Category Archives: Biology

A boat ride for summer school students in the Kansas City area isn't a break from class. Students from Independence are going out on the Missouri River for a lesson in marine biology. It's a component of a wider biology class the students are taking this summer. Part of the lesson included doing some cleanup work along the river's edge. The students are also learning how interconnected streams, rivers and oceans truly are. "It affects us not only on the coast, but it affects us in the middle (of the country)," said student Mya Coen. "It opens your eyes to everything around you, everything that happens. There is litter everywhere." The instructor, Leslie Mallinson, is a marine biology master student who brought back a plastic crate that she found on an Australian beach. Markings on the crate indicated it had been in the Kansas City area. She said she's been to Australia many times and has never seen anything like it before. She said she has no idea how the crate made its way from Kansas City to the other side of the world. Follow this link: Students get marine biology lesson on Missouri River … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 12-Jun-2014 Contact: Kuang-Hui Sun khsun@ym.edu.tw Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complicated multifactorial autoimmune disease influenced by many genetic and environmental factors. The hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the presence of high levels of anti-double-stranded DNA autoantibody (anti-dsDNA) in sera. In addition, greater infection rates are found in SLE patients and higher morbidity and mortality usually come from bacterial infections. Deciphering interactions between the susceptibility genes and the environmental factors for lupus complex traits is challenging and has resulted in only limited success. In the June issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine Lee et al, from National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan, studied the role of anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) and the Toll-like receptors (TLRs), TLR4 and TLR9, in the pathogenesis of lupus. They prepared transgenic mice carrying the anti-dsDNA transgene and challenged these mice with TLR4 and TLR9 agonists. They demonstrate that in the anti-dsDNA transgenic mice TLR4 and TLR9 are cooperatively linked to Lupus progression. ''Since simultaneous activation of extracellular and intracellular pattern-recognition receptors (PRR) is able to trigger more intense host immune responses, it is really crucial to determine whether co-engagement of extracellular and intracellular PRRs may … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Jun-2014 Contact: Chelsea Toledo ctoledo@pewtrusts.org 202-540-6846 Pew Health Group PhiladelphiaThe Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust announced the inaugural class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research. Five promising early-career scientists will receive funding for research aimed at finding cures for cancer using approaches that include genetics, pharmacology, and structural biology. "Cancer continues to take a terrible toll on human health worldwide, and creative approaches are vital for the development of novel therapies," said Rebecca W. Rimel, Pew's president and CEO. "We are delighted to partner with the Stewart Trust to expand our commitment to science and eagerly anticipate the discoveries these talented researchers will make to address these challenges." Pew has supported innovative research by young scientists through its biomedical scholars program since 1985 and through the Pew Latin American fellows program launched in 1991. "Some of the most important health advances have stemmed from curiosity-driven investigations, and young researchers seem particularly primed to seed innovation in the field of cancer," said William Bierbower, executive trustee for the Stewart Trust, which for over 15 years has backed researchers probing the mechanisms of cancer. "By combining forces with Pew, whose biomedical programs set the … Continue reading →

Dealing with Deception in Biology To function effectively, social systems need to overcome various strategic issues surrounding the threat of deception: Why do agents share information even when their interests conflict? Why... By: UWTV … Continue reading →

Emily OReilly pictured in her office during her last week as Ombudsman last year. Photograph: Bryan OBrien / THE IRISH TIMES The fact that biology has manacled them to the lives of their children needs to be acknowledged if mothers are to find psychological peace in the workplace the European Ombudsman Emily OReilly has said. Speaking at the Womens Executive Networks Irelands Most Powerful Women: Top 25 event in Dublin on Thursday night, where she was honoured alongside women including Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland, OReilly said a mothers biologically determined inability to compartmentalise her children should not become for employers a barrier to achieving professional success. In a well-received speech the mother of five spoke of being elected Ombudsman last year: The first question I was asked by a reporter was what about the children? She was mildly irritated by this at first not believing Enda Kenny or Barack Obama would be asked the same question. However, she realised afterwards that what the interviewers were asking was only what she was asking herself. My own visceral sense of the difficulty of being separated from my children was reflected in the interviewers intuitive understanding that this was going to be … Continue reading →

Undergraduate Research - Biology Undergraduate research in Biology at The Ohio State University at Lima. By: The Ohio State University At Lima … Continue reading →

The horse meat scandal mightnt first spring to mind for Leaving Cert biology but it was one of the more contemporary issues featuring at higher level. The paper was challenging according to Una Moroney of the Irish Science Teachers Association. Students were required to think and apply their knowledge, she said. The short questions were reasonably straighforward although a diagram of body tissue in question three was poor, Moroney said. Mona Murray of the Institute of Education picked out question four as particularly challenging as it required a precise understanding of the different characteristics and major differences between the organisms in all five kingdoms, she said. Students were happy with Section B, the experiments. Each of the three questions focused on one particular experiment, unlike last year when one of the questions featured five different experiments, Murray said. There were some good topical questions in Section C, according to Ciara OShea of the ASTI although there was a heavy emphasis on plant systems throughout, she said. The role of DNA analysis in horse meat was an interesting approach, teachers agreed, although it may have baffled some students, Moroney said. A diagram of a joint came in for criticism, It really … Continue reading →

A plant biology graduate student at Ohio University is using spent grains from the Jackie O's brewing process to grow plants as a part of his final research project. If grad student Josh Crosiers current hunch about the spent grains is correct, the research project for his master's degree could benefit farmers in the area looking for a new protein-rich source of organic compost. Crosier said compost made from spent grains could go a long way toward keeping the materials used in local farming within Athens County. Were using a resource locally found here in Athens County to help Athens County farmers, he said. I dont want to see people shipping in nutrients from Missouri, or the carbon footprint associated with that. Crosier, who owns his own landscaping business, started his experiment last year at OU's West State Gardens a research area near the OU driving range for student and faculty usage. He struck a deal with Jackie O's to use its brewerys unwanted spent rye, hops and wheat in exchange for some regular lawn work. He piles them, wet, into the back of his truck after brew cycles and slops them out at the gardens with a shovel. They … Continue reading →

Modular Science is something Tim Lord spotted at last month's O'Reilly Solid Conference in San Francisco. Its founder, Peter Sand, has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT. He's scheduled to speak at this year's OSCON, and his speaker blurb for that conference says, "He is the founder of ManyLabs, a nonprofit focused on teaching math and science using sensors and simulations. Peter also founded Modular Science, a company working on hardware and software tools for science labs. He has given talks at Science Hack Day, Launch Edu, and multiple academic conferences, including SIGGRAPH." And now he's also been interviewed on Slashdot. Note that there are plenty of lab automation systems out there. Peter is working on one that is not only "an order of magnitude cheaper" than similar devices, but is also easy to modify and expand. It's the sort of system that would fit well not just in a college-level lab, but in a high school lab or a local makerspace. (Alternate Video Link) Tim: Peter, what is it that were looking at here. Its very interesting looking kind of a stationary robot here. Peter: Yeah, its a machine for a biology lab that has a pipetter, it … Continue reading →

Your Immune System Natural Born Killer Crash Course Biology #32 YouTube Hank tells us about the team of deadly ninja assassins that is tasked with protecting our bodies from all the bad guys that want to kill us - also known as o. Hank tells us about the team... By: Kenisha Ashraf … Continue reading →