My heart skips a beat everytime I read about new technologies that could have saved my brother's life. My brother passed away last year due to complications from congestive heart failure. A heart transplant could have possibly saved his life, but it's well known that the demand for organ transplants in this country far outweighs
When disasters strike we see images of destroyed buildings, injured individuals, and the far-reaching devastation that accompanies the forces of Mother Nature. The media covers the aftermath for a few weeks, but then coverage slowly dissipates and people watching from afar forget about the struggle still facing those affected. But for these individuals, devastation and
With the constant news of terror attacks, devastating civil wars, or even just political debates, our world seems irreconcilably divided. So when there is a problem so large that 193 countries agree to fight it together, you know it must be bad. The giant problem the UN General Assembly addressed this year at a High-Level
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz sang of trees of green. Or where they red? If you're colorblind, you may not be sure. When we imagine how a color-blind person sees the world, we may picture something like the dusty Kansas landscapes before Dorothy travels over the rainbow to the colorful world that houses the
Preparing for the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974, George Foreman only considered whether he should be “merciful or not†to the aged Muhammad Ali. Younger and renowned for his unbelievable raw power, Foreman knew Ali would be down early – “just one more knockout victim.†But, come the seventh round, Ali was still up
“The body remembers. Stuffed until an event, a sound, a sight, a touch, a word, or a person awakens themâ€. The body remembers pain, domestic abuse, and the horrors of war. Unfortunately these memories become a burden on a person's mind and body. This debilitating and stressful illness is commonly known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,
In today's society, the words college and drinking have almost become synonymous. College drinking is incredibly prevalent, with four out of five college students admitting to drinking. Obviously there are many risks associated with drinking alcohol, but one of the more common ones among college students is called “blacking out.†One study at Duke University
In the womb, a fetus's digestive system is squeaky clean. After birth, a baby is exposed to microbes which quickly colonize its gut. After only one year of age, a baby has already attained a complex community of intestinal flora comparable to that of a full-grown adult. A long-standing relationship Research in recent years has
Imagine a future where procreation happens in a laboratory, and not in the bedroom. Scientists derive embryos from a simple skin sample. Children are screened prenatally for any number of traits that their parents deem desirable. Things as simple as eye color and hair color could be discovered before parents even decide on a name.
While waiting in line at TSA a few weeks ago, I was sniffed by a drug dog and his handler (well, the handler didn't sniff me, but you know what I mean). Resisting the urge to get on the floor and roll around with the absolutely adorable black lab, I stood patiently in line as
Some of the most powerful things are quite small: a microscopic virus can defeat an elephant; Giant Redwoods grow from tiny seeds; a computer chip the size of your fingernail can send us to Jupiter and back; and just one minuscule sperm cell can fertilize an egg and start new life. In most animals, sperm
Victims were pale and frail, blood stained their mouths, and after their death, their family members wasted away too, as if they were being fed upon. In the 18th and 19th centuries, if someone had those symptoms they may have been a vampire… or they may have just been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the
