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DNA transcription as the First Step of the Central Dogma of Biology | HHMI (2015)

October 24, 2015 at 1:26 pm / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Video

What reads the information stored in our genes? How is it read? DNA transcription is the first step. Transcription is an amazingly beautiful process that take place in every (every!) living cell. In this animation produced by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute – HHMI you can see how a multi-part enzyme called RNA Polymerase II reads and writes the information stored in DNA into RNA. This is the first step of the Central Dogma of biology. RNA polymerase is a […]

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A Movie of RNA Polymerase II Transcription – Cheung & Cramer (2012)

October 6, 2015 at 3:54 pm / Molecular Nature, Video

This unnarrated molecular animation by Alan Cheung and Patrick Cramer details the first step of the Central Dogma of biology where the messenger RNA becomes synthesized from it’s DNA template. Enzymes that read information on DNA and produce the RNA counterparts are known as RNA polymerases. There are three types of RNA polymerase enzymes (RNA polymerase I, II and III). Here the working mechanism of type II that reads protein coding genes is shown based on multiple scientific studies spanning […]

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Life in the Universe – The Economist (2015)

October 2, 2015 at 1:53 pm / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Video

Does life exist outside of our planet? If so, are there intelligent life forms out there? How did life get started on our World? The Economist makes a quick tour of scientists who have been working on such questions. Frank Drake in his famous 1961 “Drake Equation” stated that the number of life-bearing planets must be a function of their host stars. How many planets have formed around those stars, what fraction of those planets are suitable for life, on […]

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Molecular Model of a Herpes Simplex Virus Protein – Gökhan Tolun (2014)

September 3, 2015 at 1:11 pm / Molecular Nature, Video

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) every year, 776,000 people in the United States get new herpes infections. Genital herpes infection is common in the United States. Nationwide, 15.5 % of persons aged 14 to 49 years have HSV-2 infection. The virus is also known as common cold sore. Seeing is believing. Researchers from UNC (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) have visualized visualized the structure and action of a key protein in this sexually transmitted virus: […]

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How Chameleons Change Color? (2015)

March 18, 2015 at 10:11 am / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Natural history, Short Observations, Video

Long projectile tongue, independently movable eyes and rapid color change. Chameleons are indeed very interesting animals (see the detailed account of Aristotle at the bottom of this post). Main video is a concatenation of all five supplementary materials associated with the a study demonstrating color change in Chameleons. You can view them individually below. The following video by The Economist makes a successful summary based on the same material: Reproductively mature chameleon males rapidly switch on bold threatening colors when […]

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Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 7: Adapt or Die! (2009)

February 12, 2015 at 12:09 am / Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

In this leg of the journey in Australia the theme “On the Future of Species” dominates the episode. Darwin absolutely had no clue on how genetic information from parents were transmitted to the offspring and he was perfectly aware of his situation. On the other hand, while he was writing his book battling with hereditary questions, an Augustinian friar with a scientific mind was carrying out his experimental crosses in a monastery which was going to lay the foundations of […]

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Chromosome Evolution in Plants

September 21, 2014 at 3:27 pm / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Video

Accidents happen all the time and sometimes living cells fail to divide properly. During cell division the genetic material that was supposed to be distributed equally between two cells may all stay in one of the cells. If this happens in body cells a cancerous tumor may develop or the cell may die. If it happens in an embryo at the very early stages of development at rare occasions these individuals may survive to maturity and may even reproduce to […]

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RNA Interference (RNAi) – Nature Reviews Genetics

June 25, 2014 at 10:06 am / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Video

Welcome to another post of Molecular Nature series highlighting a gene silencing mechanism known as RNA interference. The discovery was made by Craig Mello and Andrew Fire who shared 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Please keep in mind that this video is quite advanced in content and assumes the viewers know about basic molecular biological concepts such as the Central Dogma of Biology. RNA interference (RNAi) is a process used by wide range of organisms to regulate the […]

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The Hidden Life of the Cell – BBC (2012)

May 16, 2014 at 11:33 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

Ebola virus is threatening to spread out of Africa. Zika virus is evolving and circulating in more than 50 countries. At this stage we must inform ourselves and others about viruses. The Hidden Life of the Cell does just that by illustrating a real scenario of adenovirus infection and while doing that introduces major cellular components. The documentary is quite successful in explaining the biology behind events. However, you might also want to see Inner Life of Cell and the […]

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Inner Life of the Cell – David Bolinsky (2006)

May 15, 2014 at 10:52 pm / Molecular Nature, Video

The Inner Life of the Cell is a 3D computer graphics animation by David Bolinsky, former lead medical illustrator at Yale. He collaborated with lead animator John Liebler, and Mike Astrachan at XVIVO for this production. It illustrates the molecular interactions that occur when a white blood cell (Leukocyte) in the blood vessels of the human body is triggered by inflammation. This is also called leukocyte extravasation. It begins with a white blood cell rolling along the inner surface of […]

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The Making of the Fittest: Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies – HHMI – Sean Carrol (2012)

April 22, 2014 at 11:07 am / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Natural history, Video

Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies is one of the series of educational videos called The Making of the Fittest by Sean Carroll for communicating biological evolution to public with the support of Howard Hughs Medical Institute – HHMI. Evolution is thought to be acting very slow usually over millions of years. However, it can happen suprisingly quick. In this documentary, we look at a fish that evolved to change its body between two states reversibly multiple times over a few thousands […]

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The Making of the Fittest: Birth and Death of Genes – HHMI – Sean Carrol (2011)

April 21, 2014 at 3:11 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Molecular Nature, Natural history, Video

A fish caught known as Crocodile fish or icefish in Antarctic waters by the Norwegian expedition in 1927 tells us another fascinating story on evolution of life. Birth and Death of Genes is one of the four educational videos Sean Carroll has produced for communicating biological evolution to public with the support of HHMI. These fishes (called Nothothenoids) are unique for they are the only vertebrates in the world that lack the oxygen-binding protein hemoglobin, which gives blood its red […]

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Harvest of the Seasons – Jacob Bronowski (1973)

August 17, 2013 at 12:26 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

Harvest of the Seasons is the second episode of a thirteen-part documentary series called The Ascent of Man written and presented by Jacob Bronowski. The series reached wide audiences for Bronowski’s highly intellectual but simple and convincing analysis. Much of his long monologues were unscripted and were a source of inspiration for creating a template for Carl Sagan’s hugely sucessful Cosmos series. The motto used by Bronowski “A personal view” became “A personal voyage” in Sagan’s. The episode provides an […]

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A Tour of a Section of Human Chromosome 11

July 21, 2013 at 8:17 pm / Evolution, Human Nature, Molecular Nature, Video

This video produced by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories takes us on a tour of about 650,000 nucleotides from the tip of the short arm of human chromosome 11. From a distance we can discern 28 genes, denoted by red and yellow blocks. The red exons carry the DNA code for protein, while the yellow introns are noncoding. Also prominent are more than 500 transposons, or jumping genes, denoted by blue and purple blocks. If we zoom in, we can take […]

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Revealing the Origins of Life – PBS (2011)

March 6, 2013 at 11:28 pm / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Nova Documentaries, Video

How life began is a very fundamental question. This short documentary is an outstanding primer for scientific explanation of the origin of life. Featuring Nobel prize winner Jack Szostack of Harvard University and John Sutherland of University of Manchester, it explains the chemical evolution leading to the formation of RNA. Scientists all agree that formation of basic building blocks of life is suprisingly very easy. The burning question is how do they react to form complex molecules? RNA world hypothesis […]

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