DNA Damage

When a patient takes a pain killer, she doesn't usually care what it's made of.  As it enters her bloodstream, she's not aware of the chemical interactions that cause her fever to go down, the molecular components that combine to relieve her pain.  But she doesn’t have to know everything about the drug to feel the effects; she just has to swallow a pill.  A pharmaceutical company has a patent on that drug, on the chemical responsible for alleviating her symptoms.  This kind of patent is generally acknowledged to foster innovation by providing a monetary incentive.

It is convenient to think of cells as the units of life, and to associate biological complexity with the cooperation of cells in multi-cellular organisms. Yet, we must delve into its inner workings to understand the life force that seems to compel cells to grow, metabilize, and divide. When we zoom into the atomic level, we see that there is no force at all but only the sum molecular agents at work, agents called proteins. Just as a symphony is the collective production of players in an orchestra, metabolism and growth of the cell is the sum of the actions of proteins. Proteins are the chemical catalysts, energy generators, motors, signaling agents, transporters, and even the underlying infrastructural units of the cell.

It is convenient to think of cells as the units of life, and to associate biological complexity with the cooperation of cells in multi-cellular organisms. Yet, we must delve into its inner workings to understand the life force that seems to compel cells to grow, metabilize, and divide. When we zoom into the atomic level, we see that there is no force at all but only the sum molecular agents at work, agents called proteins. Just as a symphony is the collective production of players in an orchestra, metabolism and growth of the cell is the sum of the actions of proteins. Proteins are the chemical catalysts, energy generators, motors, signaling agents, transporters, and even the underlying infrastructural units of the cell.

Cannibalism does not make good dinner table conversation but nevertheless is integral to family life for many species and has engaged the interests of popular television audiences as well as readers of great literature; Gilligan outwitted hungry Pacific island headhunters and Jonathan Swift proposed the commodification of human babies.  Swift and the headhunters

The human heart, a tireless organ that beats within our chests continuously for decades, continues to amaze me, in spite of my having studied it for several years now.  My continued amazement stems not from the fact that this muscle functions for so long, and for the most part without us being aware of it (although this is indeed phenomenal), but from the rich variety of behavior that it exhibits across multiple scales.  When I was first introduced to the heart, it was essentially as a ball of muscle divided into four chambers that were separated by valves.  Newly oxygenated blood arrived on the left side and was pushed out to the body, later returning to the right side before being pumped back out to the lungs.  Subsequent coursework revealed the basics of an electrical conduction system

Autumn has arrived, bringing firework foliage, delicious squash, and, at least in the Pacific Northwest, an invasion of squid.

Humboldt or jumbo squid, sometimes mistakenly called giant squid, are grabbing fishing lures and washing up on beaches from Oregon to British Columbia. As a marine biologist fielding questions from reporters and citizens, my heart always sinks when I hear the inevitable query--delivered with a mixture of horror and fascination--"They eat people, right?"

I've decided that Humboldt squid really need better PR. Ten years ago, they weren't on anyone's radar. Today, they're accused of eating fishermen and divers and branded a dangerously invasive species from California to Canada. Talk about giving the new kid a hard time!

Imagine being stranded on a tropical island, hacking your way through the lush jungle, when - out of nowhere - a polar bear lunges at you!  Terrifying and totally bizarre but, as followers of the TV show LOST will attest, you also can't keep yourself from wondering: how the heck did it end up in this patently wrong place?!

Failure is enjoying something of a resurgence in pop culture. Blogs devoted entirely to failures of "epic" proportions have made it somehow appropriate to scream "FAIL" at people who have already been publicly humiliated, while self-help columns, university commencement speeches, and business advice books focus on the importance of failure in developing a stronger personality, growing up, or starting up a successful business. Failure is everywhere, and now it plays an important role in our internet-based entertainment as well as our personal, societal, and economic growth.