Our immune system has a whole arsenal, like macrophages, cytokines, t-cells and many more, to fight off an infection. But when it comes to some diseases, the way the body defends itself can have unintended consequences. In the case of Pneumonia, the immune system’s response can be very lethal hence earning it the nickname the ‘captain of the men of death.’ … Read more
Space travel calls for a lot of creative solutions and space agencies invest a ton in developing technology that’s the best of the best. But astronauts aren’t the only beneficiaries. Space technology is all over, in unexpected places like memory foam mattresses and those cool clear braces for straightening teeth. Space science gets applied in … Read more
Today we’re going to talk about a very important topic. And that topic is HIV and AIDS. Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is one of the incurable STI or Sexually Transmitted Infection. While some of these STIs are easy to treat once identified, others like HIV have no cure. Once you are infected, you have … Read more
Have you ever kept track of how much time you spend looking at a screen? Like, actually log what you are doing and for how long? Well, that’s what I did over the last few days. And on an average day, I spent about an hour on Instagram, way too much time on Facebook, over … Read more
The horseshoe crab is a living fossil that has called Earth it’s home for almost half a billion years. It’s outlived dinosaurs and survived mass extinctions and ice ages, but today it’s facing a new threat. Their adaptations have worked with the way the Earth has changed and it’s only in recent years with humans … Read more
The modern world depends on electricity. It’s not just a luxury we use to power our devices and enjoy our free time. It’s not even just a convenience of having light, heating and cooling in our buildings. Electricity is a crucial resource, especially in urban areas, providing public security, safety, and health and making possible … Read more
Saturn’s iconic rings are the biggest brightest rings in our solar system, extending over 280000 kilometres from the planet. That is wide enough to fit 6 Earths in a row. But Saturn won’t always look like this, recent studies on Saturn’s ring shows that its rings are disappearing. That’s right Saturn is losing its rings … Read more
Across the whole planet, humans eat on average between 1 and 2.7 kilograms of food a day. That’s over 365 kilograms a year per person and more than 28,800 kilograms over the course of a lifetime. And every last scrap makes its way through the digestive system. Comprised of ten organs covering nine meters, and … Read more
This probably won’t come as much of a surprise, but breaking up with someone is hard. There’s the rejection, the tears, the possible shouting and if nothing else, it’s just really awkward! Maybe that’s why, for better or worse, some people decide a proper break-up isn’t worth it. Instead, they choose to just, disappear. In … Read more
Deep in our solar system, a new era of space exploration is unfolding. Beneath the thick ice of Europa, in the vapour plumes on Enceladus and within the methane lakes of Titan, astrobiologists are on the hunt for extraterrestrial life. We have honed in on these three moons because each is an ‘ocean world’, an … Read more
Picture warm, gooey cookies, crunchy candies, velvety cakes, waffle cones piled high with ice cream. Is your mouth watering? Are you craving dessert? Why? What happens in the brain that makes sugary foods so hard to resist? Sugar is a general term used to describe a class of molecules called carbohydrates and it’s found in … Read more
Aerogel is a synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas. The result is a solid with extremely low density and low thermal conductivity. Nicknames include frozen smoke, solid smoke, solid air, solid cloud, blue smoke owing to its translucent nature … Read more
Game theory as we know it today came about in part because of one man’s interest in poker. This man was not just your average man on the street. He was a mathematician, physicist and computer scientist named John von Neumann. His goal was loftier than becoming a better poker player. He was only interested … Read more
My absolute favourite fact in the universe is that we are made of dead stars. And that’s literally true. The atoms in our bodies were actually created inside the cause of stars that then exploded and died or unravelled into space. And so the question about the periodic table is very interesting. What was the … Read more
If you have spent any amount of time on the Internet, you have probably read some weird stuff. Like, at some point, you have probably heard someone claim that there are toxins trapped in your body and that you need to do something to help release them. To accomplish this, some people favour juice cleanses. … Read more