biology
Science
6:00AM Wilson Rothman | We are at a biological turning point: We can invent organisms to make our drugs and fuel, even recode our DNA. It’s easy to run away screaming, but author Michael Specter says we have to quit whining and face it. More »
Synthetic Biology: Why Not Pursuing It Is Dangerous
6:00AM Wilson Rothman | We are at a biological turning point: We can invent organisms to make our drugs and fuel, even recode our DNA. It’s easy to run away screaming, but author Michael Specter says we have to quit whining and face it. More » 
Science
7:20AM Brian Lam | This week, we’re celebrating the human body: the ultimate machine, four billion years in refinement. More »
This Cyborg Life
7:20AM Brian Lam | This week, we’re celebrating the human body: the ultimate machine, four billion years in refinement. More »
Science
So Just How Small Is A Ribosome, Anyways?
2:40AM Adam Frucci | This incredible interactive visualiser of cell size from the University of Utah is a must see, allowing you to zoom in from a coffee bean down to a carbon atom. Prepare to have your mind blown. [GSLC via DailyWhat]
Science
Uber Sensitive Cameras Detect That Humans Literally Glow
7:40AM Mark Wilson | Using cameras so sensitive that they can detect single photons, researchers at Kyoto University discovered that humans emit visible light. More »
Science
Working the Night Shift is Hazardous to Your Health
7:00PM Elaine Chow | Now I know why I’m really here: I’m helping the other Gizmodo writers prevent heart disease, bone fractures, cancer, diabetes and a completely wonked up metabolism by working the night shift. More »
Science
DNA Strands Converted Into Tiniest Fibre Optic Cables For Optical Computing
1:45AM John Mahoney | Future optical computers that use light instead of electricity will need nano-scale pipes to transfer photons–analogues to the individual transistor’s in a traditional circuit. And for that, scientists for the first time have used human DNA to build the smallest fibre optics cables yet created. And as is typical with organic computers, said cables are capable of assembling themselves.
Science
2008 Science Visualisation Challenge: Amazing Images Show Science Like You Should
9:00PM Kit Eaton | The 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualisation Challenge has just concluded with some pretty astonishing imagery in the winning slots. This picture, dubbed “Glass Forest,” is a scanning electron micrograph of diatoms (weird unicellular algae) clinging to a marine worm, and won the photography category: to my eyes it looks half like a palm tree and half like a Star Trek effect. The illustration category winner is even more amazing. More »
Random Stuff
11:30AM Seamus Byrne | If you’re in Sydney and looking for something to do this weekend, why not go see some freaky flora at the Tropical Centre of the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. The Star of Bethlehem is currently in flower, showing off its unique 30 centimetre spur that Darwin predicted must have an appropriately capable pollinator animal for it to have survived. That was in 1862. In 1903 (21 years after his death) the hawk moth was discovered, with a probiscis long enough to reach the bottom of the orchid’s nectar tube.
The argument for evolution is that the two evolved side by side, forming an evolutionary bond that meant the survival of both species – the moth with reduced competition for its food source, and the orchid with a faithful pollination partner.
Science in action is fun! And to all those who believe the Earth is just 5,000 years old and this is all part of His great design / test of our faith? Well, there’s no telling fooling you, huh? Go look on its majesty and praise Him some more. Either way, full press release from the Gardens after the jump.
More »
Ironically named ‘Star of Bethlehem’ orchid supports Darwin’s theory of evolution
11:30AM Seamus Byrne | If you’re in Sydney and looking for something to do this weekend, why not go see some freaky flora at the Tropical Centre of the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. The Star of Bethlehem is currently in flower, showing off its unique 30 centimetre spur that Darwin predicted must have an appropriately capable pollinator animal for it to have survived. That was in 1862. In 1903 (21 years after his death) the hawk moth was discovered, with a probiscis long enough to reach the bottom of the orchid’s nectar tube.
The argument for evolution is that the two evolved side by side, forming an evolutionary bond that meant the survival of both species – the moth with reduced competition for its food source, and the orchid with a faithful pollination partner.
Science in action is fun! And to all those who believe the Earth is just 5,000 years old and this is all part of His great design / test of our faith? Well, there’s no telling fooling you, huh? Go look on its majesty and praise Him some more. Either way, full press release from the Gardens after the jump.
More »
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Craig Venter Claims Artificial Life Has Been Created
4:40AM Haroon Malik | Craig Venter, the scientist who controversially commercialized the efforts of the Human Genome Project, is claiming to have constructed a synthetic chromosome with his research team, giving rise to an artificial life form. More »
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