Your floor-model animal mitochondrion. Public domain. Click for link. Two billion years ago, around the time atmospheric oxygen levels were rising, one cell engulfed another, and instead of becoming lunch, the ingestee became an Earth-changer and, eventually, a vital part of you: mitochondria.These microscopic cell inhabitants/engines allowed their host cell to suddenly begin to burn oxygen when digesting their food, an energy source that vastly expanded the amount of energy they could harvest from a given morsel of food.
April 16, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
In the Nature podcast interview that went along with my Kawasaki Disease story at Nature (look for the interview halfway down the page at the story here), I talked about the tantalizing work of Dr.
April 6, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
Aneurysms in the coronary arteries of a Kawasaki victim. Public domain; click for source. That's the question I examine in my first feature story for Nature , published today online and in the print magazine April 5.
April 4, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
Marburg Virus. Note distinctive "Shepherd's crooks". CDC/ Dr. Erskine Palmer, Russell Regnery, Ph.D., CDC Public Health Image Library #275; Public Domain.
April 1, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
To ease on in to the weekend, let's celebrate by watching some short films on a topic that I mentioned earlier this week in my planthopper post: plant bug poo, aka honeydew.
March 30, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
A planthopper, Siphanta acuta, but not a planthopper of Iran. Photos of them have proven elusive. Creative Commons Brocken Inaglory; click image for license and source.
March 28, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
Blogger's Note: As I'm on vacation this week, today I present a post from the archive at theartfulamoeba.com. This post originally appeared on my blog on Feb.
March 8, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
A lush, rhizomatous seagrass meadow in the Mediterranean. Creative Commons Arnaud-Haond et al. 2012, PLoS One. Click image for link. In the world of gigantic plant and fungus clones, there is no lack of contenders for the title Oldest, Heaviest, and Most Ginormous.
March 1, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
Light, sweet, orange goo crude. Last fall the small Alaskan coastal village of Kivalina was inundated by a mysterious orange "goo"(click for photo). Locals and others suspected a toxic algal bloom (see here for image), or perhaps some sort of chemical release, or millions of microscopic "crustacean eggs".Yet just a month later the mystery substance was identified as none other than a plant-parasitic fungus called a rust -- completely harmless to humans and aquatic life, and probably not bad plankton food.
February 29, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
On land, snails and slugs -- the Gastropods -- are confined to terrestrial prison, but in the ocean, they are free to shed their shells and fly. These are the sea angels, the sea butterflies, and the sea elephants -- and probably quite a few more I'm not aware of.For instance, this slinky and mysterious creature is a heteropod ("different foot"), or sea elephant: It's called a sea elephant because of that sausage-esque proboscis it holds aloft.
February 17, 2012 — Jennifer Frazer
Blog Index
@ScientificAmerican
STAFFBehind the scenes at Scientific American
ReadAnecdotes from the Archive
STAFF
ReadAnthropology in Practice
Exploring the human condition.
ReadBeautiful Minds
Insights into intelligence, creativity, and the mind
ReadBudding Scientist
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
ReadCross-Check
Critical views of science in the news
ReadDark Star Diaries
STAFF
ReadDog Spies
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
ReadExtinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
ReadFrontiers for Young Minds
Science by and for kids ages 8-15
ReadGuest Blog
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
ReadIllusion Chasers
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
ReadLife, Unbounded
Discussion and news about planets, exoplanets, and astrobiology
ReadMIND Guest Blog
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American Mind
ReadNot bad science
New discoveries in animal behavior and cognition
ReadObservations
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
ReadPlugged In
More than wires - exploring the connections between energy, environment, and our lives
ReadRoots of Unity
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
ReadRosetta Stones
Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
ReadSA Visual
STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
ReadTalking back
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
ReadTetrapod Zoology
Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals - living and extinct
ReadThe Artful Amoeba
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
ReadVoices
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
Read
