Double X Science - It's In Your Genes

Search Results for: label/nucleic acid

  • 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

  • Real science vs. fake science: How can you tell them apart?

    …ed marketing scam? Do they use, for example, a Website or magazine or newspaper ad that’s made to look sciencey or newsy when it’s really one giant advertisement meant to make you think it’s journalism? 2. What is the agenda? You must know this to consider any information in context. In a scientific paper, look at the funding sources. If you’re reading a non-scientific anything, remain extremely skeptical. What does t…

    Authored by on December 11, 2011

  • After Newtown missteps, journalists get guidelines

    …almost twice as likely to say that they don’t want to live or work near a person with mental illness if they read an article about a person with mental illness involved in a mass shooting, according to a study published March 20 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Interestingly, this tendency is the same even if the article avoids any mention of mental illness. This may be because this link between violence and mental illness is deeply engrain…

    Authored by on March 27, 2013

  • XX Tech Report: Rapid detection and treatment for deadly blood infections

    …[Ed. note: Introducing our new technology editor, Jeffrey Perkel!  Jeffrey, a recovering scientist, has always had a passion for the technology and the gadgetry of science. He has been a scientific writer and editor since 2000, when he left academia to join the staff of The Scientist magazine as a Senior Editor for Technology. Before that, he studied transcription factor biology at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Medical School –…

    Authored by on August 24, 2012

  • A tour of digestion from nose to um…tail

    Mary Roach’s Gulp is a trip through the gooier side of human anatomy By Matthew R. Francis Mary Roach is one of the more fearless writers out there. Not in the physical sense — she doesn’t put herself into particularly dangerous situations, like certain reporters or travel writers — but intellectually. I don’t know if she’s incapable of embarrassment, but certainly she’s able to submerge that as she asks companies…

    Authored by on May 7, 2013

  • The vaginal ecosystem.

    …g announcement says. “Preterm infants are at increased risk of life-long disability, poor health, and early death compared with infants born later in pregnancy.” Nearly one in eight children were born prematurely in the US in 2009 (12.18%). Beyond the emotional toll on families, preterm birth also imposes a serious financial cost. “A report by the Institute of Medicine estimated that the annual societal economic burden associated with preterm bir…

    Authored by on February 25, 2013

  • Striking a balance between health and sustainability: a study inspired by a love for sushi

    Sushi for sale (Source) by Jeanne Garbarino, DXS biology editor A conservation scientist walks into a [sushi] bar… You’ve probably heard that eating a diet including fish, especially fatty fish, is good for us. Fish can be a source of high quality, lean protein, and also provide heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. However, there are risks associated with eating some types of fish. For instance, fish that are at…

    Authored by on September 19, 2012

  • Dinosaur Aunts, Bacterial Stowaways, & Insect Milk

    …eggs in a variety of terrestrial environments. As other mutations randomly arose and were favored by selection, milk composition became increasingly complex, incorporating nutritive, protective, and hormonal factors (Oftedal 2012). Some of these milk constituents are shunted into milk from maternal blood, some- although also present in the maternal blood stream- are regulated locally in the mammary gland, and some very special constituents are u…

    Authored by on July 17, 2012

  • From alchemist to chemist: What kind of chemistry is that?

    nd, inorganic chemistry involves all the elements present in the periodic table. Inorganic chemistry delves into theories surrounding the bonding of metals to molecules and the shapes of molecules themselves. Figure 2: Components of Urine While the process of collecting phosphorus from urine requires organic and inorganic chemical reactions, the process of making the products in urine is biochemistry. Note in figure 2 that the primar…

    Authored by on December 15, 2011

  • Autism and the DSM-5

    …ial social aspect of this change, and the one thing that might, when it comes to autism, elevate the DSM-5 above the level of doorstop. [Image credit: Dave Bullock, UK, via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 generic license.]…

    Authored by on April 23, 2013

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