Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A break in one strand of a double-stranded DNA molecule. One of the phosphodiester bonds between two adjacent nucleotides is ruptured. No bases are removed from the strand, it is just opened at that point. A little cut.  

A transmembrane (i.e., through the membrane) glycoprotein enzyme that appears in the membrane of the influenza virus. An enzyme present on the surface of influenza virus particles. The activity of this enzyme enables the virus to separate itself from cells. Persons with increased levels of antibodies against neuraminidase in their serum have increased resistance to…

A new growth of animal or plant tissue resembling (more or less) the tissue from which it arises but having distinct biochemical differences from the parent cell. The neoplastic tissue is a mutant version of the original and appears to serve no physiologic function in the same sense as did the original tissue. It may…

Comprises the twisting of a duplex of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in space in the opposite sense to the turns of the strands in the double helix.  

A tropical tree that resists insect (e.g., whiteflies, mealybugs, aphids, mites) depradations and certain fungal diseases (e.g., rusts, powdery mildew, etc.) via secretions of liquids that contain Azadirachtin (an insect-repelling chemical).  

It is the Japanese equivalent to a U.S. IND (investigational new drug) application; to the Koseisho, the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An application which must be approved by the FDA before any new drug is marketed to the general public which provides information designed to demonstrate safety and effectiveness…

The normal, biologically active conformation (i.e., the three-dimensional arrangement of its atoms) of a protein molecule.  

A private, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the advancement of science and technology and their use for the general welfare. Under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, the NAS has a working mandate that calls upon it to advise the U.S. Federal Government on scientific and…

Literally means “dwarf technology.” A futuristic, conceptual technology in which man manipulates objects whose dimensions are approximately 1 to 100 nanometers. For example, it is possible that in the future a variety of man-made “nano-assemblers” [i.e., tiny (molecular) machines smaller than a grain of sand] would manufacture those things that are produced today in factories.…

10-9 meter. Often used to express wavelengths of light (e.g., in a spectrophotometer).