Frankie Carr Staff Writer, Dartmouth College Linkedin Envelope Twitter Writer Bio I am a member of the class of 2022 at Dartmouth College where I am majoring in Biology (with a concentration in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) with minors in Chemistry and Theater. Later, I hope to attend medical school and work towards becoming an …
A photo of a Pfizer facility in Italy. (Image Source: Dr. János Korom, Wikimedia Commons) On November 5th, 2021, Pfizer announced that it would seek FDA approval for its new drug, called Paxlovid. It is given to those with an active case of COVID-19 and has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and …
The Biochemistry and Broad Utility of Pfizer’s New COVID-19 Drug: Paxlovid Read More »
Figure: A neutrophil (yellow) ejecting a NET (green) to capture invading bacteria (purple) that are attacking a red blood cell (orange). (Source: Wikimedia Commons, CHDENK) Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell involved in the innate immune response in most animals. These cells tend to be among the most numerous in the circulatory system; …
Figure 1: A monument (front left) to the meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant that occurred in Reactor Number Four (back right) Source: Wikimedia Commons, Tiia Monto In April 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the town of Pripyat in the former USSR (and present-day Ukraine) experienced an uncontrolled chain reaction in Reactor …
The Chernobyl Accident — A Natural Experiment for the Effects of Radiation on Humans Read More »
Figure 1: An image of the Yersinia pestis bacterium that caused the Black Plague. The image was taken with a scanning electron microscope using a sample collected from the digestive tract of an infected flea Source: Wikimedia Commons, Rocky Mountain Laboratories Some use the word “plague” to mean any infectious disease that infects many people, but …
Figure 1: A schematic of the double helix of DNA Source: Wikimedia Commons, National Human Genome Research Institute DNA is made of nucleotides, which consist of a deoxyribose sugar bound to a phosphate group along with a nitrogen base, joined together with bonds between their sugars and phosphate groups. Most organisms contain 4 different nitrogenous …
Figure 1: The English alphabet and numbers 1-9 as signed in American Sign Language (ASL) Source: Wikimedia Commons Most think of the spoken, verbal communication between people when considering language. However, they would really only be considering one aspect of language, as language is much more than just an auditory phenomenon. Aside from so-called “non-verbal …
The Brain and Sign Language — Evidence of a Universal Language Center? Read More »
Figure 1: The different ways a tumor can provide protection for itself through Treg (seen as circular, pink cells above) recruitment Source: Wikimedia Commons Researchers have discovered a potential new immunotherapy for certain tumors that involves downregulating a type of immune cell called Regulatory T Cells (or Tregs) in and around the target tumor. Tregs …
Figure 1: An image of a Venus Flytrap plant (Dionaea muscipula) Source: Wikimedia Commons A multidisciplinary team of researchers have been able to measure magnetic fields produced by a multicellular plant for the first time without the use of invasive or supercooled magnetometers. This finding is important despite the fact that magnetic fields have been …
Magnetic Venus Flytraps: a New Diagnostic Tool for Agriculture Read More »
Figure 1: A comparison of the skulls of a human (left) and Neanderthal (right). Source: Wikimedia Commons Studies of evolution rely heavily on the use of fossils. However, in order to understand the differences in intelligence between humans and one of our closest relatives, the Neanderthals, it is necessary to study the differences in the …