Step outside in Southern Indiana and you’ll be greeted by a symphony of chirps, calls, and songs from a myriad of local birds. Home to over 400 species, Indiana is a birder’s paradise. Warblers, eagles, and owls alike call Bloomington home and are frequently spotted on the campus of IU Bloomington. Birds are a vibrant part of Bloomington culture, so it’s worth getting to know a few…
General Science
How rat behavior may inform our understanding of racism
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. The question is: would you attempt to free this individual in the face of these risks…
What the heck is a nanowire?
Imagine a future in which your iPhone 20 charges itself as you walk down the street and your house is powered by photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells installed in your backyard, using the power of the sun to convert captured rainwater into clean hydrogen. If we have any hope of realizing this future, you can be certain that nanowires will play a significant role. So what are nanowires, and why are they so important? My previous blog post was dedicated to examining a class of objects known as topological materials, with an emphasis on the bizarre realm of topological insulators (TIs). Implicit in the definition of topological insulators in the previous post was the assumption that the bulk of this insulator behaves as one would expect from its name: preventing the flow of electric current. Real-world TIs are not quite so simple, however…
Potluck of neuroscience: Meet microglia, your brain’s National Guard
One of the first things you’ll learn about if you start studying the brain is that it is made of cells called neurons. While neuroscientists have a decent understanding about how neurons work, it turns out that at least half of the brain is actually made of non-neuronal cells called glia*. Glia, named based on the Greek word for ‘glue,’ were initially thought to be a type of connective tissue in the nervous system, acting just as scaffolding, while the neurons did all the communicating. In the last couple decades, the growing field of neuroimmunology has highlighted the importance of a certain kind of glia: microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells…
What is a species and why should we care?
When you read about an animal on Wikipedia or in a textbook, one of the first things mentioned is its scientific name — genus and species. But, how do we define a species? First, why are we concerned with classification? Humans have an innate need to categorize. It’s ingrained in our minds from our days as hunter-gatherers, when we needed to remember what each plant was and whether it was safe to eat or poisonous. Taxonomy is a hierarchical system that classifies the biological continuum. It comes from Greek philosophers (including Plato and Aristotle), who ranked animals as closer or farther from God. Darwin then focused on common ancestors, and his ideas on how to draw phylogenies are still used today…
The new beast in our backyards
Watch out, Hoosiers! There’s a new predator afoot. Thirty to forty-five pounds, hungry, mobile, and travelling up to 15 miles per day — coywolves are Indiana’s newest predators! A quick note on terms — since the early 1900’s, the term ‘coywolf’ has described a hybrid animal from a wolf and a coyote. The mid-2000’s saw the rise of wolf-coyote-dog hybrids across North America. These creatures are widely called ‘coywolves.’ All uses of ‘coywolf’ or ‘coywolves’ in this article refer to the latter. Scientists are still somewhat divided on whether these triple-hybrids are a separate species…
Neuroimaging: Three important brain imaging techniques
At the birth of neuroscience, it was difficult to understand how the brain worked because, at the time, those studying it did not have the technology to analyze and measure brain activity in real time. Thankfully, we have come a long way since the first dissections of the human brain, and we can use a multitude of wonderful pieces of technology that enable the study of the brain and its inner workings. Three different neuroimaging techniques, EEG, MRI, and PET, allow us to explore and measure the insane amounts of activity going on in our brain; however, each comes with its own strengths and limitations, making the motivations behind using them very important…
Fieldwork codes-of-conduct
Field scientists often work in isolated, unsupervised, or otherwise dangerous locations. For instance, I used to work along remote streams with limited access and communication with my institution. These secluded environments can create conditions that exacerbate sexual harassment and bullying, from fellow field scientists or other people encountered in the field. This can lead to unsafe situations, particularly for non-male students and those belonging to marginalized groups. As a striking example of these hostilities, approximately 70% of women scientists have experienced harassment while doing fieldwork and one in four have been assaulted. Scientists at remote field sites can also experience hate symbols, threats of violence, or verbal abuse about a disability from people they encounter…
The grocery store sells many kinds of salt, but are they actually different?
I walk down the spice aisle of my local grocery store. It smells like pepper and cinnamon, but all I need is salt. Scanning the shelves of alphabetically arranged spices, it isn’t there. It has a display all its own, just to the left. And there’s not just one type. There are many. Mediterranean sea salt, iodized salt, black truffle salt, kosher salt, smoked salt, the list goes on. But what’s the difference? According to Samin Nosrat, in her bestselling book, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat”, salt is the “most important element of good cooking,” so you have to have it. But what kind should you get? Well, it depends on what qualities matter to you. Is it the geology? The chemistry? The size of the crystal grains? Or maybe the flavor…
Making and Reaching New Year’s Resolutions the SMART way
It’s January 1st. You bought your notebook, numbered the page, and you’re ready; It is time to make some New Year’s resolutions. If you’re someone that regularly makes resolutions, you’re not alone. The start of a new year brings a natural push to start new routines or try to break bad habits. However, many people struggle to keep resolutions. The good news is, behavioral science and the theory of motivation tell us there are evidence-based strategies that can help…