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Sept 3 
We don't know exactly when, where, or how life arose. Many of the early evolutionary lines died out. But at some point, there lived an organism that became a common ancestor to everything alive on our planet today, LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor. We now know when LUCA lived. We know LUCA's favourite foods. We know what kind of neighbours LUCA had. We know what sort of neighbourhood LUCA liked to live in. We can even say something about LUCA and the moon. Come meet LUCA! We'll also meet LUCA's offspring, LACA, LBCA, LECA, Mito-Leca, and LPCA.

The nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system

Oct 1 
What you learned in your intro bio class about gene expression (DNA --> RNA --> Protein) has rarely seen exceptions. What these researchers found in bacteria is a BIG exception to the traditional model. This paper found that when infected by viruses, bacteria can read RNA as a template to make completely new genes written in DNA. These genes are then transcribed back into RNA, which is translated into protective proteins! 

De novo gene synthesis by an antiviral reverse transcriptase

Nov 5
Put a ring on it. Earth, that is. New evidence suggest that not too long ago, Earth had a ring like Saturn. And it was geologists who figured it out.

Evidence suggesting that earth had a ring in the Ordovician

Dec 3
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a.k.a "Mad Cow") is caused by infectious proteins called prions and the condition is incurable and thought to always be fatal. These authors developed a clever strategy to potentially halt prion disease in its tracks by harnessing the epigenetic machinery of cells!

Brainwide silencing of prion protein by AAV-mediated delivery of an engineered compact epigenetic editor