Category: Life Sciences
Nearly All of Evolution Is Best Explained by Engineering
Transposable elements modify gene regulation in maize to confer drought tolerance, alter flowering time, and enable plants to grow in toxic aluminum soils.
Myths, Monsters, and Life’s Elusive First Step
The notion that the building blocks of life were easily gotten may have seemed intuitive to journalists and others acquainted with Mary Shelley’s novel.
Diatoms, an Evolutionary Mystery, Come into Nano-Focus
The jewels of the microbial world, when seen with new nano-scale imaging techniques, look like little modernist cathedrals.
Living Murals: Wall Art Made by Photosynthetic Bacteria
Long suspected to be biological in origin, desert varnish is confirmed to be the product of light-gathering microbes that concentrate manganese as sunscreen.
Handling Water Like Nature Does — By Intelligent Design
Here in the Pacific Northwest we are heading into a possibly historic heatwave. Water is on everyone’s mind. Nature beautifully anticipated our needs.