SARS-CoV-2 illustration (18)

What Is R0, Virulence, And What This Means For Covid

The field of study involving infectious diseases is complex. There’s no reason to downplay that fact. There are a huge amount of variables to consider when dealing with disease outbreaks and differences between viral, bacterial, parasitic, and other disease-causing vectors are immense. But at the same time, one of the goals of epidemiology and immunology […]

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Transposons: A History of Their Discovery and Their Viral Connections

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 […]

Zebrafish (26436913602)

Origins of Model Organisms and Their Influence on Biotechnology Part 2

When researching the effects medicine has on a living organism or when trying to track how a disease is contracted and spreads throughout the body or when just simply wanting to test an observation in nature within a controlled and reliable setting, the scientific community has the greatest thanks to offer to the model organisms. […]

Potatovirusy

Plant Pathogenic Viruses: An Overview of Current Biotechnology Research

Pathogens are a broad field of research. To many, different species and even kingdoms of pathogens must be treated with separate hands, while others feel they are similar enough as to be dealt with together. Bacteria and viruses make up the bulk of this argument and, as with many things, the true answer appears to […]

Intercropping maize and beans

RNA Interference: Current Research in Plant Biotechnology

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. […]

Syngonium auritum- Bacterial leaf blight

Plant Pathogenic Bacteria: An Overview of Genetic Engineering Solutions

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 […]

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The Origins of Model Organisms and Their Impact on Biotechnology

From the start of things, science has always relied on the organisms that can be made to be a representation of more complex systems. They were a model for either humans themselves or to show in their own simplicity how life builds up to larger formations of cells and processes. That has long been the […]

Samphire salt marsh - St Kilda South Australia

Plant Salt Tolerance: Recent Research in Biotechnology

The health of plants is paramount for farmers, gardeners, and scientists alike. They not only provide the food we need to survive, but their overall well-being is a marker for the strength of the environmental conditions around them. And there are many things, much like with us humans, that can be a cause for alarm. […]

Creek and old-growth forest-Larch Mountain

The Role of Prions in Plants: An Overview

The diseases out there in the world seem limitless. Every new nook and cranny we uncover shows new lifeforms and new diseases they cause or that are subjected upon them. The Earth is just a melting pot of infection (and parasitism) of every species trying to take advantage of every other. Due to their ubiquity, […]

Restoring an urban stream (after) (7557277790)

Bioremediation: The Biology of Cleaning Environmental Pollution

Contamination of the environment is a topic oft spoken of in an incredibly broad sense. That the actions of some governments or organizations are damaging to their surroundings comes as no surprise, but discussions on the specifics and what can be done to fix the issues rarely comes up in the public societal consciousness. The […]