Community Content
What is the human self? A story expounded through Sartre
Caesar’s story As a child, Caesar’s world pivots around his parents; his friends Rick, Ram, Vladimir, and Susan; his teachers; his neighbours; and his home. He aspires to follow in his father’s footsteps as a businessman. Over time, he grows up, reaching the 12th grade and making new friends, but losing touch with his childhood companions due to a family […]
Proteins behaving badly: The role of hIAPP in type 2 diabetes
A global issue There are over 400 million people worldwide currently living with diabetes, and 1.5 million of those people will die as a result of the disease. The vast majority of people living with diabetes (over 90%) have type 2 diabetes. Globally, over 800 billion US dollars is spent annually on treating diabetes, mainly on diabetes-related complications. Cases of […]
The idea of ‘no-self’: A comparative study of Buddhism and Sartrean existentialism
The Buddhist idea of ‘no-self’ Buddhism, originating over two millennia ago in India, delves into the concept of “no-self” (anatman) with the purpose of liberating individuals from worldly suffering. Buddhists maintain that there exists no enduring self, advocating instead for the self’s impermanence as a consequence of the intricate interdependence between all phenomena, known as dhárma, which arise from the […]
Making English orthography fun: A mathematically-oriented reform
Motivation and basics of our ‘mathematically oriented reform’ of English orthography The desire to shorten texts to reduce the effort of writing has always been very popular. This has led to the invention and common use of stenography – otherwise known as shorthand. However, learning stenography requires effort. As a result, people were looking for alternatives which are easier to […]
Mary Blachford Tighe, ‘Lost’ Romantic Poet
Woman, Romantic, poet Among female poets of the 1790s and early 1800s, the Irish poet Mary Blachford Tighe (1772-1810) is a remarkable example of a woman whose work, though highly praised in her time, fell into almost complete obscurity by the end of the nineteenth century. Today, her major achievement, Psyche; or, the Legend of Love, an epic poem in […]
Bio soups: Producing safe and functional food
Characterisation of bio soups Dehydrated soups are beneficial in a number of ways as they are durable, nutritious, and can support a person’s health. Despite their numerous positives, dehydrated soups often rely on synthetic additives. However, increasing the use of mushroom extracts on an industrial scale to enrich the soups may be one option, as explored in this study. Throughout […]
The pulse oximetry ‘epidemic’, or the limitations of pulse oximetry
Pulse oximetry in practice Pulse oximetry first became available in the mid-1980s and has since become the most common form of medical electronic monitoring. It has far outstripped electrocardiography (ECG) as the pulse oximeters are cheap to produce and easy to apply. However useful they may appear, in the vast majority of situations, clinical decisions are made by those who […]
Mapping ars gene clusters in arsenic-resistant bacteria
An operon by any other name Almost any operon (a unit of DNA that contains a number of genes controlled by a single messenger molecule) that acts against arsenic tends to have three major genes – arsR, arsB, and arsC. These code for a transcriptional regulator, a transmembrane efflux pump, and an arsenate reductase, respectively. The first protein, ArsR, oversees […]
Harm reduction in substance use treatment
Opioid use and abuse There is a current public health crisis regarding the opioid epidemic in the US which has been caused by aggressive prescription practices, opioid misuse, and illicit opioid overdose related deaths (Clark & Schumacher, 2017). Harm reduction has been identified as an evidence-based best practice to support opioid abuse, aiming to to mitigate the negative consequences of […]
Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires from space
Vast areas of the Northern Hemisphere in Siberia, Canada, and Alaska are covered in forest. Fires (wildfires) in this wilderness are quite common, with the forests being at risk twice a year, first in spring and then in late summer. Occasionally these wildfires reach populated places causing damage to homes and other city buildings. Furthermore, many experts believe that carbon […]