Biology

Cell cycle

Feb 13, 2021

By Mohamed Mahmoud Have you ever wondered how cells grow, divide? Or how these processes are controlled? In this article, we are taking you through a tour that will answer all of your questions. The human body contains about 37.2 trillion cells. All of these cells are derived from only one fertilized egg. The development of […]

Vaccine

Feb 11, 2021

By Taylor Tibbs Vaccine  (noun, /vak-SEEN/)  What does it mean?  A vaccine is a biological product used to protect or immunize against a certain disease. When vaccines are given, they stimulate the immune system to develop a protective response against the causative agent of a disease or pathogen (such as a virus). Vaccines can be […]

Ischemia

Feb 03, 2021

By Zoe Terwilliger Ischemia Noun. / ih-SKEE-mee-uh/ What does it mean? Ischemia is a decrease in blood supply to an organ or tissue. Because red blood cells are responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body, less blood flow also means less oxygen being delivered to tissues. This lack of oxygen prevents the body’s cells from […]

Science Word Wednesday: Endothelium

Sep 16, 2020

By Madison Williams Endothelium (noun. /en-do-THEE-lee-uhm) What does it mean? The endothelium is a single layer of cells that makes up the inner layer of our blood vessels (arteries, veins, and capillaries). The cells in this layer are referred to as “endothelial cells.” These cells are important parts of the cardiovascular system–the system that includes […]

Variegated Varietals

Aug 03, 2020

By Jenna Beam If I had to pick a theme for the coronavirus lockdown, it would be a close race between sourdough bread and houseplants. It seems like everyone either has a sourdough starter, approximately 100 new houseplants, or both. Since I’ve already written an article about sourdough bread (you can check it out here), […]

What Makes a Flower Perfect?

Jul 16, 2020

By Lane Scher Yesterday, as I was tending to my garden and admiring the young squash developing on the vine of my squash plant, something caught my eye. A few flower buds on the vine had what looked like tiny squash babies at their base. Other flowers on the same vine were fully opened, but […]

Aspergillus: the Not-So-Fun Fungi

Jul 09, 2020

By Jenna Beam The microbiome is a complex network of microbes living in and on your body. This group of microbes is really important for helping you digest food, protecting your skin and gut from infections, and may even play a role in brain health. When people use the term microbiome, they are often describing […]

Keystone Species: Holding the Ecosystem Together

Jun 25, 2020

By Whitney Bell Keystone species are like the keystone in a stone archway. The keystone in an archway is responsible for holding all the other stones in place and maintaining the structure, and just like it, keystone species are vital to their ecological communities. Keystone species are plants or animals that are critical for maintaining […]

The Name’s Dik. Dik-dik.

Jun 04, 2020

By Zoe Terwilliger Many of us have seen the loveable dik-dik in memes and movies like Madagascar, however they are much more than just an adorable character. While these tiny creatures are similar to the deer we have here in the United States, dik-diks are a type of dwarf antelope. Dwarf antelope are a subfamily […]

Leaping Into Science: the Lemurs of NC

May 19, 2020

By Whitney Bell From Crikey! It’s the Irwins!, to Wild Kratts, to Planet Earth, TV shows and channels like Animal Planet featuring animals are not in short supply. Those of us who were growing up in the mid-90s might remember a PBS TV show called Zoboomafoo which starred brothers Chris and Martin Kratt (the creators […]

Bacteria in your gut are eating your leftovers, and that’s a good thing

May 05, 2020

By Jeffrey Letourneau What did you eat for dinner last night? It might feel like a long time ago from your perspective, but chances are that the microbes in your gut are currently digesting some of the last remaining nutrients from that meal. In particular, dietary fiber is an important food source for these microbes, […]

Pink Manta Ray on Parade!

Apr 30, 2020

By Emma Goldberg Everyone has a favorite color: I like blue, my mom likes purple, my brother likes red and one very special manta ray in the Great Barrier Reef loves neon pink!  In fact, this manta ray, named Inspector Clouseau after the well known inspector from the Pink Panther, loves neon pink so much […]

In Spring, Timing is Everything

Apr 16, 2020

By Lane Scher If you’ve been spending time outside lately, you’ve probably noticed a lot more green over the last few weeks. Maybe you’ve also noticed more birds singing, and if you’re really paying attention, you’ll see different types of birds every couple of days. These are changes that happen every year in the Spring, […]

A Portrait of a Protein

Apr 14, 2020

By Anna Wheless HOW FAR WE’VE COME “What was the most important scientific discovery ever made?”  The answers to this question range from the discovery of antibiotics to the development of the theory of general relativity. It’s all a matter of opinion, but my answer to this question would be: the manipulation of glass. It […]

Tis the season for…Pollen

Apr 07, 2020

By Alan Curtis Ah, Spring- a season of renewal, growth and beautiful colors! Flowering plants and trees use pollen to reproduce. Pollen is produced by male parts of the flower and spread through the air and peaks in the spring months.  For some North Carolinians, pollen makes spring a time of intense allergies. Puffy eyes, […]

Meet Edward Jenner

Apr 02, 2020

By Jenna Beam Meet Edward Jenner, a physician from way back in the early 1800’s. Why do we care about another old English man, you ask? Because Edward Jenner is the man responsible for one of the most important medical discoveries ever made: vaccines.  As a baby through early childhood, and even sometimes as an […]

The magical minds of sunflowers

Mar 12, 2020

By Lane Scher Sunflowers are one of my favorite plants. I like them not just because they grow tall and make beautiful flowers but also because of their amazing tricks to get sunlight and attract pollinators. When I was in college, I got to work in a research lab that studied these behaviors in sunflowers, […]

What the heck is the spleen?

Feb 21, 2020

By Jenna Beam Let’s level with each other – everyone has a spleen, everyone knows that everyone has a spleen, but does anyone know what the spleen is for?  Until a few years ago, I had no idea what the spleen was for. Was it like the appendix – a vestigial structure, leftover from millenia […]

Jumping Coronavirus

Feb 13, 2020

By Devina Thiono Earlier this year, there was a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China. It was later found that the outbreak was caused by a new type of virus that is now named 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The symptoms began with fever, coughing, and shortness of breath, which may arise 2-14 days after initial exposure […]

The Once and Future Chestnut Tree

Jan 16, 2020

By Lane Scher The American chestnut tree used to be the most common tree throughout the entire eastern United States, from Alabama to Massachusetts. The trunk could grow to be 10 feet across with branches that stretched 100 feet tall. The trees were fast-growing and the wood was strong. It had so many uses in […]

Future of Organ Transplants

Jan 09, 2020

By Rachel Cherney If you’ve received your driver’s license, chances are you had the option to decide to donate your organs after your (unfortunate or untimely) death. Organ transplantation is an incredible medical procedure, allowing so many people a second chance at a quality life, or life at all. Just one organ donor can save […]

Humpback Whales Top Tracks

Dec 19, 2019

By Emma Joy Goldberg Today’s top pop music charts include tracks from Ariana Grande, Post Malone, Harry Styles and Billie Eilish.  But what if I told you that just like humans, humpback whales have their own top hits? Yes, you read that correctly! Male humpback whales have been dubbed the “serenaders of the sea” and […]

Figs and wasps: Name a more iconic duo

Nov 21, 2019

By Lane Scher In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote about wasps crawling out of ripe figs and then tunneling into the figs of another tree in his book, History of Animals. This might have been the first record of the bizarre mutualism between wasps and figs.  Flowers need to be pollinated for a fruit to develop. […]

Curing the Common Cold

Oct 31, 2019

By Emma Joy Goldberg It’s that time of year again! The time of year when, one by one, your friends, teachers, sisters, brothers, moms and dads come down with that dreaded weeklong cold! That’s right, it’s cold season! Traditional symptoms of the common cold that no one seems able to escape include a runny nose, […]

Are you stronger than a Shrimp?

Oct 24, 2019

By Rachel Cherney Earth is filled with some incredible sights and unbelievable creatures. You may have heard of the great white shark, the giant squid, the anglerfish, or even the tardigrade, that can survive in space, or decades without water! Now, you’re going to learn about the mantis shrimp, a class of about 450 sea […]

The Bionic Mushroom – A New Superhero?

Nov 29, 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mushroom_-_unidentified.jpg

By Rachel Cherney   A fungus among us can now produce electricity with the help of cyanobacteria – a certain species of microbe. You read that right, scientists in New Jersey have harnessed nature’s diversity to generate bionic, electricity producing, mushrooms. Microbes, microscopic single-celled organisms, can produce a variety of materials and functions that are […]

Space Biology: The Search for Life Beyond Earth

Nov 08, 2018 https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/the-search-for-life/habitable-zones/

By Sam Stadmiller Have you ever wondered if aliens are real? Well, scientists do too, and they spend lots of time and effort searching for life on other planets. When you think about the vastness of our universe, the existence of life on other planets in the past, present, or future, is statistically probable. All […]

Science Shows it Really is Harder for Teens to Wake Up Early

Nov 01, 2018 https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacial/5871701290

By Eva Vitucci Scientists have proven that it truly is harder for teens to wake up earlier than other age groups. While there are a few reasons that potentially drive this difference, it largely boils down to two main molecules that are produced in our bodies, melatonin and serotonin. When we wake up in the […]

To Attract or Avoid: Butterfly Wing Patterning

May 31, 2018 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:E3000_-_the_wings-become-windows_butterfly._(by-sa).jpg

By Allyson Roberts Spring is finally here to stay. The weather is warming up, the sun is staying out later and later, and we’re beginning to see wildlife flit around outside. Amongst the blooming flowers and buzzing bees, sometimes you can even spot a butterfly perched nearby. Butterflies come in all shapes and sizes, but […]

E. coli: The Bug We Love and Hate

May 10, 2018 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Diverse_e_Coli.png

By Yitong Li The recent E. coli outbreak is all over the news these days. These malignant bacteria can be found in romaine lettuce, leafy vegetables, and possibly all salad mixes. Many people have been hospitalized because of it and one person has died. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is […]

The Toxicologist

Apr 26, 2018 Altered by Eva Vitucci from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paracelsus.jpg

By Eva Vitucci Over 500 years ago, a man named Paracelsus stirred up the world of medicine. At that time the main belief was when an individual became sick it was because fluids in their body, such as their blood or bile, became imbalanced. Paracelsus was one of the first people to propose and support […]

What’s in a face? Paving the way for biometric technologies

Apr 05, 2018 https://pixabay.com/en/eye-iris-biometrics-2771174/

By Chad Lloyd Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, “They look just like someone else I know?” What allows us to look at someone and be able to recognize them? The reason that we can look at someone and distinguish them from others is due to their unique facial features and landmarks. […]

The Power of Model Organisms

Mar 29, 2018 https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/761/31994514202_71c04bdfb3_b.jpg

By Allyson Roberts While watching the news, reading the paper, or even checking your favorite social media sites, occasionally we stumble across stories about discoveries scientists have made related to how genes contribute to obesity, or how scientists have discovered a cure for Ebola virus. These findings are important for human health, but if you […]

Chlamydia is Sneaky

Mar 09, 2018 http://www.clker.com/clipart-consulting-detective-with-pipe-and-magnifying-glass-silhouette-.html

By Clare Gyorke I’m sure many of you remember the movie, “Mean Girls“ and have heard Coach Carr’s famous caution that “if you touch each other, you will get chlamydia, and die.” As it turns out, he was sadly misinformed. Though it cannot kill you, Chlamydia trachomatis is actually the most common bacterial sexually transmitted […]

Our Unbeliverable Liver

Mar 01, 2018 https://bloominuterus.com/2015/03/04/endo-liver-function/

By Eva Vitucci The human body is an amazing entity, and as can be seen by watching the recent Winter Olympics, the body can accomplish great physical feats! Becoming an Olympic athlete requires years of practice and training. Interestingly, while most people may focus on how critical it must be to build and maintain the […]

Why Can’t Humans Hibernate?

Feb 15, 2018 http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=187990&picture=black-bear-portrait

By Matt Niederhuber North Carolina has had a miserable winter this year, with a heavy dose of snow and bitter cold –  so much that you might wish you could climb under a warm blanket and hibernate till May. Unfortunately, humans can’t hibernate like many of our mammalian relatives, and we’re forced to suffer through […]

The Flu and You

Feb 08, 2018 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enveloped_icosahedral_virus.svg

By Christina Marvin If you have not come down with the flu yourself, you most likely have had a friend or family member who has. It rears its ugly head each year, infecting those it comes in contact with and discriminating against no one. If you’ve been following this blog, you may have read about […]

Dietary Supplements: #NewYearNewMe or #NewYearNewLiver ?

Jan 25, 2018 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sports_Nutrition_Supplements.jpg

By Eva Vitucci As 2018 makes its grand entrance, so does the ever trending hashtag #NewYearNewMe. This hashtag is frequently used in reference to the undertaking of a healthier lifestyle, and for those hashtag enthusiasts, is often followed by #FitFam and #LegDay.  Shifting to a healthier lifestyle can be a monumental challenge, but often one of […]

How to Copy DNA: The Invention of the Polymerase Chain Reaction

Jan 11, 2018 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Prismatic_Spring,_Yellowstone_National_Park_(3646969937).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Thermus_aquaticus

By Matt Niederhuber There’s a good chance you’ve heard about DNA testing before, probably on a crime TV show or on the news. Sometimes, DNA testing is how the police identify suspects, but it has also helped prove the innocence of many people who have been falsely imprisoned. I bring up DNA testing because I […]

Synesthesia: Taste the Rainbow

Jan 04, 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#/media/File:Synesthesia.svg

By Jennifer Schiller Close your eyes and remember your breakfast. How did it feel? Was it slimy scrambled eggs? Was it crunchy cereal? Or, like the man after which Richard E. Cytowic’s non-fiction book The Man Who Tasted Shapes is titled, did it feel pointy in your hands from the pepper? Was this last question […]

The Secret Behind How We Choose Our Food

Dec 07, 2017 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MRI_of_orbitofrontal_cortex.jpg

By Yitong Li When it comes to food choice, it’s almost an instinctual question: sometimes I want some chicken and greens for dinner and others I want some BBQ ribs and mashed potatoes. Compared to other decisions, such as which phone to buy or which shirt to put on in the morning, choosing food seems […]

Why the Flu Shot Rocks

Nov 30, 2017 https://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/immunity/immune-detail.html

By Clare Gyorke When I say the flu sucks, I’m not talking about the cold you get every year – you feel crappy for a day or two, but not so crappy that you can’t watch Netflix. I’m talking about the one that starts out feeling like a cold, but progresses to feeling so bad […]

Spiders: Natural Engineers of the Animal Kingdom

Nov 02, 2017 http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Web-Yellow-Garden-Spider-Macro-Insect-Outdoors-1982368

By Allyson Roberts As the holiday season marches on, spooky Halloween decorations are being replaced. But, before they have all crawled away, let’s take a moment to consider one commonly feared Halloween staple: spiders. So, how did these “arachnids” (spiders aren’t insects!) become a symbol of horror and Halloween? The easy answer is that, for […]

Lab mice: the true heroes of science

Oct 12, 2017 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Knockout_Mice5006-300.jpg

********** The NC DNA Day CONNECT blog is back! We’re excited for another year of sharing exciting science news and interesting research going on here in North Carolina and around the world. We will have a new post each Thursday, so make sure to check back every week! ********** By Michelle Engle The phrases “laboratory animals”, […]