Category: Biology
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Non thinking. As complex as thinking?
In 1959, a scientist named Edward Gray showed that the miniscule gaps between neurons where chemical messages are sent, called synapses, come in two main varieties, which researchers later dubbed "excitatory" and "inhibitory." Inhibitory synapses act as the brakes in the brain, preventing it from becoming overexcited. Researchers thought they were less sophisticated than their…
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Evolution. Possibilities. Capabilities. Reality.
Fish that have an affinity for land are rather common - 130 fish species are at least in part amphibious. Most of them stay out of water for a matter of seconds or minutes (scooting between ponds or hopping between tidal pools), but a few can live out of water for hours and days. The…
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Double genes. Redundant genes. Everything. Nothing.
The evolution of major novel traits - characteristics such as wings, flowers, horns or limbs - has long been known to play a key role in allowing organisms to exploit new opportunities in their surroundings. What's still up for debate, though, is how these important augmentations come about from a genetic point of view. New research…
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Why do we die? Why shouldn’t we?
Life is destructive. Our environment and our internal functions all wear and tear at our body over time. Evolutionarily speaking, natural selection rewards those who can survive such hardship. So why don’t we live forever - why age at all? There have been numerous attempts to understand how and why we age - as recently…
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Bacteria mind games…
By tinkering with the gut’s bacterial residents, scientists have changed the behavior of lab animals and small numbers of people. Microbial meddling has turned anxious mice bold and shy mice social. Rats inoculated with bacteria from depressed people develop signs of depression themselves. And small studies of people suggest that eating specific kinds of bacteria…
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