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Which Colleges are Best for Biological Sciences?

If you want to delve into the deep depths of biological sciences, this article looks at what the course is, and which colleges are best for biological Sciences.

What are Biological Sciences?

Biological sciences form a flexible area of subjects that focus on the study of living organisms and human life. Majors range from exploring areas such as biochemistry, biomedicine, cell biology, conservation, ecology, genetics, microbiology, pathobiology, physiology and much more. Because of the wide-ranging options, this makes biological sciences one of the most popular majors for students worldwide. According to Indeed.com, biological science is the fourth most popular college major in the United States. Much of your time on campus will involve lab work as you gain knowledge of certain aspects of your major.

Jobs

Job prospects after completing a biological sciences major includes roles in academic and hospital research, ecology, environmental science, medicine, veterinary medicine and more.

Ranked

Listed below are 10 of the best U.S. colleges to study biological sciences according to the QS World University Rankings 2021.

1: Harvard University

  • Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) is an area of academic study inside the Division of Medical Sciences, an administrative unit based at Harvard Medical School that organizes biomedical PhD projects within the Longwood Medical Area. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

2: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

  • The biological department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the best in the world. This is proven by the faculty which include 3 Nobel laurates, 4 recipients of the National Medal of Science, 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators and 30 members of the National Academy of Sciences. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

3: Stanford University

  • Stanford Biosciences is one of the very best places in the world for training in the biomedical sciences. The college is known for its world-renowned faculty that are always driven and committed to tackling some of the biggest challenges the planet is facing in today’s world. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

4: University of California – Berkeley (UCB)

  • Biological Sciences is a popular major to study at UCB. The department features around 112 faculty that are known for being some of the world’s leading scientific minds. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

5: Yale University

  • Yale offers a wide range of courses within the Biological & Biomedical Sciences department including Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and Plant Molecular Biology. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

6: University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA)

  • Dean of Life Sciences at UCLA, Tracy Johnson, says: “The importance of innovative science and education has never been more apparent, and UCLA Life Sciences is committed to addressing some of the most important questions we face today.” For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

7: University of California – San Diego (UCSD)

  • UCSD state that their focus is “to advance knowledge of basic biological sciences and apply our research discoveries in ways that improve human health, protect our environment and enrich our economy.” Faculty includes 23 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 17 members of the American Academy of Art & Sciences. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

8: California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

  • Caltech research into biology ranges from a single molecule to an entire organism. Faculty includes 15 members of the Academy of Arts & Sciences, 10 recipients of the National Medals of Science and 9 Faculty and Alumni Nobel Prize winners. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

9: Cornell University

  • Cornell offers a wide range of courses to focus on which include animal physiology, genetics, insect biology and neurobiology and behavior (neuroscience). For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

10: University of California – San Francisco

  • UNSF state that their “belief that the study of these higher levels of biological systems integration represents one of the most important challenges in modern cell and molecular biology”. For more information on their biological sciences department, click here.

Now you know which colleges are best for biological sciences, if you are keen to explore the more about the subject, make sure you visit the various university websites to get a better understanding on the types of majors they offer and who knows, there could be a college major made just for you!

SEE ALSO: Which Colleges are Best for Mathematics?

The Future of Pain Relief Is Here

The Future of Pain Relief Is Here

It’s easy to ignore your own wellbeing in pursuit of other, lofty goals. That new internship, a few more hours of your part time job, the countless all-nighters pulled for an attempt at a better grade on the midterm. Your routine may be commonly filled with sugary energy drinks, coffee, instant ramen, and alcohol. You get headaches. Your neck gets sore from sitting at a desk for too long. Or maybe you treat your body like a temple because your scholarship demands that you be in your best physical shape all season long.

Physical problems can come from all kinds of sources. Here’s a few common types of problems that you might experience as a college student.

Overstudying

It might sound like a joke at first, but having your head pointed at a computer screen and sitting down for long hours can take a toll on your posture and cause inflammation, which can cause neck and back pain. You may find yourself taking pain killers so you can relieve the pain and focus on studying. But there’s a new solution. The LUMINAS Pain Relief Patch is a completely different approach to treating inflammation and pain. It has no odor, no active ingredients, and no known side effects. Simply stick it where it hurts and feel better every minute you have it on.

Sleep deprivation

Pulling all-nighters might pay off in the short term, but on nights when you can get eight hours of sleep, those eight hours will translate to the most efficient, most productive eight hours of your day. Without sleep, your body and your mind can’t function properly, and you’ll probably fail that midterm that you stayed up for. So when it counts, wear a LUMINAS Power Sleep Patch. So you can get your best, most optimal sleep when it matters the most. Wake up ready to tackle the day ahead of you, supercharged with amazing sleep.

Muscle fatigue & soreness

If you’re an athlete on a team, you often push your body to the limit for each game, practicing hard every day. Whether it’s football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, or any other sport, you know how important it is to stay on your A game throughout the season, on and off the court. All of that creates and worsens inflammation in the body, which is what causes muscle fatigue and soreness. The STAMINAPRO Active Recovery Patch is the first ever of its kind to reduce inflammation before, during, and after activity, which lets you train harder, recover faster, and perform better. They have a super sticky adhesive that’s waterproof, sweatproof, and designed to last through almost any activity.

The best part? There’s no added chemicals or active ingredients in the patch, so you can be sure that what’s relieving your pain is only here to help. The patches are famously used by pro athletes like Rich Froning (CrossFit), Justin Rose (PGA), Tony Finau (PGA), Erik Johnson (NHL), Dwight Freeney (NFL) and many others!

What is LUMINAS?

LUMINAS is a breakthrough company that creates products using Energy Medicine Technology. You might be wondering how those patches work when there’s nothing in them—energy! There’s loads and loads of energy in each of the patches that help with whatever they were designed to help with. LUMINAS offers the Pain Relief patch, the Power Sleep patch, and the STAMINAPRO patch—with more applications to come.

Using Energy Medicine Technology, each patch is charged with electrons taken from ingredients that are known to help with a specific ailment. For the Power Sleep patches, some of the ingredients that the energy is captured from are Magnesium, Melatonin, L-Theanine, and more. In the Pain Relief patches, some of the 200+ ingredients are Bioperine, Turmeric, Ginger, and more.

It’s time to rethink pain relief and how we think of energy. You don’t need to harm your body with a bunch of chemicals to get the results you need. LUMINAS is here. The future is now.

Visit: luminas.com/products

Climate Change

12 Years to Halt Climate Change Catastrophe, Warns UN

A landmark report published on Monday by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that dramatic measures must be taken to keep global warming temperatures at a maximum of 1.5C within 12 years.

If global warming temperatures exceed just half a degree, the risk for major natural disasters such as floods, droughts and extreme heat will significantly increase. Maintaining 1.5C is essential in preventing the extinction of coral reefs, and will ease pressure on an already buckling Arctic, say researchers.

The world currently sits at 1C warmer than preindustrial levels. The IPCC sates that, with an increase in hurricanes in the Carolinas, flooding and record drought in South Africa’s Cape Town, global warming is already a very real threat. The study says that maintaining the 1.5C target will mean “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”

Debra Roberts, co-chair of the IPCC’s working group on impacts said, “It’s a line in the sand and what it says to our species is that this is the moment and we must act now.

“This is the largest clarion bell from the science community and I hope it mobilises people and dents the mood of complacency.”

The report was commissioned by policymakers at the Paris Climate talks in 2016. The Paris Climate Agreement is an important agreement between member countries of the UNFCCC to combat climate change. Since then, however, president Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw the US from the Accord while Jair Bolsonaro—presidential candidate in Brazil—has pledged to follow suit, worryingly widening the gap between politics and science.

What’s next for climate change?

If global warming temperatures reach even 2C, the IPCC suggests that the global sea level will rise by approximately four inches, potentially exposing 10 million people to the risk of flooding.

Kaisa Kosonen at Greenpeace said, “We are already in the danger zone at one degree of warming.

“Both poles are melting at an accelerated rate; ancient trees that have been there for hundreds of years are suddenly dying; and the summer we’ve just experienced—basically, the whole world was on fire.”

Member of the IPCC, professor Jim Skea, said of the urgency of combatting climate change that, “They [world governments] really need to start work immediately. The report is clear that if governments just fulfil the pledges they made in the Paris agreement for 2030, it is not good enough.”

Further reading: Climate Change Fears as Arctic temperature Rises

Dangerous Selfies

259 Deaths Caused by Dangerous Selfies

A new global study, Selfies: A boon or bane?, published in the US National Library of Medicine found that 259 people were killed in the quest for ‘extreme’ selfies between 2011 and 2017. Researchers found that this number is also on the rise; the actual death toll may be much higher since ‘selfie death’ is not typically recorded as the cause of death.

News stories associated with death caused by dangerous selfies were analyzed by researchers to compile the data in the study. They found that selfie-related deaths were most prominent in India, Russia, the US and Pakistan. They also found that a high 75 percent of those reported were men.

“It is believed that selfie deaths are underreported and the true problem needs to be addressed,” says the report.

“Certain road accidents while posing for selfies are reported as death due to Road Traffic Accident.

“Thus, the true magnitude of the problem is underestimated. It is therefore important to assess the true burden, causes, and reasons for selfie deaths so that appropriate interventions can be made.”

Researchers at the US National Library of Medicine suggest that ‘no selfie zones’ should be introduced at tourist locations around the world considered dangerous to help reduce accidental deaths.

Tomer Frankfurter is among the number of those who died as a result of dangerous selfies. The Israeli teen fell 250 meters while trying to take a selfie in the Yosemite National Park in California this September.

In June 2018, Prabhu Bhatara tried to take a selfie next to a wounded bear in India, and was mauled to death as a result.

In November 2017, 20-year-old Toni Kelly died attempting to take a selfie near a second-storey window in London, UK. She suffered brain injuries as a result of the fall.

In 2015, a report published by Mashable claimed that more people died attempting dangerous selfies than from shark attacks.

Canadian Arctic

Subglacial Lakes Found in the Canadian Arctic

Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada have discovered two isolated subglacial lakes located 550 to 750 meters of ice beneath the Devon Ice Cap, one of the largest ice caps in the Canadian Arctic.

These lakes have been considered to be the first hypersaline (containing four to five times more salt than normal sea water) subglacial lakes in the world.

Anja Rutishauser, the PhD student who made the discovery during an analysis of radar data, said, “We weren’t looking for subglacial lakes. The ice is frozen to the ground underneath that part of the Devon Ice Cap, so we didn’t expect to find liquid water.

“We saw these radar signatures telling us there’s water, but we thought it was impossible that there could be liquid water underneath this ice, where it is below -10C”.

According to Science Daily, there are more than 400 known subglacial lakes in the world which can largely be found in Antarctica and Greenland. These are the first subglacial lakes found in the Canadian Arctic. All previously found subglacial lakes are believed to contain freshwater, these in the newest discovery are thought to consist of hypersaline water.

Professor Martin Siegert from the Imperial College of London said, “To my knowledge, this is a unique lake system. Of the [more than] 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica, all of them are thought to comprise fresh water. Hence, whatever might be living in it may also be unique.”

The discovery is special in that it is a potential host to microbial life and is similar to the saline conditions of the subsurface ocean found on Europa, Jupiter’s moon. The lakes’ conditions may help researchers and scientists to further understand the possibility of life existing on Europa.

Dr Claire Cousins from the University of St Andrews said, “While the chemistry of these lakes nay be somewhat different to ocean environments on icy moons such as Europa, their otherwise extreme conditions will help us understand the habitability of hypersaline sub-ice environments.”

Dr Alison Murray of Nevada’s Desert Research Institute told the BBC that further research on the subglacial lakes found in the Canadian Arctic could provide “a key to understanding the life-supporting nature of such systems which may occur in the icy and ocean worlds of the solar system and beyond.”

Further reading: Climate Change Fears as Arctic Temperature Rises

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking Dies Aged 76

Stephen Hawking, the visionary physicist, has died aged 76.

His family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morning confirming his death at his Cambridge home in England.

The statement was released by his children, Lucy, Robert and Tim.

It said: ‘We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today.

‘He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years.

‘His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world.

‘He once said, “It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.”

‘We will miss him forever.’

The family are asking for privacy at this difficult time but added their thanks to ‘everyone who has been by Professor Hawking’s side and supported him—throughout his life.’

Hawking was a pioneer of science who inspired generations of young scientists.

After he was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease at age 22 in 1964, Hawking was given just a few years to live.

But the determined young man defied his debilitating illness to far outlive those doctors’ gloomy predictions.

Known for his work on black holes, Hawking contributed to the academic community for years.

He brought his unparalleled expertise and unique insight to offer solutions to some of the world’s most complex scientific conundrums.

His extraordinary life and work inspired the 2014 film The Theory of Everything for which Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of the English professor.

In a display of his humoristic spirit, Hawking performed cameos in the US sitcom The Big Bang Theory as well as The Simpsons.

But in between those acting stints, his incredible mind continued to tackle everything from the universe’s origins, the possibility of time travel and the enigma of the solar system’s black holes.