Animal

For reasons that have more to do with curiosity than industrious style, I often strive to attend every lecture during international conferences. I acknowledge that the excuse of skipping lecture is even lamer now that video replay is mostly allowed in virtual conference.

To my delight, I found a few lessons on comparative kidney physiology in the American Society of Nephrology conference this year. They take me to arena of kidney knowledge in animals other than humans. Yes, it's even more interesting after visiting the Ocean Park with my daughter last week. My late-night listening to scientific explanation for a giraffe to develop a thicker straitjacket-like layer covering its kidneys - at least three times thicker than that of a cow's kidney outside lining - is as entertaining as reading books of Bill Bryson. Answer - to shield kidneys from a high blood pressure because this tall animal needs a phenomenally high blood pressure to drive blood up to the brain.

In another lecture, I learned about the way dolphins develop tricks to conserve body water: how they have lengthier intestine to absorb water (twenty times of body length - no exaggeration - and that's five times more than ours), how they reduce their breathing rate (two to five times per minute) to minimize respiratory water loss, and how they strive to have a much thicker kidney medulla, the inner-most region of the kidney to concentrate their urine.

What a wonderful animal kingdom.