In the late 1970’s, the KGB inducted ricin into the “cloak and dagger” hall-of-fame by turning a more or less innocuous umbrella tip into their assassin’s weapon of…
Decades ago, pioneering studies in cats and rodents identified regions within an ancient part of the brain, the hypothalamus, that are sufficient to increase or reduce appetite. Stimulating…
Organisms must accumulate scarce nutrients from their environments to survive. This often involves moving molecules up a concentration gradient, which is entropically unfavorable. Active transport proteins embedded in…
For embryos to develop properly, cells must communicate with one another over long ranges through diffusive chemical signals called morphogens. These signals act as instructive cues for the…
Bacillus subtilis is a bacterium with many talents. Some cells devote themselves to exploration, abandoning their relatives to live as swimming ‘motile’ cells. Others instead choose a cooperative,…
As our brain develops, neurons need to connect to each other through synapses. We study a family of proteins called clustered protocadherins that help ensure that only proper…
In a recent paper in Neuron (PDF) the Engert and Schier labs uncover striking similarities in stimulus representation and computation across biological and artificial neural networks performing temperature…
When we think of the neurons that control pain-induced behavior, what usually comes to mind are the simple peripheral and spinal reflex circuits described in medical textbooks. This…
The first time Vayu Maini Rekdal manipulated microbes, he made a decent sourdough bread. At the time, young Maini Rekdal, and most people who head to the kitchen,…
Most bacteria swim through fluids by rotating helical flagella, driven at their base by a macromolecular rotary motor. The motor drives the flagellum against the viscous resistance of…
