The Archives

Snail signaling pathway discovered: The origins of left-right assymetry
12.21.08 | Permalink | Comment?

According to a paper available in the advanced online publication of Nature, an orthologue to the signalling molecule Nodal, a molecule that functions in the production of asymmetry, has been found in snails. This is a lot more interesting than it sounds, trust me. Up until now it was thought that all non-deuterostomes use a [...]
Miller-Urey’s secret
10.20.08 | Permalink | Comment?

In case you’re wondering what the title is referring to, the Miller-Urey experiment was conducted in 1953 by graduate student Stanley Miller in an attempt to better understand the beginnings of life on Earth. In this experiment he placed water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen in a sealed flask with a pair of electrodes and ran [...]