Genetics & Molecular Biology

I Made Smirnoff Vodka Concede Its Non-GMO Label Is Just A Marketing Gimmick

Smirnoff, the vodka brand owned by Diageo of Great Britain, recently undertook an ad campaign starring celebrities Ted Danson and Jenna Fischer touting how they are gluten-free and non-GMO. Wow, healthy vodka. Who knew that was possible? ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 27 2022 - 9:59am

Syn3: This Synthetic Bacteria Is The Smallest Mobile Lifeform Ever (Artificially) Created

To help try and understand the evolution and origins of cell motility, researchers have created the smallest mobile lifeform ever.  Scientists introduced seven proteins, believed to be directly involved in allowing Spiroplasma bacteria to swim into a synth ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 30 2022 - 4:37pm

Phages: Scientists Create New Natural Weapon Against Bacterial Contamination And Infection

A new process uses harmless viruses that eat bacteria to form microscopic beads that can safely be applied to food and other materials to rid them of harmful pathogens such as E. coli. Though tiny, each bead is about one third the width of human hair, the ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 7 2022 - 9:40am

Diet And Disease: Trying To Predict Effects Of Nutrients On Cancer Cells

Food is not medicine, anyone claiming it is medicine is selling you something, like a diet plan, but nutrients can impact cancer cells. How that applies consistently is unknown so a new tool hopes to create an exploratory method using mice. Mice don't ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 27 2023 - 9:32am

Fall Armyworm And Maize: If We Want Africa To Feed Itself, Europe Has To Stop Penalizing Them For Using Science

Thanks to the fall armyworm, nearly all of Africa's maize crop is in jeopardy, finds a new study.  The new projection was made using 3,175 geo-tagged occurrences and factoring in physiological and climatological requirements to geographically assess i ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 31 2023 - 10:33am

Antioxidant Supplements Are Not Science But CoQ In Mitochondria Is

Since the 1960s, antioxidant supplements have been promoted as a miracle cure and that has never been true- preventing oxidation too much would be as bad as not preventing enough- but luckily few supplements make coenzyme Q bioavailable at all. Evolution c ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 1 2023 - 3:04pm

Antioxidants: Imidazole Dipeptides Found In Beef, Pork And Chicken

Imidazole dipeptides have been been linked to beneficial effects such as relieving fatigue and, with far less credibility, preventing dementia, and a new study has found that 2-oxo-imidazole-containing dipeptides (2-oxo-IDPs), which have one more oxygen at ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 21 2023 - 10:56am

Uncovering The Genetic Roots Of ADHD: How Early Brain Development And Dopamine Play A Role

The complexities of the human brain and its underlying genetic and biological mechanisms are truly fascinating. A recent study by scientists at Aarhus University sheds new light on the genetic factors underlying attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD ...

Article - Mark Pierce - Feb 23 2023 - 2:03pm

CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Can Limit Agricultural Pests, But Will Environmentalists Accept Modern Science?

CRISPR/Cas9 technology has led to a “homing gene drive system” based on a specific Drosophila suzukii gene called doublesex that can suppress populations of D. suzukii vinegar flies – the “spotted-wing Drosophila” that devastate soft-skinned fruit in North ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2023 - 2:23pm

Thanks To Ancient Evolution, Your Body Makes Its Own Anti-Viral Drugs

Antiviral drugs are generally considered to be a 20th century invention. But recent research has uncovered an unexpected facet to your immune system: It can synthesize its own antiviral molecules in response to viral infections. My laboratory studies a pr ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 16 2023 - 12:44pm