Archive: August 2021
Social Initiatives
Over the past few years, Green Light Mentorship has been able to help countless students in their transition from high school to university through webinars, mentorship programs, and other initiatives. In this article, we interview the founders of this organization and ask them about their journey, achievements, motivations, as well as plenty of advice for incoming university students. In the near future, they will be having a fall mentorship program for new university students, and will also be launching an ambassador initiative for high school students.
It’s unfortunately clear that the Summer season is in its final stretch, but that doesn’t mean that you have to totally halt the fun. There are plenty of fun, and productive activities that you and your friends can do before back-to-school is official. Afew group activities include a distanced picnic (COVID friendly!), online movie nights, or cycling. Solo activities include but aren’t limited to language learning, decluttering/re-decorating, and decompressing with your favorite hobbies prior to the start of the school year. While for most, free-time will soon be limited to after-school hours, there are still numerous ways to spend the remainder of Summer.
Scientific News
Diabetes is a disease where the body doesn't properly cooperate with the hormone insulin, which is used to regulate blood sugar (the amount of glucose in the blood). There are 3 main types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and prediabetes. There are also particular types of diabetes that a mother can acquire during pregnancy, called gestational diabetes and pre-gestational diabetes. Both of these can negatively impact the health of the fetus, putting it at risk for macrosomia (high birth weight), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), preterm birth, and birth injury. Thankfully, the disease and its risks can be managed with the help of proper treatment.
You’ve likely heard of the venus flytrap, but did you know that there are a wide variety of carnivorous plants that actually catch their prey rather than taking up the majority of their nutrients through the soil. These types of plants have evolved over millions of years, and typically grow in soils where nutrients like nitrogen are sparse in the soil. Many mechanisms of these traps exist, from simple adhesive traps, to ones that act faster than a camera can record its mechanism. Carnivorous plants are unfortunately on a path to extinction due to climate change and poaching, so efforts are being actively made to study these plants before it's too late.
From the use of stem cells to artificial organs, regenerative medicine is a futuristic branch of medicine that focuses on maintaining the health of the human body. In addition to stem cell therapy, platelet-rich plasma therapy, and tissue engineering, there are many treatments of regenerative medicine and even more being developed to this day. The rapidly developing field brings up and coming careers as well, including tissue engineers, nanotechnologists, and bioethicists. In the world of regenerative medicine, the future is filled with endless potential.
Machine learning is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that uses algorithms to train a machine to learn and improve based on sample data. However, biases and inconsistencies in the training data can result in the inaccurate performance of the machine. Because AI is becoming involved in more and more aspects of our lives every day, it’s important to ensure that biases in machine learning do not result in social injustice. For example, studies have shown that machine learning biases can result in inaccurate facial recognition and unfair judgment of job applicants.
iAge is a technology developed to detect inflammatory patterns in the body to predict the risk of someone developing a disease. Mainly done through the use of artificial intelligence (A.I). By detecting chronic inflammation in one's body, researchers can find someone's "immunological age" and determine when someone will become frail.
In a world of constantly evolving technology, data science, or the intersection between statistics and computer science has been a rapidly growing field. It involves a variety of careers with promising prospects, including data engineers, business analysts, data mining specialists, machine learning engineers, and database developers. All of these careers have the opportunities to involve not only data science, but other fields such as healthcare, finances, cryptocurrency, and almost any other area! If you’d like to learn more, we’ve also listed a few extra resources for research in the full article.
Caffeine is consumed by people everywhere, known as the world’s most popular drug. In North America, more than 80 percent of adults regularly consume caffeine. In Canada, it is estimated that the average amount of caffeine consumed per person a day is 210- 238 mg. It is most commonly found in coffee, black and green tea, and can be additionally found in energy and soft drinks. Some chocolate bars, energy bars, and non-prescription medications like cough syrup and slimming tablets may also contain caffeine.
The late doctor was a renowned psychiatrist and established author, who studied medicine at a hospital in Paris, as well as in Montreal. He co-founded the U.S. branch of Doctors Without Borders, and wrote many works regarding medicine and mental health. At the age of 31, he was diagnosed with cancer. He fought against the disease for 19 years, before passing away in 2011. One of the books he wrote regarding cancer goes into detail about prevention, from what foods to consume to activity level. In his memoir, he describes being able to pass away with his dignity. We believe that his work in medicine and mental health literally and figuratively transcended borders. Dr. Servan-Schreiber was an amazing doctor that contributed his hard-work and humanity to the field of medicine and mental health.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a psychological condition that involves the presence of two or more split identities that continually take over a person’s behaviour. DID is most commonly caused by factors such as severe and repetitive childhood trauma, in which cases, dissociation is used as a coping mechanism. A few main psychological processes of DID include depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, and identity confusion or identity alteration. Despite valuable diagnostic tools, DID is often difficult to differentiate from imitated or false-positive cases. More information on Dissociative Identity Disorder is discussed in this article, including a patient story from the American Psychiatric Association.
Professor and scientist Mark Post and his team fabricated the first ever lab-grown burger in human history. In simple terms, this was done by growing small bits of tissue from cow stem cells. This discovery could serve as a sustainable substitute for conventional meat. Sources indicate that multiple meat companies plan to launch these lab-grown products as early as 2021.
There are a few different types of cancer associated with malfunctioning white blood cells. Among them, Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma may be easily confused with one another because they all disrupt the immune system and cause the body to be not able to fight off foreign invaders. However, their differences lie in which components of blood they affect, and how this impacts the functioning of the body in turn. Moreover, while some of these cancers have cures, others still rely on treatment and research to continue advancing.
Penicillins are a group of antibiotics that fight a wide spectrum of bacteria. Discovered accidentally in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, penicillin was the world’s first antibiotic, curing many bacterial infections and heralding the start of the antibiotic era. Penicillin-class drugs work by acting on peptidoglycans, an important mesh-like structure in bacterial cells, and indirectly breaking bacterial cell walls. However, bacteria are adaptable and developing resistance to penicillins. As the current approach to discovering new medicines is to modify existing antibiotics, the discovery of penicillin has truly paved the way for new antibiotics.
Les articles en français
Les jeux vidéo sont des tueurs de temps qui peuvent être extrêmement amusants. Il existe plus de 2000 jeux vidéo, sans compter les jeux mobiles et autres. Les jeux vous permettent d'utiliser votre imagination, de découvrir diverses stratégies, d'être multitâches et bien plus encore. Il existe tellement de jeux différents qu'il est facile de se perdre dans le vide des jeux de nos jours, d'autant plus que nous sommes tous à la maison et que nous voulons nous connecter avec nos amis de manière amusante.
Anciennement connu sous le nom de trouble de la personnalité multiple, le TDI est considéré comme un état psychologique complexe, très probablement causé par des facteurs tels que des traumatismes graves et répétitifs pendant l'enfance, qu'ils soient physiques, sexuels ou émotionnels. Le TDI se caractérise par la présence de deux ou plusieurs "identités" divisées qui prennent continuellement le contrôle du comportement de la personne. Le patient est souvent incapable de se souvenir d'informations personnelles essentielles qui ne peuvent être expliquées par un oubli.