Brigette's Blog

Gerrymandering: A Call for Change

I was not very educated on the topic of gerrymandering prior to this event. I thought the film, “Gerrymadering,” was highly informative, yet interesting and engaging. I was very excited to see my home area discussed in the film. The first location presented was Staten Island, a small island, one of the five boroughs of…

An Open Dialogue on Microaggressions

I recently watched the Academy Award nominated documentary “13th.” It connects racial inequality to our justice system. I learned that one in three black men will be incarcerated at least one time in their life, whereas only one in seventeen white men will be incarcerated at least one time in their life. This is due…

Genetic Material: A Cure

Two posts ago I discussed RNA interference. I explained that changing the expression of RNAs within a plant will alter its production of proteins. This will change their morphological and physiological characteristics. In the long run this technique can be used by the agricultural industry to grow crops with specific characteristics and produce a more bountiful harvest….

The Misconception of G.M.O.s

A study was conducted by a group at Cornell University to study how the general public perceives food based on their labels. They used the same exact food product across the study, however half of the product was labeled “organic” and half of the product was labeled “regular.” They sampled one hundred and fifteen individuals…

Save the Bees!

Pesticide use has long been debated amongst scientists, environmentalists, botanists, politicians, and academics. These discussions are most definitely warranted, considering the potential dangers that can stem from pesticide use. DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was used by farmers in the United States throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s. It served as a form of pest control. DDT was also…

Myelin Regeneration

A great amount of time, money, and effort has been put into neuroscience research. More specifically, a lot of research has been conducted over time to try to understand the human nervous system and develop better treatments. I have always been fascinated by the human brain. It is such a complex organ. The knowledge we…

A Medical Revelation

This week I read and presented a very interesting peer-review article from The Journal of Pediatrics. I want to share what I learned in this post! The article I read was titled, “Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Children after Fetal Cardiac Intervention for Aortic Stenosis with Evolving Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.” What this means is that the researchers…

An Ethical Dilemma

Like many of you I took AP Biology in high school. Every day of my senior year I sat in Mrs. Brandon’s class for 90 minutes. I love biology, but even I expected to get bored of this class once the “senioritis” hit. That was not the case. My interested in this class never faded,…

Close to the Cure?

During the year 2016, the National Cancer Institute was granted $5.21 billion to allocate towards cancer research (NIH). Furthermore, the work of independent organizations and individuals fundraise billions of dollars annually toward fighting this deadly disease. Even with today’s advanced medical care about 1,500 individuals die of cancer each day. It seems like this fight is one we…

Found: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

It has long been a fact that males are more likely to suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) than are females. What is ASD? “Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – more commonly known as autism – are terms used to describe a range of complex brain development disorders that can result in significant social, communication, and…