Medical Physics Articles

Tag Archive for: medical physics

probabilities virus testing

Probabilistic Factors Involved in Disease and Virus Testing

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Introduction This Insight looks at the various probabilistic factors and related terminology involved in disease and virus testing.As we all know,…
safety

Safety Factors: Why Forums Avoid Design Advice Online

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Forum Guidelines There are often questions on Physics Forums related to building machines or structures that are left unanswered because of this guideline…
polymer

DNA Mapping & Nanopore Sequencing: Nanochannel Insights

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Introduction A single DNA molecule snaking its way through an array of cavities. This movie is from one of my later Ph.D. experiments. …
pet_scan

How PET Scans Work: Positrons in Medical Imaging Explained

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Practical applications of fundamental theoretical physics Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Less often, people ask about potential applications of anti-matter.…
Mitochondria

When did Mitochondria Evolve?

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Eukaryote evolution and cellular complexity Historically, life is categorized into three broad domains: bacteria, archaea, and eukaryota.  Whereas bacteria…
cancer

What Causes Cancer: Bad Luck or Bad Lifestyles?

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What causes cancer? For the most part, cancer is a disease that arises from mutations in the body that accumulate over time.  These mutations knock…
Alzheimers

Can Gene Editing Eliminate Alzheimer’s Disease?

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The development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system has made gene editing a relatively simple task.  While CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies stand to revolutionize…
medical physics

How to Become a Medical Physicist in 3653 Easy Steps

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For many physics students, Medical Physics is that branch of the discipline that seems to hover in the no-man's land between academia and "industry." It's…
CrispR DNA

Why CRISPR Technologies Won’t Lead to Designer Babies

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The prospect of designer babies has been a staple of the dystopian futures imagined by science-fiction writers, evoking fears of eugenics (e.g. Brave…
bioethics

Bioethics & Genetic Engineering: Ethics and Policy

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Bioethics Key PointsWorrying about the future now means recognizing advances in technology, such as genetic engineering, that have already arisen. …