Marginally On Topic

A blog about what goes on in the margins of my thoughts and notebooks during class and out in the real world.

Posts tagged nerdy

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When a lambda phage infects a bacteria, it can either enter into the lytic cycle or the lysogenic cycle. In the lytic cycle, the host cell’s machinery is hijacked to only reproduce the phage DNA until enough baby phages can assemble and burst out of the cell to wreak havoc on nearby cells. In the lysogenic cycle, the phage DNA is incorporated into the host cell DNA and is copied quietly alongside it as the cell reproduces. Eventually, through some environmental trigger, this dormant phage DNA in the lysogenic cycle enters the lytic cycle and proceeds as described above.

When a lambda phage infects a bacteria, it can either enter into the lytic cycle or the lysogenic cycle. In the lytic cycle, the host cell’s machinery is hijacked to only reproduce the phage DNA until enough baby phages can assemble and burst out of the cell to wreak havoc on nearby cells. In the lysogenic cycle, the phage DNA is incorporated into the host cell DNA and is copied quietly alongside it as the cell reproduces. Eventually, through some environmental trigger, this dormant phage DNA in the lysogenic cycle enters the lytic cycle and proceeds as described above.

Filed under nerdy comic phage lytic cycle lysogenic cycle biology bacteria science

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This Tarzan problem was actually illustrated in a diagram in my physics book…complete with jungle print loincloths. (That’s a leopard at the bottom)

This Tarzan problem was actually illustrated in a diagram in my physics book…complete with jungle print loincloths.

(That’s a leopard at the bottom)

Filed under comic physics nerdy Tarzan

20 notes

Honeybees have haplodiploid sex determination. In humans, an X chromosome and a Y chromosome means that you’ll be a male (typically). Two X chromosomes will be a female. But bees do things differently; the queen bee will lay a ton of eggs, and these unfertilized eggs will each have one sex chromosome. If a male worker bee fertilizes an egg, it will develop into a female bee. Otherwise, the unfertilized eggs develop into males. Thus female bees have two sets of sex chromosomes (we term them ‘diploids’) and male bees only have one set of sex chromosomes (haploids).

Honeybees have haplodiploid sex determination. In humans, an X chromosome and a Y chromosome means that you’ll be a male (typically). Two X chromosomes will be a female. But bees do things differently; the queen bee will lay a ton of eggs, and these unfertilized eggs will each have one sex chromosome. If a male worker bee fertilizes an egg, it will develop into a female bee. Otherwise, the unfertilized eggs develop into males. Thus female bees have two sets of sex chromosomes (we term them ‘diploids’) and male bees only have one set of sex chromosomes (haploids).

Filed under genetics nerdy comic bee Star Wars science