Why do asthma, heart attacks and many other health conditions tend to strike in the early hours of the morning? One possible explanation for this mysterious phenomenon has been discovered by researchers from Prof. Gad Asher’s laboratory at the…
Category: 5. Biology
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Genetically Rescued Organism: Toward A Solution For Sudden Oak Death
Sudden oak death, caused by the pathogen Phythophthora ramorum, is one of the most ecologically devastating forest diseases in North America, responsible for the deaths of millions of oaks and tanoaks along the coast.
Science to the rescue?…
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Appreciating van Leeuwenhoek: The Cloth Merchant Who Discovered Microbes
Imagine trying to cope with a pandemic like COVID-19 in a world where microscopic life was unknown. Prior to the 17th century, people were limited by what they could see with their own two eyes. But then a Dutch cloth merchant changed…
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The Yeast All Around Us
With people confined to their homes, there is more interest in home-baked bread than ever before. And that means a lot of people are making friends with yeast for the first time. I am a professor of hospitality management and a former chef, and I…
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The Biology Of Why Coronavirus Is So Deadly
COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Coronaviruses belong to a group of viruses that infect animals, from peacocks to whales. They’re named for the bulb-tipped spikes that project from the virus’s surface and give the…
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Coronavirus Is Not Passed From Mother to Child Late In Pregnancy
After a newborn (born to a mother infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing positive for COVID-19 infection within 36 hours of birth, there were concerns about whether the virus could be contracted in the womb. A new…
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CRISPR Immune Cells Not Only Survive, They Thrive After Infusion Into Cancer Patients
In the first-ever (sanctioned) investigational use of multiple edits to the human genome, a study found that cells edited in three specific ways and then removed from patients and brought back into the lab setting were able to kill cancer months…
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Don’t Teach Your Kids to Attack the Planet
Life has been growing on Earth for about 4 billion years, and during that time there have been a handful of mass extinctions that have wiped out a large percentage of complex lifeforms. Asteroid impact, volcanic eruption, climate change,…
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The Great Pacific Invasion | ScienceBlogs
When the big tsunami hit Japan in 2011, many objects were washed out to sea. This flotsam provided for a giant “rafting event.” A rafting event is when animals, plants, etc. float across an otherwise uncrossable body of water and end up alive on…
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Attempts to save Houston’s bats
Got bugs? Get a bat. As many species of bats are insectivores, they help keep insect populations in check. Hurricane Harvey has been devastating to people, animals and property. So it probably comes as no surprise that there are many volunteers…
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