Tag: featured

Blog, Opinion

How Science and Genetics are Reshaping the Race Debate of the 21st Century

by Vivian Chou figures by Daniel Utter Donald Trump’s election as the 45th President of the United States has been marked by the brewing storms of racial conflicts. A rise in racial incidents ensued in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s victory in November 2016. Since the beginning of 2017, over 100 bomb threats have been made against Jewish community centers and schools. Trump’s travel ban, signed in … Continue reading How Science and Genetics are Reshaping the Race Debate of the 21st Century

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Art Gallery, Images

The Birth of a Flower

Unlike animals, plants possess the ability to generate new tissues and organs throughout their entire lifespans due to the activity of stem cells located in specific sites termed meristems. During the reproductive phase, floral meristem (lower right dome-shaped structure) give rise to different floral organ primordia (the series of bulges), which will eventually grow into the sepals, petals, stamens, staminodia, and carpels of a beautiful … Continue reading The Birth of a Flower

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Blog, Opinion

Scientists: Why they should run for office and why we should vote for them

by Garrett Dunlap figures by Daniel Utter Two. Two is the number of current members of Congress that hold PhDs in a STEM field. Representative Bill Foster of Illinois holds a PhD in physics and Representative Jerry McNerney of California holds a PhD in math. In comparison, this is dwarfed by the number of congressmembers with law degrees (222) and those holding just high school … Continue reading Scientists: Why they should run for office and why we should vote for them

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Blog

Recycled Rockets? Company Pioneers the First Reusable Rocket

If you’ve ever watched a rocket launch, you can imagine a familiar picture. The rocket moves slowly upward as it gives off a large gush of smoke. As the rocket speeds up and shoots through the atmosphere, flames trail behind it. Eventually, a part of the rocket falls off, falling back towards the earth. This part of the rocket is called the booster. The booster … Continue reading Recycled Rockets? Company Pioneers the First Reusable Rocket

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Blog

FDA Approves New Drug for Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that affects over 2 million people worldwide. In patients who suffer from MS, an abnormal immune response causes damage to a fatty substance called myelin. Like the coating around an electrical wire, myelin insulates nerve cells and facilitates neural communication. Symptoms of MS include muscle weakness, fatigue, and impaired speech. On March 28th 2017, the FDA approved Ocrevus, an … Continue reading FDA Approves New Drug for Multiple Sclerosis

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Featured Artists

Min Ya

My name is Min Ya, or Ya Min, but I go by Minya. I was born and raised in China. Heavily influenced by my botany-enthusiast father, I have been a plant lover since I was very little. Before grad school, I finished my undergrad in China and Japan, and obtained dual Master’s Degree in Sweden and France. Although the subfields of biology varied between my … Continue reading Min Ya

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Blog, Opinion

How to be a Socially Conscious Scientist

by Katherine Wu My freshman year of college, I was given a choice: techie or fuzzy? And, before you ask, no, it wasn’t about creepy role-play. It was worse: my major. At Stanford, there were two kinds of people: those who studied the technical, hard science, and mathematics-based majors were “techie,” and those pursuing the humanities, arts, and social sciences were “fuzzy.” I chose biology … Continue reading How to be a Socially Conscious Scientist

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Blog

Unexpected Lessons Learned from Mid-Century Atomic Bomb Explosions

by Paris Bentley figures by Michael MacArthur The immediate environmental effects of nuclear bomb testing during the Cold War era were undoubtedly devastating. Having left enormous negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts all over the world, it is hard to imagine that any sort of silver lining to these tests could exist. But despite all the destruction that these tests caused, their remnants are now being … Continue reading Unexpected Lessons Learned from Mid-Century Atomic Bomb Explosions

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Seminars

The Splice of Life: Cutting and pasting RNA in medicine and disease

The intricate process of reading genes in our DNA to make proteins is arguably the most fundamental part of life. In this talk, we will dive into one critical step within this process, called RNA splicing. We will discuss what RNA splicing is, how splicing alternative forms of RNA leads to more protein diversity, and what happens when RNA splicing goes wrong.   Continue reading The Splice of Life: Cutting and pasting RNA in medicine and disease

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Blog

Heart Disease Drug Faces Biggest Test Yet

We just learned a lot more about a drug called Repatha, one of the newest weapons in the war against heart disease.  Heart-related diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for over 30% of global deaths.  One of the major physiological warning signs of heart disease is “bad” cholesterol (LDL), which can clog arteries and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. … Continue reading Heart Disease Drug Faces Biggest Test Yet

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