Reposted and slightly modified from Classic DigitalBio. Some people say that science takes the magic out of everyday life. Not me! I've learned some things by reading Science (1) that might give some people nightmares, especially young children. Remember that scene in "The Wizard of Oz" when the trees get ...
APRIL was so much fun, that I thought I should find a molecule for May. I searched both the Gene database, the structure database, everywhere, without any luck. Finally, I decided to change the search and use the date instead of the name of the month. And here we have ...
The wind storms and heavy rains that hit Seattle a few years ago, and flooded the Battery Street tunnel, demonstrated why a bypass mechanism can be a helpful thing - for both bacteria and motorists. When the weather is nice, I bike to work. But when the weather gets bad ...
What's the difference between a synthetic drug and an antibiotic? Sometimes there's no difference at all. Let's take a look at chloramphenicol and couple of pencillins. Chloramphenicol kills many different kinds of bacteria by interfering with their ability to make new proteins. Here's a point where language gets tricky. Originally ...
If you're still awake tomorrow after the feast and managing to withstand the sopoforic effects of the tryptophan from the turkey and the carbohydrates from the potatoes and pie, you might want to consider doing a little science at home. Fellow SciBlings Tara Smith ( here & here), Mike Dunford ...
Over 2600 genetic diseases have been found where a change in a single gene is linked to the disease. One of the questions we might ask is how those mutations change the shape and possibly the function of a protein? If the structures of the mutant and wild type (normal) ...
Our household is very excited about Thanksgiving. That's because this Thanksgiving, my husband is cooking a turkey in an egg. A big green egg. Check back later today, about 5:30 pm, Pacific Standard Time, to see a picture of the turkey. In the meantime, here are some other items that ...
Ole and Lena's hot dish on a stick probably is explosive if you like to ride on a tilt-a-whirl afterwards. But what do you do if you're far from St. Paul? Never fear. There is more to life than hot dish. I've always known that there were fun chemistry experiments ...
It's a long, long, weekend; perfect for going outside and doing a few loud, messy experiments. Cooking-intensive holidays always remind me how much fun it is to do a bit of chemistry, especially when it comes to food. If you watched the video that I posted on Thanksgiving, you've probably ...
I've had some requests for some more molecular puzzles since the last one that I posted (see A DNA puzzle ). One person liked it so much he even blogged about it. So, here's one for you to chew on over the weekend. This puzzle is a variation of an ...
Why do I love Cn3D? Let me count the ways. What does Cn3D do? ( Hint: say "Cn3D" out loud). Seriously, Cn3D is a program that draws lovely pictures of molecular structures by using experimental data from techniques like X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Surprisingly ( to some) ...
Last Friday, we had another in the series of weird DNA structures. (You can see the first here). I asked the audience to identify the unusual feature in this molecule. Here's the first picture: tags: Here's the answer: Steve L. guessed it correctly. This is not just DNA, it's a ...
This is a fun puzzle. The pink molecule is a protein and the other molecule is a nucleic acid. If I gave you the amino acid sequence of this protein, or the nucleotide sequence of this nucleic acid, what is the probability of finding a similar sequence in a different ...
On pinene and inhibiting enzymes. People of a certain age may remember a series of really funny commercials featuring Euell Gibbons and his famous question about whether you've ever eaten a pine tree. " Some parts are edible" said Euell. Perhaps some parts are, but other pine tree products aren't ...
Modified from the original post. Playing around with molecular structures is one of the more entertaining activities that you can do with digital biology. I've become totally entranced with molecular structures, both because they're a fascinating art form and because every structure has its own story. I learned this because ...
Imagine a simple hike in a grassy part of South America. You hear a rattle and feel a quick stab of pain as fangs sink into your leg. Toxins in the snake venom travel through your blood vessels and penetrate your skin. If the snake is a South American rattlesnake ...
If you're not cooking today, why not experiment? Here's something fun you can do with Mentos and Diet Coke - and for those of you who think these experiments are too messy, you can still watch the movie. Enjoy the music in the video, then go outside, and enjoy the ...
Two protein structures from an avian influenza virus are shown below. One form of the protein makes influenza virus resistant to Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) Don't worry, these proteins aren't from H5N1, but they do come from a related influenza virus that also infects birds. One protein structure is from a strain ...
How do you go about researching a genetic disease? This multi-part series explores how digital resources can be used to learn about Huntingtin's disease. Reposted and updated from the original DigitalBio. A bit of background Alice's Restaurant is a movie with an unforgettable song that mostly revolves around Arlo Guthrie ...
This morning I had a banana genome, an orange genome, two chicken genomes ( haploid, of course), and some fried pig genome, on the side. Later today, I will consume genomes from different kinds of green plants and perhaps even a cow or fish genome. I probably drank a bit ...
This structure is called a "kissing loop" and I find that name just a bit odd, given the source of the structure. Now, here's the puzzle: Why would I say that the name " kissing loop" is ironic?
Before mammals, before dinosaurs, before bacteria, or plants, there was something else; a protocell containing RNA. The Exploring Origins Project has excellent animations of protocells, a timeline of life's evolution, and best of all- fantastic animations of the RNA world. You can see how RNA folds, ribozymes (RNA that catalyzes ...
The Periodic Table of Videos from the University of Nottingham has 118 short YouTube clips about the elements. Wired Campus recommended the Sodium clip (below). I liked it, too. It's not quite as funny as Mentos in Diet Coke, and but it's still cute and the narrator has a haircut ...
The grocery store magazine covers all say that home made gifts are big this year. So I thought, some of you might like to channel your inner Martha Stewart and make gifts with a science theme. I'm here to help to you make a merry mug with one of our ...
I love using molecular structures as teaching tools. They're beautiful, they're easy to obtain, and working with them is fun. But working with molecular structures as an educators can present some challenges. The biggest problem is that many of the articles describing the structures are not accessible, particularly those published ...
How do you use science outside of the lab? People say that transferring knowledge and skills from one subject to another represents one of the highest levels of learning. They also say that it hardly ever happens. Perhaps this explains some of the more astounding things that we hear from ...
Awhile back Chemical & Engineering News published a fascinating article called " The Secret Life of Plant Crystals" with some wonderful photos of calcium oxalate crystals. Special cells ( called "idioblasts") produce these crystals, with shapes that are unique to each type of plant. Even though 75% of flowering plants ...
When purified, it glows with an unearthly light. You can't go "chemical free" and try to escape it. It's part of our bones and it forms the backbone of our DNA. A tool for good, a tool of war, essential for gardening, and infamous as a pesticide; phosphorus is truly ...
When finding a female scientists' data turns into an archeological treasure hunt. A few months ago, I decided it would be interesting to celebrate various scientific contributions by making images of chemical / molecular structures in the Molecule World iPad app and posting them on Twitter ( @MoleculeWorld). Whenever I ...
Instead of enjoying a sunny summer day today, or partying with SciBlings in New York, I'm staring out my window watching the rain. Inspiration hit! What about searching for August? Folks, meet the HFQ protein from E. coli. I found this lovely molecule by doing a multi-database search at the ...
Want to learn more about Parkinson's disease? See why a single nucleotide mutation messes up the function of a protein? I have a short activity that uses Cn3D (a molecular viewing program from the NCBI) to look at a protein that seems to be involved in a rare form of ...
Have you ever wondered about Cheeze Whiz? why new cars have a distinctive smell? or what makes golf balls so springy? Chemical and Engineering News, published by the American Chemical Society, has a wonderful section that you will certainly appreciate. " What's that stuff?" is a collection of entertaining stories ...
It could be geosmin. We encountered geosmin once before in our butter but most people notice it, about this time of year, in their tap water. Geosmin is a volatile compound that's made by soil bacteria like Streptomyces, as well as some plants like sugar beets, and cyanobacteria. It gets ...
