Discusses political and natural history of Hawaii. (15 references) (JRH)

The Gaia hypothesis, which promulgates the idea that the Earth as a whole is alive, is discussed. The microworld and the idea that symbiosis is a major force behind evolution are emphasized. (KR)

Reports on an interview with John Maynard Smith, one of the most important evolutionary biologists since Darwin. (JRH)

Explains the basics of the biocompatibility of products that are used to replace body parts and mimic the biology of the human body. Describes where phosphorylcholine coating technology is used commercially in the body and discuses the use of phosphorylcholine in lenses and blood. (Contains 12 references.) (YDS)

Argues that Deacon's coevolutionary theory provides a basis for changing how we think about language and brains. Instead of ascribing language to either nature or nurture, it is seen as intrinsic to both: biological principles ensure the brain can only function by attuning to its body's worlds. (Author/VWL)

Solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an invaluable tool in structural and molecular biology research, but may be underutilized in undergraduate laboratories because instrumentation for performing structural studies of macromolecules in aqueous solutions is not yet widely available for use in undergraduate laboratories. We have…

Field guides are common in libraries but are generally not considered scholarly. This study examines citations to fifty field guides to determine how they were used in scholarly publications, finding that field guides are frequently cited as a source of data on the ranges, habits, and descriptions of plants and animals.

John Tyler Bonner, a biologist writings reminded the reader of how his perspective is different from that of many biologists. Bonner's views, his books, his areas of interest and research and his life, which was spent studying slime molds is described.

The study describes the process of DNA-DNA hybridization and the history of its use by Sibley and Alquist in simple, straightforward, and interesting language that students easily understand to create their own phylogenetic tree of the hominoid superfamily. They calibrate the DNA clock and use it to estimate the divergence dates of the various…

Spirometers are useful for enhancing students' understanding of normal lung volumes, capacities, and flow rates. Spirometers are also excellent for understanding how lung diseases alter ventilation volumes. However, spirometers are expensive, complex, and not appropriate for programs with limited space and budgets. Therefore, we developed a…

During the last hundred years, the debate over the meaning of race has retained a highly consistent core, despite evolution of the technical details. Non-Europeans, and in particular, Africans, are assigned the role of deviants and outcasts, whose claim on our common humanity remains in doubt. Each time the technical facade of these racialist…

The assembly of proteins takes place in the cytoplasm of a cell. There are three main steps. In initiation, far left, all the necessary parts of the process are brought together by a small molecule called a ribosome. During elongation, amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are joined to one another in a long chain. The sequence in which…

Molecular genetics is a rapidly changing field with new developments almost from day to day. One interesting hypothesis that has come from everyone's ability to sequence proteins and/or genes is that of the molecular clock. This hypothesis postulates that homologous sequences of DNA and thus macro molecules evolve at a constant and invariable rate…

The belief that life exists in the universe is an optimism shared by many. With several manned missions expected to be carried out in the future, the possibility of discovering life in outer space will revolutionize the field of astrobiology. In this article, the author presents a summary of recent developments and discoveries made in the search…

The calculation and use of oxidation numbers in the study of metabolic reactions are discussed for normal oxidations (alcohol dehydrogenase and the NAD+/NADH couple, propanediol dehydratase) and for enzymatic reactions with a "hidden" redox component (transamination, the coupled conversion of ethylamine to ethanol, and the biomethylation of…