Biology Stack Exchange
Biology Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
15
votes
1 answer

Why do crabs spit?

Last year I photographed this juvenile Sally Lightfoot Crab (Grapsus grapsus) 'spitting' (click for larger view): I thought I'd look up more information on this behavior, but couldn't find any explanation regarding its actual function. I can…
p.s.w.g
  • 1,427
  • 1
  • 15
  • 33
15
votes
1 answer

Identify ~6-7mm long green creature

Here is the creature I found on the glass lid of my light bulb. I guess they are attracted to light as they all concentrate on the light source. I live in Hong Kong. The brown things aren't moving (those might be eggs). The green creatures are…
y chung
  • 344
  • 2
  • 11
15
votes
3 answers

Are mitochondria transferable between cell types, individuals and species?

I'm curious about what happens when you insert organelles from a cell into another. In particular, mitochondria. Take two cells from your own body. Somehow extract a mitochondria from one cell and somehow insert it in the other cell. Will the cell…
Saturn
  • 395
  • 1
  • 3
  • 8
15
votes
2 answers

How to make a fake auditory signal?

My question is about making fake auditory signals. The ear collects sounds from the environment, which are transformed into a neural signal by the hair cells in the inner ear. This signal is sent through the auditory nerve to the to brain, where it…
Nimda
  • 153
  • 5
15
votes
3 answers

Is the size of the genome across species roughly the same?

Chromosome number differs across species. Is the amount of DNA comparable between organisms, just being split into smaller chunks in those species with more chromosomes, or do species have different genome sizes? If so, does the genome size…
Thaina
  • 459
  • 3
  • 13
15
votes
1 answer

Why are some berries poisonous?

In my understanding, the evolutional function of berries is to be eaten and pood out somewhere else, so that the seeds of the plant spread. Is this so? Then why are some berries poisonous?
gerrit
  • 473
  • 3
  • 14
15
votes
1 answer

Doing a medical study on yourself?

What research guidelines is a person legally mandated to follow if they want to do medical experimentation on themselves? There is a large amount of variation in the types of medical experiments so I wanted to ask people focusing on the change in…
Skyler
  • 425
  • 2
  • 4
15
votes
6 answers

Difference between genetic engineering and synthetic biology

I've recently seen the term synthetic biology being used to describe research involving genetic modification of organisms. What is the difference between synthetic biology and genetic engineering? Is it just a new term for the same thing, or is it…
Green
  • 153
  • 1
  • 1
  • 4
15
votes
1 answer

What is the difference between a mechanistic and a statistical predictive model?

The simplest description of the difference between these two approaches that I have found are on this site who summarise the difference as: Mechanistic model: a hypothesized relationship between the variables in the data set where the nature of the…
PaulBarr
  • 283
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6
15
votes
3 answers

Transmission of epigenetic regulation through surrogate mother

I know the basics of epigenetics, but I do not know how epigenetic mechanisms are transmitted from parents to children (or if there is even enough literature to derive a consensus). My question is relates to surrogate motherhood, in which an egg is…
Daniel Standage
  • 5,741
  • 3
  • 29
  • 62
15
votes
1 answer

Does every mitochondrion in a cell contain the same DNA?

I know that mitochondria of eukaryotes have their own DNA, more similar to that of bacteria than to the rest of the cell's DNA. I also know that a cell can have plenty of mitochondria, and I understand each of them has it's own DNA. Is it the same…
ymar
  • 680
  • 10
  • 19
15
votes
1 answer

What is this insect? Found in Peru

I took the pictures today in Cusco Peru. It is the third insect of its class in a month. I never see it before. I thought that it is a wasp, but I think it's really thin to be a wasp. It's about 4 or 5cm. I want to know what kind of insect is and if…
Mijail
  • 153
  • 5
15
votes
3 answers

Athletes: nature vs. nurture?

Having watched a lot of olympians the last few weeks, I was struck by how many of them have actually spent their wholes lives/careers training for their one event (be in running a marathon, or throwing a javelin). This is of course unsurprising - a…
Luke
  • 6,269
  • 4
  • 30
  • 64
15
votes
3 answers

Why reference genome is a reference?

I have heard that a reference genome such as humans is generated by randomly choosing samples from a group of donors. But why do we call the DNA sequence generated as a reference? Why should we believe those few samples can represent all humans,…
SmallChess
  • 1,019
  • 12
  • 24
15
votes
1 answer

Evolution of long necks in giraffes

In this question, the OP uses giraffe necks as a supportive example of evolution. Is the mechanism described in this post accurate? At some point, I thought I remember hearing that giraffes did not evolve long necks to reach higher food resources,…
Daniel Standage
  • 5,741
  • 3
  • 29
  • 62
1 2 3
…
99 100