Food poisoning is an ongoing problem in the food supply line around the world. Even in the cleanest and most stringent of countries, outbreaks of illness still occur every now and then from some contaminated food source. This isn’t surprising, though, as there are so many parts of the food processing pipeline, from farm to […]
We’ve discussed the creation of electronic plants recently and the idea of using plants as electrical storage and transferring devices, allowing an electric connection from, say, one end of a garden or field to another. But plants can transfer far more than just electricity. They are already masters at transferring necessary nutrients from the soil […]
The fight against Potyviruses is seemingly neverending in agriculture. Say Hello To Another Terrible Potyvirus As past discussions have shown, they are some of the most deadly plant viruses out there, causing huge swaths of crop death and harvest losses. Additionally, moving up a level to the family of Potyviridae shows that 30% of all […]
In studies of how to survive in space and in hostile environments, there is often no better a scientific specimen than the tardigrade, the so-called water bear. This is due to its capability to survive in such scenarios and far more besides. Even exposure to the vacuum of space doesn’t do much to deter it. […]
Yellow fever is one of those diseases that you really want to avoid contracting. But for 200,000 people every year, they don’t receive that option. A Yellow Condition The yellow fever virus is the originating name for its parent genus of Flaviviruses, where the yellow of its name in Latin (Flavus) colors all the rest […]
When discussing pathogens infecting cells, we often turn to discussing viruses. But bacteria also have their methods of infection and one of those ways involves injecting toxic compounds into target cells. This usually helps in their bodily invasion by weakening the immune system or outright killing cells. A Dangerous Concoction These compounds come in the […]
Progress continues on the Synthetic Yeast Project, an international scientific initiative that aims to build a yeast genome out of completely synthetic chromosomes. The latest update involves seven papers published together in the journal Science detailing the five pre-designed chromosomes that have been successfully swapped into the genome of yeast. The model organism S. cerevisiae […]
Cloning is a difficult process. Even with modern technologies, the best we can do is generate matching organs from a person’s stem cells, but this itself is still tricky to accomplish. Actually cloning a whole organism? We’re nowhere near where we need to be. The Troubles of Cloning The main problem inherent in this process […]
Parasites are some of the most diverse organisms found in nature. They can take a number of different forms and are spread liberally across the kingdom of life. From bacteria to plants to even some creatures in the mammal realm, parasites are everywhere. The Diverse World of Parasites However, even with that understanding, that doesn’t […]
Depending on your point of view about biotechnology, recent revelations about the effects of CRISPR on organisms could be good or bad. As a science writer for Bioscription, I take the news as a little of both. Gene Drives So, what happened? Recent research between the University of Kansas and Cornell University has discovered that […]
