Genetics & Molecular Biology

Proteins are large, organic - in the science sense of organic, not the food marketing sense -  molecules that help us to convert food into energy, supply oxygen to our blood and muscles and drive our immune systems.  Proteins consist of one or more polypeptides, chains of amino acids held together by peptide bonds. If a protein in water is heated to temperatures approaching the boiling point of water, these chains will lose their structure and the protein will denature (unfold).  A more clear example of denaturing/unfolding occurs when an egg is hard-boiled: the structures of…

The downside to partisan embryonic stem cell hype over the last decade and conflation of it with adult stem cell breakthroughs, is that a whole lot of hucksters are exploiting public confusion and claims about miracle cures to make an easy buck. But there is real value in there too, the public just needs to be able to separate the good stuff from the nonsense. Fan of science and Texas Governor Rick Perry is a believer, he underwent experimental stem cell therapy during back surgery last year, which prompted him to start advocating for stem cells.  The Texas Medical Board, however, is not…

Gene expression is impacted by social dominance?  A study of rhesus macaques published in  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says a female's social status affects how her genes turn on and off, and those who rank higher tend to be healthier - unless their social status declines. Past research has shown that caste-level and social status can change what genes get turned on and off in insects, fish and honeybees while social environments of both humans and non-human primates affect their hormone levels and mortality risk as well as the survival of their offspring.…

Vincent van Gogh's series of sunflower paintings, while spectacular to fans of his work, have also intrigued scientists because they depict a mutation whose genetic basis was a mystery. In a new study, a team of University of Georgia scientists reveal the mutation behind the distinctive, thick bands of yellow "double flowers" that the post-Impressionist artist painted more than 100 years ago. The most common sunflower trait is a composite flower head that contains a single whorl of large, flattened, yellow ray florets on the outer perimeter and hundreds to over a thousand individual, tubular…

You may have heard about certain potential dangers of nanotechnology; I like to write about some of them on occasion; and you probably know about the almost lost battle against so called superbugs, those pesky bacteria that evolved in hospitals to become resistant against all our drugs. Now combine these for something a little more scary: Fast-track evolution towards superbugs. Nanoparticles accelerate horizontal gene transfer between bacteria, helping them to become resistant against multiple antibiotics. Especially the alumina nanoparticles used to bind heavy metals in waste water…

Nobel Prize winner Jack Szostak recently wrote an opinion piece titled "Attempts to Define Life Do Not Help to Understand the Origin of Life" which was published in the Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. (open access, so you can read it free of charge)  The view he expressed was given respectful coverage by Carl Zimmer in his widely publicised article "Can Science Define Life in Three Words", the only blemish from the usually perceptive Zimmer in an otherwise interesting and balanced article. Not only is Szostak’s view wrong, but he compounded the error with the opening…

Efforts at obfuscation and fomenting false concerns by kooky anti-science food activists aren't working.  They spent the better part of the last decade blocking science advancements in food security insisting 'the science isn't settled' and muttering Frankenfood denialist jingoisms, but it seems to be failing. Farmland devoted to improved crops went up over eight percent last year, to 395 million acres. Agriculture strongholds like Brazil, India and Canada join the U.S. in picking science over advocacy. No one has mastered blocking efforts at food security like Europeans, and why wouldn'…

Have you heard of biobricks? They're the answer--or at least an answer--to the accusation made here at Science 2.0 and elsewhere that: . . . there is one area where physics has the life sciences beat: sharing. . . . Genomes have been placed into the public domain, but that was by government mandate, and the NIH requires its funded studies to be available to all, also government mandate, but as far as individual efforts to be more open, the life sciences are a lot more resistant than others unless they are told they must do it. I totally agree that biology is behind the times when it comes to…

TED talks declined from ‘must-see-every-single-one’ to less interesting than liveleak.com, even from a science and technology perspective - seen a chicken plugger? Superfast slot cars? Bubble Vortices anybody? So it is worthwhile to point out interesting TED talks whenever one happens to still come along. Drew Berry’s Animations of unseeable biology, though the first half is drivel, makes up for it in the second. These kinds of visualizations make evolution and how we as humans fit in into the whole of the cosmos much better understood. Well, of course, you may as well see what can only be…

Ari Levaux, a food columnist, wrote about genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in The Atlantic. Fair enough, it is a hot-button issue among anti-science progressives and they need to sell pageviews over there so it isn't much of a surprise.  He's a syndicated columnist so they don't check his stuff in advance but I guess the fact that he does restaurant reviews for the Albuquerque Weekly Alibi is good enough for them to trust his take on complex biology topics.(1) Unfortunately, he was completely wrong and Scientific American blogger Christie Wilcox is having none of it. The science is…