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Debugging the gender gap in computer science: Women were the original programmers, so why aren’t they still doing it? By Claire Bohlig, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science Minor, 2023 Source: Popular Mechanics, October 1944 Computer programming is stereotypically a male nerd field, much more than other scientific or engineering disciplines. When you picture a programmer, it is probably […]

Polluted in the Womb By Theresa Chung, Health Science, 2023 Source: Shutterstock In recent centuries, the burning of fossil fuels has dramatically increased the amount of pollutants in the air. Coal, one of the most used fossil fuels in the world, is very toxic. It releases dangerous compounds, including carbon monoxide molecules, particulate matter (or soot),

Gasdermin and the illusive inflammasome By Hugh Shirley, Biochemistry, 2019 Source: Shutterstock This piece was originally published as part of Issue 40: Wonder. There’s more than one way that a cell can kill itself. The standard version of cell suicide, apoptosis, is happening constantly within our bodies. When a cell detects damage, harmful mutations, or

Mitochondria are more than just the powerhouse of the cell By Roxanne Lee, Environmental Science and Policy, 2019 Source: Shutterstock The importance of mitochondria cannot be understated. These organelles, found in large numbers within the cells of most eukaryotic organisms, are responsible for the energy production that keeps cells and the beings they make up functioning.

The STEM of Their Interest: The Lit Review Does Come Through and Emily Navarrete in the Williams Lab By Hugh Shirley, Biochemistry 2019 Navarrete fixes DNA, bound to a small metal disc, onto the AFM. This is the final of four pieces in the “STEM of Their Interest” series by Hugh Shirley, featuring Northeastern undergraduates and research

Why Carrots Are Orange: The Domestication of Your Favorite Healthy Snack By Jason M. Denoncourt, Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, 2023 Photo credit: Gabriel Mzaouakk The common name for wild carrots is Queen Anne’s Lace. With its illustrious, white summer flowers and pale, branching root systems, this subspecies hardly resembles everyone’s favorite healthy snack. Yet, over numerous generations

More Iron in a Biofilm’s Diet By Hugh Shirley, Biochemistry, 2019 Source: Shutterstock Biofilms are the name of the game in the Chai Lab at Northeastern University, and iron is shaking up the rules. Dr. Yunrong Chai and his team recently published an article in Nature Communications on their novel discoveries surrounding biofilm formation. Biofilms

The STEM of Their Interest: The Machine Learning Learning Machine, Biruk Abreha in the Lopez Lab By Hugh Shirley, Biochemistry, 2019 This is the third of four pieces in the “STEM of Their Interest” series by Hugh Shirley, featuring Northeastern undergraduates and research labs. This piece was originally published as part of our Summer 2018 series.

Global Surgery: A Forgotten Piece of the Health Puzzle By Hugh Shirley, Biochemistry, 2019 Source: Shutterstock This piece was originally published as part of our Summer 2019 series. Surgery isn’t a topic that comes up very often in a public health lecture. In the world of health prevention and promotion, pills and vaccines are often at