by: Niharika Desaraju Cells communicate with each other by sending and receiving signals. One way to receive a signal is by binding with a receptor on another cell. The ability of two membranes to interact with each other is highly dependent on the proteins that are located on the surface of the membranes. These proteins […]
Anxiety Neurons: Cells that Elicit Stress in the Brain
by: Ankita Chatterjee Shortness of breath and the terrible feeling of choking. An overwhelming fear of nearby danger. An uncontrollable heartbeat. Sudden nausea and dizziness. Any of these symptoms, with no previous warning. These are the ways sufferers of anxiety disorders describe the experience of having an anxiety attack. Although current treatments for anxiety do […]
Sleep Disorders: A New Perspective on Preterm Birth
by: Mathias Tevendale While there have been significant advancements in medicine in recent years, premature births remain an unsolved problem. Recent studies conducted at the University of California San Francisco suggest that sleep disorders could be the likely cause of this phenomena. Normal births typically occur at forty weeks of gestation. Premature births, also known […]
Understanding Emotions: it’s not always easy
By: Malika Saxena Human interactions are primarily based on our ability to understand and empathize with the words and actions of others. Often, our thoughts and feelings are conveyed without using words, and this is may be the result of a mirror neuron system (MNS). The job of the MNS is to reproduce tasks when […]
Olfaction and Metabolism: Your sense of smell directs how your body handles food
by: Rusheil Patel Can the perception of what you smell act as a biological mechanism for storing fat? Phrased simply, does your sense of smell influence weight gain? Researchers at UC Berkeley have found compelling information suggesting that the odor of what we eat may strongly affect how our body manages the incoming calories. For […]
More than Water Vapor: A Method to Quantify the Products of E-Cigarette Vaping
by: Sasha Narain A study conducted by the CDC, surveying high school students between the years 2011 and 2015, reported a 6.5 percent decrease in cigarette smoking. According to TobaccoFreeKids.org, this decrease reflects an overall trend in cigarette smoking amongst teens since the late 1990s. In contrast, in 2015 16 percent of high school students […]
Bacterial Associations: How Your Gut May Define You
by: Quinn Spencer Did you know that there are more bacterial cells in your body than there are human cells? It has long been known that these bacterial associations play an important role on human health (probiotics anyone?), but the Eisen Lab at UC Berkeley has recently begun research that looks further into how these […]
Three Parent Babies: The Quest for a Healthier Population
by: Miranda Hurtado While rare, mitochondrial diseases can often be deadly for those who inherit them. Recent research has focused on finding ways to cure these diseases or to eliminate them altogether. One noteworthy milestone in this research is the birth of the world’s first “three parent baby” using MRT, mitochondrial replacement therapy. This “three […]
High-Throughput Toxicity and Phenotypic Screening of 3D Human Neural Progenitor Cell Cultures on a Microarray Chip Platform
by: Jianne Jung 19,500,000 animals die every year from animal experiments for various purposes, including effectiveness test for medicines, safety tests for cosmetics, and toxicity testing of commercial chemicals. One of the most significant purposes of animal testing is preclinical drug analysis. All over-the-counter pills, like Advil and Tylenol, were proven to be safe based […]
Decoding the Illusion of Speech: Scientists Investigate the Brain’s Mechanism for Understanding Sound
by: Chelsey Rodriguez In 1953, cognitive scientist Colin Cherry puzzled the world with what is known as the “Cocktail Party Effect.” This phenomenon questions how it is that we are able to focus on a particular sound in any given setting- such as a single conversation in a loud party. For at least a decade, […]