52 posts · 15,538 views
A biology-focused blog where I write about whatever I happen to find interesting, from simple explanations of things that might be considered “basic science” to peer-reviewed research, both old and new. My goal is to communicate scientific ideas to non-scientists in a way that is enlightening, engaging or even inspirational. I hope the blog will be more than just my writing, though – discussion and discourse are the heart of learning, so please share your thoughts and questions in the comments.
sedeer
52 posts
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- May 27, 2012
- 08:08 AM
- 615 views
Through the gut: how plants in food regulate genes in animals
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
In an exciting discovery reported last year, a team of Chinese researchers found that some of the genetic material in …Continue reading »... Read more »
Zhang, L., Hou, D., Chen, X., Li, D., Zhu, L., Zhang, Y., Li, J., Bian, Z., Liang, X., Cai, X.... (2011) Exogenous plant MIR168a specifically targets mammalian LDLRAP1: evidence of cross-kingdom regulation by microRNA. Cell Research, 22(1), 107-126. DOI: 10.1038/cr.2011.158
- April 2, 2012
- 04:27 PM
- 572 views
Novel approach in plant breeding can recreate parental lines
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
In a really neat piece of work based around a remarkably simple bit of engineering and some textbook genetics, a team of scientists has found a way to regenerate a plant’s parents through breeding — a technique they call “reverse … Continue reading →... Read more »
Wijnker, E., van Dun, K., de Snoo, C., Lelivelt, C., Keurentjes, J., Naharudin, N., Ravi, M., Chan, S., de Jong, H., & Dirks, R. (2012) Reverse breeding in Arabidopsis thaliana generates homozygous parental lines from a heterozygous plant. Nature Genetics, 44(4), 467-470. DOI: 10.1038/ng.2203
- April 13, 2012
- 12:41 PM
- 554 views
Gut bacteria may cause diabetes
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
According to a recent study, your chances of developing adult onset diabetes may depend on what kind of bacteria are living in your gut. It’s been known for some time that type 2 diabetes can be caused by a combination … Continue reading →... Read more »
Caricilli, A., Picardi, P., de Abreu, L., Ueno, M., Prada, P., Ropelle, E., Hirabara, S., Castoldi, �., Vieira, P., Camara, N.... (2011) Gut Microbiota Is a Key Modulator of Insulin Resistance in TLR 2 Knockout Mice. PLoS Biology, 9(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001212
- April 17, 2012
- 02:38 PM
- 544 views
We still don’t know how birds navigate
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Everyone knows that migrating birds are capable of incredible feats of navigation; for example, the Bar-tailed Godwit manages to navigate across the Pacific during its non-stop 11,000km flight from Alaska to New Zealand. Some birds use visual or olfactory cues to navigate, but many birds are able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, an ability which is supposed to be underpinned by a group of iron-rich cells in the upper beak. However, a study just published in Nature has uncovered the true id........ Read more »
Treiber, C., Salzer, M., Riegler, J., Edelman, N., Sugar, C., Breuss, M., Pichler, P., Cadiou, H., Saunders, M., Lythgoe, M.... (2012) Clusters of iron-rich cells in the upper beak of pigeons are macrophages not magnetosensitive neurons. Nature, 484(7394), 367-370. DOI: 10.1038/nature11046
- March 28, 2012
- 10:57 PM
- 504 views
Excessive hygiene lets the immune system run amok
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Since moving to Finland, I’ve become accustomed to asking guests whether they have any allergies before I prepare dinner. I grew up in the developing world where allergies and asthma seem to be much less common than they are here; … Continue reading →... Read more »
Olszak, T., An, D., Zeissig, S., Vera, M., Richter, J., Franke, A., Glickman, J., Siebert, R., Baron, R., Kasper, D.... (2012) Microbial Exposure During Early Life Has Persistent Effects on Natural Killer T Cell Function. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1219328
- April 26, 2012
- 11:04 AM
- 491 views
Words of science
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Like many other fields, science has its own style of communication full of specific jargon and guided by unwritten rules. …Continue reading »... Read more »
Gerber NN, & Lechevalier HA. (1965) Geosmin, an earthly-smelling substance isolated from actinomycetes. Applied microbiology, 13(6), 935-8. PMID: 5866039
- March 24, 2012
- 05:16 PM
- 472 views
Mammals didn’t have to wait for the dinosaurs to die out
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
A study recently published in Nature challenges the prevailing wisdom that the extinction of the dinosaurs paved the way for an explosion of mammalian diversity. By studying the fossils of a group of mammals called multituberculates, the researchers have cast … Continue reading →... Read more »
Wilson, G., Evans, A., Corfe, I., Smits, P., Fortelius, M., & Jernvall, J. (2012) Adaptive radiation of multituberculate mammals before the extinction of dinosaurs. Nature, 483(7390), 457-460. DOI: 10.1038/nature10880
- April 9, 2012
- 02:09 PM
- 425 views
Natural selection: selfish genes & emergent properties
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
I briefly mentioned “gene centered views of evolution” in the final paragraph of my previous post in this series about natural selection. In this post, I’d like to expand a bit on the “selfish gene”, which has proven to be … Continue reading →... Read more »
Elisabeth S. Vrba, & Stephen Jay Gould. (1986) The Hierarchical Expansion of Sorting and Selection: Sorting and Selection Cannot Be Equated. Paleobiology, 12(2), 217-228. info:other/
- October 23, 2012
- 04:48 AM
- 420 views
Telling left from right: which side gets the heart?
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
This was originally a guest post on The Trenches of Discovery. Thanks, Shaun! One out of every 8,000 humans is …Continue reading »... Read more »
Lobikin, M., Wang, G., Xu, J., Hsieh, Y., Chuang, C., Lemire, J., & Levin, M. (2012) Early, nonciliary role for microtubule proteins in left-right patterning is conserved across kingdoms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(31), 12586-12591. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1202659109
- October 17, 2012
- 03:34 PM
- 387 views
Ice Age on Mars: how it started and ended
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
One of the great things about working at a university is the opportunity to go to talks and learn about …Continue reading »... Read more »
Head, J., Mustard, J., Kreslavsky, M., Milliken, R., & Marchant, D. (2003) Recent ice ages on Mars. Nature, 426(6968), 797-802. DOI: 10.1038/nature02114
- March 12, 2012
- 01:59 PM
- 386 views
Redheads and pain: science or sensationalism?
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
I’ve recently come across some press coverage reporting research by Danish scientists which has shown that “redheads feel pain differently than the rest of us”. I read the paper and thought it would be nice to write something short about … Continue reading →... Read more »
Andresen, T., Lunden, D., Drewes, A., & Arendt-Nielsen, L. (2011) Pain sensitivity and experimentally induced sensitisation in red haired females. Scandinavian Journal of Pain, 2(1), 3-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.sjpain.2010.08.005
- September 13, 2012
- 06:10 PM
- 370 views
We’ve been wrong about when humans spread out from Africa
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Most of the interesting recent events in human evolution probably happened longer ago than we had thought, according to Aylwyn Scally …Continue reading »... Read more »
Scally A, & Durbin R. (2012) Revising the human mutation rate: implications for understanding human evolution. Nature reviews. Genetics. PMID: 22965354
- August 10, 2012
- 12:34 PM
- 368 views
Promoting incompetence
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
From Dilbert’s PHB to The Office, the incompetent manager is such a popular trope that it’s in danger of becoming …Continue reading »... Read more »
Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, & Cesare Garofalo. (2009) The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study. Physica A 389 (2010) 467-472. arXiv: 0907.0455v3
- September 24, 2012
- 04:03 PM
- 367 views
The bacteria that make it rain
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Strange as it may seem, water doesn’t actually freeze at zero degrees. In fact, even at temperatures as cold as …Continue reading »... Read more »
H. A. Constantinidou, S. S. Hirano, L. S. Baker, & C. D. Upper. (1990) Atmospheric Dispersal of Ice Nucleation-Active Bacteria: The Role of Rain. Phytopathology, 934-937. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-80-934
Hoose C, Kristjánsson JE, & Burrows SM. (2010) How important is biological ice nucleation in clouds on a global scale?. Environmental Research Letters, 5(2). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/5/2/024009
Morris CE, Sands DC, Vinatzer BA, Glaux C, Guilbaud C, Buffière A, Yan S, Dominguez H, & Thompson BM. (2008) The life history of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae is linked to the water cycle. The ISME journal, 2(3), 321-34. PMID: 18185595
Lundheim R. (2002) Physiological and ecological significance of biological ice nucleators. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 357(1423), 937-43. PMID: 12171657
Kerri A. Pratt, Paul J. DeMott, Jeffrey R. French, Zhien Wang, Douglas L. Westphal, Andrew J. Heymsfield, Cynthia H. Twohy, Anthony J. Prenni, & Kimberly A. Prather. (2009) In situ detection of biological particles in cloud ice-crystals. Nature Geoscience, 398-401. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo521
A. Sesartic, U. Lohmann, & T. Storelvmo. (2011) Bacteria in the ECHAM5-HAM global climate model. Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 1457-1488. DOI: 10.5194/acpd-11-1457-2011
- August 28, 2012
- 02:20 PM
- 364 views
How does an ant colony coordinate its behaviour?
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
A recent study looking at how colonies of ants regulate their foraging behaviour has caused a bit of a buzz online. A …Continue reading »... Read more »
Balaji Prabhakar, Katherine N. Dektar, & Deborah M. Gordon. (2012) The Regulation of Ant Colony Foraging Activity without Spatial Information. PLoS Computational Biology, 8(8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002670
- November 30, 1999
- 12:00 AM
- 363 views
On the brink of extinction
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
In 1994, David Noble was trekking through Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains, about 200km northwest of Sydney, Australia, when he came across a copse of unusual looking trees. Unable to identify them, he took specimens back with him for further study. Botanists were shocked to realize that the trees which Noble had found belonged to a lineage which they believed had been extinct for millions of years. Designated Wollemia nobilis (in honour of the place and person of discovery), this ........ Read more »
Peakall, R., Ebert, D., Scott, L., Meagher, P., & Offord, C. (2003) Comparative genetic study confirms exceptionally low genetic variation in the ancient and endangered relictual conifer, Wollemia nobilis (Araucariaceae). Molecular Ecology, 12(9), 2331-2343. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2003.01926.x
- October 10, 2012
- 11:31 AM
- 360 views
Of moss and micro-arthropods
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Mosses were among the first plants to colonize land over 400 million years ago, but they never really left the …Continue reading »... Read more »
Cronberg N, Natcheva R, & Hedlund K. (2006) Microarthropods mediate sperm transfer in mosses. Science (New York, N.Y.), 313(5791), 1255. PMID: 16946062
Rosenstiel TN, Shortlidge EE, Melnychenko AN, Pankow JF, & Eppley SM. (2012) Sex-specific volatile compounds influence microarthropod-mediated fertilization of moss. Nature, 489(7416), 431-3. PMID: 22810584
- October 5, 2012
- 01:11 PM
- 357 views
Blond Melanesians: what else are we missing?
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
On the Solomon Islands in the south-eastern Pacific, it’s not uncommon to come across Melanesian children with dark skin and …Continue reading »... Read more »
Kenny EE, Timpson NJ, Sikora M, Yee MC, Moreno-Estrada A, Eng C, Huntsman S, Burchard EG, Stoneking M, Bustamante CD.... (2012) Melanesian blond hair is caused by an amino acid change in TYRP1. Science (New York, N.Y.), 336(6081), 554. PMID: 22556244
- October 29, 2012
- 07:48 PM
- 350 views
Why do men and women want different things?
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Regular readers will probably have realized from the links I share (or from my twitter stream) that sexism and gender …Continue reading »... Read more »
Zentner, M., & Mitura, K. (2012) Stepping Out of the Caveman's Shadow: Nations' Gender Gap Predicts Degree of Sex Differentiation in Mate Preferences. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1176-1185. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612441004
- February 12, 2012
- 07:51 AM
- 341 views
Head to tail: segmenting the body
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
Unlike plants, which can continue to develop new organs and elaborate their body plan throughout their life, animals generally have to contend with a body plan which is fixed at birth. The basic body plan is laid out during embryogenesis, … Continue reading →... Read more »
Baker, R., Schnell, S., & Maini, P. (2006) A clock and wavefront mechanism for somite formation. Developmental Biology, 293(1), 116-126. DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.01.018
Cooke, J., & Zeeman, E. (1976) A clock and wavefront model for control of the number of repeated structures during animal morphogenesis. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 58(2), 455-476. DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5193(76)80131-2
Gomez, C., Özbudak, E., Wunderlich, J., Baumann, D., Lewis, J., & Pourquié, O. (2008) Control of segment number in vertebrate embryos. Nature, 454(7202), 335-339. DOI: 10.1038/nature07020
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