Horse taming does not generally come to mind in connection with molecular biophysics, where one studyies the shape, structure and dynamics of proteins and DNA. However, scientists from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in India and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA, have found two enzymes that interact with each other in a manner somewhat like a trainer taming a wild mustang.

After much deliberation and anxiety, the family finally sought psychiatric help for their son.  And the results were in a way, a relief.  The doctors’ verdict was that their child, their teenage son, was suffering from bipolar disorder. His wild mood swings between hyper-enthusiastic activity and deep depression were treatable.

Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.

In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.

-       Louis Pasteur

“Two months ago, we were congratulating ourselves on a fair crop of winterapples. To all appearance, they were freer from worms than we had known them

Mrs. M would never forget that day. She was walking along a busy road next to the vegetable market when two goons zipped past on a bike. One man’s hand shot out and grabbed the chain around her neck. The next instant, she had stumbled to her knees, and was dragged along in the wake of the bike. Thankfully, the chain snapped, and she got away with a mildly bruised neck. Though dazed by the incident, Mrs. M was fine until a week after the incident.

Then, the nightmares began.

Blink. When you wake up, the first thing you do is open your eyes and see.

The inside of a present day plant or animal cell quite closely resembles a busy city. Like an urban metropolis with different districts interlinked by a traffic network, a cell has distinct compartments connected to each other by a dynamic transport system.

One set of such interlinked compartments - the Golgi complex - is essential for many cellular functions, and a question that has long puzzled scientists is: how did such a complex compartment and traffic system arise within a cell?

Imagine trying to fly a kite without a tail. It swoops and loops and wiggles and finally crashes down into the ground. A kite without a tail is unstable, but add a tail at the right place, and your kite will fly steady.

The National Centre for Biological Sciences is pleased to announce that faculty member Radhika Venkatesan has been awarded a Max Planck-DST Partner group award!

The researchers have discovered an integrative circuit of nerve cells in fruit fly brains that allows them to ignore the lack of proteins in their food to enter the pupal stage.