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The rhythm of everything

By Guest PostJune 21, 2013General, Health, Scienceadolescents, approximately a day, automobile accidents, blood pressure, body temperature, breast cancer rates, brown university, cancer epidemiology, chronic insomnia, chronobiology international, circa diem, circadian cycle, circadian gene, circadian rhythms, clock, DNA, electric lights, epigenetic changes, estrogen level, feedback loop, habitual fatigue, heart rate, human body, jet lag, key issue, kidneys, logic, molecular autoregulatory, mutation, mysterious, natural processes, physiological phenomena, probably carcinogenic, regulatory genes, rhythm of everything. biological changes, richard g stevens, scientists, seasonal affective disorder, transcriptional activators, ultraviolet light, winter blues, yong zhu

Dawn triggers basic biological changes in the waking human body. As the sun rises, so does heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. The liver, the kidneys and many natural processes also begin shifting from idle into high gear. Then as daylight wanes and darkness descends, these processes likewise begin to subside, returning to their lowest levels again as we sleep.

These internal biological patterns are tightly linked to an external cosmic pattern: the earth’s rotation around the sun once every 24 hours. This endless loop of light and darkness and the corresponding synchrony of internal and external clocks, are called circadian rhythms, from “circa diem,” Latin for “approximately a day.” Circadian rhythms influence almost all living organisms, from bacteria to algae, insects, birds and, as is increasingly understood by science, humans beings. (more…)

Unraveling the Napo’s mystery

By Guest PostJune 18, 2013Environmentamazon basin, amazon river, aquatic mammals, ecohydrology, ecological sustainability, economic, ecotourism, ecuador, environmental treasures, floodplain, jorge celi, michigan state university, mysterious, mystique, napo floodplains, napo mystery, napo river, NASA, national geographic society, oil reserves, peru, pink freshwater dolphins, river, small scale agriculture, south american country, united states, world wildlife fund

In the United States, rivers and their floodplains are well-documented and monitored. Ecuador’s largest river, however, remains largely mysterious.

Research led by Michigan State University is helping the South American country unravel the Napo River’s mystique to better balance its economic and environmental treasures. (more…)

Planck Mission Brings Universe into Sharp Focus

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2013Sciencecanadian scientists, charles lawrence, clusters of galaxies, cobe, conundrum, cosmic microwave, cosmology, dark energy, dark matter, early universe, european, european space agency, expansion of universe, fluctuation, hot plasma, jan tauber, jet propulsion laboratory, joan centrella, krzysztof gorski, map, mysterious, NASA, oldest light, pasadena, planck data, planck mission, planck space mission, quantum scales, satellites, standard model, universe, wmap

PASADENA, Calif. — The Planck space mission has released the most accurate and detailed map ever made of the oldest light in the universe, revealing new information about its age, contents and origins.

Planck is a European Space Agency mission. NASA contributed mission-enabling technology for both of Planck’s science instruments, and U.S., European and Canadian scientists work together to analyze the Planck data. (more…)

Ferroelectric Switching Discovered For First Time in Soft Biological Tissue

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2012Sciencearteries, atherosclerosis, biological tissues, blood vessel, bones, boston university, charged glucose molecules, computer memory chips, electric field, electrical property, electrically polar molecule, ferroelectric material, ferroelectricity, fibrous collagen, function, heart, human tissue, inner workings, inorganic, jiangyu li, katherine zhang, mammal tissue, mammalian tissue, mechanical engineering, memory storage, ming jay chow, mysterious, Nanotechnology, NASA, pig aorta, qian nataly chen, seashells, sensors, springy elastin, synthetic materials, university of washington, wall of the aorta, yanhang zhang, yuanming liu

The heart’s inner workings are mysterious, perhaps even more so with a new finding. Engineers at the University of Washington have discovered an electrical property in arteries not seen before in mammalian tissues.

The researchers found that the wall of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits ferroelectricity, a response to an electric field known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. The findings are being published in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. (more…)

Biologically Best

By Guest PostJanuary 28, 2012Educationalex walter, article, bacterial protein, baylor university, becky maki, biologist, blood, cairo, cincinnati, egypt, evolutionary biology, florida, foundations of biology, fungal lineage, gretchen floan, iraqi war veteran, jonathan christenson, lisa hirsch, mark decker, mcgill university, mysterious, natural selection, nature of life, oklahoma, practicing biologists, robin wright, student, toxic metal, university of minnesota

*The U’s active learning biology courses garner attention*

What if you could remove lead from a person’s blood with a bacterial protein that snags the toxic metal?

Or treat spinal cord injury by shutting off a gene that prevents nerve regrowth?

Ideas like these used to be the exclusive province of practicing biologists. But they are among 14 ideas conceived and presented recently by students in the University of Minnesota’s introductory biology course. (more…)

Tag Archives: mysterious

The rhythm of everything

Unraveling the Napo’s mystery

Planck Mission Brings Universe into Sharp Focus

Ferroelectric Switching Discovered For First Time in Soft Biological Tissue

Biologically Best