![[Black protesters hold up fists in the air.]](https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/files/2020/06/BLM.png)
In the aftermath of George Floyd and many others’ murders, police and armed forces have instigated violence against peaceful protesters across the nation. Our small community in Bloomington is no exception to racism and pervasive tolerance of it. We at ScIU support the Black Lives Matter movement and the peaceful protests occurring across the country, and we condemn the escalating violence at the hands of local police departments, federal service members, and elected officials. Below is a starting point for helping protesters, amplifying the voices of Black scientists, and engaging with anti-racist literature…
Entries by Lana Ruck
Ethics in Research: What is the IRB?
![[A human silhouette made of small data points.]](https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/files/2020/04/data.png)
Across many fields, scientific research involving humans has a dark history, and many studies conducted in the past are completely unethical both in their original contexts and now. In America, examples include the Tuskegee Study on syphilis, which ran for over 40 years, and Henrietta Lacks’ ovarian cancer cells which were used in scientific research for decades without her or her family’s knowledge…
What’s up with leap years?
Today is February 29. Unlike every other day in the year, this day only shows up in the calendar once every four years… but why? To understand this, we’re going to use a little bit of history and astronomy to get to the calendar that most of the world uses today. First, let’s talk about… Read more »
Building Wakanda: a graduate student’s journey into sports psychology
A profile of DeJon Purnell in celebration of Black History Month In the USA, sports are important, period. But many of us are aware that America’s cultural obsession with sports is not without its downsides. Still, I know people who are fine with 2020’s Super Bowl mascots (among other things; see The Onion’s recent Tweet),… Read more »
Netflix and spill: David Landy speaks about the pros of working in industry
You come home from a long day at work, make yourself some dinner, and turn on the TV. Not to MSNBC or ESPN but, like over 100 million global users, you go directly to Netflix. You might watch a Netflix original that attracted you with its clever trailer; or maybe, you dive right in to… Read more »
Creating a Science Communication Collective at IU
As you might know, here at ScIU, we like to publish weekly blog posts about science happening on campus — especially science that might not be reaching other news outlets — because a lot of the work happening here at IU is amazing, and we believe that broader audiences should have access to it. Another… Read more »
Science Fest 2019
Falling leaves, pumpkin spice, and football — it’s that time of year again in the Bloomington community: Science Fest is tomorrow! Grab your goggles and plug your ears, the Science Fest is coming up! Did we mention it’s FREE? https://t.co/saS44RYdMV pic.twitter.com/N9jcx2EsXf — Indiana University Bloomington (@IUBloomington) October 9, 2019
From Classroom to Community: IU clinical psychology students launch their careers through local internship
In 2015, IU’s Department of Psychology and Brain Science (PBS) began a Clinical Psychological Science Certificate program for undergraduates, through which students interested in clinical psychology can learn the foundations of the field, participate in PBS research, and gain internship experience with local community partners. Although many departments offer internships, the main goal of the… Read more »
Brewers without borders: Crossing racial divisions in the world of craft beer
A profile of Aaron Ellis in celebration of Black History Month Craft beer: chances are if you’re over 21, you’ve heard about it, drank it, or even tried to brew it yourself. For anthropologist Aaron Ellis — a brewer, a Ph.D. candidate in IU’s Department of Anthropology, and an IU academic advisor in the departments… Read more »
Stellar psychology part II: what does signaling theory tell us about communicating with other life in the universe?
This is the second part of a series on extraterrestrial psychology. Read part 1 here! In Part 1 of this series, I discussed how the interdisciplinary field of evolutionary psychology can help us explore similarities between the human mind and possible extraterrestrial ones. One common potential feature is how we search for resources, which often… Read more »