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Sucrose - a disaccharide that consists of a molecule of glucose (G) and a molecule of fructose (F) - has been around for 3.2 Gyr. Starting with cyanobacteria, all phototrophs make it. Why don’t they make other disaccharides, like, for instance, trehalose (GG), which consists of two glucose units ( Read more... )

When being asked what separates humans from other primates, people are quick to say it is their brain. In fact, the differences can be superficial and even unimportant. Using a palm calculator, I can calculate everything a supercomputer can calculate; it would take longer time. However, an ape does not seem to be able to compose a sonnet given all ( Read more... )

Even if we can “explain” why do we cover ourselves, clothing is more than just a cover. It is an answered dream, a little miracle. It is something that one can wash; a garment made of furs, skins, or felt cannot be washed, steamed, or bleached. Clothing is what separates civilized from the uncoth, in more than one way. Only those who hope are given ( Read more... )

’Tis plain enough to be seen, that ’tis custom only which renders that impossible that otherwise is nothing so; for of those nations who have no manner of knowledge of clothing, some are situated under the same temperature that we are, and some in much colder climates. And besides, our most tender parts are always exposed to the air, as the eyes, ( Read more... )

We have it because we can consume grains of cereal grasses. Normally, plants are protective over their seeds. Their low-protein fruit are aimed for consumption by animals (that disperse seeds), but the seeds themselves are not supposed to be consumed. However, precisely because their fruit is low on protein, the seeds are choice meal for animals, ( Read more... )

We have oxygen, because our plants, alga and other obligate phototrophs split water to O2 releasing four electrons and four protons in the process. The protons are used to make ATP to power the cell, while the electrons are used to recharge the porphyrin in the reaction center where light separates charges and to fix CO2; oxygen is waste. It is a ( Read more... )

I mean the bacterial cells. Bacteria come in two basic shapes: globes (cocci) and rods (bacilli); there are exotic shapes (corkscrews, commas, spirals, even squares and even stars ( Read more... )

The Animositys between these two Parties run so high, that they will neither eat nor drink, nor talk with each other. It began upon the following Occasion. It is allowed on all Hands, that the primitive way of breaking Eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger End: But his present Majesty's Grand-father, while he was a Boy, going to eat an Egg ( Read more... )

Runny noses frequently produce yellowish-greenish mucus. The color comes from white blood cells called neutrophils that produce a haeme enzyme myeloperoxidaze. The latter makes HOCl from hydrogen peroxide and chloride that kills bacteria. The green color of this haeme pigment is extremely unusual. There are many yellow and red haeme proteins, but ( Read more... )