• Unraveling the Intriguing Bond: How AI Interacts with Human Emotional Intelligence

    By Roberta Attanasio Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing at warp speed, leaving unexpected marks on many facets of our lives. It’s the dynamic force propelling innovation and revolutionizing entire industries. Amidst this technological phenomenon dwells the interplay of AI with human emotional intelligence—where the boundaries between humanity and machines may eventually blur. In other words, we’re witnessing the incremental weaving…

  • Microscopes

    Towards a Greener Future: Promoting Sustainability in Laboratory Practices

    Clinical and life science research laboratories are responsible for a massive environmental footprint due to, among other factors, wasteful practices, use of hazardous chemicals, and reliance on energy-intensive equipment. In the United States, health-care buildings account for 9% of total primary energy consumption for all commercial structures. A typical life science laboratory uses more than three times as much electricity…

  • Tattoos: Unlikely but Plausible Friends of the Immune System

    “Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years. These permanent designs—sometimes plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment.” Until a few decades ago, the earliest known tattoos were those found on several Egyptian female mummies dated to 2000 B.C. However, the…

  • The unexpected gift of a strong immune system: we’re more attractive

    By Roberta Attanasio Why are we attracted to one face over another? What makes a face attractive and another one less attractive? “Research finds that features such as clear skin, prominent cheekbones, bright eyes, and full, red lips have been deemed attractive throughout recorded human history Research also finds a consistent preference for symmetrical and average faces. Although some argue…

  • How COVID-19 sets off ravaging inflammation in some people

    By Roberta Attanasio Back in March 2020, Jane Brody wrote in The New York Times “While most people focus, as they should, on social distancing, face coverings, hand washing and even self-isolation to protect against the deadly coronavirus now ravaging the country, too few are paying serious attention to two other factors critically important to the risk of developing a…

  • Night light

    Why you should sleep with lights off during the night

    By Roberta Attanasio In cities and towns all around the world, the nighttime glow of artificial light obscures views of the cosmos and contributes to an environmental problem called “light pollution.” Light pollution can also be present at smaller scale, for example in neighborhoods, or in homes. Often, this problem is caused by superfluous light. Solutions such as covering streetlights…

  • Breastfeeding regulates the immune system and improves babies’ health

    By Roberta Attanasio “As long as there have been babies, there have been breastfeeding mothers, providing infants with basic, essential nutrition. But for a surprisingly long time, there have also been baby bottles, used to feed infants when mothers couldn’t. ‘We talk about the golden age where everybody breastfed, and that age never happened,’ says Suzanne Barston, author of Bottled…

  • Salad

    George Bernard Shaw and the dreaded salad—being a vegetarian, then and now

    By Roberta Attanasio The ingenious playwright George Bernard Shaw was awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty.” He was a fervent vegetarian, and the same traits that characterized his work can be found in his staunch defense of…

  • Pythagoras by J. Augustus Knapp

    Pythagoras, the first campaigner for ethical vegetarianism

    By Roberta Attanasio An article published almost 120 years ago in the New York Times (1907) focused on several questions delving on “what and how a normal person should eat.” The article detailed the resulting debate, which included the voices of many scientists. One of the discussion points was vegetarianism, and a related question was: “Should we, then, being busy…