The human nose can distinguish one trillion different scents—an extraordinary feat that requires 10 million specialized nerve cells, or neurons, in the nose, and a family of more than 400 dedicated genes. But precisely ...
Biotechnology
Jan 9, 2019
1
53
DEET, thought to be the most effective insect repellent available, may not be an insect repellent at all.
Biotechnology
Sep 26, 2018
6
157
In one video, you can see a hungry caterpillar, first working around a leaf's edges, approaching the base of the leaf and, with one last bite, severing it from the rest of the plant. Within seconds, a blaze of fluorescent ...
Biotechnology
Sep 13, 2018
15
2686
Plant cells share a strange and surprising kinship with animal neurons: many plant cells have proteins that closely resemble glutamate receptors, which help to relay nerve signals from one neuron to another. While plants ...
Biotechnology
May 3, 2018
0
179
Wild birds that are more clever than others at foraging for food have different levels of a neurotransmitter receptor that has been linked with intelligence in humans, according to a study led by McGill University researchers. ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 14, 2018
0
252
Multicellular organisms like ourselves depend on a constant flow of information between cells, coordinating their activities in order to proliferate and differentiate. Deciphering the language of intercellular communication ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 16, 2018
1
282
Researchers hope to design a new generation of drugs against an array of deadly diseases. The task, however, is costly, arduous and often ineffective. One of the key challenges is understanding a particular class of proteins ...
Biochemistry
Apr 5, 2017
0
109
(Phys.org)—The market value for deuterated drugs has recently been estimated at over a billion dollars. Such drugs are simply molecules in which one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced with deuterium. While these kinds ...
(Phys.org)—The predictive power and galvanizing influence that theoretical models routinely enjoy in physics is only rarely replicated in biology. Lord Raleigh's theory of sound perception, Francis Crick's sequence and ...
(Phys.org)—One benefit of the closeness between pigs and humans is the potential to be organ donors. There are however, just a few nagging uncertainties that still stand in the way. The big one, the possibility of porcine ...
