Sound Mind in a Sound Body-Yoga!

Since childhood we were always told to meditate, do yoga and this would help you stay happy and healthy. As a child, I always found meditating (sitting in one place, eyes closed and concentrate on your breath) very boring. But now as I read papers on benefits of yoga I am stunned.

Now researchers in Canada have found the first evidence to suggest that support groups that encourage meditation and yoga can actually alter the cellular activity of cancer survivors.Their study is one of the first to suggest that a mind-body connection really does exist. 

The team found that the telomeres - the protein caps at the end of our chromosomes that determine how quickly a cell ages - stayed the same length in cancer survivors who meditated or took part in support groups over a three-month period. On the other hand, the telomeres of cancer survivors who didn't participate in these groups shortened during the three-month study.

You must be wondering what are telomeres. Let’s compare it to a "shoelace". One chromosome is the shoelace and the plastic tip is the telomere. The telomeres protect the whole genetic information present in the chromosome and prevent the ends from fraying and sticking to each other. These telomeres hold some secrets to how we age and get cancer.

Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter. When they get too short, the cell can no longer divide; it becomes inactive or "senescent" or it dies. This shortening process is associated with ageing, cancer, and a higher risk of death. So telomeres also have been compared with a bomb fuse.

It’s a pretty huge first step towards understanding more about how our mental state affects our health. Also this study links science to a very old practice followed by a huge population! Yoga and meditation has such immense strength and this study, has opened doors to a world, where we can now give scientific evidences to the ancient practices and beliefs.

I say let’s start meditating from today and have a sound mind in a sound body!

(Shuts the laptop, closes eyes, starts meditating)

Reference- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.29063/pdf 

Telomeres at the end of chromosome

Boss of the Boss

We all think that a boss can do anything that he wants and he lives on his own rules. But that is certainly wrong. A boss also has a set of rules which he has to follow. He has his own conscience that tells him what's right and what's wrong. This conscience is Boss of the Boss.

My Boss (DNA) also has a boss. Here I am not talking about DNA's conscience but I am talking about epigenome. This epigenome governs DNA. To talk in scientific terms, epigenome is a network of chemical compounds surrounding DNA that modify the genome without altering the DNA sequences and have a role in determining which genes are active in particular cell.

Have you ever thought, if the DNA in each cell of an individual is same then why do we still have so many different kinds of cells? If the governing body is same then shouldn't all cells be the same? This is definitely not the case. The answer to this is epigenome. This epigenome or tiny little molecules make a big difference to the way DNA or genes are expressed. It has the power to switch on and off genes. Power to rule DNA. 

The idea that nurture modifies one's own nature has been around forever. Epigenetics provides an understanding of how that actually occurs.  Nurturing a young one causes changes in the epigenome, leading to actual change in gene expression. For e.g. if rat pups are not licked by their mother then at adulthood they may face stress issues while in the other case pups are healthy throughout their life.  It also gives an explanation to, why identical twins have behaviours that are different from each other.

 Epigenetics has opened a new world which is yet to be explored!

Being Biophilic

Hello bloggers,

I am trying to write a blog for the first time. Have been thinking a lot about what to write but couldn't come up with anything. Then one fine day I realized it is always best to talk about your love! My love is obviously BIOLOGY!! 

I want to tell you a short story of how we met and i fell in love with biology.

The point where I started to love biology was when I learnt the development of a human from just two germ cells . I was so intrigued by the way a small mass of cells align themselves in a perfect manner and then work as an excellent machine. It is like you have a block of clay and some water and in a period of nine months a beautiful, working, thinking, talking sculpture is created. I am so amazed to see how perfectly each and every cell or to be precise each and every organelle of the cell works in collaboration.

The main element of this sculpture are the proteins. These proteins are formed from just 21 amino acids,but when these combine to form a chain of thousands and thousands amino acids they become so diverse and can possibly form anything. It is like you just throw in a bunch of amino acids and still it would fold into a perfect usable functional protein.

Above all this I love and admire the boss of each cell which brings about the machine to work perfectly – DNA. If we look at it as a molecule it is just a bunch of carbons,phosphates,hydrogen, nitrogen. But these bunch of atoms are perfectly woven into a beautiful thread (better than any fabric :P) This unique double helix thread governs every organism on this planet.

I can go on and on talking about this but I think you guys got the point that I am in love with biology. Henceforth I would not be talking about how much I love biology(:P) but I would be posting the current breakthroughs, unknown facts and some other interesting stuff that is happening in the biology world!

Thank you for reading this!