Burt's Blog

Hello everyone! Tyrone, here! I’m sure you all love reading Burt’s blog, but what if things got a bit more artsy around here? I’m excited to announce my upcoming masterpiece in the making – a comic book starring myself, Toni, Burt and some friendly new fish faces. Why a comic book you ask? While Burt uses writing and this blog to share what he and the scientists are up to, I’m more of a visual guy. I LOVE comics!!! But most people assume they’re restricted to superheros or one style of art (although a Superfish sounds pretty awesome). Comics are actually a sequential art where the shape, size, and relationship between panels conveys just as much information as the text itself. They’re really good at portraying abstract concepts in science that are difficult to convey with words – so I thought I’d give it a try! I’ve turned a big wordy science article published in the Maruska lab into a comic for you readers. I’ve worked really hard storyboarding and sketching a draft for you all. I’ve ...

Hey y’all, it’s Toni here!  Now that the boys Burt and Tyrone are done telling you about their cool news, me and the gals have some even cooler updates for you! The scientists have been pretty busy learning some new things about the brains of us females. Sit back, grab some popcorn, and I’ll tell you 3 different short stories from the Geaux Girl Fish Power group! Story #1: So you may remember that us females are mouthbrooders and we hold our developing babies inside our mouths for a couple of weeks. It’s kind of a drag because during this time, we can’t eat, because we’re such good mothers and we don’t want to eat our kids!, so we’re essentially in a starvation mode. But how do our brains control these behaviors of feeding and caring for our babies? Well, the researchers did an experiment to identify which regions of our brain were involved in feeding compared to maternal care. To do this, they used a neural activation marker called pS6 (they mentioned what that stood for, but it’s...

Hello! It’s Burt again. Today, my researcher friends took me outside the lab for a photoshoot. My friends wanted to be able to look at us cichlids outside of the water (why anyone would want to go there, I don’t know). They told us they wanted to make a 3D model of our species, and they chose me to be their study template! We visited LSU’s Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) office and the LSU Engineering Department, where they had me waggle my tailfin for their 3D scanner, and I learned about the 3D scanning and printing process. 3D scanning is the process of using a laser and cameras to analyze an object’s shape, size, and color. As the laser moves over the object, the cameras record the change in distance of the laser. The computer then uses the data to make small triangles or squares in 3D space, in what is called a “point cloud” model. Information from one side isn’t enough, so the scientists asked me to spin around for them so they could take images from lots of angles! Aft...