Topic

Biology

A collection of 11 issues

Nootropics

Nootropics, aka, smart drugs, are supplements that enhance your cognitive functions like memory and creativity. Caffeine is one of the most common nootropic and it is found to increase alertness and attention. Another compound that is shown be psychoactive is L-Theanine. It is usually found in tea and has been

Genetically Engineered Products

All products that are aiming for a sizable market has to be generalized to some extent. To make it efficient to create, distribute and market the product it was essential that the product appealed to the masses. Having minimum variability was key to optimise the business as a whole. Take

Robots that can feel

Our skin has many types of neurons that allow us to feel upon touch. They are receptors of different kinds that are triggered by different stimuli but activate the same way upon triggering. Thermoreceptors trigger on change in temperature. Nociceptors trigger on pain. Mechanoreceptors trigger on mechanical stress. These receptors

Bone Conduction Earphones

Ludwig van Beethoven is rumored to have invented this technology. The famous composer who was also deaf used to press one end of the rod on a piano while having the other end of the rod in his mouth. This would transmit the vibrations allowing him to hear. Rumor or

Thousand Brains Theory

Grid cells are special types of neurons that help us perceive position in a larger context. For example, to understand our position in the room we are sitting in. The cells themselves are arranged in a manner of a grid and fire based on our position. An array of such

Gene Editing

The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in a cell nuclei. The complete set of human genome contains about 3 billion base pairs, amounting up to 750 megabytes of data. Some of the genes are protein coding genes.

Protein Folding

Protein exists as a polypeptide chain consisting of amino acids linked by a peptide bond. These chains can be in random shapes. But what makes them biologically functional is the shape it takes up when they are acted upon by a ribosome. Ribosomes are found in all living cells and

Cambrian Explosion

The cambrian explosion was an evolutionary event that occurred around 541 m.y.a. (read as million years ago) where most of the animal phyla started appearing in fossil records. A phylum is a level of classification in biology that is one level below the kingdom. Almost all present animal

How a Pulse Oximeter works

A pulse oximeter is used to measure the oxygen level in your blood using a non-invasive way. Haemoglobin are cells in the blood that carry oxygen. Hence they can occur in 2 states, either they are oxygenated or deoxygenated. Principles involved Amount of light absorbed in directly proportional to the

Brain Simulation

Brain simulation deals with creating a computer model of the brain. Such models can help in understanding diseases and reduce the need for animal experiments. The challenges in brain simulation are: Scale : The human brain contains about 86 billion neurons each with about 7000 connections. This pushes even the largest