Category: Biology

Why the 2023 Türkiye–Syria Earthquake Is Leading to a Disease Outbreak

Why the 2023 Türkiye–Syria Earthquake Is Leading to a Disease Outbreak

02/15/23

“Why is the 2023 Türkiye–Syria leading to a disease outbreak?”

Infrastructure across Southeastern Türkiye and Northwestern Syria has been pulverized by the 2023 earthquake. Water sanitation has been no exception. As clean water has been made undeliverable, survivors are finding it hard to wash themselves and stay away from diseases. In addition, the little local water people are able to find is likely not purified and full of pathogens and parasites. Pulling everything together, it’s clear Why the 2023 Türkiye–Syria Earthquake Is Leading to a Disease Outbreak.

As of writing, victims of the earthquake are continuing to face great difficulties in their daily life. To make a difference, please make a donation to organizations such as the Syrian White Helmets and the Anatolian Arts Institute Earthquake Relief Fund. My friends are also connecting donations to small municipalities and vetted organizations through the venmo account @earthquake-relief. Anything you send will go a long way.

Procuring Raw Materials for Vaccines

Procuring Raw Materials for Vaccines

12/20/21

“Why do nations have to look into procuring raw materials for vaccines?”

Vaccine manufacturing is one of the most important things a country can do to fight a pandemic. However, it will need to have the raw materials to do so, which involve a variety of trade organizations and material lookout. This is why Procuring Raw Materials for Vaccines is so important.

Why Ensuring Water Quality Will Become More Difficult With the Advent of Climate Change

Why Ensuring Water Quality Will Become More Difficult With the Advent of Climate Change

11/22/21

“Why will climate change make ensuring water quality more difficult?”

Water quality is already a difficult issue. However, climate change will add additional stressors, such as more contamination, more droughts, more water overfills, and a myriad of other issues. This is Why Ensuring Water Quality Will Become More Difficult With the Advent of Climate Change.

Climate Epidemiology

Climate Epidemiology

10/29/20

“How will studying climate change and epidemiology become linked in the future?”

Global warming is going to make the world more habitable for disease-carrying vectors such as mosquitos and rats. This population multiplication is going to lead to these creatures spreading all over the globe and more interaction between humans and these species, giving rise to new diseases and epidemics. To prevent these disasters from getting out of control, researchers are going to need to yield the power of Climate Epidemiology to research what makes all of this tick.

Biosafety Cabinets

Biosafety Cabinets

09/25/19

“How do exhaust systems for biology labs work?”

Chemical fume hoods are vital for exhausting noxious fumes from scientific labs. However, biology labs have needs that are more sensitive. Since they are dealing with live organisms, fumes from their lab spaces cannot mix with others and exhaust air will need to be more filtered. For this reason, Specially designed Biosafety Cabinets will have to be used.

Image credit http://www.labconco.com

Single-use Plastics

Single-use Plastics

09/23/19

“What exactly are single-use plastic and why are they so bad?”

Plastic is a very useful material. It’s flexible, fairly non-reactive, and strong, making it applicable for single-use grocery bags. However, the fact that Single-use Plastics are not recyclable and biodegradable means that they will end up in a land-fill and release toxic chemicals into the environment. To solve this crisis, a new generation of thinkers will have to come up with innovative policy and technical solutions. This could be anyone, from a regular Joe to someone whose name rhymes with Narina.

Fume Hoods

Fume Hoods

09/14/19

“How do scientists ensure that they are safe from chemical fumes in the lab?”

Biology and Chemistry often involve a lot of messy lab work involving chemicals, which may give off dangerous vapors. To prevent these from damaging the air quality in the lab and the health of the denizens, the fumes must be cycled away. This is commonly done through fume hoods, which sucks in air from a workbench and ventilates it to the atmosphere. Fume hoods are a vital part of the safety of every lab and have become a staple of the wet-bench research environment.

Image credit kewaunee.com

How Climate Change Will Exacerbate the Frequency of Deadly Diseases

How Climate Change Will Exacerbate the Frequency of Deadly Diseases

07/23/19

“Why will there be more diseases as a result of climate change?”

Insects and viruses thrive in warm climates and human’s immune systems suffer when under temperature stress. As the global climate heats up, more areas will become warmer. This will enable more disease vectors to breed and put stress on humans, therefore vastly increasing susceptibility to illness.. This is How Climate Change Will Exacerbate the Frequency of Deadly Diseases.

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis

03/24/19

“How can we heat organic matter into a fuel without combustion?”

When heated to a high enough temperature, organic matter will burn. However, if there is no oxygen present, then combustion cannot occur. So what happens instead? Well, the organic material will decompose into combustible gasses and charcoal, the former of which can be turned into a combustible liquid. This Pyrolysis process can be used to create carbon emission neutral fuel sources such as biochar.

Image credit http://www.ars.usda.gov