Classic Digital Bio:
This wasn't in the lab, but it was an accident, and it was funny later on. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about storing bacterial cultures in a refrigerator. After all, bacteria on a petri plate, inside of a plastic bag, are kind of stuck. They can't get out of the plates, and even if they did, they certainly can't crawl...
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Posted on December 24, 2007 10:00 AM • 10 Comments •
How do you go about researching a genetic disease? This multi-part series explores how digital resources can be used to learn about Huntingtin's disease. Reposted and updated from the original DigitalBio. A bit of background Alice's Restaurant is a movie with an unforgettable song that mostly revolves around Arlo Guthrie hanging out with his friends. Somewhere in the movie, the...
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Posted on December 18, 2007 9:45 AM • 1 Comments •
What ethical issues concern people working in biotech?
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Posted on October 18, 2006 11:47 AM • 1 Comments •
No one in a life science-related industry or research lab, in Western Washington, is safe at this time of year. Surely, you're joking! No, seriously, there are teachers and science enthusiasts everywhere looking to sign you up! And don't call me "Shirley." Sign me up? That's right, it's time to prepare for the...
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Posted on October 11, 2006 8:00 AM • 0 Comments •
Why is an eye, an eye and a nose, a nose? Why do different cells create different kinds of tissues when all the cells in a single organism start out with the same set of instructions (aka DNA)?...
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Posted on October 10, 2006 11:41 AM • 0 Comments •
It's a crystalline botanical fashion show.
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Posted on October 4, 2006 2:12 PM • 1 Comments •
Razib inspired me to share some of the story behind why white people are considered derivatives. Reposted from the Classic Digital Bio. No red herrings, here! Lamason et. al. found a single gene that controls human skin color while studying pigmentation in zebra fish (1)....
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Posted on September 26, 2006 8:58 AM • 3 Comments •
Molecular structures are wonderful for science and enjoyable, in their own respect, as works of art. Here are some of my favorite DNA structures.
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Posted on September 19, 2006 1:55 PM • 1 Comments •
Remember that scene in "The Wizard of Oz" when the trees get ticked off and start hurling apples at poor Dorothy?
How do you think real plants defend themselves?
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Posted on September 13, 2006 3:13 PM • 5 Comments •
A long time ago, I saw a Star Trek episode where the crew encountered aliens who lived at a different frequency. I may have this backwards, but I think the aliens moved so quickly that no one knew they were there. And until problems struck, our heroes were happily oblivious to the existence of the others. The Plants In Motion...
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Posted on September 11, 2006 12:46 PM • 2 Comments •
No biology course is complete these days without learning how to do a BLAST search. Herein, I describe an assignment and an animated tutorial that teachers can readily adopt and use, and give teachers a hint for obtaining the password-protected answer key. Development of the tutorial and the activity were supported by funding from the National Science Foundation. This is...
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Posted on September 7, 2006 9:59 AM • 0 Comments •
Have you ever wondered about Cheeze Whiz? why new cars have a distinctive smell? or what makes golf balls so springy?...
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Posted on August 31, 2006 11:08 AM • 4 Comments •
The fall soccer season is well underway and the Hummingbirds soccer team is kicking everything in sight. The hummingbirds in these two series of photos are much quicker, considerably smaller and certainly cute. A friend sent me this link since I manage the Hummingbirds soccer team. Hopefully, the person who posted these shots of baby hummingbirds will leave them up...
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Posted on August 29, 2006 1:00 PM • 1 Comments •
One of most wonderful things about the Internet has been the emergence of research projects that involve the general public. Universities like Cornell, Kansas University, and the University of Minnesota, to name a few, have established web sites and on-line databases that encourage both students and amateur biologists to participate in biological field studies. Not only do these projects extend...
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Posted on August 28, 2006 12:00 PM • 0 Comments •
It seems kind of funny to be thinking of anti-freeze at the moment, with heat waves blanketing the U.S., but all this hot weather makes me miss winter. And so I decided it was time to re-post this from the original DigitalBio. Winter is coming soon, my bike ride to work was pretty chilly, and it seems like a good...
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Posted on August 4, 2006 11:38 AM • 5 Comments •
Trade publications; such as catalogs, technical bulletins, and web sites; are a valuable source of information for students in biotechnology-related courses. Not only do catalogs and technical publications provide current information, but they also contain a wealth of useful facts and physical constants that biologists need on-the-job. Further, using catalogs in the classroom mimics the way that science is carried...
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Posted on July 26, 2006 8:33 PM • 3 Comments •
A few years ago, the General Biology students at the Johns Hopkins University began to interrogate the unseen world. During this semester-long project, they study the ecosystems of the Homewood campus, and engage in novel research by exploring the microbial ecosystems in different sections of the campus. Biology lab students gather environmental samples from different campus ecosystems, isolate DNA, amplify...
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Posted on July 24, 2006 9:20 PM • 0 Comments •
I am a microbiologist and molecular biologist turned tenured biotech faculty turned bioinformatics scientist turned entrepreneur. My passion is developing instructional materials for 21st century biology (Geospiza Education).
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