The Camel's Nose: Memoirs of a Interest in Animal Physiology Came Study Camels
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
have used it when they searched for and a keen eye for observation of the America, where he began studies on tumor suppressing plant compounds world around him. Among his written kangaroo rats in the Arizona desert. in lab and my 4-H youth would have works are several classic textbooks in One question that intrigued him was used it when they dyed the wool from physiology, including How Animals how these rats were able to survive their sheep projects. Anthropology stu- Work, Animal Physiology, and Scaling. on dry food with nothing to drink. dents will also find it useful. Schmidt-Nielsen, now in his eighties Over the course of several years, it was and a James B. Duke Professor Emeri- discovered that metabolic or oxidation Rachel Hays tus of Physiology in the Department of water formed by the combustion of Wanganui, New Zealand Zoology at Duke University, continues food was enough to sustain these rats, his distinguished career that spans which are extremely economical in more than half a century of scien- their use of water. In 1952, Schmidt- ANIMALPHYSIOLOGY- tific discovery. Nielsen accepted a job at Duke Univer- AUTOBIOGRAPHY In his autobiography, The Camel's sity, where he began preparations for Nose, Schmidt-Nielsen relates how his an expedition to the Sahara desert to The Camel's Nose: Memoirs of a interest in animal physiology came study camels. The camel proved to be Curious Scientist. By Knut Schmidt- about-beginning from his childhood an unusual animal in many respects, Nielsen. 1998. A Shearwater Book pub- days in Scandinavia, growing up being able to tolerate greater increases lished by Island Press (Suite 300, 1718 under the influence of parents who in body temperature and a greater Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, were themselves scientists, to his early degree of dehydration than humans, DC 20009). 339 pp. Hardback $24.95. in at the and capable of reducing the water con- years as a student zoology Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/62/3/224/49548/4450881.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 One of the world's most promi- University of Copenhagen under the tent of the exhaled air. The camel's "4l~ nent animal physiologists, eminent Nobel laureate August Krogh. nose removes water from the exhaled Knut Schmidt-Nielsen has led an It was here, in Krogh's laboratory in air by two processes: by cooling the extraordinary life filled with adventure 1939, that his field studies first began exhaled air in the nasal passageways, and travel to remote areas of the world with an expedition to Norway to inves- thereby reducing the amount of water in search of answers to problems of tigate if marine birds drink saltwater. it can hold, and by exhaling air that how animals survive in hostile envi- Indeed, puffins, auks, skuas, and other is less than fully saturated by absorb- ronments. The animals he has studied birds examined ingested seawater, but ing the water into dried-up nasal have been diverse-ranging from once in the body the salts seemed to secretions. desert snails to marine birds, saltwater disappear, being neither excreted in The years that followed were marked frogs, turtles, lungfish, ostriches, cam- the urine nor retained in the tissues. by many more expeditions and interest- els, kangaroo rats, and more. And the Many years later, Schmidt-Nielsen dis- ing new discoveries. Betweenl962 and questions he has asked have been covered that salts were eliminated as 1975, there was a return to the Arizona seemingly simple: Do marine birds a salty fluid dripping from the beak, desert to study cooling mechanisms in drink seawater? By what physiological formed by a salt gland located in the jack rabbits and a safari to South Africa mechanisms does a duck standing on bird's head. to study respiration in ostriches. One ice conserve body heat? Why doesn't His subsequent studies on marine of the more notable expeditions was a frog living in brackish water become reptiles revealed analogous structures a trip to the Amazon River in Brazil pickled? Celebrated for his many dis- for excreting salts, including a gland in a research vessel, named the Alpha coveries related to animal physiology, located in the orbit of the eye in the Helix, that was equipped with a labora- he is also a remarkable personality, marine turtle, producing salty tears. tory and a team of scientists with a a person with immeasurable curiosity In 1946, Schmidt-Nielsen came to common interest in unusual animals. One objective was to study lungfish and other air-breathing fish such as the electric eel that will drown without air. At a later time, while attending a biophysics meeting in Jerusalem, Lookingfor software designed as a teachingtool? Schmidt-Nielsen came upon a snail resting on the hot desert sand and Our CD-Rom gives teachers the content they need was intrigued by its ability to survive to incorporatecomputers into their teaching plans. in such hostile conditions. Returning to Israel in the summer of 1969, Schmidt- For under $10. a lesson per school, this courseware can be used: Nielsen discovered that these snails -- As an introduction to the topics could survive for several months at a -- As a catch up aid time without food or water, their bod- -- For review ies kept cool by the chalky white reflec- -- For remediation tive properties of the shell and a com- partmentalized interior that separates Please visit us at the body of the snail from the hot www.spawncourseware.com sand with a pocket of air. To reduce and review the topical outlines for our lessons about fuel and water requirements, and to minimize heat production, the snail Cell Structure Cell Function virtually suspends its metabolism. Cellular Energy In the last chapters of the book, Schmidt-Nielsen gives an account of Endocrine System Molecular Genetics the awards and recognition he has received and shares his thoughts on the future of science. The essence of 224 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 62, NO. 3, MARCH 2000 this extraordinary man and distin- model and the Nobel prize is found York, NY 10016). 112 pp. Hardback guished scientist is captured in his in the middle chapters of the book. I $20. (ages 12+). closing words: liked the fact that Wilkins, Franklin In this Oxford biography we and others were given credit for their My own success in the field of qpta learn of the 93 years of a very contributions and the credit not just animal physiology has basically dynamic scientist's life. Linus Pauling accorded to Watson and Crick. come from a combination of luck, was inherently interesting, brilliant, Toward the end of the book we hear the privileges of my upbringing, sometimes wrong, and always colorful. about the Human Genome project, and my own simple-mindedness. I The book starts out with a series of how Watson was involved, and when am not madefor difficult and com- vignettes about Linus Pauling's early he left. We also learn about Crick's plex problems. My interest in ani- life. These are designed to hold the move to California and I was glad to mals came to me naturally, and the reader's interest, and they did mine. see the mention of his controversial I have tried to answer in Your students will enjoy reading about questions beliefs about the origin of life on Earth, my researchhave all seemed simple. the 9-year-old Pauling stealing concen- called the directed panspermia theory. trated nitric acid and secretly trans- T1heCamel's Nose is an inspiration to Even Dolly, the most famous sheep of porting it home on the train. We learn read. It is written in simple language, recent years, is given a special two- about the high school senior who making it accessible to all audiences, page explanation. dropped out of school early to attend and is full of interesting stories about There is an index, and I was very Oregon Agricultural College and after the animals around us. By the example interested to see a short chronological his sophomore year, was hired to teach of his life, Schmidt-Nielsen reminds table at the end of the book which a freshman chemistry class. We learn Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/62/3/224/49548/4450881.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 us of the richness that can be lost when really helps the reader put things into of his falling in love with one of his we lose curiosity and stop looking at some perspective. I would recommend students, and how he became much the life around us with all our senses. this book; I feel it makes these histori- more socially conscious and politically cal characters much more personable aware after their marriage. Annette M. Gabaldon and one might just learn a new thing Bits and pieces of scientific explana- University of California-Davis or three. tion, like how X-ray crystallography Davis, CA 95616 works, are intertwined with his vari- Phil McCrea ous jobs, his marriage, the birth of his New Trier High School child, and the loss of his other. I found I YOUNGSCIENCE l Win7netka,IL 60093 it interesting to read about other names from scientific history like Heisenberg Francis Crick & James Watson and Linus Pauling and the Chemistry of and Schrodinger, and how they contrib- the Building Blocks of Life. By Life. By Tom Hager. 1998. Oxford Uni- uted to Pauling's monumental work on Edward Edelson. 1998. Oxford Univer- versity Press (198 Madison Ave., New the nature of the chemical bond. sity Press (198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016).