Would you rather be bitten by a venomous rattlesnake or touch a poisonous dart frog? While both of these animals are capable of doing some serious damage to the human body, they deliver their dangerous toxins in different ways. Rose Eveleth sheds light on the distinction between poison and venom (and why you shouldn't treat either one like you've seen in the movies).
This site has you covered, no matter what you teach. Each science subject is divided into major topics and resources are neatly categorized and numerous.
Over recent decades, scientists have made various discoveries about DNA methylation and how vital it is to a number of cellular processes such as embryonic development, X-chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting, gene suppression, carcinogenesis and chromosome stability. Researchers have linked abnormal DNA methylation to several adverse outcomes, including human diseases.
Teachers wanting to expand the conversation to genetic work with other "races" -- scroll down to view "Multimedia and Links," "Questions for Classroom Discussion," and other features.
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that as long as you lose weight, it doesn't matter what you eat. But it does. Yet being thin and being healthy are not at all the same thing. Being overweight is not necessarily linked with disease or premature death. What you eat affects which diseases you may develop, regardless of whether you're thin or fat.
Scientists are not sure whether viruses are living or non-living. In general, scientists use a list of criteria to determine if something is alive. Let's look at some traits of living things and see if viruses also have those traits.
Viruses have a huge impact on our lives, and we're making great strides into understanding how to protect ourselves from the flu and HIV. But one thing that scientists have struggled to agree on is whether or not viruses are alive.
A paper published today in Science Advances just might change that. By creating a reliable method of studying viruses' long evolutionary history-hitherto nearly impossible-researchers have found new evidence that strongly suggests viruses are indeed living entities.
Behold the microscopic jungle in and around you: tiny organisms living on your cheeks, under your sofa and in the soil in your backyard. We have an adversarial relationship with these microbes -- we sanitize, exterminate and disinfect them -- but according to microbiologist Anne Madden, they're sources of new technologies and medicines waiting to be discovered. These microscopic alchemists aren't gross, Madden says -- they're the future.
Paul Andersen explains how eukaryotic cells were formed through a process of endosymbiosis. He describes how aerobic bacteria became mitochondria and cyanobacteria became chloroplasts. He mentions an example of symbiosis that occurs today and mentions the importance of Dr. Lynn Margulis in the development of this modern theory.
Hilary Brown is a PhD student, working in the infection genomics group at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. In this film he describes how to work safely in the lab with bacteria from the human gut including culturing them on agar plates and extracting the DNA for genome sequencing.
The infection genomics programme uses a variety of different research approaches to study the biology and evolution of disease-causing organisms such as viruses, bacteria and parasites and understand how they cause disease in humans and other animals.
o why are these lakes pink anyway? It's been a mystery for some years, but the puzzle's finally been cracked. Scientists found that pink bodies of water like Lake Hillier contain both Halobacteria and a type of algae known as Dunaliella salina, which thrive in salty environments like the pink lakes. The carotenoid red pigments secreted by Halobacteria and d. salina are responsible for the pink lakes' otherworldly colors. These same algae also flourish in the Dead Sea.