This Halloween, as you see kids dressed up as zombies or witches, threatening neighbors into giving them candy it's easy to forget that these terrifying creatures once had a less sugary purpose: in the absence of modern science, our ancestors needed a supernatural technique to explain the plagues and diseases that reason couldn't. One of
The imposing structure of the Svalbard seed bank is familiar to many. This “doomsday†vault (ahem, already breached by climate change) is humanity's last resort for preserving the seeds of our crops and plants. But how did this bastion of biodiversity arise? Nikolai Vavilov, a 20th century Russian agronomist and geneticist, established the first modern
Fermentation is the process in which sugar is consumed by microbes and converted into another chemical. In the case of brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), the fungus responsible for nearly all alcoholic beverages, sugar is eaten and converted to alcohol, phenols, and esters. Other fungi and bacteria have been in use for centuries, but their use
Maple syrup is a staple in Western breakfast culture. True maple syrup – as opposed to the thick corn syrup imitation that sits in many American diners – comes from a variety of trees, mostly the sugar maple. But this breakfast condiment is more than just goo that happens to ooze out of a plant
Ebolavirus is one of the most infamous disease causing pathogens of the modern era. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the largest outbreak of ebolavirus to date, with over 28,000 suspected cases and 11,000 deaths. Ebolavirus is just one member of the Filoviridae virus family. These viruses are colloquially referred to as Filoviruses
You are in a meadow, walking. You reach the edge of a steep cliff, but you don't stop…… wait, are you OK? Yes! You seem to be gliding effortlessly through the cool breeze, feeling fantastic. You realize that you are FLYING! But, what do you want to do next? Talk to God or dine with
This article is part of our brand new Athens Science Observer interview series. We are conducting interviews with established scientists in order to get first person accounts of exciting research and hear the stories of those who are making a difference. You may have heard that sunflowers can track the sun during the day, but
Here's a valid question: if it's a human condition or disease we're interested in, why do we study flies, plants or bacteria? It's a question that researchers often have to answer: whether it be for grant funding or to their in-laws over Thanksgiving dinner. Certainly, no one wants to hear—or vote for— tax dollars aimlessly
We've all chucked the occasional to-go container or small plastic item with a recycling code in the recycling bin without thinking about its fate. Surely even if a few of these items can't be recycled, it wouldn't take much for the facility to just remove them, right? Just ask one recycling plant in central Florida,
Tattoos, the artistic insertion of pigment into the skin as a form of body modification, has been around for quite a while, with the earliest preserved example from around 3300 BC. These tattoos comes from Ötzi the Iceman, a preserved human found in the Alps between Austria and Italy in 1991. The tattoos were of
Viruses stealthily spread among us, commandeering our very cells and waging a relentless war with our immune systems. You know them for everything from the common cold and flu to catastrophic outbreaks of HIV and Ebola. At the very least, they’ve probably ruined your plans once or twice. But did you know that a
