Now on ScienceBlogs: Will Quantum Fusion Save the Day?
Near-death, rehashed The story so far: Mario Beauregard published a very silly article in Salon, claiming that Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) were proof of life after death, a claim that he attempted to support with a couple of feeble anecdotes. I replied,...
Friday Cephalopod: Onward! Upward! (via Oceanwide Images) (Also on FtB)...
Another creationist list of lies It's always amusing to see creationists try to explain why Charles Darwin was wrong, especially when they make up lists of reasons "Darwin's theory of evolution does not hold up to scientific scrutiny." These are always people who wouldn't...
Santa Clause vs Alan Alda -- Religion vs Evolution There are limits to what you can safely show students in High School, but are they appropriate?
How to live trap mice and squirrels Before reading any further, you need to know that the transport and release of trapped animals, such as mice or squirrels, is regulated and may be illegal in your community. Having said that, there are times when people want to live trap a mouse or...
Turn off the bloody Bat-Signal! Bats huge reservoirs of viral disease Know what sounds like fun? Testing almost 5,000 bats and over 4,000 rodents, from all over the world, for a cadre of viral infections ;) Im not kidding!Bats host major mammalian paramyxovirusesThink about this: Where did, say, measles, come from?...
Experimental Biology 2012 - Tuesday & Wednesday I have had a lot of fun at this year's Experimental Biology conference. I always enjoy attending the symposia to listen to current research news as well as interact with fellow comparative physiologists at all levels of training. Here...
Supporting Your Local Life Science Teacher Here is a way you can support the Life Science teachers in your local school. Give them a poster or a hat or a T-shirt or a book or something. I'll tell you why in a moment. First, you have to find the teachers and...
Modular gene networks as agents of evolutionary novelty A while back, I told you all about this small piece of the biochemistry of the fly eye — the pathways that make the brown and red pigments that color the eye. I left it with a question: if...
Botanical Wednesday: an alien forest (via NatGeo) (Also on FtB)...
Historical Interdisciplinarity Examples? For something I'm working on, I'm trying to come up with good examples of interdisciplinarity making a difference in science. Specifically, I'm looking for cases where somebody with training in one field was able to make a major advance in...
Showing more pride in comparative physiology Meet Dr. Heidy Contreras, a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Arizona and the latest winner of a Starbucks gift card for showing off her pride in comparative physiology at the 2012 Experimental Biology meeting!...
Tuesday's comparative physiology posters at EB 2012 Here are my favorite posters from today's session: -Scott G, Schnurr ME, Yin Y, Johnston IA. "Embryonic temperature produces persistent effects on the capacity for thermal acclimation in adult zebrafish" Scott et al., found that exposing embryonic zebrafish to...
When ERVs get Stockholm Syndrome: Superspreaders You cant win, mammals. If you strike Env down, ERVs shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Meet the final What's New in Comparative Physiology t-shirt contest winner!! Meet Patricia Villalta, from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, our final winner of the "What's New in Comparative Physiology" t-shirt contest! The letter explaining her reasons for being excited about the Experimental Biology conference were inspirational. May...
Showing pride in comparative physiology Meet Dr. Rudy Ortiz from the University of California, Merced. He is a winner of our show your pride in comparative physiology at EB contest! In case you can't tell from his tie, he is passionate about his research with...
Mary's Monday Metazoan: Needs shortcake (via Ocean Light) (Also on FtB)...
Experimental Biology 2012 - Monday (continued) Highlights from the afternoon seminars: D. Schlenk, "Estrogenic activities in marine wildlife: potential causes and population impacts" Dr. Schlenk has been studying the estrogenic effects of Bifenthrin, a pyrethroid insectide in fish populations. He observed that male fish exposed...
Experimental Biology 2012 - Monday G Highlights from the morning sessions Hypoxia inducible factors in health and disease G. Haddad, "Genomic information controlling the adaptation to long term hypoxia: insights from flies and humans" Dr. Haddad's laboratory has discovered that hypoxia tolerance is inherited in...
Primary Cilia Connect Here is a press release from BioMed Central that is just so interesting I had to give it to you as it is without delay: Connecting cilia: cellular antennae help cells stick together Primary cilia are hair-like structures which protrude from almost all mammalian cells....
Some Thoughts on a Mechanism for Cell Suicide You might not think of cell suicide as a sexy subject - but it is actually quite hot. Cells off themselves for any number of reasons: In embryonic development, cell suicide helps shape the growing organism. In adults, suicide is...
Baboons, breast cancer and blogs. Mary-Claire King's work unraveled the genetic basis of breast cancer and Nobel Laureate Linda Buck research revealed how mammals distinguish the scent of lemon from that of... scat
"Your Inner Neandertal" Keynote talk by multimedia artist Lynn Fellman for Minneapolis DNA Days Do you know why some people are 1 to 4% Neandertal? Lynn Fellman explains how your Uncle Ned and maybe you have an "Inner Neander" during her art and science talk on April 28th....
Experimental Biology 2012 - Saturday I arrived in beautiful San Diego this afternoon and just checked in to the conference. I am really looking forward to the Walter Cannon Lecture this evening as well as the APS 125th Anniversary Opening Ceremony and beach party!...
Oil for Food - Microbe Style Yesterday on Marketplace, there was a great piece by Alex Chadwick on the fate of all the oil released during the BP oil spill two years ago. Oil is a product of organic matter that was deposited many, many years...
“THIS, this right here gives me hope. When the willfully ignorant have dragged my spirits down to the point where I wonder what will become of humanity, articles like this one are the antidote.” FossilFishy on How to make a snake
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Some engineers use cranes and steel to make their designs reality, but synthetic biologists engineer using tools on a different scale: DNA and the other molecular components of living cells. Synthetic biology uses cellular systems and structures to produce artificial models based on natural order. Read these posts from the ScienceBlogs archives for more:
Pharyngula May 30, 2007
The Loom January 31, 2008
Discovering Biology in a Digital World July 2, 2006