Sam Logan and Hanane Hadj-Moussa are two biologists at Carleton University. Both are examining Red Devil Squid, a species that terrors the sea and divers. Hadj-Moussa excitedly explained how the tiny squid can grow up to six feet long and can be very aggressive. Aside the terrifying trait, Humboldt squid can survive oxygen deprivation. The marine species, according to her, stays on the water's surface at night and then goes dormant down under.
Based on scientific curiosity, both scientists believe that this trait can be applied to human or medical needs. The biology students have also published researches on mammalian hibernation and metabolic rate depression in many conferences and peer-reviewed scientific journals.
However, only through further scientific study that the examination on the invertebrate can reveal the benefits, which costs a fortune.
Working in a lab throughout the day, the female researchers understand that it takes a lot of many for basic science. Hence, they decided to ask help from the community using a crowd-funding campaign. Their research entitled "Tough Squid" is placed at Experiment.com
According to the context, the research will work on examining the squid's ability in shutting metabolic pathways in order to survive in an extreme freezing environment. Logan and Hadj-Moussa are planning a six-month observation on the squid DNA. Both researchers and their professor, Kenneth B. Storey, hope to discover the role of epigenetics that could benefit organ viability for transplants. The research needs approximately $6,000.
When reached out for comment, Logan said that this crowd-funding can help scientists to follow their dreams. Crowd-funding has been helping many other projects succeeded in raising money for useful researches.
Before the squid project, Smithsonian institution decided to raise money to digitize Neil Armstrong's and Alan Shepard's space suit as part of conserving the items. Reboot the Suit managed to have the $700,000 for that.
