Daily Popular
- Hoogsteen base pairs: An alternate structure in DNA
- Histones: DNA packaging and much more
- Back to the Future: Cars with hub motors
- Fukushima Meltdown
- Loricifera: Larger life without oxygen
- Rethink the brain: More evidence for the tripartite synapse
- Prions: Not alive but they can evolve
- Oil production from living bacteria
- Government Internet censorship on the rise
- Enhancer RNA (eRNA): More powerful than previously thought
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Category Archives: Impact
Paleogenetics: Unlocking the secrets from DNA of long ago
Eighth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell reprogramming, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Decoding DNA Tagged dinosaurs, DNA, fMRI, Frankenstein, gene sequence, Jurassic Park, Neanderthal, paleobiology, paleogenetics, Splice, STM Leave a comment
Mars water: What’s all the fuss?
Seventh in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell reprogramming, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Exogenous Life Tagged astrobiology, exogenous life, life, Mars, origin of life, planet, rovers, solar system, water, water-ice Leave a comment
Proteins and quantum transition: Instant shape-shifting
Every once in a great while a piece of very interesting science comes along, quietly, until more and more people notice that not only is important but it may be right. Then scientists get into high gear and start doing more intensive experimenting. Sometimes the science press or even the popular media catch wind of [...]
Posted in Impact: Proteomics Tagged amino acids, biochemistry, configuration, DNA, Lu, Luo, protein, protein folding, proteomics, quantum folding, quantum mechanics, quantum transition Leave a comment
Reprogramming cells: The post stem cell future?
Sixth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell reprogramming, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Tagged cell biology, cell reprogramming, DNA, embryonic stem cells, epigenetics, genetic modification, genetics, Gurdon, iPSC, pluripotent, proteomics, stem cells, Yamanaka Leave a comment
Oh Daphnia, why so many genes?
Ms. Water flea, Daphnia pulex…..credit: Wiki Commons This equal sign, =, is about as big the known champion of the gene-filled genome. Little Daphnia pulex, variously labeled a crustacean (like shrimp) or ‘the water flea,’ is the first of its subphylum to have its genome sequenced. Lo and behold: Daphnia’s genome has more genes – [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Tagged cloning, copy number variation, Daphnia, DNA, Environmental Genomics, gene-pool, genetics, genome, phenotype, water flea Leave a comment
Ephaptic coupling: Could be how brains coordinate
I love it when scientists say things like this: “I firmly believe that understanding the origin and functionality of endogenous brain fields will lead to several revelations regarding information processing at the circuit level, which, in my opinion, is the level at which percepts and concepts arise,” Anastassiou says. “This, in turn, will lead us [...]
Posted in Impact: Neuroscience Tagged biophysics, brain, consciousness, electric field, endogenous, ephaptic coupling, neuron, neuroscience, spike field, synapse, thought 3 Comments
Hoogsteen base pairs: An alternate structure in DNA
Reverse Hoogsteen base pairing…..Wikipedia Commons I know some of my biases. One of them is knee-jerk skepticism about taking little-tested scientific results and blowing them up to “…a cure for cancer” or “…revolutionize the electronics industry.” However, like most people I also have a bias to be curious about interesting, if somewhat unusual scientific findings. [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Tagged base pairs, biochemistry, DNA, double-helix, epigenetics, genetic coding, genetics, histones, Hoogsteen, NMR, proteins, RNA 1 Comment
The microbiome: Our life in common with microorganisms
Fifth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell development, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Tagged Archaea, bacteria, bacteriology, cell biology, DNA, extremophile, genetics, hyperthermophile, immune system, microbiology, microbiome, microorganism, pathogen, thermophile, virome, Yellowstone Leave a comment
This is the decade: Alien planets, alien life
Fourth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell development, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Exogenous Life Tagged adaptive optics, coronagraph, Doppler spectrometry, exogenous life, exoplanet, extra-solar planets, Gliese 581g, Keck Telescope, Kepler, life, planet Leave a comment
Global warming: The climatology of resignation
Second in a series of posts discussing the impact of ten topics framed by ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine. The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell development, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. This post reads more [...]
Posted in Impact: Climate Change Tagged AAAS, AGW, climate change, climatology, consensus, global warming, Media, paleoclimatology, politics 2 Comments
Inflammation: An unsuspected killer
Inflammation: An unsuspected killer. One in a series of posts discussing the impact of ten topics framed by ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell development, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. Lists of a [...]
Posted in Impact: Major Disease Cures Tagged Alzheimers, atherosclerosis, bacteria, cancer, diabetes, inflammation, Parkinsons, Type II Leave a comment
CellSearch: Wishing for a cancer blood test
I’m beginning to think that wishing for breakthroughs in cancer treatment is part of the modern condition. Fifty or sixty years ago, such wishing was almost outside the realm of the thinkable. Today, well it’s rare that a few months go by without some kind of cancer breakthrough or another. It makes wishing seem worthwhile. [...]
Posted in Impact: Major Disease Cure Tagged assay, assay chip, blood sample, cancer, cancer cell, cell count, CellSearch, Massachusetts General Hospital, molecular analysis, tumor, Veridex Leave a comment
Welcome to a new world created by Wikileaks?
Writers and journalists love to develop (and throw) the ideational bomb – that is, an idea so incendiary and potent that people everywhere talk about it. The idea goes viral. Perhaps a few heads explode. It changes perceptions. It causes many arguments. Of course, many of these bombs turn out to be duds. It’s not [...]
Posted in Impact: Online Information Tagged bureaucracy, Internet, online information, secrets, Wikileaks 1 Comment
An odd couple: Arsenic and Life
It was unlikely that GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria would grip the imagination; but it did. Of course, it did because instead of the long scientific name or the cryptic GFAJ-1, it was simply called Alien Life! This, of course, caused a minor sensation. It was even covered by the non-science media. The [...]
Posted in Impact: Origin of Life Tagged alien life, arsenic, arsenic based life, biochemistry, DNA, GFAJ-1, origin of life, phosphorus, RNA, Wolfe-Simon Leave a comment
Changing the frame of reference for quantum mechanics
Is there a relationship between the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and quantum nonlocality? Only a quantum physicist should know, or care. Wrong, at least in one way. Granted, quantum mechanics is a tough subject. So is your brain. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth knowing about. As for quantum physicists knowing about such a relationship, well [...]
Posted in Impact: Quantum Physics Tagged action at a distance, entanglement, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, information theory, nonlocality, physics, quantum physics 2 Comments
Addressing the climate change information gap(s)
As most people who follow science and technology are aware, climate change as an issue has lately become the victim of bad vibes. That’s not how you’d describe it? Okay. Point is: while the evidence for a changing global climate continues to roll in, the public seems to become less impressed. Depending on where you [...]
Posted in Impact: Climate Change Tagged climate change, climateprediction.net, climatology, glacier melting, global warming, met. U.K., sea level, weather at home Leave a comment
First steps: Converting skin cells to blood cells without stem cells
This is an important story about stem cell research because it doesn’t involve stem cells. I know that sounds odd, but it’s true. Of course, I’m being coy. The research by Mick Bhatia, Eva Szabo and colleagues at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), published in the November 7, 2010 online issue of Nature [ Direct [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Tagged blood cells, cell conversion, cytokines, DNA, epigenetic, fibroblast, multipotent, OCT4, pluripotent, POU5F1, progenitor, skin cells, stem cells Leave a comment
Working toward a ‘triple threat’ graphene transistor
Anyone paying attention to science or technology this year must have noticed that graphene is a big deal. As in two guys, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, both at the University of Manchester (UK), winning a Nobel Prize in physics for (more or less) launching graphene on its way to fame and fortune. Hardly a [...]
Posted in Impact: Nanotechnology Tagged amplifier, Geim, graphene, n-type, Nobel Prize, Novoselov, p-type, transistor, triple-mode, trisistor Leave a comment
Microsoft Kinect connects with the future
This isn’t a review of the new Microsoft Kinect, the “controller free gaming and entertainment experience” that attaches to Microsoft’s Xbox. At least not exactly. I’ve only had a couple of hours to mess with it at a friend’s house, and during that time I had to fight off his three kids, who were already [...]
Posted in Impact: Computer Power Tagged gesture recognition, Kinect, Microsoft, motion sensor, Nintendo, user interface, virtual reality, voice recognition, VR, Wii Leave a comment
Coming up: Body-to-Body networks (BBN)
Try this idea on for size: Built into clothes, clip-on devices, hand-held devices, or eventually implanted devices – tiny, very low wattage transmitters to become part of a “Body-to-Body Network” or BBN. Not so keen on it? What if you got a reduction in monthly cost of your telephone communications for becoming a participating transmitter? [...]
Posted in Impact: Communications Tagged BBN, body worn, body-to-body, communications, network, transmitter Leave a comment
The biodiversity crisis is more than extinctions
Published to coincide with the so called United Nations Biodiversity Conference (officially: The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties) in Nagoya, Japan October 18-29, 2010, are a number of studies and reports on the current state of biodiversity. The most striking is a new assessment of the vertebrate species (that’s us and anything [...]
Posted in Impact: Species Loss Tagged biodiversity, extinction, global warming, Nagoya, species loss, U.N., vertebrates Leave a comment
Graphene finds mass appeal
Thanks to the 2010 Nobel Prize for physics, graphene is a hot topic. That doesn’t mean it’s a household word. Graphene is not like pencil lead, which most people know is graphite. (That may hold for another generation or two, pencils are disappearing into tiny niches.) Yet graphene is graphite. Same stuff, pure carbon, just [...]
Posted in Impact: Nanotechnology Tagged carbon, Dirac equation, graphene, mass, massless, mathematics, nanotube, physics, quantum physics Leave a comment
Update: Who’s afraid of Watson?