by: Aman Upadhyay Her hands are calloused, storied from the years of work on a cocoa bean plantation which she started when she was forced to leave school at the tender age of 5 to help her parents make ends meet. There is something else on her hands, however. Dotted along the length of her […]
Racism and Heart Disease: How Being Racist and Receiving Racism Both Have Negative Implications for Your Health
by: Isabel Marchand Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown are all recognizable names at the frontlines of the current debates regarding race relations and racism in America, representing a new wave of a push for civil rights. At such a pivotal time in our country’s history, issues regarding race are consistently on the front […]
How to be a Mind Reader: Brain-Computer Interface Gives a Voice to Those Who Cannot Speak
by: Katerina Furman Until now, mind-reading seemed like a distant fantasy. However, with the new Brain Computer Interface developed by the BioX scientists of Stanford University, it has become a feasible reality. The brand new technology directly reads brain signals to type out words as they are thought. The interface is working on methods of […]
Hope for Prion Research: A New Cell-Model to Study Prions
by: Kathyna Thai The Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea practiced cannibalism of the deceased as a way to “return the life force among the living”. The first documented cases of a disease relating to cannibalism erupted here in the 1950s. Individuals experiencing uncontrollable tremors, painful headaches, and unsteady gait were reported as having “Kuru”. […]
Beyond Bug Bites: Analyzing the Routes of Vertical Transmission of Zika Virus
by: Sasha Narain Since May 2015, it is estimated that up to 1.3 million people in Brazil alone have been infected with Zika virus (ZIKV). Zika was initially isolated in Uganda in the 1940s in mosquitoes and monkeys. Beginning in 2015, this little-known disease quickly spread throughout tropical climate regions, ranging from South and Central […]
Researchers find the newest solution to eradicating cancer cells: Exploding bubbles
by: Mackenzie Moore After tumor-removal surgery in cancer patients, it is common for some cancer cells to be left behind, increasing the risk that the tumor will return. Dmitri Lapotko, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine, and his colleagues have applied a novel technology involving tiny exploding nanobubbles that can be injected inside […]
Luminescent Crystals: Using Light to Detect Toxins in Food
by: Lina Tudesi There exists a class of chemical compounds naturally produced by fungi which are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, damaging to developing fetuses, and contaminate 25% of the world’s crops every year. They are called mycotoxins, and while their biological function in nature is unclear it is well established that they have serious […]
A New Type of Library: DNA
by: Gianna Mousalimas Imagine a library filled with trillions of books. Now, imagine that same library shrunk down so that it could slip into a small test tube. This phenomenon may seem unattainable, yet scientists have indeed achieved a DNA “library” that contains trillions of molecules. Even more incredible is that this library is frozen […]
First Steps to a Cure: Protein C4 Implicated in Schizophrenia Risk
by: Zachary Grimmett Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric disease that is characterized by impaired advanced cognitive function, typically presenting in late adolescence or early adulthood. Unfortunately, scientific researchers have been puzzled by the underlying mechanism behind this disease since its discovery. While drugs exist to treat symptoms of schizophrenic psychosis, there are many other symptoms […]
Like Mother Like Daughter: Study finds heritable transmission of emotional neurocircuitry
by: Sarah Rockwood Parents provide much more than food on the table, a roof to live under, and the occasional time-out. They contribute the genetic framework and environmental upbringing that shapes each one of us–the combination of nature and nurture that shapes us into unique individuals. These intergenerational effects determine a myriad of phenotypes, from […]