Insights into Biology

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a wonderful holiday and a relaxing weekend!

Feeling Wound Up?

There's a cure... for DNA at least. Reasearchers at Scripps Institute have figured out how a macromolecular engine unwinds DNA so it can be read.

Modern and Ancient Plagues

A quick but interesting overview of plagues modern and ancient, and their common characteristics.

It sounds uncomfortably like what the Guardian reports is going on in Zimbabwe.

Yesterday's Post: Resurrecting Extinct Genomes...

Today's Post: Sending More Species Extinct?

Proposals have been put forth that would weaken the Endangered Species Act.

Mammoth DNA

The BBC News reports that a US-Russian team have pieced together about 80% of the woolly mammoth genome:

"Analysis of the draft sequence revealed that the genome of a mammoth differs from that of an African elephant by just 0.6%. This is about half the difference between the genomes of a human and a chimpanzee."

Silencing and Repairing DNA

A new gene silencing pathway has been found in plants.

Scientists have also found that proteins implicated in gene silencing in mice may also repair damaged DNA.

The 'Hole' Story

This is actually a pretty interesting piece on pelvic structures of Homo erectus, and what we can derive about the brain size of infants, i.e. they may have been a lot smarter than we thought.

What's great, though, is that not only is the title a terrible pun, but the National Science Foundation has used it before.

Give Up Tea or Nanoparticles?

Researchers have found that, under certain circumstances, nanoparticles can trigger cell death:

"...certain cell cultures are not affected when exposed to fullerenes, i.e. nano-sized molecules that consist of spherical, ellipsoid, or cylindrical arrangement of carbon atoms. Cells are also not affected when exposed to gallic acid, an organic acid that is found in almost all plants and, for instance, in tea. However, when fullerenes and gallic acid are present in the cell culture at the same time, they interact to form structures that bind to the cell surface and cause cell death."

The Threat Hovering on the Horizon

The United Nations has identified a cloud of pollution so huge that it actually blocks out the sun in parts of the world.

Feeling Patient?

Scientists have found that, without an enzyme, an essential cellular reaction takes over 2 billion years to complete.