Biology’s newest knowledge, fused with the special effects of The Hobbit or Harry Potter films — that’s what’s in store from a stunning new cinematic field of biomedical animation. Catch a glimpse in this video — The Inner Life of a Cell — that might have made biologists of us all had we seen it earlier in our lives. It offers an unprecedented, scientifically accurate dramatization of how cells function, sense their surroundings and respond to external stimuli in mind-blowing moving imagery. It is part of a continuing animation series created by Xvivo, a Connecticut scientific ... Read More
Protein Data Bank Deposits Are Life’s Building Blocks
More like this: Science Tags: Biochemistry, Biology, Data, Databases, Scientists
Can Biosecurity Go Global?
A tall, modest academic with graying temples, Ren Salerno was happily toiling away in obscurity at a small biological threat research program at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., "studying issues nobody really cared about," he recalls. Then the attacks on Sept. 11 burst his academic bubble. As one of the few experts on the security of biological agents, Salerno was called to Washington, where, as soon as he arrived, he met with Deputy Secretary of Agriculture James Moseley, a man with a lot to worry about. Some of the greatest bioterror threats are zoonotic pathogens — ... Read More
More like this: May-June 2011, News and Options, Politics, Science Tags: Anti-Terrorism, Biochemistry, Bioterrorism, Disease, Homeland Security, Laboratory, National Security, Zoonotic Disease
Benefits of the Daddy Brain
Ask any new parent: Taking care of a newborn is a physical and emotional marathon — and the pace only begins to slacken with kindergarten. It may not be so surprising that the hormonal surges of pregnancy and childbirth endow mothers with some extra oomph to help them through. Studies have shown that their senses become sharper, and they're more resilient and more motivated. These changes in the brain take place because many hormones — testosterone, estrogen and prolactin among them — also act in the brain to regulate its functions and help it react to change in the environment. New ... Read More
More like this: Health, May-June 2009, News and Options Tags: Babies, Biochemistry, Childbirth, Fatherhood, Men, Motherhood, Parenthood
