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Image Source: https://movingscience.dk/infographic-about-the-adolescent-brain-development/ It really doesn't matter how smart an adolescent is, or how well they scored in NEET/JEE/SAT or whatever. Adolescence is a remarkable phase of human development, often marked by a unique blend of curiosity and self-discovery. I know it's been really long since I have posted here, and one of my friends wanted me to write on how an adolescent's brain behaves so distinctly compared to kids and adults- and so this is for her and for everyone else sitting with their curious caps on! The adolescent brain is a dynamic landscape of neuroplasticity, where synapses are pruned and rewired to optimize cognitive function. This plasticity not only facilitates learning, but also paves the way for development of higher-order thinking and decision making. A rapid increase in the connections between the brain cells also occurs, which makes the neural pathways more effective.  For both boys and girls, a

Have you actually thought of integrating your sustainable nature of composting your food wastes into your actual recipe? Although not all food remnants are going to complement your baking, bakers - there's still one ingredient that may actually be worth looking into: yes, banana peels!! Actually, to be more precise, its banana peel flour haha! Might sound funny, because sure enough, you might have probably heard of oat or almond flour, but a new study actually revealed that using banana peels along with traditional flour can actually provide you with an array of nutritional benefits. Compared to cookies without any banana additions, cookies that had 15% wheat flour substituted with banana peel flour had the highest level of moisture, which is quite a matter of concern for cookie consistency, and high levels of micronutrient content as well, along with a significant increase in antioxidant properties without changing the appearance or flavour of the cookie. Banana flour is mostly ma

Ahhh the feeling - you've been cramming for a test or presentation all day, when suddenly you can't remember the simplest of things that happened during the day - like that one topic you prepared so well but can't remember now or just as simple as not remembering what you had for breakfast that morning. Why do we get so unraveled after hours of hard mental labour? We get so unraveled after hours of hard mental labour just because of a toxic buildup of glutamate, which is the brain's most abundant chemical signal. Of course, this comes up with a controversy too. It was thought by some researchers that doing difficult mental tasks used up more energy than easy tasks, exhausting the brain, just like how exercise does to the muscles. Some even suggested that drinking a sugary milkshake would make you more mentally sharper than an artificially sweetened one.  This research on the toxic buildup of glutamate is one of the most recent ones where researchers had looked at whethe

Hello everyone! It's been so many months since I've posted here, and my sincere apologies for keeping my wonderful readers on wait for so long! Had my exams going on, but now I'm finally done with all the exams and yes, finally free and back again! Human bonding - good topic to resume with, right? I hope this post interests you all :) Whether you decide to actually meet your loved ones after a long time, stay in for a night of Netflix with your friends, or just simply call your bestie to have that silly gossip or tell everything that happened in your life recently - all these are just beautiful opportunities to appreciate the bonds and love we have for each other as fellow Homo sapiens. The bonds we form over the course of our lives, however, just don't begin with us - human bonding is as old as humanity itself. A psychology professor once quoted - "We're social animals because we need other people to survive" and I think this statement perfectly makes sen

We all know that for nearly a century, Drosophila melanogaster has been on the focal point of genetics and developmental biology - genetically diverse, can be easily cultured in laboratory conditions, they produce large numbers of externally laid embryos, and of course the major reason being them having a much shorter life cycle. Though humans and fruit flies don't possess similar morphological/anatomical characteristics, it became pretty much well known that most of the fundamental biological processes and pathways that control survival and development are conserved across evolution between these species.  Drosophila genome is 60% homologous to that of humans, and about 75% of the genes responsible for human diseases have homologues in these fruit flies.  Research on Drosophila melanogaster already points to a new anti - cancer breakthrough different from the conventional goal of destroying a tumor. Tumors in fruit flies release a specific chemical that encompass the blood - brai

  It's been really long since I've posted here, as I've been busy with my committee, Youth Leaders in Medicine - Bangalore chapter, boards and ah I'm finally back. I'm back again to quench your scientific thirst with yet another amusing topic for today!  Uncertainty clouds everything and Omicron adds on!  The current data on Omicron is still insufficient to make clear assumptions on the exact nature of this new variant, but some things are pretty much clear about this new strain to analyse and understand its essential meaning. This new strain is sending out a message, loud and clear - this virus is capable of far more variations than what was thought possible and it will keep coming back to haunt us again and again. If we see from an evolutionary perspective, Omicron was something which was expected and not anything unexpected. We all know that coronaviruses have adapted to develop several strategies to continue their replication and to infect and reinfect several s