Category Archives: Biology

Radiation Charts

Are you confused about how big a radiation dose is harmful? (I am.) Check out these radiation charts, which attempt to put things into perspective. A Layman’s Intro to Radiation xkcd’s Radiation Chart [Updated 27-Apr-2011] Randall Munroe has updated his … Continue reading

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Fossil Bacteria in a Meteorite?

Richard B. Hoover of the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, has published a paper in the Journal of Cosmology claiming that he has identified fossil bacteria in a meteorite. Is this claim true? Phil Plait, an astronomer who blogs at … Continue reading

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New “This Week in Microbiology” Podcast

Thanks to infoenzae, who wrote a good review, I learned about a new podcast, This Week in Microbiology, hosted by Vincent Racaniello and The American Society for Microbiology.      

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ACHOO Syndrome And Other New Vocabulary

Bright light makes me sneeze. I have long known that this is called the “solar sneeze reflex.” Yesterday I learned from Wikipedia that the solar sneeze reflex is also called ACHOO Syndrome. ACHOO stands for Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioophthalmic Outburst. A … Continue reading

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Hypercapnia

Hypercapnia is the condition in which there is too much carbon dioxide in the blood. Hypercapnia is often accompanied by hypoxia, the condition in which there is too little oxygen in the blood. There is a scene from the movie … Continue reading

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Genome of the Ectomycorrhizal Fungus Laccaria bicolor

Martin et al. published a paper, “The genome of Laccaria bicolor provides insights into mycorrhizal symbiosis”, in the 06 March 2008 issue of Nature. The paper (PubMed record) is accompanied by a News and Views article, “Fungal symbiosis unearthed”, by … Continue reading

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The Personal Genome (2)

On 04 March 2008 I wrote a post about the personal genome. In the days since that post, I have expanded my reading about this topic, and I have found two blogs that cover personal genomes/personalized medicine very well. The … Continue reading

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