BioNews

Subject areas: Cell biology, Botany Vocabulary: histones – compact protein complexes found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. They have a lot of positive charges on their outward-facing sides, which allows them to hold onto DNA, which is positively charged. They function to wrap and organize DNA, which would otherwise […]

Subject areas: Microbiology, Physiology Vocabulary: germ-free mice – More specifically, axenic (completely free of microorganisms in the gut and otherwise) and gnotobiotic (gnotos = known, bios = life, so these have specific populations of bacteria inoculated into them but no others). These mice must be delivered by cesarian section to […]

Subject areas: Neuroscience Vocabulary: adaptive staircase training – a standard method for determining maximum ability. In short, the subject is tested at an easy level, and if she succeeds, tested at higher level. This continues until the subject fails, then she is tested at the level one step easier and […]

Subject areas: Cell Biology, Infectious Diseases Vocabulary:  Ubiquitin – a molecular tag inside of cells that labels components for destruction in order to get rid of malfunctioning or non-functioning parts. Parkinson’s Disease – a neurodegenerative disease which primarily affects motor function initially, causing shaking and tremors in movements.  There is […]

Subject areas: Genetics, Evolution Vocabulary: Gene – The basic unit of inheritance.  It is a segment of an organism’s DNA that encodes the production of a physical substrate (often protein or RNA) that governs a particular trait. Allele – An allele is one version of a gene.  Every animal has […]