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Archive for the ‘biological’ category: Page 133

Feb 20, 2019

Researchers peer inside the mind of the worm for clues on how memories form

Posted by in category: biological

Try as you might, some events cannot be remembered. Known in psychology as memory blocking, the phenomenon has remained elusive since first described more than half a century ago. Now Donnelly Centre researchers have found that blocking is not due to problems with forming memories, as previously thought, but with memory recall—in worms at least.

By studying this process in the C. elegans worm, a creature only one millimeter long but whose biology has been studied so extensively that the position of all of its 302 in the body is known, the researchers think they’ll be able to pinpoint the cells and molecules at play during learning and memory.

The findings are described in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Feb 19, 2019

A New Species Of Psychedelic Lichen Found To Contain Psilocybin & DMT

Posted by in category: biological

A newly discovered species of lichen from Ecuador that contains both tryptamine and psilocybin has recently been discovered, dispelling the belief that the infamous ‘magic mushrooms’ are the only plant species containing this hallucinogenic compound.

Lichens are of particular interest to biologists because of their symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi. The fungus creates the network that sustains, hydrates, and protects the algae, which in turn generates the sugars necessary to feed it through photosynthesis. While they both exhibit plant-like characteristics, neither are actually plants — they are composite organisms. This makes the psychedelic lichen even more intriguing.

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Feb 19, 2019

Studying evolution to banish ageing — a new frontier in gerontological drug development

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biological, biotech/medical, DNA, evolution, futurism, genetics, health, life extension


Feb 18, 2019

Bacteria used to neutralize algae-bloom toxin

Posted by in category: biological

When algal blooms occur in lakes, the over-abundant cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) produce a toxin known as microcystin. Now, Ohio-based scientists are using other types of bacteria to neutralize that toxin, in a process that could be cheaper and more eco-friendly than the alternatives.

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Feb 18, 2019

Radiation-eating bacteria could make nuclear waste safer

Posted by in categories: biological, food, nuclear energy

Circa 2017


Microbes can thrive on radioactive waste products and make them less likely to leak out of underground respositories.

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Feb 18, 2019

Ahmedabad: MSU researcher gets global grant for vesicular trafficking study

Posted by in categories: biological, education, neuroscience

It is the first such research to be undertaken at the university.

IBRO is the global federation of neuroscience organizations that aims to promote and support neuroscience around the world through training, teaching, collaborative research, outreach and advocacy.

The research will be carried out at Sahu’s Cell Biology and Molecular metabolism lab at the Vikram Sarabhai Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, which is headed by Professor Sarita Gupta.

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Feb 18, 2019

Machine learning unlocks plants’ secrets

Posted by in categories: biological, food, robotics/AI

Plants are master chemists, and Michigan State University researchers have unlocked their secret of producing specialized metabolites.

The research, published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combined plant biology and machine learning to sort through tens of thousands of genes to determine which genes make specialized metabolites.

Some metabolites attract pollinators while others repel pests. Ever wonder why deer eat tulips and not daffodils? It’s because daffodils have metabolites to fend off the critters who’d dine on them.

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Feb 17, 2019

The End Of Work: The Consequences Of An Economic Singularity

Posted by in categories: biological, economics, engineering, robotics/AI, singularity

How will artificial intelligence, molecular manufacturing, biological engineering and distributed additive manufacturing change the economics of the production of goods and services?

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Feb 15, 2019

New Aging Clock Accurately Predicts Biological Age

Posted by in categories: biological, life extension

Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have discovered a new aging clock that can accurately determine both chronological and biological age in a wide variety of species.

Aging and the nucleolus

There are two kinds of age: chronological age, which is strictly the number of years that something has lived, and biological age, which is influenced by diet, exercise, environment, and similar factors. Biological age is the superior measure of true age and is an accurate predictor of all-cause mortality.

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Feb 14, 2019

Are Whales Smarter Than We Are?

Posted by in categories: biological, neuroscience

Circa 2008


“Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.” Herman Melville.

Call me Ishmael for making conjectures unflattering to humankind, but could Moby Dick have been smarter than captain Ahab? Melville certainly seemed to think so. Moby clipped off one of the captain’s legs and then, years later, in a brilliant move of cetacean jujitsu, drowned poor Ahab by towing him into the abyss by the harpoon rope tangled around Ahab’s remaining leg. “From Hell’s heart I stab at thee!” Gulp. We humans pride ourselves on our big brains. We never seem to tire of bragging about how our supreme intelligence empowers us to lord over all other animals on the planet. Yet the biological facts don’t quite square with Homo sapiens’ arrogance. The fact is, people do not have the largest brains on the planet, either in absolute size or in proportion to body size. Whales, not people, have the biggest brains of any animal on earth.

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