Biology

I came across what seems like a nice, biology inclusive custom dictionary for MS Word today and thought I'd share, since it's a useful tool to have for people who dislike red, squiggly lines. I have another one that I use for chemistry as well, which was linked in another thread here. If anyone has any other useful tools like this for writing in biology, I'd love to hear about them, as I am currently in the process of writing my first research article since moving into the field(s) of microbiology / genetics.

Why do some people complain more other people of leg stiffness in case of long road trip or long air flight and it only goes away when you get up and walk around back and forth. What is helping to the body that long road trip or long air flight causes stiffness? Is the cause too much blood pooling in legs? And getting up and walking back forth makes it go away. Also do people that are confined to wheelchair or hospital bed how do they deal with leg stiffness?

At the nursery, the trees they sell are labeled as 'fruiting' , 'flowering' , 'shading' What are the 'flowering' ones biological purpose ? Are these somehow manipulated trees; or their flowers have no stamen, stigma, no reproduction purpose ? Those do not bear fruit. (Like the ornamental cherry blossoms) How does it work ?

Greetings. Human and animal eggs and sperm are routinely frozen for preservation; and read something about fertilized embryos getting the same treatment. What about plants ? Is there a way ? Can a germinated young plant, or perhaps a grown one, be preserved until a future planting/growing season ? Can annual plants be preserved/suspended from winter death until much later to continue their growth, other than greenhouses * ? I know seed banks keep thousands of varieties frozen for any future needs, but are those non-germinated seeds embryos ? This thread triggered from the uncertainty from a seed to germinate. I see there is no way to assure success t…

Good day. In addition to GATC , is there other 'filler' compounds lodged between them, and other variations different than sugar phosphate constituting the 'back bone' shown here, or eventual contaminants to the purity of any of these components ?

Note, I'm putting this in the biology forum because there is no "sexology" forum. Also, I'm using this site (a science site) because I am not just looking for the reasons that you, personally, like lesbians, but rather, the scientific reason why they're so popular on a general level. Think about it: Why do men enjoy homosexual porn of the opposite sex, but that same fetish is not near as widespread among women? How, exactly, does testosterone accomplish one thing, but estrogen does not accomplish the exact opposite? Most guys give the reason of "twice the fun" for why they like lesbians, but that logic does not work with women liking gay men. It is the job …

Hello all. Rotten corpses, feces, decomposing matter are smelly because their particles get airborne and sensed by olfaction. Can those fouled particles carrying the smell, transport microbes as to propagate certain illnesses just by smelling ? (restricted to smell, not as splashes or mist)

Dear colleagues, We’d like to share an opportunity that may be of interest to your students and peers. The First Approval platform has launched an international Student Biological Data Competition to promote a culture of open data in science and support early-career researchers. The initiative supports open science while giving students valuable opportunities for recognition, publication experience, and the chance to win a cash prize. The competition is open to students in a wide range of biological fields, from molecular biology to behavioral science, and offers first-authored dataset publications with DOIs alongside monetary awards. Please consider sharing this opportun…

Does it exist? Can it exist? Could it evolve naturally? Are there any inherent advantages to being a triple-helixed animal? How would a triple-helix lifeform differ from a double-helixer? What about multiple helixes? What effects would DNA of multiple helixes have on the creature that possessed it?

I wanted to start a debate on whether a thing that is that small can be considered conscious.

Basically, if the God exists, it must be, by definition, the most powerful deity and the most poweful beings . But how can we define "power" when talking about gods? Anyway, If other more mysterious (higher?) beings than human exist, there must eventually exist more mysterious (higher ?) attributes that distinguish them. A question that can arises is the following: Are humans the pinnacle of self-consciousness and intelligence? Are there "things" deeper (higher ?) than "human consciousness" and "human intelligence"? Indeed, it seems that these are the main attributes that distinguish humans from other living beings, just as life distinguishes living beings from non-liv…

In December 2024, a comprehensive analysis published in Science by Adamala et al. highlighted unprecedented risks associated with mirror bacteria research. These artificially created organisms would represent a fundamental departure from all known life, utilizing reversed versions of the molecular building blocks found in natural organisms. The authors argue that this reversal could allow such organisms to evade existing biological controls and immune defenses, potentially affecting humans, animals, plants, and broader ecosystems. While this capability is estimated to be at least a decade away, the researchers state that “If an invasive mirror bacterium were inadvert…

A while ago I thought about some concept, which should which should allow us, to get rid of all unwanted life. This is – by becoming incompatible. Previously I thought that we could do it by changing the language which encodes nucleotide triples into amino acids (be replacing eg tRNA), but it could result in enormous number of problems with gene regulation. I’ve just found the “safe” way – take mirror reflection! If we replace left-handed amino acids with right-handed, we would get mirror reflections of natural proteins. Analogically we could get chiral DNA, sugars, etc. on which new enzymes would work perfectly. Finally we would get normally functioning mirror refl…

This is a myth that MythBusters busted. They found that flour beetles and fruit flies can withstand higher amounts of cobalt-60 radiation than cockroaches, with the flour beetles able to survive the most lethal dose of radiation that was used.

Obviously, heterosexuality is nature's default due to its link to procreation. Therefore, I'm curious why homosexuality exists in nature since it doesn't seem to have an evolutionary purpose. I've heard various theories about why it exists, some genetic and some environmental, but I wanted to hear other people's opinions. And regarding "homophobia" or aversion to homosexuality, which seems particularly focused on male homosexuality, my thoughts are that there are various factors at play here, such as the link between male homosexuality and disease.

We have been mapping the brain for ages and not getting closer to how it works. I don't share your optimisim. In the 480 million life span, nature and evolution advocated intelligence and consciousness only to the living, not the non-living. We have still not figured out how to take matter and turn it into living matter.

I'm putting this in the biology forum because, if this is a legitimate phenomenon, I imagine the explanation would have something to do with epigenetics. Now, this is not a scientific observation, but an anecdotal one, however it's one I've heard a number of people make - people in old photos looked older than modern day people do. That is to say, 18-20 year olds of the 1950s and earlier looked way older than 18-20 year olds of today. Again, I don't know whether this is simply an illusion due to cherrypicking of anecdotal evidence or a legitimate phenomenon, but I've heard a number of people make this observation. Now, I'm sure science hasn'…

What do they gain from doing this? Sounds like a pretty risky manoeuvre... Does anyone know?Is there something in our faces which they eat/consume as food? What evolutionary advantage does this action/behaviour provide to the flies?

I hope I don't ask something dumb... Are there studies to check if, on average among species, genome size increased in last tens of millions of years? Would you expect that evolution continuously increases genome sizes, or did we reach some sort of equilibrium already?

I was wondering if perhaps triceratops was a dam-building animal. Elephants apparently build dams by pushing longs into streams with their tusks. This results in ponds and reservoirs that can contain water long after the streams have dried up. Triceratops may have: - used its beak to chew on tough materials such as roots or woody plants - pushed down large plants such as tree ferns to access the leaves - could this mean that it would be as simple as pushing large woody plants into streams to make a pond? Is it possible that there could be evidence of such a behavior? Has anyone found triceratops prints and drag marks nearby reservoir or wetlan…

Somewhere I read once that parasites and illness causing organisms had evolved to <not kill the hosts they infected> as to keep the nourishment and reproduction grounds for looong times. My peach tree is dropping immature fruit with signs of being drilled by some insect and a worm inside. Could the <not killing the host> be applied here or the fruit rotting on the floor is the real benefit of the worm strategy ? Obviously, the fruit (or the tree?) senses being affected and somehow the peach is let go. How does it work ? Now that I think; the tree is not destroyed for next year cycle. Just the fruit is. Strategy ?

Hello everybody ! My 17 years old daughter and me are interested in buying a microscope with enough power to be able to (let's say it that way) "see some cells in action and distinguish its parts, and also some bacteria and so on." I know that it largely depends on the size of the different cells, bacterias and other subjects etc (I suppose virus are too small to see... I wonder if searching a microscope around 150€ is a good try, and if a good second hand one could be a better option to have a better one than a brand new but less powerful one. Do you have any specific brand or model to start with ? Thanks in advance 😉

Hello. My name is Michael Panetta and I'm a science fiction writer. (If you read Analog Science Fiction And Fact, you may have seen my work in the current issue.) Anyway, I've created a fictitious virus that will act as a backdrop to a story, and I and am seeking someone to look over my notes about this virus and to tell me if there are any egregious errors. I would also like suggestions on a realistic name for the virus. I prefer to have this discussion over private message, so please message if you are interested in helping. I can't offer monetary compensation for your time because magazines don't really pay well, but if / when this story is published in a mag…

I've selected protease as the optimal enzyme for eliminating gluten formed from flour. Could you please provide insights on the best enzyme for removing gluten, dosing methods, and how to identify the suitable enzyme variant given that proteases have diverse types? This information is essential for my project aimed at resolving pipeline blockages induced by gluten from flour in the food industry using enzymes..