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Trials of a sperm
Nicola Hemmings examines the numerous factors that influence a sperm's chances of fertilising an egg The Biologist 62(4) p18-21 A sperm's journey from insemination to fertilisation can be likened to running a marathon. In order to win, runners must...
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No Uncertain Terms
producing identical (monozygotic) twins, or naturally occurring clones. What made Dolly special was that she formed from an egg joining with a body (somatic) cell, rather than a sperm (germline) cell. However, despite Dolly’s fame and the familiarity of...
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Pinch point
to be resistant to the plague, but white-clawed crayfish in the UK have no immunity to this disease. White-clawed crayfish eggs. A small number of licenced captive breeders are helping repopulated areas of the UK where the species has been killed by...
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No Uncertain Terms
producing identical (monozygotic) twins, or naturally occurring clones. What made Dolly special was that she formed from an egg joining with a body (somatic) cell, rather than a sperm (germline) cell. However, despite Dolly’s fame and the familiarity of...
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My Lab Unlocked: Dr Parvez Alam FRSB
oft-discussed topic, but it is only one of many organisms in biology that are of interest to us. N.cruentata protecting its egg case and spiderlings Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of our group is that we view biology through the eyes of...
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Photography Competition Winners 2017
people have ever see them. Life in a drop by Anup Deodhar Taken: Amboli Maharashtra state, India(Western Ghats) This is an egg of a Bombay bush frog sized four to five millimetres. In this image a fully developed froglet can be seen in the transparent...
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RSB announces the Photography Competition 2017 shortlist
people have ever see them. Life in a drop by Anup Deodhar Taken: Amboli Maharashtra state, India (Western Ghats) This is an egg of a Bombay bush frog sized four to five millimetres. In this image a fully developed froglet can be seen in the transparent...
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If you go down to the woods today...
bean tick (Ixodes ricinus), the only tick that carries Lyme disease in the UK There are four stages to a tick’s life cycle: egg, larva, nymph and adult. A female tick will eat just three meals in its life – taking one blood meal at each juvenile stage...
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Conflicting ideas
the 1950s and a more recent paper from Chuck Langley’s lab, which hypothesised that there may be competition going on in the egg to determine which chromosomes would be transmitted to the next generation. I remember very distinctly sitting in a Middle...
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Learning to love Lucilia
facility in Bridgend, a team of workers keeps a colony of around 2,000 flies, in age categories by week. Some of the eggs are taken to be processed into the medicinal products, while others are used to replenish the colony. Maintaining the colony and...
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“Just the idea of having these species back is already having an impact”
working with veterinarians and thinking about how to get all these animals to ovulate at the same time to get their egg. Whereas I go to a site in Siberia, pick up bones and extract DNA. There are others designing new approaches to genetically engineer...
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“Just the idea of having these species back is already having an impact”
working with veterinarians and thinking about how to get all these animals to ovulate at the same time to get their egg. Whereas I go to a site in Siberia, pick up bones and extract DNA. There are others designing new approaches to genetically engineer...
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Twist of Fate
absolute morass. We know it must start with signals that an embryo gets from the mother. There are proteins deposited in the egg in a particular pattern that sets off this chain reaction of genetic events that is development. However, then you have to...
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How to…Beachcomb
important areas for a particular species. The Shark Trust runs a national survey to record mermaid's purses, the empty egg capsules of sharks and rays. The species can then be identified by their shape and size, which can tell us about the populations...
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Conflicting ideas
the 1950s and a more recent paper from Chuck Langley’s lab, which hypothesised that there may be competition going on in the egg to determine which chromosomes would be transmitted to the next generation. I remember very distinctly sitting in a Middle...
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UK becomes first nation to legalise three-person IVF
DNA from one man. Mitochondrial DNA transfer, which was developed by British scientists, allows IVF clinics to replace an egg's defective mitochondria with healthy ones from a female donor, to prevent children suffering incurable genetic diseases such...
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Society supports vote to introduce mitochondrial DNA transfer
DNA from one man. Mitochondrial DNA transfer, which was developed by British scientists, allows IVF clinics to replace an egg's defective mitochondria with healthy ones from a female donor, to prevent children suffering debilitating conditions such as...
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Ants feasting on honeydew and cells destroying tuberculosis: the shortlist and winners of the RSB's Photography competition
anything but friendly. The jewel wasp injects venom into the cockroach’s brain, paralysing the latter. The wasp then lays an egg in the zombified cockroach. Bite for survival Photographer: Wei Fu Location: Bangkok, Thailand The tokay gecko bites back...
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A Field Guide to Harlequins and Other Common Ladybirds of Britain and Ireland
throughout their life stages. There are sections on the general characteristics of ladybirds, alongside information on the egg, larval and pupal stages of their lifecycle. The history of the arrival of the harlequin ladybird in Britain and Ireland is...
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On record: Latent Lepidopterans
months, with many having a period of dormancy. These overwintering stages are typically more difficult to record in the egg to pupa stages, due to the difficulty involved with both identification and discovery. However, in the moths that weather the...
