News tagged with bioscience
CU research shows warming climate threatens ecology at mountain research site west of Boulder
A series of papers published this month on ecological changes at 26 global research sites -- including one administered by the University of Colorado Boulder in the high mountains west of the city -- indicates ...
Apr 18, 2012 |
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ASU scientists help uncover complex causes, consequences of changes in the environment
Long-term ecological findings reported today in a special section of the journal BioScience show as temperatures increase in snowy ecosystems, more water is lost to the atmosphere than first predicted. Also, ...
Apr 09, 2012 |
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Impact of warming climate doesn't always translate to streamflow
An analysis of 35 headwater basins in the United States and Canada found that the impact of warmer air temperatures on streamflow rates was less than expected in many locations, suggesting that some ecosystems may be resilient ...
Apr 06, 2012 |
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Scientists forecast forest carbon loss
For more than 30 years, scientists at the Harvard Forest have scaled towers into the forest canopy and measured the trunks of trees to track how much carbon is stored or lost from the woods each year. This treasure trove ...
Apr 06, 2012 |
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Long-term research reveals causes and consequences of environmental change
As global temperatures rise, the most threatened ecosystems are those that depend on a season of snow and ice, scientists from the nation's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network say."The vulnerability o ...
Apr 06, 2012 |
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Using viruses to beat superbugs
Viruses that can target and destroy bacteria have the potential to be an effective strategy for tackling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The development of such novel therapies is being accelerated in response to growing ...
Mar 26, 2012 |
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Microbiologists can now measure extremely slow life
Microbiologists at Aarhus University (Denmark) have developed a new method for measuring the very slow metabolism of bacteria deep down in the seabed. The results can provide knowledge about the global carbon ...
Mar 19, 2012 |
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Yellow-cedar are dying in Alaska: Scientists now know why
Yellow-cedar, a culturally and economically valuable tree in southeastern Alaska and adjacent parts of British Columbia, has been dying off across large expanses of these areas for the past 100 years. But ...
Feb 01, 2012 |
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Conserving biodiversity could benefit the world's poor
Land areas that are a priority for wildlife conservation provide relatively high levels of ecosystem services such as pollination, water purification, food production, and climate regulation, so safeguarding them is expected ...
Jan 12, 2012 |
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New method for studying gene activity developed
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), Harvard University and RocheNimblegen Inc. have developed a new method for examining genetic information that reveals clues to understanding ...
Nov 14, 2011 |
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New top-down strategy of identifying proteins could lead to early detection of disease
The human genome has been mapped. Now, it's on to proteins, a much more daunting task. There are 20,300 genes, but there are millions of distinct protein molecules in our bodies. Many of these hold keys to understanding disease ...
Oct 30, 2011 |
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Can indigenous peoples be relied on to gather reliable environmental data?
No one is in a better position to monitor environmental conditions in remote areas of the natural world than the people living there. But many scientists believe the cultural and educational gulf between trained scientists ...
Oct 13, 2011 |
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'Non-invasive' cultivar? Buyer beware
Cultivars of popular ornamental woody plants that are being sold in the United States as non-invasive are probably anything but, according to an analysis by botanical researchers published in the October issue of BioScience. Tiffan ...
Oct 07, 2011 |
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Organic carbon suggests Swedish lakes were less acidified
During the 1970s and 1980s, researchers and policymakers became increasingly worried about multiple consequences of acidic emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the stacks of power stations, and eventually ...
Aug 01, 2011 |
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Teaching workshops fail to spur learner-centered teaching
Professional development workshops for college teachers, designed to encourage the use of active, "learner-centered" teaching methods, may be less effective than the participants believe, according to research reported in ...
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Jul 06, 2011 |
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Biotechnology
Biotechnology (sometimes shortened to "biotech") is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose. Modern use of similar terms includes genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies. The concept encompasses a wide range of procedures (and history) for modifying living organisms according to human purposes — going back to domestication of animals, cultivation of plants, and "improvements" to these through breeding programs that employ artificial selection and hybridization. By comparison to biotechnology, bioengineering is generally thought of as a related field with its emphasis more on higher systems approaches (not necessarily altering or using biological materials directly) for interfacing with and utilizing living things. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as:
In other terms: "Application of scientific and technical advances in life science to develop commercial products" is biotechnology.
Biotechnology draws on the pure biological sciences (genetics, microbiology, animal cell culture, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, cell biology) and in many instances is also dependent on knowledge and methods from outside the sphere of biology (chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, information technology, biorobotics). Conversely, modern biological sciences (including even concepts such as molecular ecology) are intimately entwined and dependent on the methods developed through biotechnology and what is commonly thought of as the life sciences industry.
For more information about Biotechnology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
