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Author: Rachel Cherney

Rachel is a graduate student in the Genetics and Molecular Biology Program at UNC. She studies lncRNAs and their interaction with Polycomb complexes in mediating gene expression, in the lab of Dr. Mauro Calabrese. When not sciencing, she enjoys traveling, eating, learning new languages, and playing with animals.

Blog / You can’t get blood from stone, but you CAN get stone from blood

October 6, 2021 / Rachel Cherney / 1

How will future astronauts and space voyagers build shelters? Turns out, their own blood might be key.

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blood Chemistry materials science Physics space Weird Science

Blog / What defines a Woman?

March 9, 2021 / Rachel Cherney /

March is Women’s History Month, dedicated to celebrate the accomplishments of women and the progress towards gender equality.  International Women’s Day is March 8th, and this year’s theme is “#ChooseToChallenge”.…

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Genetics women

Academia / Death by a Thousand Words

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 / Rachel Cherney /

Graduate school is stressful enough without constant othering. What are microaggressions, how do we address them, and how do they affect those in academia, and the workplace in general?

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Blogacademia Mental Health Psychology

Academia / A Letter From SWAC: Black Lives Matter

June 19, 2020July 22, 2020 / Rachel Cherney /

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Blog

Blog / Where is the line between life and non-life?

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 / Rachel Cherney /

What classifies an organism as living? New classes of viruses may blur the line between what is living and what is not.

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Biology evolution gene therapy Genetics Medicine Microbiology virology

Blog / What Determines Our Complexity?

November 12, 2019November 12, 2019 / Rachel Cherney / 1

What makes humans more complex than plants or bacteria? Surprisingly, it’s not how much DNA we have, but rather how much of our DNA doesn’t encode for protein – known as the non-coding genome.

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Epigenetics evolution Genetics RNA UNC Research X Chromosome Inactivation

Blog / Transforming Blood Transfusions

July 24, 2019July 31, 2019 / Rachel Cherney / 2

Scientists have found a way for Type A blood cells to be transformed into Type O ‘universal donor’ blood cells which could be very useful for future blood transfusions.

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bacteria blood Breakthrough science Medicine microbes Science News

Blog / New Year, New Earth? The Environment in 2019

February 13, 2019February 13, 2019 / Rachel Cherney /

2019, “new year, new me,” as they say. Many people have new goals; maybe they’ll read more, go to the gym more, or try to improve relationships. Whatever your New…

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environment

Blog / To Dye or Not To Dye

October 23, 2018November 5, 2018 / Rachel Cherney /

Dyeing hair is a common, but not recent, beauty practice. Hair dyeing (coloring) has been around for thousands of years, using plant-based dyes such as indigo and turmeric before synthetic…

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Biology Chemistry color dyeing Everyday Questions hair melanin

Academia / Minority Representation in STEM Fields

April 25, 2018August 21, 2020 / Rachel Cherney /

United States as a “Melting Pot” Indigenous peoples inhabited the land, that is now known as the US, many generations before Christopher Columbus arrived. These people were culturally and linguistically…

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BlogDiversity Graduate School Scientists

Blog / Tardigrades! The Super-animal of the Animal Kingdom

December 1, 2017 / Rachel Cherney / 1

Tardigrades, also known as waterbears or moss piglets, are microscopic invertebrates that “resemble a cross between a caterpillar and a naked mole rat,” according to science writer, Jason Bittel. First…

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Biology Environmental Science Evolutionary Biology

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