Articles by Katie Pieper (29 results)

When geneticist Rob Unckless took his son to Lego Club at the local library, he was not expecting to start a new collaboration. The result is the striking piece of science-inspired art that graces the cover of the February issue of GENETICS. Created by artist Kent Smith, “Attack of the 50 Foot Mosquito” was inspired…

Despite being covered by a massive, permanent ice sheet, Greenland has been continuously inhabited by humans for over a thousand years. Most modern Greenlanders are Inuit whose ancestors migrated eastward from Canada around 1000 AD, bringing technology like kayaks and dogsleds. They eventually settled on the coasts of the world’s largest island, hunting whales and…

These worms are as long as a pencil’s tip and only just visible without a microscope. They are among the smallest multicellular animals, but they still have complex organ systems. They are Caenorhabditis elegans, one of the most important organisms in modern biology and a key to understanding the most basic molecular processes of life.…

Towering sugar pine trees dominate the mountain forests of California and Oregon. They are the tallest pine trees in the world, regularly growing to skyscraper heights of over 100 meters. But these forest behemoths are under attack from a very tiny foe: an invasive fungus. White pine blister rust was accidentally introduced to western North…

Sex chromosomes have evolved from autosomes hundreds of times across the tree of life. In mammals, sex is controlled by the Y chromosome-linked gene SRY, which triggers the development of male anatomy. Sex determination in most mammals is extremely conserved; essentially all marsupials and placental mammals share the same pair of X and Y chromosomes…

The human brain is an amazing machine powered by electricity. Carefully controlled patterns of changing electrical charges in neurons allow us to to think, move, and speak. When this system is disrupted, very bad things happen. A seizure occurs when a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain interrupts normal functioning. Seizures are accompanied…

Like any revolutionary technology, domestic horses changed human society. The incredible speed and strength of these animals opened up new opportunities to spread trade, language, and culture. For thousands of years, horses have been helping build human society by pulling wagons and plows and carrying soldiers and travelers on their backs. Horse husbandry changed humanity,…