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1500 questions
22
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3 answers
Why can't neurons undergo cell division?
Many cells in the human body can divide and reproduce, making healing possible. Neurons, however, cannot reproduce, which makes diseases affecting the brain particularly crippling. Why can't neurons divide - that is, what makes them different from…
HDE 226868
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22
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3 answers
Why is high fructose corn syrup unhealthy?
I understand that high fructose corn syrup was found to have detrimental effects on peoples' health. Why is this so?
user8669
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22
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4 answers
Machine learning for light microscopy -- problems to solve?
I would like solve some biological problems that would improve the state-of-the-art of biology or bioinformatics. In particular, I want to apply machine learning on light microscopic images. The equipment and experience I have are:
Bright-field,…
days_of_good
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How is the blood volume of a living organism measured without killing it?
How is the blood-volume of an organism measured without killing it?
Note:The blood-volume of an organism is defined as the total volume of blood present inside that organism.
balaka
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22
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7 answers
Why would a single celled organism evolve to be multi-celled?
I read a story this week on Richard Lenski who has been 'evolving' E. coli for more than 50,000 generations now. One comment I read was from someone who doesn't accept Evolution who pointed out that we haven't seen a single celled organism 'evolve'…
CramerTV
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22
votes
3 answers
Deciding between chi square and t test
I am always so confused whether to do a chi square test or a t test in the sums given by my biostats teacher. Does anyone have a simple rule to decide this?
biogirl
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22
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1 answer
Evolutionary origin and exogenous cues of ~28 day infradian rhythm?
The most obvious example of an approximately monthly biological cycle is the human menstrual cycle. My questions are the following:
Is it known when and where this cycle or one like it arose?
What exogenous cue(s) (if any) is/are this cycle based…
Richard Terrett
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22
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4 answers
How many times did endosymbiosis occur?
According to the endosymbiont theory, mitochondria and chloroplasts originated as bacteria which were engulfed by larger cells. How many times is it estimated that this occurred in the past? Are there any examples of this process being observed…
Will Townes
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22
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3 answers
Do cows produce milk excessively?
Do cows produce more milk than it is required for their calves? It seems like cows are able to provide milk all the time (all year around). Is it so? Or do they, like other mammals, produce milk only in ammounts requeired by their offspring?
Maxim V. Pavlov
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22
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3 answers
Does our DNA change during our lives?
As far as I know, DNA is the construction protocol of all organisms on Earth.
Does it change when influenced by time and environment (physical laws)?
As parents with schizophrenia are more likely to have children with schizophrenia and an individual…
Flux
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22
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2 answers
Is it possible to make a vaccine against cancer?
If we can make RNA vaccines against COVID-19 and we know which errors in our DNA leads to different kinds of cancer, can we make a vaccine that will teach our immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells?
Robotex
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22
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3 answers
Effects of mRNA vaccines on human body processes
I would like to understand the effect of an mRNA vaccine on more complex processes in the human body.
To what extent does this "artificial", external addition of mRNA interfere with the body's processes? It seems naïve to me to think that it cannot…
choXer
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21
votes
4 answers
Pipetting: do human experimenters need liquid class information?
I've been working on a protocol standardization project where, among other things, we want protocols to be able to be run equivalently by both humans and robots.
Something that I've noticed in doing so is that there's a radically different amount of…
jakebeal
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21
votes
3 answers
How long can I store extracted RNA?
If I extract RNA from a (leaf tissue) sample using a one-step phenol:chloroform extraction, how long can those samples be stored at -80°C? And how many times can I defrost and refreeze them before they will become degraded?
Rik Smith-Unna
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21
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2 answers
Is there a vaccine against the plague (Yersinia pestis)?
There seems to be recurrent events of infections of the plage (Yersinia pestis), from the well known Justinian plague to the Black Death and to recent years. In fact, two cases were reported in China in November 2019. However, it seems there is not…
luchonacho
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