Crystals And Catalysts

Sometimes, a drug that works for one condition can also have benefits for another one because the human body has many intricate mechanisms and processes—for example, Science’s 2023 breakthrough of the year - GLP-1 agonists. When researchers develop a drug, they focus on a specific target, like managing blood sugar in diabetes. But sometimes, these drugs can work on other targets, too. Semaglutide (a GLP-1 agonist), for example, not only boosts insulin production but also reduces appetite and slows digestion, leading to weight loss with some ‘manageable’ side effects. This unexpected benefit opened the door for its approval in obesity treatment. After realising this breakthrough, doctors started prescribing Semaglutide off-label as a weight loss medication. This unexpected benefit opened the door for its approval in obesity treatment. Off-label prescribing: why? Even for approved uses, not every drug works for every patient. Doctors, with their clinical expertise, can sometimes prescrib

As most of you know, one of my goals is to become a published science writer... and part of that is becoming a reality! With my first magazine article that has been published in Kinesis Magazine (a student-led magazine in UCL ). “More Research is Needed” and Other Clichés My article is an analysis of the use of the phrase "more research is needed" and other paraphrases, where we look at the implications of the phrase and how the 'public' receives that phrase, especially when it is coming from a scientist -- who is expected to know all the answers and have conclusive results... Have a read through my first article and let me know what you think in the comments!

“This blog post is a part of Design Blogger Competition organized by CGTrader” Art and science, although they seem like two separate entities, are linked together with a special bond that connects them together (pun intended). Designers and scientists complete each other’s work, for example, scientists need to collaborate with designers because they need their skills to help them visualise data and enticing methods of communicating science. Therefore, each entity completes the other. During my experience in the medical communications field, a design was an essential part of our final products. Accompanying the medical writers, designers and artists collaborated with our scientific team to create elaborate sci-art which complements the PowerPoint slides or the infographic or a video-visual of a reaction or a function in the body. One of the best visuals I have seen was an elaborate PowerPoint slide showing the connection between diabetes and its effect on cardiovascular d

Can you imagine a world without politics? Would the world be a better place without politics?  Or would humans invent politics anyway, if it didn't exist?  Knowledge is power... I try to stay away from politics as much as possible because it's a definite prescription for stress and fluctuating blood pressure. But when it coincides with your life and career, you can't ignore it. Especially when science collides with politics. Both divisions are not exclusive, they both affect the economy, education and healthcare.  During my search through the internet on the connection between science and politics, I found a quote from an article that summarises the link in one simple sentence: "Science is the pursuit of knowledge, knowledge is power, and power is politics" [10] Politicians play a big role in the funding of scientific research and how big a budget is set up for each specific research area. But it's not always about restrict

It’s a time of uncertainty. Ever since the vote for Brexit happened science in the UK has been affected and that’s certainly no secret.  Although Britain is not completely out of the European Union yet, there are a few disturbances which have started to show ever since the results were released. The main consequence was the “burning of the bridges” - the relationship between the UK and the EU has been severed so that scientists in the EU do not feel welcome to collaborating with scientists in the UK. Brexit has even affected the quantity of international students who applied to study in higher education in the U.K this year, with many international students pulling out their places from UK universities after the Brexit vote, leaving many gaps unfilled.  This shouldn’t be a time where collaborating over research becomes a difficult task says Martin Rees in Nature’s micro article. Convinced that independent research councils work better than governmental agencies; he also recomme

Today’s post isn’t going to be a “pro-veganism” rant or anything like that. I’m aiming to provide a balanced overview on meat-eating. This post is going to be looking at meats, their pro’s and con’s and the recent research spreading around them and also veganism and I’ll leave the decision to which option could potentially be the best for your health, to you, the reader. Pros. Meat is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals, including iron , zinc and B vitamins . It is also one of the main sources of vitamin B12. It’s recommended that we try to eat lean cuts of meat and skinless poultry whenever possible to cut down on fat and also always cook meat thoroughly. Proteins are complex substances, made up of chains of amino acids. Amino acids are building blocks that combine in different formations to make up the proteins in your body. There are 20 amino acids in total – your body can create some of these itself, but there are nine essential amino acids that you can only