Jumpin’ Genes & Genetic Instability
The above image is a segment of exon 4 from the human gene for the Oxytocin receptor (Oxtr). But this ain’t no ordinary exon. This particular segment is in fact […]
Author Archives: Emily Casanova
Seeking Common Ground in the Syndromes of Autism
There’s a common saying within the autism community: “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve only met one person with autism.” Even though there’s a common core to the […]
Modularity: Dude, How Cool Is That?
Regardless of whatever were the first steps in the origins of life, there is little doubt that the modularity of proto-life’s chemical parts has been a foundational element to Self-replication […]
The Case of the Promiscuous Estrogen Receptor
I took an Endocrinology course awhile back with a professor who has been in the field of cancer research for decades. Along with a growing number of researchers, he had […]
The Biology of Ultrasound
Proposing that prenatal ultrasound is a potential teratogen sounds like pseudoscience to most people, I realize this. Hell, when my partner came to me with the idea even I thought […]
MicroDNA: The Unstable Genome
More and more the traditional view of genetic structure and function is being challenged. In an article published in Science in April, 2012, a group of scientists out of the University of […]
Mosaicism: Not All Genomes Are Created Equal
Mosaicism: indicates the presence of two or more populations of cells with different genotypes in one individual who has developed from a single fertilized egg [1]. For some time, layperson […]
“The Relation Is the Smallest Unit of Analysis”
Continuity. Indivisible systems. One node connected to another connected to another, each pulling and pushing against the weight of its partners. Try to analyze the individual constituents of most systems […]
One Scientist’s Junk DNA Is Another Scientist’s Treasure
“[The ENCODE scientists have] . . . reported the elephant in the room and then chosen to otherwise ignore it.” ~Prof. John Mattick, Director of the Garvan Institute of Medical […]
Move Over, Proteins – Science Says it’s an RNA World Now. But is it?
Hello, folks. Back in September, a seminal group of works were published in Nature and Science which revealed that contrary to our once-protein-centric view of genetics, the majority of gene […]
Science Over a Cuppa 
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