Public Opinion Forces Companies to Seek Safer Replacements for Safe (and Essential) Chemical
Consumer pressure – not scientific evidence – has prompted companies like Nalgene, General Mills, and Campbell’s to remove a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) from their merchandise. BPA is primarily used to make plastics that are found in many everyday products, such as water bottles, medical devices, toys, and liners for food cans. As a result, BPA is ubiquitous in modern life and many people … Continue reading Public Opinion Forces Companies to Seek Safer Replacements for Safe (and Essential) Chemical
Closing in on the origin of terrestrial water: Philae calls back home
by Tansu Daylan figures by Kaitlyn Choi As Philae just woke up, we examine one exciting question of the Rosetta mission: what is the origin of water on Earth? A hypothesis proposes that comets brought to our planet this molecule central to life. The Rosetta mission is an ambitious scientific program launched by the European Space Agency to analyze the water on the comet 67P … Continue reading Closing in on the origin of terrestrial water: Philae calls back home
The dwindling population of bees and aluminum levels
Amid the startling find that the bee population is dropping, there are speculations into what is causing this sudden trend. Recently, work by scientists (original article here) have looked beyond pesticides and measured the content of aluminum, a pollutant, in bumblebee pupae (insect stage before it becomes an adult) and found increased amounts. This, they speculate, may be causing cognitive disruption, like Alzheimer’s disease in … Continue reading The dwindling population of bees and aluminum levels
Didn’t the LHC restart in April?
This April, SITN Waves, along with many other news outlets, reported on the restart of the Large Hadron Collider, or the LHC. Many similar headlines were seen last week when CERN announced the machine’s official restart. So when did the LHC actually restart, and what were scientists at CERN doing in the meantime? On April 5, the LHC was powered on for the first time … Continue reading Didn’t the LHC restart in April?
Rabbit virus sinks teeth into cancer, aids bone marrow transplants
A common treatment for blood cancers, such as leukemia, is to replace damaged, cancerous bone marrow with donated healthy marrow. Marrow is the flexible tissue in your bones that contains stem cells that give rise to all the blood and immune cells in the body. When marrow comes from a donor, the donor’s and the recipient’s blood and tissue types must directly match. If not, … Continue reading Rabbit virus sinks teeth into cancer, aids bone marrow transplants
From the kitchen to the lab: how sushi dinners may lead to new pain therapies
by Vivian Chou figures by Anna Maurer What do sushi and pain therapy have in common? The answer lies in a tiny protein in our bodies called TRPA1, nicknamed the “wasabi receptor.” For over a decade, scientists have been fascinated by the TRPA1 receptor, which allows us to taste the stinging, burning flavors of the popular Japanese condiment wasabi. This last April 2015, TRPA1 shot … Continue reading From the kitchen to the lab: how sushi dinners may lead to new pain therapies
Memoirs of a Toxin: The lasting human impact on mercury in the environment
Presented by Hannah Horowitz Mercury is a potent neurotoxin. For thousands of years, humans have altered mercury cycling in the environment by introducing massive amounts of mercury to surface water, soils, and air, through mining and burning coal. Once in the surface environment, mercury can threaten human and wildlife health, is transported globally through the air, and continues to have an impact for hundreds of … Continue reading Memoirs of a Toxin: The lasting human impact on mercury in the environment
Is Disease in My Future? How Your Genome Might One Day Answer That Question
Many human diseases are influenced by genetics, and scientists and doctors have attempted to understand the connection between rare mutations in a person’s genome, called genetic variants, and the likelihood of a disease outcome. Some variants can have little to no effect on a person developing a particular disease, while others can have a much larger impact and are considered disease-causing, or pathogenic. Doctors often … Continue reading Is Disease in My Future? How Your Genome Might One Day Answer That Question
Saving Our Mothers: Enhancing Pregnancy Survival in the 21st Century
by Caitlin Nichols Worldwide, approximately 289,000 women die every year due to pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications, with 99% of these deaths occurring in developing nations. What can be done to address this pressing world health issue? Thankfully, many maternal deaths are preventable through accurate information and proper medical care, and organizations such as the World Bank are working to increase access to these vital resources. … Continue reading Saving Our Mothers: Enhancing Pregnancy Survival in the 21st Century
A Cure in Sight
Gene therapy is an approach to treating disease that uses genetic information—DNA—as a drug. Monogenic diseases, where a single genetic mutation results in a nonfunctional protein and disease-causing agent, are excellent candidates for treatment by gene therapy. A virus can be engineered to carry the corrected form of the mutant gene instead of its own viral genes. These engineered viruses, called vectors, still retain … Continue reading A Cure in Sight