Small Things Considered

Geography and Geology

by Elio | When Biology emerged as a mo­dern sci­ence du­ring the Re­nais­san­ce, there was only one kind. By and large, the same people car­ried out field ob­ser­va­tions and ex­pe­ri­ments. In time, this uni­ty of ap­proach got lost, with the "na­tu­ra­lists" and the "ex­pe­ri­men­ta­lists" go­ing their se­pa­ra­te ways. Some­time du­ring the 20th cen­tu­ry,... Read more →

The world of small RNAs and regulatory peptides in prokaryotes

by Matthias Gimpel | The natural habitats of most bac­te­ria are cha­rac­te­ri­zed by chan­ging en­vi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions such as fluc­tua­tions in tem­pe­ra­ture, os­mo­la­ri­ty, chan­ging or li­mi­ted nu­trient sup­ply, or the oc­cur­rence of com­pe­ting mi­cro­bes and bac­te­rio­pha­ges. Con­se­quent­ly, fle­xible and ener­gy-ef­fi­cient adap­ta­tion to these chan­ging ex­ter­nal pa­ra­me­ters is the basis for their sur­vi­val. Read more →

Sydney Brenner (1927–2019)

by Roberto and Elio | On April 5th, the eminent biologist Sydney Bren­ner died aged 92. Du­ring his de­ca­des long scien­ti­fic car­eer, he made a last­ing im­pact on mo­le­cu­lar bio­lo­gy by in­tro­du­cing C. ele­gans, a ti­ny ne­ma­to­de, as mo­del or­gan­ism. But al­ready a couple of years ear­lier, in 1961, he, Fran­cis Crick, and their col­la­bor­a­tors were... Read more →

The Complex and Mysterious Red Queen

by Jamie | The Red Queen of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass is a prominent figure among evolutionary biologists. Her line to Alice, "‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place" struck the biologist Leigh Van Valen as an apt metaphor for the need for species to constantly adapt to the changing environment in order to survive. Read more →

My Two Years in Copenhagen…

by Elio | My two years in Copenhagen were most li­ke­ly the hap­piest of my li­fe. My then wife and I were there in 1956 to 1958, while on a post­doc­to­ral fel­low­ship in Ole Maaløe's la­bo­ra­to­ry. We had de­ci­ded on this for se­ve­ral rea­sons. In the de­cades af­ter World War II, young Ame­ri­cans where drawn to labs in Eu­ro­pe, part­ly be­cause... Read more →

The Pyrenoid – Not Your Average Cookie-Cutter Organelle

by Janie Kim
The chloroplast is the chocolate chip cookie of the carbon-fixing, photosynthesizing world: it's a reliable, traditional, well-known staple. Lesser known is the more mysterious shape-shifting organelle called the pyrenoid. Read more →

Talmudic Question #163

Replication, transcription and trans­la­tion achieve fi­de­li­ty through hy­dro­gen bond­ing at all sta­ges ex­cept for the cri­ti­cal char­ging of tRNA with their cog­nate ami­no acid by de­di­ca­ted ami­no acyl tRNA syn­the­ta­ses. Can you en­vi­sion the evo­lu­tion of a... Read more →

Fungomania 3. Farming and Alcohol

by Elio
Alcohol and farming do not often go together, unless you think of beetles. In certain species, ethanol is used to increase the fruit of their labor, which sounds good but requires an explanation. Read more →

Fungomania 2. Hyphal Comings and Goings

by Elio
Until a few decades ago, mushrooms were thought of being some kind of plants. We now know that they belong to their own kingdom, the Mycota (or: Fungi). They typically consist of caps and stems that arise from a microscopic network residing underground or in rotting trees. Read more →

Fungomania 1. Who's The Biggest?

by Elio
Anyone can freely claim bragging rights for their favorite topic, but with caution. In this light, the assertion that a mushroom growing in either Michigan or Oregon is both the largest and oldest living thing is questionable. Read more →