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1500 questions
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3 answers

What is the reason behind choosing the reporter gene when experimenting on your gene of interest?

I noticed within example experiments in class that different reporter genes are chosen to be inserted near your gene of interest to prove whether or not the gene is being expressed. For example, you may insert the gene for fluorescence next to your…
Kyra
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Trying to identify a beetle seen in Ontario, Canada...and its babies, or parasites?

I'm trying to identify a beetle I took video of in July (around 2010) in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. Attached below is a still frame. I've done some googling and was thinking this was a Milkweed Leaf Beetle because of the orange and black…
OrbitRob
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Deliberately choosing one nostril to breathe through

James Nestor, on pp. 41-42 of his book Breath: the New Science of a Lost Art, claims the following. The right nostril is a gas pedal. When you're inhaling primarily through this channel, circulation speeds up, your body gets hotter, and cortisol…
academic
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Why does an autoclave need to pressurize steam?

I've looked this up on other sites and they say that an autoclave needs high pressure in order to raise the boiling point of water so that you can achieve steam of a higher temperature. If you look at this diagram though, it seems to me as if it…
ad837
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Do animals exist with an uneven total number of digits?

I recently finished reading Contact by Carl Sagan. In the book they talk about a pattern in the transcendental number like pi or e, and comment that it is found in base 10 or however many fingers the race has to count with. When in the end they find…
Blem
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17
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1 answer

Antibacterial soap impacts on septic system?

What impacts do antibacterial soaps have on septic systems? I know that septic systems rely heavily on bacteria (especially regarding the breakdown of wastes by bacteria), so it seems as though antibacterial agents surely could do some harm to…
theforestecologist
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17
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Identify this giant green moth(?) with great taste?

One evening in late February I sat down to eat dinner after a day of hiking in hills around New Taipei City and discovered that someone else shared my taste in clothes. A very large green moth-like insect had landed on my pants with a green floral…
uhoh
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Why would a 2019-nCoV protein sequence in the NCBI database match a protein submitted in 2018?

There seems to be a bit of a conspiracy theory brewing over some data in the NCBI database, and I don't have the necessary knowledge to make sense of it. It basically goes like this: Go to NCBI BLAST Click on the big Protein BLAST button Enter…
JLRishe
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5 answers

Is it the case that all changes in phenotype during life are not inheritable?

This came up in a talk with a friend. I wanted to clear this doubt. I've read about it before and did again after her remark (my thoughts didn't change: her concept is Lamarck's, not Darwin's), but wanted to clarify. Regarding Evolution, nothing,…
Hector
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What is this little owl-like bird?

I was walking outside (location: Netherlands) and just saw this little bird: Unfortunately I had to take a long range picture with my cell phone so the quality is quite bad, however I hope still someone can identify this species. Personally I…
KingBoomie
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17
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Under what conditions do dendritic spines form?

I'm looking for resources or any information about the formation of dendritic spines and synaptogenesis, especially in relation to how new connections are formed on a daily basis. Does the electrotonic signalling along the axons and through the…
hiddensunset4
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Why are the bodies of the Risso's dolphin covered in scratches?

Risso's dolphin in wild population seem to obtain scratches with aging. What is causing them and what do they mean?
Mackenzie Smith
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17
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7 answers

Are there examples of encryption in nature?

There are examples of mathematics in nature such as Fibonacci number, fractals, etc. Are there examples of encrypted information? What I am looking for is a pattern that seems random on the surface, but once you put it through a "decryption"…
Karn Ratana
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Can you consider a human as alive, or is it the cells on the body that are alive?

Sorry if this question seems strange, but in the recent time I have been interested in the question of what life is and how you can define life. My question: How long can individual cells live on a human body from the point the human dies? When a…
Rox
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17
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4 answers

What nutrients can humans absorb in the mouth?

For instance, I realise being able to absorb simple sugars in the mouth is pivotal in the rapid action of oral glucose gel. Thus I was wondering what nutrients in general can be absorbed directly within the mouth, and at what speed?
mchen
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