Tag: biology
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Can electricity read your mind?: Electrodermal Activity
No matter how great your poker face might be, your skin can’t keep a secret. A window into the human mind through physiology exists beyond crystal balls, witches, or horrific psychological control. The very electricity that we associate with changing brain activity in horror movies can serve as a hidden gateway into your mind. Electrodermal activity…
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Binaural Beats: The Beats That Beat Cognitive Overload
“It’s always that damn phone.” These devices, alongside many others, have become our most prized companions while simultaneously being major sources of anxiety, stress, and an endless overload of distractions. Ironically, a developing remedy to these issues, present in the problem itself, is an unconventional digital drug called binaural beats. Accessible through a simple pair…
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Skin Pigmentation Bias in Pulse Oximetry Measurements
Pulse oximeters have revolutionized modern medicine, enabling continuous, accurate, and non-invasive monitoring of functional oxygen saturation of hemoglobin (SpO₂) (Chan et al. 2013). Taken as a fifth vital sign, the device’s use is routine in emergency care, general ward, intermediate/intensive care unit, the operating room, and in general practices (Bosch et al. 2024). However, with…
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The Emergence of Allergic Diseases in Immigrants: A Probiotic Solution
First-generation immigrants face numerous challenges when adapting to new cultures: language barriers, discrimination, invalid credential recognition, and growing mental health concerns. While some of these challenges may be temporary, a long-term issue that remains unresolved within the immigrant population is the growing prevalence of allergic diseases (Lombardi, Passalaqua, and Walter Canonica 2009). Surprisingly, a potential…
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Bytes and Brains: Exploring Shifts in Human Cognitive Processes in the Internet Age
There is no question that the Internet was the single most impactful technological invention of the past century. Our constant usage of the Internet has fundamentally altered our memory processing and analytical cognition, such that us “Digital Natives” consume knowledge in completely different ways than previous generations (Loh and Kanai, 2016). The symbiosis of humans…
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Love: A Social Construct or Just Science?
Despite the ridicule behind Love is Blind and The Bachelorette, the complex bridge that connects the realm of human emotions with the scientific understanding of our bodies does exist, in the form of love. From a scientific perspective, the early stages of falling in love behave similarly to the consumption of cocaine, with both processes triggering…
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Botulinum Toxin: A Toxin Of All Trades
Before its cosmetic applications were discovered, Botulinum toxin (BoNT) known as Botox, was one of the most lethal biological weapons. Utilized throughout World War II, the number of casualties caused by its inhalation made it an effective military tool for attack (Tatu, 2021). Once infected with Botulism, the body experiences progressive weakness until full-body paralysis occurs.…
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DNA Data Storage
Within the next 50 years, present-day optical and magnetic storage methods will reach their limit, necessitating novel and economically-viable forms of long-term data storage as current mediums can not sustain our rapid accumulation of information. One alternative established by Harvard University geneticist George Church (2012) has proven most promising in the search for a definitive…
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Your Ears Are Whispering
Your eyes do not produce light, nor does your tongue have a flavour, but your ears do make sounds! In 1978, acoustician David Kemp inserted a miniature microphone into a human ear canal and, for the first time, recorded nearly inaudible sounds originating from the inner ear (Kemp, 1978). These sounds have since been called…
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Adaptive Biological Networks
Transport networks are vital to the infrastructure of our current industrial society, enabling the efficient travel of resources, people, and data. In spite of their significance, the conception of these networks lacks a guiding methodology, with a majority being limited by the most pressing concerns at the time of their construction. Previously, the notion of…