How proteins recognize specific stretches of DNA is one of the key questions of gene regulation. One would like to be able to look at the regulatory DNA sequence adjacent to a gene, and predict which…

An interesting phenomenon in growing random networks: The number of 3-node, 3-edge connected subgraphs in a random, scale-free network of N nodes scales as N0 (=1). No matter how big your network…

The Database of Useful Biological Numbers - great stuff, although before using any hard-to-measure number, be sure to know how the measurement was done before you trust the result. Check these out:…

DNA is like your phone line. As Northwestern University biophysicist Johnathan Widom put it in a talk recently, DNA simultaneously encodes multiple overlapping signals, just like your phone line that…

It's easy to get lost in a eukaryotic cell. Proteins need to be in the right place at the right time to carry out their functions, but the cell is a crowded place, and the layout isn't exactly…

Darwin didn't miss much, I think we all agree, and came up with a lot given the limited science of his day.   One thing he missed, that by this time tomorrow will be the source of outrageous…

Darwin knew that some mechanism had to govern how our physical features and behavioral traits have evolved over centuries, passing from a parent to their offspring with natural selection favoring…

You age. As you age, your cells age. Your telomeres wear out. Even single-celled yeast age, giving birth to only a limited number of daughter cells. So how is it that each new generation starts fresh…

I'm mixing my movie references with the headline, perhaps, but it's honestly the first thing that popped into my head when I read about a worm helping scientists understand longevity.…

Boys who carry a particular variation of the gene Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), called the 'warrior' gene by some, are more likely to join gangs and be among their most violent members, according to a…