misciwriterseditors Biodiversity, Biology, blog, genetics

It’s all in the family! The biology of inheritance, part 1

Author: Shweta Ramdas

Editors: Molly Kozminsky, Jimmy Brancho, Kevin Boehnke

 

Harry Potter has his mother’s eyes. From his father, James, he inherits his black hair, his ability to play Quidditch, and a certain predisposition to mischief. We are all unique combinations of our parents, receiving half our DNA from each. In the genetic lottery, our parents’ genes are scrambled and spliced to create a new individual who carries on the family’s long tradition of snoring into one’s sheets. But besides a rickety knee, shortness of stature, and preferred pizza toppings, what else can we blame on our parents?

Continue reading “It’s all in the family! The biology of inheritance, part 1” →

misciwriterseditors Biology, blog, Chemistry, genetics, Public health, Technology

De-coupling the GMO-glyphosate link

Author: Amira Aker

Editors: Brittany Dixon, Kevin Boehnke

Tinkering with an organism’s genes is the subject of one of the most controversial debates today – and rightfully so. The resulting organisms are commonly referred to as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and figuring out how to use GMOs in a safe and sustainable manner is hotly debated. This issue isn’t simply a matter of technology, but one of safety, ecology, economics and even morality. Yet, there has been a notable absence of discussion around the broad-based herbicide glyphosate in mainstream media; namely, that over 80% of GMOs on the market today are modified to tolerate glyphosate. This effective herbicide kills pesky weeds without affecting farmers’ GMO crops, saving time and, potentially, money. However, given the vast opportunities that GMO science opens to us, is dedicating so many resources to this single GMO product the right way to go? Continue reading “De-coupling the GMO-glyphosate link” →

misciwriterseditors blog, Mathematics, Research, science behind the scenes, Science education, Technology

P-values, or: infinite shades of grey

Author: Peter Orchard

Editors: Theresa Mau, Belle Moyers, Alisha John

Peter Tea_and_MilkAlmost 100 years ago, the English biologist and statistician Dr. Ronald Fisher was enjoying a cup of tea with his Cambridge University colleagues when another biologist, Dr. Muriel Bristol, made an interesting claim. Bristol asserted that just by tasting her tea, she could infer whether the tea was poured into the cup before the milk, or the milk before the tea.

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misciwriterseditors blog, Chemistry, Physics, Technology

New elements on the block

Author: David Mertz

Editors: Tricia Garay, Irene Park

Ever since an interactive display was built in my high school chemistry lab (one of only six such installations in the world), I’ve found the periodic table of elements to be a fascinating fixture of science. I remember watching the scientists prepare little displays for each individual element, including the metal gallium which they let me hold in my hand. It was different than most of the metals familiar to us. With a melting temperature just below 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), the metallic cube began to melt right on my palm. Continue reading “New elements on the block” →

misciwriterseditors Biology, blog, genetics, Public health, Research

Mother’s protein intake can affect her child’s weight

Author: Shweta Ramdas

Editors: Ada Hagan, Alisha John, Belle Moyers, and Irene Park

Google “diet for pregnant or nursing mothers”, and you’ll be swamped with web pages recommending foods that help the baby and foods to avoid. There has been considerable research indicating that the diet of pregnant mothers can affect the child’s health (including risk for schizophrenia). But how? And are these effects long-lasting, or do they wear off once the child hits adulthood?

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misciwriterseditors Biology, blog, Physics

Being cephalopod: Changing color in a color-blind world

Author: Ada Hagan

Editors: Belle Moyers, Kevin Boehnke, Shweta Ramdas

Just a couple of weeks ago in “Camouflaged: Finding cephalopods” MiSciWriters blogger Irene Park told us about how cephalopods (octopuses, cuttlefish, and squids) alter their skin color, and texture to blend into their surroundings. But based on what scientists know about cephalopods’ eyes, they should be color-blind. So how can they mimic colors with such incredible accuracy?

Continue reading “Being cephalopod: Changing color in a color-blind world” →

misciwriterseditors Biology, blog, Chemistry, Mathematics, Opinion, Physics, science behind the scenes

Science behind-the-scenes: Which fields are “real sciences”?

Author: Belle Moyers

Content Editors: Christina Vallianatos, Molly Kozminsky

Senior Editor: Alisha John

“Well, that field isn’t really science.”

“Oh, that’s just a soft science.”

Most people who work in the sciences have probably heard phrases like these.  Translation: that field is lesser.  The physicists say it about everyone lower than them in the pecking order, as do the chemists, biologists, and so on down the line.  The nuclear physicist Ernest Rutherford famously said, “All science is either physics or stamp-collecting.”  People argue about this at scientific conferences and in the media.   The science and pop-culture webcomic xkcd has even parodied the issue.

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misciwriterseditors Biology, blog, Disease research, Microbiology, Research, Technology

Virus vs. Bacteria: Enemy of my enemy

By Ada Hagan

In 1917, almost a century ago, a French-Canadian scientist, Felix d’Herelle, and his colleagues discovered bacteriophage. As I discussed in a previous post, bacteriophage (phage) are the viruses that prey on bacteria, turning them into viral factories. The battle between phage and bacteria has raged for millennia, resulting in a beautiful co-evolution where predator and prey each grapple for a temporary upper hand.

We’ve been exploring the depths of this complex relationship, searching for ways to use this enemy of our enemy as a tool against the bacterial infections that plague us. Along the way, we’ve found a number of different techniques to exploit these micro-allies.

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misciwriterseditors Biodiversity, Biology, blog, Disease research, Ecology, evolution, Microbiology, Research, Technology

Michigan Meeting 2016 Coverage

microbe mtgs

MiSciWriters is proud to partner with the UM Center for Microbial Systems to provide live coverage of the 2016 Michigan Meeting “Unseen Partners: Manipulating Microbial Communities that Support Life on Earth.” In lieu of our traditional Tuesday post, we will be live-blogging the event at the links below, and live-tweeting from @MiSciWriters during the following times:

  • Monday, May 16 9:00am-3:30pm, 7:00-8:30pm
  • Tuesday, May 17 9:00am-3:30pm, 7:00-8:30pm
  • Wednesday, May 18 9:00-12:00

We hope you’ll join in the conversation by commenting on the blog, or tweeting with the hashtag #MiMicrobe. Enjoy!

Update: Live blogging coverage is released as an event unfolds, placing the posts in reverse-chronological order. So if you want to read everything, start from the bottom of the page.

Monday, May 16 Coverage – https://misciwriters.com/portfolio/michigan-meeting-2016-monday/ 

Tuesday, May 17 Coverage – https://misciwriters.com/portfolio/michigan-meeting-2016-tuesday/

Wednesday, May 18 Coverage – https://misciwriters.com/portfolio/michigan-meeting-2016-wednesday/

misciwriterseditors Biology, blog, genetics, Neuroscience, Research

Why “cute” matters

By Irene Park

Life can be exciting sometimes, but it can also just be downright stressful. The dinner event that took me two weeks to plan is attended by only a quarter of the people on the guest list, my to-do list never gets shorter, my car suffers yet another bump in the parking lot, and so on.   

There are many ways that I deal with stress—such as exercising, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. But I have one secret way to de-stress that I usually don’t talk about at work: watching videos or looking at pictures of cute animals, like this one or this one, that melt my heart and force me to let out a huge “awwwww.”

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