Artificial intelligence is one of the most intriguing developing fields in computer science – the desire to have computer systems which can think, learn, and function autonomously. The development of these systems starts to beg the question, however, what does it truly mean to be human. Is it intelligence? Well, computers could be considered much …
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Therapy for Alzheimer’s
Affecting an estimated 44 million people worldwide, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease and cause of dementia. Every 65 seconds someone in the USA develops Alzheimer’s, and in Singapore 1 in 10 people over the age of 60 are estimated to suffer from dementia. After decades of research, scientists are still puzzled as …
Sexually frustrated weed
Today, confiscated weed is 3 times more potent than the mid 1990s, growing smaller and faster. It comes in hundreds of strains with different kinds of flavours and highs. Humans have learnt to engineer marijuana, and this has significant implications for users. Female cannabis plants produce much larger psychoactive flowers, and consequently they are better …
Designer DNA
The debate between somatic and germline gene editing have important distinctions. Somatic cells include most of the cells in the body, such as cells of the skin, blood and brain. These cells are not passed down to offspring. Germline edits involve cells of the sperm, egg or embryo which contain DNA passed to future generations. …
On Quantum Physics (From a Guy Who Definitely Doesn’t Understand Quantum Physics)
If taking physics 203 this semester has taught me one thing, it’s that I’m really not cut out for quantum physics. Throw me relativity and nuclear physics any time, but I’d rather bang my head against an infinite potential square bloody wall than calculate another expectation value by integrating by parts 5 times in a …
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New Zealand comes third place
in adult obesity among all OECD coutries! You’re either hearing this for the first time and shocked or you are rolling your eyes because you’ve heard this several times before. When I learnt about this fact a couple of years ago, I was very surprised. However, it really isn’t that surprising in 2019. To make …
On Alien Life and Why I Really Don’t Care
First off, I’m not claiming that aliens are uninteresting, having never met an alien. I’m sure some of them are fascinating fellows that I’d love to have a good chat with some. But I do view the whole search for alien life to be a fairly ludicrous endeavour, and I’m here as someone completely unqualified …
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On the Probability of Dragon Slaying
I’ve recently gotten into Dungeons and Dragons, much to the disdain of my mother, who told me once when I was very young that it would result in me selling my soul to demons. In her defence, she was right, since I immediately made my character a warlock who made a pact for power with …
The Memory of Fish
Long has the humble fish been epitomised with having an incredibly short attention span and memory, look no further than the critically acclaimed literature of “Finding Nemo” to corroborate this. It turns out that my childhood was a lie, and so was Dory’s portrayal in the sense that she had an incredibly short term memory. …
5G – time to get out the tin foil hats?
I work in the contact centre for a telecommunications company, which means I have exclusive access to some of the most interesting conversations out there. It started to come to my attention that a decent number of people are incredibly apprehensive about the introduction of this technology, so I thought I’d take a look into …
Science Scholars 2019 