Biology

So I came across progesterone in a Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progesterone) and is interested in how it is actually synthesized in the capsule like Prometrium. The article says progesterone can be derived from diosgenin which can be converted from saponin produced in yam, but I do not think the pharmaceutical companies convert yam into progesterone for their commercial product right?

What is your opinion of this? It was said to reset some aging related markers by 54% https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200615115724.htm

Hi Guys, can science make us live longer in the near future to maybe 100-150 years old somehow through an anti aging drug/age reversal drug or some other therapy/intervention that you can think of? Please don't discuss about Coronavirus here as it is not really relevant to the question

Do plants always have just one apical meristem at any given time? If I see multiple buds at a shoot tip (multiple "apical buds"?), what am I looking at? Is it: multiple ("codominant") apical meristems, or the buds compete for dominance until one of them ends up being the apical meristem, or one of the buds is the apical meristem & the others are axillary buds pressed up really close to it? Thanks!

Would love some clarification: We're always taught that you can tell a leaf by the axillary bud where the petiole connects to the stem. But what if the axillary bud has developed into a stem/branch? Would it be correct to say that leaves often lack axillary buds at their junction with the stem (maybe one used to be there, but later developed into a stem/branch)? Thanks!

Why are enveloped respiratory viruses generally seasonal? A few of the potential explanations: Outdoor temperature/humidity Indoor humidity More time spent indoors in winter Adaptation to the seasonality of the host's physiology Outdoor conditions make a lot of sense for wild hosts, but we live climate-controlled 93% indoor lives. Extra time spent indoors in winter can't matter all that much since that's where we spend almost all of our time anyway. Indoor air is significantly drier in the winter thanks to heating. Furthermore infectivity of droplets goes up very sharply as humidity is lowered below 40%. This is at least roug…

There have been many studies done to find out if cell phones cause infertility. Most have found that there is a positive correlation between phone use and infertility. However, most studies are done at fertility clinics and their study population is fertility patients. My question is, does the fact that the study population is fertility patients create a selection bias? Or, is the study still valid as even though the population is already experiencing fertility problems, it is still a level playing field as people who use phones the most are 'more infertile' than others? Thanks for reading this!

When the human body organs go bad or have trouble working say in heart failure, heart disease, kidney failure, bladder problems, cancer, lung problems so on, does it have type of protein marker that is released in the blood? What are these protein markers? Why does Irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, leaky gut, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) ,Inflammatory bowel disease, and colon cancer not have protein markers? Also how are these protein markers analyzed?

So every cell is different, the right and left body seems symmetric, but the organs are not. With that said, if I want to modify a specific cell/neuron located on the right hemisphere of my brain to change the gene expression, is there a way for me to target that cell specifically with the unique cell receptor? So the drug would work like an RFID, it would go "o, you are that cell on the right brain hemisphere from the unique cell specific receptor, so I would assume to make gene expression changes using this hormone from another receptor pathway." Do such a unique cell specific receptor/identification exist?

hi, I was working and I have almost always drunk water regularly in my room (I use an open tip cerafe for this but generally drink much water as doctors recommend) in the past for a long time I could not realise a detail but one day I was again drinking water, I directly tried to drink water from that cerafe and realised that something was moving over the surface of water. I realised or still suppose so , that it was one of flies (larva). I presume they release their eggs,(spawning) (go) through inside of water. but I wonder how the mother flies could understand where my cerafe is? how can they do that? thanks.

Hi Could someone who owns this volume tell me please what is inside. I am mainly after drawings / plates of the microorganisms. Thank you in advance

So last time I was in China (more than a year ago, I assure you) I noticed what appeared to be farmland from the balcony of an apartment building more than a dozen stories high. This apartment building wasn't exactly in the middle of town, but it was along the outskirts of a major city, with a major supermarket nearby, so it was clearly in an at least somewhat urban setting. This is weird because from debates over big cities vs small towns, you always see advocates of the latter say things like "we farm your crops!" So I'm wondering; is this done for medical reasons, or just economic ones? Is urban land too polluted for any first-world democracy to…

Could an artificial womb be used to regrow limbs?

Hi. A just born millipede has less legs count and new ones are created with age, or at birth has the full count and legs grow larger with age ? 🙄

How well is the human body's process understood if imbibing L-Tryptophan (in synthetic supplement form) that the liver will process only what the body requires to convert to 5-Hydroxytryptophan for use as serotonin? If skipping this step and directly introducing 5-Hydroxytryptophan into the body, it surely has no chance to regulate how much it needs?

This is one thing I was always curious about regarding the evolution of life and people. It's known that most things which define living beings descend from features that were essential for survival. We have limbs, eyes, ears, etc. because with them we could fight or escape predators (or be predators) and avoid dangerous environments. From a psychological point of view, we developed a language because it allowed us to work in teams and survive. Moving away from features essential to survival, people also developed activities / games / fun ways of passing the time, but which can also be explained as they satisfy certain features of the mind and body. For example, sport…

https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/that-junk-dna-is-full-of-information/ I will appreciate any kind of informative response. Thank you

This method mainly focuses on the analysis of Y and mitochondrial DNA, but besides these there are many more chromosomes. Such heritage is cultural and historical, but how can it give an adequate answer about biological inheritance? Why aren't the rest of the chromosomes being studied?

I am learning myology and encountered 2 problems in tetanus and summation: Unfused tetanus is just a continual summation of twitches if I am not mistaken. However, is it a MUST for summation / unfused tetanus to constantly increasing muscle tension from the photo (the graph) i.e. is this the definition? Since we are in unfused tetanus when we hold something, and I can’t feel my biceps are constantly increasing in contraction / tension. (to my understanding, complete tetanus is when we are lifting up very heavy things only as it utilizes too much ATP) Can I say the muscles are in tetanus during contracting (lifting), and also in tetanus during consta…

So I was recently thinking about this P&T:BS episode from a few years ago. Having been an environmentalist in childhood, I at first found it jarring, but eventually refreshing, to see perspectives openly dissenting against the conventional wisdom on environmentalism with which I had been brought up. Is Penn Jillette right on this one, though? I'm just thinking if you're going to be growing trees to make paper, and if those trees are going to die anyway if not chopped down to make paper, then one might as well combust the paper underneath a kettle to boil water in a rural/suburban setting. Still not sure what the best possible use of waste paper would be in…

hi, although my question is way clear,I could not find a proper written (academic) material to prove it. Question/Query: " I (state/claim) that in order to obtain consciousness we would definitely need an action potential, but not a graded potential because ... a graded potential is just along with a neuron rather than jumping over neurons one by one. because its name is graded potential. ....." I need a published material (academic please). Almost all of texts (articles , book chapters) I read mentioning with both descriptions but do not clearly use the sentence I would see ,like above. I fear ,I am lacking.. but any help will be app…

(I am new to this forum so please tell me how to improve my questions) I am wondering what really powers the myosin head to undergo the power stroke to push the actin filaments towards the M-line. I have 2 thoughts: when ATP in the myosin head gets hydrolyzed, the energy released is stored in the head. This energy powers for the power stroke. when ATP is hydrolyzed, inorganic phosphate and ADP leave accordingly (90deg--> 50deg --> 45deg), the conformational changes of myosin head proteins cause the power stroke. I think (2) is more plausible as the order of actions (moving actin filaments by 6.7nm + 1.3nm in order) is more 'c…

How does sleep reduce the amount of Adenosine? Adenosine is known to build up due to metabolism and daily activity, it is also known adonocin build-up causes "sleep pressure", My question is: How does sleep solve the problem of accumulation of adenosine?

I have no background in biology, but I am thinking about possible permanent treatments for Male Pattern Hair loss(MPHL) that are possible with current technology and I wonder if it is possible to give someone 5α-Reductase deficiency, a condition caused by a mutation in a gene encoding the enzyme 5α-reductase type 2(the main cause of MPHL) by using gene therapy. Is gene therapy like that can be in the form of an injection that can be shipped internationally?, Can it be developed with current technology?. People with 5a-Reductase deficiency do not suffer from MPHL and The only problems with this condition arise from the fact that people are born with this so their geni…

Do you have any good textbooks on speciffic biological topics that you personally found intresting/rich in scientific content and well written? As because of the current worlwide events we are stuck at home, it seems like it's a good time to learn something new. I can personally recomend some textbooks on: - The Fifth Kingdom by Bryce Kendrick - Well written, fascinating textbook on mycolgy, most of it is avaible online on http://www.mycolog.com/fifthtoc.html - Brock Biology of Microorganisms(my favorite textbook on microbiology) - Bacteriology of Humans: An Ecological Perspective(about human microbiome) - Physical Biology of the Cell - R. Philli…