In this episode, we hear about a 99 million-year-old beetle, the consequences of early-life inflammation, malaria's DNA passport, redesigning images in biology and Mike Eisen's vision for science.
Hundreds of retrovirus-like sequences have features that suggest they might be gene enhancers, but only a small fraction displays gene-regulating activity in experiments on mouse stem cells.
Differences in the response of cardiomyocytes to oxygen deprivation in humans and chimpanzees may explain why humans are more prone to certain heart diseases.
A combination of genetic, anatomical and physiological techniques has revealed that the lateral horn, a region of the brain involved in olfaction in flies, has many more types of neurons than expected.
Animals living alongside humans have multiple copies of the gene for alpha-amylase, the enzyme that breaks down starchy foods, and high levels of this protein in their saliva.
