“For the first time anywhere in the world, a genetically engineered animal has been approved for human consumption” announced Peter Mansbridge on CBC news on November 20. Members of society do not agree on how genetically modified fruits and vegetables should be labelled, if at all, but we are already moving on to genetically modified...

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I've teamed up with Science Borealis, Dr. Paige Jarreau from Louisiana State University and 20 other Canadian science bloggers, to conduct a broad survey of Canadian science blog readers. Together we are trying to find out who reads science blogs in Canada, where they come from, whether Canadian-specific content is important to them and where...

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Parents love to watch their babies grow, learn new things and celebrate their milestones. Unfortunately, the parents of 1/10000 baby girls, which carry a mutation in a gene on their X chromosome, will witness their child reach their walking and talking milestones, only to lose those abilities. People living with Rett syndrome are severely intellectually...

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Stretching your body while waking up from a good sleep can feel fabulous. As you yawn you open your mouth wide for 4-6 seconds, stretch your respiratory tract and diaphragm and inflate your lungs. We call it stretching but in your body the opposing muscle groups contract together tighter and tighter until joints, limbs and...

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Childhood traumas are associated with both psychiatric diseases and bowel disorders later in life. Like in humans, early-life stress in mice can lead to abnormal behaviour in adults. Maternal separation is a well-established model for early-life stress in mice. At McMaster University researchers wondered how the intestinal microbiota (community of microorganisms living in the intestine)...

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Chameleon researcher Michel Milinkovich was sorry to break it to us in The Guardian that chameleons do not actually change colour to blend in with their surroundings – they do it for communication. While that might be disappointing to some, including myself, there are still plenty of animals that do change colour to match their...

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People with Alzheimer’s have trouble sleeping and poor sleep seems to promote Alzheimer’s disease in those at risk genetically. Both poor sleep and Alzheimer’s disease cause increases b-amyloid to accumulate in the brain. b-amyloid deposits are the main component of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease that damage nerve cells. Under normal conditions b-amyloid, a by-product...

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President Barack Obama discussed the Precision Medicine Initiative recently, which has not surprisingly been met with both enthusiasm and scepticism in the media. Precision medicine is sometimes referred to as personalized medicine (particularly in Canada) and refers to disease prevention and treatment tailored to the individual. The concept is not new, as blood transfusions have been tailored to the...

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That it might be possible to improve intellectual ability in Angelman Syndrome individuals was the real news behind the headline last summer about the girl in Toronto with a lemonade stand raising money to cure her brother's disease. Recently Nature published a paper showing how in mice carrying the Angelman Syndrome genetic defect, a back-up copy...

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Blueberry caviar tops this watermelon dessert.Faux caviar developed by top chef Ferran Adria is an example of experimental avant-garde cuisine using the technique of spherification, where balls of liquid are encased in a delicate gelatinous membrane of seaweed extract. A feast for the eyes is followed by a pleasant sensation as the membrane creates a slight...

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