161 USD for Doctors Without Borders!

I'm giving 161 USD to Doctors Without Borders before the end of August. 161 of you liked the Facebook page since last week, and I am sure many more of you made your own personal donations to this organization which is helping give relief to refugees in East Africa affected by the drought. Doctors Without Borders is involved in many other regions all over the world. Click the link for more detai...

Read More

The lac Operon Explained [Updated]

Click to enlarge Photo: NIH The lac operon is a favorite of microbiology and biology textbooks, used to explain transcription, regulation, and catabolism. Here's my quick synopsis of the regulation involved, making sure the cell only transcribes genes that encode lactose-eating enzymes only when it is physiologically necessary. But first, a GENETICS crash course...

Read More

Reader's Responses...

For the past week, I've been reading every single comment left on my blog. I've had to delete a few, but most of them were encouraging, funny, and informative. Here's some of the comments you've left me the past few days.On the debate over stem cell research, Bremsy said, "I trust in the scientific minds of the world and if they say that it can cure all kind of disease I'm taking their word over some activist groups that are predominantly christian and are opposing it not because it's wrong but because it's wrong according to their belief." Bastard...

Read More

Stem Cell Restrictions Lifted

New court ruling was filed today, issued by Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. allowing the United States government to continue financing stem cell research for cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's over public comments on the destruction of embryonic stem cells. The full court ruling is available here Dr....

Read More

Origin of Life?

courtesy of dailygalaxy.comThere's a fascinating article in Nature (here's the article, courtesy of the University of Texas) on how life started on Earth, and the evidence in rRNA that suggests it came from deep hydrothermal vents in the ocean. The article here focuses on the similarities between the metabolism of autotrophs and the geochemical reactions that take place in...

Read More

Why Cancer Is Going To Be Difficult To Beat

As homemakesgames said in the last QOTD, cancer is very complicated. There are so many different types of cancers. There is not going to be a single cure for all cancers. Cancer is not a single mutation in our cells, it's a whole bunch of possible mutations that leave the cell unable to receive feedback from its environment or properly repair damaged DNA. Cancerous cells grow blood vessels to bring nutrients in from surrounding, healthy tissue, disrupting them. Not only do they quickly invade healthy tissue, they have figured out a way to cheat...

Read More

Reviewing the Hyundai Accent Tuesday

Stay tun...

Read More