How to Train Your Fusion Reactor: Letting Tokamaks Learn Stability Fusion Reactors, while impressively useful for renewable energy production, often run into chaos due to plasma disruption events. A group of scientists tackled this problem using reinforcement learning, letting the reactor learn how to stay stable during operation. By Faraaz Akhtar You may have heard of the notion that we UCL Science Magazine • Physics
The Shining Abacus: How Light Can Be Used to Perform Computations Quantum Computing is one of the hottest buzzwords in technology today, but what lies beneath the hype? How does this cutting-edge tech actually work, and why is it being called a game-changer for everything from medicine to cybersecurity? By Veronika Liutarevich Quantum computing is a broad term describing the field UCL Science Magazine • Technology
Sticking it to Cancer: How Molecular Glues Could Transform Treatment Imagine a therapy that forces rogue cancer-causing proteins to self-destruct. Molecular glues offer just that — a ground-breaking avenue in targeted protein degradation, especially when conventional cancer drugs fail. By Neelabh Datta. These small molecules foster binding interactions between harmful proteins and degradation signallers known as E3 ubiquitin ligases - these UCL Science Magazine • Beyond
The Fire Within: A Look at the Inflammatory Basis of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a complex syndrome where people interpret reality abnormally resulting in hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking (‘Schizophrenia’, 2020). The specific mechanism of how this disorder presents is unknown. Could inflammation be the underlying cause of this disorder? By Oriella Stellakis Two case studies informed this theory. The first patient UCL Science Magazine • Biology
Listen To Your Heart: A Patient Perspective on Catheter Ablation Undergoing a heart procedure can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially when it involves a catheter ablation. This is a first-hand account of a patient's personal journey in hospital, shedding light on the daunting procedure of catheter ablation and the promising results it should produce for patients. By Micah UCL Science Magazine • Biology
Can We Save Our Collapsing Fisheries? In 2017, 100 million Pacific cod disappeared off southern Alaska’s coast. This 70% reduction (over 2 years), represents an unprecedented crash of fishery worth $100 million annually, and it was caused by an increase in ocean temperatures. By Francesca Young UCL Science Magazine • Chemistry
