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General Science

How rat behavior may inform our understanding of racism

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[A white rat and black rat facing each other, peering inquisitively.]

Imagine that you wake up in a small room with no doors. You quickly realize that there is no way out. Oh, shoot. Further, you see that there is another individual trapped in a small cylindrical Plexiglas container in the middle of this arena, with barely any room to move. You are not sure what the consequences could be if you go investigate—something could hurt you. Someone may grab you and trap you in a claustrophobia-inducing container as well. The first thought that comes to mind may be the Saw movie series, so you would likely be reluctant…

Miss Understanding: Debunking misconceptions about vaping

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[A hand holding 2 vapes, one in each hand, and the vapes resemble a USB flash drive. One is pink and the other is black.]

“This isn’t nicotine, it’s just a vape!” Have you heard this before? Well, if you have, you’re probably not the only one. The real question is, is it true? There is so much information online, it’s hard to really know! Turns out, there is also a lot of misinformation about vaping. Lucky for you, kind reader, Miss Understanding (that’s me – hi) is here to debunk a few of the misconceptions surrounding vaping…

What you might not know about keeping animals: Misconceptions about zoos

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[A mother orangutan sits in the foreground eating a piece of fruit, while her young offspring swings on a branch behind her.]

Zoos, aquariums, and animal sanctuaries are really important because they support animal conservation, species survival, insightful animal research, and educational programs.  However, there’s a lot of misinformation and misconceptions about zoos and animal sanctuaries that animal activists, such as PETA, use in order to deter people from enjoying, learning from, and supporting facilities that house wild animals…

Heart rate variability: What it is and how it relates to mental health

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[Two red heartbeat waves extend from a black-and-white outline of a brain.]

A healthy heart is not a metronome. Even though most of us can follow our heartbeat with ease, in between each heartbeat is a period of time that varies in duration from one beat to the next. This difference in time between any consecutive heartbeat is known as heart rate variability (HRV), and researchers are increasingly using it as a tool to understand mental health…

The hunt for continuous gravitational waves

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[The collision of neutron stars produces a burst of gravitational waves.]

In 1916, Einstein predicted there are ripples in the fabric of space that travel through the universe at the speed of light. Today we know those ripples as gravitational waves. A century after Einstein’s prediction, science gave Einstein one of his biggest victories: the detection of gravitational waves. The detection came from gravitational waves emitted by black holes…

Using art to teach chemistry

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[Portrait of a Mona Lisa]

 When it comes to Art and Chemistry, we typically see these two subjects as lying on opposite ends of a spectrum. Chemistry is typically associated with someone in a lab coat, mixing up some chemicals in the hopes of not blowing anything up. In contrast, art is often viewed as a form of expression crafted in some type of studio, using creative juices to design a masterpiece. But there is, in fact, a notable overlap between these two subjects… 

The perils of outdoor cats

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[A black and white cat perched on a rock wall watches three pigeons sitting on a vine.]

Outdoor cats have gained a reputation. In Disney movies, they’re charismatic. To humans, they’re curious and lovable. Some countries, like Turkey, have made cats a huge part of daily life. Istanbul alone has 125,000 free-roaming cats, fed and taken care of by residents. But to conservationists, they are a massive threat…

Kratom: More than a simple plant

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[Image showing the large, broad, green leaves of the mitragyna speciosa (kratom) plant.]

Does the word kratom [kra-tm] mean anything to you? Well, if you were me a few months ago, the word kratom was just this abstract word with very little meaning. I had no idea how popular kratom was in both Southeast Asia and (more recently) Western countries as a medicinal remedy for many ailments. However, after doing some personal research, I have a newfound appreciation for kratom and its use as an alternative pain-relieving substance. I hope that once you finish reading this post, you will too…

Winning at Wordle with machine learning

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[A screenshot of the Wordle website, with four guesses and varying yellow, green, and gray tiles. Word guesses include slaty, faugh, larks, and larva with larva being the correct response.]

You may have seen tweets, received texts, and noticed social media posts. One daily word. Five letters. Six guesses. Wordle took the world by storm at the beginning of 2022. If you aren’t familiar, Wordle challenges people to guess a five-letter word in six guesses, with a new word refreshing every single day…

Biases of the fossil record

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[Mounted statue of a Triceratops fossil at a museum. People can be seen in the background looking at a wall of fossils. ]

As scientists, we strive to reduce error and bias as much as possible. But as a paleontologist, I need to be aware of the biases I can’t reduce. The fossil record is inherently biased. Not everything that dies becomes a fossil. Not every fossil has been found. Not every fossil stays intact well enough to study. These biases in the fossil record come in many forms and are studied under the branch of paleontology known as taphonomy…

College of Arts + Sciences

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