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Biodegradable plastic…promising, but not yet a solution for plastic pollution
by Tiffany Liang Plastics are undeniably useful…and undeniably bad for the environment. While many environmentally-conscious people have made the switch to cotton bags and metal straws, other substances have a difficult time competing with the convenience, cost-effectiveness, and versatility of plastics. Biodegradable plastics offer a promising compromise: they have all the useful characteristics of plastics…
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Mind-reading: a superhero power potentially unlocked by neuroscience
by Stephanie Jue We live in a world where only fiction encapsulates the wonders of mind-reading, but now that prospect seems more feasible than ever –– that is, if mind-reading is the comprehension of the human brain on a neural or otherwise quantifiable level. Indeed, studies have shown that it is possible to roughly…
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Are you stressed out? Try reminiscing about happy times!
by Sharon Binoy Stress is not a rare occurrence on a college campus, but it has the potential to affect the mental and physical health of even the most resilient among us. Whether it’s an upcoming deadline or a bad encounter, periodic stressors can haunt us all. Three out of four college students are stressed,…
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The inflammatory response in overdrive
by Nicole Xu The immune system is often referred to as the body’s defense system, but what happens when the defense system itself turns lethal? Swelling around a simple cut, a sore throat, and arthritis can all be linked back to one root cause: inflammation. Originally evolved as a short-term defense response to abnormal…
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Can we make a glitch in the human genome?
by Natasha Raut Our ability to control DNA, the very foundation of the biological world, remains astonishing, even among the plethora of advances made by humankind. In today’s laboratories, scientists are using microscopic bacteria to restitch the sequence of genes in organisms, and are seeing a possibility of designing genetically desirable human babies, or…
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How artificial neural networks work, from the math up
by Arjun Chandran Neural networks are often associated with some of the remarkable things that artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of doing today, ranging from face and voice recognition to tumor detection. But how do neural networks actually work? Modeled after the brain’s biological networks, neural networks are a class of algorithms designed to…
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Sleep deprivation and Alzheimer’s disease: Not getting enough sleep can have far greater negative ramifications than just exhaustion
by Nanda Nayak Whether it be the constant complaints about exhaustion from students around campus or our own sleep-deprivation, it seems like no one ever gets enough sleep. Sleep-deprivation has long been associated with short-term inattentiveness and decreased memory retainment, but there appears to be a more severe negative ramification: association with Alzheimer’s disease.…
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Vaping: A popular but potentially dangerous activity for your health
by Andrea He A cloud of vapor is exhaled from the mouth of the student walking in front of you – smelling not of cigarettes but faintly of mangoes. This scene has become more and more common on university campuses and amongst young adults as vaping becomes more prevalent. Vaping related illnesses are also…
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U.S. Measles Outbreak: Why is this still happening?
by Andrea He Measles has long been a disease that plagued developing countries in Africa and South America. In fact, it was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, due to the consistent vaccination of American children – which makes the recent news of the outbreaks in the U.S. even more mysterious and…
