The black fibers seen in this image are tubulin, a protein that makes up a large part of the cytoskeleton of all cells. The cytoskeleton provides structural support for the cell, and tubulin also performs specific functions such as the mitotic spindle. When a cell is ready to divide, tubulin fibers attach to each copy of the duplicated, condensed chromosomes. In this way, the tubulin … Continue reading Kaleidoskeleton
How did life originate? This puzzle has been studied by scientists for hundreds of years. Authors of a new paper in Nature have made significant progress towards solving this enigma by using cyanide as a starting material. While cyanide may be poisonous to us, mixing it with a specific chemical solution and heat seems to give rise to many of the molecules of life. A … Continue reading A step towards the primordial soup
Presented by Thomas Graham The DNA inside one of your cells, if stretched end to end, would be about two yards long and less than 1/50,000 the width of a human hair. Your cells have been following the instructions in your DNA since you began life as a single-celled embryo, and they will continue doing so as long as you live. Unfortunately, your DNA is … Continue reading The Cell’s DNA Construction Crew: Repairing and rebuilding the genome
Recent advances in genetics have afforded the ability to precisely manipulate every letter of our genetic code. Several world-renowned biologists, however, have called for a moratorium on using this technology to modify human DNA that can be inherited by future generations. Adapted from bacterial immune systems, the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been used extensively to modify the DNA of human cancer cells in test tubes, but it … Continue reading DNA editing in humans: Biologists preach prudence
Although dark matter makes up 80% of all matter in the universe, physicists are still struggling to understand exactly what it is. This perplexity is largely due to the fact that dark matter is invisible and difficult to study directly, but a dwarf galaxy named Reticulum 2 may have just changed the game. Many experts believe that when dark matter particles collide, high-energy light is … Continue reading Dark Matter Detected, or False Alarm?
Traits that exist along a continuum, such as height, size, and behavior, vary significantly from person to person. The genetic and environmental interactions that cause these characteristics have long stumped scientists. In a recent study by Alvarado et al., ant larvae were exposed to an environmental factor that regulated adult ant size. The scientists were able to generate large and small ants just by changing … Continue reading What large ants tell us about variation in complex human traits
You probably saw the photo of the dress that caused an uproar on the Internet a few weeks ago (1). You probably also formed a firm opinion about whether the dress was blue and black or white and gold. Some of you may even have worried that you were colorblind when you saw a different color dress than your peers. As it turns out, however, … Continue reading From Kansas to Oz: How new glasses could change the way the colorblind see the world
Turning on the tap for a clean glass of water is a luxury many Americans take for granted. Though TransCanada Corporation promises minimal spillage and environmental impact through improved safety features in its plans to install a 1169-mile-long, 36-inch-wide pipe through the grasslands of Canada and the United States, risking this natural resource is one of the many considerations President Obama examined before vetoing the … Continue reading Thrills and Spills: The Keystone XL Pipeline
Many viral diseases that affect us originate from viruses crossing over into humans from another animal species and when a virus makes such a jump it may find the human species to be less hospitable for its replication. In this, HIV-1 is no exception: there have been four separate crossover events between primates and humans (M, N, O and P) but only one of these … Continue reading Sampling primate poop to provide an important remaining piece to the puzzle of HIV-1 origin
Presented by Jordan Wilkerson Whether we are in China or here in the United States, the air in major cities is infamous for its unpleasant haze and resulting health problems. There are many ways in which an unhealthy mixture of chemicals can make it into the atmosphere where humans live and breathe. This lecture will discuss some of the most famous of these pollutants, what … Continue reading The Air We Breathe: An assessment of urban air pollution