{"667576":{"#nid":"667576","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Mudskippers could be key to understanding evolution of blinking","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBlinking is crucial for the eye. It\u0027s how animals clean their eyes, protect them, and even communicate. But how and why did blinking originate? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Seton Hill University, and Pennsylvania State University studied the mudskipper, an amphibious fish that spends most of its day on land, to better understand why blinking is a fundamental behavior for life on land.\u0026nbsp;By comparing the anatomy and behavior of mudskippers to the fossil record of early tetrapods, the researchers argue that blinking emerged in both groups as an adaptation to life on land. One \u0026nbsp;of the researchers, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/brettaiello.weebly.com\u0022\u003EBrett Aiello\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor of biology at Seton Hill University, is a former postdoctoral fellow in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sponberg.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAgile Systems Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/people\/saad-bhamla\u0022\u003ESaad Bhamla\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,\u003C\/a\u003E is a co-author of the study.\u0026nbsp; (This story is also covered in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.earth.com\/news\/humans-may-exist-because-a-fish-learned-how-to-blink-375-million-years-ago\/\u0022\u003EEarth.com\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/the-unexpected-evolutionary-key-of-blinking\/\u0022\u003ESciTechDaily\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.latrobebulletinnews.com\/lifestyles\/campus_corner\/seton-hill-assistant-professor-brett-aiello-co-authors-published-study\/article_65bab0d5-8abd-5099-b3ed-ceded5ff42bd.html\u0022\u003ELatrobe Bulletin\u003C\/a\u003E.)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBlinking is crucial for the eye. It\u0027s how animals clean their eyes, protect them, and even communicate. But how and why did blinking originate? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Seton Hill University, and Pennsylvania State University studied the mudskipper, an amphibious fish that spends most of its day on land, to better understand why blinking is a fundamental behavior for life on land.\u0026nbsp;By comparing the anatomy and behavior of mudskippers to the fossil record of early tetrapods, the researchers argue that blinking emerged in both groups as an adaptation to life on land. One \u0026nbsp;of the researchers, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/brettaiello.weebly.com\u0022\u003EBrett Aiello\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor of biology at Seton Hill University, is a former postdoctoral fellow in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sponberg.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAgile Systems Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/people\/saad-bhamla\u0022\u003ESaad Bhamla\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,\u003C\/a\u003E is a co-author of the study. (This story is also covered in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.earth.com\/news\/humans-may-exist-because-a-fish-learned-how-to-blink-375-million-years-ago\/\u0022\u003EEarth.com\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/the-unexpected-evolutionary-key-of-blinking\/\u0022\u003ESciTechDaily\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.latrobebulletinnews.com\/lifestyles\/campus_corner\/seton-hill-assistant-professor-brett-aiello-co-authors-published-study\/article_65bab0d5-8abd-5099-b3ed-ceded5ff42bd.html\u0022\u003ELatrobe Bulletin\u003C\/a\u003E.)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-05-01 14:10:00","changed_gmt":"2023-05-01 15:33:34","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"ScienceDaily ","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2023\/04\/230424223105.htm","dateline":{"date":"2023-04-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-04-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"167445","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"},{"id":"175390","name":"Agile Systems Lab"},{"id":"190072","name":"Brett Aiello"},{"id":"177841","name":"Saad Bhamla"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}