Digital Biology Friday: Who were those molecules anyway?
If you look below the fold, you can see two molecules locked in a tight embrace. These molecules or their closely related cousins can be found in any cell because their ability to evolve is slowed by...
View ArticleA beginner’s guide to making a phylogenetic tree
I made this video (below the fold) to illustrate the steps involved in making a phylogenetic tree. The basic steps are to: Build a data set Align the sequences Make a tree In the class that I’m...
View ArticleMeet the ribosomes
Ribosomes are molecular machines that build new proteins. This process of synthesizing a protein is also known as translation. Many antibiotics prevent translation by binding to ribosomal RNA. In the...
View ArticleMapping polymorphisms in 16S ribosomal RNA
In the class that I’m teaching, we found that several PCR products, amplified from the 16S ribosomal RNA genes from bacterial isolates, contain a mixed base in one or more positions. We picked samples...
View ArticleA gene that might protect us from HIV and other retroviruses
One of the holy grails of modern medicine is the development of a vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDs. An obstacle to attaining this goal has been the difficulty in stimulating the immune...
View ArticleVisit the Galápagos for free! (as an avatar)
The Galápagos islands rank high on my list of places that I really, really, really want to visit. But for many reasons, it’s always looked like a trip to the Galápagos would be at least a decade or two...
View ArticleScience events in Seattle: Science on Tap or Parasitic Creationists
Two interesting events are happening, Monday night, Oct. 27th. At the UW: Josh Rosenau from the National Center for Science Education will be speaking at 6 pm about Creationist attacks on science...
View ArticleChecking out the new Ebola virus and playing some tricks with BLAST
Ebola virus has impressed me as creepy ever since I read “
View ArticleYou may think you’re African-American, but…
An NSF post on Twitter this morning described an interesting study from the University of Pennsylanvia and Cornell University, that found that some people who call themselves “African Americans” may...
View ArticleCan you spot the mistake?
This month’s cover of The Scientist has a mistake that makes me cringe. Can you spot what’s wrong? And they call themselves “The Scientist” humph!
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