ChemiCool

Death is culturally and socially commonly deemed as an extremely unfortunate circumstance. It could leave persons with familial or cordial relationships with the deceased in chronic psychological stress, deep emotional trauma, extreme grief, sorrow, and depressing conditions. It is what we live to avoid every day. In this article, we shall see what death means clinically and how biological factors determine and set the boundaries between life and death. The biomedical definition of death Death could be portrayed as a state in which all physiological processes which sustain life are terminated irreversibly. The process of death is undoubtedly a complex one. Because not all cells die at the same time, there is difficulty in establishing a death case. This is furthermore complicated as it is somewhat possible to restore a person who has been affirmed clinically dead. General clinical features which confirm that an animal is dead include: 1. Cardiac activity is non-existent and heart pulse...

Just recently, NASA revealed that the ISS is scheduled to retire in 2031. It will be crashing down into the South Pacific ocean (far away from the nearest habitation). What has that ISS ever done for us? The International Space Station (ISS) is a spacecraft which is located in the low orbit Earth. It can be described as a manned spacecraft kept in a fixed orbit at a relatively low altitude (a space station). A space station is a type of satellite that is capable of accommodating a crew of humans or any other form of life for an ample period. Space stations orbit around planets, collecting and analysing data, and conducting investigations on the space environment.  ISS originated as a result of a multinational partnership to design a productive space station.  The Soviet Union had earlier succeeded in launching two spacecraft. The ISS was prompted when NASA had drawbacks in funding a national space station and consequently proposed a coalition with other developed countries. Ru...

The Nervous System: Viral Infections And Neuroinflammation The Central Nervous System (CNS) while being the most intricate is the most delicate system in the animal body. The brain has an incredibly extensive blood supply. The vertebral and carotid arteries and the related veins are important vessels that supply and drain blood in the brain. As the brain is a very delicate complex system that requires only essential substances, there exists a boundary that prevents the diffusion of assorted substances into the brain. These substances include pathogens, toxins and even the immune system. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, neurologists have identified multiple cases of cerebrospinal neuropathy which result from viral infection causing coagulopathy, neuromuscular, cognitive and psychiatric disorders. These conditions are also observed for several other viruses with invasive capabilities into the brain.  This article would discuss biochemical processes regulating the neural environment,...

Our Vegetables Our Drugs Episode 11 The tropics are areas located around the equator defined by warmer climates with an average temperature of about 27°C. These regions receive a substantial amount of solar radiation and rainfall compared to others.  In the tropics, there exists various biomes such as Deserts, Savannahs and Tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests are forests that consists of dense evergreen and broadleaf trees. They have a high level of rainfall and are always wet for most of the year. They could be very large (>1 million Km²) and are arguably the most important ecosystem on Earth. Examples of rainforests include the Amazon rainforests in South America (Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Bolivia,e.t.c), the Congo rainforests (Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, Zaire), Uganda, e.t.c), Indonesian rainforests (Sumatran, Borneo), Southern Asian rainforests (Thailand, Malaysia, e.t.c), and New Guinea rainforests (Papua New Guinea, ...

2021 has been an incredible year in various facets of the human society. A plethora of pathbreaking discoveries and innovations were made in various domains of science. Researchers working in different fields have made important discoveries this year ranging from understanding illnesses and developing new treatment strategies to exploring deeper into our universe. With the aid of cutting-edge tools, scientists have unravelled more complex mysteries of nature and opened up new prospects in addressing major several global challenges. In no specific order, below are 9 of the most noteworthy discoveries and events which occurred this year. 1. The restoration of sight through gene therapy   In a revolutionary development in optogenetics, scientists succeeded in restoring the sight of a 58-year-old man with blindness. The patient suffered from a congenital condition known as retinitis pigmentosa (a pathology in which the retina and photoreceptors are gradually destroyed leading to blindn...