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A Little Cancer in All of Us
Cancer. The thought of it can be absolutely terrifying. Moreso than heart disease, stroke, or Alzheimer’s. Maybe because its diagnosis often seems so out of the blue, or because we feel like we have so...
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Mutations on the Brain!!!
I’ve talked a lot about DNA mutations, transposons and retrotransposons, microsatellite repeat sequences in cancer and autism, and even somatic mosaicism on this blog. But I haven’t really talked about...
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Relax, Smell the Roses, Take a Break & Enjoy
In honor of Mother’s Day (USA) and in support of taking a mental health day, I’m skipping a blog post for this week. My mother’s in town and we’re having a lovely relaxing day. So for anybody out there...
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Okay, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One: A Sea Squirt and a Sponge Walk into a...
“For nature moves continuously from lifeless things through things that are alive but not animals.” ~Aristotle Aristotle was fascinated by sponges. He could never quite figure out what they were nor...
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What Do the FDA and Feces Have in Common?
A couple weeks ago I wrote a little bit about my mother’s battle with colorectal cancer last year, alluding to a future post concerning post-surgery infections. Well, the time seems as apropos as any...
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Responses to the ENCODE Project: When Scientists Have to Deal with Beetles in...
How is the word “function” like a beetle in a box? No, this isn’t a twist on the Mad Hatter’s “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” As I’ve covered in a previous blog, the ENCODE Project released some...
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Our Latest Study: The Link between Mobile Element Content and Autism-risk Genes
“An extremely large number of genes have been associated with autism. The functions of these genes span numerous domains and prove challenging in the search for commonalities underlying the conditions....
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A Few Tidbits about Epigenetics: The Methylome
The Methylome is a new toy of genetic science. It adds yet another level of complexity “above genetics”, responsible for affecting patterns of gene expression and, relevant to my line of investigation,...
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You’re Only Half Human: The Microbes in and among Us
I’m sure I wasn’t the only child who loved the taste of liquid amoxicillin– “the pink stuff” as I called it. Being a child of the ’80s with frequent ear infections, I practically lived on the stuff. I...
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All Roads Once Led to Rome… But Do All Roads Lead to Autism??
Even though, at face value, cancer and autism may seem like worlds apart, if you take a look at their respective genetics you may find more similarities than you bargained for. And because in many...
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Syndromic Forms of Autism: Part I
This blog post will be the first in a several part series providing an introduction to some of the syndromic forms of autism. I hope readers might find this interesting since we are confronted with so...
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Syndromic Forms of Autism: Part II
This week I’ll continue reviewing more forms of high-association syndromic autism. Some of the conditions I’m writing about today include not only targeted gene mutations, as in the case of Tuberous...
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A Weekend’s Respite: A Slice from the Nothingness of Personality
I really love writing this blog. But we all need a teeny break every once in awhile. And since I have family coming in for the weekend, I’m taking a week off from S.o.a.C. So I hope you all likewise...
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Syndromic Forms of Autism: Part III
This week is the third and final entry in the series, Syndromic Forms of Autism. It covers an additional five syndromes which exhibit high association with autism. As with the previous blog post,...
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BRAINS, BRAINS, BRAINS!!! Evolution of the Human and Mammalian Brain
Why is the brain so fascinating? As far as humans go, even though paleoanthropologists consider “bipedalism” to be the earliest characteristic which made the line of Homo unique, we all know that it’s...
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Olfactory Receptor Genes: An Ancient & Unusual Subset of the Vertebrate Genome
Compared to vision and audition, the sense of smell is an exceptionally ancient one. And you might be surprised but the ability to detect odorous particles (also known as chemosensation) even predates...
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Continuing the Debate on “Function” in Junk DNA: Rethinking the Onion Test
“From our very early days we learn to react to situations with the appropriate responses, linguistic or otherwise. The teaching procedures both shape the ‘appearance’, or ‘phenomenon’, and establish a...
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Guest Post by Dr. Manuel Casanova: “Enlargement of the Brain Ventricles in...
Since I’m going to be out of town on vacation for the next several weeks traveling over to England, my fiancé, Dr. Manuel Casanova, will be providing one or two guest posts to fill the SoaC void. As a...
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The “Science” of Downtown Abbey
Truthfully, this entry has nothing to do with science. I’m off on a two-week vacation in the south of England and earlier in the day, had stopped by the setting of Downtown Abbey, Highclere Castle,...
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A Brief Tour through the Natural History Museum of London
Hi, everyone! I’ve arrived back home from a lovely two-week vacation in the south of England. Hope you all enjoyed the mini-tour through the Highclere Castle grounds last week– not quite “sciency” I...
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