Have you noticed that the most important jobs tend to be the least appreciated? We rarely gave enough credit to the parents that cleaned our rooms. Nor the garbage man that picked up our trash. There are things that you don't notice until one day they stop. Your laundry is all dirty, the toys are on the floor, the garbage bags pile up outside and start to stink. Through my studies I have gained a finer appreciation for the remarkable biologic system; autophagy. The cellular equivalent of housekeepers and garbage men.
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Myth-busting: The Covid-19 Vaccine
Imagine your body as an amazing castle; every castle has guards to protect what’s inside. That’s the job of your immune system: protecting against harmful attacks from organisms like viruses. The guards, our immune system, recognize harmful organisms and mount an attack. Immune cells eat the virus and spit out small pieces of it to other immune cells. This warns of the intruder, generates more immune cells, and specifies their attack. Looking back on 2020, we can see this isn’t a perfect system; sometimes our immune system needs extra help, either with medicine or a vaccine. What if those castle guards had the help of a secret messenger? One that warned them of the type of attack coming so they could better prepare for it? That’s how a vaccine works in our body.
Read MoremRNA Vaccines: our saviour from social distancing is a technology from the not-so-distant past
3… 2… 1… Happy New Years! The sound of champagne glasses clinking and cheers echoed as we entered the new decade. The sparkle of silver confetti on the floor dazzled, reflecting all of our hopes and dreams for what 2020 would bring. While many of us were sipping on bubbly, a virus that would wreak havoc on our once hopeful and shiny new year was rapidly infecting people all around the world. Flash forward to March 11, 2020 – the world was brought to a screeching halt as the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Public health emergencies were decried, and stay-at-home mandates were soon put into place.
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Science Fact vs Science fiction: How to tell the difference?
We are always hearing about a new study finding a chemical to be causing harm, or that new diet that’s supposed to prevent disease. How do we keep track of all this information and what information should we trust? It has become more common for people to look for alternative advice from other sources, such as news headlines and celebrities. In 2008, Gwyneth Paltrow started her company Goop which has grown into a large lifestyle brand complete with health blogs, and clothing and skin-care lines.
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The Concussion Culprit in Contact Sports
Growing research has established a strong relationship between cognitive deficits and contact-induced brain injuries. Studies show a 30% reduction of participation in youth football due to the fear of head related injuries1. These injuries stem from various trauma, yet the latest evidence is directly focused on violent impact sports including football, hockey, and boxing. The increased awareness and research of these injuries has created polar opposing views of the topic. This battle between neuroscientists and major corporations (i.e. NFL) has induced much confusion to the general public. As such, the created dispute has the validity of the science and the integrity of the leagues put into question.
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Let's get down to canna-business
What do we really know about cannabis? The answer to this question is, unsurprisingly, not that much. Although cannabis has been used medicinally for centuries, it wasn’t until the 1990s that we really started to understand how the active substances in cannabis interact with the body1. There is no doubt that cannabis has some therapeutic effects, but from a scientific perspective, we do not fully understand how cannabis works.
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