Archive: Aug 2018

Maddie Ray

Hi, my name is Maddie Ray, and I am a proud cat mom and neuroscientist originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I did my undergraduate at Kansas State University where I majored in Psychology. While at K-State, I fell in love with neuroscience through a course…

Why Mosquitoes Like You The Most

Carrying diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus and yellow fever, a few species of mosquitoes are responsible for more than one million deaths each year. Certain species of mosquitoes actually prefer feeding on humans, and even show preferences…

Zombie genes help eradicate elephant cancer in early stages

Let’s consider a paradox of probabilities. If all cells have the same risk of becoming cancerous, then the likelihood of developing cancer is proportional to the number of cells in an animal. This argument generally holds true for the incidence of cancer…

Mitochondrial Transfer: The making of three-parent babies

by Catherine Weiner figures by Rebecca Clements The question, “where do babies come from?” used to have a simple answer. A man and woman have sex, the male sperm fertilizes the female egg, and 9 months later a baby is born. But in today’s world, medical…

In a Ghostly Mirror Rainbow

Europium and terbium are two rare earth elements that share a colorful similarity: they emit bright red and green light, respectively, when exposed to ultraviolet light. In the image above, there are five thin polymer films embedded with different…

One Step Closer to Cyborgs: The development of artificial nerves

by Anqi Zhang figures by Daniel Utter Have you ever met anyone with only one leg or arm? I bet you have. An estimated 185,000 people undergo amputation procedures in the US every year, with the leading cause being vascular diseases. Thanks to the…