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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The Map That Changed the World of Mars
What signs might a curious extraterrestrial, observing the Earth through a telescope, seek in order to prove the presence of intelligent inhabitants? From interplanetary distances, the human species reveals its presence through the geometric nature and orderly arrangement of our land architecture (Figure 1). It is understandable, then, how the late 19th century observations of an…
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The Ethical and Biological Journey of the Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) has been one of the greatest biological accomplishments to date. This endeavour to map each and every nucleotide base that makes up our DNA blueprint was completed by the collective efforts of scientists all over the world. Given the magnitude of this project, one is inspired to wonder––how was this…
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Sustainable Energy for Health Care in Developing Countries
Energy is essential to modern life. We use it every day, for almost everything we do. Imagine living without access to a reliable supply of energy, or in some cases, any energy at all. This is how 1.6 billion people in developing countries live (IEA, 2008). However, reliable and affordable access to energy has shown…
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Cracking the Mystery of Prince Rupert’s Drop
For centuries, the peculiar mechanical properties of the Batavian Tear, otherwise known as Prince Rupert’s Drop (PRD), has mesmerized scientists. Historically, the glass drop dates back to 1660, where it was brought to King Charles II of England by Prince Rupert from Germany (Brodsley, Frank, and Steeds, 1986). As its name suggests, the drop has…
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A New Kind of Addiction
Smartphones aren’t much more than a decade old, yet they have changed the way that we work, play, and interact with one another. The average user checks their phone 150 times a day, which is double what most people think they do. All this time will add up to seven years on our phones over…
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The Alien Cancer Cure
Traveling into space is one way we satisfy our curiosity. We cannot bear to live on our planet without knowing what lies beyond the horizon. However, the microgravity achieved in low Earth orbit at the International Space Station (ISS) can help us explore some of our many questions as well. For example, it is easier…
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Soap – The Unexpected Culprit of Oil Painting Degradation
Soap is a ubiquitous commodity that has been in the hands of humanity for thousands of years. In fact, the oldest known soap is believed to date as far back as 2800 BCE, originating in Ancient Babylonia, where it was used to clean materials like wool (Butler, 2000). Ever since then, the process of soap…
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Our miracle micro-animal, the tardigrade.
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to withstand the damaging effects of radiation? Worry not, because tardigrades have recently become a source of hope. This micro-animal (Figure 1) possesses a protein, termed Dsup (short for Damage suppressor) that allows it to survive X-ray radiation (Hashimoto, et al., 2016). Interestingly, this protein can…
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Solar Flares and Mood Swings: How the Sun Affects Human Physiology
Ever since the earliest human civilizations, the sun has been an entity shrouded in mystery and awe. With the accepted heliocentric model of the universe, virtually all workings of Earth, from the inception of life to the daily changes in weather, have been attributed to the sun. Now, with increased scientific understanding and technological advancement,…
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Sleep–Health–Academics
Sleep is an essential part of the day, one that most people disregard to their disadvantage. An indispensable device of sleep is the internal circadian clock, responsible not only for inducing sleep but also for controlling the many stages of sleep (Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, n.d.). Below in Figure 1, it can…