Category: Uncategorized
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It may seem anomalous to think of a 3000+ year-old tree accelerating. But that’s what’s happening to the redwoods (sequoias) growing along the California coast. Scientists study tree rings from cores deep into the trees. I sure hope they know what they’re doing–I’d hate to think of inadvertent damage, or allowing pests into a three…
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From Danny and the Dinosaur to Night at the Museum, storytellers have tried to convey the excitement of knowledge stored away in dusty museums–and how it may come to life. Here is a case in real life, an animal never known to science but stored away amongst thousands of pelts and bones in the drawers…
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If you missed the Aliens saga on the Science Channel last fall, it’s now up on YouTube. The cliffhanger episode where I was interviewed is here. By this point the aliens have left virus-like objects all over the planet seeking out (of course) humans to infect. My interview snippets appear after about minutes 31, 33, …
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Pandoravirus (left); infected ameba (right) Imagine that you pick up some river mud, and culture amebas in it. And the amebas implode, eaten from within by a mysterious new kind of life form. Science fiction? Actually, that’s the everyday experience of a virus hunter. Viruses–the most abundant life form on the planet–are found everywhere, and…
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As you may have guessed, I’ve been away with Michael on vacation. That’s me (last week), waving to the Club Orient beach cam. My students obligingly caught the screenshot. Of course we’re home now, so don’t think of burgling our garage or anything. Club Orient is a French naturist resort on the south end of…
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For the first time, scientists report in Nature that they have grown functional liver tissue from stem cells. While they did not form an entire liver, the human cells formed organized liver tissue that functioned as such once transplanted into an immunodeficient mouse (to avoid rejection). In the past, researchers have feared that forming whole…
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In The Highest Frontier, Jenny and her classmates study Arabididopsis plants with a nervous system. Fanciful–but what if plants can already do math? So what math problem do plants have to solve? How to survive the night without light for photosynthesis. That may not sound too hard–after all, we animals fast through the night until…
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So I was asked by National Geographic to comment on the zombie virus. Could there really be a virus that would drive people nuts that fast? Too bad people don’t show the same interest in slower real-life plagues, like that of Alzheimer’s disease. “As the population lives longer, Alzheimer’s is the defining disease of this…
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The Peacock spider is one of the most fabulous creatures you can find. To impress its mate, the male lifts its abdomen like a pride flag. Check out this amazing video. As we now know, such impressive traits evolved *not* because the female is frivolous, but rather as a sign of genetic health–if you are…
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The year 2013 has so far been a spectacular year for the science of how a living body assembles itself. For example, how do the Hox genes program a limb bud to form the correct order and placement of limbs? The Hox genes (found in humans, mice, even insects) have long been known to exist…
Joan Slonczewski 