Archive: Sep 2015

Presented by Dan Tarjan, Justin Feng, and Jianghong “John” Min Biology is a new science. It was only about 200 years ago that Charles Darwin formulated the principles of Evolution by natural selection, and Gregor Mendel described the first…

by Steph Guerra figures by Krissy Lyon Reproducibility in science is not very sexy. Because our scientific culture generally rewards innovation over cautiousness, replicating a study conducted by others will not get a researcher a publication in a…

Presented by Katherine Phillips and Benjamin Sanchez-Lengeling Science and art are often seen as disparate topics, but they frequently intertwine in surprising and interesting ways. In this talk, we will see how science can help us analyze, understand,…

by C. Rose Kennedy figures by Kaitlyn Choi What’s in a Flavor? The word “flavor” pervades our daily vocabulary, evoking associations of rich or vivid experiences beyond the experience of eating. Even in the literal context, the Flavor Extract…

by Matthew Schwartz A new danger is threatening the economic stability of the west coast of the United States and has the potential to cause a public health crisis. A massive harmful algal bloom has accumulated across most of the west coast and may be…

The experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland have produced many impressive results in recent years studying the nature of the fundamental particles and forces that govern the world around us. While it is better known…

Simulated Image of a Black Hole. Image obtained via Creative Commons License Stephen Hawking recently announced that he has solved one of the most famous puzzles in science, the black hole information paradox. The information paradox is a conundrum of…

The anti-retroviral drug Truvada; Author- Jeffrey Beall’s own work, from Wikimedia CommonsA recent study has delighted many by claims that taking the pill Truvada prevents HIV infection. The study is one of the first to test the pill in a real-world…

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Formica fusca, the ant specie used in the study, feedingBy Sedeer El-Showk [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons 2015 has been a good year for ants: Ant-Man was added to the roster of Marvel superheroes and now a recent paper has shown ants participating…