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What Cold Really Looks Like
Biology concepts – TRPA1, cold sensing, oxygen sensing, proteasome function, hypoxia, normoxia, hyperoxia, phototransduction, optogenetics, methyl anthranilateLast week we learned that the TRPA1 ion...
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Sneaking Up On A Snake
Biology concepts – thermosensor, sight-hunters, snake hearing, mutation, TRPA1, pit vipers We have been talking about taste sense for many weeks. I remember a 1975 movie called, A Boy And His Dog,...
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They Can See The Blood Running Through You
Biology concepts- thermosensors, TRPV1, hematophagy, taste sense, alternate splicing, echolocation All three species of vampire bat live in Central to South America, the common vampire bat (Desmodus...
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How Do Mosquitoes Find You?
Biology concepts – semiochemicals, hematophagy, proboscis, thermosensing, TRPA1Sure, mosquitoes suck blood and pass along malaria that kill more humans than any other infectious disease. But would it...
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Everybody Wants To Be Cool
Biology concepts – TRPM8 cold sensor, menthol, evolution, cold pleasure The old ads for menthol cigarettes are fascinating, from a biologypoint of view. The “cool” and the “refreshing” aspects were...
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What’s So Repelling About Repellents?
Biology concepts – thermosensing, repellent, odor receptors, gustatory receptors, semiochemcialsScience explains our world, and then technology and engineering build a model of that for our use. The...
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East To West And Back Again
Biological concepts – carbohydrates, heliotropism, monoecious, dioecious I’m trying to think of a situation where quantity is better than quality. Perhaps some could argue that since quality is...
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Let's Get Loud
Biology concepts – vocalizations, mechanical sounds, sonar, decibels, stridulation Today it seems that truth is more complex than ever. van Goethe was a German statesman and a very successful writer....
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Does Life Come In XXXS?
Biology concepts – characteristics of life, archaea, bacteria, mycoplasma, synthetic biology, symbiosis, parasitism, nanobacteria, genomeAs part of this blog, we have talked about some pretty small...
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Fall Leaves And Orange Flamingos
Biology concepts – pigment, carotenoids, flamingos, cyanobacteria, bacteriophage, trophic cascade effect, spirulina, algaThese are the two species of Old World flamingos, the greater (upper left) and...
View ArticleBiology Position available
I was asked by the Adella Ramirez, the chairperson fo the science department at Waller High School to post the following:Waller High School in Waller ISD, Waller Texas is in need of an AP and duel...
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Sometimes, Cold Hurts
Biology concepts – nature of science, TRPA1, thermoregulation, noxious sensor, chemical sensor, mutation, protein domains"As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but...
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Getting High On Life
Biology concepts – bacteria, climate, respiratory, birds, arthropods, astrobiology, cloudsCarl Sagan wasn’t just the host of the original Cosmoson TV. He solved the riddles of Venus’ high temperature,...
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Because He Is The One
Biology Concepts – ommatidia, reflex, fly, arthropod, sensory receptors, sensilla, metabolic rate, life spanNeo (Keanu Reeves) learned that he could dodge bullets at one point in The Matrix. This was...
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Let’s Chew The Fat
Biology concepts – lipid, saturation, fruit, vegetable, drupe, berry, mesocarp, cotyledon, tuber, fatty acid, triglyceride To try and get blood from a stone dates back to the 1600’s, meaning to try and...
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Sneaking Up On A Snake
Biology concepts – thermosensor, sight-hunters, snake hearing, mutation, TRPA1, pit vipers We have been talking about taste sense for many weeks. I remember a 1975 movie called, A Boy And His Dog,...
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Bacteria Are Intelligent Designers
Biology concepts – nature of science, flagella, intelligent design, irreducible complexity, motility, Gram+, Gram -, ion gradient You don’t believe it now, but in the weeks ahead we’re going to discuss...
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Bacteria Can Really Get Around
Biology concepts – motility, microbiology, bacteria, evolution, gliding, twitching, flagella, pilusThe Giant Devil Ray, or mobula ray (Mobula mobular) can reach 18 ft. (5.4 m) wide. It’s not so much...
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Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Biology concepts – bacteria, motility, flagella, quorum sensing, bacterial swarming, biofilms, pathogenesisNomads are wanderers. They come in different flavors. Hunter-gatherers follow the animals as...
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Chase The Good, Evade The Bad
Biology concepts – motility, flagella, bacteria, chemotaxis, magnetotactic, monotrichous, amphitrichous, lophotrichous, peritrichous, run and tumble, coccusThe Princess Bride had everything – good...
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