October 2017

The Scary Reality of Infant Mortality: Could the Artificial Placenta be the Answer?

The month of October is in full swing, bringing with it festive fall decor, cooler weather (unless you're here in Georgia), and also plenty of opportunities to get involved with health advocacy. In addition to spooky Halloween costumes, you may see many people walking around sporting pink in support of breast cancer awareness. But did

For Some, Halloween Comes Five Times a Year

With most people, Halloween tradition mandates two things: sweets and costumes. It is the one time of year the average Joe drops their ‘people suit' and spends the night dressed in a mask or fluttering cape. For one night, you're expected to be something you're not. One group of people, however, spend a large amount

The Bunny Invasion

Australia is trying to kill all the bunnies that have invaded it, and all for environmental conservation. This seems counterintuitive, but ever since rabbits were introduced more than 150 years ago, they have been wreaking havoc.

DNA Isn't Exclusive to Genetics Anymore

The shape of DNA is one of those high school biology facts that is drilled into all student's heads. Two strands with complementary base pairs will interact to form the long, winding shape of a helix. However, when there isn't the second strand to form a helix with, single-stranded DNA will fold up in unique

Computers Detecting Sarcasm? Great!

Ahh sarcasm. Whether you love it or hate it, sarcastic comments have become quite common on the Internet. This is especially true on sites where people are more likely to express their opinions, such as blog posts, product reviews, social media, message boards, etc. By its very nature, sarcasm can be pretty ambiguous which makes

Designer Babies: Science Fiction or Reality?

What if you could design your future baby? They could be free of genetic disorders, predisposition to future disease, or even have a longer life span. In 1997, the movie GATTACA introduced us to this world of  â€œdesigner babies”, where genetic manipulation allowed for the creation of the “perfect” human. But what if this science fiction is not so far-fetched?  In the past three years, we have seen the genetic manipulation of human embryos, termed germline engineering, become a reality.

Influenza: The MacGyver Virus

Flu season is coming in hot, folks! What better way to prepare than by brushing up on your knowledge? First let's recall the important features of influenza viruses. There are four types of influenza viruses: A, B, C, and D. As we saw in the previous influenza blog installment featuring canine influenza, the emergence of

Classifying Eating Disorders: A Closer Look at Anorexia and Bulimia

Recently, efforts have been made to increase awareness about mental health through pop culture. Netflix Original shows such as 13 Reasons Why and To the Bone highlight various aspects of mental health such as major depression and eating disorders, and they project these to broad audiences. Unfortunately, of all mental health conditions, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate. However, how eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are distinguished and categorized is still a topic of discussion among psychologists today.

The Skinny on Dieting

We've all seen the infamous weight loss advertisements – the ones that claim to have finally found the magic diet that will absolutely make you lose weight. You can look at virtually any store's checkout line to find dozens of diet plans endorsed by celebrities. However, most people don't know that dieting can be counter

2017 Nobel Prize in Physics

On Tuesday, October 3rd the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne for their contributions to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). On February 11th, 2016, LIGO announced the first detection of gravitational waves, a monumental moment in science. Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916,

Saving the Earth’s Sunscreen: The Ozone Layer

In honor of September 16th, otherwise known as World Ozone Day, let's spend some time talking about ozone in Earth's atmosphere! You may be wondering why ozone is significant enough to have its own designated day of acknowledgement. To answer this question we need to dive into a little bit of history involving early measurements

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