Microbiology – Page 100

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Amazing Cell Tricks: Contour Map Navigation

July 5, 2008

Watch a cell divide, and if things go well, it always divides in the middle. How does a cell figure out where its middle is? It follows its contour map. PhysOrg titled its entry, “Dividing cells find their middle by following a protein ‘contour map’.” Cell division, or cytokinesis, is a precisely-controlled operation […]

Dumb Ideas

How to Tell an Evolutionary Story

July 4, 2008

Thanks to Science Daily, we now know that “Evolutionary Origin Of Mammalian Gene Regulation Is Over 150 Million Years Old.” The proof is easy. It is so easy, in fact, that no proof is necessary. One can merely assume it is true. Trust them; they are scientists, after all. Here is how the E word […]

Birds

Birds of Different Feathers Evolve Together

June 26, 2008

Are pigeons like parrots? Are hummingbirds like hawks? And are falcons unlike eagles? Scientists are all a-flutter after results of a massive genetic comparison of birds has put some members in unlikely pigeonholes. “The largest ever study of bird genetics has not only shaken up but completely redrawn the avian evolutionary tree,” said Science Daily. […]

Amazing Facts

Bacterial Flagellar Motor Has a Protein Clutch

June 24, 2008

The bacterial flagellum, the whiplike outboard motor that has become an icon of intelligent design, has another artificial-looking part: a clutch. Science reported this in “machine language” as follows:1 The bacterial flagellum, powered by a motor that generates 1400 pN-nm of torque, can rotate at a frequency of greater than 100 Hz. EpsE [the clutch […]

Biomimetics

Animal Patterning Keeps Scientists Puzzle-Solving

June 23, 2008

Here’s a fascinating area of research for a budding young scientist: the development of animal patterns. Look at the dazzling wing patterns on butterflies in an illustration on Science Daily or consider a zebra’s stripes. How do such patterns emerge from a single fertilized egg? “Although this has been studied for years,” said a researcher […]

Amazing Facts

Magic Box in the Cell Baffles the Experts

June 16, 2008

Put a string of amino acids into this magic box, and it comes out all precisely folded into a protein. How does it do it? A molecular machine described by Science Daily has scientists baffled. Ironically, its name is TRiC. TRiC is a chaperonin, a member of a class of molecular machines that […]

Amazing Facts

Few Typos Get Past Your Spell Checker

June 11, 2008

Inside your cells are thousands of spell checkers that put any human typist to shame. In a process critical to all living things, RNA Polymerase II transcribes DNA into RNA rapidly with high fidelity. Even very similar chemical letters are accurately discriminated by this wonder of a molecular machine that is described in Science Daily. […]

Cell Biology

Darwinism Demonstrated in the Lab

June 10, 2008

Lenski’s done it. The champion of Avida, a computerized evolution demo (see Evolution News) has demonstrated Darwinian evolution with real live organisms. His achievement announces his inauguration into the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.1 Lenski and team ran one of the longest-running evolution experiments ever with E. coli bacteria. After more than 30,000 […]

Genetics

Can Darwin Fit into Designer Genes?

June 2, 2008

Humans are tinkering with DNA in ways that appear to blur the boundaries between design and nature. PhysOrg reported that geneticists at the University of Nottingham have created capsules that can coax bacteria to transfer their genetic information. The title is “Life, but not as we know it?” PNAS reported that scientists at UC Santa […]

Birds

Animals Outsmart Scientists

May 15, 2008

In science, long-standing beliefs are often challenged by new evidence. Several recent findings not only show animals to be more remarkable than thought, they pose some new questions for evolutionists. Slothlessness: Sleeping almost all day, the sloth is the epitome of laziness in the animal kingdom. Or is it? The BBC News now tells us […]

Amazing Facts

Cell Electronics Is High-Tech

May 13, 2008

To describe a living cell these days, you have to borrow electronics lingo. Notice how two recent articles described cell specs: Ham radio immunity: What acts like a radio dial, a signal amplifier, and a precision rheostat? Your immune system, according to Science Daily. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital described how the cell […]

Genetics

Platypus Genome Surprises Evolutionists

May 9, 2008

Thanks to more efficient sequencing techniques, genomes of more and more animals are coming to light. The latest is from one of the most unusual animals in nature: the duck-billed platypus of Australia. The long and short of it: if evolutionists were confused about the phenotype (outward appearance) of this creature, they are just as […]

Genetics

Whence Plague?

May 8, 2008

Where did bubonic plague come from? Science News reported that two mutations turned the bacterium from a docile, innocuous bacterium into a curse. The combination of two mutations disabled the gene for aspartase, an enzyme that breaks down aspartic acid. When the crippled Yersinia pestis enters a host, more aspartic acid is generated […]

Cell Biology

Fitting Data to Darwinism Takes Creativity and Spin

May 6, 2008

Fairly regularly, papers appear in journals under the heading of Evolution. The ones dealing with genetics tend to be hard to follow. They are filled with jargon, correlation scores, charts and network diagrams. They employ algorithms and databases unfamiliar to the lay reader. Overall, though, they claim to find support for Darwin’s tree of life […]

Genetics

Nature Topples ID Straw Man

April 19, 2008

It’s easier to knock down a straw man than a strong man. Maybe that explains the human tendency to fantasize about victory over one’s enemies. In scientific journals, however, one would expect to deal in facts and to realistically portray adversarial positions. Even better would be to let the adversary respond. Nature, however, in its […]

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