Simplebiol
We learned in a previous post that in 1952, after a lot of experiments, DNA was accepted by the scientific community as the genetic material of the cells. However, something was still missing, and that was its structure. For many years prior, scientists were conducting experiments, each one unraveling some features of DNA that proved […]
In a previous post, we learned that DNA is the genetic material of the cells, and one of its most important functions is that it contains genes that carry the information for the determination of the hereditary characteristics. However, scientists were not always aware that DNA was the genetic material. In fact, for the first half […]
DNA or Deoxyribonucleic acid is the genetic material of all the cells and most viruses, with the exception of some viruses that use another type of nucleic acid, called RNA or Ribonucleic acid. As we will see in the following posts, DNA presents some characteristics that make it the ideal molecule to carry out the […]
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles that appeared about 250 million years ago at the beginning of the Triassic period and dominated the Earth during the Jurassic and the Cretaceous period. However, they suddenly vanished from the face of the Earth after a nearly 200 million years’ presence, at the end of the Cretaceous […]
Do you use the words “crocodile” and “alligator” interchangeably? Do you think they are the same animals with a different name or with just a few differences? Let’s find out how to distinguish them. Crocodiles and Alligators are reptiles that belong to the order Crocodilia, so when you refer to crocodiles, you probably mean Crocodilia. […]
Tuatara are reptiles belonging to the species Sphenodon punctatus. Biologists are very interested in this animal due to its uniqueness and history. Tuatara look like lizards, but they are much more different. They are the only surviving members of the order Rhynchocephalia, which was represented by many species around the world, about 200 million years ago, […]
In a previous post, we talked about antibiotics and how they have helped us fight off bacterial infections since their discovery in 1928. To this day, they are used for the prevention and treatment of mild to severe infections some of whom were once dangerous or even deadly. Even though they are life-saving substances, they […]
Bacteria often have bad fame since they are mostly known for the diseases they cause to the human population. However, not all bacteria are bad. A large number of bacteria live inside our bodies or on the surface of our skin, without us being aware of them. This is because they are necessary for our […]
Viruses are microscopic parasites whose size belongs to the nanometer scale. They can invade the cells of other organisms in order to reproduce, since they don’t have the ability to do that independently, outside of their hosts. You might be familiar with the viruses infecting people but all the living organisms on our planet are […]
We have already talked about how eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms organize their cells in order to carry out their functions in efficient ways. But how are the different cellular parts (or organelles in eukaryotes) formed and how do they carry out their functions? The answer is that everything inside a cell is the result of […]