Biology
A new study that decoded the DNA sequence of the kiwifruit has concluded that the fruit has many genetic similarities between its 39,040 genes and other plant species, including potatoes and tomatoes.
| 3 min read
Just as our bodies have skeletons, so do our cells. They’re equally indispensable in both cases. Without our bony skeletons we’d go limp and fall down. And without our cytoskeletons, our cells, which come in roughly 200 different shapes and sizes, would all become tiny spheres and stop working.
| 5 min read
Errors in the human genetic code that arise from mismatched nucleotide base pairs in the DNA double helix can lead to cancer and other disorders. In microbes, such errors provide the basis for adaption to environmental stress.
| 3 min read
For more than half a century scientists have looked on the DNA molecule as life's blueprint. Now biological engineers are beginning to see the molecule not as a static plan, but more like a snippet of life's computer code that they can program.
| 4 min read
Concerned about the effect of stress on your health and well-being? If your answer is “yes,” then Arizona State University professor Doug Granger is doing research that could impact you. Granger is pioneering the field of interdisciplinary salivary bioscience using spit.
| 3 min read
The notorious bacteria E. coli is best known for making people sick, but scientists have reprogrammed the microbe — which also comes in harmless varieties — to make it seek out and fight other disease-causing pathogens.
| 2 min read
Amoebas that are placid, model organisms in the lab farm bacteria and carry guards to protect their crops in the wild.
| 5 min read
MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) have entered into a five-year, $6 million collaboration to drive novel bioscience research in Maryland.
| 2 min read
Using a new and super-sensitive instrument, researchers have discovered where a protein binds to plant cell walls, a process that loosens the cell walls and makes it possible for plants to grow.
| 2 min read
Previously believed to be only man-made, a natural example of a functioning gear mechanism has been discovered in a common insect - showing that evolution developed interlocking cogs long before we did.
| 4 min read
UNC biochemists resurrect “molecular fossils” to conduct experiments that undercut the predominant scientific theory of how life began on Earth.
| 3 min read
The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year grant of more than half million dollars to a multi-disciplinary research team with 17 investigators for acquisition of a unique, state-of-the-art infrared spectroscopic and imaging system to establish a new research facility at Oklahoma State University.
| 2 min read
