As science has continued its investigation into the inner workings of biology and biological systems on the molecular level, we have managed to unearth more and more complexity in the relationships within not only our own body, but in the world around us. Every organism has a symbiotic and antagonistic relationship with its surroundings, with […]
Research into sexual embryonic development and the forms of offspring progeneration has long been a source of study to determine yet another facet to early formation of the embryo. Mammals are a bit special when it comes to the topic of genetic development of the egg cell. All of our animal cousins among the reptiles, […]
Nutrient deficiency in one’s diet is a common problem around the world, where different populations may lack a sufficient source of varying nutrients needed to stay healthy. Iron and zinc are two such nutrients that are critical for one’s daily intake. At the same time, common cultivars of wheat supply around 20% of daily calorie […]
You never know when what at first seemed like an innocuous bit of research will turn into the next big tool to help prevent or mitigate the symptoms of a major disease. Coincidental discoveries like that happen all the time and small parts of nature can turn out to have applications we never would have […]
The past five or so years has been a bit of a roller-coaster for any field that dabbles in genetics. The advancements the scientific community has made in such a short time frame are nothing less than extraordinary and things only seem to be accelerating from here on out. And the single piece of technology […]
As genetic sequencing technologies have become cheaper and more plentiful, scientists researching the history of life on Earth have found it that much easier to learn about the answers to the many mysteries that still lay unresolved. A major piece of the puzzle involves the emergence of plant life onto land and out of the […]
Once upon a time, scientists thought genetics and genomes were fairly straightforward. A gene encodes a protein and that protein carries out the actions that cause physical, metabolic effects and even phenotypic effects visible to others. It was a direct and simple system, a functional way for something formed through natural selection to be built. […]
Tracking plant pathogens is no simple matter. Due to their possible environmental hidey holes being in the soil, the air, other plants, or the host plants themselves lying dormant, any and every possibility must be accounted for. And the triggers that begin active pathogenicity and harm to the plant is connected to a convoluted system […]
Learning about plant immune systems is one of the first steps toward finding ways to improve their defenses against pathogen attack. The difficulty is that, much like the immune system found in animals, the processes involved are highly complex and also completely different from other kingdoms of life. Finding out about the human immune system […]
The cellular processes of aging are complicated and varied. There are both genetic and mechanical components that all have an ultimate effect on a person as they age and reach the period of senescence. But it is not only humans and our medical community that are attempting to arrest this mechanism, the cells themselves also […]
