Biology

Just joined SFN. My aim in life has always been to "try" to answer the "questions to the universe". I'm now a scientist, these days often focusing on the brain and evolution. If you ask a question in the forums about "why" (i.e., an evolutionary "why") and anything about the brain or body, my ears are likely to perk up, and perhaps I'll have something to suggest. (That's why I posted this in the "General Biology" section.) The scientific community ends up hyper-compartmentalizing everyone, and so most scientists end up losing their romantic (Carl-Sagan-esque) original interests in science. I'm interested in interacting with people who still have their "original" in…

Or the passing of it? Might be a silly question, but my cat got me thinking. (And I know I may be anthropomorphizing here) I work roughly regular hours with occasional really weird ones. Of an afternoon, the cat is happily asleep on the front veranda. If I come home unusually early, he'll lift his head and look at me as if to say "What the hell are you doing home early?" If I come home at the usual time, he gets up, stretches and waits for me at the top of the stairs. If I'm late, he'll be waiting half way down the stairs and give me a dirty look. If I'm very late, he waits in the middle of the driveway. This behaviour leads me to think that he…

could a cell (say, a muscle cell) be taken from the body and put in a petrie dish and kept alive in the dish?

If the Law of Conservation of Matter states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, how is cell division possible, considering that cells are matter?

Is it more correct to say the HIV or the HIV virus?

...

All the cells in your body are replaced when they die. When your body is replacing cells, why would cells in our "youthful" bodies be replaced over time by NEW cells that make up our "aged/old" bodies, which are not as good as the cells that were there before? Why do living things just come to a grinding halt in "death"?

This paper shows that small chronic doses of oxidative stress may protect against larger acute doses. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090528203726.htm Journal reference: 1. Ryan Kelley, Trey Ideker. Genome-Wide Fitness and Expression Profiling Implicate Mga2 in Adaptation to Hydrogen Peroxide. PLoS Genetics, 2009; 5 (5): e1000488 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000488 Some people here may find this of particular interest, considering the recent aging/anti-aging threads.

I know there are blood diseases only men can recieve, but what about women? I have asked on several forums but no one seems to know about any. I'm doing this for biology class and we have recently studied genetics. We haven't been taught about this, it's a more difficult question. The question is why, but I don't even know of any diseases. So does anyone know? Thanks!

Animals are often cloned by the method of 'somatic cell nuclear transfer'. suppose, a cow which is about 10 years old is cloned by method of SCNT, its somatic cell nucleus has the genes which already have the information of how old the cow is i.e 10 yrs. now in this method, the complete nucleus of the somatic cell is transfered to an egg-cell of a donor. then this zygote is implanted artificially into another cows womb. After a new calf(clone) is born, will its initial age be 10 years? will its 1st birthday be its 10th birthday? Average lifespan of a cow is about 20 yrs, so will this CLONED COW live only 10 years more? Waiting for input....

I have read about gravitropism in plants which http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/short/120/2/343 I then wondered if humans also had gravity receptors for movement of muscles or to maintain an upright posture? I presume that the gravity receptor function of the inner ear is upset by heavy drinking, affecting the balance. However, are there receptors for gravity on other parts of the human body and are they upset by alcohol intake?

After looking at the Methuselah contest, a contest that tries to improve what we know about increasing longevity by trying to see who can make a mouse live the longest, I was wondering what some people would do to achieve this. So my question is what would your strategy/strategies be to try to win the contest, and make your mouse live the longest?

Accoring to my GCSE Biology textbook, Nitrifying bateria convert ammonia from the decayed remains of animals and plants into nitrates. I was wondering - how is this an efficient process for them? It must take up a large amount of energy, what do they get out of it? Or is this a case of crass oversimplifying at GCSE level?

If I were to do Benedict's test would glucose or maltose be present in any of these: cheddar cheese, ground chicken, potato chips, and chocolate milk. Thanks for any help!

Hiya all, i was watching a show called Life After Humans, and it mentioned a bit about something called the Imortality Drive (ill call it ID from now on) that was on the International Space Station (ISS from now on). it said the ID had the entire DNA codes for a few people such as stephen hawken, some porn star, and Stephen Colbert from the Colbert Report tv show, and was ment that if the human race was wiped out and an intellegent alian life form found earth and the ID thye could recreat humans. could humans be recreated just by knowing the recipy for there making? have we already done it? would aliens want us? what are your opinions?

All herbivorus animals have enzyme called 'Cellulase', which digests the cellulose present in plants they eat. But we lack that enzyme, but even then we can digest the RAW FRUITS & VEGETABLES we eat. How is that possible? Does the remaining nutrients get digested and the left over cellulose is thrown out intact?

Professor Ingber of Harvard Medical School seems to refer to art and architecture in his cellular tensegrity model. http://web1.tch.harvard.edu/research/ingber/Tensegrity.html Ultimately, it may suggest that nuclear and cellular gene expression is changed due to the architectural configuration and the environment of the cell. I just want to suggest a discussion on whether his findings are artefact or fact (excuse me for the pun in advance), or has he gone too far in stressing the architectural beauty of the cell and ignored the biological complexities of the cellular milieu? on flexible-puckering surface - rounded nucleus on rigid surface -…

I've noticed that after eating spinach (usually, frozen) that my teeth feel somewhat "chalky." I'm not sure that's the right word, but the texture and smoothness of my teeth seems to shift after I've eaten spinach. Usually, when I run my tongue along my teeth, it slides like it's well lubricated. Practically no friction, practically no sensation since I'm acclimated to this baseline. Yet, after eating spinach (which I've been doing a lot more lately to try increasing my intake of rich green leafy vegetables) I find that for several hours after doing so my teeth feel like their lubrication has decreased dramatically. It's tough to describe, honestly. It just fe…

Hi, Can anyone kindly tell me how to quantify DNA other than using spectrophotometer/ gel electrophoresis. And how could we measure DNA using only 1microlitre? Thanks.

This is probably so simple that I am overlooking it. I am having a problem with hypotheses and predictions. I have read multiple definitions of the 2 and have went through various examples and I feel silly that I am unsure how to identify a hypothesis and a prediction. Here is my question: Which part of this exercise is the hypothesis and which part is the prediction. And here is the excercise: My cheek cells will be ________ (larger/smaller/same size) compared to grasshopper testis cells. The reason I think this is because _________. I was thinking that the size of the cheek cells would be the hypothesis and the because part would be the prediction.... however,…

I'm considering making some ethanol by fermentation, so I can get some (relatively) pure EtOH to use as a solvent, not adultered with MeOH and pyridine, and also just to try my hand at fermentation and distillation, for the fun of it basically. So can anyone recommend a feedstock for the yeast? The most obvious one would be sugar, but its pretty damn expensive. Apparently in beer production, no sugar's used at all, and all of it comes from enzymes in barley digesting the seed into simple sugars which the yeast can act upon. Is the same possible with porridge oats? My local supermarket sells them at 73p/kilo, so if they work, they'd be great. I've also heard that sweetco…

Is it true that you can increase your chance of having a boy or a girl depending on what time of the month you conceive? I was told that during one half of the woman's menstral cycle, her system is more hospitable to X sperms than Y sperms, and that during the other half, it's more hospitable to the Y sperms than the X sperms. Is there any truth to this, and if so which half of the cycle is which, and by how much do the odds increase/decrease?

first off sorry for my bad english. now to the question are we getting dumber then we youst to be? i mean the human brain has decrisst in size by 13% i belive, so does this have any effect on awer intelegence? also how smart are humens comperd to other animals like dolphines? i'm wery sorry for any typos. this has been bugin me for quite a while so please respond if you know any of thise qustions. this is my first post by hte way. thanks in advance.

Is it true that insulin and glucagon can never both be produced at the same time? If so, why? I find this pretty interesting...

Introduction Any organism whose temperature alters very little, despite variations in the surrounding temperature, must have mechanisms that are regulating its body temperature. Under normal circumstances, humans maintain a body core temperature in the range of 36.1°C to 37.8°C. When the core temperature is in this range, it provides the optimum conditions for the body to functions. External factors, infection or exercise can cause the body to make changes to regulate its core temperature. And these responses may be physiological or behavioural. Purpose To investigate the responses of the human body to extremes of ambient temperature. Materials Each group will …