(August 2003) Plants rank as one of the most important species on our planet. As primary producers, plants are at the base of the food chain for most terrestrial ecosystems, with nearly all land animals depending on them on as a source of food. The significance of plants as the basis of the food chain has not gone unnoticed by humanity. As a result, the field of plant science has blossomed with intellectual gains. Our understanding of the structure of plants, how they function, and what they do for us, growing daily. This article is an introduction for anyone interested…

(August 2003) Even before the creation of transgenics, the alteration of crops to improve their production was performed through selection. In fact, this selection has been going on for thousands of years and only in the past few centuries has it become a dedicated science onto itself. So, why has there been a push to switch from selection to the use of genetic techniques (transgenics) to improve crops over the recent decades? Simply put, to manipulate plants through selection takes many generations (i.e. large investments of time) and does not always work. Through the use of transgenics, one can produce…

(August 2003) Microbes are everywhere. They populate the air, the water, the soil, and have even evolved intimate relationships with plants and animals. Without microbes, life on earth would cease. This is due mainly to the essential roles microbes play in the systems that support life on earth, such as nutrient cycling and photosynthesis. Further, the physiology, nutrition and protection of plants and animals (including humans) is dependent on various relationships with microbes. This report will focus on the relationships between microbes and humans. And as we will see these relationships are key factors that determine whether or not we…

(August 2003) Antibiotics are compounds that act to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria1. The etymology of the term can be broken down into two roots: the prefix “anti-” meaning “opposed to” or “preventing” and “biotic” coming from the Greek word for life. In nature, various microbes and fungi secrete these compounds to gain an advantage in their microenvironment and it is from these very organisms that antibiotics are commonly use isolated [1]. The Discovery of Antibiotics The stories of the discovery of antibiotics are dramatic and full of human interest, both on a global and personal scale. Two…

(August 2004) PET or Positron Emission Tomography scans have become an important aspect of medical imaging and diagnoses, allowing doctors to look into the human body as never before. PET scans are different from other medical imaging techniques because they do not actually look at the body itself. Instead, PET scans look at bodily process by detecting the decay products from radioactive tracers injected into the body. Radioactive tracers are designed to mimic naturally occurring substances and tend to deliver less radiation than an X-Ray. When the radioactive tracers decay inside the body, they release a positron, the antimatter equivalent…

(August 2003) The mucous membranes are one of the largest organs of the body (Figure 1). Collectively, they cover a surface area of more than 400m2 (equivalent to one and a half tennis courts) and comprise the linings of the gastrointestinal, urogenital and respiratory tracts [15,18]. Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the mucous membranes of the body and surfaces with which they are in contact. These mucosal surfaces, while located inside the body, are actually a physical barrier between the outside and the sterile interior cavity of the body known as the “systemic” environment. Critical nutrients, oxygen and other molecules…

(August 2003) Cancer: A Familiar Name, but What Does it Mean? Cancer refers to the hyperproliferation of cells that have lost the ability to be controlled by normal cell signals. Cancer cells have the ability to proliferate independent of their environment and are capable of metastasizing, or colonizing other tissues in the body. There are three basic characteristics of early cancer cells. The first is that they have lost the ability to undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Cells that have suffered irreparable DNA damage activate specific proteases and nucleases that destroy the proteins and DNA of the cell, thereby…

(August 2005) The Human Y chromosome The Y chromosome is the shortest chromosome in humans, and most of the Y chromosome is believed to be made of junk DNA. In the 1960s, Ohno proposed that the human Y chromosome is a profoundly degenerated X chromosome with very few genes on it encoding male-specific features1 and some began to speculate that the continued degradation of the Y chromosome might result in the extinction of the human male. In order to address this question, it is helpful to know the origin of the Y chromosome. Surprisingly, the most primitive Y chromosome found…

(August 2004) Modern medicine has done little towards finding a cure for the common cold. An extensive search for the cause of the common cold led to the discovery of over one hundred different Rhinoviruses. Researchers also found that Rhinoviruses are only responsible for half of all colds, with adenoviruses and several others causing the remaining half. In total, hundreds of different viruses cause symptoms known as the common cold. Due to the vast number of viruses responsible, vaccination is not a reasonable way to prevent or eradicate the common cold. How colds have been treated in the past Colds…