Those of you who have been reading Genomicron for some time will have seen most of these already, but it seems worthwhile reviewing them here at the new blog. The game is simple: identify what is…

One consistent feature of human progress throughout history has been that science will come up with creative answers to current problems. When ancient people living in small tribes were running out…

I hesitate to single out colleagues for what is attributed to them in the media, because often what one says in an interview is not entirely what appears in print. On the other hand, I have noticed…

With the Large Hadron Collider gearing up for its first test run this summer, physicists hope to discover the last missing particle predicted by the Electroweak theory, the Higgs boson.  Wrapped…

The next Gene Genie carnival is going to feature a Mother's Day edition right here at Adaptive Complexity. Get your submissions in now!

I haven't contributed a single thing to the platypus genome project, but since my desk sits one floor above where people and robots broke the platypus DNA into chunks, cloned those chunks into…

President Bush has a bill on his desk, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which will prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance…

There has been considerable interest in the publication of the platypus genome, which is good. Unfortunately, much of the reporting has been distorted, which is bad. However, rather than picking on…

Stem cells, the body's wonder tool, are extremely versatile. They can develop in 220 different ways, transforming themselves into a correspondingly diverse range of specialized body cells.…

Being obese can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by as much as 80 percent, according to a study in the May issue of Obesity Reviews. But it's not just weight gain that poses a risk. People…

The Antennae Galaxies, located in the constellation of Corvus (the Crow), are among the closest known merging galaxies. The two galaxies, also known as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, began interacting a few…

Photosynthesis is of great interest outside biology, specifically in the energy industry. Using photosynthesis, green plants are able to harvest energy from sunlight and convert it to chemical…

An international study has discovered 10 new genes related to human growth. This meta-analysis, published in the latest issue of Nature Genetics, is based on data from more than 26,000 study…

A protein that is indispensable for passing on an accurate copy of the genome from mother to daughter cells can be compared to a cowboy’s lasso, say scientists at the The FIRC Institute of Molecular…

Socrates (470-399 BC) may have lived centuries ago but the methods connected with him never go out of date. Socratic methods(1) have developed independently in various countries. They all describe…

Martin Fischer, University of Dundee, Scotland, recently reported results showing that the majority of adults prefer to start counting on their left hand, regardless of whether they are left- or…

Designer labels aren't just cool to pretentious New York women - they're also the dream of nuclear physicists. Designer isotopes, the relatively new power scientists have to make specific rare…

I am swamped at present and have not had time to discuss the recent publications about the platypus genome. I had planned to wait and to talk about some interesting aspects, but the headlines are…

A team of scientists has provided, for the first time, a detailed map of how the building blocks of chromosomes, the cellular structures that contain genes, are organized in the fruit fly Drosophila…

Like video games? Want to also solve puzzles for science? A new game, named Foldit, turns protein folding into a competitive sport. Introductory levels teach the rules, which are the same laws of…