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A new level of planning: how cities are adapting to rising sea level By Kelly Thomas, Journalism, 2023 Source: Pixabay In the wake of sea level rise, which threatens to inundate hundreds of cities worldwide in the coming years, coastal cities have begun to adapt their infrastructure. Many at-risk cities have issued climate adaptation reports that […]

C. elegans: One small step for connectomes, one giant leap for artificial intelligence By Spurti Vemuri, Behavioral Neuroscience, 2021 Source: Pixabay Since the advent of computers, and the consequential fascination of “networks” within the sciences, researchers all over the world have embarked on the Race to the Connectome. The “Connectome” is a comprehensive map of

Distillation: Separation by structure By Ryan Brady, Chemical Engineering & Biochemistry, 2022 Source: Pixabay Think about the air around you. What is it made up of? It is not merely one component, but a variety of them: 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon and small amounts of other gases. Air represents just

One for All, All for One?: The Complexity of Pack Mentality By Emma Tusuzian, Psychology, 2023 Photo credit: Zoe Sommers Many cultures emphasize individuality, yet our desire for social acceptance and community tempts us to conform. The term “groupthink” was initially derived from the novel 1984 by George Orwell, which describes the overwhelming social pressures that

Finding the Elusive Braveheart RNA Structure Catrin Zharyy, Behavioral Neuroscience, 2023 Source: Pixabay If there’s anything genetics can teach us, it’s that we are the sum of our parts. Sure, you can style your hair or do some jumping jacks, but there is only so much about your appearance and health that you can control.

Race as a social construct: That’s what genomics says By Christie Ya-Chi Lee, Biology & English, 2022 Source: Pixabay If we were to examine the chemical composition of every living organism, we would find a common thread of carbon and hydrogen, and a mix of oxygen and nitrogen atoms. At its root, the biological composition of

Hunger equals coping? By Michelle Lim, Psychology, 2022 Source: Pixabay Why do we eat food? The most obvious answer is to survive. When we are feeling hungry, we eat food in response to the perception of required nutrition, as demanded by our hypothalami. When our brains think we are hungry, they display hormone signals to indicate

The Biting Truth About Venomous Snakes By Binh Dang, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2022 Source: Pixabay When I tell someone I spent a summer catching snakes for research, I often get one of two reactions: an exclamation of fascination or an audible gasp and look of horror. Usually it’s the latter. The typical question that follows

Why symmetry in nature is the key to understanding the universe By Annetta Stogniew, Bioengineering, 2024 Source: Pixabay When one considers the term ‘symmetry,’ an image of regular polygons with dotted lines traced across their centers usually comes to mind. When one is asked to cite instances of symmetry in nature, mentions of human faces, starfish,