Flu season: It’s the time of year when many of us become acutely aware of anyone sniffling and sneezing nearby. We hope to avoid a brush with the virus, which can leave us feeling awful for a few days or a week or two, causing us to miss work and be unable to take care of … Continue reading Stack the Deck against the Flu
Immune System
How Your Immune System Can Make You Sick
Your immune system has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex when it comes keeping you healthy. Traditionally, the immune system is seen as a good guy that kills off viruses and eats up bacteria attacking your body. However, it can also turn against you and cause disease. To fight infection, the cells of your … Continue reading How Your Immune System Can Make You Sick
Blood Types: B Positive about How They Work
Blood transfusions are an essential and safe part of modern medicine, but it wasn’t always that way. In medieval times, transfusions often caused terrible, fatal reactions. Then in 1901, Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types and that humans had four—A, B, AB and O. Because of this discovery, we now know that the secret to a … Continue reading Blood Types: B Positive about How They Work
Stop Scratching! Why Mosquito Bites Swell and Itch
It starts with a buzz and then a nip. If you’re quick enough, the culprit mosquito becomes a squashed smear on your hand. More often, it flies off unscathed. Either way, you’re left with a red, itchy welt. What physiological processes are set off to leave us swollen and uncomfortable when mosquitos bite? It’s actually … Continue reading Stop Scratching! Why Mosquito Bites Swell and Itch
Soak Up the Rays without Soaking Them In: Be Sun Safe and Prevent Skin Damage
Tan lines and sunburns are our souvenirs of summer. Unfortunately, they’re also reminders that we’ve had too much sun and the sun has damaged our skin. How does sun exposure harm skin, and what are the physiological processes that make us tan and burn? The sun gives off a kind of radiation called ultraviolet (UV) … Continue reading Soak Up the Rays without Soaking Them In: Be Sun Safe and Prevent Skin Damage
Peanut Allergy in a Nutshell
Science has been coming through for peanut allergy sufferers lately. In February alone, researchers announced that yogurt could be a possible cure, a skin patch may be a new treatment and giving kids peanuts during their infant years could help avoid the allergy altogether. Cures for peanut and other food allergies are so sought after … Continue reading Peanut Allergy in a Nutshell