Biology Bytes
discoveries
Bacteria and Stress May Trigger Heart Attacks and Strokes
Heart attacks and strokes have been thought to be prompted by stress. But why is this — why does stress trigger these dangerous medical events? Based on a study published earlier this month, a key player may actually be some specific species of bacteria. Certain bacteria species (like the Pseudomonas aeruginosa shown here in brown) … Continue reading
Drinking Green Tea May Repair Your DNA
How our diet affects our health is a very complicated topic. For example, while drinking tea is thought to possibly help reduce the risk of a number of diseases and health conditions, many studies have had inconsistent results, and the chemical mechanisms that go on in our bodies are not well understood. However, a recently … Continue reading
STAP Retraction Imminent
In January, two papers were published in the prestigious journal Nature showing how to make stem cells using a shockingly simple and completely novel approach — by putting cells in an acid bath. The resultant mouse stem cells were called STAP cells (for stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency). However, since then, other researchers have had great … Continue reading
Two New Drugs to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Because they help us fight bacterial infections, antibiotics are an amazing invention that has let us greatly improve our quality of life and life expectancy. However, their overuse has led to some extremely dangerous pathogens — antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Specifically, last fall it was found that more than 2 million people in the U.S. get infected … Continue reading
MERS Update: Now in the U.S.
Since it was first discovered in a person in mid-2012, MERS (short for Middle East respiratory syndrome) has been a looming viral threat. MERS is a disease caused a type of virus called a coronavirus (CoV), which typically infects the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. (Many common colds and even cases of pneumonia are caused by … Continue reading
Making New Neurons Erases Memories
Note: The Biology Bytes blog will only be updated on Tuesdays during this week and next week. Next week will feature a special tidbit on biology-related exhibits at the Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo, Japan, which the author will be visiting. Regular Tuesday/Thursday updates will resume on June 2. Have … Continue reading
Toxoplasma: A Common Parasite that Affects Height, Personality, and Lots More
Have you ever felt like your reaction time isn’t as good as it should be? Or, if you’re male, have you ever had people comment that you look particularly masculine? These traits might seem unrelated, but they actually can be due to the same thing — infection by a very common parasite called Toxoplasma gondii … Continue reading
Epigenetics Inherited from Mom and Dad
With Mother’s Day coming up, it can be fun to talk about some of our family’s genetic traits, like eye color, hair color, or having mid-digit hair (yup, that’s genetic too!). We all know that we get our genetics — the basic blueprints that make us who we are — from Mom and Dad, but … Continue reading
Citizen Biology
Are you not a scientist by training but you’d like to help scientists do real research? Or maybe you are a scientist and would like to aid others in doing more investigations in your spare time. Whatever your background, there are actually many ways that you can now do real scientific research in your spare … Continue reading
Genome-Wide Effects of Down’s Syndrome
Normally, a person has 46 chromosomes total, or 23 pairs of chromosomes. If a person has three copies of one of the chromosomes (instead of two copies), it can lead to serious developmental complications. One possibility is trisomy 21, or three copies of chromosome 21, which causes Down’s syndrome. (Most trisomies are lethal during development, … Continue reading