Keeping Time with Atoms

–It’s ten seconds to midnight on New Year’s Eve, but by whose watch? Like all standards, measurements of time are arbitrary, and only as good as the precision of each ‘tick.’ As no clock is perfect, each will eventually speed up or slow down, making that stroke of midnight a bit fuzzy. However, advances in physics and engineering over the past fifty years have decreased that uncertainty with the development of the gold standard of timekeeping: atomic clocks. Continue reading Keeping Time with Atoms

For more energy-efficient and higher-capacity computers, think spintronics!

–You are most likely reading this article on a computer, and as you scroll down the page, you may decide to briefly switch over to Facebook or Twitter to type a quick status update. We usually do not stop to think that the ease with which we can do this is due to the seamless flow of charged electrons in our computers. Thus far, utilizing charged electrons to make computers has been endlessly fruitful, allowing us to build smaller and faster computer chips. Unfortunately, we cannot continue improving technology simply by scaling down to smaller sizes because we will eventually reach atomic sizes where our devices will no longer function. As we look ahead into the not-too-distant future, we will need to explore new, innovative technologies that go beyond utilizing electron charge – one such exciting new direction is the field of spintronics. Continue reading For more energy-efficient and higher-capacity computers, think spintronics!

Buzz Off! : New technology to fight mosquito-borne illness – but is it practical?

–Mosquitoes, and the diseases they carry, have been a threat to human health for millennia. Despite advances in research and efforts in disease control, mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever still ravage much of the developing world, hindering efforts to raise the global standard of living. On November 11th, 2010, Oxitec, a biotech company based in Oxford, UK, announced that they had completed the first field trial to reduce mosquito populations using genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The declaration that the trial was a success has been met with mixed reactions, including fear of genetically modified organisms, concerns about ecosystem stability, and doubts that the strategy is feasible in controlling the spread of disease. Continue reading Buzz Off! : New technology to fight mosquito-borne illness – but is it practical?

HIV: Progress in Prevention

A study published this summer in the journal Science found, for the first time, significant success in preventing HIV infection using a vaginal microbicidal gel [1]. This finding is an important step in our understanding of HIV prevention and in curbing the global HIV pandemic. The goal of this article is to provide some background on HIV/AIDS, the current state of treatment/prevention, as well as … Continue reading HIV: Progress in Prevention

Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters

In 2008, twenty-seven years into the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, an estimated 25 million people had died from the disease, and approximately 33.4 million people were living with HIV/AIDS [1]. Although current antiretroviral treatment can greatly slow the progression of disease symptoms, it is not a cure, and the treatments are too costly for the vast majority of the world to maintain for a lifetime. Scientific … Continue reading Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters

Malaria: An Old but Pressing Problem

It takes a life every 30 seconds and sickens almost 250 million people a year… but this is no AIDS epidemic; no newly emerged disease that medical science is scrambling to control.  Malaria has been a scourge of mankind throughout recorded history, so what exactly is this disease and why has it proved so resistant to our efforts to eliminate it? Malaria is caused by … Continue reading Malaria: An Old but Pressing Problem

NTDs: Diseases of the bottom billion

What do the world’s “bottom billion” — the approximate number of the world’s citizens earning less than $1.25 USD per day — have in common? Aside from poor living conditions, malnutrition, and political voicelessness, they are also all more likely to suffer from so-called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), scourges that have become a hallmark of extreme poverty in the world. The World Health Organization has … Continue reading NTDs: Diseases of the bottom billion

A conversation with Ellen 't Hoen, Executive Director of Medicines Patent Pool

Ellen ’t Hoen is the executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation and was the Senior Advisor on Intellectual Property for UNITAID, a global health funding agency hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. She was also the former Director of Policy Advocacy for the “Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines” by Médicins Sans Frontières What is your general assessment of the global situation … Continue reading A conversation with Ellen 't Hoen, Executive Director of Medicines Patent Pool

Tuberculosis: The Enduring Global Reaper

In many ways, tuberculosis (TB) is an unusual disease, but it is certainly not uncommon. It is an infectious disease caused by transmittable bacteria. However, about nine out of ten people who are infected after exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the most common culprit, never develop symptoms. Mycobacteria are estimated to have infected as much as one third of the world’s population, or two billion people … Continue reading Tuberculosis: The Enduring Global Reaper

Dengue Fever: Brewing Trouble in the Tropics

What is Dengue fever? Dengue fever (pronounced DENG-gay), an illness caused by the Dengue virus, is a global public health concern that affects 50-100 million people annually [1]. Over the last 50 years, global Dengue infections have increased 30-fold. The virus has also spread geographically in many tropical and subtropical regions, including Central and South America, Africa, and South East Asia. In 2010, Dengue was … Continue reading Dengue Fever: Brewing Trouble in the Tropics