Articles
STEM Summer Program: Inspiring the next generation of scientists
More students in the United States are studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors at university. However, there is a notable discrepancy in underrepresented students choosing STEM, including racial minorities and those first in their family to attend college. Research internships, such as the CHORI Summer Student Research Program, provide the much-needed boost in scientific research knowledge and confidence […]
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Could stem cells offer a viable treatment for retinopathy?
Diabetes is a growing global epidemic, with over 400 million affected and cases expected to double in the next 10 years. Retinopathy, or damage to the blood vessels in the retina, occurs in most patients with type 1 diabetes and 75 per cent of patients with type 2 diabetes, leading to vision loss for many. BetaStem Therapeutics is a stem […]
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Improving Maths performance in South Africa’s primary schools
Professor Hamsa Venkat holds the SARCHi Research and Development Chair in Primary Maths Education at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. She leads the Wits Maths Connect project. The project team works with ten partner primary schools serving disadvantaged student populations, and develops and researches interventions to help teachers improve their students’ maths performance. Intervention models and materials with evidence of […]
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BICAMS: Shedding light on cognition in Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease that attacks the central nervous system, leading to a variety of symptoms, across the physical and psychological domains. For many people with MS, symptoms can include difficulties with memory and thinking, which impacts on the quality of many aspects of their life. Dawn Langdon, Professor of Neuropsychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, has led an […]
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Time for a new approach to severe traumatic brain injury and stroke: Developments in automated, real-time monitoring of brain stem function
Traumatic brain injury and stroke can lead to a potentially fatal condition known as transtentorial herniation (TTH). Monitoring sedated patients for indications that TTH is developing presents many complications. Dr James Stone from New York University has developed a modified version of a test for brain activity in response to sound that shows promise in detecting early indications of TTH. […]
Black hole binaries and gravitational waves: Unlocking the secrets of our universe in unexpected ways
When Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves over one hundred years ago, nobody could foresee what the implications could possibly be – but, as they make the move from predicted theory to proven fact, researchers like Professor Zoltan Haiman, of Columbia University, are devising ways of using them to study binary systems of colliding black holes and the […]
Dynamic versus static: Evolving mechanical characterisation
Materials used for aerospace applications have to be incredibly robust. For commercial airlines, the materials used to build the aircraft need to be capable of withstanding temperatures from -45 to 45 °C and windspeeds of over 400 kilometres per hour. All materials must undergo stringent testing, designed to replicate the real dynamic conditions encountered during use. Dr Meysam Rahmat, in his research […]
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Moving beyond dangerous opioids for pain: Syntrix creates new drug for safer pain relief
Opioids are currently the mainstay treatment for the 25 million people suffering from daily pain in the United States. Prescription opioids have led to lethal overdoses and contributed in part to the five-fold increase in opioid-related deaths from 1999 to 2016. Investigators at Syntrix Pharmaceuticals (Auburn, Washington State) have developed desmetramadol, a new and improved low-lethality opioid to help tackle the opioid crisis. […]
When kinetic theories clash, mind the lattice step: A statistical physics approach to the motion of atoms within materials
What happens when the method used to search out an answer appears to have an effect on the answer itself? In the field of Statistical Physics, two different approaches have been used to describe the particle kinetics: the so-called Master Equations; and their counterpart, the Fokker–Planck Equations. But which is better and why does the approach used have an effect on the […]
New 3D technology to help in the battle against brain tumours
Dr. Darin T. Okuda is a clinician-scientist and professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Okuda strives to transform healthcare by developing new diagnostic tools that challenge current clinical practices. His research group recently designed a novel method to visualise brain tumours in three-dimension (3D). This latest research aims to revolutionise […]
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