Tales From the Dead

Dead cells do tell tales.

The most recent major advances in the study of programmed cell death (PCD) in plants include the observation that peptide inhibitors of caspases inhibit the hypersensitive response. Nitric oxide has been shown to be required for the induction of disease related PCD. Mutant analysis has led to the cloning of the first genes involved in PCD related disease resistance, LSD1 and MLO.

Tales from the crypt

Tales from the crypt ow many stem cells reside in a human colonic crypt and how do they divide and regenerate? According to the deterministic theory, a small number of " immortal " stem cells haunt a crypt, and when they divide, each generates a single replacement stem cell. The stochastic model, in contrast, contends that a crypt niche harbors many stem cells, and each cell division randomly g...

Tales from the Crypt

Mathematical modeling is being increasingly recognized within the biomedical sciences as an important tool that can aid the understanding of biological systems. The heavily regulated cell renewal cycle in the colonic crypt provides a good example of how modeling can be used to find out key features of the system kinetics, and help to explain both the breakdown of homeostasis and the initiation ...

Tales From a Pod

In this Science-Fiction Prototyping article, I present an imaginative forward look at how artificial intelligence and virtual environments might change the nature of future education. The discussion is intended to be a somewhat speculative and thought provoking journey into what may be possible. At its root, it imagines a future time when the technological singularity has been reached, and mach...

Tales From Taiwan: Mourning