More Than Just a Sugar Pill: Why the placebo effect is real
by Benika Pinch figures by Kaitlyn Choi If you watched the Rio Olympics, you probably noticed that several athletes, including swimmer Michael Phelps, were covered in bizarre circular marks. These bruises were caused by cupping, a therapy that uses suction to pull skin upwards into a circular cup, with the intent of increasing blood flow and reducing muscle tension. While athletes maintain that they benefited … Continue reading More Than Just a Sugar Pill: Why the placebo effect is real
Shrink to grow: on the road towards a 57-codon bacterium
“Shrink to grow” is a two-pronged business strategy where a company gets rid of unprofitable brands (“shrink”) to focus its resources on a few remaining or new brands (“grow”). Companies like P&G and Microsoft have used it, and a similar idea to “shrink to grow” is behind the George Church lab’s ongoing development of the synthetic bacteria rEcoli57. But while the executives at P&G were … Continue reading Shrink to grow: on the road towards a 57-codon bacterium
Discovery of a Dark Matter Galaxy
Last week, astronomers announced the discovery of a galaxy that is almost entirely comprised of dark matter. At first glance, the galaxy, Dragonfly 44, is roughly the same size as the Milky Way, but only contains 1 percent as many stars. Naively, one would expect this galaxy to be torn apart by its surroundings in the Coma Cluster. However, Dragonfly 44 is composed of 99.99% … Continue reading Discovery of a Dark Matter Galaxy
How the Quest for Gravitational Waves Pushes the Boundaries of Quantum Optics
by Michael Goldman figures by Michael Gerhardt LIGO’s observation of gravitational waves was perhaps the most stunning physics discovery of the past several years. Two black holes, each 20 to 30 times as massive as the sun, collided in an event of unimaginable violence and shook the very fabric of the space around them. About 1.4 billion years later, in February of this year, the … Continue reading How the Quest for Gravitational Waves Pushes the Boundaries of Quantum Optics
Resetting the Aging Clock: The science of age reversal
by Gabriel Filsinger figures by Anna Maurer Can biological aging be slowed or reversed? Time is constantly passing. Given enough time, we change as people and move between stages of life, transforming from children into young adults and evolving from parents into elderly grandparents. Although we may not notice it explicitly, time continually and unrelentingly propels us forward into the future. To us, time and … Continue reading Resetting the Aging Clock: The science of age reversal
Branched synaptic arbor in fillet
The Drosophila neuromuscular junction is a beautiful and yet powerful model synapse for in vivo studies of development, physiology, cell biology and plasticity. This illustration by Saskia Van Vactor shows a field of ventral longitudinal body wall muscles in red, as if stained with phalloidin to highlight filamentous actin, the main protein building block of muscle. Against this background, several branches of intersegmental nerve extend … Continue reading Branched synaptic arbor in fillet
Why Poop Pills are in Trials as a Treatment for Obesity
by Jess Kanwal figures by Shannon McArdel Would you be willing to pop “freeze-dried-poop” pills for a chance to slim down? While this weight-loss strategy certainly doesn’t sound appetizing, scientists are currently embarking on a clinical trial to find out whether such a method could be a new treatment for obesity. Researchers are collecting fecal samples from lean, healthy donors, freeze-drying their stool and packaging … Continue reading Why Poop Pills are in Trials as a Treatment for Obesity
New Detailed Brain Map Could Aide Future Understanding
Researchers have created the most detailed general map of the brain to date by scanning the brains of 1200 people. After recording detailed imaging of the subjects’ brain activity as they performed a variety of mental tasks, the information was used to ‘teach’ a computer to identify spatial ‘regions’ of related activity. These regions span the brain, creating a 3D, puzzle-like map. Also called a … Continue reading New Detailed Brain Map Could Aide Future Understanding
New Experiment Chases the Elusive Magnetic Monopole
A new experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) seeks to detect the long theorized magnetic monopole. In 1931, physicist Paul Dirac showed that our theories of electromagnetism allow for the existence of a solitary magnetic charge. Just as protons and electrons represent unique electric charges (positive and negative), magnetic monopoles should similarly exist as manifestations of magnetic charge. Despite our best efforts, however, we … Continue reading New Experiment Chases the Elusive Magnetic Monopole
Prescription Drug Advertisement Goes on the Walls
by Li Zha Boston, MA has a very high concentration of biopharmaceutical companies and life science research. Residents in the area are bombarded by direct-to-consumer advertising of health care services and products even during their daily commute. On an average day, commuters can expect to see ads for clinical studies of depression or anorexia, as well as drugs that have just been approved by the … Continue reading Prescription Drug Advertisement Goes on the Walls