Recent content by Guco

It helps Bacteria adhere to tissue or other surfaces. Many bacteria can stick to specific substrates (like a specific type of host cell), and they can also adhere to other bacteria and then form biofilms.

Any drug that resembles the drug from Limitless to the user is more likely affecting confidence rather than actually increasing cognitive ability. I think a true cognitive enhancer would increase mental flexibility (in other words, the ability to change your mental state to suit the task at...

Ahh yes mixed the names up. Yesterday I wanted to buy some (melatonin pills that is), but the government here has lowered the allowed amount that can be sold legally (100x less than it was before), so I suppose I'll go to sleep without it (although I was never quite certain if it actually did...

I'm sure that I get things wrong sometimes and I don't mind it when people point that out. I'll be the first to admit that I don't exactly post with citations and references... However, I do mind when someone tell me I'm wrong, but doesn't even take the effort to point out what he doesn't agree...

There are differences between animals in their ability to synthesize vitamins (or not) and their requirements. Species can lose the ability to synthesize certain compounds, if they can easily get them from their food. At that point there will be no need to maintain the gene. Meat in general is a...

Like said before, this can be done. Information about metabolic rates can for example be used to make estimates about biodiversity and biomass in relatively isolated systems (for example deep water reefs). The sun might not necessarily have been the primary source of energy for the first...

You could conceive that in the future humanity may posses such advanced technology, that it will be possible to create individual carbon-lifeforms that do not mutate or procreate, but are capable of indefinitely maintaining themselves by intake of energy. At some point defining biological...

Perhaps another way to think about this is that we can use several modes of thinking. I would argue that scientific reasoning does not so much rely on developing an advanced intelligence, but rather has more to do with learning how to suppress otherwise useful modes of thinking in favour of...

Society has evolved. Our ability to pass on knowledge to the following generations. As people have said before you vastly overestimate the importance of factual knowledge (semantic memory) to everyday functioning. There is more to our brain than that. Is it though? This reminds me of a quote...

I would say gold/light purple... definitely closer to gold/white than blue/black for me. I'm not really sure how people could see black in it.

I think this question is similar to (if not the same as) the hard problem of consciousness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness). Personally I doubt that it is a question that can be answered in a way that will satisfy most people asking it. It's much like asking what our...

As humans we tend to be very biased towards what we find important as humans. 'Modern' traits like culture and language are very important to us and these traits are related to biological changes in brain structure and size. However, that does not necessarily imply that the amount of genomic...

Those arguments tend to rely on statistical methods. Keep in mind that the following two sentences are not the same: - all current eukaryotic life derives from a single ancestor which resulted from endosymbiosis between two lifeforms - endosymbiosis between life forms, resulting in an eukaryote...

Epigenetics? These are heritable adaptations that might be considered short-term adaptations. If you are strictly talking about the genome, I can think of some examples that influence the chance a gene is maintained in the future: - genes can acquired multiple, distinct functions - genes may...

Death from old age does not have a single cause. It is simply a by-product of the fact that from an evolutionary point of view, there is no significant advantage to invest in indefinite lifespan. Any evolutionary change that adds to longevity always requires investment and past a certain point...