The quote of the week is from Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy:
Almost everything that distinguishes the modern world from earlier centuries is attibutable to science, which achieved its most spectacular triumphs in the seventeenth century.
Now, welcome to your weekly dose of cell and molecular biology. As always, I’ve selected all of the blogging commentary that I’ve seen, trying to keep the selection both topical and not mere reposting of press releases from jouranls and societies. The result, hopefully, is a zeitgeist of this week’s cyto-blogging:
Biosingularity
Gene Expression
Daily Transcript
Cell Migration Gateway
Science blogging carnivals:
- Gene Genie #6 at ScienceRoll
- Mendel’s Garden #14 at Epigenetics News
- Encephalon #22 at John Hawks’ Anthropology Blog
- Tangled Bank #79 at Epigenetics News
And cell-related ScienceDaily picks:
Newborn Neurons Like To Hang With The ‘In’ Crowd:
Like any new kid on the block that tries to fit in, newborn brain cells need to find their place within the existing network of neurons. The newcomers jump right into the fray and preferentially reach out to mature brain cells that are already well-connected within the established circuitry, report scientists in Nature Neuroscience.
Addressing a current issue in neuroscience,scientists investigate the reliability of thin axons for transmitting information. They show that noise effects in ion channels in the brain are much larger than previously assumed — meaning the fidelity of transmission is compromised.
Researchers have developed new technology which, combined with proteomics — the large-scale study of the structure and function of proteins and their functions — has allowed them to map an extensive network of the signaling proteins that control cell movement.
