Tag: science
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What can we learn from ye olde medicine?
Ellie Bennett explores how answers to the global problem of antimicrobial resistance, a decidedly modern phenomenon, may lie in the lotions and potions of our ancient predecessors. The Romans gargled urine for mouthwash, the Ancient Egyptians used dung as remedy for, well, everything and Hippocrates diagnosed his patients’ by nibbling on an amuse bouche of…
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Scientific culture – do we need to slow down?
Seán Dunphy explores how the structures of academic funding and publishing have shaped modern scientific culture. Scotsman Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin is one of the most impactful in science, but Fleming’s intention was never to study antibiotics; rather, it came as an accident while studying Influenza. Like Fleming, neither Jared Leadbetter nor Joseph Mougous…
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Not Another Science Podcast
You must have heard the news by now: EUSci is relaunching our podcast. Rebranded and with new leadership, this one will be different. Today I had the opportunity to have a socially distant chat with the new host, Tom Edwick, and the new editor, Helena Cornu, of the shiny new Not Another Science Podcast, brought…
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Artificial intelligence tackling coronavirus
An outbreak of the latest coronavirus strain to cause acute respiratory disease, COVID-19, has shown artificial intelligence (AI) to be a useful tool in multiple areas of the response effort. In 2003 the world saw a life-threatening epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and in 2012 middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV), which continues to…
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Secrets of the salamander: Genes identified in limb regeneration
Researchers at Yale University have used an adapted method of haploid genetic screening, which involves creating transplantable grafts from mutated tissue containing only half of the genome, to reveal critical genes involved in limb regeneration in axolotls. Published in the journal eLife, this study highlights that by adapting established methods of genetic screening, researchers can…
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A good deal gone bad: how evolving more intricate brains made us vulnerable to autism spectrum disorders
What if the evolutionary changes which made us human also laid the foundation for some of the most complex disorders which affect us? Arguably, the most important feature of our species is our brain, an organ which enables us to do everything from walking and breathing to solving complex equations and reflecting on the meaning…
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Will we be changed? The dark possibilities of gay conversion therapy
Brexit Party MP Ann Widdecombe has received a lot of negative press recently for comments she made regarding gay conversion therapyin an interview with Sky magazine. Gay conversion therapy is a dark and antiquated practice that suppresses individual identity and often causes irreperable damage to mental health. Widdecombe claimed that science may “produce an answer”…
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Can eating insects save the world?
If you had asked an average UK citizen before the 1970’s to try a bite of raw fish, you’d have been met with a strange look. And yet, today sushi is widely popular all over the UK, Europe, and the United States. Like anything else, food trends come in and out of fashion, and there…
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New hope for targeting ‘Sleeping Sickness’
Sleeping sickness, caused by single celled species Trypanosoma brucei, is a fatal vector-borne parasitic disease. The parasite is found in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with 60 million people at risk and 30 000 deaths every year. There have been many epidemics throughout the 20th century, with 40 000 reported cases in 1998 and an…
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Fluorescent urine that detects organ transplant compatibility
Often, an organ transplantation is the only life-saving treatment for organ failure. The process of transplantation requires matching the organs of the donor with the requirements of the recipients. It is only after medical compatibility is established, that the organ procurement from a living or a deceased donor can occur. In what seems like an…