Uncategorized

The Slip-and-Slide that Keeps You Standing By Cristian Piraneque, Bioengineering, 2022 Photo: Shutterstock Spider-Man’s got nothing on us. If we appreciated our own sense of balance, everyone would be a superhero. It is difficult to fathom the complexity and instantaneous communication that supports balance: visual inputs, sensorimotor (or proprioceptive) receptors laced throughout the body and joints, […]

Acid Ocean: How Carbon is Destroying the Shells of Marine Animals By Kelli Valentini, Bioengineering, 2024 Photo: Shutterstock The effects of carbon pollution from the burning of fossil fuels have long been studied and debated by scientists around the world. Its atmospheric influence is usually the focal point of discussion as greenhouse gases contribute heavily to

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Can urban planning help mitigate the harmful effects of climate change? By Sreeja Daliparthy, Computer Science/Biology, 2023 Sustainability is the buzzword of the decade. A global society that seems to be toeing the line between risk and disaster combined with an increasingly outspoken youth population preaching the dangers of excessive consumption

From perilous to practical: How mining areas are changing in the modern age By Christina Curran, Biochemistry, 2023 Photo: Shutterstock The death of the American mining industry has often been blamed for the decay of Appalachian communities. Indeed, it is difficult to see opportunity in the ghostly shafts so deep beneath the earth. Officials have warned

Climate Action Needed The Devastating Effects of the Australian Fires By Maria Harsvik, Behavioral Neuroscience, 2023 Source: Pixabay From the viral spread of images showing severely burned koalas wrapped tightly in rescue blankets to donation pages dominating social media outlets, nearly everyone has some idea of the impact of the Australian bushfires. However, it remains unclear

Hot or Not: What Makes Humans Attractive? By Jaeyoon Lee, English and Biology, 2022 Source: Pixabay Angles to make us taller, lighting to conceal or bring out features, and sometimes, Photoshop. Some say beauty is only skin-deep, but look across social media, magazines, or movies to get a taste of what people do to look

Why do bees make hexagon shapes? By Lauren Voso, Biology with Environmental Science Minor, 2024 Source: Pixabay Think of the world’s most ingenious and complex feats of engineering. Maybe you thought of creative architectural buildings, grand dams, or modernly designed bridges. But would you ever think the bees in your backyard could engineer something just as

A Snapshot of American Wind Energy By Lucas Principe, Environmental Science and Philosophy, 2020 Source: Pixabay This article was originally published as part of Issue 35: Motion. The Mechanism Wind power, which is generated from wind turbines, harnesses the energy of wind currents to create electricity. The currents push on the slanted blades of the wind

The future of magnetic materials: A conversation with Dr. Don Heiman By Dattu Kalluri, Biochemistry, 2022 Photo credit: Gus Mueller The Nanomagnetism Lab here at Northeastern University looks like a filming location for a new sci-fi film — at the entrance, emblazoned are the bright red words “CAUTION: HIGH MAGNETIC FIELD.” As you walk in, you see a long