Mathematics is a fundamental tool of research. Although potentially applicable in every discipline, the amount of training in mathematics that students typically receive varies greatly between different disciplines. In those disciplines where most researchers do not master mathematics, the use of mathematics may be held in too much awe. To demonstrate this I conducted an online experiment with ...

Cells can avoid the effects of so-called 'nonsense' mutations by several methods, including a newly discovered mechanism driven by microRNA molecules.

Bacterial strains carrying nonsense suppressor tRNA genes played a crucial role in early work on bacterial and bacterial viral genetics. In eukaryotes as well, suppressor tRNAs have played important roles in the genetic analysis of yeast and worms. Surprisingly, little is known about genetic suppression in archaea, and there has been no characterization of suppressor tRNAs or identification of ...

Translation and mRNA decay are coupled processes; the link is most obvious in the case of NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay). NMD is a mechanism that drastically reduces the level of mRNA harbouring PTCs (premature translation termination codons). The defining event in NMD is premature translation termination and the key question is: what distinguishes premature from normal translation terminat...

Is it important? Absolutely! NMD probably evolved to eliminate abnormal transcripts due to routine errors in gene expression. For example, inefficient or inaccurate pre-mRNA splicing can generate an intron-derived in frame nonsense codon, or a shift in the reading frame and an exon-derived nonsense codon downstream of the shift. There are also natural substrates for NMD such as alternatively sp...

E fficient conversation has no place at lunch. On the surface, the Denise Kouri–Steven Lewis lunch of April 7, 2010, was pure muda (wasted time): too many topics, utter disorganization, innumerable tangents. Should we expect the young to memorize the multiplication tables? What percentage of the population has a passable grasp of statistics and calculus? (I didn't say we were fascinating, just ...

This paper deals with the peculiarities of Edward Lear’s limericks. It provides view nonsense in English literature. E. principle is considered. The main linguistics and stylistics features poet’s limericks have been distinguished.