Stories
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A world without men
Does evolution still happen today? In 1997 a German aquarist was very surprised: he had a single marble crayfish (Procambarus fallax) in his tank. It was a female crayfish, which suddenly started to reproduce. After three to six weeks, about 120 young animals develop from the eggs. This was nice at first, but became annoying…
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CRISPR in the kitchen?
This article puts Jo (formerly Josiah) Zayner back in the spotlight. Zayner had already caused a stir in Germany in 2017 when the first school experiment on CRISPR-Cas was distributed by his company “The Odin”. With great interest, our association “Science Bridge” had tested the kit and came to the simple conclusion that it was…
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Not quite a normal harvest (2)
Please note the Addendum from April 4th, 2023 at the very end of the article! An interview with Ingo Potrykus, one of the inventors of Golden Rice In 1992, Ingo Potrykus together with Peter Beyer, started to develop “Golden Rice,” a variant enriched with the vitamin A precursor ß-carotene to help alleviate malnutrition, especially in…
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Not quite a normal harvest (1)
The background to the “Golden Rice” project It has become very quiet around the “Golden Rice” in recent years. Everything seemed to have been said and the work “behind the scenes” found little public interest. But now it has reappeared in the media – for example in a very good article in the “Republik ”…
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Mutants
Mutants are usually not as spectacular as Spiderman or the Hulk. They are much more ordinary. Every human has about 30 to 60 new mutations, most of which are not even noticed. However, many mutations are lethal. In humans, it is believed that 50% of fertilized eggs or very early embryos are spontaneously aborted because…
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Mugshots from DNA analysis?
The Canadian police recently created a mugshot or “DNA phantom image” based on DNA traces at a crime scene. The image was published in social media to support the search for the suspected perpetrator (https://www.edmontonpolice.ca/News/MediaReleases/DNAPhenotypeOct4?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter). Based on genetic analysis, “phenotyping” is an attempt to reconstruct a person’s appearance. Some characteristics (e.g., eye color, hair color,…
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The Killer Mice of Marion Island
Ecosystems are complex. Some are as stable as a rock, while others are extremely sensitive to the smallest external influences. Animal dispersal and migration have a massive impact on ecosystems. Not only does the migrating species change the environment, it brings with it microorganisms and plant seeds and thus change biodiversity. “Stable ecosystems” do not…
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Corona Explanation Video 1
Here we have the first really visible product from BioWissKomm!And it was a phantastic effort by lots of people: Khalid who created the figures and made the video, Chacha who travelled 28 hours by bus to do the Swahili version together with Stephan and many others from Tansania and Indonesia who provided advice. Thanks to…
