Category Archives: Biochemistry

Medical Hypothermia: You Should Put Some Ice on That

Photo of small cooler and ice packs by Antonín Ryska.
Not exactly what I meant. Photo by Antonín Ryska.

Medical research over the past 70 years has shown how the careful chilling of patients can aid resuscitation, save lives and protect neurological function. Most recently, doctors have begun exploring how therapeutic hypothermia can improve patient outcomes in cases ranging from stroke to heart attacks, respiratory problems and injuries to the brain and spinal cord.

By staving off the destructive chain of events that begins when blood and oxygen stop flowing, this treatment also pushes back the customary timeline of brain death. As new, more radical procedures promise to push it back further still, we have to wonder …

How Therapeutic Hypothermia Works

Nightmare Fuel: 10 of the CDC’s Deadliest Stockpiles

False-color scanning electron micrograph of a flea, the carrier for several infectious diseases, including Yersinia pestis, the plague bacterium.
False-color scanning electron micrograph of a flea, the carrier for several infectious diseases, including Yersinia pestis, the plague bacterium. Image courtesy the CDC.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has to walk a fine line. Saving people from the nastiest infectious diseases and bioterror attacks requires that they study those same viruses and bacteria. But even in one of the most carefully controlled and well-equipped facilities on Earth, items are occasionally mishandled or misplaced.

What’s the worst that could happen? It’s not a rhetorical question when we take a tour of …

10 Deadly Agents the CDC Works With

The Scientist and the Sea Serpent

Monstrous tree roots break the surface of the sea, silhouetted by the sun.
Sea monster — or tree trunk? Photo by Colin Park.

Most seafaring cultures have sea monster myths or folktales. They are preserved in manuscripts, in the margins of old maps, on the walls of Hindu temples and in the rock carvings of American Indians. Tales tell of monstrous sea gods and their fearsome servants as well as other assorted briny beasts. But is there a drop of truth to any of these tall tales? And how might we find out? Join me as I explore…

How Sea Monsters Work

Just in Time for Halloween: 5 Nightmares of Nature

A preserved prickly anglerfish. Photo by Canley.
A preserved prickly anglerfish. Photo by Canley.

Impatient for Halloween? Why get your chills from midnight movies or lame costumes when the world already teems with the denizens of Mother Nature’s darkest dreams? From the tame to the tongue-devouring, these creepy creatures are guaranteed to fly, swim and burrow into you nightmares.  Dare to take my twisted tour of…

5 Animals That Look Like Monsters

Biohackers Take DIY Approach to Biological Future

Image of Neil Harbisson
Neil Harbisson, cyborg. Photo by Moon Ribas.

Not terribly long ago, do-it-yourself projects were the province of shade-tree mechanics and people who kept wood lathes in their garages. They dealt with grease and iron, wood and wiring, and left anything biological to the experts.

But today, body-modifying grinders implant jury-rigged biotech via the kitchen cutting board. Elsewhere, basement biohackers collaborate to build a better biological mousetrap, while volunteers teach basic genomics in community biotech spaces. Little by little, small pockets of enterprising people are working to make the long-promised post-human, cyborg, genomic future a reality.

How Biohacking Works