Scientists-saving the world one soybean product at a time

When they’re not rocking out or helping the community, Columbia faculty enjoy getting dirty in the lab. Bwog takes a moment to look back on this week in science. Headlines were compiled by our Northside Correspondent Ricky Raudales.

• Know what’s the surest way of getting into Columbia’s top-rated Medical School? Watson, the latest supercomputer and reigning Jeopardy champ, apparently does and will soon be flexing its HAL-like powers to diagnose patients.
• Scientists from Columbia’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) think Saharan dust storms may contribute to Africa’s rampant meningitis outbreaks. Meanwhile the rest of Columbia, still not quite sure how to help, has offered to add their own “-pocalypse” suffix to Africa’s endemic storms.
• A Columbia psychiatrist reasons that solar flares like the ones from last week’s display could be throwing off your mood. One way or another, the recent weather has been nothing short of a tearjerker.
• A 30-year epidemiological study conducted in part by Columbia researchers reveals a link between folic acid intake and a lowered risk for mouth cancer. Luckily for residents of Morningside Heights, the biweekly Greenmarket delivers farm-fresh vegetables rich in folic acid.
• With potential treatments for Alzheimer’s just a few years away, researchers at the uptown Taub Institute have identified the transport protein SORCS1 as a possible mechanism for amyloid beta accumulation. Columbians that read the Odyssey may recall the lotus flower, which had similar amnesic effects but carries plenty more wit at alumni cocktail parties.