If Americans learned anything from the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, regardless of party affiliation, it was that polls cannot be trusted. Pollsters wildly missed the mark in 2016, with the New York Times giving Clinton an 85 percent chance of winning, FiveThirtyEight predicting a 71.4 percent likelihood, and Reuters gambling […]
Statistical slip ups: The problems with political polling Read More »
When it comes to our memories, the expression “hindsight is 20/20” isn’t exactly accurate. We’ve all experienced a time when we remembered something wrong, even if we haven’t realized it. In reality, there is a scientific reasoning behind misremembering events. Furthermore, the misinformation effect also acts at a group level, playing an important role in
Alternate realities or malleable memories? Read More »
Arabian horses are often considered the most beautiful horse in the world, distinguished by their dish-shaped face, large eyes, and high tail. They originated in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago, and they are capable of enduring heat and traveling long distances. Whether by accident or by strategic breeding, many European horses contain traces
Genes across continents: Investigating genetic diversity in Arabian horses Read More »
The plight of 2020 has shaken our lives as we knew them, and understanding and adapting to our current situation is certainly no easy task. The burden of figuring out the rest of your life as a young adult was seemingly not hard enough on its own. Searching for guidance myself, I turned to my
NEU’s declassified school survival guide Read More »
For centuries, alchemists, ancient forerunners of chemists, set out to transmute one element into another. This prospect attracted people of a variety of different professions from miners to natural philosophers to goldsmiths. Even physicians of ancient times grew interested in alchemy, as many saw the biochemical reactions within the human body as transmutational processes. Today,
The search for the Midas touch Read More »
Running into a friend looks very different during the COVID-19 pandemic: both parties pause and take extra moments to scan for familiar cues on their mask-wearing counterpart. When trying to recognize masked neighbors or peers, people must rely more on clothes, hair, mannerisms, and other elements to identify the person in front of them. The
Facial blindness and mask wearing: A look into prosopagnosia Read More »
In 1895, Swedish scientist and industrialist Alfred Nobel drafted a will stating that most of his fortune be reserved as prizes “to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Presented within the categories of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics, the Nobel Prizes have come
I have a joke about the Nobel Prize, but only white men will get it Read More »
One of the tenets of quantum physics is the concept of superposition, which, like in the oft-lectured case of Schrödinger’s cat, occurs when a particle exists in multiple states and locations at once. A common misinterpretation of the phenomenon remains that particles seemingly maintain this dual existence until observed. In fact, the particle’s collapse of
Re-envisioning quantum physics: The curious saga between gravity and superposition Read More »
A symphony resounds, stirring feelings of peace and fear, sadness and joy, all in one piece and all without words. This absence of words in a classical symphony, or any instrumental piece, leaves just musical properties as the cause of an emotional response. Intuitively, most would say that fast tempos and loud dynamics create energy
Music, math, and the mind: Why do we perceive musical chords as good or bad? Read More »