the wacky world of lyme

From ScienceDaily: Scientists Identify Potential Key To Lyme Disease

Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have noted that the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorfei, is especially dependent on getting manganese from its host to establish infection, as opposed to iron like most pathogens. They then identified the specific enzyme that captures manganese for the bacteria. When they engineered a strain of B. burgdorfei lacking that protein and introduced it to mice, the bacteria wasn't able to infect.

I don't know if I would find this interesting except that I had Lyme a few years ago. It's fairly common where I live. My father and one of my sisters had it, too. I missed the telltale "bull's-eye" rash and must have thought I had the flu if I ever had the fever and malaise; when I was diagnosed and treated it was all extreme fatigue, joint pain, headaches, "Lyme fog," depression, mild hallucinations, and alternating insomnia and hypersomnia. It's a crazy, crazy disease. I would kind of suggest, you know, not getting it.

RNA is bi....directional?

From ScienceDaily: Rewrite the Textbooks: Transcription is Bidirectional

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Lab in Germany have discovered that RNA transcription of DNA is bidirectional from promoters, as opposed to all transcription happening in one direction. DNA is still pretty mysterious, so even though this isn't as incredibly exciting as naked singularities or quantum communication, it's still good to know. Also, I can impress my biology professor. I like doing that.

life's first environment?

From New Scientist: Did life begin in a pool of acidic gloop?

This article reads less like a piece on a study and more like a story - the story of a hypothesis. The writer, Douglas Fox, describes time spent with David Deamer, biochemist with University of California, Santa Cruz. Deamer is trying to figure out what type of environment nurtured the first amino acids and genetic material into being. He believes that a geothermally active muddy sulfuric soup like that found in Bumpass Hell in Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA is the right place to look. A great read.

antisocial cells

From ScienceDaily: Antisocial, Invasive Cells Are Basis of Cancer, Finding Suggests

This is pretty interesting. I really like the idea of gene therapy and things like this, studying the body to manipulate it.

However, I did also just rewatch "I Am Legend," which I enjoy because I'm a fan of zombies, especially zombies created by science. Manipulation of the measles virus to cure cancer is what causes zombie-virus (and of course it goes airborne, like all proper movie viri). Guess manipulating the genetic code really does worry me a little bit, even though it seems pretty interesting. Who the hell knows what we're going to do. Guess I just have to hope those scientists aren't evil.