One question biologists have been tackling is known as “nature vs nurture,” or figuring out how much of one’s behavior is inherited and how much is learned or influenced by the surrounding environment.
Sixty years ago, scientist Francis Crick avoided breaking embargo on his own scientific publication about the structure of the DNA helix by writing the paper by first sending off a letter detailing his findings to his then 12-year-old son.
In the decade since the completion of the Human Genome Project, researchers around the world have been able to determine the full DNA sequences of animals, plants and bacteria. For example, Australian researchers are studying the Tasmanian devil’s genome in an effort to combat the cancer that is threatening to eradicate this already endangered species.
AFTER HIGH school, e-mails and phone calls allowed me to keep in touch with classmates even though we had gone on to different colleges around the world. These days I can find out what my friends and family are up to through more technologies available on computers and other devices such as online video calls, instant messaging clients and a variety of online social networks.
PAPER CUTS on fingers can draw blood, but the skin cells soon regenerate and seal the injury. The hair cells in the inner ear that detect sound, however, do not regenerate when they are damaged, causing hearing loss.
In the movie “The Social Network,” the story line contrasts the speed with which Mark Zuckerberg develops and launches a university-wide site against the terse e-mails he uses to stall the Winklevoss twins for weeks. By limiting contact to e-mails, the movie shows how Zuckerberg kept the twins thinking he was still working on their project when he’d already moved beyond their original idea.
In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set to release its next report, which will include several computer-modeled scenarios regarding the state of the planet in 2100. Based on just some of the environmental studies reported in the past year— species worldwide being threatened by the loss of their habitats, the record ice melt in the Arctic, oceans becoming more acidic as the waters absorb increased levels of carbon emissions, and calls to make large-scale changes to global cycles through geoengineering to counter climate change—the scenarios in the IPCC’s report may not offer hopeful outcomes.
A FEW days ago I walked into a store looking for some lengua de gato. I left half an hour later with four bags of assorted pastries and candies. Stocking up on holiday must-haves, especially upon seeing them on display, was definitely a factor in the large impulse purchase. However, scent was another factor that couldn’t be ignored.
In the same way that images of athletes often contain a prop related to their sport of choice, some animals are often portrayed in association with particular foods. For example, rabbits have carrots nearby, koalas pose in eucalyptus trees and pandas are caught on film gnawing on bamboo.
Sometimes, television shows will have scenes in which an actor plays the role of a patient about to undergo an operation. Occasionally, the patient is asked to start counting backward while the mask is applied over his nose and mouth to supply an anesthetic gas and send him to sleep.
Every October a handful of researchers, writers and humanitarians receive phone calls from Sweden that change their lives. This year, nine men became Nobel Laureates while the Peace Prize went to the European Union.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently released a list of what they consider to be the 100 most threatened species, and two of them are found only in the Philippines.
