Category: public posts
The select public posts from syn·op·sis, written and reviewed by iSci students at McMaster University. Each post is interdisciplinary in nature, and a wide variety of subject matter is covered. So sit back, relax, and start learning.
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Tree Man Illness
The name ‘tree man illness’ is a reference to the yellow-brown growths, as seen in Figure 1, which resemble tree bark that develop as a symptom of Epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) (Swati, et al., 2017). EV is a disease that results from a mutation on the EVER genes (McDermott, et al., 2009). Mutations that occur in…
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How to Cause More Pandemics!
Discussions surrounding the future of pandemics are understandably uncomfortable as many countries have yet to leave behind the current COVID-19 pandemic. Alas, it takes a couple Google searches to learn that many experts have agreed that the next global pandemic is not a matter of if, but when. In 2007, the World Health Organization warned…
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A Path Towards Conquering Cancer
Despite the significant scientific advancements devised to decrease death, reduce discomfort, and improve quality of life for cancer patients, there remains a distinct deficiency in the competencies of cancer-based therapeutic technologies. The burden of cancer has continually progressed; by 2040, cancer-related death will have increased by 42% from 2018, making it a leading cause of…
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Key Concepts of Keyboards
Computers have become essential for a variety of diverse tasks ranging from communication to quantum computing. The average person knows enough about a computer to navigate and accomplish their desired tasks. However, most individuals do not know how each key works. Physics, coding, and engineering are some of the many working concepts at play within…
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The New #FOMO Trend
The expression FOMO, fear of missing out, was added to the Oxford dictionary in 2013, and since then it has recieved over 3,000,000 hits on google (Hayran, Anik and Gürhan-Canli, 2020). #FOMO has been used over 200 times on Facebook and Instagram, which reaches approximately 100,000 people in a single day, highlighting how fast these…
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Turning the tide with thalidomide
For over three centuries, humans have been using medicinal drugs to treat symptoms of various conditions. One such condition is morning sickness in pregnant women. In the 1950s, many women were prescribed a sedative drug named thalidomide. What transpired was the most deadly man-made medical tragedy. Figure 1: S and R enantiomers of Thalidomide (adapted…
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The Language of the Universe
Mathematics is known as the language of the universe and its applications in academia are endless. Anything from computer science to quantum mechanics utilizes the operations and processes of mathematics. The major forces behind the expansion of mathematics are contributed to the large accessibility of computers and the exponential increase in the collection and creation…
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Can Volcanoes Power the World?
Volcanoes are commonly known for their majestic, yet frightening and dangerous, features. However, recent research has shown that there may be another use for volcanoes, one that could change the world. The ability to directly harness energy from magma inside volcanoes is currently the subject of much study in various locations worldwide and shows great…
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The Remarkable Process of Photosynthesis
Our historical perspective on photosynthesis has evolved greatly since the 18th century. With the advent of innovative scientific technology, we are capable of perceiving the near-perfect efficiency many photosynthetic life forms possess when converting light to electrical energy (Caffarri, et al., 2014). Researchers posit that by applying our current understanding of quantum mechanics to its…
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Cancer; Always healing, never healed
Scraped knees, leukemia, sore throats, and lymphomas have more in common than you would think. All of them are biological wounds that manipulate the body’s intrinsic wound healing pathways. There are many parallels between tumours and aberrant wound healing processes, to such an extent that a new hypothesis for cancer proliferation has been postulated (Meng…