I remember when I fell in love with science. It was when I saw the T. Rex for the first time in Jurassic Park. This book and movie, despite their flaws in technical science, made a career in molecular biology seem easy, especially because they recreated dinosaurs. The author and director of the movie took
“Pueblo Revolt 1680” by Loren Mozley. Public Domain. The horse is thought of as a symbol of the American West, but when and how domesticated horses arrived has been a matter of controversy. Lakota oral histories described the arrival of the horse occurring prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. However, the Spanish (and
A brief history of herbalism Herbalism began to grow its roots many years ago through African and Indigenous American culture and practices. It seeks to combine the knowledge of plants and plant extracts for healing purposes, whether that is mental, physical, or spiritual healing. Specific herbs are utilized for their ability to treat specific ailments.
While I was at my uncle's house this summer, I was looking after my 10-year-old cousin. He was enjoying his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and at a certain point he asked me: “Where does peanut butter come from?†“From peanuts.†“Where do peanuts come from?†“From a peanut plant.†While he was satisfied and
“Therefore, the overall objective of this project is to characterize the changes in mitochondrial metabolism in early VML injury and determine how these contribute to the total decline of muscle contractile and oxidative function.†This was the sentence I used to describe the purpose of my dissertation project to my advisory committee. To them, it
Sore throat? Stuffy nose? Influenza, or flu, is a nuisance for many every year, causing unwelcome respiratory discomfort that goes away after a few days for most. In some, it can cause more severe disease and even death. Every year, we can get a seasonal flu vaccine to protect ourselves against the virus. But there
Growing up in the special education system, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: learning-disabled students become invisible as they age. That isn't to say that they aren't in the building, but that they work hard to make it less and less apparent that they are learning-disabled. By the time learning-disabled students enter college, their learning disability
What do frog skin, horseshoe crab blood, and a llama named Winter all have in common? All three were part of studies that have been awarded Golden Goose awards, a designation given to strange sounding but ground-breaking federally funded research. Frog skin was used in experiments to determine the mechanism underlying cholera and directly led
Slightly off the Californian coast, battle lines are drawn. On one side lies a purple, spiny, extraterrestrial-looking creature intent on eating all plant life in its path. On the other, an equally eccentric echinoderm in the shape of a star awaits that same creature as its next meal. The battleground between them is overshadowed by
What if I told you that the source code, or genomes, for many living organisms is available for free online? Would it surprise you? As of today, all genomes created by public funds are accessible to anyone in the world. Anyone with internet access, and a little bit of curiosity, can access tomes of genetic
Dr. Diana Six is a professor of Forest Entomology and Pathology at the University of Montana. Dr. Six's work focuses on bark beetles, their symbiotic fungi, climate change, and what these factors mean for forest health. Her work has received the attention of the media and she has presented at TedX and has been featured on
Cancer, a complex disease caused by an accumulation of mutations in our DNA, affects millions of individuals each year. Cancer poses a very serious threat, but is it contagious? The short answer is “noâ€, at least for us humans. In humans, the only way to truly transfer cancer from one person to the next is
