As climate change escalates, preventative measures to reduce global warming are almost futile without a uniform attempt by civilization. Damage control is likely the future of sustainability and fungi may be an effective way to help in the restoration of forests after a wildfire. Below the typical fruiting body or mushroom we see on the […]
Fungi’s role in fighting the climate crisis Read More »
Inconspicuously, house keys and the location of home dissipates from memory. Progressing further along, even the familiar faces of loved ones fade out of recollection. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. This neurodegenerative disorder primarily affects the cognitive functioning responsible for retrieving, storing,
Exposure to air pollution, even at low levels, increases risk of Alzheimer’s Read More »
In the video game and HBO hit series “The Last of Us,” an outbreak of mutated parasitic fungi devastates humanity and the modern world — a threat based on a very real organism. Ophiocordyceps, also known as “Cordyceps,” is a genus of fungi that grows on the larvae of insects, infecting the host and controlling
The word “mummy” often conjures images of King Tut, the Pyramids, and Indiana Jones’s excursions into royal tombs. Lying within the polished stone sarcophagus, the mummy’s body is perfectly preserved, as if frozen in time. The skin, now leathery and dry beneath the bandages, stretches over bones that hint at a once-regal face. While mummification
Beneath the bandages: A fresh look into mummification Read More »
Trees are the underrated superheroes of planet Earth. They sustain human life by mediating droughts, capturing rainwater, increasing healthy soil, conserving energy, providing food, preventing water pollution, and creating and cleaning the air we breathe. Trees serve as essential caretakers for humans and the environments we inhabit. Moreover, trees heal. They have been shown to
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the United States generated 67 million tons of air pollution in 2021. Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, the amount of air pollutants (nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur dioxide, to name a few) in the Earth’s atmosphere skyrocketed. With the increasing toxicity present in the
Yet another reason to avoid traffic Read More »
If your name is Kevin McCarthy, your 2023 began with utter humiliation. McCarthy endured a brutal 15 rounds of votes to attain the title of speaker of the House — the longest battle for the speakership since 1859. This was the product of a small faction of extremist Republican House members of the Freedom Caucus
Opinion: Kevin McCarthy and humiliation politics Read More »
In 1997, the NASA Hubble telescope discovered that there existed stars without a tie to a specific galaxy, a finding that shook the scientific community. These stars were located in the region of the Virgo supercluster, an area of space containing around 2,000 galaxies. They were around 300,000 lightyears away from the nearest galaxy and
Rogue stars: Ejected stars permanently roam space in between galaxies Read More »
Off the coast of mainland Australia, the small, sun-baked island of Tasmania houses nature’s most feral creature. With a piercing shriek, lingering stench, and penetrating eyes, the Tasmanian devil reigns as the largest carnivorous marsupial in wildlife. Its ever-growing teeth sink into bones and feast on the bloody, meaty flesh of its latest catch. As
Catching cancer: Biology’s devil Read More »