If we accept the idea that animal models are holding back drug development due to a potential inability to predict safety and efficacy in humans, what can be done to fix it? Increasingly, scientists are using human cells cultured in vitro to assess the safety and efficacy of new drug compounds. While in vitro cell
Many of us can recall a time where someone we knew (or even ourselves) threw a banana peel out a car window. They're biodegradable, so what's the harm? I'll never forget the time my mom did not dispose of that peel in a proper way… My family and I were driving through Yellowstone National Park,
You walk into the lunchroom, and all sorts of alarms go off in your head. While reaching for utensils you think “What if the last person used this for peanut butter and didn't wash it well.†You sit down at the table thinking “Someone ate nuts here last week, was the table cleaned since then?â€
One fact that was drilled into my head while studying biomedical science was how few experimental drugs ever make it past clinical trials. A failure rate of 90% is reported. This struck me as odd, but I chalked it up as an example of how difficult drug development is and didn't ask why. That changed
While coffee has seemingly had a cultural renaissance, with independent coffee roasters popping up all over the country, and even the naivest 7 year old being able to spout the difference between arabica and robusta, a far older, and ancient drink seems to remain in obscurity in the continental United States. The drink I'm referring
Dr. Diana Six is a professor of Forest Entomology and Pathology at the University of Montana. Dr. Six's work focuses on bark beetles, their symbiotic fungi, climate change, and what these factors mean for forest health. Her work has received the attention of the media and she has presented at TedX and has been featured on
