The Gattaca movie: when your valuable genes get abused
Reading Time: 7 minutes Even an optimist beyond saving like me can, at times, get the shivers from a dystopian science fiction portrayal of the potential dangers of genetics. Especially if they are realistic. These last weeks, I’ve been going through dusty ol’ films that I never had the time to watch. And last weekend, the bottle pointed at…
How long does the coronavirus last in the air? The latest you need to know
Reading Time: 7 minutes Although I’m happy that they finally let us out for an hour a day in our part of the world, I’m sick of wearing a surgical mask whenever I go out running. It’s annoyingly hard to breathe through. All because my saliva may dwell in the air long enough to expose my surroundings with the…
Why you fear science and robots | Fear of the unknown
Reading Time: 9 minutes “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” – H.P. Lovecraft (1927). The thing about fearing the unknown is that it’s a guessing game. You don’t know what scares you and why. The fear of science or scientific advances that can…
Risks of CRISPR weapons – is the danger near? The dark side of gene editing
Reading Time: 8 minutes Did you know that the US intelligence has listed gene-editing technologies like CRISPR-Cas as weapons of mass destruction threats in the Worldwide Threat Assessment? The technology that we’ve welcomed as our disease-fighting, life-saving Messiahs is also considered a weapon. Although suspecting that it would end up in such lists, this was new knowledge to me,…
How to diagnose viral infections | 2 methods, which one is best?
Reading Time: 10 minutes I was about to write another type of post for today, but people keep requesting the answer to one question above all this week. “How do we test for viral infections, and which method is the best?” To satiate your hunger for answers, in particular during these times when the world tries to battle the…
Coronavirus by age group | COVID-19 splitting generations
Reading Time: 10 minutes So much information about who’s affected by the coronavirus and COVID-19 that you ultimately feel like you know even less. Let’s divide the situation with the new coronavirus by age group and explain why we see symptomatic differences, and why everybody needs to participate in the recommended safety measures. The new coronavirus took the world…
Why keeping the cure for cancer secret is implausible and dumb
Reading Time: 7 minutes “Is it true that Big Pharma hides the cure for cancer?”, “Are conspirators keeping the cure for cancer secret?” You cannot imagine how often you get to answer these types of questions once you reveal yourself as a scientist, especially if you work with cancer. I’ve learned to see these questions coming from kilometers (miles)…
Biology vs. Trump: do we need a wall? | Liquid–liquid phase separation
Reading Time: 5 minutes In a world where walls seem to be the next big thing, science shows us this might not be the answer. It seems that our cells have a new superpower: they can control the function of specific molecules by “freezing” them, without having to confine them. This superpower is also known as liquid–liquid phase separation,…
The R0 of COVID-19: Dealing with the misconceptions
Reading Time: 7 minutes This post will try to rip apart some misconceptions around the basic reproduction number of an infection defined as R0 and, more precisely, the R0 of COVID-19, the new Coronavirus disease first identified in Wuhan, China. You’ll learn to debate my imaginary nemesis Chad who has no clue about R0 and COVID-19 but likes to…
How we deliver scientific thinking | The Ivory Embassy in 2019 and 2020
Reading Time: 4 minutes We know it’s too late to say it, but what the heck! Happy new year, fam! Lovers, haters, and in between, all of you. “Why the sudden good mood?” you ask. Because 2019 treated us well, 2020 looks promising already, and we’re now psyched to share our accomplishments of the past year and our plans…