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Inspiring Science

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Inspiring Science

Tag Archives: DNA

DNA can survive atmosphere re-entry

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by sedeer in Astronomy, Evolution, Genetics

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

biology, DNA, Education, origin of life, panspermia, Popular science, rocket, science, space

747px-EntryOn March 29, 2011, a TEXUS-49 rocket took off from northern Sweden for a short trip into space and back through Earth’s sheltering blanket of atmosphere. This amazing feat of engineering has become surprisingly routine — we humans have gotten to the point where launching a vehicle into space to carry out an experiment or deliver a satellite into orbit no longer inspires awe and wonder. Sounding rockets are commonly used as sub-orbital research platforms. In this case, one of the experiments on the mission was a test of how well DNA molecules can survive the temperatures involved in plummeting back through Earth’s atmosphere. The results, published earlier this year in PLOS ONE, show that DNA is tough enough to make it through atmospheric re-entry after a quick jaunt in space. Continue reading →

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The Language of DNA

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by sedeer in Evolution, Genetics

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biology, codon, DNA, evolution, Genetics, language, Popular science, redundancy, science, translation

One of the striking things about the genetic code is the remarkable way it twists back on itself, combining redundancy and utility in a simple, elegant language. Many of us are introduced to the basic concept in school, but that introduction often leaves out the wrinkles — some of them newly discovered — which give the system its resilience and precision. Despite their complexity, most of these tricks are pretty easy to explain with linguistic analogies, which is precisely what I’m going to try in this post. Continue reading →

DNA nanotechnology (Part II)

16 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by sedeer in Form

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

biology, biotechnology, DNA, DNA nanotechnology, drug delivery, Nanotechnology, origami, Popular science, science, Science fiction, shape, tetrahedron

Image credit: WikipediaIn the previous post, I introduced DNA nanotechnology and talked a bit about some of the 2-D structures that researchers have devised. Scientists have also used these techniques to build a variety of 3-D shapes, some of which can be used as containers for drug delivery. In this post, I’m going to focus on the DNA tetrahedron, a four-sided pyramid made of DNA which is relatively easy to build and manipulate and has proven useful in several recent studies.
Continue reading →

DNA nanotechnology (Part I)

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by sedeer in Form

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

biology, biotechnology, DNA, DNA nanotechnology, Nanotechnology, origami, Popular science, science, Science fiction, shape

Image credit: WikipediaThe phrase “DNA nanotechnology” has a thoroughly futuristic ring. It sounds like something from a science-fiction novel, but what does it actually mean? Nanotechnology just means manipulating stuff on the scale of atoms and molecules. DNA nanotechnology is an approach that harnesses the self-organizing properties of DNA. The idea is to use DNA to precisely position things or build structures and machines, ideally in a way that’s cheaper or more efficient than other techniques.
Continue reading →

The forgotten life of plants

24 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by sedeer in Genetics, Plants

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

biology, botany, Communication, DNA, epigenetics, Garden, Herbivore, memory, nature, Plant, plants, Popular science, science

Peter Newell's illustraion of The Garden of Live Flowers (Image credit: Wikimedia commons)In Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking Glass, Alice wanders into a garden with flowers that can talk — the “garden of Live Flowers”.  Of course, all plants are alive, but here the flowers are called “live” because they can talk.  One of the greatest examples of human arrogance might be our attitude towards plants.  We treat plants as objects, as part of the background, as mere things without any agency.  We tend to forget that they’re dynamic, complex living creatures that react and respond to their environment — just in unfamiliar ways and on a different timescale.  Continue reading →

Correction: Plants micro-RNAs might not regulate animal genes

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by sedeer in Genetics, Humans, Mammals, Plants

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Tags

biology, digestion, DNA, Gene expression, GMO, Health, horizontal transfer, Human, MicroRNA, Mouse, nutrition, Popular science, RNA, science

Around a year ago I wrote about a study which showed that micro-RNAs from plants that were eaten could regulate genes in the animal that ate them.  It was an exciting and important finding.  The study claimed that the miRNAs survived passage through the digestive tracts of mice, got into their bloodstream and traveled to their liver, where they regulated genes involved in cholesterol metabolism.  This week I read a post on Virginia Hughes’ blog Only Human where she discusses several follow-up studies which haven’t been able to reproduce the original results.  That doesn’t necessarily mean the study was wrong, but it certainly raises doubts.  In her post, Virginia also links to a rebuttal letter she received from the author of the original study, so it looks like the debate is on!  I’ll try to keep an eye on the subject and report back about it as things develop, but in the meantime read Virginia’s excellent summary of the current state of affairs.  Showing that creatures can directly regulate genes in organisms of another kingdom of life would be a major finding, so I’m really glad that there’s debate about it.  That’s how science should work: we should try to repeat studies, remain critical and open-minded, and challenge each other.

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All text and original images by Sedeer El-Showk. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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