Light refracting cells!

Clams have a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae. This algae lives within the fleshy mantle of clams, growing into pillar like formations. In order to expose this helpful algae to just the right amount and kind of sunlight, clams have developed a special cell called iridocytes that refract the sunlight and split it up so that only the types of light that the algae photosynthesizes best, red and blue light, gets through! Because the iridocytes reflect green and yellow light, it causes the clams to have an iridescent glow. There are studies on these cells that are looking into ways to utilize these cells so that we can farm algae in layered pads to produce biofuels! Some questions I have about this would be how much energy would the biofuels from the algae produce? Would we be able to use these biofuels in conjunction with solar panels to replace fossil fuels all together? 

Bacteria's energy parasite cousins

As most of us know; mitochondria are the "powerhouses" of cells in plants and animals. The big question surrounding these organelles is how did they come about? Older theories suggest that they were just simple bacteria swallowed by host cells that were later integrated into the cells dna as part of the cell itself. However new studies suggest that mitochondria actually used to be parasitic bacteria that used to latch knot host cells and steal energy, and that somewhere along the way the flow of energy got switched around and they became beneficial to cells. I found this interesting because I never thought that mitochondria weren't always a part of cells, because how else did they get energy? But the whole parasite thing is very interesting considering they are now helpful to our cells. Some questions I have about this are how did the energy flow get switched? And how did they get integrated  into cells dna in the first place?

Save the microbes!

This The article I read was about how when mice get sick, they produce a substance called L-flucose; a sugar that has been shown to affect gut microbiota. This is significant because there was a study done to see if L-flucose had an effect on the mice's health. First the mice were exposed to a organism that mimicked systemic infection, and when the mice started to show signs of being sick, such as not eating or drinking, (which is a way for the mice to prevent the pathogen from getting nutrients.) it was found that every inch of the lower intestine was covered in L-flucose, and that this only happened during systemic infections. They then performed the same experiment on genetically altered mice that lacked the gene to produce L-flucose, in those mice it was found that the mice regained weight and recovered much slower than there L-flucose producing counterparts. This shows that L-flucose is the body's way of protecting our helpful microbiota while we ourselves are battling infection, while at the same time preventing ourselves from being exposed to even more harmful pathogens. We humans also produce the same substance when experiencing systemic infection, and 20% lack the gene to produce it, and this lack of ability has been linked to Chrons's disease. These experiments will help start more to try and figure out how to treat Chron's disease. I'm wondering whether or not treatment for Chron's will be a sort of gene therapy or maybe even a way to administer L-flucose directly to people's lower intestines.