Science and Curiosity

Animal models provide great complexity compared to simple cell culture, but still, they struggle in recapitulating the human  physiology. Despite these shortcomings, animal models have been continuously used for preclinical studies for over a century.     For a significant amount of time, preference for animal models was a necessity as they were the best options for preclinical trials. However, with advancements in microfabrication technology, microfluidic Organ-on-a-Chip has started to offer excellent alternatives in recent years. Organ-on-Chip systems use human tissues from patients. Hence, they can more accurately mimic the numerous in-vivo human physiological mechanisms, which brings us closer to personalized medicine. As many as 90% of drugs entering human clinical trials fail to get approval from the FDA. Sometimes they are not much effective, and many a time, they are toxic. The preclinical models should be able to identify these lacunas even before these drug...

We have sequenced the human genome, eradicated smallpox, and even found a vaccine for emerging diseases like Covid-19 in record time. But after billions of dollars in research, we haven't found a solution for a disease that affects more than 14 million people and their families at any given time.  Why is it so difficult to cure cancer? Cancer arises as normal cells start to mutate. Most of the time, cells can detect mutations or DNA damage and either fix them or self-destruct. However, mistakes happen; some mutations allow cancerous cells to grow unchecked, invade nearby tissues, or even metastasize to distant organs. Cancers become almost incurable once they metastasize, And cancer is incredibly complex. It's not just one disease! There are more than 100 different types, and we don't have magic meds that can cure all of them. For most cancers, treatments usually include a combination of surgery to remove tumors and radiation and chemotherapy to kill any cancerous cells lef...

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face today, and the stakes could not be higher. The world has become keenly aware of the problem, and around the world, people are setting goals to solve it. To avoid the worst effects of a warming world- which will be catastrophic-humans need to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.  Since 1850 global average temperature has risen by 1 degree Celsius. That may not sound like a significant number, but it is.  Why? Let's find out. One degree is average. Many places on earth have gotten much warmer than that. Some areas in the Arctic have already warmed by 4 degrees. If the global average temperature increases by one more degree (total increase of 2 degrees), the coldest nights in the Arctic might get ten degrees warmer, and the warmest days in Mumbai might get 5 degrees hotter.  Wonder how do we get here? Everything we do is related to fossil fuels: Coal, Oil, and Gas, which are full of carbon that releases carbo...

 Paperfuge is an assemblage of paper and strings. Inspired by the design of millenia-old toy, Paperfuge is a handpowered centrifuge that can spin biological samples at thousands of revolutions per minute (rpm). But unlike a centrifuge, Paperfuge does not require electricity, complicated machinery, maintenance or even money to operate. Paperfuge is an ultra-low cost human powered centrifuge. " There are a billion people on this planet who live with no electricity, no infrastructure, no roads and they have the same kind of health care needs that you and I have " Manu Prakash says, whose lab at Stanford developed centrifuge with these people in mind.  Paperfuge can whip blood into circles at up to 125,00 rpm, which is enough to separate plasma from the blood sample in just 90 seconds. Paperfuge produces a force of 30,000 Gs. Manu Prakash says, " To the best of my knowledge it's the fastest spinning object by human power " A centrifuge is critical for detecting dise...

 Foldscope is an ultra-affordable paper microscope which can be folded with a sheet of paper.  Foldscope is created with a vision to solve the accessibility problem in Science. It is designed to be portable and durable while performing on par with conventional research microscopes ( 140X magnification and 2 micron resolution ). Foldscope which began as a simple idea has now grown into a company that provides low cost tools to communities around the world to discover the world around and interpret it their own way.  A foldscope is an optical microscope that can be assembled using simple components like sheet of papers and lens. It is developed by Manu Prakash and designed to cost less than US$1 to build. It is the part of the frugal science movement which aims to make cheap and easy tools available for scientific use in the developing world. The mission is to break down the price barrier between people and the curiosity and the excitement of scientific exploration! With t...

 Science is not just about knowing but also about experiencing.  Today with the boon of technological advancement we have easy access to information and knowledge which is merely a click away. Science is largely about learning and it comes through the experience. So, it's more important how you can make the experience of science more accessible to a lot of people around the world.  The actual experience of science is utilizing scientific tools to make your own discoveries. Prof. Manu Prakash at Stanford University is in a quest of how can we make scientific tools that are so affordable, which are like buying a pencil from a shop, So what it would mean if a scientific tool is as accessible as pencil? What you would actually do, would you sketch with it or would you write a poetry with it, what exactly is the end of that for science? Prakash Lab do this in different fields but mainly focusing on the microscopic world. So how do you make the microscopic world easily visible,...