Biology

Most visits to a doctor or hospital occur when a patient feels under the weather, but is unsure of the cause of the symptoms or the best way to treat them. For example, sniffles and a sore throat could be caused by seasonal allergies or the flu, each of…

-- Two groups of scientists — one based in the Netherlands and the other in the United States — have carried out detailed studies on the experimental evolution of the A/H5N1 virus, more commonly known as the “bird flu”. Public health officials have…

Ann Druyan, an American author and producer specializing in cosmology and popular science, once said For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness, and comet personally. We…

Can we build a functional brain using computers? In order to answer that question, we need to know how the brain is built in nature. The human brain is composed of more than 10 billion cells called neurons that can be electrically activated upon…

Alan Turing’s revolutionary ideas about computation helped launch the field of cognitive science. One of his major contributions to cognitive science was the idea of a Turing machine, a hypothetical contraption capable of carrying out any algorithm or…

-- Humans are remarkably close-knit, genetically: of the genetic information that can differ from person to person, less than 10% of this variation is specific to any particular population, while the remaining 90% of differences are seen throughout all…

-- The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is perhaps the model organism with the fastest rising popularity in science right now. Model organisms are not organisms that get dressed up and pose for pictures (although that would be cool). Model organisms are a tool…

-- From a distance, malaria looks like a disease that we should have eradicated by now. Scientists have known for many years that most dangerous malaria cases are caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. This parasite is transmitted to humans…

-- On any given weekend from March until October, it’s a fair bet that somewhere in your state there’s an event raising money for cancer treatment, prevention and/or research.  It probably seems, at times, like someone should have found a cure by now –…

-- According to Max Eastman, “a smile is the universal welcome.” For individuals whose faces are severely disfigured due to trauma, burns or disease, a smile may be difficult, or even impossible, to express. Facial deformities may impair daily…