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Hot Topic
Origins
Origin & Evolution of Life
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Rewriting the DNA Alphabet
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
03/25/09 |
| Scientists have presented an artificial genetic system using a type of DNA with 12 chemical letters instead of the usual four. The technology is shedding light on the origins of life on Earth, and could be used to personalize medicine for millions of patients. |
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Life´s Crystal Code
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
03/19/09 |
| What do we have in common with a crystal chandelier? We´re both made of material that replicates its own structure. In our case it´s DNA, while the crystals in the chandelier grew from minerals like quartz. One scientist thinks for early life on Earth, certain mineral crystals played the role that DNA does for us today. |
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Reverse Ecology
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
03/03/09 |
| Researchers are using a technique called ‘reverse ecology´ to understand past environments on Earth. By examining the genes of bacteria, scientists are able to reconstruct what the organisms´ environments looked like millions of years ago. The data could help us understand key events in the history of life on Earth. |
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Ribosome Building Blocks
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
02/21/09 |
| Scientists have solved a major mystery about the origin of life. They have presented a new theory about how an essential component of every living cell was first able to self-assemble. The ribosome in cells allow genetic material to be read, and the creation of ribosomes is a critical step in the origin of life. |
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Unlocking the Combination
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
02/17/09 |
| Researchers in the field of synthetic biology are yielding clues about the origin of life on Earth. By studying how molecules self-assemble, the team is helping scientists understand how the first protocells may have captured energy and nutrients from the environment - allowing for growth and reproduction. |
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Echoes of Extinction
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
02/13/09 |
| Paleontologists are examining the long-lasting effects of a 65 million-year-old mass extinction. Dinosaurs and many other organisms disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous, and the evolutionary ramifications can still be seen today. |
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Sponges on Steroids
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
02/06/09 |
| New NASA-funded research shows that complex life on Earth may have evolved 80 million years earlier than previously thought. The earliest animal ancestors appear to be sponges, which rarely leave behind fossils. |
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Mix and Match Genes
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
02/03/09 |
| Scientists studying a glowing bacterium that lives in both squid and fish have made an astonishing discovery about how bacteria is able to inhabit two different species. It comes down to a single gene that allows bacteria to change its host, highlights importance of genetic information in evolution of living organisms. |
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Lignin Launched Life to Land
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
01/28/09 |
| The discovery of lignin in red alga cells is changing theories about the evolution of plants on Earth. Lignin, a principle component of wood, was identified in algae for the first time using powerful chemical and microscopic techniques. |
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Fiction´s Most Realistic Vision of Our Astrobiological Future?
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| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
01/26/09 |
| Visionary science writer Sir Arthur C Clarke, author of more than 100 books, died recently at the age of 90 in Sri Lanka. Once called ‘the first dweller in the electronic cottage´, his vision of an astrobiological future and its technology captured the popular imagination. In this essay from Astrobiology Magazine, European Edition, the science and culture of his novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, is assessed. |
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