find out more about this mysterious and often unheard-of shark? Then check out the podcast and listen to what Cat had to say about these interesting sharks.