Month: August 2013

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Computational Chemistry Shines Light on Solar Energy Storage in Plants

Figure 1. Electron flow in Photosystem II. Plants take electrons from water to store energy from the sun. Whether it is the oxygen that we breathe or animals that we eat, our lives are made possible by photosynthesis.  Photosynthesis is the process that plants have used for billions of years to convert energy from the sun, water, and carbon dioxide into the life-sustaining biomolecules and oxygen … Continue reading Computational Chemistry Shines Light on Solar Energy Storage in Plants

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Gut Microbes and the Origin of Species

The basis for the origin of new species is thought to be well-known: new species emerge when two or more subpopulations of (what was formerly) the same species become sufficiently dissimilar in their genetic makeup that they can no longer breed with each other to produce fertile offspring. According to this narrative, changes in the genetic material of an individual organism, encoded in its DNA, … Continue reading Gut Microbes and the Origin of Species

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Prions: Friend or foe?

In 1996, the British government announced that ten suspected cases of Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD), a degenerative brain disorder, were caused by the consumption of beef products that harbor mad cow disease [1]. This news not only prompted the EU and Japan to institute a ban on British beef products, but also redirected the attention of the scientific community to the bizarre infectious agent responsible for … Continue reading Prions: Friend or foe?

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Mommy 1 and Mommy 2: Could science end the age of Mom and Dad?

Whether we realize it or not, humans, like all organisms, are genetically programmed to reproduce, but today we have many more reproductive choices than our ancestors. Birth control, for example, prevents procreation by those who might otherwise have many children. On the other hand, advances in fertility treatments allow people to produce offspring even though, in the past, they might not have been able to … Continue reading Mommy 1 and Mommy 2: Could science end the age of Mom and Dad?

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