Monthly Archives: July 2012

Folates, lifespan and the gut microbiome

It is an increasingly well known – or at least, well quoted – fact that humans contain ten times more bacterial cells than human ones. The microbial population of the gut in particular is the focus of vigorously burgeoning research interest because of its possible importance in metabolic and inflammatory disease, as testified by a… Read more »

Biology

Why a turtle is (still) not a lepidosaur

BMC Biology publishes today a research article (from Chiari et al) on the placement of turtles in the evolutionary tree, which supports their position as a sister group to the birds and crocodiles (collectively called the archosaurs). This isn’t the first time that a similar placement has been supported, as Blair Hedges discusses in an… Read more »

Biology

Microbial threat for the blue crab industry

Rob2

Five years ago commercially important blue crab populations in Chesapeake Bay reached alarmingly low levels, leading local management agencies to impose strong catch restrictions to aid in recovery.Five years later, blue crab numbers have rebounded to levels not seen since the 1990s, providing support for the continued need for science-based management of critical marine resources…. Read more »

Biology

Call for submissions for an exciting new thematic series

Cell & Bioscience are pleased to announce that they will be publishing a thematic series on the “Structure and mechanism of nanomotors in the cell” in 2013. The thematic series which is edited by Dr Peixuan Guo is now open for submissions. Please contact Dr Guo if you are interested in contributing to the series.

Biology

Cell death on celluloid

Ever wondered what 48 hours in the life and death of a cell looks like? I guess most people’s answers to that questions might be “no”, but honestly – it’s fascinating. Programmed Cell Death (PCD) occurs in both plants and animals, and is quite often a tightly regulated series of events. Sometimes these events can… Read more »

Biology

June SCBA newsletter posted

The June SCBA newsletter is available at https://www.scbasociety.org/News/June-2012.pdf Read about the activities of the leading Chinese American bioscience professional society!

Biology

Microbiome announcements – a new article type from Microbiome

New journal Microbiome now accepts short reports of metagenomic datasets and their associated clinical or environmental data, such as those recently used for the NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project (HMP). Microbiome, which is open for submissions, reflects the growing importance of the need to study microorganisms and their function in their natural environment, their microbiome, whether… Read more »

Biology