Life Sciences and Society Program Symposium
Oct. 11, 2017
The power of a hug
Kory Floyd speaks about humans’ need for affection. Floyd spoke during the 13th annual Life Sciences and Society Symposium on Saturday, Oct. 7. | Photo by Roger Meissen, Bond LSC By: Samantha Kummerer, Bond LSC Kory Floyd was stressed and having an all-around bad day, but then a coworker offered him a hug. “That hug didn’t change anything about what had gone in my day but it changed everything about what the way that I felt,” Floyd said. “Suddenly all that stress, suddenly all that disappointment, all that worry, it didn’t go away but it seemed…
March 15, 2016
Climate change to heat up discussion at annual LSSP symposium
By Jennifer Lu | MU Bond Life Sciences Center Thinkstock by Getty Images Climate change is a pressing issue. Just last week, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a report linking climate change to extreme weather conditions such as heat waves, droughts, and heavy snows and rains. Globally, 2015 was the warmest year on record, according to climate updates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And January kicked off this year by logging temperatures exceeding those of all previous Januaries on record, a disturbing trend that’s persisted for nine…
March 12, 2015
Five things you wanted to know about epigenetics (But were afraid to ask)
What the heck is it, anyway? Epigenetics involves changes in how your genes work. In classical genetics, traits pass from generation to generation in DNA, the strands of genetic material that encode your genes. Scientists thought alterations to the DNA itself was the only way changes could pass on to subsequent generations. So say you lost a thumb to a angry snapping turtle: Because your DNA hasn’t changed, your children won’t be born with smaller thumbs. Classic. Things get way more complicated with epigenetics. It turns out that some inherited changes pass on even though they…