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Science and Society

Past and Present Uses of Toxic Medicinal Plants: The World Tour

Historically, poisonous plants have been used for medicine, decoration, and religious rituals, and even as a source of immortality around the globe. Recently, there has been a push to turn to more plant-based medicine in the hopes of decreasing drug side effects while still maintaining their effectiveness. Get ready for a journey through the past and present medicinal uses of some of the world’s most dangerous plants.

Amoebiasis, amoebic dysentery, amebiasis, or entamoebiasis: different words for the same disease

Amoebiasis is one of the leading causes of death from parasitic disease worldwide, but it is rarely heard about in the United States. The disease is caused by a protist, specifically an amoebozoa named Entamoeba histolytica. Infection by this parasite is most common in underdeveloped countries and invades hosts by the fecal-oral route, secreting enzymes and using its pseudopods to tear apart human cells in the gastrointestinal tract. In some cases, they can penetrate the gut lining and migrate through the bloodstream to other vital organs. This can lead to bloody diarrhea, as well as abscesses in the liver, lungs, or brain, which may ultimately result in death.

Vocal Communication in the Domestic Dog

Companion animal species have multiple forms of communication, including tactile, visual, olfactory, and auditory signals. This paper will focus on vocal communication in canines, comparing the behaviors of wolves to that of dogs. As a result of domestication, most dog species show marked differences compared to the ancestral wolf in vocalization range, frequency, and function ...

What do scaling laws tell us about the biochemistry of life beyond Earth?

Humanity has always been intrigued with the possibility of life existing elsewhere in the universe. In 1977, NASA attached the Golden Record, a detailed account of humanity and Earth, onto the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes [1]. They intended for the records to be a way to share human knowledge with intelligent life forms that may stumble upon the space probes in interstellar ...

The psychedelic renaissance: a review on microdosing, the routine use of low-dose psychedelics as a therapeutic

Psychedelic drugs are far from what is considered to be conventional medicine. An infamous history of misuse has stigmatized psychedelics, making it difficult to garner support for its use as a potential therapeutic tool. However, among working adults, taking low doses of psychedelics has recently gained popularity in its ability to boost productivity, reduce anxiety and depression ...

The Pursuit of a SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine: Lessons in Public Trust of Medical Institutions

As of November 2020, approximately 63% of Americans say they would not be willing to immediately receive a COVID-19 vaccine—even if the vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and free of cost [1]. Public willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine has rebounded since its all time low of 50% in September of 2020. The fluctuation in willingness to be vaccinated ...

The History and Politics of Marijuana in the United States

Marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is defined as “a greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers of Cannabis sativa” and all other relatives, including Cannabis indica, Cannabis ruderalis, and hybrids [1]. The mind-altering effects of marijuana are mainly due to the chemical delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC, and it is the active ingredient ...