Light gave life a chance to be. Without it, our planet would not be inhabited by so many living beings of all shapes and sizes. Over time, animals, plants and all sorts of microorganisms have emerged and evolved using this source. More.
There are different ways of producing progeny. In eukaryotes, the most widespread method is for two reproductive cells of the opposite sex to meet and fuse. This may sound straightforward but mating is never an easy affair ... More.
We need light to see. There are times, though, when things are so gloomy it is difficult for light to shine through. So, to beat the darkness, either we create our own light or adapt to the lack of it... More.
New resource in IT infrastructure
2017-06-19
A new resource (SUSHI) to share useful pipeline scripts has been added
Where there is a will, there is a way. We have all faced situations that seem hopeless yet, given time and determination, we end up finding a solution. Nature tackles apparent dead ends by using the forces that drive evolution... More.
New resource in evolutionary biology
2017-05-22
A new resource (Phylo.io) to visualise and compare phylogenetic trees has been added
OrthoDB SPARQL endpoint
2017-05-12
OrthoDB is now available in RDF format via a SPARQL endpoint to make federated queries across OrthoDB, UniProt and Ensembl.
Communication has a purpose and is usually selfish. Humans have raised it to the level of entertainment in the form of books, exhibitions, politics and plays, and to while away time over smoked salmon and a glass of wine... More.
Knives were crafted to cut. Yet how many of us use them to slit an envelope. Or prise open a lid. Nature too has its ways of perverting a design so that its initial role is altered to become another. This is exactly what happened.. More.
Life can be hard. There are times when you find yourself in the most unfriendly circumstances and, more often than not, the best way to deal with the situation is to find your own solution and wriggle your own way out... More.
Life depends on chemical signals. Without them our heart wouldn't know how to beat or our thoughts how to form, our eyes would be unable to see, our legs unable to walk and our mouths would be incapable of speech... More.