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Science & Technology

Anti-jet lag app resets circadian rhythms

By JOEL PALLY | April 24, 2014

Whether it’s going back home on Thanksgiving, or coming back from studying abroad, many of us have fallen victim to jet lag. We find ourselves waiting impatiently for our bodies to catch up to our new schedules, sometimes trying to reassign our circadian rhythm, or internal clock, with caffeine or nyquil. Like the hangover, jet lag holds special place in daily conversation as one of those ailments for which everyone has a remedy but no one has a cure. Until now, that is, as a group of researchers at the University of Michigan believe they have developed a system to help global travelers overcome their jet lag quicker and easier than ever before.

Juno proteins helps sperm to fertilize eggs

By SEAN YAMAKAWA | April 24, 2014

The missing piece to understanding mammalian conception has finally been uncovered. Last week, Gavin Wright, a researcher at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and his team reported the discovery of the protein that facilitates sperm-egg binding. In an article published in Nature, the British scientists describe the identification of Juno, a protein located on the surface of murine eggs.

Napping linked to earlier death

By KELLY CARTY | April 24, 2014

Middle-aged nappers, beware. According to a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, daytime napping is linked to an increased risk of death.

New toilet for astronauts can recycle urine

By MARK STUCZYNSKI | April 24, 2014

If Bear Grylls has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes, when you’re thirsty, almost anything is going to work. Nowhere is this more evident than on board space stations, where high mission costs make the transport of water very costly. Fortunately for astronauts, scientists Eduardo Nicolau and Carlos Cabrera have devised a way to turn urine into power and clean drinking water.

International research team explores ocean

By LIZZY LIU | April 24, 2014

It is hard to believe that parts of Earth remain unexplored. But, even today, there are still places on our planet that have escaped the gaze of human eyes. Scientists from around the world decided to team up and dive deeper into the dark depths of the Hadal Zone, which has parts of the ocean that are more than 6,000 meters deep. The team, which includes researchers from the U.S. and Scotland, started the proposed three-year expedition on Saturday, April 12, 2014. 

Stress has harmful effects on the brain

By REGINA PALATINI | April 24, 2014

After being under the severe stress and anxiety associated with exams or papers, most of us are able to readjust after the assessment is submitted. We can finally get a good night’s sleep, and our mental state is much better than it was before the exam. It’s great if we feel back on track by having a healthy and relaxing post-exam day, but a recent study by researchers at Hopkins has found that the effects of stress are not restricted to the temporary feelings of anxiety. Stress, according to this study, can be permanently harmful to the brain.

Tetraquark existence is confirmed

By KELLY CARTY | April 17, 2014

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland have confirmed the existence of Z(4430). This particle, thought to be an elusive form of matter called a tetraquark, does not conform to any other known models of matter. This Z(4430) discovery came from the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) collaboration, a multinational research project led by researchers from Syracuse University.

Computer models new soy crop

By TONY WU | April 17, 2014

As the world’s population continues to grow, the planet’s ability to support life is being stretched to its limits. In fact, models on Earth’s carrying capacity suggest that the planet cannot sustain current growth rates. If changes are not made, food and water shortages will span the globe in the near future. Some scientists believe that the only way to avoid such crises is through a second Green Revolution, in which global food production significantly increases.

Atomic clock accurate to 3% of a nanosecond

By MARK STUCZYNSKI | April 17, 2014

Have you ever been late because of problems with your watch? Good news: the National Institute of Science has your back for the next 300 million years. Their newly developed atomic clock, called NIST-F2, is designed to maintain perfect time with no decay or error. Furthermore, NIST-F2 may have many uses for GPS and other future inventions. While nothing is perfect, this clock is so precise that it only suffers from a 0.03 nanosecond displacement every day. This translates to about 1 second of inaccuracy over 100 million years.

Large subsurface ocean exists on Saturn’s moon

By SEAN YAMAKAWA | April 17, 2014

In 2005, NASA gathered information that suggested that a vast sea of water underneath the frozen surface of Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, spewed water vapor into the atmosphere. Images captured by the Imaging Science Sub-system (ISS) camera of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft featured parallel, linear ridges on the surface of Enceladus’ southern region.

Urban soil exhibits dangerous pollution levels

By REGINA PALATINI | April 17, 2014

There is currently a global soil crisis. An entire third of all soil is degraded, and declines in the quality and amount of soil will greatly impact the current food supply. It is easy to assume that most soil in gardens is healthy and safe, but is all garden soil really the same?

Early risers have lower body mass index

By ELIZABETH LIU | April 17, 2014

There might be more advantages to being an early bird other than getting the worm — scientists have discovered that people exposed to bright light before noon had significantly lower body mass indexes (BMI) than people who get most of their light exposure later in the day.

Some E. coli species are responsible for cancer

By JOEL PALLY | April 17, 2014

With over 10 trillion bacteria living in our gut, the human digestive system is more of an ecosystem than a series of organs. As human hosts, we hold crucial symbiotic relationships with many of our bacterial residents. In return for much needed nutrients and a protected living environment, much our healthy flora provides necessary digestive and immune functions. However, much of the activity of the estimated 500-1000 species of bacterial inhabitants of our gut is largely unknown.

Surgeons fail to screen for depression in patients

By Catie Paul | April 17, 2014

Past studies have shown that surgical patients suffering from depression often have longer recuperation periods, more postsurgical complications and more difficulty complying with their medication schedules after leaving the hospital than surgical patients without symptoms of depression. Compounding this information, a recent study conducted by the Hopkins School of Medicine has found that most orthopedic surgeons do not screen well enough for depression and anxiety in patients prior to surgery.

Hopkins chastises stroke patient misdiagnoses

By SAMHITA ILANGO | April 17, 2014

Over the past few years it has become increasingly evident that emergency physicians overlook tens of thousands of strokes each year. These missed diagnoses are not equally distributed among the population, but ER doctors disproportionately miss strokes of women, minorities and younger patients.

Nature inspires an ‘unbreakable’ encryption code

By JOSH SCARALIA | April 17, 2014

Has a friend of yours ever hacked your Facebook account? Imagine now that it wasn’t your friend. What if someone you’d never met before, someone from across the world hacked your Facebook account? If your Facebook account getting hacked doesn’t scare you, maybe this will: what if it was your car key that was hacked? Your cell-phone? How about your bank account?

Hopkins fails to reawaken dormant HIV virus

By MARK STUCZYNSKI | April 10, 2014

From the perspective of medication, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the most dangerous when it’s asleep. While active subsets of the virus can be destroyed with antiretroviral agents, dormant viral particles can accumulate within the T cells of the immune system without detection. These dormant particles significantly compromise the T cells’ abilities to recognize and destroy infectious cells in the body. With dormant strains of HIV, the T cell is about as effective as shampooing your hair with dirt.

Pluripotency article retracted from Nature

By SEAN YAMAKAWA | April 10, 2014

In January, Haruko Obokata of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology surprised and excited the world with her publication of stimulus-triggered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency. In the publication, Obokata presented results of the first successful trial of inducing pluripotency, the ability to become a variety of cell types, in adult somatic stem cells by using sublethal doses of acid. If other scientists could reproduce her results, this research would make pluripotent cells easily obtainable for developmental research and disease therapy.

Untrained volunteers can burden relief efforts

By TONY WU | April 10, 2014

saster, it is heartwarming to see an army of volunteers trying to help victims recover. These volunteers do a significant amount of work: They clear debris from roads, move food and other supplies to accessible areas and offer words of kindness in moments of despair. Many of them, such as those working for the Red Cross, are specifically trained for their tasks. Some, however, arrive on the scene without any preparation. A recent study suggests that these untrained volunteers may not be as helpful in disaster situations as we would like to believe. In fact, because these untrained volunteers often act spontaneously, they might even harm the relief efforts.

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