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The Pregnancy Penalty and Research Gap of Female Olympic Athletes
Written by Selma Music Edited by Raheem Sheikh The false belief that women were psychologically and physically inferior to men is what restricted female athletes from the Olympics until the first half of the 20th century. Today, women constitute nearly half of all Olympics athletes, yet the medical attention they receive and the policies in place still work against them. For years, competitive sport has been dominated by men, but women have integrated into elite competitio
What about the rats?
Written by Pooja Suganthan Edited by Anling Chen Rats are more similar to humans than we think. Rats can laugh, replay memories, and barter. They can even feel empathy and regret- so why are we so willing to subject them and other rodents, as test models for science without a second thought? For starters, according to the Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR), "Researchers study rats and mice because they are very similar to people genetically. About 95 percent of all lab
The Crossroads of Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Written by Martyna Kulecv Edited by Jacquelyn Tang Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research has been one of the most ethically and politically controversial subjects of the past four decades. Human embryonic stem cells are cells derived in vitro “from the inner cell mass of an embryo at the blastula stage” or at approximately the fifth day of the embryo’s development (Panigrahy). At this stage, the human embryo consists of 200-250 cells, most of which comprise the trophoblas
Autonomy in Medicine
Written by Cara Chang Edited by Adnan Prantoi Physicians are trained to make important decisions about their patients. As professionals, they have an ethical obligation to act in their patients' best interest and simultaneously minimize any pain or suffering for the patient. In 1914, chief justice Benjamin Cardozo wrote regarding autonomy, saying that "every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body and a surgeon w
Escaping Death
Written by Madeline Zeron Edited by Maya Khedr Elkelany Within the past three years, the world has been running on #TikTokMadeMeDoIt to #DailyMustHaves. TikTok is one of the many media outlets that has become the new and improved “News Station” for generation Z. In an age of content creators, they are either advertising the latest trends with the newest skin care products that make you look and feel 18 and offering inspiring advice on how to live a longer and peaceful life. I
Physician Reluctance to Seek Mental Health Care
Written by Maisha Uddin Edited by Selma Music Despite being healthcare advocates, physicians are often the first to neglect their well-being when it comes to mental health. Previous research shows that there tends to be a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among physicians as compared to the general public. A 2019 study conducted by the Missouri State Medical Association revealed that over 300 physicians die from suicide annually in the United States. Male physicians ha
Heartache and Literal Heartaches: The Grey’s Anatomy Effect
Written by Lily Li Edited by Joey Huang The human body is delicate. The constant innovation and application of novel technologies is certainly groundbreaking, but technology always seems to fall slightly short of completely replacing or restoring natural biological functions. Medicine is just not as advanced as most people believe (2), however far it has come. Binaries have become standards for people: enter a hospital and be cured. Though everyone has had their own experien
Revisiting Past Education Policies, Looking Out for the Future
Written by Raheem Sheikh Edited by Jacquelyn Tang Meet Alena Alena Analeigh Wicker, from Fort Worth, Texas, is not unlike most students. She studies for her college classes, sees new movies with friends, and plays soccer. Many university students may attest that balancing social and work lives is a difficult undertaking. For Wicker, this task may be more challenging as she completes two degrees in the biological sciences and interns at the National Aeronautics and Space Admin
Fighting Ailments with Custom-Made Living Organs
Written by Jonathan Gao Edited by Raheem Sheikh If you ever baked cookies or cakes, you’re familiar with the process: a simple batter is made from flour, egg yolks, milk, and sugar. If you’re a chocolate lover, you’re likely to mix chocolate chips or Nutella into the batter. If you prefer some fragrant spices, you’d probably be inclined to throw cinnamon or ginger snaps in. Or if you like things more refreshing, you may add strawberries or blueberries to the finished product.
Intergenerational Trauma - Psychosocial and Epigenetic Mechanisms of Risk
Written by: Selma Music Edited by: Anling Chen Intergenerational trauma is the effect that profound traumatic experiences have on future generations. Studied mostly through the lens of post-war refugees, the scope has recently been narrowed to focus on mothers that experienced abuse or trauma and their children. Anxiety is a major product in children of mothers with traumatic history, but surprisingly is sparsely covered in intergenerational trauma studies. The abuse mothers
The Cost of Commercial Surrogacy: Exploitation and Abuse
Written by Maisha Uddin Edited by Ishraq Nihal In 2016, Bridget was born prematurely, with multiple severe health issues, to a Ukrainian surrogate mother, along with a twin who died at birth. Despite Bridget’s survival, her American parents abandoned her, leaving her stateless with no legal ties to either the U.S. or Ukraine. Bridget’s case is not an isolated scenario. There have been, and continue to be, multiple cases where babies born via surrogacy have been abandoned by t
Cuban Cuts Costs- The Online Pharmacy Changing Medicine
Written by Pooja Suganthan Edited by Elizabeth Badalov “Shark Tank” billionaire Mark Cuban has started a low-cost online pharmacy. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC) seeks to sell common prescription medications at a discounted price. On the Cost Plus website, Cuban advertises that "Everyone should have safe, affordable medicines with transparent prices.” The home page displays generic drugs at significantly discounted rates. For example, Imatinib, the generic ver
A Life Better Lived
Written by Nishanth Araveti Edited by Pooja Suganthan “A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death” Writing in the 18th century, it was Baron De Montesquieu who argued that the tally sheet of existence boils down to a negative number– life it seemed was better left unlived than forced to endure the slog of being. By and large though, we agree that existence is a positive experience worth living despite the many hurdles of everyday life. How then, do we begin to jud
The Real Impact Being Constantly “Hangry” has on the Development of Societies
Written by Laila Gad Edited by Sanjana Ahmed “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” a phrase well ingrained in our minds after watching hundreds of Snickers commercials. But, it is true. After sitting in a three-hour lecture, the term “hangry,” referring to being “bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger,” becomes all too familiar. Essentially, you lose all sense of control: you forget how to think before you speak, you’re highly irritable, and you make rash decisions, a
Medical Mistakes
Written by Aisha Abid Edited by Faith Singh Do physicians have any ethical responsibility to inform patients regarding medical errors? Medical errors can occur inadvertently and may or may not affect the patient depending on a variety of conditions. A mistake might cause a misdiagnosis or a negative adverse effect in the patient's condition. These mistakes can occur for various reasons such as, the pressure to check a large number of patients in a short amount of time, a lac
The Potential of Pig Hearts to Save Humans
Written by Jonathan Gao Edited by Elizabeth Badalov Picture this: you lie in a small examination room as the physician performs the same old physical examination. The thin hospital gown, which never fits well anyways, is draped clumsily over you. A loosely-fit cannula hangs around your nose to help supplement oxygen; your breathing is steady, but it is heavy and shaky. All the while, you can only think about how there’s nothing more that you want to do than spend more time wi
On the Ethics of Neural Twins
Written by Nishanth Araveti Edited by Jacquelyn Tang First proposed by philosopher Derek Parfit, the Teletransporter Thought Experiment supposes the existence of a machine that, upon entering, would clone you perfectly; all memories, neurons, every atom of you perfectly replicated and subsequently replicated on Mars before incinerating the body that stepped in on Earth. Are you on Mars? Or is it a different you that stepped out on Mars? At the root of this problem is the conc
Brainwashing as a Political Weapon: The Legacy of MK Ultra
Written by Elizabeth Katanov Edited by Aisha Abid Imagine being induced in a coma for 23 days, electroshocked three times a day, and then brainwashed for 15 hours every subsequent day for months. This was the case with Project MK-ULTRA, a secret CIA endeavor executed in Montreal’s Allan Memorial Institute throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The fierce rivalry between the Soviet Union and America during the Cold War Era had both sides racing to devise the most efficient weapons. A
Subway Chase and Safety
Written by Pooja Suganthan Edited by Kelvin Wu Two weeks ago, I was chased around the Jamaica 179 Street subway station by a man with a giant bucket filled with grain. Saying it out loud sounds comical now, but at that moment, I was fearing for my life. Days after my train chase, I started to hear more and more stories about violence and harassment on the subways. Pushing riders in front of trains, rape, assault, robbery, stabbing, and murder. My heart ached for all the victi
The Right to Die
Written by Marium Ghobriel Edited by Ishraq Nihal Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, is the act of ending the life of someone who suffers from an incurable and painful condition. According to Britannica, the definition of euthanasia is the “act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from painful and incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder or allowing them to die by withholding treatment or withdrawing artificial life-support measur