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Biology Archive: Biology

September 18, 2009

How-To: Cure colorblindness in an adult primate

OK, OK, this is probably something you shouldn't try on yourself, a loved one, or even a close friend. Still, it's pretty flippin' amazing: a full-grown animal, permanently (apparently) cured of a genetic defect by a few injections. Can X-people be that far behind?

(That's a rhetorical question, BTW; those of you who know the real answer to that question is "yes," just chill and give me my moment.)

Here is the original abstract at Nature.

September 15, 2009

The impossible rose

To produce a naturally blue rose has been a dream of horticulturalists for almost as long as people have been breeding flowers. It turns out to be essentially impossible to do by traditional plant husbandry, and attempts have proved futile for so long that the blue rose itself has become a symbol of the impossible or the seemingly impossible, and only the rarest achievements call for their presentation as gifts. And until recently, even those rare occasions had to be served by artificially blue roses made by growing white roses in tinted water. Now, however, the Japanese company Suntory, in partnership with Australia's Florigene, have created a transgenic rose which incorporates a petunia gene to achieve a pale lilac color which is really only barely blue. It took them 13 years of work to do it, however, so I guess they've decided pale lilac is close enough.

September 10, 2009

Microbiological glass menagerie

Artist Luke Jarram makes these gorgeous models of microorganisms and infectious particles in hand-blown glass.

August 27, 2009

Hydroponic ferris wheel

I'm no expert on plant nutrition or hydroponics, so I can't vouch for the effectiveness of this idea or of the particular system, but aesthetically I really like these rotating hydroponic gardens with the plants growing inward. The idea is to minimize radiant losses from the bulb, which is the expensive part of an indoor garden to operate, and hence to maximize cost efficiency. The design saves on floor space, too.

August 23, 2009

Gorgeous zen aquaria

My friend Cara just introduced me to the work of Japanese photographer and aquarist Takashi Amano. From his Wikipedia entry:

Takashi Amano is one of the most influential people in the freshwater aquascaping community. He can largely be credited with introducing Japanese gardening concepts such as Wabi-sabi and Zen rock arrangement to the aquascaping hobby. His tank compositions involve intricate, and typically asymmetrical (though balanced) arrangements of aquatic plants often augmented by river rocks and driftwood. His aquascapes are notable in that they often mimic nature in their appearance, and can be regarded as a form of art.

Besides his personal site, linked above, Mr. Amano also runs Aqua Design Amano, which specializes in high-end aquascaping equipment and supplies.

August 18, 2009

Elephant fitted with prosthetic leg

(Photo by AP)

A 48-year-old elephant who lost part of her front left leg a decade ago was fitted with a prosthetic last week and is reported to be doing great. The artificial leg was made by the Prostheses Foundation, which also makes artificial limbs for human amputees.

Let the witty naming begin -- Robo Dumbo has been used, and I'm thinking someone more creative than me can come up with a nifty Steampunk version of Elephunk.

More:

Report on Treehugger
Report by Associated Press with more photos
Nice chronology here

August 12, 2009

Do you eat the moldy stuff?

My husband and I have battled continuously for years about whether scraping the mold off the top of -- well, anything -- makes it OK to eat, or if once a spot of green invades the top of a barely used jar of jam we've got to call it a loss and toss it out. I'm always willing to scrape off the top, cut off the moldy crusts, etc., and carry on with the meal. My husband, not so much.

Well, turns out the USDA has weighed in on the argument with interesting findings. My favorite part of the Safe Food Handling fact sheets is this chart on how to handle moldy foods (very, very carefully is not one of the answers):

An article on CNN takes it one step farther, suggesting that you shouldn't eat the pizza you left out on the counter overnight (What? Even my husband finds this to be absurd). And I never would have thought about eating moldy sausage, hard or not.

In the end, experts and the USDA report both recommend throwing out most moldy foods. I admit, the idea of threads of mold weaving their way into the bottom of the container gives me a moment of pause; but if you read about what happens if you eat a slightly tainted dollop of sour cream, the most likely effect will be a stomach ache.

Sad mold and happy mold. (Photos by napalm nikki and jkuma, respectively)

I've had stomach aches from eating myriad meals over the years, made by friends, family, and fast food joints, so this news isn't likely to change my habits. After all, we all know about the happy molds found in blue cheeses and on the outside of Bries and Camemberts. Now there's some mold I can sink my teeth into.

Anyone out there have any experience working with molds in cheese-making, or have a gruesome tale that will cure me from my "just scrape it off" attitude? Tell me about in the Comments.

August 4, 2009

Infinity-pool fish tank

ZeroEdge Aquariums makes these groovy continuously-overflowing fish tanks. I'm afraid to ask what they cost, but it seems like a do-able remake.

August 3, 2009

Home science projects from Exploratorium

Julie Yu, a post-doc at San Francisco's Exploratorium, has a really good collection of unusual home lab activities on her page, including a home column chromatography experiment using common materials, which is the first of its kind I've seen.

July 29, 2009

Reusing mini-blinds as plant markers

Instructables user mountainmanna has noticed that used mini-blinds are perfect for re-purposing as plant markers. They're lightweight, rustproof, designed to hold up to continued sun exposure, and have a nice treated surface that takes ink or pencil very well. Her tutorial shows you how to cut them up for use.

July 28, 2009

How-To: Build a simple hand microtome

If lemonie's Lego microtome is too involved for you, here's a way simpler design for a simple hand microtome made from a wooden spool, a bolt, a nut, a washer, and a bit of dowel rod, plus the essential razor blade.

How-To: Build a Lego microtome

A microtome is a laboratory machine normally used to slice extremely thin samples of soft specimens for optical microscopy. If you're one of those folks who could care less about optical microscopy, it also has culinary applications. I quote from the sacred text of GoodFellas:

In prison, dinner was always a big thing. We had a pasta course, then we had a meat or a fish. Paulie was doing a year for contempt and had a wonderful system for garlic. He used a razor and sliced it so thin it would liquefy in the pan with a little oil. It's a very good system.

Poor Paulie had to do it by hand, but of course he had lots of time on his hands. Those of us who are busier might consider this tutorial by Instructables user lemonie, who built a hand-crank microtome capable of spitting out a 250-micron slice of garlic every second or so, out of Lego elements and a razor blade.

More:

July 27, 2009

Open-source 3D DNA origami

So. Incredibly. Cool.

What is DNA Origami?
DNA origami is a powerful method for constructing DNA objects. It involves taking a long, single-stranded DNA backbone (usually about 7000 bases in length) and forcing it to adopt an arbitrary shape using hundreds of short, single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides (each usually 20 to 50 bases long). This method was developed by Caltech scientist Paul Rothemund and published in the 16 March 2006 Nature cover story Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns.

In a process that is not yet well-understood, DNA origami structures are typically assembled through a process of heat denaturation followed by gradual cooling. More details about the method can be found in various publications.

caDNAno is made for designing DNA origami.
caDNAno is open-source software based on the Adobe AIR platform for design of three-dimensional DNA origami nanostructures. It was written with the goal of providing a fast and intuitive means to create and modify DNA origami designs. You can learn how to use it, download a copy of the program and some example designs, or even modify the source code.
The software makes heavy use of several fantastic open-source libraries and resources, especially Papervision3D for 3D rendering, Michael Baczynski's AS3 data structures and tutorials, the Tango Desktop Project for icons, and the Blueprint CSS framework for this website.

caDNAno [via @timoreilly]

July 26, 2009

Persimmon wine: patience pays

Persimmon wine

bbum's posted the results of his latest project. It looks very tasty:

The sweet essence of persimmon is both present in the nose and in the flavor. And the characteristic astringency of persimmon carries through, too, giving the wine a slight "pucker" at the end...

And this was an exercise in patience. Despite an iffy initial impression, the final result seems to have wowed its maker:

Way back in February, I racked the persimmon wine between the various glass carboys to get it off the yeast poo (lees).
At the time, the two carboys showed 11.5% and 12.5% ABV. Not bad. But it didn't taste very good in early March/April; way too bitter and *bleh*.

So, I let it sit until last week. The flavors have mellowed and, chilled, it is quite a drinkable beverage.

Make: Persimmon Wine Finished!

As a bonus, check out bbum's forced carbonation rig, which he used on a couple bottles of the persimmon wine:

forced carbonation

July 24, 2009

Cameraphone microscope extension revisited

Back in March of 2008 we mentioned a class project from a group of UC Berkeley students working to develop a microscope extension for cameraphones. Led by Daniel Fletcher, the team has since updated their prototype, which is capable of acquiring objects at 1.2 micrometers across. In it's current form the device attaches to a Nokia N73 and is capable of viewing color images of malaria parasites and individual blood cells at 3.2Mp. This low-cost solution is used for telemedicine applications in developing worlds, where access to cellphone networks are more prevalent.

Could u txt me ur blood sample? [via RegisterHardware]

July 21, 2009

Chia keyboard

A buddy of mine from high school planted this "chia keyboard" as a workplace prank. Says Warren,

This took me two tries to get it right. I had to build a moisture trap with toothpicks and Saran wrap to get the seeds to germinate.

Here's an older and more detailed how-to by Johannes Hjorth.

July 9, 2009

Visualize your heartbeat by gluing a straw to your neck

straw.heart.monitor.jpg

I recommend doing this in a crowded, public place. Perhaps an airport or a police station. Ignore all who question you.

More:

July 8, 2009

Geometric reactive bioforms

Some incredible artwork from Meridith Pingree.

My artwork physically tracks human behavior and traffic patterns using quasi-scientific, homespun, reactive sculptures. I use sensors to pick up on people's energy and movement throughout a space. My work exists as amplifications of this subtle energy, creating unconventional, complex portraits of people and spaces. For example: kinetic links of a centipede-like creature respond individually to create a live mutating curve. Robotic, rainbow colored gel pens selectively record human traffic patterns. Personalities captured by subtle head movements are frozen in rapid-prototyped sculptures.

July 7, 2009

Furtive facilities for felines

We've blogged a similar idea before, and here's an awesomely ridiculous product based on the same concept, but craftster Casstasstrophie's implementation deserves extra points for style, and it has at least one new feature worth mentioning: the design forces the cat to trod upon an anti-tracking mat designed to remove stray litter from his or her paws on the way out. An electric exhaust fan might be a nice additional touch, and perhaps a self-cleaning litter box while you're at it.

Another alternative, worth mentioning, is training the cat to use the human toilet. This is supposedly not so hard as it sounds, and if one were to also install an automatic flush valve the system would be completely automatic and invisible, at least in theory.

July 5, 2009

Garlic scapes - What to do?

For the past few years our two 4' x 8' raised beds have been fully dedicated to garlic production. The ultimate lazy crop, you plant garlic in the Fall, let it do its thing over the Winter, weed it a few times, cut the scapes in early July, then harvest it in late July. After a little bit of drying, you have enough garlic to last at least a few months.

Cutting the scapes, or emerging buds that flower and then turn into above ground seed pods, will help your underground garlic heads grow nice and fat. The way I see it is that the plant can focus on the work of growing the bulb below the ground instead of sending nutrients to the flowering and seedbuilding upstairs. At the three farmer's markets I have been to this week, garlic scapes have been on at least a few counters. The other day I went out in the latest edition of the rainy day, and snipped off a bucket load of aromatic garlic scapes. I left a few on the stalk, because these ones will give bulbs with fewer cloves in them.

So after you cut the scapes, what do you do with them? My first guess was, saute them in oil, dump some eggs on top and make an omelette. That worked out pretty good, but now what?

Here are a few ideas for recipes:
Garlic pesto

liked the flavor of the pesto quite a bit, but in the recipe I'm giving you I reduced the amount of garlic scapes and increased the amount of cheese quite a bit from the recipe I tried. Making pesto is an art, not a science anyway, so if you happen to stumble on some garlic scapes, give it a try and decide for yourself.

Lots of recipes from Claget Farm. Mariquita Farm has some great ideas too. The Amateur Gourmet discovers that working with them in the kitchen is at least a little bit different from octopus wrestling.

Not Without Salt has some very nice photographs along with some tasty recipes and stories about the love of garlic scapes.

What are your favorite recipes for garlic scapes? Serve them up in the comments!