Culture – Page 5 – NU Sci Magazine

What would Micky Mouse do?: Mickey Mouse and the origins of devotion

Culture, World / Abigail Potter / February 28, 2024

Nobody lies awake at night contemplating the existence of Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is the world’s most famous rodent. His conceptual existence is unquestionably true, and his physical existence is unquestionably false. He is, after all, fictional. Despite his widespread reach, it is generally assumed that no one lets the existence (or inexistence) of Mickey […]

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Blue zones: Lessons from the longest-living people

Culture, Health, World / Ananya Jain / December 29, 2023

Living to 100 years old and beyond is no doubt one of the greatest privileges that life can offer. As of 2021, just over half a million people — less than 0.01% of the world’s population — are centenarians, a remarkable figure nonetheless. However, to live to 100 years old and be riddled with the

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Opinion: How fossil fuel corporations distorted the climate change conversation

Culture, Environment, Opinion / Sashi Nallapati / December 29, 2023

James E. Hansen’s congressional testimony in 1988 officially introduced American policymakers to the need for a climate intervention. In the same year, George H.W. Bush declared greenhouse gasses as the enemy, in response to Hansen, when he promised to fight the greenhouse gas effect with “the White House effect” on the campaign trail. However, a

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The science of superstition

Culture, Psychology / Dessy Dusichka / December 29, 2023

Former Red Sox player Wade Boggs, known as the “chicken man,” famously ate chicken before every one of his games as a good luck charm. Boggs told MLB.com, “In 1983, we ate chicken every day, and I wound up winning a batting title in ’83. So, the chicken worked.” While this pre-game ritual may have

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From nowhere to Nobel

Biology, Culture, World / Divya Ravikumar / December 29, 2023

Katalin Karikó, the 13th woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was initially demoted from her position at the University of Pennsylvania for the same research on messenger RNA (mRNA) that won her the achievement in 2023. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman jointly received the award in October for their chemical

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Unveiling Mayan mysteries: Modern physics revolutionizes archaeology research

Culture, World / Aanchalika Chauhan / December 29, 2023

Buried within blooming jungles in northern Guatemala lie ancient Mayan settlements with detailed palaces, monumental pyramids, and even ball courts for competitive sports. Within the archeological community, it had been generally accepted that this area in Northern Guatemala, known as the Mayan lowlands, was sparsely populated throughout history. However, with the help of modern technology,

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Stuck in Boston traffic? Blame the cows, partially

Culture, World / Vianna Quach / December 26, 2023

17th century Boston most likely never imagined it would grow into the major urban center it has become 300 years after its founding. The cluster of neighborhoods that make up its landscape developed at their own paces and paved their roads in a manner that suited them. These roads are known historically to have catered

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

Culture, Opinion, World / CJ Crombie / December 3, 2023

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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When your hair just won’t go flat

Biology, Culture, Health / Raisa Bhuiyan / December 3, 2023

Let’s face it, hair care is not an easy task. Personally, it takes me around four to five minutes of brushing my hair to get it looking presentable, and even then, the outside world could easily not cooperate and mess up my look. However for some people, no matter how hard they try, their hair

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