For years, frogs have helped humans make key scientific advancements to improve the quality of life for us all.  They have helped with HIV research, pregancy research, and now, cancer research.  Scientists studying South African Clawed Frog (Xenopus Laevis) tadpoles – not to be confused with the African Dwarf Frog – have discovered a compound which prohibits the movement of pigment cells as the frog grows into an adult.

As a result of these pigments being blocked, the adult frog does not grow up with its usual greenish-brown color.  It is the uncontrolled movement of these pigment cells in both humans and frogs that causes a form of skin cancer.  According to the study, understanding how to block these cells could lead researchers to better understand how to prevent tumors from developing and spreading.

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Frog Books, Scientific Studies African Clawed Frog, cancer research, tadpoles, Xenopus Laevis

The great Georgia Frog Survey is underway this week.  Several weeks ago, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources was seeking volunteers who were interested in being trained to learn specific sounds and living behaviors for its 31 different frog species for its annual frog survey.  The survey begins January 15th.

To test your own frog listening abilities, check out the USGS Frog Quiz.

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A recent study led by Biologist Jon Barnes of the University of Glasgow in Scotland contrasted the differences in how geckos and tree frogs were able to scale surfaces so easily.  It provides some detailed answers to the classic question, “how do tree frogs climb like that?”

They concluded that why the gecko uses a dry grip that creates a molecular bond between its toe pads and the surface being climbed, a tree frog uses nanopillars, which creates a wet grip with the surface being climbed.

Barnes and his team studied the feet of White’s Tree Frogs with an atomic force microscope to better understand how this is being done.

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Scientific Studies geckos, nanopillars, tree frog, white's tree frogs