Dr. Phyllis Zee, Chief of the Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Hospital, warned the audience at Horner Park on Wednesday, August 15, that we cheat sleep at our peril. Dr. Zee’s excellent presentation was the first instance of C2ST’s collaboration with the Chicago Park District in the “Science in the Parks” series. Watch the video here.
Dr. Zee explained that three scientists recently shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in the early 1980’s identifying the genes and protein molecules that drive our twenty-four-hour biological clocks, often referred to as our “circadian rhythm.” Every cell in our bodies has the clock mechanism, and all these clocks are coordinated by the master clock in our brains. The mechanism interacts with light and dark. It keeps us awake and productive (usually) during the day and early evening, and puts us to sleep at night to rejuvenate our systems for another day.
This is the repository for all things C2ST. You can learn with videos of our past events, read articles concerning cutting-edge research and development in Chicago and elsewhere that will change our lives (generally one new article posted each week), check out C2ST in the news, and more! Use the Filter Media options below to browse C2ST’s content and discover something new!
Earlier this month, Dr. Kristina Martinez gave a wonderful talk as part of our C2ST Speakeasy series on the bacteria that live in our gut and how they might affect us. I caught up with her afterwards for some follow-up questions.
By Julia Turan
You just received news that your best friend has a “chronic relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences” (1). Would it surprise you that this is just a lengthy definition for addiction?
Continue reading “Synopsis of “The Neuroscience of Addiction””
By Julia Turan
As we go about our days, it’s easy to forget the cells, molecules, and organs silently ticking, keeping us alive and hopefully well. One of the most intricate of these biological teams is our immune system.
Continue reading “Synopsis of “Genes and Germs: The Battle that Defines Us.””
By Julia Turan
Around the turn of the 20th century, the world witnessed the birth of what they thought was an almighty cure: the antibiotic. “We became convinced overnight that nothing was beyond reach for the future. Medicine was off and running,” wrote Lewis Thomas, a physician and essayist, in his autobiography.
By Julia Turan
Last month, at the usual classy, mood-lighted Geek Bar, Jessica B. Turner, plant researcher and enthusiast reminded listeners not to forget about the plant kingdom. These photosynthesizing organisms are essential to our lives and our planet.
Continue reading “Synopsis of “Plants: how we use ’em, and how we don’t lose ’em””
By Dr. Mark Oreglia
On Easter Sunday beam began to circulate again in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The world’s highest energy particle accelerator resumed operation after a two year shutdown to modify its magnets so it can collide protons at twice the former energy. At half the energy, LHC “Run 1” discovered the Higgs boson; now scientists are excited to have a more powerful instrument to learn more about the Higgs boson and possibly see evidence of the Dark Matter in the universe (if it is due to a particle that can be produced in LHC proton collisions, of course). Continue reading “Large Hadron Collider is back in action!”
