Imagine you are a seasoned astronaut floating through the mystical blue abyss that is space, documenting the thousands of bright white stars that buzz relentlessly above your head. Suddenly, a shape you don’t recognize appears close by. Is it a rock? An alien spacecraft? A piece of debris?…

Being a binge-watching Netflix enthusiast and having a poor diet, Brian suffers from type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease that affects some 30 million people in the United States. Despite his renewed efforts to initiate a lifestyle change by eating better and exercising more…

You’ve likely heard about the many benefits of sleep. But you probably haven’t heard the latest. Scientists are currently investigating how sleep helps us navigate the world around us. Past research has shown that memory plays a major role in helping us move through space. If you remember…

Picture this: on your morning walk, a speeding car suddenly rams into you. Among other injuries, your liver is annihilated. You are rushed to the hospital, only for the doctors to say the damage is irreversible. That leaves one last option: replacing the organ entirely. The doctor breaks…

The FIFA World Cup, which took place in Qatar this past winter, included the most extensive concussion guidelines and regulations we have seen implemented in the world’s most-watched tournament. If a player was suspected to have sustained a concussion, teams were allowed to use a single additional permanent…

WHOOSH! A powerful wind sweeps across the prairie, engulfing all flora and fauna lying in its path. Yet, underneath the prairie soil, sleeping peacefully in its cozy winter burrow is the 13-lined ground squirrel (aka Ictidomys tridecemlineatus). The 13-lined ground squirrel hibernates every winter, passing into a deep,…

Each year the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves around 50 drugs for human use, some of which are submitted for consideration years in advance. It is a widely known fact that it can take a long time for drugs and vaccines to be approved for entering the…

Being a leading cause of death each year, cancer is a word that strikes fear into many of us. All it takes is for a rogue cell to divide uncontrollably and feed off your body until you’re worn out. We sometimes take solace with the assumption that it’s…

The human body has feet, arms, a spine, a heart and a brain. In comparison, an octopus has eight arms, blue blood, no bones and a bulbous head. Given these many differences, what could an octopus and a human have in common? The answer lies in the brain.…