Rhizosphere study systems biology an auspicious approach Introduction: the rhizosphere and systems biology. Both complex: maybe perfect for each other? The rhizosphere is complex. Really, really, ridiculously complex. Dauntingly complex even. Quantitatively now, soil has over 10000 distinct microbes in a single gram [7]. The term rhizosphere was coined to describe, literally, the sphere of influence of the plant root (rhiza): a definition which has also come to include not only the area around a root colonized by microorganisms, but also the parts of a root which contain microorganisms [9]. Notwithstanding the multifarious effects of soil chemistry, climate, and other…

Throughout history, humans have always tried to improve the tools they use. Animals were bred to be larger, means of locomotion engineered to become more powerful, etc. Until recently, bigger was thought to be better. However, today it seems the opposite is true: Every day we experience pressure for buying smaller cameras, computers, cell phones, and even cars. It is clear that size reduction is an important facet of our lives. Obviously, science is inherently involved in this move towards smaller devices. In fact, the word “nano” (a billionth of a standard size) is so hip right now, it seems…

When I work as a pharmacist in a retail pharmacy, I get a lot of questions from customers on which painkiller is best for them. Unfortunately, the answer is usually not black and white: it really depends on their medical conditions. That’s why pharmacists are here to recommend products using their professional judgment. Thank god the BC provincial bylaw states that a retail pharmacy must not be open for business unless a pharmacist is in the pharmacy. Consumers can take advantage of having a pharmacist to recommend painkillers for them. However, some non-prescription painkillers, such as Tylenol, Advil and Aspirin…

Creatine is an organic molecule which was discovered in the first half of the nineteenth century, in meat extract resembling beef broth. A century later, in the first half of the twentieth century, another substance was found, this time in frog extract, being phosphocreatine – or creatine with a phosphate group stuck on it. It turned out that creatine and phosphocreatine are part of an intracellular energy management system, and the two have had a remarkable history since. I’m not alluding to the fact that around 2.5 million kg of creatine are consumed yearly by athletes in the belief that…

At the outset of his 1902 publication in the Lancet, Dr. John Beard discloses that as an embryologist he is not the most socially licensed scientist to be proposing a theory regarding the etiology of cancer. He advises that it is the current protocol for this subject matter to be left to the surgeons and pathologists, as it is concerned with dying, not of coming-into-being. Beard boldly notes that these professionals had thus far failed to define the cause of cancer. He goes on to reason that an embryologist may have more success at this task, as cancer is ultimately…

“For in and out, above, about, below, ‘Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show Play’d in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.” — The Rubâiyât of Omar Khayyâm We have been raised to believe in a concrete reality defined by matter, which is something that occupies space, and is either perceived by our sensory organs, or measured by other tools [1]. As beings with a physical dimension, we humans tend to think of our “selves” as unified “wholes”. Of course, our everyday lives and activities pose little threat to this perception: the…

Any student who has lost hours of work to a computer crash knows the value of backing up important files. Yet long before the first distraught student uttered shrieks of dismay at disappearing data, plants were saving an extra copy of certain genes—or so say Brad Chapman and his colleagues in a recent paper that offers a fresh look at what happens to duplicated genes when polyploids are formed. A polyploid is the result of genome duplication (Bowers et al. 2003), which may occur when errors during meiosis produce aberrant gametes with 2N rather than 1N chromosomes. Although genome duplication…

Roughly 65% of Americans are overweight, 23% are obese, and not surprisingly these numbers continue to rise.[1] There are three classifications of obesity as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) utilizing the body mass index (BMI) which is computed by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters. [2] Individuals with a BMI greater that 25 are considered overweight or of class I, people with a BMI greater than 30 are obese (class II), and those with a BMI over 40 are morbidly obese, and have an associated increased risk of death. [2] The obesity problem translates into over…