When most cells divide, they simply make more of themselves. But stem cells, which are responsible for repairing or making new tissue, have a choice: They can generate more stem cells or differentiate into skin cells, liver ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 10, 2017
2
781
Exactly how viruses replicate is a complex puzzle with many missing pieces. And in the age of the pandemic, solving it has become a matter of acute urgency.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 10, 2020
2
239
If a delivery person leaves a package on your front step without pinging you, you likely won't know it's there. A hungry cell awaiting refuel is in a similar position. It has to be alerted to the presence of nutrients outside ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 6, 2023
0
155
(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria know that they are too small to make an impact individually. So they wait, they multiply, and then they engage in behaviors that are only successful when all cells participate in unison. There are ...
Condensed Matter
Jul 14, 2009
2
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Compared to any other liquid on Earth, water behaves in strange and unexpected ways, yet its unusual properties enable and protect life as we know it. By tracking individual water molecules in a "supercooled" ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 8, 2010
3
0
Worker ants, despite their diligence, seldom encounter opportunities for social mobility. In many species, individuals adhere to strict caste roles: queens lay eggs and workers take care of almost everything else, including ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 26, 2018
2
145
Some microbes can form memories—although, inconveniently for scientists who study the process, they don't do it very often.
Biotechnology
Jan 4, 2017
1
217
(PhysOrg.com) -- To help protect its genes, a cell is highly selective about what it allows to move in and out of its nucleus. Yet that choosiness is regulated by just a thin barrier, perforated with tiny transport machines ...
Jan 6, 2009
0
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1953, Stanley Miller filled two flasks with chemicals assumed to be present on the primitive Earth, connected the flasks with rubber tubes and introduced some electrical sparks as a stand-in for lightning. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 7, 2009
14
0
Navigation doesn't always go as planned—a lesson that flies learn the hard way, when a strong headwind shunts them backward in defiance of their forward-beating wings. Fish swimming upriver, crabs scuttling sideways, and ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 15, 2021
0
602
