Archives for February 2006

Episode 26

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Mindcast #26 is up!

Download it directly right here. Read More…

Episode 25

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Mindcast #25 is up!

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Episodes 19-24

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Greetings Mindcast listeners, both real and potential.

This is my first post on my blog dealing with the Mindcast. First, I have good news to report: I have finished editing, uploading, and indexing Episodes 19-24. That includes the full month of January plus two weeks of February. Read More…

DICER: More than just an enzyme.

posted in Biology, Epiblog, Genetics, Science Comments Off

It slices, it dices, it’s found in quinces. Well actually, it has been found ubiquitously in eukaryotes - from plants to animals, fungi, and protists. Dicer is an enzyme that cleaves double-stranded RNA, which may sounds boring to you, but it is my favorite enzyme in the world. Why? It defends against viruses, particpates in a gene regulation system, and it is the basis for a process called RNAi, a promising tool for genetic research and crop biotechnology. But that’s not quite enough to qualify as a truly awesome macromolecule in my book, Read More…