Top 10 Reasons to Love Viruses Viruses can often be seen in a very poor light, but they aren’t all bad. In fact, we humans probably wouldn’t exist without viruses. Author Michael Brooks writes about the upside of sharing the planet with these ruthless killer machines. Here are the top 10 reasons to love viruses. 10. Evolution’s greatest innovation – the cell nucleus – is thought to have come from a virus ( 9. Ok, so that’s not a very scientific take on why we should appreciate the virus. Mimivirus is particularly fearsome because it is virtually indestructible. 8. Around 8 per cent of your DNA is unmistakably viral in origin. 7. When Craig Venter, the human genome pioneer, took samples of the Sargasso Sea, his team found more than 1800 new species of virus containing more than 1.2 million new genes . 6. No one can agree on whether viruses should be considered part of biology, or chemical parasites on biology. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. . Photo by xaminmo
Medicinal Value of Whole Foods Fourni par Traduction For the first 5000 years of civilization, humans relied on foods and herbs for medicine. Only in the past 50 years have we forgotten our medicinal "roots" in favor of patent medicines. Apple. Asparagus. Avocado. Banana and Plantain. Barley. Beans. Beets. Bell Pepper. Blueberry. Broccoli. Brussels Sprouts. Cabbage (including bok choy). Carrot. Cauliflower. Celery. Chili Pepper. Cinnamon. Clove. Coffee. Collard Greens. Corn. Cranberry. Cucumbers. Date. Eggplant. Fenugreek Seed. Flax seeds and oil. Fig. Fish and Fish Oil. Garlic. Ginger. Grape. Grapefruit. Honey. Kale. Kiwi Fruit. Lecithin. Lemon. Licorice. Melon (green and yellow, such as cantaloupe and honeydew). Milk. Mushroom (Asian, including shiitake). Mustard (including horseradish). Nuts. Oats. Olive oil. Onion (including chives, shallots, scallions, leeks). Orange. Parsley. Pineapple. Plum. Potato (white). Prune. Pumpkin. Raspberry. Rice. Seaweed and Kelp (brown or Laminaria type seaweed).
Meditation found to increase brain size Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office Sara Lazar (center) talks to research assistant Michael Treadway and technologist Shruthi Chakrapami about the results of experiments showing that meditation can increase brain size. People who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don’t. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. In one area of gray matter, the thickening turns out to be more pronounced in older than in younger people. “Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being,” says Sara Lazar, leader of the study and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. The researchers compared brain scans of 20 experienced meditators with those of 15 nonmeditators. Study participants meditated an average of about 40 minutes a day. Controlling random thoughts Slowing aging?
Social - Stanford researchers study how disordered proteins spread from cell to cell, potentially spreading disease Photos courtesy of Ron Kopito An image of U2OS cells infected with Q91 polygluytamine aggregates (in green) colocalized with intracelluluar expressed (red) Q25. One bad apple is all it takes to spoil the barrel. And one misfolded protein may be all that's necessary to corrupt other proteins, forming large aggregations linked to several incurable neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Stanford biology Professor Ron Kopito has shown that the mutant, misfolded protein responsible for Huntington's disease can move from cell to cell, recruiting normal proteins and forming aggregations in each cell it visits. Knowing that this protein spends part of its time outside cells "opens up the possibility for therapeutics," he said. The ability of these proteins to move from one cell to another could explain the way Huntington's disease spreads through the brain after starting in a specific region. Not all bad Not all misfolded proteins are bad. A bad influence
Biology | 7.03 Genetics, Fall 2004 | Lecture Notes Shin splints treatment - exercise to strengthen the lower legs, prevent, repair and care for shin splints problems. | Sports Injury Bulletin When you decided to get really serious about your training earlier this year, everything went smoothly for several weeks, but one day you felt a dull ache on the inside, lower portion of your shin as you began your workout. The discomfort went away once you had warmed up, so you weren't overly concerned. Unfortunately, the pain returned on the following day - and lasted for a longer portion of your workout. As the days went by, pain was present for the whole training session, as well as your cool-down - and even hung around during your regular daily activities. ================================================= More information on Shin Splints:All of our articles on shin splints Medial tibial stress syndrome - Two quick fixes for shin splints Shin splints: The runner's disease Q&A - What can I do to heal Shin Splints? Q&A Shin splints or stress fracture? Got a question about shin splints? What was wrong? The sound of slapping feet Try these MTSS-preventing exercises 1. Now the single-leg raise
THC Prevents MDMA Neurotoxicity in Mice Scientist creates lifelike cells out of metal Scientists trying to create artificial life generally work under the assumption that life must be carbon-based, but what if a living thing could be made from another element? One British researcher may have proven that theory, potentially rewriting the book of life. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow has created lifelike cells from metal — a feat few believed feasible. The discovery opens the door to the possibility that there may be life forms in the universe not based on carbon, reports New Scientist. Even more remarkable, Cronin has hinted that the metal-based cells may be replicating themselves and evolving. "I am 100 percent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology," he said. The high-functioning "cells" that Cronin has built are constructed from large polyoxometalates derived from a range of metal atoms, like tungsten. The metallic bubbles are certainly cell-like, but are they actually alive? The early results have been encouraging.
Download Graphic Images from the Hillis/Bull Lab Return to "Download Files" Page You are welcome to download the following graphic image of the Tree of Life for non-commercial, educational purposes: Tree of Life (~3,000 species, based on rRNA sequences) (pdf, 368 KB) (see Science, 2003, 300:1692-1697) This file can be printed as a wall poster. Tree of Life tattoo, courtesy of Clare D'Alberto, who is working on her Ph.D. in biology at the University of Melbourne. The organisms depicted in this tattoo are (starting at 4 o'clock and going around clockwise): (1) a cyanobacterium (Anabaena); (2) a radiolarian (Acantharea); (3) a dinoflagellate (Ceratium); (4) an angiosperm (Spider Orchid); (5) a couple species of fungi (Penicillium and a yeast); (6) a ctenophore (comb jelly); (7) a mollusc (nudibranch); (8) an echinoderm (brittle star); and (9) a vertebrate (Weedy Sea Dragon). Here is another great Tree of Life tattoo! Cover of Molecular Systmatics, 2nd ed Here is yet another version from Hannah Udelll at the University of Wisconson-Madisson.
medicines Herbal Remedies ACNE Herbs Used: Evening Primrose Oil, Raspberry Leaf, Nettle, Dandelion, Lemon Grass Recipe for Acne Help Bring to a simmer in a non-metallic pan 2 quarts water, 3 tablespoons Witch hazel bark, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground cloves; let simmer for 5 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup chopped fresh thyme, 1 cup fresh chopped peppermint leaves, and 1/2 cup fresh chopped marjoram. ACNE For acne that hasn't seemed to respond to anything: Use 2-3 tsp. dried basil leaves to 1 cup boiling water. ANEMIA Herbs Used: Red Beet, Yellow Dock, Lobelia, Burdock, Nettle, Mullein Other uses: Energy, Fatigue, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease ARTERIOSCLEROSIS Herbs Used: Cayenne, Garlic, Hawthorne, Parsley Other Uses: Blood Pressure, Heart ARTHRITISHerbs Used: Yucca, Comfrey, Alfalfa, Yarrow, Cayenne, Lobelia, Burdock, Chaparral, Black Cohosh , Cat's Claw, Lemon Grass Other uses: Bursitis, Rheumatism, Gout, Blood Cleanser HEADACHE TEASCamomile, Sage, Rosemary. Herbal Teas
IHS - International Headache Society» Home Cells flow like glass, study finds By studying cellular movements at the level of both the individual cell and the collective group, applied physicists have discovered that migrating tissue flows very much like colloidal glass. The research, led by investigators at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the University of Florida, advances scientists’ understanding of wound healing, cancer metastasis, and embryonic development. The finding was published online Feb. 14 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Cells often move from one part of the body to another. In a developing embryo, for example, cells in the three germ layers have to arrange themselves spatially so that the cells that will become skin are on the outside. It is known that cells accomplish these movements through internal cytoskeletal rearrangements that allow them to extend, retract, and divide. “We study this extensively,” says Weitz, who leads the Experimental Soft Condensed Matter Group at SEAS.
Health Information and Medical Information Researchers discover 'master switch' gene for obesity, diabetes A team of researchers, led by King's College London and the University of Oxford, have found that a gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels is in fact a 'master regulator' gene, which controls the behaviour of other genes found within fat in the body. As fat plays a key role in susceptibility to metabolic diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, this study highlights the regulatory gene as a possible target for future treatments to fight these diseases. Published today in Nature Genetics, the study was one part of a large multi-national collaboration funded by the Wellcome Trust, known as the MuTHER study. It was already known that the KLF14 gene is linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels but, until now, how it did this and the role it played in controlling other genes located further away on the genome was unknown. The researchers examined over 20,000 genes in subcutaneous fat biopsies from 800 UK female twin volunteers.