Dressed to kill (Amazing parasites, part 1)

Parasitic life style is arguably one of the most creative in the whole range of living organisms. There are plenty of explanations why parasites exist - to fill every little gap in the food chain,…

Vitamin D for happy thoughts

It was a beautiful day today in Brussels! So I was stubbornly sitting on my sunlit balcony (despite the not-all-that-comfortable 6°C) hoping to get those sun rays to do its magic and for the VitaminD…

A single molecule DNA dipole (The tinkerers of…

In the first post of this series, I told you about the amazing attempts to make nanomachines and 3D structures  from DNA molecules, some coming in place in medicine, others - in electronics. Here's some…

There are no green animals!

I am sure you would immediately attack me with a ton of examples of animals which are green - from the majority of amphibians and reptiles, to the brightly colored in green tropical birds, insects,…

Extreme babies of animals

Nature is well known for its extremes in pretty much every regard - variety, colours, sizes, dangerousness, smelliness, cuteness and what not. And while sometimes some natural features of organisms make sense (the warning bright…

The secrets in the chromosome numbers

Why does our genome have so many blank spaces? According to some calculations, up to 80% of our DNA does not code for proteins or functional RNAs, or has any known regulatory functions. DNA is…

Creating alien life (The tinkerers of DNA, part…

In the first post of this double we've already established that scientist sometimes manage to surprise even themselves with how far they can push the boundaries of science and technology. As if creating nano sized…