https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/yeast-side-story
July 16, 2012
Yeast cells yearning for a “soul mate” have a problem: They lack the ability to move on their own. To get closer to a potential mate, all they can do is reach out with cellular extensions. This enables a pair of yeast cells to make contact, after which they fuse their membra...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/finding-source-cancer-recurrence
July 17, 2012
Long after a cancer has been beaten into remission, it can return. New research led by Institute scientists recently provided strong evidence that in leukemia, at least, this is due to cancer stem cells – cells...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/kill-messenger-0
July 17, 2012
What’s good news for one might spell disaster for another. In cancer for instance, when a certain cell is commanded to grow and divide without restraint, it’s a welcome message for the cell itself but a tragedy for the person who harbors this cell in his or her bo...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/cellular-microprocessor-keeps-its-cool
July 24, 2012
Microprocessors – at least in the cell – are complexes that chop active, non-protein-coding strands called microRNAs (miRNA) out of longer, inactive precursor miRNA strands. These functional miRNAs regulate protein production by inhibiting the capacity of th...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/rescuing-rescuers
July 24, 2012
One of the ways our cells keep things running smoothly is by recycling all sorts of proteins, especially those that are damaged or have outlived their usefulness. But how does the cell avoid consignin...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/genome-cellulose-eating-bacterium-sequenced
July 24, 2012
The bacterium Clostridium thermocellum and a handful of close relatives are the only organisms known to break down one of the hardest materials in nature – the cellulose found in trees and tough, woody plants. This unique ability could be quite valuable: Sci...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/chemistry/proof-principle
July 24, 2012
Better known for their destructive feeding habits, cabbage looper moth (Trichoplusia ni) caterpillars are proving to be a useful new tool in the production of human protein. The ability to produce large quantities of specific human proteins is crucial for...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/deep-blue
August 6, 2012
At night, on a swaying deck thousands of kilometers from land, with the salt spray in one’s eyes, one truly understands the concept that all life on Earth – from the tiniest marine bacterium to humans – i...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/weizmann-international-magazine-science-and-people
July 29, 2012
No. 2 - Summer 2012 >>...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/earth-sciences/how-start-revolution
July 31, 2012
We all know how hard it is to shift an economy from stagnation to growth, but in nature, a transition of this kind occurs on a routine basis – whenever plant seeds shift from a dormant state to that of germination. This transition calls for sudden, far-ra...