Archive: Oct 2018

A machine learning algorithm trained using 500,000 genetic profiles can predict the height of an individual within about one inch based solely on their genes. Such an algorithm shows great promise for accurate risk assessment of complex diseases and…

You’ve probably heard that cigarettes are bad for you, and it has always been a safe bet to assume that they’re bad for the environment too. A comprehensive analysis of the entire tobacco supply chain by researchers at the Imperial College of London…

If you travel into deep space and look back at Earth through a sophisticated telescope, you could measure what’s called the vegetation red edge (VRE). The vegetation red edge is a mixture of red and infrared light that is reflected by plants on Earth’s…

by Trevor Haynes figures by Daniel Utter “Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.” – Louis Pasteur Today’s world is extremely interconnected. Most of us take this…

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is an area of the brain located in the prefrontal cortex, which, as its name suggests, is the front part of the brain. The OFC is my favorite area of the brain, partially because it was the first region I studied, but…

It’s that time of year – Nobel Prize season! This year, the Chemistry Nobel prize was awarded to three scientists: one half to Frances Arnold “for the directed evolution of enzymes,” and the other half to George Smith and Sir Gregory Winter “for the…

Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, October 17th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Nicholas Deporzio, Nicolo Foppiani, and Zoe Zhu Gazing at the sky on a clear night, you might…

Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, October 10th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Jess Kanwal, Matthew Smith, and Kyobi Skutt-Kakaria For at least 7,000 years, humans around the…

The Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) is an area of the brain that is part of the Basal Ganglia system. It is divided into two subregions: the core and the shell. As you can imagine, the core region is nested within the shell. The NAc is primarily composed of…

by Jamilla Akhund-Zade figures by Rebecca Senft Anyone who has had the misfortune of missing a night of sleep would not need convincing that sleep is important for well-being. Decades of studies concur with what is already commonly known – sleep…