By Alyssa Cho Have you ever wanted to change your life, build your identity from scratch, eliminate all your imperfections? Imagine what could happen if you were able to change your DNA… Oh, wait, you don’t have to. Scientists are already creating ways to alter the genomes of all kinds of organisms using a revolutionary technique called CRISPR-Cas9.
CRISPR, a genome editing tool that is pushing the frontiers of biology, can make precise changes to DNA in a way that is more accurate, cost-effective, and efficient than any other existing genome editing methods. This simple technology which in essence only involves two components—an RNA molecule that targets a string of DNA and an enzyme called Cas9 that snips the gene—has supplied us with an astounding amount of power: we can correct disease-causing mutations, increase crop yields, and save countless human lives. On the other hand, misuse of this technology might lead to a new age of designer babies, a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and a plethora of other problems that could create irreversible changes in society. In the fiercely controversial debate about the future of CRISPR, there are two main points to consider: first, the successes of gene editing so far, and second, the possible outcomes that may arise from unregulated gene editing.
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By Emily Zhou During the inhospitable winter and spring months, the flu runs rampant around urbanized cities with high population density, initiating another season of terrible illness. We have become accustomed enough to its presence to perceive it as an almost harmless disease; in reality, most people are uneducated about the operations of this illness and, unfortunately, many still pass away due to improper treatment.
It’s not hard to imagine rummaging through the back of the closet for the one thing you swear you saw last week, only to be distracted by a landslide of memorabilia and nostalgia—the old cookie tin that still smells like butter and sugar when you crack open the lid, that rattles with odd marbles, colorful rocks and exclusive lego characters. Or maybe you have a binder of pristine, laminated cards, or a shoebox full of rubber ducks tucked under your bed. The point is, collecting is familiar to everyone. Even for those who don’t remember a childhood treasure box, it’s likely that they collect more practical items, like books, coupons, contact information, or even money.
By Caroline Bao and Samantha Zhu If you have had the misfortune of skiing during seasons of sparse snow, you may be familiar with the horrifying sound of scraping skis combined with a terrifying sense of losing control on steeper trails. Paired with low visibility and aggressive winds at higher altitudes, the experience can be unfavorable for many. Particularly in southern California, the slippery snow in several resorts can create harrowing sensations of skiing, or rather skating, down ice. Warmer day temperatures melt the snow and cool night temperatures resolidify the snow, packing it into an unpleasant, firm brick, leading to the coinage of the term “California concrete” - describing its hard and icy texture.
The hero of the 1980s. The man who led the US through some of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. The average American would assume I was talking about President Reagan. Authorizing gigantic tax cuts, blowing the US government spending through the rough, it’s easy to see why people would assume that President Reagan was the hero of the bullish 1980’s. However, another man worked behind the scenes: Paul Volcker.
By Christina Lee Neglected Tropical DiseasesThe drug discovery process is arduous, risky, and extremely expensive, costing pharmaceutical companies around $2.6 billion to develop a marketable drug. It is no wonder that little research is being done on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), a group of 20 diseases that mainly affect underprivileged populations. These populations are unlikely to be able to fund for research regarding those tropical diseases and even less likely to be able to pay for their treatment if a drug were to be developed and put on the market. However, more than a sixth of the world’s population is affected by NTDs, and the number is only going up. Measures need to be taken in order to treat the patients that need help the most.
IntroductionStarting from ancient times, dreams, aside from playing a major part in literature and arts, have been subjects to drastically different interpretations by people of various regions of the world. Regardless of the interpretations being scientifically based or not, people often managed to come up with certain rationales that seemed plausible at the time of its proposal. For example, ancient Chinese and Indian cultures both believed dreams to be the parting of a person’s soul from the body. Aristotle believed that dreams were precursors to diseases and allowed analyses of them. For this matter, the study of dreams became ambiguous as numerous different theories emerged with supporting evidence. In addition, the brain is a rather complex and difficult subject to study; the phenomena of dreams lie beyond the limit of accurate description using neuroscience. With inevitable uncertainties in the scientific study of dreams, several modern, scientific theories of dreaming had been developed. The following content presents some of the most influential and important scientific theories on dreaming.
By Tompson Hsu His LifeEuclid: Father of Geometry, Greek scholar, thinker, and one of the most influential figures in the field of mathematics. Yet, even with such an impressive track record, much of his actual identity and life remains shrouded in mystery. For starters, the person that most people commonly refer to as Euclid can be known more specifically as “Euclid of Alexandria”, named so after his place of residence, in order to distinguish him from other Euclids from the time. From the few original documents that have been preserved, it is estimated that his time of birth was most likely around 325 BC. On the other hand, there exist Arabian documents which go into much more detail, such as a birth town in Tyre, although these are not regarded as reliable by historians. Another uncertainty is the notion that the alias “Euclid” was actually a pseudonym used by a group of mathematicians, as opposed to a single person—once again, though, historians do not give much credit to this idea. However, unlike the details of his life, his work, including Elements and some other lesser-known ones, continue to be highly prestigious textbooks for the study of mathematics long after his death in 270 BC.
By Annie Lu
The year was 1856, on an Easter vacation from London’s Royal College of Chemistry. 18-year-old, aspiring chemist William Henry Perkin stumbled upon exactly what no one was expecting him to discover: mauve. When Perkin had first entered the Royal College in 1853, he was assistant to renowned scientist August Wilhelm Hofmann, who was attempting to synthesise quinine. Quinine, which is naturally derived from the bark of cinchona trees, is most commonly used as an antimalarial drug, but is also a mild antipyretic (reduces fever) and analgesic (relieves pain). Hofmann, and, by extension, Perkin, were trying to synthesize the antimalarial drug because at that time it was obtainable solely through cinchona bark, grown primarily on Southeast Asian plantations—understandably inconvenient for some. By Jeanne Zheng
Amelia is a medical student from Australia with over 87,000 followers on her Instagram account; she runs popular studygram @amelia_studies, on which she posts pictures of neatly written notes & artfully arranged stationery. Amelia uses her platform as a voice to encourage her followers—many of whom are also students, some with their own studygrams—to follow their passions and study hard. The Primer interviewed her about her life as a med student, as well as what motivates her and what advice she would give to others who aspire to get into medical school themselves. |
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