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Articles by Nora Belblidia
The Big Questions Surrounding Brain Organoid Research
To the naked eye, Annie Kathuria’s experiments look a bit like tiny tufts of cotton floating in pink Petri dishes. These unassuming orbs are clusters of millions of human brain cells called brain organoids — brainstem organoids in this case — cultured in a lab in East Baltimore. Roughly a month old, the tufts are each around a millimeter wide, smaller than a coarse grain of salt.
The Age of Artificial Intelligence(s)
As Brain Organoid Science Grows More Complex, So Do the Questions By Nora Belblidia • Book Review: The Case for the AI-Powered Global Brain By Anil Ananthaswamy
A Burning Question: The Risks of Incinerating Forever Chemicals
Every day, Jerry Grabarek looks out for a plume of smoke a couple miles from his dairy farm. Grabarek, a 73-year-old from Preston, Connecticut, can’t always see the plume. Some days are too rainy. Or too foggy. But when the sky is clear, he can see a gray cloud stretch just past the tree line, a smudge on the horizon. And when it’s windy, especially when the breeze blows from the southwest, he worries.
Study: Bacteria in cows' stomach can help break down plastic
Bacteria found in cow stomachs can be used to digest polyesters used in textiles, packaging, and compostable bags, according to a new study. Plastic is notoriously hard to break down, but bacteria from a cow’s rumen, one of the four compartments of their stomach can digest it. The new findings present a sustainable option for reducing plastic waste and litter.
How a new discovery shows that cows could help solve the plastic pollution crisis
by Nora Belblidia | Jul 6, 2021 Plastic is notoriously hard to break down, but researchers in Austria have found that bacteria from a cow’s rumen – one of the four compartments of its stomach – can digest certain types of the ubiquitous material, representing a sustainable way to reduce plastic litter. The discovery was published in the open access journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.
Microbes in cow stomach can break down plastic
By Nora Belblidia, science writer Image credit: Alena Demidyuk / Shutterstock.com Bacteria found in cow stomachs can be used to digest polyesters used in textiles, packaging, and compostable bags, according to a new study by the open access publisher Frontiers. Plastic is notoriously hard to break down, but microbial communities living inside the digestive system of animals are a promising but under-investigated source of novel enzymes that could do the trick.
The secret life of bee signals can communicate colony health
By Nora Belblidia, science writer Credit: Benjamin H. Paffhausen, Julian Petrasch, Uwe Greggers et al. Researchers are listening in on honeybee hives, hoping to decipher their complex communication patterns and what they might signal about broader ecosystem health.
Allergy season starts earlier each year due to climate change and pollen transport
Scientists in Munich study how pollen from far distances – sometimes hundreds of kilometers away – affects the length of allergy seasons in Germany By Nora Belblidia, science writer The climate crisis is contributing to longer pollen seasons, but one element that’s often understudied is pollen transport.
Harbor porpoises on the decline in the German North Sea
By Nora Belblidia, science writer The harbor porpoise population is declining in the German North Sea, according to a recent study which surveyed the species over a 20-year time period. Harbor porpoises are known as a “sentinel species” – animals which indicate the health of an ecosystem and point to potential risks (think of the canary in the coal mine) – and their decreasing numbers indicate the extent to which human activities have affected marine wildlife.
Q&A: Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderberg on police power in Baltimore and beyond
Q and A By Nora Belblidia August 18, 2020 Baynard Woods (left) and Brandon Soderberg. Photo: J.M. Giordano The story of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) is one of egregious police corruption and rampant abuse of power. Officers routinely robbed civilians, planted evidence, made unconstitutional arrests, committed overtime fraud, and sold drugs themselves.
The land that I forgot: From Algeria to the US, a story of family
My grandfather was arrested by the French in 1956. Or was it '57? He was at home for lunch one day, as he was every day at noon. My grandmother would have cooked couscous or chorba or khalota, the smell of semolina and cinnamon hanging in steamed air. A baguette would have sat at the centre of the table, with its soft belly and hard shell.
How Freelancers Work from Home During the Pandemic
A few weeks into the pandemic, I asked my therapist how her other patients were faring — the ones who were healthy, nonessential workers and could stay home. Were they all floating in a vacuum of timelessness and uncertainty like me? “Actually, the ones who have a routine are doing OK,” she said. “Oh,” I said. Routines can conjure up a capitalist cult of productivity, reserved for life-hackers, Mark Wahlberg, and Highly Effective People who drink green smoothies and jog at sunrise.
Hidden Histories: The I. Henry Photo Project
Webster Phillips was around 9 years old when he first went out on assignment for the Baltimore Sun. Irving Phillips, his father, a staff photographer, brought Webster along with an extra camera so he could act as second photographer, getting detail shots while Irving focused on the action. He was learning the family trade. Webster’s grandfather, I. Henry Phillips, was a photographer at the Afro-American newspaper.
Undergraduate team developed Radiex device to hold back cortical tissue during brain surgery
By Nora Belblidia / Published Nov 15, 2018 For the ninth year in a row, a team of Johns Hopkins University students will participate in the Collegiate Inventors Competition. The challenge, hosted this week by the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C., awards students for innovation, potential, and solutions to real-world problems.
Water and Oil, Death and Life in Louisiana - Resilience
Six months ago, a routine public hearing was scheduled in a nondescript gray government building in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “Normally these hearings go over really quietly,” said Scott Eustis, the Wetlands Specialist for Gulf Restoration Network (GRN). “Usually it’s me, my associates, and like ten people.” Instead, over 400 people showed up to the Baton Rouge hearing, and stayed for nearly six hours.
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