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Suggested topic: "For biologists, including biochemists, molecular biologists, cell biologists, physiologists, and ecologists." Does this leave anyone feeling left out? I think bioinformatics should be included as part of molecular biology, but technical/tool questions about computers or programming that are not specific to biology belong elsewhere. (In contrast, technical lab questions should be welcome.) I see no reason to restrict the site to academia: I think many industrial researchers (e.g., in the pharmaceutical industry) could be valuable contributors. – Vebjorn Ljosa Jul 14 '10 at 18:46

We seem to be having problems collecting enough biology enthusiasts to get a site going. Let's try to consolidate people in area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/17115/science? – Gaurav Nov 12 '10 at 9:08

@Finie Agree. That's what we can use tags for! Suggest: [microbiology] [astrobiology] [biochemistry] [biophysics] [botany] [zoology] to start... – Lisa Nov 15 '11 at 3:32

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80 Example Questions (10 closed)

active newest votes

up vote 21 down vote

added by Vebjorn Ljosa, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 29 '11 at 8:18

up vote 19 down vote

added by Nicojo Jul 13 '10 at 19:17

up vote 19 down vote

added by Nicojo Jul 13 '10 at 19:24

@Matthew: what's the problem with that? Bad answer should get downvoted, therefore pushing people to provide quality answers. That's the whole point of StackExchange. Also, the same bad answers could be given for the rephrased question. – nico Mar 15 '11 at 7:48

up vote 19 down vote

added by Nicojo Jul 13 '10 at 19:28

up vote 19 down vote

added by Anubhav Sinha Jul 29 '10 at 20:12

up vote 7 down vote

added by Nicojo Jul 13 '10 at 19:20

up vote 7 down vote

added by Mark Eichenlaub Jan 28 '11 at 8:13

up vote 6 down vote

added by Roman Luštrik Oct 10 '10 at 19:16

up vote 6 down vote

added by Mnementh Nov 13 '10 at 22:47

up vote 6 down vote

added by Mad Scientist Nov 27 '10 at 11:38

up vote 5 down vote

added by Vebjorn Ljosa, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 29 '11 at 8:19

Good example, should mention intended use. – walkytalky Sep 17 '10 at 22:37

up vote 5 down vote

added by walkytalky Sep 11 '10 at 12:36

up vote 5 down vote

added by blueberryfields Dec 3 '10 at 1:39

up vote 4 down vote

added by Łukasz Lew Jul 10 '10 at 18:28

This is textbook knowledge, not research level biology. – Nicojo Aug 26 '10 at 8:51

Is it? So try to explain it. (And I'm not asking about chemical reaction on paper, I'm asking HOW the energy is transfered from ATP molecue to any reaction where it is needed?) – Łukasz Lew Aug 26 '10 at 10:54

Sorry, but if you don't mean the chemical reaction, what is it that you mean by the word "how"? – Nicojo Sep 17 '10 at 17:44

@Lukasz : the whole electron cascade involved in phosphorylation/dephosphorylation is definitely described and taught in physiology and metabolism courses. How it affects binding energy of common enzymes too. – Joris Meys Sep 30 '10 at 20:52

up vote 4 down vote

added by Vebjorn Ljosa Jul 14 '10 at 17:05

up vote 4 down vote

added by Sam Oct 8 '10 at 9:54

up vote 4 down vote

added by Mnementh Nov 13 '10 at 22:44

up vote 4 down vote

added by gkrogers Nov 27 '10 at 12:56

up vote 4 down vote

added by Mark Eichenlaub Jan 28 '11 at 8:10

You could label that biophysics. – ogerard Mar 27 '11 at 22:29

up vote 4 down vote

added by Daniel Standage Jan 28 '11 at 14:17

up vote 3 down vote

added by Nicojo Jul 13 '10 at 19:31

up vote 3 down vote

added by Vebjorn Ljosa Jul 19 '10 at 11:37

	Intended to be an on-topic companion example to the off-topic "Which painkillers work best for lower-back pain?" question. This one is on topic because it is about the biology underlying the medical phenomenon (in this case the COX pathways). – Vebjorn Ljosa Jul 19 '10 at 11:38
	I don't know about this question: I guess it would be a good question/answer for medical doctors. But I'm not sure biologists would be interested. WDYT? – Nicojo Jul 19 '10 at 12:19
	I'm studying pharmacy, so I may be a bit biased, but this question is also relevant to physiologists and biochemists, who are named in the description of this site. – ParanoiaPuppy Jul 27 '10 at 23:01
	@ParanoiaPuppy: not relevant to the research world, simply because it is too vague and mostly because it is something one would find in a textbook. – Nicojo Aug 2 '10 at 11:09
	@Nicojo: Could you suggest a way to make the question less vague? – Vebjorn Ljosa Sep 27 '10 at 17:36

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 3 down vote

added by ParanoiaPuppy Jul 28 '10 at 2:09

up vote 3 down vote

added by nico, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jan 29 '11 at 8:17

Possibly specifying in the question body what type of preparation would be used (cell cultures, tissue slices, in vivo) and what type of cells will be imaged. – nico Aug 5 '10 at 12:18

up vote 3 down vote

added by brupp Sep 1 '10 at 20:54

It might be a very interesting question, but I guess it's not specific enough. – Joris Meys Oct 10 '10 at 19:14

I try to clarify: suppose you run several experiments in the lab, for which you take notes in your lab journal. Concurrently you do analysis of data from some of the experiments. How can you relate the two, one on paper and one on the computer? Will you have an index of experiments on the computer? Do you just use the date of the experiment/analysis to correlate the two? What happens if you have additional notes later that you want to attach to the experiment? – brupp Feb 5 '11 at 18:55

up vote 3 down vote

added by Mnementh Nov 13 '10 at 22:45

	I think this is a very interesting question. Where is the border line that separates inanimate aggregation of atoms/molecules from the simplest cellular forms of living such as mycoplasma. – brupp Feb 5 '11 at 19:22
	Not a good example, this is way too subjective. It's the same as asking "What's your definition of life?" – Matthew Read Mar 8 '11 at 3:06

up vote 3 down vote

added by Daniel Standage Jan 28 '11 at 14:23

up vote 3 down vote

added by Daniel Standage Jan 31 '11 at 23:00

up vote 3 down vote

added by muntoo Feb 28 '11 at 1:43

up vote 2 down vote

added by Łukasz Lew Jul 10 '10 at 18:29

closed as off topic by William, Nicojo, Christian, ParanoiaPuppy, Lucas Sep 17 '10 at 5:48

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Why is this off-topic? The total number of species on the planet is a really interesting question which crosses over species definition (systematics), distribution and known numbers of species diversity (biogeography), and how that extrapolation can be carried out with what we know (ecology/biostatistics). – Gaurav Aug 18 '10 at 18:02

@Gaurav - Because it's naive. One could ask what people think defines a species (working definition or whatever)?, what is the significance of a particular distribution of species? etc, etc. Importantly, the question needs to be one that will not just get repeated over and over again without getting any deeper (making the site stagnate), if you force more specific questions then there will be a more diverse and in depth set of QnAs. – Lucas Sep 17 '10 at 5:57

@Gaurav : I understand your problem. It's not really off-topic, but far too general. A better question would be "Can anyone link me to scientific publications describing the methods used to get the current estimates of total species numbers". And maybe that's too broad... – Joris Meys Sep 30 '10 at 20:49

Lucas, Joris: Ah, I see what you mean! Thanks for the clarification. – Gaurav Oct 6 '10 at 6:40

Wouldn't this be a "not a good example", if a question is too hard to answer? – Andrew Grimm Dec 17 '10 at 12:01

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 2 down vote

added by gkrogers Nov 27 '10 at 13:00

	Because they're too busy finding a cure for cancer. – muntoo Feb 28 '11 at 1:51
	There are way more people with cold :) – M28 Mar 3 '11 at 21:12
	But I guess you cannot sell them so many medications and costly analysis. – ogerard Mar 27 '11 at 22:30

up vote 2 down vote

added by Mark Eichenlaub Jan 28 '11 at 8:09

up vote 2 down vote

added by Mark Eichenlaub Jan 28 '11 at 8:12

up vote 2 down vote

added by Sheryl, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Mar 1 '11 at 20:35

up vote 2 down vote

added by aqua Feb 2 '11 at 7:22

What are 'mitotic motors'? Maybe rephrased to 'molecular motors in mitosis' it would make sense since they act differently in interphase vs. mitosis. – brupp Feb 5 '11 at 19:14

up vote 1 down vote

added by Lucas Sep 17 '10 at 6:20

I would honestly like to vote this a good example, but I think it's really maths rather than biology and would be better suited to the math.SE site. Also, it is pretty explicitly answered on Wikipedia. – walkytalky Sep 17 '10 at 22:23

Could someone please propose a related question that is not entirely math and therefore would make a better on-topic example? For instance, something a biologist would ask if he knew roughly the predator–prey dynamics he wanted to express but didn't know to search for “replicator equation” or “Lotka–Volterra”? (I have already asked my allotted five questions.) – Vebjorn Ljosa Sep 27 '10 at 17:32

up vote 1 down vote

added by gkrogers Nov 27 '10 at 12:59

	You've lost me there, I'm afraid. Phyla contain Classes, which contain Orders, which contain Families, and so on, down to Species. For example, Acanthocephala (Thorny headed worms) contains "about 756 species". Whereas Placozoa (Plate animals) only contains one. Actually, I might have answered my own question there... – gkrogers Feb 13 '11 at 0:00
	Sorry, had a lapsus here. An absurd lapsus: somehow confused philum with taxon. My apoplogies for this. Removed my vote. – Tomas Narros Feb 22 '11 at 18:08

up vote 1 down vote

added by Mark Eichenlaub Jan 28 '11 at 8:11

	At least a hundred thousand jail cells, and at least half of them are filled with drug dealers, gang members, serial killers, and generally "bad people". – muntoo Mar 7 '11 at 3:01
	Out of scope... – Ginamin Mar 17 '11 at 9:14