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Monday, October 10, 2016
Lightning Hits this Place for 300 Nights...
Did you know that the intersection between Catatumbo River and Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela is victim to lightning strikes 300 times a year and lightning flashes several times over one second? It holds the world's most lightning bolts per kilometer squared. This is created from the cool air from the Andes that mixes with the warm air from the Caribbean Sea causing this very unusual weather phenomenon.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Halloween Fact 1: The Silly String Fine
Did you know that you could be fined 1,000 dollars for using or selling silly string on Halloween in Hollywood? This fine started when thousands of people in Hollywood were so bored they went and bought silly string. Thus, they took it upon themselves to start vandalizing the streets of Hollywood, as a side note some people bought it illegally. Unfortunately, the city didn't take this too lightly, thus if you use or sell Silly String in Hollywood from 12:01 am on Oct. 31 to 12:00 pm on Nov. 1, you might get a fine that caps at 1,000 dollars. Talk about an expensive holiday!
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Coming Back from the Dead
Coming Back from the Dead
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Hey guys, it's been a while so I thought I would do something along the lines of Genetics. Also, I feel this would be sort of festive with Halloween coming up, so I thought this would be appropriate for this month's post.
Remember those times when you watched all those horror movies that had to do with monsters and zombies that came back from the dead? Well now, that may actually be a possibility. Scientists have recently found a bacteria called Deinococcus radiodurans which is able to withstand very extreme UV radiation and heat. In fact, it doesn't technically survive under these conditions because it actually destroys the bacteria's genome and breaks it apart into hundreds of fragments of DNA. Then in a few hours it reassembles all the fragments back into it's original genome, thus bringing it back to life. Unlike most bacteria, Deinococcus radiodurans doesn't divide rapidly, instead it has evolved to become more robust to its environment. It is similar the neuron cells in our body, Deinococcus radiodurans carries two copies of its genomes. So what is really behind this weird magic trick?
The Process of Resurrection
When the genome initially breaks apart, it shatters into hundreds of double-helix DNA fragments. Proteins then come to break down the ends of the fragments which created single stranded DNA which are called "tails". Those tails were then called "sticky ends" since they could combine with each other. But they sticky ends must be complimentary to each other. This basically means that the sequence of nucleic bases must be the opposite of the other, and so they attract. (Ex: Adenine is attracted to Thymine, and Guanine is attracted to Cytosine.) A protein helps organize the strands of DNA into circular chromosomes that help make up the bacteria's characteristics. After the genome is back together again, then the bacteria cell can create proteins, lipids, and the membranes. Because of the bacteria's strong tolerance to the most extreme conditions scientists are very excited about new applications of this technique and what this could mean towards the future of health and genetics.
Habitat
It has numerous habitats that it lives in but since researchers have commonly found it in various soils it has been classified as a soil bacteria. Usually, it is cultured from elephant dung and doesn't have any significant interactions with other organisms making it practically harmless.
History
Deinococcus radiodurans was the first discovered in 1956 by Arthur W. Anderson in Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in Corvallis,Oregon, It had been found in a can of meat which had been treated with very large amounts of radiation to sterilize it from hazardous bacteria. It's complete DNA sequence was first published in 1999 by TIGR. It's durability was put to the test and finally Scientists came found that Deinococcus can survive up to 1,000 times that amount of radiation that would kill a regular human being.
Applications
This mechanism of resurrection has paved a very bright future in the areas of health and biotechnology. For example, scientists believe that they can use this mechanism to help the regeneration of neuron cells inside the human body. In fact, we may be able to utilize this to bring life back to various types of cells in our bodies.
This post might be a little short, don't worry I'll post one or two more in this month. Hope you guys enjoyed this fun little post!
Hey guys, it's been a while so I thought I would do something along the lines of Genetics. Also, I feel this would be sort of festive with Halloween coming up, so I thought this would be appropriate for this month's post.
Remember those times when you watched all those horror movies that had to do with monsters and zombies that came back from the dead? Well now, that may actually be a possibility. Scientists have recently found a bacteria called Deinococcus radiodurans which is able to withstand very extreme UV radiation and heat. In fact, it doesn't technically survive under these conditions because it actually destroys the bacteria's genome and breaks it apart into hundreds of fragments of DNA. Then in a few hours it reassembles all the fragments back into it's original genome, thus bringing it back to life. Unlike most bacteria, Deinococcus radiodurans doesn't divide rapidly, instead it has evolved to become more robust to its environment. It is similar the neuron cells in our body, Deinococcus radiodurans carries two copies of its genomes. So what is really behind this weird magic trick?
The Process of Resurrection
When the genome initially breaks apart, it shatters into hundreds of double-helix DNA fragments. Proteins then come to break down the ends of the fragments which created single stranded DNA which are called "tails". Those tails were then called "sticky ends" since they could combine with each other. But they sticky ends must be complimentary to each other. This basically means that the sequence of nucleic bases must be the opposite of the other, and so they attract. (Ex: Adenine is attracted to Thymine, and Guanine is attracted to Cytosine.) A protein helps organize the strands of DNA into circular chromosomes that help make up the bacteria's characteristics. After the genome is back together again, then the bacteria cell can create proteins, lipids, and the membranes. Because of the bacteria's strong tolerance to the most extreme conditions scientists are very excited about new applications of this technique and what this could mean towards the future of health and genetics.
Habitat
It has numerous habitats that it lives in but since researchers have commonly found it in various soils it has been classified as a soil bacteria. Usually, it is cultured from elephant dung and doesn't have any significant interactions with other organisms making it practically harmless.
History
Deinococcus radiodurans was the first discovered in 1956 by Arthur W. Anderson in Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in Corvallis,Oregon, It had been found in a can of meat which had been treated with very large amounts of radiation to sterilize it from hazardous bacteria. It's complete DNA sequence was first published in 1999 by TIGR. It's durability was put to the test and finally Scientists came found that Deinococcus can survive up to 1,000 times that amount of radiation that would kill a regular human being.
Applications
This mechanism of resurrection has paved a very bright future in the areas of health and biotechnology. For example, scientists believe that they can use this mechanism to help the regeneration of neuron cells inside the human body. In fact, we may be able to utilize this to bring life back to various types of cells in our bodies.
This post might be a little short, don't worry I'll post one or two more in this month. Hope you guys enjoyed this fun little post!
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