As the SCQ begins to ready itself for year two, over the next few days, we will be presenting lists of likable (or non-likable) things by our most frequent contributors. – – – – PART I: A HAIKU – To be a poet is a major stretch for me. See – this haiku bites – PART II: TEN LINKS – “How To Tell People That You Are A Billionaire Without Sounding Obnoxious,” by Wendy Molyneux. This is basically the piece that piqued my interest in McSweeney’s and ultimately led to the pursuit and success of getting a few in their…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From August, 2006
D.I.Y. P.C.R. NOTES, APPENDUM, SHOOTING THE BREEZE – WHATEVER
(This post will be updated from time to time, as improvements arise with regards to the MAKE magazine thermal cycler project. For more info, go here) – – – Date: August 25th We repeated the experiment with the 2C adjustment, but obtained similarily non-optimal data as before. This led to recalibrating of our temperture sensor at 0C and monitoring to see if the temperture cycles waiver at the latter cycles (i.e after the first 10 cycles), which was not the case. At that point, we decided to calibrate our temperature sensor in real time with the eppendorf cycler to see…
METAGENOMICS: THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
(August 2004) Biological Diversity For approximately 4.5 billion years, the Earth has been evolving from a barren volcanic landscape into the vibrant globe full of life that it is today. The first forms of life, small microorganisms, have been found in fossils from 3.5 billion years ago. Around 1.5 billion years ago, motile microorganisms emerged allowing life to migrate to different environments with different environmental conditions like increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation or higher temperatures. Microorganisms began to evolve with the changing environmental conditions of the planet. These new environmental conditions, acting as selective pressures, drove the evolutionary process. They…
PLANT BREEDING VERSUS PLANT GENETICS
(August 2003) The cultivation of plants is an important aspect of today’s society in many ways. Not only do plants supply us with a major food resource and flow of nutrition but they are also an important source of chemicals and other non-food products such as drugs, oils, latex, pigments, and resins [3]. Because of the high value of plants, farmers are constantly trying to increase the yield and quality of their products by using more effective production techniques. The physical appearance of plants is determined by genetic factors that are inherited from parental crops. The natural transfer of genes…
THE BEGINNING OF LIFE AND AMPHIPHILIC MOLECULES
(August 2004) 1.0 The Beginning The planet Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old. During the initial 0.7 billion years following its formation, the early Earth was heavily bombarded by solar system materials, such as comets and asteroid-sized objects. The energy released by the largest impacts was sufficient to evaporate the oceans and destroy any existing life on the Earth’s surface. The first signs of life evidenced by the fossil record came into being approximately 3.5 billion years ago [1]. Figure 1. The early Earth’s reducing atmosphere provided conditions for the formation of organic polymers from either terrestrial or extraterrestrial…
CAPTURING THE SUN: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE WORLD OF PLANT SCIENCE
(August 2003) Plants rank as one of the most important species on our planet. As primary producers, plants are at the base of the food chain for most terrestrial ecosystems, with nearly all land animals depending on them on as a source of food. The significance of plants as the basis of the food chain has not gone unnoticed by humanity. As a result, the field of plant science has blossomed with intellectual gains. Our understanding of the structure of plants, how they function, and what they do for us, growing daily. This article is an introduction for anyone interested…
TRANSGENIC CROPS: HOW GENETICS IS PROVIDING NEW WAYS TO ENVISION AGRICULTURE
(August 2003) Even before the creation of transgenics, the alteration of crops to improve their production was performed through selection. In fact, this selection has been going on for thousands of years and only in the past few centuries has it become a dedicated science onto itself. So, why has there been a push to switch from selection to the use of genetic techniques (transgenics) to improve crops over the recent decades? Simply put, to manipulate plants through selection takes many generations (i.e. large investments of time) and does not always work. Through the use of transgenics, one can produce…
MICROBES AND YOU: NORMAL FLORA
(August 2003) Microbes are everywhere. They populate the air, the water, the soil, and have even evolved intimate relationships with plants and animals. Without microbes, life on earth would cease. This is due mainly to the essential roles microbes play in the systems that support life on earth, such as nutrient cycling and photosynthesis. Further, the physiology, nutrition and protection of plants and animals (including humans) is dependent on various relationships with microbes. This report will focus on the relationships between microbes and humans. And as we will see these relationships are key factors that determine whether or not we…
PRESCRIPTION ANTIBIOTICS – HOW EXACTLY DO THESE DRUGS WORK
(August 2003) Antibiotics are compounds that act to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria1. The etymology of the term can be broken down into two roots: the prefix “anti-” meaning “opposed to” or “preventing” and “biotic” coming from the Greek word for life. In nature, various microbes and fungi secrete these compounds to gain an advantage in their microenvironment and it is from these very organisms that antibiotics are commonly use isolated [1]. The Discovery of Antibiotics The stories of the discovery of antibiotics are dramatic and full of human interest, both on a global and personal scale. Two…