Survival of the Sickest Terms

Anemia is a condition in which people lack enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to the body’s tissues. Anemia can often be caused by a lack of iron. In Survival of the… read analysis of Anemia

Epigenetics is a developing scientific field which suggests that certain compounds can attach themselves to specific genes and suppress their expression. For example, in agouti mice, feeding pregnant mice vitamins led the mice babies to… read analysis of Epigenetics

Favism is an inherited disorder that affects 400 million people around the world. Favism results in a G6PD enzyme deficiency. The G6PD enzyme is designed to protect the integrity of red blood cells, including by… read analysis of Favism

Folic acid is a B vitamin that is an integral part of cell growth. Folic acid helps DNA replication when cells divide, and thus it’s particularly important during pregnancy. Too little folic acid during this… read analysis of Folic acid

The Hayflick limit is the maximum number of times a cell can divide, because each time a cell reproduces it loses DNA. This limit was discovered by Leonard Hayflick in the 1960s, who found that… read analysis of Hayflick limit

Hemochromatosis is a condition that causes iron to build up in the body. Without treatment, it can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and ultimately death because of the damage it causes… read analysis of Hemochromatosis

Transposons, or “jumping genes,” are sequences of DNA that can “copy and paste” or “cut and paste” itself into other parts of an organism’s DNA, thus changing the individual’s genome. Jumping genes were discovered by… read analysis of Transposons (“jumping genes”)

Macrophages are a type of white blood cell which helps fight disease by finding and destroying pathogens. In people with hemochromatosis, macrophages have less iron than usual, which prevents pathogens from gaining access to… read analysis of Macrophage

Malaria is a disease common to tropical climates which infects almost 500 million people and kills more than one million people every year. Malaria is caused by parasitic protozoa which infect mosquitoes, and the disease… read analysis of Malaria

Methylation is the process by which genes are turned on or off by certain compounds without changing the genes themselves. Methylation is the key process that is studied in the field of epigenetics. read analysis of Methylation

A retrovirus is a virus made out of RNA which can copy itself into the DNA of an organism. Moalem posits that jumping genes are likely descended from retroviruses. read analysis of Retrovirus

Phytoestrogens are chemicals developed by plants which mimic the effects of sex hormones like estrogen and act as a defense against animals. When animals eat plants with phytoestrogens, they disrupt animals’ reproductive capability. Chemist Carl… read analysis of Phytoestrogens

The Weissman barrier is the idea, put forth by August Weissman, that mutations in a person’s somatic cells (cells except for egg and sperm cells) would not be passed on to germ cells (egg… read analysis of Weissman barrier

The Younger Dryas was Earth’s last ice age, which began around 12,000 years ago and lasted around 1,000 years. Its onset only took a decade. By that point, humans had started to migrate out of… read analysis of Younger Dryas