By Laura Tran, C2ST Intern, Rush University

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…bird flu!

The last major avian flu (bird flu) outbreak in the United States occurred in 2014 and lasted until 2016. It circulated among wild birds during their migration and then spread to domestic poultry, which affected more than 50 million birds (mainly chickens and turkeys). It cost billions of dollars to cull infected poultry populations in order to control the spread of the virus.

While the worst of bird flu seemed to settle down, it never really went away.

Continue reading “How The Avian Flu Is Affecting Your Turkey This Thanksgiving”

By Veronica Villanueva, C2ST Intern, Rush University

People will often call the end of a pencil the “lead tip,” but there is no lead in pencils. Pencils are filled with graphite, a crystalline form of carbon. Carbon is a fascinating element. It is found in many commonplace items like paper, food, and medicine. Even we are made of carbon. Carbon is essential. It creates extremely strong bonds and is tetravalent (it has 4 spare electrons to bind other elements) making carbon a perfect building block for our world. 

Continue reading “Revolutionizing Technology With Graphene”

By Veronica Villanueva, C2ST Intern, Rush University

Systemic lupus erythematosus (commonly referred to as lupus) is an autoimmune disease that causes a person’s own immune system to attack their body. Like many autoimmune diseases, there is no cure. Consequently, most lupus treatments focus on reducing symptoms and improving patients’ quality of life. The quest for a cure is ongoing. However scientists recently found promising results in an unexpected place: cancer treatments. 

Continue reading “Using Cancer Treatments To Fight Lupus”

By Alana Liriano, C2ST Intern, Loyola University

Fast fashion is a manufacturing and marketing method used to rapidly produce high volumes of clothing with a focus on replicating trends and keeping prices inexpensive with low-quality synthetic materials. At first glance, fast fashion stores may seem appealing with their racks of cheap and trendy clothes and the newest pop music playing. Online-only fast fashion stores are also popular and may seem even more attractive by allowing you to casually scroll through hundreds of pages of clothes from your home. 

Continue reading “The Dangers Of Fast Fashion”

By Ryan Lei, C2ST Intern, Neuqua Valley High School

How does a productive, powerful, and zero-emission source of energy sound? Introducing: Nuclear power plants!

In order to understand the awesome power behind these structures, it’s important to understand the force that lets these power plants create energy: nuclear fission. Fission occurs when a nucleus (the center) of an uranium atom splits into two, which produces heat. When this splitting process occurs, each half is then able to split again. This causes a chain reaction responsible for the explosive power of a modern day nuclear weapon. However, when this chain reaction process is executed in a controlled environment, it produces massive amounts of energy that is not only extremely effective, but more importantly, very sustainable and environmentally-friendly. 

Continue reading “A Weapon Or A Source of Energy? The True Potential of Nuclear Power”

By Laura Tran, C2ST Intern, Rush University

What drives our insatiable cravings for sugary or fatty foods?

The culprit is both our gut and our brain.

Continue reading “The Gut-Brain Axis: How Sugar & Fat Impact Our Brains”