We've written in the past about Randy Jirtle's agouti mice, which are a neat animal model for epigenetic change. Feed adult mothers a methyl-rich or genistein-rich diet, and DNA methylation lowers expression of the agouti gene in their offspring, shifting their coat color away from the classic agouti yellow and also protecting from obesity, which is associated with normal expression of the gene. Jirtle and colleagues have a new... Click to continue

With Darwin day celebrations going on around the world, people are looking back on a man that changed science as part of a larger cultural revolution away from using theology to explain natural phenomenon and toward a more secular thinking. One wonders, however, where the next such revolution might take place. From where will the next groundbreaking scientific discovery that truly challenges the tenets of our social understanding come from?

I'd offer -- ... Click to continue

Virgin's millions are up for grabs. What's a biologist to do? Tycoon Richard Branson offered another $25 million to combat global warming (he pledged $3 billion in September). This time he's taking a page from X-prize folks, offering the money as a prize for the best design of a plan for removing ?significant volumes of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases.? Although the official rules are a bit hazy on what a ?significant amount? means (they are far less hazy on publicity rights and... Click to continue

The NIH National Library of Medicine posted an extensive collection of Rosalind Franklin's correspondence and lab notebooks online. In addition to documenting her work on the structure of Tobacco Mosaic Virus with J.D. Bernal and some of her other important scientific contributions, several sources pertain to the now infamous years from 1951 to 1953; spent at J.T. Randall's lab in King's College.... Click to continue