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Oliver Vij
@ovij
58
Cambridge Medical Student providing succinct and easy to follow summaries of current scientific events
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Created
2017-07-08 16:00
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ovij
science
2017-12-23 19:49
Why do we get allergies?
Many of us will get allergic reactions in our lifetimes. They can range from a minor irritancy, such as hayfever, to potentially life-threatening conditions, such as anaphylaxis brought on from a nut allergy.
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ovij
science
2017-12-18 21:40
Rhesus disease – When a mother’s immune system attacks her child
Surely a mother’s immune system cannot attack her own, unborn child. A child is part of its mother, it shares her nutrients, her blood supply, her oxygen. How could it be possible? figure 1. Pregnancy
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ovij
science
2017-12-15 19:04
What are autoimmune diseases? Why do we get them?
What is autoimmunity? The immune system is designed to identify and attack foreign organisms within the body that cause disease (pathogens). However, sometimes the recognition process becomes confused,
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ovij
science
2017-10-01 16:10
Creating instant ice – What is supercooled water?
Supercooling is the process of chilling a liquid below its freezing point, without it becoming solid. figure 1. Ice cubes In the experiment I conducted (shown below), I placed the water in a freezer for
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ovij
science
2017-09-26 17:16
How would you measure the volume of all the blood in your body?
How would you go about trying to measure the total volume of blood in the human body? There is one simple solution to this question. Slash open someone at a major blood vessel and drain the blood into
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ovij
science
2017-09-23 16:26
How do enzymes catalyse biological reactions?
Many of the reactions that occur in the body would happen at remarkably low rates under physiological conditions. In chemistry, a catalyst is used to increase the rate of a given reaction. This is exactly
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ovij
science
2017-09-20 17:08
The fat that makes you thin – What is brown fat?
When most people think of fat, they will probably picture a tyre of flab lingering around the midriff (or something of the sort), much like the image below. This is known as white adipose tissue, the main
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ovij
science
2017-09-19 15:28
How do cells generate energy?
Everyone knows that oxygen is required to live. But, why is that the case? What is it about oxygen that is essential for life? To be able to harness the of energy from nutrients is essential for all life.
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ovij
science
2017-09-14 18:09
Why can’t you hold your breath until you die?
Hold your breath for as long as you can. Breath holding kid How long did you last? No more than a few minutes, I would guess. If you try and hold your breath, eventually it becomes impossible. No amount
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ovij
science
2017-09-12 15:21
Malignant hyperthermia – An introduction to the pathophysiology
Many of you will have heard of hypothermia, a life-threatening decrease in body temperature. While hyperthermia is the opposite, a dangerous increase in body temperature. However, there are various other
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ovij
science
2017-09-11 19:27
How do muscles contract?
Contraction in the simplest sense is shortening of a muscle fibre. When muscles receive stimulation from the nervous system, the required fibres simultaneously shorten to produce a contraction of the overall
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ovij
science
2017-09-08 14:07
Is 99% of our DNA junk?
“Did you know 98.8% of human DNA is just junk?” “What do you mean, junk?” “It doesn’t code for proteins or contains genes. It just does nothing, has no function, that makes it junk, right?” “Just because
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ovij
science
2017-09-05 19:44
How does protein synthesis occur?
Proteins are by far the most important macromolecule within the body. What? Proteins are just muscles, aren’t they? Yes and no. All muscles are made up of proteins, but, by no means are all proteins muscles.
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ovij
science
2017-09-01 16:41
How is DNA replicated?
Each time a new cell divides, the entire genome must be replicated in an error free manor in order to prevent cancer from arising. With around 3.2 billion base pairs in the human genome, this is no easy
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ovij
science
2017-08-30 13:51
How is information transmitted in the nervous system?
An action potential is the only means by which a signal can be transmitted along a nerve cell. It is therefore down to these action potentials to communicate not only various stimuli but also their relative
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ovij
science
2017-08-28 19:43
How does your heart beat?
A human heart will beat around 3 billion times in an average lifetime. The heart works continuously from birth till death, unlike many other muscles which require regular rest to prevent fatigue. Curiously,
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ovij
science
2017-08-25 14:08
How do nerves carry electrical impulses so fast?
Nerve impulses can travel at up to 119m/s. To put that into perspective, it is faster than a Bugatti Veyron travelling at its full speed (254mph). How is this possible? It comes down to the distance that
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ovij
science
2017-08-22 14:32
How do nerves conduct electrical impulses?
Nerves are just like wires aren’t they? Electrical impulses move through neurones just like electricity flows through a wire, right? No! Absolutely not. Nerves are commonly described as wires as an analogy
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ovij
science
2017-08-19 15:06
How is DNA amplified?
When collecting a sample of DNA there is often a very small amount to play with. This can be very problematic for many biochemists for two main reasons. Firstly if you are carrying out an experiment on
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ovij
science
2017-08-18 16:21
MystiFACT-or-FICTION response #2 – Could there be life on Pluto?
Figure 1. Pluto To harbour life, even in the simplest of forms, there are three main requirements that must be fulfilled. These are: Liquid water A source of energy for the living organism to use Biogenic
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