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Summary of mouse study looking at neurogenerative differences in mice.

Ability to grow back fingertips in kids!

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or more than a decade scientists have been saying that a genomic revolution will transform medicine, making it possible to scan all of a person's DNA to predict risk and customize medical care. Well, we've got the machines. Where's the revolution? Getting closer, say researchers at Stanford University, who tested the technology on 12 people. But not quite ready for every doctor's office.

Our first exception today concerns the hermit crab and the animal that determines whether hermit crabs live or die. Hermits don't eat snails, but snails are the most important things in the life of a hermit crab. And it all relates to our ongoing to tale of bilateral asymmetry. Biology concepts - bilateral asymmetry, directional asymmetry, antiasymmetry, crabs, evolution, mate choice, sexual selection, sexual dimorphism

In essence, the young people's bodies seemed to be somehow remembering and responding to what that body had just been doing, whether sitting or moving, and then calculating a new, appropriate response - moving or sitting. In doing so, the researchers felt, the body created a healthy, dynamic circadian pattern.

In this lesson, students explore the fundamental mathematical concepts underlying the spread of contagious diseases. Using a simple exponential model, students compare and contrast the effects of different transmission rates on a population and develop an understanding of the nature and characteristics of exponential growth. Students can then compare their projections with actual Ebola data from West Africa, to create context for analyzing the strengths and limitations of this simplified model.

A major new study of smoking and death has banged more nails into the coffin of cigarette smoking, though chances are it will do little to persuade any of the 42 million American smokers to quit. If current smokers have not already responded to the well-established links between smoking and 21 diseases that together cause 480,000 deaths each year, adding another five diseases and 60,000 deaths to this grisly total is unlikely to make a difference - at least not by itself.

comprehensive list of STEM resources by age/grade levle

That's why a paper published Thursday in the journal Genetics in Medicine is so remarkable. The paper identifies NGLY1 deficiency as an inherited genetic disorder, caused by mutations in the NGLY1 gene. The researchers have confirmed eight patients with these mutations who share several symptoms, including developmental delays, abnormal tear production and liver disease.

The site has been pared down to focus on that which is truly important: the work of students. You'll still find links for each of the individual classes in the main navigation. Those class indexes will contain the posts for that class, for this year and prior years. They may also include examples of exemplary student work or anything that I (Mr. Kite) think may be relevant to the course.

A decade-old technique that allows researchers to control brain function in lab animals could partially restore sight to the blind. In a trial sponsored by RetroSense Therapeutics, a startup company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, doctors will inject a harmless virus loaded with DNA from photoreceptive algae into the eyes of 15 patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. The experimental procedure represents the first human test of optogenetics, which is a technique that genetically modifies neurons to make them responsive to light. Doctors from the Retina Foundation of the Southwest will perform the procedure, and attempt to transfer the job duties of photoreceptor cells to different cells in the eye to restore sight.

Panobinostat is a new type of drug that works by blocking an enzyme responsible for modifying DNA at the epigenetic level. Epigenetics refers to chemical marks on DNA itself or on the protein "spools" called histones that package DNA. These marks influence the activity of genes without changing the underlying sequence, essentially acting as volume knobs for genes. Earlier genomic studies showed that about 80 percent of DIPG tumors carry a mutation that alters a histone protein, resulting in changes to the way DNA is packaged and tagged with those chemical marks. This faulty epigenetic regulation results in activation of growth-promoting genes that should have been turned off, and shutdown of others that should have acted as brakes to cell multiplication. Cancer is the result. Panobinostat appears to work by restoring proper functioning of the cells' chemical tagging system.

Extensive list of activities from Cornell

The Hardy-Weinberg equation is a relatively simple mathematical equation that describes a very important principle of population genetics: the amount of genetic variation in a population will remain the same from generation to generation unless there are factors driving the frequencies of certain alleles (genetic variants) to change.