Genetics
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The Silk Renaissance
September 17, 2010
From its origins in the Far East thousands of years ago, silk has now infiltrated the realm of scientific research, offering breakthrough applications that could change the world.
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Slippery Cellularities
June 21, 2010
Synthetic biology can mean reconstructing organisms, redesigning biology, or recreating life—and each of these uses has different implications.
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The Meaning of Life
May 24, 2010
Last week, biologist J. Craig Venter crossed a momentous threshold—creating a living organism with no ancestor. In 2007, Carl Zimmer gave Seed this provocative look at the difficulties inherent in defining "life."
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Biotech Is Not a Product
April 19, 2010
Anastasia Bodnar, geneticist, blogger, and maize-fortifier, on misconceptions surrounding biotechnology and drawing inspiration from dog-eared utopian classics.
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Sexual Role-Reversals
March 31, 2010
Male pipefish get “pregnant,” and Atlantic slippersnails change sexes as they grow. Researchers are now uncovering how and why these bizarre sex strategies occur.
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I Tried Almost Everything Else
March 22, 2010
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Mosquito Noses and Baby Brains
February 23, 2010
In this week's Findings Log, we examine new research that studies mosquitoes' sense of smell, bilingual babies, brain-computer interfaces, and more.
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The Stunning Diversity of Plants
February 22, 2010
Kirsten Bomblies, MacArthur genius and Harvard biology professor, answers our 10 questions, discussing the immune system of plants and how young scientists can keep inspiration alive.
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Evolved for Extinction?
October 14, 2009
Could the novel evolutionary adaptations of animals like the Galapagos tortoise and the Komodo dragon actually leave these species more vulnerable to extinction?
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Folding Our Way to a Revolution
October 12, 2009
With a few strands of nucleic acids and some ingenious programming, DNA origami is remaking nanotechnology, from drug delivery to chip design.
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Altruism vs. Selfishness
September 26, 2009
The idea that evolution explains selfishness well and altruism poorly is starting to stink. Can we please bury it now?
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Survival of the Kindest
September 24, 2009
In his new book, The Age of Empathy, Frans de Waal outlines an alternative to “Nature, red in tooth and claw.” Can a vision of a more empathic world change the way we behave toward each other?
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Death and the Rumor Mill
August 21, 2009
With healthcare reform on the table, rumors about end of life care were greatly exaggerated. Plus a carnivorous plant is hyped and DNA evidence is faked.
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Signal to Noise
August 19, 2009
What we’re learning about pancreatic cancer now—and why the cure remains so elusive.
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The Rorschach Paintings
August 18, 2009
In creating her new series, Pareidolia, artist and chemist Vesna Jovanovic detected biomorphic and medical forms in blots of ink.
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Pavlov’s Microorganisms
July 27, 2009
Microorganisms can predict changes in their environments—upending age-old biological tenets and giving new insight into non-neural genius.
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Cash for Eggs
July 22, 2009
There should be no question about researchers paying for egg donations.
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New York’s Stem Cell Coup
July 22, 2009
Now that new national stem cell guidelines are in place, New York’s recent policy shift could make it the stem cell capital of the country.
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The Deepest Links
July 06, 2009
Evolution is a tinkerer. When novel features evolve, old parts are co-opted for new roles.
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How to Build a Better Tree of Life
July 01, 2009
An unconventional approach to analyzing molecular sequences allows researchers to construct larger evolutionary trees.
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How Do You Know It’s Sex?
June 20, 2009
Sex, one of the great mysteries of evolutionary biology, becomes even more complicated when scientists study it in yeast.
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Scientific Flip-Flop
June 18, 2009
Five experts debate the roots of GM opposition, the role of big agribusiness, and whether we’ve achieved real scientific consensus.
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Week in Review: June 12
June 12, 2009
Gordon Brown reshuffles science, Europe and the pursuit of guilt-free energy, reviving the chestnut to fight climate change, creating clonal crops, and letting the sun shine on government.
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In Seeds We Trust
June 09, 2009
Because science won’t save us if biodiversity fails, a global effort is underway to collect and cache the genetic resources contained in seeds.
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What the Cow Genome Tells Us
June 08, 2009
The recent sequencing of the bovine genome will dramatically transform more than just the cattle industry.
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Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
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Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
