Plant-derived Therapy for Alzheimer’s?
Nearly 30 million people have developed Alzheimer’s disease worldwide, and millions more know the name of the incurable illness. Alzheimer’s disease is expected to affect four times as many people by the year 2050, a number as large as the population of Mexico.
In the United States, Alzheimer’s...
Marijuana Linked to Cancer
Posted by Pallavi in Featured Articles, Health, Marijuana Special Topic Week on 06 25th, 2009 | No Comments
Marijuana is one of the few illegal substances remaining that can still arguably be less harmful than other legal substances, like tobacco. Until now, little research had been conducted to prove that cannabis smoke could have detrimental effects on the health of those who inhaled it.
Research by Professor...
Didymo: Invasion on the Rocks
News Flash from plants’ photosynthetic cousins: Didymosphenia geminata, one of the fastest spreading single-celled algae strains in the world has struck again, this time in the waters of the Esopus Creek in Shandaken, New York.
Didymo, also known as Rock Snot, has been a growing concern for biologists...
Warning the Clones
University of California at Davis professor Richard Karban has published his most recent research in the latest edition of Ecology Letters. His research has shown that plants can warn nearby “clones,” or genetically identical cuttings, of forthcoming danger.
Karban’s group found that the sagebrush...
The Spectacular Debut of Snow Roots
Posted by Deepa in Environment, Featured Articles, Research, Strange But True on 06 18th, 2009 | No Comments
….brought to you by Evolution
The C. Conorhiza plant lives high in the Caucasus Mountains, which are nestled between the Black and Caspian Seas. A recent study in “Ecology Letters” reveals how C. Conorhiza plants thrive in the Caucasus Mountains, despite freezing temperatures at high altitudes.
A...
New Method of Gene Modification
Posted by Pallavi in Agriculture, Environment, Featured Articles, GM Foods on 06 17th, 2009 | No Comments
When I first learned about modifying genes in my high school biology class I found it a fascinating, yet scary concept. Learning about how DNA works allowed researchers to develop a method of inserting foreign DNA into organisms, a potential solution to many genetic problems. I remember when we inserted...
Parkinson’s and Pesticide
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by movement disorders, including tremors and bradykinesia, which are due to the insufficient production and action of dopamine in the brain. The cause of PD is not completely understood, though it is believed to be due to...
The Proof is in the Photosynthesis
In a recent study performed at the University of Alberta, signs of increased plant activity were found in a variety of arctic lakes. In the study, six lakes were tested for chlorophyll-a content deep down in the sediment. Chlorophyll-a is a byproduct of the process of photosynthesis and thus, an indicator...
Plant Immunity
The immune system amazed me when I first learned about it. How intriguing is it that our body is able to recognize, target and attack danger without harming what’s benign? One little failure in the immune system can prove catastrophic. It can lead to letting an invader win or allowing an autoimmune...
Antibiotic Resistance via Plant Fertilizer
The food chain can allow genes to be transferred from species to species across the planet. The consumption of many genes may not have any effect on us, but the consumption of say, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, could potentially be very harmful. We are often notified of any outbreaks that could...
Phytoliths- the Scientist’s Tarot Card
Recent developments at the University of Western Ontario have unearthed a new way to dig into the dirt of history and track the earth’s climate all the way back through the last three ice ages and the interglacial periods.
Zhenzhen Huang, an isotope chemist at the university, has pioneered a method...
Have You Been Eating Your Grapes?
As a kid I loved fruits and yogurt. Every day I would try to convince my parents to let me eat fruits instead of vegetables for dinner. Happy as they were for my healthy obsession, they still wanted me to eat my vegetables and grains so I could have “cleaner blood and a healthy heart”.
A study conducted...
Tell Your Plants to Stop Overreacting
We are all aware that our immune systems protect us from harmful pathogens, and many of us are also aware that plants have immune systems not unlike ours. One of the most prevalent diseases in the human world, diabetes, is caused by an overactive immune system. Over the years, we have come to understand...
Forget the Charcoal! Go Bananas!
Posted by Sarah in Agriculture, Bio Fuels, Environment, Featured Articles on 06 2nd, 2009 | No Comments
The banana peel seems to have universal “appeal” in cartoon episodes. Whether a character slips and skids across the sidewalk or falls into the nearest trash can or mud puddle, loose banana peels somehow always lead to a cartoon character’s slippery demise. So in reality, where do all of the...
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