The Life Science (LS) Series offers events that showcase advances in biology. Topics include how organisms change through time and interact with their environment, animal behavior, the brain, genetics, and technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology.
Previous LS events have covered gene patenting, the BRAIN Initiative, chimpanzee behavior, dinosaurs, aquatic life, and antibiotic discovery, among other topics.
Distinguished speakers have included Neil Shubin, Ph.D., Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, and host of “Your Inner Fish” on PBS; John Maunsell, Ph.D., Alfred D Lasker Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago and the Director of the Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior; and Katherine A. Barsness, M.D. M.S., Director of Surgical Simulation, Director of Surgical Outcomes Research Attending Physician, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Assistant Professor of Surgery Director of Outreach, Center for Education in Medicine, Department of Medical Education Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Abstract:
There are many serious threats facing our oceans today. Oceans’ Health: An Ecosystem on the Brink will explore two of these merging issues. First, ocean acidification: over the last decade scientists have shown that human-caused increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are affecting the chemistry of our oceans, altering the main food web and proving harmful for many forms of marine life. Continue reading “Oceans’ Health: An Ecosystem on the Brink”
Abstract:
A patent case entitled The Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. was recently decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the appellate court responsible for hearing all patent appeals. Continue reading “Gene Patenting: The Economic, Legal and Health Dilemma”
For years, humans have wondered what it would be like to get inside the mind of another species, to understand how they thought, felt and saw the world around them. Until recently our understanding of the minds of other species that share this planet was little more than guess work; however, new technological and scientific methods have advanced to the point where some of these important questions are now able to be addressed. Continue reading “The Mind of a Chimpanzee”
In 1998 a British gastroenterologist published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized the story and, in the process, helped launch one of the fastest-spreading health scares ever—linking childhood vaccines and autism. Continue reading “Panic Virus”
Lately, it seems not a month goes by without the news of another groundbreaking or life extending drug being released to market. From blood pressure to osteoporosis and everything in between, medicines are being approved and stocked at your local pharmacy. But why does it take so long to get that new drug to the corner Walgreens? Continue reading “Drug Discovery: Ingenuity or Serendipity?”
More than 30,000 personnel and nearly 45,00 response vessels have been dispatched to aid in the clean up of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. One question still looms, “What are the long term effects on the environment from the spill?”
