links for 2010-10-14

"The exchange of genetic information among ocean bacteria has been greatly underestimated."

"An international team of 180 scientists, united in their goal to rapidly determine the structure of proteins related to human health, has solved its 1,000th structure."

Yet, not without contention.

"Previous hypotheses had suggested that eukaryotes evolved alongside archaea, and both groups had descended from the same ancestor. In recent years, genetic data has raised doubts about the accuracy of these hypotheses, and Kelly says that his data pretty much put the final nail in the coffin. His results, he says, clearly show that archaea evolved first, and then eukaryotes evolved from a particular family of archaea."

Thaumarchae = Wonder archae. Heh.

"The team calls its cells RiPS cells, for RNA induced Pluripotent Cells."

Such a long way from nuclear transfer. Excellent! And just down the block from where I work (and same Hospital).

"A simplified recipe for synthesizing genes aids synthetic biology."

"Raising chickens is not just for poultry farmers anymore. As suburban consumers strive to learn where the food they eat comes from, some of them are also keeping birds in backyard coops."