Category: BSJ Features

STRENGTH FROM WITHINIn times of war and scarcity, hunger gnaws and fatigue sets in. In the Philippines during World War II, thousands of civilians, soldiers, and prisoners of war suffered from a disease that robbed them of their strength as they fought against Japanese imperialism: beriberi disease. This disease, caused by a deficiency of vitamin…

INTRODUCTION Life is built on chemistry, but until recently, chemistry had to be studied outside of living systems. The development of bioorthogonal chemistry has completely revolutionized this. Bioorthogonal chemistry refers to a class of specialized reactions that occur inside living organisms without interfering with natural biochemical processes.2 First introduced by Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, Professor of…

In 2024, the global surface temperature was 2.32 °F above the 20th-century average. This ranks as the highest global temperature in the 1850–2024 period, surpassing 2023 by 0.18°F.1,2 Although seemingly small, this 18-degree difference is alarming because the average rate of temperature increase since 1850 has only been 0.11°F per decade. This means that the…

A suffocating, burning sensation floods your body as your head pounds relentlessly and the world blurs in front of you—a fever. If you came down with one of these in the ancient days, the treatment suggested would vary across civilizations. In the 4th millennium BCE, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Chinese, and Indian cultures may have thought you…

Breaking Barriers: CAR-T Therapy for Solid Cancers  A cure for cancer is a fallacy. At least, the idea of a singular cure for all cancers is impossible, as every type of cancer is distinct and thus many require unique therapeutic approaches. While people with cancer are living longer due to modern scientific advances, most therapies…

Real or Not Real? In 2023, a man sued Avianca Airlines after a metal serving cart struck and injured his knee. His lawyer presented a case with a wide array of legal precedents in court, including Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines, and Varghese v. China Southern Airlines, offering a promising…

The Weight of Neurodegenerative Disease In 2021, 3.4 billion people globally faced harmful neurological conditions. Recent research has identified these conditions as the largest contributor of disease burden, which accounts for both the cost of living with a disability and premature death.1 Moreover, the prevalence of this burden—especially from neurodegenerative diseases— is growing rapidly in…

A Genetic Conundrum When lawyer Sonia Vallabh’s mother died suddenly from a genetically-determined dementia, she entered a race against the clock to find a cure so she would not have to suffer the same fate.1 It was discovered that the dementia stemmed from a malfunction in prions: a type of protein which has an elusive…

The Prisoner’s Dilemma The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a popular thought experiment in game theory where two prisoners are each given the option to confess to their crimes or remain silent. Variable jail times are associated with the four possible outcomes (Figure 1). Given that the two players cannot interact or collude with one another, each…