What is gene gun?

Gene Gun

A gene gun is a device used to introduce genetic material to cells through the use of tiny DNA-coated particles fired at high velocity into a cluster of cells. Gene guns are used in laboratory settings to conduct research, develop new products, and tag samples of materials.

The gene gun was created as a new way of proceeding with gene transformation of grains in response to the difficulty of getting bacteria across grain cell walls. It was designed by John Sanford at Cornell University in 1987 and made introducing new genetic material into plant cells much easier than previous methods, such as the use of viruses or agrobacterium.

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What is neurolaw?

Neurolaw is a new discipline that studies the effect of neuroscientific evidence on law and legal cases. It also sets standards as to how nueroscience should be used in relation to the legal system. It is believed that neurolaw could play a more decisive role in cases involving rape and murder, where detection of the truth becomes imperative. Proponents of neurolaw say neuroscience could have a huge impact on guilt, quantum of punishment, and detection of lies and biases. 

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What do nanomites mean?

Nanomites are nanosized particles, nanorobots or nanites, which when released into the bloodstream of a human kill infected or cancerous cells.
The precision and minute size of these particles make them useful in medical science. However, it's still a concept

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What is a cryosurgery?

It is the technique of using extreme rapid cooling to freeze tissues, thereby destroy them. Rapid cooling to temperature below freezing point produces irreversible cell damage and cell death occurs at -20 to -90 degree Celsius. Freezing produces white areas of necrosis. It is applied in the treatment of malignancies, vascular tumours and aggressive tumours.


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Why do we blink when a hammer strikes metal?

Blinking, apart from cleaning and lubricating the soft tissues of eyes, also serves as a protective way of keeping things away from entering the eyes, by lowering the eyelids and lashes for protection. Blinking is a reflex action and happens automatically, as soon as the brain perceives a threat. The striking of hammer is taken as a threat by the brain. There are multiple muscles that control the reflex action of blinking.

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What is the Bombay blood group?

This is an extremely rare ABO group, called so because it was first discovered among some people in Bombay (now Mumbai). Although the group is more likely to occur in East Indians, it is a very rare group even here. It is not restricted to East Indians but found in Caucasians, Japanese, etc. Their red cells lack ABH antigens and their sera contain anti-A and anti-B and anti-H. The anti-H would not be detected in the ABO group but would be detectable in pretransfusion tests.

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What does Burundanga mean?

Burundanga is the other name of the drug ‘Scopolamine’, used for criminal activities like rape or to rob innocent victims. The drug is passed on to the victim through business cards, pamphlets, etc. Even if the skin, through touch, absorbs just a very small quantity of the drug it has the desired effect. The drug is also administered through tablets added to drinks. This is known as the ‘dating drug’.

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What is passive immunity?

There are two types of immunity for infectious microorganisms: active immunity and passive immunity. Passive immunity is provided by artificial means such as injections of antibodies and vaccines. The agents used for passive immunity include antibodies from humans or animals.

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Why are viruses at the borderline of living and non-living things?

A virus has a very simple composition. It has a protein sheath inside which there is a strand of DNA. A virus shows some properties akin to living organisms. However, unlike other organisms, they show some properties that are akin to non-living things. They can undergo crystallization and in that form, survive for billions of years. They can survive very high temperatures, freezing cold and ultra-violet radiation in space vacuum, in crystallized form.

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Which was the first living organism on Earth?

Scientific experiments in the 1950s showed how lightning flashes might create amino acids, the basic chemicals of life, from the waters and gases of early Earth.
But no one knows how these chemicals joined up to become 'self replicating' i.e. able to make copies of themselves. This is the key to life which remains a mystery.
However, the first life forms were probably a tiny bacteria called archebacteria, which thrive in very hot, chemically rich places.

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What is mobile elbow?

The mobile elbow results from using the mobile for long hours. Called the 'cubital tunnel syndrome', it is also called 'cell phone elbow'. The problem occurs when the ulnar nerve, which runs across the elbow, down to the ring and little fingers, gets over-stretched and blood supply is restricted, sparked by holding a phone to the ear for long periods.

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What is daltonism?

Daltonism is another term for colour blindness, named after John Dalton, a scientist. There are specific cells on the retina for forming real inverted images after refraction from the eye's lens. Cone-shaped cells respond to colours. Colour-blind people lack such cells which enable them to distinguish between colours, mostly red and green. Such people have normal vision. This is a congenital defect which is inherited.

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How do chocolates elevate the mood of a person?

Chocolate contains small quantities of anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid found in the brain. Sceptics claim one would need to consume several pounds of chocolate to gain any very noticeable psychoactive effect. And eat a lot more to get fully stoned! It's worth noting that N-oleolethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine, two structural cousins of anandamide present in chocolate, both inhibit the metabolism of anandamide.

It has been speculated that they promote and prolong the mood of a person induced by anandamide.

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What is rhinology?

Rhinology is the study of the nose, including the sinuses, and concerns itself with medical and surgical diseases of the nasal passages and paranasal sinuses. It is becoming more important after the introduction of nasal endoscopes. A rhinologist is a specialist otolaryngologist (an ENT specialist). Rhinology was practised as early as 4000 BC — there is an inscription on the tomb of Seklet-n-Ankl, an old Egyptian physician, that “he healed the King’s nostrils”.


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