A new semester has begun and I have no extra time to update this blog, so just a short entry today. This paper was just too cool to pass up. It was published earlier this year in Nature Neuroscience by Dias and Ressler. They conducted a series of experiments which showed that learned fear can … Continue reading Transgenerational inheritance of fear
Cellways blog
Ctenophores come before
Three months ago, if I had seen this article about the ctenophore genome, I would have moved right passed it without a second look. What is a ctenophore and why would I care about the sequence of its DNA? But then I taught Bio 2 this spring and learned about animal diversity and the evolutionary … Continue reading Ctenophores come before
The mosaic female brain
Female mammals have two copies of the X chromosome while males have only one copy (because they have a Y chromosome instead). Chromosomes contain genes and genes are the instructions for making proteins, so if females have twice as many copies of each gene on the X chromosome, will they make twice as much protein? … Continue reading The mosaic female brain
Release the sperm!
While preparing a class about synthetic biology, I came across this older paper that actually shows a practical application for synthetic biology. Kemmer et al. describe a new technique for artificial insemination of cows in the Journal of Controlled Release (in 2011). I’m not condoning these practices in cows; that is a debate for another … Continue reading Release the sperm!
Probiotics for autism
The human microbiome is a hot topic in biology these days. It is becoming clear that the microbes living in and on our body can have major consequences for our health and happiness. In fact, abnormalities in the gut microbiome may underlie one of the great medical mysteries of our time: autism. That some bacteria … Continue reading Probiotics for autism
Throw another adipocyte on the fire
Humans are able to live in so many different climates, in a wide range of temperatures and yet our inner core body temperature remains nearly constant. This ability to thermoregulate has something to do, of course, with clothing and the ability to cool and heat our living spaces, but our bodies also offer many adaptations … Continue reading Throw another adipocyte on the fire
(Insert mildly provocative title here)
Ever seen a pair of pigeons going at it? And did you notice a penis on the male pigeon? The answer is no, because most birds do not have external genitalia large enough for penetration. And yet birds reproduce via internal fertilization. Why would evolution favor male genitalia too small to actually enter into the … Continue reading (Insert mildly provocative title here)
Stop seizures with a brain graft
There are two types of neurons in the brain: excitatory and inhibitory neurons. They do exactly what you think they would. Excitatory neurons release chemical messengers, which activate other neurons, which may eventually lead to some sort of perception or action. Inhibitory neurons release chemicals that silence other neurons. Why would you want inhibitory neurons … Continue reading Stop seizures with a brain graft
Go go gadget extendo filopodia
I’m back from an intense semester of learning and teaching Developmental Biology. One theme that emerged from my studies was that the development of organisms is centered around gene expression and cell to cell signaling. Often times, one cell will differentiate into its mature form, and then release a signaling protein that tells neighboring cells … Continue reading Go go gadget extendo filopodia
Swapping eggs
This week’s paper describes a new technique that could be used to manipulate human oocytes (i.e. eggs) to prevent a group of diseases called mitochondrial diseases. The paper was presented by Tachibana et al. in Nature along with a similar paper by Paull et al. For the sake of brevity, I will only discuss the … Continue reading Swapping eggs
Robin Ball 