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MITOCHONDRIAL HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER. Some tumors grow without mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), But more slowly because they lack the respiratory and energy producing machinery that mitochondria provide. Horizontal gene transfer of mtDNA can occur between host cell mitochondria and the tumor cells lacking mitochondria to make the tumors grow faster. An old bacterial trait. https://lnkd.in/ecXxgWp View in LinkedIn

CAPITAL CELL bioparty invitation in Barcelona View in LinkedIn

ANCIENT CYANOBACTERIA became the powerhouses of all green plant cells as chloroplasts, which "perform essential metabolic and biosynthetic functions of global significance," including oxygenation of our planet, nitrogen fixation, and giant organic fluxes of trillions of metric tons per year. Not only stewards of all things green, but of the planetary cycles of carbon, nitrogen and other key elements. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982204000909 View in LinkedIn

WHY IS NANO DIFFERENT? Molecular interactions are radically different at different scales. At an intermediary experiential level, think of the beetles that walk on the surface of the water, the strength of the capillary rise in small tubes, the power of water vapour in thunderclouds, or the geosculpting forces of glaciers. Water properties at different scales. View in LinkedIn

ANCIENT BACTERIA twice in evolution learned how to enter animal and plant cells and direct the entire metabolism of each host. This incredible feat of reprogramming and hijacking the host metabolic machinery is something that scientists today are incapable of doing. This reprogramming is so nuanced that it can adapt to almost all host cellular and disease conditions. View in LinkedIn

MECHANOELECTRIC COUPLING in lizard cochlear hair cells accounts for some of the observed properties. One of hundreds of examples in nature. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0378595582900454 View in LinkedIn

THIS ENDS this weekend's excursion into the fascinating sense of smell, hard on the heels of the sense of taste last weekend. Next weekend will cover how the microbial world within us interacts with these receptors. View in LinkedIn

FUNDAMENTALLY NEW PROPERTIES. "Coupling between electrical and mechanical phenomena is a universal feature of many inorganic materials and virtually all biological systems. Similar to transport, optical, and magnetic phenomena, the nanoscale can also enable completely new types of electromechanical behavior." https://lnkd.in/efupmXS View in LinkedIn

"DOGS can smell cancer and diabetes," detecting volatile organic molecules associated with the diseases. The illusive quest for an e-nose continues. https://lnkd.in/emBjZwq View in LinkedIn

NANO PROPERTIES DIFFER. "In the past two decades, the concept of “small is different” has been established for a wide variety of phenomena, including electrical, optical, magnetic, and mechanical properties of materials." Or, a snowflake is not a glacier. These radically different properties open up new programmability options in ordinary materials. https://lnkd.in/efupmXS View in LinkedIn