I don’t usually take too kindly to the evil geneticist stereotype in fiction, but I can’t resist a good dystopian novel. "When She Woke," by Hillary Jordan, is the perfect book Read More
Genetic Linkage
New Roads to Drug Discovery for the New Year
December 22, 2011
In this age of expiring drug patents and stalled pipelines, I was pleasantly surprised to find in my morning batch of news releases four reports of promising, eclectic ways to fight diverse diseases. The Read More
A Living Blood Vessel "Stamp"
December 16, 2011
I still marvel at the interface between a tissue and an organ, even after a quarter century of writing college biology textbooks.
I can easily envision a sheet of epithelium folding itself up into the tiny tube of a capillary. But how do only four basic tissue types connect and contort to fashion such Read More
I can easily envision a sheet of epithelium folding itself up into the tiny tube of a capillary. But how do only four basic tissue types connect and contort to fashion such Read More
Bed Bug Orgies and Evolution
December 6, 2011
Seeking evidence for evolution? Look at bed bugs.
For the past century, the 5-millimeter-long, triangular headed, reddish residents of urban hotel bedrooms have mutated themselves into resistance to any insecticide we can throw at them. Cimex lectularius was nearly vanquished mid-century, when Read More
For the past century, the 5-millimeter-long, triangular headed, reddish residents of urban hotel bedrooms have mutated themselves into resistance to any insecticide we can throw at them. Cimex lectularius was nearly vanquished mid-century, when Read More