After providing all the funding for The Brain from Top to Bottom for over 10 years, the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction informed us that because of budget cuts, they were going to be forced to stop sponsoring us as of March 31st, 2013.

We have approached a number of organizations, all of which have recognized the value of our work. But we have not managed to find the funding we need. We must therefore ask our readers for donations so that we can continue updating and adding new content to The Brain from Top to Bottom web site and blog.

Please, rest assured that we are doing our utmost to continue our mission of providing the general public with the best possible information about the brain and neuroscience in the original spirit of the Internet: the desire to share information free of charge and with no adverstising.

Whether your support is moral, financial, or both, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Bruno Dubuc, Patrick Robert, Denis Paquet, and Al Daigen





Tuesday, 28 March 2023
The interactions between DNA and proteins

This week, I’d like to say a few words about an important change from the way that the interactions between DNA and proteins were long thought of.

We have now come a long way from the simplistic linear understanding that we had from the start of genetics, in which the “genetic program” of DNA was copied into messenger RNA which then exited the cell nucleus and was translated into proteins in the cytoplasm. As we have just seen, the reality is more of a complex metabolic network subject to a circular logic that assumes no “program” and hence no absolute starting point. In other words, we must now discard this “genocentric” heritage according to which DNA is the foundation of everything, because it provides the building plans. (more…)

From the Simple to the Complex | Comments Closed

Monday, 31 October 2022
A set of stunning animations

Today I want to let you know about a set of stunning animations produced by the DNA Learning Center, which was founded by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1988 to educate the general public about issues related to genetics. The DNA Learning Center’s Biology Animations web page contains some 50 animations about DNA, RNA, proteins and their complex interactions. Most of these animations are just a few minutes long, and all of them are are so realistic that they take your breath away—a far cry from the 2D and 3D animations that you may have seen where everything is smooth and steady and all the colours are uniform. Instead, in these animations, everything moves and pulsates, as if you were moving through the living molecular jungles inside the tiniest human cells. (more…)

From the Simple to the Complex | Comments Closed