Materials for drug delivery
The problem with pills Did you know that when you take a pill, the active ingredient in that pill diffuses throughout your entire body? When you have a headache you may take an over-the-counter pain medication, but this drug does not just concentrate in your head, at the location of the pain. The drug also diffuses to other organs and tissues in your body, like … Continue reading Materials for drug delivery
Where does medicine come from?
Think back to the last time you took medicine — perhaps it was a pain reliever or some cough syrup. What were you thinking about as that medicine was digested? Chances are, you weren’t thinking about the origins of the drug, but scientists and doctors have probably spent countless hours developing it. The task of getting a drug to your local pharmacy is complex, arduous, … Continue reading Where does medicine come from?
Curbing the chemistry of climate change
The 2011 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Science Symposium, “Something in the Air: Climate Change, Science, and Policy” [1] brought together internationally renowned researchers to address the state of our current knowledge of climate science and courses of action that might lie ahead in addressing human-induced climate change. Chemistry plays an essential role in every aspect of studying and modeling the climate, as well as developing predictions … Continue reading Curbing the chemistry of climate change
Better living through Chihuly
We are surrounded by so many commonplace glass objects, they are almost transparent to our notice: car windows, casserole dishes, food jars, soda bottles, even buildings! It is a great feat of science and technology that glass has become so affordable to produce and so strong that it can be used for such a variety of purposes. However, there are also craftspeople who value glass … Continue reading Better living through Chihuly
Nuclear chemistry: Lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi disaster
On December 20th, 1951, four glowing light bulbs in Arco, Idaho heralded the first use of nuclear power for electricity generation [1]. Today, twenty-nine countries operate nuclear power plants, and these produce about 14% of the world’s electricity [2]. This electricity comes from a seemingly ideal source: nuclear power is cost-effective, does not rely on fossil fuels, and emits the same carbon equivalent per kilowatt-hour … Continue reading Nuclear chemistry: Lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi disaster
Harnessing the power of the Sun: How can raspberries and genetically modified viruses help?
If you’ve watched the movie The Day after Tomorrow, you must remember the climate-related natural disasters that ravaged the human civilization. Though the events depicted in the movie are unrealistic, we are still dramatically altering Earth’s environment and climate through our current energy policies and practices. How can we mitigate some of the effects of man-made global warming? One possible solution is to increase our … Continue reading Harnessing the power of the Sun: How can raspberries and genetically modified viruses help?
Graphene: The coolest material that shouldn’t exist
In 2004, Konstantin Novoselov, Andre Geim and their colleagues from Manchester, UK and Chernogolovka, Russia reported the existence of graphene, a two-dimensional sheet of carbon that is 1 atomic layer thick. This discovery took the world by surprise because, almost 70 years earlier, physicists had argued convincingly that materials like graphene would be too thermodynamically unstable to exist. Graphene was immediately hailed as the “next … Continue reading Graphene: The coolest material that shouldn’t exist
The man who was cured of HIV
— You may have recently heard of the first person to be cured of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Timothy Ray Brown was HIV-positive and also had acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that affects white blood cells. To treat the leukemia, doctors first used radiation to kill virtually all of his white blood cells – a dangerous procedure since it is these cells that make up the immune system and protect us from disease-causing viruses and bacteria. A bone marrow transplant was then performed to give Brown the stem cells necessary to develop new white blood cells and eventually regain a healthy immune system. Doctors used this bone marrow transplant not only to treat Brown’s leukemia but to also tackle his HIV infection. HIV can infect some of the white blood cells that grow out of bone marrow. When choosing a bone marrow donor for Brown, doctors selected an individual who had a rare genetic mutation that prevents most strains of HIV from infecting their white blood cells. After receiving a successful transplant from this donor, Brown now has a new immune system full of HIV-resistant cells. Since his transplant he has not needed any anti-retrovirals, the medications used to treat HIV/AIDS, and still no HIV can be detected in his blood. Because Brown has been stably HIV-free for three years, doctors think that he is cured! But what does that mean for the 30 million other people infected with HIV around the world? Continue reading The man who was cured of HIV
Cell Phones And The Brain: Can We Tell Whether Cell Phones Are Harmful?
— The past two decades have brought rapid advances in technology that have greatly influenced our daily lives. But have these technologies introduced new health risks along with new conveniences? Unfortunately, the development of electronic gadgets seems to be outpacing the development of techniques for measuring their effects on our bodies. As a result, it remains difficult to directly test if a new electronic device is dangerous. These limitations have been particularly apparent in our continued efforts to determine whether cell phones harm our brains. Most recently, a study showed that cellular phones result in an increase in brain glucose metabolism on the side of the head where the user is holding the phone1. This finding attracted a great deal of attention from mainstream media2, but no one is certain how to interpret the results. This begs the question: why are these findings difficult to understand, and why have we been unable to conclude once and for all whether cell phones are safe or harmful? Continue reading Cell Phones And The Brain: Can We Tell Whether Cell Phones Are Harmful?
African sleeping sickness and its mark on the human genome: an evolutionary tale
— Hidden deep in the rural villages of sub-Saharan Africa, a neglected tropical disease called African sleeping sickness kills tens of thousands of people every year. Sleeping sickness is caused by a single-celled parasite named Trypanosoma brucei, which can infect humans and other mammals (such as cattle and deer) and is transmitted from one host to another through the bite of the tsetse fly. Overlooked for decades, researchers are now trying to better understand both the unique biology of this important human parasite and how T. brucei might have directed the course of human evolution. It seems as though this microscopic organism has left a mark of its presence on the human genome, which scientists are only now beginning to uncover. Continue reading African sleeping sickness and its mark on the human genome: an evolutionary tale