Has addiction gone VIRAL? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Retroviruses like HIV make us sick by inserting their genes into our cells. Usually, these genes cause cells to make new copies of the retrovirus. But occasionally, the genes mutate and can’t make new viruses.
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Cargo trucks for your bloodstream? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your bloodstream is a highway that moves nutrients throughout your body! Doctors can use this highway to ship helpful drugs ANYwhere. But since it is so vast, those drugs can also end up EVERYwhere!
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What’s slippery, slimy, and soon to be in your medicine cabinet? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. The answer? Sea snails, of course! Specifically, the Australian white rock sea snail. These escargot secrete a slime that has chemicals also found in prescription drugs. They’re called
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Hah! Gotcha, pesky mosquito! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down On Science. Mosquitoes! They suck. Not only do they bite, but they can spread dangerous diseases like malaria. Some insecticides that USED to kill mosquitos aren’t effective anymore! What can we do to stop them? Flaminia Catteruccia
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Hugs, not drugs. Wait, I mean, bugs on drugs! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. If you get sick, your doctor might write you a prescription. But not everyone responds to medicines in the same way. Prescriptions can be guess-and-check – expensive, and possibly even
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If you give a mouse LSD…THEN what? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Hallucinations are tricky to study. So it’s hard to develop effective treatments for disorders like schizophrenia. Giving people LSD to make them hallucinate? Probably a bad idea. Fortunately, it’s much easier, well,
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Shots or pills? How about BOTH? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. I would pick pills over shots any day! Easier to take and PAINLESS – hypodermic needles are scary!! But what about the drugs that HAVE to be injected? For those, Alex Abramson from
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Diamonds are a girl’s best friend…literally! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When it comes to pregnancy prevention, the Pill is effective, but it’s not best for everyone. Some people have trouble remembering to take it regularly – in which case, it might not work!
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Is there a 4:20 in the afternoon. . . for fish? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Headaches, depression, diabetes – our medicine cabinets are FULL of pills! And unfortunately, our bodies don’t fully absorb all the medications we take. The leftovers end up….um, in
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Addiction – so complicated, I need a map! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We know that drugs and chocolate are addictive. We get a taste, and our brains tell us we want more! But WHY? The brain has special delivery systems that help drugs
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