Category: Feature
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From Dinner Plate to Immune Cell: Can Mushrooms Defend Us from Cancer?
Author: Priscilla Wong Image created by Priscilla Wong using Gemini We often think of mushrooms as merely something to throw onto our dinner plate. But could these fungi do more than add flavour to our meals? Could they also help the immune system defend us against cancer? For centuries, these fungi have been used in…
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Can AI help doctors decide how to treat brain cancer?
Author: Nardiena Pratama Photo by: Anna Shvets from Pexels What comes to mind when you hear the term โAI (Artificial Intelligence)โ? Perhaps robots, self-driving cars, or chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini. Beyond these examples, though, AI is also used as a tool for medical research, ranging from early detection of diseases to drug development and…
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The hidden proteins helping scientists fight cancer
Author: Priscilla Wong Image created by Priscilla Wong using Gemini What if one of the best clues for identifying cancer cells came from proteins that are typically exclusive to the testes? This intriguing phenomenon is attributed to a group of unique proteins, termed cancer-testis antigens (CTA). CTAs were first discovered in 1991 and found to…
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Mind Reading? Not Quite: What a P300 Brain-Computer Interface Can Actually Do
Author: Corbin Lu Image credit: Illustration by Corbin Lu, 2026 When I first became interested in brain-computer interfaces (BCI), one description appeared again and again: mind reading. I can understand why people use it. It is much easier to imagine a computer reading a thought than to explain how electrodes record tiny electrical signals from…
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Can mRNA technology offer new hope for pre-eclampsia?ย
Author: Eleanor Rockey Photo by: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels Pre-eclampsia is a potentially life-threatening hypertensive disorder which affects 3-8% of pregnancies worldwide. The early stages of the disease are characterised by impaired remodelling of spiral arteries (blood vessels supplying the placenta), resulting in their failure to develop and function properly. Impaired remodelling can reduce oxygen…
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The Dark Side of Microglia: Hidden Drivers of Alzheimerโs Diseaseย
Author: Summer Christian Photo by: geralt from Pixabay 2023 Dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK, yet it remains incurable and poorly treated. Alzheimerโs disease (AD), a subtype of dementia, is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder, characterised by progressive memory loss and cognitive decline, that gradually erodes independence. For decades, efforts to treat…
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The Hallucinating Machine: Why AI Needs to Dream
Author: Elisa Castagnari Image Created by Elisa Castagnari with ChatGPT Core argument: Hallucinations in Large Language Models (LLMs) may not be merely errors. They may emerge from the same cognitive dynamics that make human dreaming useful, according to neuroscientist Erik Hoelโs overfitted brain hypothesis, which posits that dreams act as a counterweight to rigid learning.…
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Under the Ink: The Silent Effects of Tattoo Pigments
Author: Niyayesh Tajoddini Photo by: ilovetattoos from Pixabay / March 28, 2018 Tattoos are now a common way for people, especially younger adults, to express themselves. As millions of people dive into tattoo culture, it raises an important question: What actually happens to the ink once it enters the body? There has been increasing concern…
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Ever See TV Static in Your Vision? Hereโs Why.
Author: Shaun Henderson Photo by: Wojtek Paczeล from Pexels / 2020 Take a second to lift your eyes from the screen, and let them rest on a nearby wall. Does your view appear smooth, clear and unobstructed? Or do you notice something faint, flickering like television static โ hundreds of tiny dots crackling in and…
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Huntingtonโs Disease May No Longer Be A Life Sentence
Author: Claudia Juliette Logan [Image created by Claudia Logan with BioRender.com] Huntingtonโs Disease (HD) is a rare, inherited brain disorder which progressively damages nerve and muscle functions, yet until recently had no cure. In 2024, roughly 8,000 people were living with Huntingtonโs in the UK, according to the Huntingtonโs Disease Association UK. The average age…