Danny Fossati, an aspiring military man, was excited to embark on a journey. He was headed to Northwestern University on a U.S. Navy ROTC scholarship. Eager to pursue his education and ambitions in the Navy, he arrived at the celebratory ceremony where he was awarded a $250,000 scholarship.…

One weekend, I took a walk around my neighborhood in search of fresh air. I had just left my driveway when I noticed hazy dust raining down on me. Was it misting? No, my hair was dry. As the chalky powder hit my skin, I came to an…

When you hear the word cancer, you probably associate it with a family member, a friend, or even yourself. With more than 200 known types, cancer remains one of the most persistent challenges in medicine. Although chemotherapy and radiation therapy are often considered aggressive treatments for survival, scientists…

Imagine you’re a kid with pain in your fingers and toes. But it's different from the usual scrapes and bruises from horseplay—it’s an aching, dull pain, rather than a sharp, throbbing pain. You tell your parents, and they take you to a doctor. Eventually, you get an X-ray…

Imagine you are a 13-year-old who has recently been diagnosed with a rare genetic condition. Apart from the understandable confusion and fear this causes, you now have countless questions flurrying about in your mind as to the treatment of your condition. Naturally, you turn to the internet for…

While treating patients with Hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome (hyper IgE syndrome), a condition caused by a genetic mutation that weakens the immune system. Dr. Alexandra Freeman noticed an interesting link to the symptoms of Covid-19. Freeman, who is a senior clinician in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious…

“With fronds like these, who needs anemones?” Marlin, the main antagonist in Pixar’s beloved animated movie Finding Nemo, was just making a joke when he said this memorable line, yet, the talking clownfish brings up a good point: why do we need anemones? Though anemones frequently appear in…

There are always new viruses emerging, and, like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, they are constantly evolving into different variants or strains. Researchers are racing to find vaccines and therapies that can improve outcomes for patients worldwide, using methods ranging from traditional lab work to computational biology (bioinformatics), and…