The Heart

The heart is one of the most important organs in the body as it delivers oxygenated blood (blood exposed to oxygen from the lungs) to our cells, allowing them to respire and release energy. This lets us move around and survive. The heart consists of many parts which work together to make it perform efficiently. … Continue reading The Heart

What does a planet need to sustain life?

Photo: NASA Scientists have been discovering exoplanets for years. One prominent mission led by NASA was the Kepler mission which aimed to explore other stars and planets to find a planet that could sustain life. This article will try to give an insight into astrobiology and what life needs to survive on other planets The … Continue reading What does a planet need to sustain life?

How viruses help kill bacteria.

Viruses can harm us, one example being COVID-19. This is because viruses can not replicate or live by themselves. So they insert themselves into host cells (our cells) and use the host’s organelles and machinery to replicate. Once replicated, they burst out of the cell by cytolysis, killing the cell in the process. As a … Continue reading How viruses help kill bacteria.

The Kidneys and Controlling Water Levels

Your body needs to be able to regulate its water levels to prevent cells from getting damaged. Due to osmosis, if your body has too much water, your body cells will swell up and burst. On the other hand, if your body doesn’t have enough water, cells will shrivel up and die. Thankfully, as a … Continue reading The Kidneys and Controlling Water Levels

Telomeres and why we age.

What are telomeres? Telomeres are caps at the end of our chromosomes that protect our DNA from damage. They are made up of the same short DNA sequence repeated over and over again, with the same sequence of bases. They are important for a cells because without them chromosomes would stick together and would not … Continue reading Telomeres and why we age.

Vaccination delivery through a pill.

Vaccinations have become incredibly important due to COVID-19 and the vaccine rollout needs to be faster and more efficient in order to achieve global herd immunity. Vaccines, the COVID-19 vaccine being an example, are usually injections that contain dead or weakened versions of the pathogen. However, there a numerous disadvantages to these traditional vaccines: They … Continue reading Vaccination delivery through a pill.

Why do we shiver when we’re cold?

Imagine that it’s a freezing day, with snow piled up high and still falling and you wanted to go for a walk outside. So, you put on your extra fluffy pair of socks and very comfortable shoes and you step outside, without wearing one of the most important items of clothing, a coat. To say … Continue reading Why do we shiver when we’re cold?

Why I dream of sleep.

Sleep is an important part of our day and on average a person spends 26 years sleeping! This seems like a large waste of time. However, we should be getting 8 hours sleep every day and adolescents should be getting 10 hours sleep. Those that get less than 7 hours are considered sleep deprived. As … Continue reading Why I dream of sleep.

Anti-cancer vaccines

Immunotherapy is a developing form of treatment for cancer and is becoming more effective as more clinical trials are undertaken. However, there are some drawbacks to these vaccines that need to be resolved in order to make immunotherapy an accepted treatment.  Photo Credit: Forbes There are two types of anti-cancer vaccines: preventative and therapeutic.  Preventative … Continue reading Anti-cancer vaccines

The effects of space on our body.

I have always been fascinated with space, but not in the physicist kind of way, more in the muggle stuck on earth kinda of way. It seems pretty magical to me that astronauts have made it to space. I myself would never aspire to BE said astronaut but I do want to know more about … Continue reading The effects of space on our body.