Monthly Archives: October 2014

Questioning regeneration: answers from Alejandro Sánchez-Alvarado

planarian

Alejandro Sánchez-Alvarado’s dynamic enthusiasm comes through as he talks about his passion: regeneration. In an interview for Biome he reflects on his personal experiences in science that have shaped his current research. Planarian flatworms have remarkable regenerative capacity, being able to regenerate a whole organism from a tiny fragment of its body (for a general… Read more »

Biology

Congratulations it’s a boy: the impact of climate change on turtle gender

Flatback turtle (Natator depressus) hatchling

Climate change is predicted to cause sweeping effects on the world’s biomes, but one of the most peculiar will be on certain reptilian species who employ a physiological mechanism called Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). Research published last week in Climate Change Responses has highlighted an anomalous trend in the future sex-ratios of flatback turtles. Where… Read more »

Biology

Biology – The foreseeable future

BMC Biol iconic image

It’s a year and a half since we last looked at what our Editorial Board thinks we still need to know about biology, and it’s Biology Week in the UK. Good enough reason for another look at the open questions our expert Board thinks are most pressing, interesting or neglected in biological science. Do we… Read more »

Biology

The epigenetic basis of immune function

blood2

Written by Professor Lucia Altucci, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli European teams discovered unprecedented news on the epigenetic control on the immune system. Three recently published studies provide exciting biomedical-oriented advances on the epigenetic mechanisms regulating the immune function and, contextually, represent the step forward for the potential exploitation of the immune function to… Read more »

Biology

House fly genome could reveal insights into insecticide resistance

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A global team of researchers, led by Jeffrey Scott at Cornell University, have successfully sequenced the house fly genome, published today in Genome Biology. In this guest post, Professor Scott tells us more about why the research represents a significant scientific advance. An optimist is a fellow who believes a housefly is looking for a… Read more »

Biology

BugBitten and the art of war

Bugbitten-anniversary-272×300

According to Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military general, strategist and author of Art of War,  the key to winning a battle, is knowing your enemy. And clearly, for those who are trying to eliminate some of the most devastating parasitic diseases known to humans and animals, understanding what makes parasites and their vectors tick [pun… Read more »

Biology