In 2002, Ronald Breaker, incoming department chair of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, discovered riboswitches, and his lab continues to identify new classes of these small functional RNAs.
Dark matter, an important component of most cosmological theories, is being investigated by several new experiments, including the Free Electron Laser, the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, and Project LUX.
Professor Thomas Steitz shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.” By using familiar X-ray crystallography techniques in a novel fashion, Steitz was able build a model of the ribosome at the atomic scale.
The insulin pump, developed at Yale in the 1970s, revolutionized the management of Type 1 Diabetes, but manual pump adjustment can be inexact. Now, researchers are designing an artificial pancreas that aims to imitate the natural organ’s function of keeping blood sugar levels in a safe range.
In his new book, Dan Koeppel establishes his goal of saving “the banana that is dying” through an analysis of the fruit’s history mixed with a discussion of it current problems, along with possible solutions for its future.
Congratulations to Sameer Gupta and James Luccarelli, the two motivated and talented Yale seniors who received the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in 2009.
Three basic principles underlie casino games: definite probabilities, expected value, and volatility index. Understanding these concepts elucidates how these games work and how wold champions beat their competition.
Like many inventions, Velcro was inspired by nature. During a hunting trip in 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral noticed that burrs of burdock plants kept sticking to his clothes and his dog’s fur.
Rigor mortis, the stiffening of a body several hours after death, arises from a combination of two of the oldest definitions of death – cessation of the heartbeat and cessation of breathing.
Prosopagnosia is a selective and often severe deficit in the ability to recognize others’ faces. People suffering from the disorder are often unable to recognize their friends and family members by face alone.