In this research, LaGuardia student Sara El Houzaly and Dr. Richa Gupta unveil the profound health implications of our warming planet. Their research uncovers how climatic shifts intensify respiratory, waterborne, and vector-borne diseases, and exacerbate cardiovascular conditions and allergies. The authors make a compelling case for urgent mapping of emerging health risks and strategic public health planning to tackle the looming health crises instigated by climate change.

Cover Image: Designed by Freepik

Spiders are characterized by a unique lifestyles, which requires development of very special sensory organs. In this article LaGuardia Prof. Boris Zakharov discusses trichobothria – mechanoreceptors located on the dorsal surface of tarsus, metatarsus, and tibia of walking legs and pedipalps of spiders. Trichobothria respond to airborne stimuli such as gas particle displacement and have to be regarded not as sound detectors.

Cover Image: Tom Murray (Flickr).

Will Science survive in absence of such important for human understanding processes like drawing and writing? Scientific illustrations are indispensable part of research process and presentation of knowledge to broad public. Special importance scientific illustration plays in biological sciences. Presented article proposes a view on role of drawing in Biology and Science.

Cover Image: drawing by Boris Zakharov. Spider male genitalia from three sides.

The article investigates a novel set up that provides an in-vitro alternative for the examination of the effects of changes in the Blood Brain Barrier. The results of this research will contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of the BBB in the pathogenesis of AD.

by Dr. Boris Zakharov

Decompression sickness, commonly known as “the bends” is a life threatening condition that occurs among deep divers if they experience too rapid of a depressurization on ascent. For some time, it was believed that whales, dolphins, and seals didn’t experience decompression sickness. This article observes morphological and functional adaptations of marine mammals that prevent decompression sickness.

Cover photo: Humpback whale by Ellen Raimo

by Michael Betancourt and Dr. Charles Keller

Professor Charles Keller and former LaGuardia student and current doctoral student Michael Betancourt discuss their efforts to isolate and characterize tardigrades found in Newtown Creek. A fascinating phylum of micro-animals capable of surviving crushingly harsh environments, the microscopic, eight-legged tardigrades are considered to be among nature’s most resilient species.

by LaGuardia Health Sciences Professor, Dr. Nicolle Fernandes

This is the first in a series of articles discussing the Science of Food Production. This article focuses on the history and science behind Sourdough Bread Baking.

designed and supervised by Dr. Lucia Fuentes

This brochure is a follow up to our first brochure with information about the virus causing COVID-19. Here we go over the general principles of how vaccines work and the biology of the mRNA vaccine production. The brochures were written and translated into four different languages by Honors biology students and scholars from the NIH-Bridges and CRSP programs.

by Lucia Fuentes and Roman Senkov

Our guest today is a biologist, eco-activist and LaGuardia professor Dr. Sarah Durand. In this one-hour long interview Dr. Durand speaks about her undergraduate years, her passion for biology and theatre, and her path as a scientist. She describes her role in establishing the Environmental Science program at the Natural Sciences department and her work at Newtown creek. A part of the conversation touches on the importance of education; Dr. Durand shares some thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of online learning. At the end of the interview Sarah answers several personal questions inspired by Marcel Proust.

by Dr. Boris Zakharov

“Are we the only living organisms in a cold lifeless cosmos, or there are another organisms somewhere else? This question has not only a theoretical interest, but also a practical importance. In proposed article, the author discusses what the major properties of Life are and how these properties are generated.”

Cover Images © NASA: 2M1207b - First image of an exoplanet

Available in Spanish, Chinese, Romanian, and English, the public health brochure is the work of LaGuardia students Felipe Perez, Shaopeng Ma, Victor Pleacoff, and Claire Sansaricq.

Designed and supervised by Dr. A. Lucia Fuentes.

The authors are grateful to Dr. Na Xu and Anastasia Aponte for their help with the translations.

a review article by Prof. Boris Zakharov

Prof. Boris Zakharov began to study spiders in 1995 in AMNH, his PhD thesis was on orb-weaving spiders of USSR South Far East. He began to teach in 2005 at Hostos Community College/CUNY. Boris joined the Natural Sciences department at LaGuardia in 2009.

If you are looking for research opportunities and like spiders please free to contact Prof. Zakharov at bzakharov@lagcc.cuny.edu