In developed countries we usually consume enough salt (sodium to be exact) without actually adding table salt to food. Everything can become toxic when consumed in excess - even water - and when we ...

According to "Resolution of distinct rotational substeps by submillisecond kinetic analysis of F1-ATPase" (Yasuda et al., Nature, 2001), ATPase rotates at 130 revolutions per second when saturated ...

Firstly, phosphorus does not exhibit phosphorescence on its own (don't let words mislead you, they often don't mean what they seem like): See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorescence#Materials and ...

No, hydrogen could not replace oxygen because it has entirely different characteristics. The most important one is probably its electronegativity - oxygen 'pulls' electrons much 'stronger' than ...

Your question is phrased somewhat ambiguously as to whether you're asking about the theoretical possibility, the feasibility, or the practical ability in everyday life. 1) Theoretically, yes. It is ...

The definition of life is a controversy in itself, and as it is simply a word that can be understood by everyone however they wish, there is no "correct" definition. It is thus not really possible to ...

I recommend this article: The Evolution and Functions of Laughter and Humor: A Synthetic Approach by M Gervais and DS Wilson, 2005, University of Chicago Press. For your question about the origin, ...

Background There are basically three highest taxonomic levels: bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Many sources distinguish only prokaryotes and eukaryotes, subdividing prokaryotes into bacteria and ...

Bioavailability is a concept which applies to nutrients and drugs which pass through first-pass metabolism, i.e. orally (and to some extent nasally) consumed substances. Anything absorbed in the gut ...

In the IUPAC Gold Book, IUPAC defines a polymer as follows: A molecule of high relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, ...

Substances such as blood trigger the Cough reflex, so if for any reason blood accumulates in the airways, it will be ejected this way. If you have a look at chest anatomy, you can see how this could ...

Evolution is not that simple. There is no selective pressure for a feature if it does not ultimately in some way benefit reproduction or the offspring. Vegetables are healthy for us now because we ...

The nature of infectious agents is that they transmit between organisms. This means that they have reservoirs outside a single host, and hence of course encountering the exact same strain twice is ...

One thing that's certain is that the activity of bees varies according to time of day, so more important than how long you record for is probably at what time you record. If you always record at the ...

Every nucleotide sequence has six possible reading frames, because each codon (determining one amino acid) consists of a base triplet (3 frames), and there is a complementary strand which could be ...

You've got a few things mixed up here: A signal may travel down a pathway, passing through several neurons (e.g. around 4-8). However, this signal is not always in the same form: From one end of a ...

It's the renal artery because it will contain everything from the liver as you describe plus all waste accumulated on the way from the liver to the kidney. Here it gets filtered, so there cannot be a ...

According to Serpell, 1995 (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=I8HU_3ycrrEC, page 8), wolf bones in association with human bones have been found from as early as the middle pleistocene (126,000–781,...

Let's approach some different methods of distinguishing parents: 1: The Y chromosome. These are passed down from father to son. Therefore, if the baby is male, its Y chromosome will be the same as ...

As I'm lucky enough to have access to that article, I'm going to extract whatever I can find to answer your question. To begin with, innate immunity must have evolved first - we can see it at almost ...

Since it's been so long, I guess a rushed speculative answer might be at least an idea. DNA gets damaged randomly all the time, and repair mechanisms are in place to fix it. When the damage is too ...

In simple terms: Function of the RNA primer: DNA polymerases need a double-stranded DNA region to which they can attach in order to begin copying the rest of the DNA strand. In order to provide this ...

Hemoglobin is the protein of erythrocytes (red blood cells) which has ferrous ions (Fe2+) bound in its subunits. These are able to keep oxygen bound which enables the cell to transport oxygen through ...

Daniel's answer excellently explains the issue in an understandable fashion, though you may have been looking for a more cell biological approach. According to Immunological aspects of sperm ...

In expansion to biocs' excellent answer, I would like to highlight some practical limitations of this. Suppose we did manage to create a huge database of exact chemical mixtures which produce all ...

In terms of genetic evolution, religion itself cannot really be considered to have an evolutionary advantage or disadvantage, as it is not anchored in any genes. This means that it is not an ...

I haven't read anything particularly about dendrites being reshaped, though I would expect them to be as flexible as other parts of the cells. The more commonly discussed topic (in my literary ...

Essentially, yes, "proteins that we consume form new proteins that are different". The processes are each of them topics for themselves. In short, consumed proteins are digested by peptidases (...

The known factors seem to be mainly oestrogen and genetic (although I haven't been able whatsoever to find detail on what genes): Manning et al (1997): Breast asymmetry and phenotypic quality in women....

Nobody really knows where it comes from. The currently most popular theory is that pulling the joint apart leads the gases in the joint's cartilage to accumulate and form a bubble which then pops when ...