Yeast cells' ability to convert sugar into alcohol, essential for the production of beer and wine, can be attributed to a series of gene duplications that allow for optimal conversion of different types of sugars (such as sucrose and maltose) into alcohol, according to a new study in Current Biology.

The duplications arose because the genes for sugar processing are situated close to the unstable margin of the chromosome. The phenomenon appears not to be limited to alcohol production in yeast, but forms an important principle in the evolution of living organisms.

Writing in American Antiquity, researchers from Arizona State University and North Carolina State University say archaeologists can use computational modeling to study the long-term effects of varying land use practices by farmers and herders on landscapes.

By using these techniques, archeologists can develop alternative computerized scenarios that can be compared with traditional archaeological records, possibly enhancing previous findings of how humans and the environment interact.

Researchers have programmed an autonomous molecular "robot" made out of DNA to start, move, turn, and stop while following a DNA track.

The development could ultimately lead to molecular systems that might one day be used for medical therapeutic devices and molecular-scale reconfigurable robots---robots made of many simple units that can reposition or even rebuild themselves to accomplish different tasks.

Results of the research have been published in Nature.

The traditional view of a robot is that it is "a machine that senses its environment, makes a decision, and then does something---it acts," said Erik Winfree, associate professor of computer science, computation and neural systems, and bioengineering at Caltech.

A global Warming Skeptic Clouds The Issues


This article is written in response to Dr. Roy Spencer's claims about cloud albedo effects in an article by Cameron J English: Interview With A Global Warming Skeptic: Dr. Roy Spencer.


One of the most common arguments used by deniers of AGW is that computer models are unreliable.

Richard Dawkins suggested that the first measure of an intelligent species, should two chance to meet, would be whether they understood how they came to be. I imagine such a remarkable exchange of cosmic existentialism set on a hovering space dongle, lit only by the faint glow of distant ringed planets:

“Hey, you know about evolution?”
“Yep”

And with these words, the warmth of science would triumph over the cold curve of the ever widening Universe, at least for a moment.