New snowmaking tech is helping New England ski resorts beat climate change

Environment, Technology, World / /

Preparations for ski season start early in Vermont’s Green Mountains. In early October, Greg Gleason, who runs snowmaking at Killington Ski Resort, gives his staff the all-clear. Over the next four hours the system of artificial snow production on which Vermont’s tourism industry increasingly depends roars to life. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water […]

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Opinion: The cultural significance of handwriting is too great to lose to keyboards

Culture, Opinion, World / /

The earliest example of physical writing is widely considered to be Cuneiform, a system of wedge-shaped inscriptions dating back to 3000 BCE. Attributed to the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia, the informal system was utilized namely for communication and maintaining transactional records. Although this physical remnant of Sumer offers invaluable insight into ancient civilization, most anthropologists

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Northeastern group pilots hands-on renewable energy education program with Boston-area students

Environment, Technology / /

On Wednesday, May 3, four Roxbury high school students and a couple of Northeastern undergraduate volunteers built mini wind turbines as part of an energy education pilot program. The motivation behind the event was not only to teach students about the generation and conversion of energy but also to try out accompanying learning modules with

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The return of monkeypox

Health / /

Just when the world thought it had gotten a grasp on COVID-19, monkeypox emerged as another infectious disease and public health concern. Monkeypox is a viral disease classified as an Orthopoxvirus, a genus that includes smallpox, cowpox, camelpox, and similar diseases. Excluding smallpox, all human cases of orthopoxviruses are considered zoonoses, or diseases transmitted to

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Starchild Awaits: The Technology of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

Space, Technology / /

You awaken to your Alexa alarm blaring. You ask the virtual assistant for the weather report and a reminder of the day’s appointments. After a quick FaceTime with a friend across the world, you casually scroll past the headline “New SpaceX crew blasts off to International Space Station.” Only 50 years ago, Stanley Kubrick’s cult

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How AI can improve MRI imaging speed

Health, Technology / /

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology has greatly accelerated advancements in the medical field. Today, MRI machines are a staple in hospitals across the world. The machines use a magnetic field and radio waves to produce anatomical images. They provide doctors with the ability to see abnormalities or defects in certain body parts. MRI machines are

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A fluorescent cry for help: How corals use “sunscreen” to stay cool

Chemistry, Environment / /

Glow sticks are part of a happy childhood memory for many. Beneath your fingertips, you snap the plastic stick in half, revealing a beautiful vibrant color show in the dark. While glowing colors may remind us of nostalgic times, fluorescing corals are a sign of a last-ditch effort to survive bleaching in the battle against

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Sending humans to Mars: Outlook, barriers, and timeline

Biology, Space / /

The United States has landed nine payloads on Mars — the fourth planet from the sun, with a reddish-brown coloration — dating all the way back to 1976. And yet, no human has ever set foot on Mars. Although Earth’s and Mars’ days are approximately equivalent lengths, many stark differences exist between the two celestial

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Long, lost COVID

Health / /

The long crusade of the coronavirus pandemic began in late 2019. Fast forward to present time, and we are approaching three years since the premier cases of the virus. During these long and “apocalyptic” years, COVID-19 has taken a tragic toll on the lives of people globally. Millions of exposures and deaths have inevitably occurred

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Brian Helmuth is trying to bring people closer to nature in an effort to save it

Environment, Local, Psychology / /

Living aboard Aquarius, the world’s only underwater research center, isn’t glamorous. Its interior is about the size of a bus. You eat dehydrated backpacking food with tons of hot sauce because taste buds don’t work as well in the high-pressure atmosphere. There’s a constant mechanical hum and the “ticking” of snapping shrimp. But Northeastern marine

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Opinion: How the United States wrongfully criminalizes postpartum psychosis  

Opinion, Psychology, World / /

It was dinner time on January 24, 2023, and Patrick Clancy had just left his home in Duxbury, MA to pick up some food for his wife and kids. In his 20-minute absence, his wife, Lindsay Clancy, strangled and killed each of their three children with exercise bands before cutting herself with a knife and

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Are bananas our long-lost cousins? The secrets genomes hold

Biology, World / /

Many people have likely heard that humans are 98% related to chimps, but would you guess that we also share 50 to 60% of our genes with bananas? This surprising overlap is the result of billions of years of evolution from an ancient common ancestor. While humans and bananas have acquired different structures and functions,

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How can the brain rewire itself, and why does it matter?

Biology, Health, World / /

The age-old myths that humans use 10% of their brains, or that the brain stops developing after the age of 25, have resulted in the underestimation of the complexity of this powerful organ. Until about the 1960s, scientists believed that the brain is static, or unchanging, after it reaches a certain stage. In 1964, neuroscientist

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Zepbound a game changer? A look at weight management’s new weapon

Biology, Health, World / /

Imagine a future where managing weight becomes less of a struggle and more of a sustainable lifestyle change. This future has now become a reality, with the FDA’s approval of Eli Lilly and Company’s Zepbound, promising a revolutionary approach to chronic weight management. This new treatment represents the company’s commitment to addressing complex health challenges

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Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Hospitals: Why is it necessary?

Health, World / /

By the year 2050, researchers estimate that minorities will make up 50% of the United States’ total population. Demographically, the healthcare system should reflect such a distribution, yet it has dramatically fallen short. For example, although African Americans make up about 15% of the US population, they only represent 7% of all medical doctors. The

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The eclipse effect: How do animals react to strange celestial phenomena?

Biology, Culture / /

The event of a solar eclipse transcends the astronomical meaning, occurring when the Moon completely blocks the Sun from Earth’s view and darkens skies across a region. Solar eclipses have been referenced throughout history as a time of change and intention-setting for spiritualists or as the source of several cultural folk stories. The impacts of

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