Here's a look at what's coming up in the November 2016 issue of JoVE: The Journal of Visualized Experiments.
Think you're good at navigation? How about if you had no access to a GPS, and were also a turtle? In JoVE Behavior this month, Roth et al. (our authors) investigated the role of cognition in the navigation strategies of Eastern painted turtles. After administering a drug that manipulates the cognitive spatial abilities of the animals, the team tracked radio-tagged turtles moving on familiar routes between seasonal water sources. The results showed that the adult animals use a combination of spatial memory and recall to find their pools rather than solely environmental cues...and they didn't use their cellphones once.
Whether you're mocha mad, cappuccino crazy, an espresso purist, or down with the pumpkin spice, coffee is arguably the ultimate crossover of comfort and fuel. Too many short chain carboxylic acids in your cup of joe, however, can turn your morning sour. In Jove Chemistry this month, Vaughan et al. (our authors) demonstrate methods to safely and rapidly evaluate organic acid levels in food and beverage samples. Using Coffea arabica seeds as an example, the team showed that capillary electrophoresis could identify organic acids to a low limit of detection, and at much lower cost than traditional methods. It's great news for a drink that is perhaps even as vital to the productivity of labs around the world as JoVE.
Our journey so far has taken us from terrestrial ponds, then back to land, and now we head out to sea for the subject of our third video spotlight this month...the brilliant and cryptic squid. Cephalopods can undergo rapid color changes, as a response to their environment, for communication, or for sensing. In JoVE Biology, DiBona et al. (our authors) reveal a new method for isolating the nanostructured pigment granules from the colorful chromatophores of these oceanic enigmas. Using a combination of simple dissection, sonication, and acidic methanol extraction, the team shows how the soluble pigments can then be extracted from these granules, allowing detailed examination of the individual components that facilitate the dynamic mechanism of adaptive coloration in cephalopods.
Finally this month, we turn our attention to the all-encompassing topic of health. In JoVE Medicine, Staup et al. (our authors) investigate the use of the intravenous glucose tolerance test, or IVGTT, to characterize the metabolic condition of large colonies of non-human primates. A convenient and simple assay that is routinely used in humans, the authors demonstrate that the IVGTT can also be used in macaques to monitor the progression of animals from healthy, toward overt diabetes. Amongst other uses such as studying metabolic disease, this research can help to inform animal care and health management.
You've just had a sneak peek at the November 2016 issue of JoVE. Visit the website to see the full-length articles, plus many more, in JoVE: The Journal of Visualized Experiments.