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Have you ever wondered what inspires the creation of new products like Velcro, or paint that remains dirt-free [1]? Peeking into the secrets of nature has inspired countless technological applications such as these. Responsive, adaptive, and functional,…

My family lives just outside New Delhi, India, and in 2008, our garden was invaded by monkeys. The monkeys quickly made themselves at home, launching themselves off of trees into the pond with shrieks of delight and wandering into the house to help…

Vaccines teach your immune system to recognize and destroy certain pathogens. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to get your immune system to recognize and mount attacks against some pathogens, like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Researchers recently…

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California, San Francisco have found that going on a diet may be easier for your gut microbes to adjust to than it is for you. Their latest study, published in Nature in December 2013 [1],…

Scientists created stem cells by treating white blood cells from newborn mice with acidic conditions!

From the weather to air travel, pressure plays a dramatic role in our lives. It plays especially important roles during chemical reactions. By manipulating pressure, chemists can force chemical reactions to occur and the transitions between solids,…

Since the discovery of DNA structure in the 1950s, the central dogma of molecular biology has been widely accepted in the scientific community. Essentially, the central dogma holds that information flows from DNA to RNA to protein (Figure 1). DNA is a…

The development of the atomic bomb during World War II brought unprecedented devastation to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, this tragedy also stimulated a wave of biomedical research aimed at both understanding the effects of…

Figure 1.  Although there have not yet been any clinical trials to prove that stem cell treatments are effective – and to demonstrate that they are safe – there are many companies offering treatments for a wide array of diseases and conditions.  Unlike…

Stem cells have been the object of much excitement and controversy amongst both scientists and the general population. Surprisingly, though, not everybody understands the basic properties of stem cells, let alone the fact that there is more than one type…