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by Vivian Chou figures by Daniel Utter If you have been following the 2016 US presidential elections, you are, in all likelihood, aware of the controversy surrounding mandatory childhood vaccination. Vaccines have risen to the limelight in recent years,…

by Zachary Hauseman figures by Michael Gerhardt The cure for cancer: something we all hear about but never seems to arrive. It’s easy to get frustrated about decades and decades of research while thousands of people still succumb to the disease daily…

Every year, the NFL makes rule changes that affect team strategy and game outcomes. Some of these rules are designed to maintain the safety of players, while others are designed to increase the competitiveness of the game. However, there is one aspect of…

by Erin Dahlstrom figures by Utsarga Adhikary Popularized by films like Star Trek and Star Wars, the tractor beam is an iconic science fiction technology that allows the user to manipulate objects in space without making physical contact with the…

Heads of State and Government at COP21, in Paris, France on November 30, 2015By Narendra Modi (PM at COP21 in Paris) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsAfter two weeks of discussions the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) ended December 12th with…

by Rebecca Mandt We usually think of extinction of a species as a bad thing. But what if that species is directly causing human suffering or death on a global scale? The ultimate goal of disease eradication efforts is to target an infectious disease by…

A common pigeon, also known as a rock pigeon or Columba livia (scientific name) [Image: Rock Pigeon under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license]Pigeons are many things to many people – navigators, couriers, rats with wings – but the word “doctors” rarely comes to…

by Emily Ricq Depression affects 15 million Americans and is characterized by debilitating feelings of sadness or emptiness that interfere with the ability to lead and enjoy life [1]. The substantial personal and public health burden imposed by…

The link between Zika virus and the increase in microcephaly cases was first investigated because mothers who gave birth to children with microcephaly reported having had a rash, like the one in this figure, during their pregnancy.…

by Danielle Heller Proteins are molecular machines. They perform an incredible diversity of tasks that enable all living cells to function.  Like any machine, a protein must be properly assembled in order to carry out its specific task, and if something…