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Don't worry, the expansion of the universe is still accelerating

In the early 1900s, Edwin Hubble observed that distant galaxies are moving away from us. This surprising observation led Hubble to hypothesize that the universe is expanding; more recently, scientists have observed that not only is the universe…

From Ebola to Zika: Combating myths and controlling mosquitoes

Infectious disease outbreaks are not a new phenomenon and remain a major public health concern. Since the turn of the 21st century, we have dealt with several infectious disease epidemics, including the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic, and most recently the…

Genetic Evidence Exonerates HIV’s “Patient Zero”

High-resolution microscope image of an immune cell infected with HIV [Image: ‘HIV-infected T Cell’ from NIAID]Gaeten Dugas, the man who received the title “Patient Zero” for supposedly bringing HIV/AIDS into the United States, has been…

Small World, Big Data: From online dating to the emergency room

In the modern age, data is used to make decisions in almost every aspect of life, from online dating to product placement and advertising. But what is big data? How did it come to be? How will applications of big data help shape technology we use every…

The importance of basic research and the Nobel Prize in Medicine

The importance of basic research has been highlighted this year by Yoshinori Ohsumi receiving the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the process of autophagy. Autophagy—literally “self-eating”—is a fundamental cellular process that degrades and…

The Music of Medicine: Tuning the body to light and sound

The wealth of information contained in light and sound is staggering, as can be seen in 8th century Asian Ink drawings and the vibrating pollination technique used by the bumblebee. And the ways we process light and sound are equally complex, it turns…

Bypassing infertility: directed sex cell development in a dish

Almost fertilized [Image Courtesy: Zappys Technology Solutions]The inability to produce health sperms and eggs has hindered many people’s dream of having children. Though many other alternatives such as adoption can get around this problem, infertility…