Category Archives: Biology

Quantum Microscope…

Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, Instrumentation, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Optics In a major scientific leap, University of Queensland researchers have created a quantum microscope that can reveal biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to see. This paves the way for applications in biotechnology, and could extend far beyond this into areas ranging from navigation to medicalContinue reading “Quantum Microscope…”

Drops in Cells…

Topics: Applied Physics, Biology, Microscopy, Molecules A major challenge in cell biology remains unraveling how cells control their biochemical reaction cycles. For instance, how do they regulate gene expression in response to stress? How does their metabolism change when resources are scarce? Control theory has proven useful in understanding how networks of chemical reactions canContinue reading “Drops in Cells…”

Every Tank Has Its Limits…

Topics: Biology, Planetary Science, Research, Tardigrades They can survive temperatures close to absolute zero. They can withstand heat beyond the boiling point of water. They can shrug off the vacuum of space and doses of radiation that would be lethal to humans. Now, researchers have subjected tardigrades, microscopic creatures affectionately known as water bears, toContinue reading “Every Tank Has Its Limits…”

Adversary, Friendly, or Neutral…

Topics: Aerodynamics, Applied Physics, Biology, Exoplanets, General Relativity, SETI May 17, 2019- No, little green men aren’t likely after the conquest of humanity. Boyd’s piece for Phys.org highlights the reason why the Pentagon wants to identify UFOs: they’re unidentified. If a warfighter on the ground or in the sky can’t ID an object, that creates aContinue reading “Adversary, Friendly, or Neutral…”

Ransomware, and Biofuels…

Topics: Biology, Biofuels, Climate Change, Dark Side, Economics, Environment The carbon footprint of corn ethanol shrunk by 23% between 2005 and 2019 as farmers and ethanol producers adopted new technologies and improved efficiency, according to a new analysis published in the academic journal Biofuels Bioproducts and Biorefining by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.Continue reading “Ransomware, and Biofuels…”

Biological Fukushima…

Topics: Biology, COVID-19, Existentialism, Pandemic Note: Many stories are coming out of Seychelles. It is the most vaccinated nation on earth that is seeing rising cases of the Coronavirus due to tourism by Indian elites. We’re not going to solve this piecemeal, nor treating each other in our backward, moribund tribal “traditions.” This fight isContinue reading “Biological Fukushima…”

Panspermia…

Topics: Astrobiology, Biology, Cosmology, SETI Life, for all its complexities, has a simple commonality: It spreads. Plants, animals, and bacteria have colonized almost every nook and cranny of our world. But why stop there? Some scientists speculate that biological matter may have proliferated across the cosmos itself, transported from planet to planet on wayward lumpsContinue reading “Panspermia…”

Elephants, Mice, and Clocks…

Topics: Biology, DNA, Evolution, Research In her laboratory in Barcelona, Spain, Miki Ebisuya has built a clock without cogs, springs, or numbers. This clock doesn’t tick. It is made of genes and proteins, and it keeps time in a layer of cells that Ebisuya’s team has grown in its lab. This biological clock is tiny,Continue reading “Elephants, Mice, and Clocks…”

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics…

Topics: Biology, COVID-19, Dark Humor, Existentialism, Mathematics, Politics Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Mark Twain, also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics A follow-up to Tuesday’sContinue reading “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics…”