Author: Nikkita Toudert // Editor: Caitlin Lewis This post is part of a series of work experience projects with T-Level students from The Manchester College. At Research Hive, we have been thrilled to work with young people to produce their first written pieces. The complete metamorphosis that caterpillars undergo to turn into butterflies is, in … Continue reading The Science of Butterfly Metamorphosis
Author: Aksam Ssebugwawo // Editor: Erin Pallott This post is part of a series of work experience projects with T-Level students from The Manchester College. At Research Hive, we have been thrilled to work with young people to produce their first written pieces. Did you have measles in your childhood? Measles is one of my … Continue reading Measles: The Long and Short-Term Effects
Author: Nina Wycech // Editor: Nithya Eswaran I take my coffee black, my whisky neat – Hozier and I have that in common. Not everyone would agree with us, for some, this is madness. Why can’t some people handle the bitter taste of coffee, whisky or tonic water? The sensitivity to bitter flavour is genetically … Continue reading Why So Bitter? The Science of Why People Love or Hate Coffee
Author: Nina Wycech // Editors: Neve Diggle and Emily Barrett Even if you are not studying science, you have likely heard about genetic predispositions. We intuitively assume that we’re more likely to experience a disease that our ancestors had. Although not always true, many conditions run through generations, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention … Continue reading Polygenic risk scores: calculating the likelihood of complex diseases
Author: Emily Barrett // Editors: Federica Spaggiari and Sophie Alshukri What does the word ‘radiation’ make you think of? In physics, the definition is broad: Any kind of emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or moving particles, including the light we use to see. But for many people, ‘radiation’ is synonymous with ionising radiation, with … Continue reading Proton Therapy: Precise Cancer Treatment at What Cost?
Author: Dalia Aziz // Editor: Nithya Eswaran You have likely come across the term “endocrine disruptor”, particularly on social media, which got me wondering - what is an endocrine disruptor? How do they work, and are they truly as harmful as people say? According to the Endocrine Society, there are nearly 85,000 synthetic chemicals in the … Continue reading What’s Hiding in Your Cosmetics Bag? A Closer Look at Parabens as Endocrine Disruptors
Author: Nina Wycech // Editor: Erin Pallott The time has come for me to start my Master’s project in Bioinformatics, and to do so, I need a big dataset ready to analyse. But how do I get it in time, and most importantly, without collecting it myself in the clinic? Thankfully, there is a shared … Continue reading Have you heard about UK Biobank?
Author: Erin Pallott // Editors: Nithya Eswaran & Vicky McIntyre I enjoy browsing social media under hashtags relating to my research fields. There are so many talented and dedicated scientists making science publicly accessible. However, tags like #parasite are being bombarded with something else entirely. Millions of posts across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are … Continue reading Selling the Disease to Sell the Cure: Parasite Cleanses of Social Media
Author: Rashmi Danwaththa Liyanage // Editor: Erin Pallott A Mother's Journey I woke up in the gloom and I could see some black and white pigeons huddled together on a neighbour’s roof embracing the warmth and serenity, a sheer contrast to my inner disarray. Just days after the Southport tragedy, and riots occurred a few … Continue reading Between Two Worlds: Understanding if discrimination and social identity causes psychosis among ethnic minorities in the UK
Author: Nina Wycech // Editor: Luke Marshall How long did you sleep yesterday? Have you pulled an all-nighter or sacrificed sleep to study longer? As a neuroscientist interested in sleep, your answer might scare me. But at the same time, I know that the choice to sleep or to study is more complicated. It’s difficult … Continue reading Don’t forget to sleep: The key to exam success
