Science

Science

Bite-Size Science: Citation gap for female scientists in physics highlights need for visible representation

By Michaela Loughran | November 1

Maybe you’ve heard about the lack of female representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines or the gender pay gap that still lingers in many STEM fields today. However, a gender equity issue in STEM that gets talked about a lot less frequently is a phenomenon known as the citation gap. 

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Science

Noble Thinkers: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to three scientists

By Margaret Radke | October 26

This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three pioneering scientists for their work in a remarkable new area of research. The award was given to Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless. Bertozzi is the first openly gay woman to win a Nobel prize, and this is Sharpless’ second Nobel prize, which makes him one of five people to have won twice.

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Science

When baseball meets mathematics: Ruth-Aaron numbers

By Anushka Singh | October 20

If you’re passionate about baseball and are familiar with the history of the sport, you may be familiar with the player Babe Ruth and his record of 714 home runs set in 1934. This record stood strong until Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in 1974 — a historic day for baseball and an inquisitive day for mathematicians.

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Science

Dirt, bacteria and NYT crosswords: Tammy Tran’s search for the next antibiotic

By Tammy Tran | October 17

I stared blankly at my phone as I read an incoming message, “Sorry, I forgot the dirt.” I was devastated. I really needed that bag of dirt. I had asked my friend to pack me a bag of soil when he was away in New Jersey for the weekend. Inside that bag would have been an assortment of bacteria, too numerous to count, fighting with each other for space and resources. 

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Science

Silk protein modified to repel water in study that may guide construction of future medical devices

By Yanqing Huang | October 12

What do a non-stick pan, a raincoat and a medical stent have in common? They all have water-repelling properties that resist water uptake or degradation by hydrolysis. Hydrophobicity, the capacity to not interact with water, is important as we are consistently in contact with water in the external environment and inside our cells.

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Science

Bite-Size Science: Harvard Medical School tests for bionic pancreas, device to treat Type 1 diabetes

By Tvisha Goel | October 12

Harvard Medical school recently conducted an extensive trial of the bionic pancreas, a device that uses cutting-edge technology to automatically deliver insulin to the human body.

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Science

Bite-Size Science: Adderall shortage propelled by increase in ADHD diagnoses, supply chain issues

By Cindy Zhang | October 7

Adderall, the drug used to treat the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder in American children, is currently in short supply. Pharmaceutical companies are reporting that they are unable to supply Adderall, which is used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

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Science

Bite-Size Science: Flu season expected to be more severe than previous winters, experts say

By Sarah Sandlow | October 5

Lower temperatures and changing leaves signal the coming of fall, a season of apple picking, pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween movies. The colder months also bring with them an unwelcome guest: influenza season. This year’s flu season is expected to be worse than past winters according to forecasts based on patterns in Australia and New Zealand. Experts look toward countries in the southern hemisphere to predict the upcoming season because winter runs from April to October. According to government surveillance reports, Australia had its worst flu season in five years this year, with an early onset and a peak that was three times higher than average. Public health experts are worried that, along with a COVID-19 peak predicted in early December, two circulating respiratory viruses will be problematic for an already weakened hospital system and are emphasizing that people take the flu season seriously. 

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Science

Ongoing climate crises calls for collaboration, interdisciplinary approach to solutions

By Chris Tomo | September 29

It doesn’t take much digging nowadays to find a startling new headline — “Overlapping pandemics: Monkeypox intensifies as COVID-19 continues to thrive,” one might read. While such public health emergencies and other tense political debates occupy much of the news cycle, it also seems that there is increased reporting on extreme weather events. Puerto Rico’s entire power grid was wiped out by Hurricane Fiona last week after several years of infrastructure improvements that followed Hurricane Maria in 2016. Just yesterday, Hurricane Ian became one of the most powerful storms to strike the US as it neared the Category 5 threshold. And for weeks now, nearly a third of Pakistan’s population has been underwater due to extreme flooding that closed out the summer. Tufts students are inundated with very real and diverse stories of how the climate crisis affects the daily lives of global populations, but how can we consolidate solutions that target the various issues at hand?

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Science

Bite-Size Science: Boston Children's Hospital develops COVID-19 neutralizing antibody in mice

By Mariel Priven | September 28

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have developed an antibody capable of neutralizing all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in pre-clinical assessments, according to an August pre-print. The study published within Science Immunology, presents a potential solution to future variants of concern, as this is the first effective antibody that neutralizes all major variants through the recent Omicron BA.5 variant.

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Science

Bite-Size Science: A pandemic of the animal kingdom? Bird flu outbreak spreads to marine mammal populations

By Emilia Nathan | September 22

While humans worry about the impending threats of COVID-19 and monkeypox, seals in the northeastern United States might have a different virus to worry about: bird flu. The marine mammals have come down this summer with a new strain of H5N1, which is believed to have spilled over to them from birds. 

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Science

Lab-grown fat pushes cultivated meat one step closer to practicality

By Avery Hanna | September 20

Would Gordon Ramsay approve of lab-grown meat? With the Kaplan Lab’s work in replicating the flavors and textures of traditional meat from a small biopsy of animal cells, maybe one day he will. The most recent series of developments in the lab have contributed a method to mass produce cell-cultured fat — fat grown in a lab from just a few animal cells. 

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Science

Meet the new meat: Kaplan Lab cell agriculture research propelled by USDA funding

By Avery Hanna | May 22

Faint bubbles twist their way to the top of an inconspicuous green container about the size of a hand. Among the miscellaneous bottles and boxes on the countertop, you wouldn’t give the box — called an SDS-PAGE — a second glance, and you certainly wouldn’t guess what it was up to. In reality, this device is not a more boring version of a lava lamp, but a part of a larger effort at Tufts and beyond to redefine the food industry.

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Science

The Daily's COVID-19 dashboard

By Flora Meng and Alex Viveros | May 2

Last updated: 5/3/2022 at 11:22 a.m. (EST)

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Science

Bite-Size Science: Guilty verdict for former nurse RaDonda Vaught raises questions about the future of truth-telling in medicine

By Emilia Nathan | April 25

A nurse was found guilty of gross neglect and negligent homicide last month in a high-profile medical error case that some health care professionals argue could set a bleak precedent for mistakes in medicine.

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Science

Bite-Size Science: Largest microbe ever discovered, study links animal delicacies at wet markets to 102 viruses

By Maiah Islam | March 16

Largest microbe ever discovered could explain the link between prokaryotes and eukaryotes

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Science

University officials ‘very strongly encourage’ students to receive COVID-19 boosters

By Alex Viveros | December 13

COVID-19 vaccine boosters will be strongly recommended — but not yet required — for students across Tufts’ campuses, university officials told the Daily last week. Testing frequency and pandemic protocols are also currently expected to remain unchanged going into the Spring semester.

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Science

Tufts researchers create membrane that filters fluoride out of water

By Elizabeth Foster | December 13

Throughout her career, Ayse Asatekin, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Tufts University, has sought to use filters to prevent illness and protect the environment. One mineral that performs this function is fluoride, which results in dental and skeletal fluorosis. Fluorosis is a degradation of bones or teeth that happens when fluoride is consumed in excess quantities at a young age. Now, Asatekin has finally found a solution to filtering fluoride out of water.

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Science

This Week in Science: Omicron may spread like common cold, J&J could boost Pfizer vaccine, Hawaii blizzard

By Sophie Wax and Ian Lau | December 9

The omicron variant, the newest COVID-19 strain, may be more contagious but cause milder symptoms than other coronavirus variants, a new study suggests. Venky Soundararajan, a bioengineer who co-wrote the study, explained to the Washington Post that as viruses evolve to become more widespread, symptoms generally become less severe. Still, researchers caution that more information is needed about the novel variant.

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Science

What’s different about COVID-19 transmission rates on college campuses? Experts weigh in.

By Sarah Sandlow | December 6

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact communities around the United States and the world, certain trends have emerged surrounding infection rates and their link with prevention measures including surveillance testing, masking and vaccine mandates. Experts agree that, especially on college campuses, these measures are essential in curbing the spread of COVID-19. 

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