{"id":964,"date":"2019-09-13T08:30:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T08:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepoetryofscience.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=964"},"modified":"2019-09-13T08:30:02","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T08:30:02","slug":"suffocating-salamanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/","title":{"rendered":"Suffocating Salamanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your translucent skin<\/p>\n

Gasps gently for breath<\/p>\n

In the Land of the Noonday Sun;<\/p>\n

A mountainous vista<\/p>\n

Unexpectedly replaced<\/p>\n

With Ziploc bags and<\/p>\n

Moist paper towels<\/p>\n

As you travel to<\/p>\n

Transparent incubators<\/p>\n

To be fed a diet of<\/p>\n

Crickets,<\/p>\n

Humidity,<\/p>\n

And rising temperatures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beneath a harsh and<\/p>\n

Artificial sun<\/p>\n

Thermal cues subliminally shift<\/p>\n

Subdermal networks<\/p>\n

To rebuild broken vessels,<\/p>\n

Replenishing moisture<\/p>\n

That breathes new life<\/p>\n

Into your acclimatised<\/p>\n

Enclosure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genetic sampling begins<\/p>\n

To unpeel the<\/p>\n

Secrets of your<\/p>\n

Self-sacrifice,<\/p>\n

Revealing the limitations<\/p>\n

Of your plasticity in the<\/p>\n

Blistering face<\/p>\n

Of warming skies.<\/p>\n

This complex sequencing<\/p>\n

Extracting a simple truth:<\/p>\n

That if we cannot regenerate<\/p>\n

A way of living then<\/p>\n

We will surely suffocate;<\/p>\n

Hung in the heat<\/p>\n

Like withered husks<\/p>\n

Of fragile skin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Southern Gray-cheeked Salamander (Image Credit: John P Clare; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem is inspired by recent research<\/a>, which has found that salamanders may harness their regenerative capabilities to protect themselves against climate change.<\/p>\n

The Southern Gray-cheeked Salamander (Plethodon metcalfi<\/em>) is an amphibian without any lungs, breathing instead through their skin and the mucous membrane in their mouth and throat. As such these surfaces must remain moist at all times in order to absorb oxygen, and if they dry out the salamander will die. Researchers have now found that these salamanders mainly rely on temperature (rather than humidity) to anticipate changes in their environment, harnessing their unique ability to regenerate parts of their body in order to rapidly minimize the impact of hot temperatures and stop their skin from drying out.<\/p>\n

By conducting an analysis of tissue samples with 132 salamanders from the Balsam Mountain Range in the Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina, the researchers found that as temperatures increased, the salamanders were able to break down and subsequently rebuild the blood vessel networks in their skin, suggesting that they regulate water loss by regenerating these networks. This process is an example of phenotypic plasticity, i.e. an environmentally-induced change to an animal\u2019s appearance, and this research provides important insight into how changes in temperature can prompt such behaviours, helping to inform how salamanders (and other animals) will adapt to an ever-warming climate.<\/p>\n

An audio version of this poem can be heard here:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/Suffocating-Salamanders.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your translucent skin Gasps gently for breath In the Land of the Noonday Sun; A mountainous vista Unexpectedly replaced With Ziploc bags and Moist paper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[194,18,81,77,29,2,414,424,3],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-poems","tag-animals","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-global-warming","tag-nature","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-and-science","tag-salamanders","tag-science","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nSuffocating Salamanders - The Poetry of Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suffocating Salamanders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your translucent skin Gasps gently for breath In the Land of the Noonday Sun; A mountainous vista Unexpectedly replaced With Ziploc bags and Moist paper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Poetry of Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-13T08:30:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"924\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Illingworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Illingworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sam Illingworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\"},\"headline\":\"Suffocating Salamanders\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-13T08:30:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"animals\",\"Climate Change\",\"Environment\",\"Global Warming\",\"Nature\",\"poetry\",\"poetry and science\",\"salamanders\",\"science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science Poems\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/\",\"name\":\"Suffocating Salamanders - The Poetry of Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-13T08:30:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg\",\"width\":1385,\"height\":924,\"caption\":\"The Southern Gray-cheeked Salamander (Image Credit: John P Clare; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/964\\\/suffocating-salamanders\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Suffocating Salamanders\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Poetry of Science\",\"description\":\""this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\",\"name\":\"Sam Illingworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam Illingworth\"},\"description\":\"Sam is a Professor in Creative Pedagogies. His research is concerned with trying to engage and empower people with science, especially those from under-served communities. He writes science poems to try and communicate some of the beautiful and important scientific research that is being done on a daily basis, all across the world.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.samillingworth.com\\\/\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/pub\\\/sam-illingworth-dr\\\/21\\\/514\\\/90b\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/author\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Suffocating Salamanders - The Poetry of Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Suffocating Salamanders","og_description":"Your translucent skin Gasps gently for breath In the Land of the Noonday Sun; A mountainous vista Unexpectedly replaced With Ziploc bags and Moist paper","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/","og_site_name":"The Poetry of Science","article_published_time":"2019-09-13T08:30:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1385,"height":924,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sam Illingworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Illingworth","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/"},"author":{"name":"Sam Illingworth","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed"},"headline":"Suffocating Salamanders","datePublished":"2019-09-13T08:30:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/"},"wordCount":388,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg","keywords":["animals","Climate Change","Environment","Global Warming","Nature","poetry","poetry and science","salamanders","science"],"articleSection":["Science Poems"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/","name":"Suffocating Salamanders - The Poetry of Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-13T08:30:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg","width":1385,"height":924,"caption":"The Southern Gray-cheeked Salamander (Image Credit: John P Clare; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/964\/suffocating-salamanders\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Suffocating Salamanders"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/","name":"The Poetry of Science","description":""this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed","name":"Sam Illingworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sam Illingworth"},"description":"Sam is a Professor in Creative Pedagogies. His research is concerned with trying to engage and empower people with science, especially those from under-served communities. He writes science poems to try and communicate some of the beautiful and important scientific research that is being done on a daily basis, all across the world.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.samillingworth.com\/","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/sam-illingworth-dr\/21\/514\/90b"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/author\/thepoetryofscience\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/9056116686_a4c373fa82_o.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}