Planting Trees for Peace - The Green Belt Movement

As an additional celebratory nod to Arbor Day, I would like to bring your attention to an International effort called the The Green Belt Movement. I first learned about this amazing program my first year of graduate school when my department co-sponsored...

Plant and nurture your trees

Trees often seem so stalwart and strong. But they do require some tending, too. Newly planted trees are especially important. Young trees are vulnerable to animal predation or nibbling from deer, rabbits, field mice and insects.This is a young tree that...

TOR signaling and cancer

Another recent development pertinent to the discussion of TOR signaling and cancer (see here), is the announcement of preclinical findings about a potential anti-cancer drug that may act against ovarian cancer. The drug works by inhibiting the mTOR signaling...

Calorie restriction, TOR signaling, and aging

Now that I've given some pointers to information about how TOR signaling is involved with metabolism (see here), it seems like an opportune time to mention a recent research announcement in this general area.How Dietary Restriction Slows Down Aging (4/17/08)University...

Cancer, metabolism, and oncogenes

I want to call attention (somewhat belatedly) to a series of three very good tutorial blog posts at The Daily Transcript. Although they are nominally about changing views regarding cancer and its causes, they actually provide a nice overview of a number...

Why Trees are so great!

To follow up on the National Arbor Day post, I want to share8 Reasons why city trees are so great1. Trees provide shade on a hot, sunny day.2. Trees provide our wildlife neighbors with homes, food, and hiding places which makes bird watching easier.3....

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells II

In this article from the April 4 Science, which I mentioned here, several research reports dealing with induced pluripotent stem cells were discussed. One of these I covered in the post I just noted.Another just as important report apparently has not...

Pluripotency and Lin28

As we discussed here, pluripotent stem cells have been obtained by "reporogramming" various kinds of adult cells. In one case, a set of 4 transcription factors – Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 – were used for the reprogramming. Another research team used...

Childhood memories of my outdoor education

I think it is important for young people, heck all people, to understand the whole world around them. For me, I am passionate about young people learning about the science in everything around them. Science is everywhere not just the fancy science lab...

Stellar Birth in the Galactic Wilderness

Stellar Birth in the Galactic Wilderness (4/16/08)A new image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows baby stars sprouting in the backwoods of a galaxy -- a relatively desolate region of space more than 100,000 light-years from the galaxy's bustling...

Happy Arbor Day!

Today is National Arbor Day. Since 1872, Americans have celebrated trees and their beauty and benefits. And communities are encouraged to plant and nurture trees on this day.I have included several photos of beautiful tree-lined streets. Trees are a...

Wildlife in the News

Turkeys stroll through in the inner-core suburbs of St. Louis, MO. Is that a wild turkey on my roof? Yes it is. Earlier this month, residents in nearby subdivisions were startled to see an adult male and companion female turkey slowly meandering northward...

Urban Wildlife Watch - Redbuds

I visited the Missouri State Nursery a couple of weeks ago to pick up some tree seedlings for a public program. We picked up 1000 Redbud tree saplings. Its common name is Eastern Redbud and the scientific name is Cercis canadensis. Since learning about...

Comb jellies

I just thought it was sort of fascinating that comb jellies (also known as Ctenophorae), which aren't true jellyfish but are closely related, are now thought to be the oldest extant linage of the animal kingdom, usurping the title from sponges.What's...

Stimulating NF-κB for radiation protection

Can't resist posting about this, as it relates to one of my favorite transcription factors, NF-κB. (What' so great about NF-κB? I dunno. Maybe it's the catchy name. Besides, one of the systems it plays an important part in regulating is the immune system,...

Spitzer Sees Shining Stellar Sphere

Spitzer Sees Shining Stellar SphereMillions of clustered stars glisten like an iridescent opal in a new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.Called Omega Centauri, this sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest...

Consciousness, free will, etc.

For quite a long time, the subject of "consciousness" was not considered especially suitable for scientific investigation. A tremendous amount has been written about it, of course. But most of that has been written by philosophers rather than working...

Recommended Children's Science Literature - Book Reviews 2

The month of April celebrates National Library Week (April 13-19)! To celebrate, I will post Book reviews of Children's Science Literature.Here are three books, each a finalist in the 2007 Animal Behavior Society Children’s Book Award for best Animal...

Exploding star in NGC 2397

Exploding star in NGC 2397 (3/31/08)The latest image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a sharp view of the spiral galaxy NGC 2397. This image also shows a rare Hubble view of the late stages of a supernova - SN 2006bc, discovered in March...

More about alternative energy

About a month ago, I wrote about the shortcomings of various alternative energy sources. That was mainly about a variety of problems with nuclear energy, solar energy (photovoltaics), and hydrogen. I didn't even get into the subject of biofuels, but...

Urban WIldlife Watch - Flying Squirrels

Photo credit: National Geographic and http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/How do Flying Squirrels Fly?As the name would imply, flying squirrels are better suited for air travel. Scientists from Missouri studied these animals and found that their bodies, from...

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