All Posts
2008-08-30 17:01:53
by mwc in Discount Thoughts
Biology
It is rare, but not unheard of, for a human baby to be born with a tail. Atavism of this kind is generally understood to be the result of mutations in regulatory genes that cause an ancestral pattern of development to re-emerge. A physiological step backwards through the path of descent is often easy to recognize, because many of the evolutionary relationships are known. It should also be possible to identify atavistic events in particular molecules. For instance, one can imagine that a mutation to CLC-0 might result in a reversion to the ancestral transporter function. In a recent article in ...more
2008-08-30 16:00:06
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Biology
The complex cells that make up plants and animals only survive today because their ancestors formed partnerships with bacteria. In a previous post, I wrote about a microbe called Hatena, which provides us with a snapshot of what the early stages of this alliance might have looked like. Hatena swallows an alga which becomes an integrated part of its body.
Millions of years ago, the ancestors of complex cells did the same thing, taking in bacteria and merging with them to form a single creature. Today, these integrated bacteria are mitochondria, which provi...more
- Hattori M. (2006) The 160-Kilobase Genome of the Bacterial Endosymbiont Carsonella. Science, 314(5797), 267-267. DOI: 10.1126/science.1134196
2008-08-30 13:00:05
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Biology
The complex cells that make up plants and animals only survive today because their ancestors formed partnerships with bacteria. In a previous post, I wrote about a microbe called Hatena, which provides us with a snapshot of what the early stages of this alliance might have looked like. Hatena swallows an alga which becomes an integrated part of its body.
Millions of years ago, the ancestors of complex cells did the same thing, taking in bacteria and merging with them to form a single creature. Today, these integrated bacteria are mitochondria, which provide us with energy, and chl...more
- Hattori M. (2006) The 160-Kilobase Genome of the Bacterial Endosymbiont Carsonella. Science, 314(5797), 267-267. DOI: 10.1126/science.1134196
2008-08-29 17:15:01
by Cheshire in Cheshire
Biology
In many cases, we can use the insects themselves to aid us in their elimination. One method, called the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) involves using sterilized insects to drive the population down.
First, insects are raised in rearing facilities to adulthood. Then, males are singled out with a variety of methods (which I won't go into here...feel free to dig up the sources via google scholar), sterilized and released into the field in droves. This is preferable to pesticides because the technique is generally very environmentally friendly and species specific-no chance ...more
- (2000) Glossnia austeni (Diptera: Glossinidae) Eridicated on the Island of Unguja, Zanzibar Using the Sterile Insect Technique. Journal of Economic Entomology, 93(1), 123-135.
2008-08-29 15:01:12
by Jake Young in Pure Pedantry
Biology
One of the problems brains must overcome to behave effectively is to discretely encode all the different responses that they can produce. Considering movement alone, you can move in a lot of different ways. Selecting which one is appropriate is troublesome in itself, but encoding all of them is a challenge. It is like trying to organize the Library of Congress so that you can instantly find exactly what you want. Your brain must come up with some way to encode each of these responses separately because if it didn't than you might engage in one response when you really meant another. Ho...more
- Duncan J. (2008) Hierarchical coding for sequential task events in the monkey prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(33), 11969-11974. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0802569105
2008-08-29 09:16:15
by Felix Bohne in science-meets-society
Biology
Autor: fee
Die Makuladegeneration (MD) ist eine Erkrankung der Makula, dem Punkt des scharfen Sehens in der Retina des Auges, die leider immer noch in der ganz- oder teilweisen Erblindung der Betroffenen endet. Die Auslöser sind nach wie vor unbekannt, doch in den vergangenen Jahren wurden diverse Fortschritte auf diesem Gebiet erzielt.
Grundsätzlich werden zwei Varianten, die ...more
- Zhang K. (2008) Toll-like Receptor 3 and Geographic Atrophy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration. , DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa0802437
- He Y. (2007) Climate Change and War Frequency in Eastern China over the Last Millennium. Human Ecology, 35(4), 403-414. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-007-9115-8
2008-08-29 01:08:28
by scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Biology
I had to cover this review, just because I saw the title. If I ever have a child (pity that poor child) they will be guinea pigs for experiments on “children as projectiles”. I can’t help it, every time I read the phrase, I think of someone putting a baby with a little helmet into ...more
2008-08-28 16:08:39
by Olexandr Isayev in isayev.info
Biology
Our work on AIMD simulation of CL-20 thermal decomposition just get published in the J. Phys. Chem. B!
CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane or HNIW) is a high-energy nitramine explosive. To improve atomistic understanding of the thermal decomposition of CL-20 gas and solid phases, we performed a series of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. We found that during unimolecular ...more
- Leszczynski J. (2008) Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Study on the Initial Chemical Events in Nitramines: Thermal Decomposition of CL-20. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 112(35), 11005-11013. DOI: 10.1021/jp804765m
- Billon P. L. (2001) The political ecology of war: natural resources and armed conflicts. Political Geography, 20(5), 561-584. DOI: 10.1016/S0962-6298(01)00015-4
2008-08-28 08:11:41
by Felix Bohne in science-meets-society
Biology
Autor: fee
Bisher dachte man, dass beim Umprogrammieren von differenzierten Zellen hin zu anderen ebenfalls differenzierten Zellen zuerst die Dedifferenzierung, gefolgt von der Redifferenzierung stattfinden müsste. Conrad Waddington hat den Prozess der Differnzierung mit dem Bergabrollen einer Murmel verglichen, die an verschiedenen Verzweigungen ihrer Bahn unwiederufbare Zellschicksalsentscheidungen trifft. Um nun zum Ausgangspunkt, dem pluripotenten Status der ...more
- Melton D. A. (2008) In vivo reprogramming of adult pancreatic exocrine cells to β-cells. , DOI: 10.1038/nature07314
2008-08-27 11:20:28
by scicurious in Neurotic Physiology
Biology
Mateo et al. “Role of serotonin in cocaine effects in mice with reduced dopamine transporter function” PNAS 101(1), 2004.
This one is a complicated, but very cool paper. But it involves some very crazy mice. So bear with me, here.
As you probably know (or can tell from the posts I’ve done on it), cocaine is one ...more
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- He Y. (2007) Climate Change and War Frequency in Eastern China over the Last Millennium. Human Ecology, 35(4), 403-414. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-007-9115-8