Resveratrol, Red Wine, and Health
Scientists have shown that resveratrol and resveratrol-like molecules may prolong life, but how might they do this? Continue reading Resveratrol, Red Wine, and Health
Sleep clears the mind: How sleep prepares the brain for new learning
— Despite the fact that sleep is essential to our health, its function and what makes it necessary have remained mysterious. Over the years, scientists have accumulated data showing that sleep, or the lack thereof, affects the brain. Most of this work focused on the idea that sleep is important for consolidating newly formed memories. However, evidence is now building that sleep also makes room for the formation of new memories, acting as a sort of “spring cleaning” for the brain. The idea that sleep may help balance brain resources and space is known as the homeostatic theory of sleep. Continue reading Sleep clears the mind: How sleep prepares the brain for new learning
Green Energy from Bacteria
— The idea that we could grow fuel from a renewable resource is incredibly exciting. Researchers have been hard at work developing biofuels that will allow us to run our society using easily renewable resources. These efforts have gained a lot of media attention in recent years, and are being touted as a way for the US to decrease its dependence on foreign oil and to mitigate climate change. The longest standing method for creating biofuels is extracting ethanol from corn and sugar cane. More recently, researchers have begun engineering bacteria to produce biofuels, a method that may avoid many of the problems associated with making biofuels from plants, but that also presents new scientific and engineering challenges. Continue reading Green Energy from Bacteria
Computing Culture: The Rise of Culturomics
— In the last decade or so, various fields with the suffix –omics have risen in biological and biomedical sciences. The oldest and most well-known is genomics, the high throughput study of all the genes in the genome. Together with other emerging fields such as transcriptomics, proteomics and connectomics, culturomics is taking its place in the omics family. Continue reading Computing Culture: The Rise of Culturomics
Cellular error correction – a new way to treat genetic disease?
— Despite major advances in healthcare and disease prevention in the last hundred years, some of the most painful and serious non-infectious human diseases have eluded a cure. These are the so-called genetic diseases, in which a problem in a person’s genetic code causes the body to malfunction. Cystic fibrosis is a classic example, and it was the first genetic disease for which the exact genetic cause was identified. Other devastating genetic diseases include some muscular dystrophies, such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which typically kills patients before they reach their mid twenties. Continue reading Cellular error correction – a new way to treat genetic disease?
Obesity and the Brain: New Findings from Nicotine?
— Obesity and smoking are the two largest causes of premature death in the United States. Obesity causes over 160,000 preventable deaths per year, while cigarette smoking causes over 440,000. The list of diseases caused by obesity and smoking are myriad. To name a few, obesity increases the risk of type II diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, while smoking leads to respiratory problems, heart ailments, and lung cancer. Unfortunately, the rate of obesity is on the rise and has become a national epidemic. What an irony, then, that smoking decreases appetite and weight, a fact that has been long known by scientists and smokers alike. With recent headlines like “Nicotine treatment ‘could control obesity,’” does this mean that smokers should not quit, or that obese individuals should take up smoking? Absolutely not! Continue reading Obesity and the Brain: New Findings from Nicotine?
The Nanotechnology Solution to the Global Water Challenge
— It has been said that “water is the next oil.” Just like oil, water — specifically, clean drinking water — is a resource that is rapidly depleting. Every year, 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and millions of people die, including almost 5000 children a day, from various waterborne diseases. These numbers are increasing as the world population keeps growing. Continue reading The Nanotechnology Solution to the Global Water Challenge
Famine follows the plough in Africa?
— A fifty-year famine provoked by drought threatens millions in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa with crop failure, cattle loss, starvation and death. As policy makers work to provide relief for the drought-ravaged nations, scientists in Europe are investigating what caused a seemingly-minor ‘dry spell’ to snowball into a drought so severe that it now threatens political stability in sub-Saharan Africa. Airborne dust, created by commercial farming practices introduced by Portuguese settlers between the 18th and the 19th centuries, may be the culprit. Continue reading Famine follows the plough in Africa?
An interview with Professor George Whitesides, the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor and Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University
Prof. Whitesides is a prolific chemist with a long and distinguished career spanning almost five decades. Over the years he has published more than a 1000 scientific articles and has won multitudes of awards, including the Priestley Medal (2007), the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering, an … Continue reading An interview with Professor George Whitesides, the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor and Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University
Green Chemistry: Reducing production of hazardous substances through innovative design
In today’s society, contributions from the field of chemistry are evident all around us. Advancements in chemistry have led to the production of medicines to alleviate our pain, polyester to keep us warm, fertilizers to provide our crops with nutrients, cooking oil to add flavor to our food, and many other things. These same advancements have also generated numerous toxic chemicals, from the insecticides … Continue reading Green Chemistry: Reducing production of hazardous substances through innovative design