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Cutting-Edge Science at IU

Expanding ‘The Matrix’ of science: The Newman lab inside and out

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Eight people standing around a table full of science experiments

[Eight people standing around a table full of science experiments]

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) assistant professor Dr. Ehren Newman studies circuitry in the brain, particularly the circuitry that is associated with the making of stories and the retrieval of memories. Newman’s background as a computational neuroscientist enables him to bring a plethora of new insight into his current field of systems cognitive psychology. Memory is a complex process with multiple facets. “We don’t remember everything that happens to us with equal probability,” he observes. “Instead, we have fragmented memories of things of varying lengths.” So, how do we choose which memories to store and later recall?

IU’s take on the cannabis trend

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The image shows Cannabis Sativa plant

[The image shows Cannabis Sativa plant]

On March 20, 2019, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Professor Emeritus Dr. Brian O’Donnell and Research Scientist Dr. Alex Straiker met with the student community for a Q&A session entitled “Cannabis: Science and Policy.” “IU has been the world center for research regarding cannabinoid signaling,” said Dr. Straiker during his address at the Science Café talk. Having studied cannabinoid signaling for more than 20 years, Dr. Straiker mentions the growing enthusiasm for cannabis use in a variety of forms, like essential oils; not only recreationally, but also for the treatment of anxiety, autoimmune disease, inflammation, and pain management…

An Archaeological Introduction to Coding in Python

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A left-hander sits facing the camera holding a core in her right hand and a hammerstone in her left hand. She is preparing a core to begin making flakes off the rock. Both the core and the flakes produced are considered stone tools.

Programming skills are not only becoming more in demand in industry jobs, they’re also becoming a required skill in academia as well. Programming is now used in almost every discipline for tasks such as data collection,  organization, and analysis. In this post, I’m going to demonstrate how some basic programming in Python can be used… Read more »

How failure fuels science: Perspectives from two early-career ecologists

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Two scientists working at the lab bench, preparing fungal tissues for staining.

Saskia Klink is a PhD student at the University of Bayreuth, who is collaborating with Adrienne Keller. Recently, Adrienne traveled to Germany to work with Saskia on several research projects in her lab. This post is an outgrowth of their discussions together during that time. Check out their previous post to learn more about their… Read more »

From models to the world’s biodiversity: How a theoretical biologist predicts the effects of environmental change

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Dr. Jason Bertram is sitting at his desk working on his laptop. On the screen, you can see graphs that exhibit models that are showing how populations might respond to different environmental challenges.

Upon establishing the Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI) at Indiana University, the leaders and visionaries reported four main goals. The first goal stated that the supported research would create “accurate predictions about coming changes in weather patterns, water, plants and animals, and disease risk.” This goal focused on directly predicting what Hoosiers would have to face,… Read more »

The power of quantum computing: Parallelism

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Dilution refrigerator hanging, showing support arms and lots of beautiful electronics.

The author is ScIU guest writer AJ Rasmusson, a graduate student in IU’s Department of Physics. Tech companies are going big in a microscopic way, pouring millions of dollars into a new form of computing: quantum computing. Quantum computers will revolutionize drug research, material discovery, and artificial intelligence by solving complex problems in a new way…. Read more »

The perils of publish or perish

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Academia is a tough career choice. The pay is low (especially for graduate students), the hours are long, and the job market is uncertain. Those entering the field often receive this simple advice — “publish or perish.” Publications are the central method by which people are evaluated in academia. One either continually publishes papers, ideally… Read more »

A change of perspective

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A colorful, symmetrical structure that resembles a butterfly with antennae on a black background.

One author is ScIU guest writer Melanie Chin, a graduate student in IU’s Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience. This post is part of a series featuring amazing science images and the stories behind them. Comment below with your guess and read on to see if you are correct! There is no argument that the… Read more »

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