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Cicada mania at IU

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[A picture of someone holding a cicada in their hand.]

If you’ve walked around Indiana University (or frankly, any woodsy area in Indiana) recently, you’ve probably seen the 17-year Brood X adult cicadas on sidewalks, long grass, trees, and buildings. If you are reading this post and you’ve been in Bloomington for a while, you may also remember the time this happened 17 years ago. Or, you might be like me, and this invasion has sparked a curiosity of wanting to learn more about cicadas…

The Origins of 420

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[A cannabis plant, seeds, and oil displayed on a canvas cloth.]

This Tuesday is April 20th, otherwise known as 420. For some it’s just another day in the week, but for others it’s a much-anticipated and beloved holiday. However, have you ever stopped to consider how this pseudo-holiday came to be? A quick google search will provide a number of varying and amusing theories. Some of the most popular 420 stories include 420 as a police dispatch code for cannabis use, as the number of chemical compounds in cannabis (actually there are over 500), or  the day of Bob Marley’s death (actually May 11th). However…

Particle physics goes virtual through pandemic difficulties

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[A scientist in white clothes on a lift surveys the inside of a gold-coated and box-shaped detector for neutrinos.]

Phineas and Ferb (in the funny Disney cartoon) had it right when they wondered what could be done over a 104-day summer vacation. There is a lot to do, such as go on a trip, get ice cream, spend weeks on end floating in a pool, or doing particle physics research. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted everything in life, resulting in many of these plans being canceled this past summer. Wait! Go back! Why would any student want to spend their summer, their solitary free time during the year, doing particle physics research? Moreover, how would that work during a pandemic, when the university is completely shut down?

A quick summary of the immune system and the COVID-19 vaccine

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[This image shows a person’s hand, and a syringe is being held between the person’s fingers. The needle of the syringe is pointed towards a round pathogen cell with small projections.]

There are many strategies when it comes to developing a vaccine, but the idea behind all of them is similar. Vaccines are designed to pose a foreign invader, such as a virus or bacterium, to your adaptive immune system without causing you to be sick. Our immune systems are quite amazing, which also makes them quite complex. Here, we will focus only on a few aspects that are important for understanding vaccine development… 

Against “the study”

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[An image of gloved hands working with test tubes. The image has a large red X over it.]

Science journalists are always announcing the results of the latest study. The more bizarre and controversial, the better. A recent study is, almost by definition, cutting-edge research — what better way to tap into the pulse of science? Except, the latest and greatest research is just as often wrong. The concern is not simply with hype. Rather, the problem is the “study.” As a unit of scientific research, it leaves much to be desired, and for those who are unfamiliar with the practices of the scientific community, how to interpret a lone study can be deeply confusing.

A 70% chance to win? The tricky math of election forecasting

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[two red and blue carton human figures are climbing a normal distribution curve that is decorated with the American flag.]

The election is almost here and the election forecasters are in full swing. As of October 23rd, the Economist gives Biden a 92% chance of winning, and FiveThirtyEight has him winning 88 out of 100 “simulated” elections. How should we interpret these claims? If you have a coin and you flip it a thousand times, and it lands on heads 500 times and tails 500 times then you may infer it has a 50% probability of landing on heads and a 50% probability tails. Sounds simple, except, we’re not going to run this election thousands of times, we’re only going to run it once.

What’s in a name? How the Black Lives Matter movement is reshaping bird taxonomy

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[A drawing of a black bird is centered on the image. The bird is enclosed in a blue circle with a gold border. A black box with white text that reads “Bird Names for Birds” is located on top of the bird’s legs.]

Since May 2020, millions of people around the world have shown their support for the Black Lives Matter movement by attending protests, posting on social media, and signing petitions. In the scientific community, perhaps one of the most vocal groups of researchers for this social justice movement has been birders. The birding community was the first group of scientists to create a social media initiative to celebrate diversity in STEM in May 2020: Black Birders Week.

How many people has COVID-19 really killed in the U.S.?

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A silhouette of a young man wearing a white mask is superimposed over the American flag.

In late August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their provisional death counts page to indicate that COVID-19 was the sole cause of death listed on death certificates in only 6% of cases. This fact was interpreted by some as only 6% of reported fatalities, or around 10,000 people, actually died of… Read more »

COVID-19 at IU and the importance of waiting for the evidence

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Before classes had even started this semester, pictures of student parties began to circulate on social media. A college experience had been promised, but not everyone read the fine print about the degree of isolation and social distancing that would be required. The reactions ranged from indifference, to abject horror, to finger wagging, to smug… Read more »

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