Category: Biology
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Father. Mother. Cosmos…
It was long thought that during an embryo's first cell division, one spindle is responsible for segregating the embryo's chromosomes into two cells. Scientists now show that there are actually two spindles, one for each set of parental chromosomes, meaning that the genetic information from each parent is kept apart throughout the first division. (1)…
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Instability… Randomness… Out of design…
A study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University has brought science one step closer to a molecular-level understanding of how patterns form in living tissue. The researchers engineered bacteria that, when incubated and grown, exhibited stochastic Turing patterns: a…
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Mutations that lead to cancer: A major argument against evolution?
A research group has discovered a novel cancer-driving mutation in the vast non-coding regions of the human cancer genome, also known as the 'dark matter' of human cancer DNA. (1) Not a surprising result. Something inherently in opposition with the basic premise of modern evolutionary theory (that mutations generate new functions which - if persisted…
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Unhealthy diet. Remembering. Echoes from the past.
Fat cells seem to remember unhealthy diet. A study shows that these cells can be damaged in a short amount of time when they are exposed to the fatty acid palmitate or the hormone TNF-alpha through a fatty diet. Just 24 hours of exposure to those substances is all it takes for a so-called precursor…
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Killing humans. By analyzing rocks. [Brake that rock!]
University of California, Berkeley neuroscientists have tracked the progress of a thought through the brain, showing clearly how the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain coordinates activity to help us act in response to a perception. Recording the electrical activity of neurons directly from the surface of the brain, the scientists found that…
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