Apocalypse Now?
Several articles have been circulating about the dangers of the bird flu virus, H5N1, since it first appeared a few years ago. Influenza, or the flu, is not a new disease but with new variations the viral...
Genetic resuscitation from extinction
Charles Darwin made a number of observations on his round the world voyage from 1831 to 1835. One of his most famous accounts stem from the variety between the giant Galapagos tortoises found on different...
Meat & Global warming?
Recently, an article in The New Scientist "Just how much meat can eco-citizens eat?" by Sujata Gupta provides interesting reading for biology students. Sujata makes a statement about the waste of animal...
Gene Therapy
Researchers have produced a hybrid virus from several varieties of non-pathogenic virus called AAV. This study from the Univiersity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill investigates the use of viruses for...
Calvin cycle
Melvin Calvin was awarded the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1961 for his work to ellucidate the chemical pathway of the light independent reactions. Using Chlorella and radioactive carbon-14 isotope,...
Convergence
Long before the European armies invaded the Americas, plated armor had been constructed with the design that resembled the structure of the nine-banded armadillo. This defense mechanism allows the animal...
Human Population Growth
According to the article "When will the 7 billionth human baby be born?" in the New Scientist, the United Nations has made a statement that the human population will reach 7 billion on 31 October 2011....
10 km run
So, my daughter is a cross country runner in grade 11. She also runs a 46 minute ten kilometer race ( 6 miles). We don't like for her to run alone in the woods even though life is pretty safe where...
Use of DNA profiles
DNA profiles are now being used to track lumber products from the cut tree to the wooden product. According to Andrew Lowe, chief scientific officer of DoubleHelix in Singapore. , "Tree DNA is still...
Diet & Diabetes
In this recent study, James Marth a researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara, found that a diet overly rich in fats blocked the metabolic pathway for the response to high glucose levels...