Double X Science - It's In Your Genes

Search Results for: label/biology Xplainer

  • Biology Explainer: The big 4 building blocks of life–carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and nucleic acids

    …molecules themselves break down into a surprisingly small number of building blocks. The proteins that make up all of the living things on this planet and ensure their appropriate structure and smooth function consist of only 20 different kinds of building blocks. Nucleic acids, specifically DNA, are even more basic: only four different kinds of molecules provide the materials to build the countless different genetic codes that translate into all…

    Authored by on June 8, 2012

  • Biology Xplainer: Evolution and how it happens

    …he population will change over time. It will be adapted to its environment. It will evolve. Other mechanisms of evolution A pigeon depicted in Charles Darwin’sVariation of Animals and PlantsUnder Domestication, 1868. U.S.public domain image, via Wikimedia. When Darwin presented his idea of natural selection, he knew he had an audience to win over. He pointed out that people select features of organisms all the time and breed the…

    Authored by on January 29, 2012

  • Literal XX Xplainer: How we can live with two X chromosomes

    …ression of one X chromosome in each cell makes each woman a lovely mosaic of genetic expression (although not true genetic mosaicism), varying from cell to cell in whether we use genes from X chromosome 1 or from X chromosome 2. Because these gene forms can differ between the two X chromosomes, we are simply less uniform in what our X chromosome genes do than are men. An exception is men who are XXY, who also shut down one of those X chromosomes…

    Authored by on June 27, 2012

  • Old ovaries, new eggs? Hatching a debate

    …gy is. Right now, we’re a ways from really understanding the full biology, but we’re making progress.” 1 Direct quote from the third edition of “Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach”, one published by Pearson Education in 2004 and used in medical school classes.  [Image credit: front page and thumbnail oocyte image, public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Article oocyte image also public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.] [Sarah C.P. Williams is a…

    Authored by on May 15, 2013

  • Xplainer: How do you date a pregnancy?

    …lopment = embryological age (e.g., developmental biologist) 2 But why are there two types of dates? We might need a bit of a primer on the menstrual cycle and how it relates to pregnancy. Implantation happens between days 20 and 22. Pregnancy is often detected after the first missed period. This graphic is intentionally simple, removing all the hormones and other fun stuff (Ed: which you can find here). You’ll note that it says approximately…

    Authored by on October 3, 2012

  • Double Xplainer: Once in a Blue Moon

    Full Moon, from Flickr user Proggie under Creative Commons license. Tonight—August 31, 2012— is the second full Moon of August. The last time two full Moons occurred in the same month was in 2010, and the next will be in 2015, so while the events are rare, they aren’t terribly uncommon either. In fact, you’ve probably heard the second full Moon given a name: “blue moon”. (The Moon will not appear to be a blue col…

    Authored by on August 31, 2012

  • So What’s the Big Deal About the Higgs Boson, Anyway? A Physics Double Xplainer

    The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, one of four detectors to discover a new particle. By Matthew Francis, physics editor After decades of searching and many promising results that didn’t pan out, scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe announced Wednesday they had found a new particle. People got really excited, and for good reason! This discovery is significant no matter how you look at it: If the…

    Authored by on July 6, 2012

  • Blog of the Week: PsiVid with Carin Bondar and Joanne Manaster

    This week’s blog selection comes to us via the Scientific American blog network. PsiVid, a “cross-section of science on the cyber-stream,” features two scientists and mothers, Carin Bondar and Joanne Manaster, both known for their work and expertise in sci-filmmaking. Over at their Scientific American blog, you’ll find all things sci-video related, including contest information, the Monday music video, and some commenta…

    Authored by on November 14, 2011

  • Double Xpression: Meghan Groome

    …to learn when it’s appropriate to pull out my soap box and go full-out social justice to them. This is changing, but for a long time I kept my personality under wraps in a professional setting. It’s only now — with 10 years professional experience, great organizations on my resume, and a PhD — that I can be clever, confront those I disagree with, and even smile. Anyone who’s ever had a beer with me knows that I’m a goofball and w…

    Authored by on February 6, 2012

  • Think pink? I’d rather raise a stink

    Are some of these possible signs of breast cancer presentin a famous work of art? Image: public domain, US gov by Liza Gross, contributor [Ed. note: This article was originally posted on KQED QUEST on October 3, 2012. It is reposted here with kind permission.] Just a generation ago, October belonged to the colors of fall, when “every green thing loves to die in bright colors,” as Henry Ward Beecher said. (Growing up back East, you read…

    Authored by on October 8, 2012

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