The clinical definition of physical death occurs when an individual’s heart stops beating and brain stops functioning, but what about other biological functions that still carry on after these two admittedly important processes cease? Medical science has long assumed that neurons degrade quickly after their supply of oxygen and nutrients are cut off, but a recent study on post-mortem cellular processes has upended these traditional notions of how long the body’s cellular processes continue after death, showing that some types of cells can be not only alive for days afterward, but some are also more active than when the individual was still alive and kicking.
read more

Researchers studying potential security issues surrounding open-source computer programs used to analyze DNA have found that most common sequencing software is the subject of poor security practices, leaving such systems open to cyberattacks and exploits. While the researchers haven’t found any evidence of attacks made against DNA synthesizing, sequencing and processing services, they did find that it is possible to encode a computer virus into synthetic DNA that could conceivably infect the computer that is analyzing this altered genetic code.
read more

A university professor from New Zealand is planning to put our modern knowledge of genetics to work in solving a decades-old mystery: does the Loch Ness Monster, nicknamed ‘Nessie’, actually exist?

The University of Otago’s Professor Neil Gemmell is proposing that new genomic forensic techniques be used to search for the elusive creature. While Nessie gained widespread popularity via the oft-debunked "surgeon’s photograph" published in 1934, legends of a large creature living in the lake predate the famous picture. Numerous sightings have been reported over the past century, along with the publication of dozens of photographs that allegedly depict Nessie.
read more