Once a year, Indiana University-Bloomington proudly hosts Science Fest, a vibrant occasion designed to share the wonders of science with the public. This year, in an exciting shift, Science Fest was moved to the spring to celebrate the Total Solar Eclipse happening in Bloomington, IN! Attracting a diverse audience including students, families, educators, and children, Science Fest offered a plethora of engaging activities for everyone! (more…)
Makeup: The ugly truth
This post was written by ScIU Undergraduate Intern Alana Pate.
Waking up and applying makeup has become one of the most relaxing parts of my daily routine. While my music blares and I sing along, I go through the motions: concealer, blush, bronzer, mascara, lip gloss. Though applying each product symmetrically, in the right proportions, and with intentional brush strokes takes on a meditative quality, I rarely reflect on the ‘makeup’ of what I am putting on my skin.
What if the very products that make me feel so beautiful are uglier than they seem?
Perception, a constructed reality
Sensory information, via our eyes, ears, and other organs, forms the foundation of our lived experience. Yet we find ourselves perceiving the world differently from our family, friends, and the person sitting next to us at our favorite sports event, who calls the ball out when it clearly hit the line! So how accurate is our perception, really? This isn’t just an intellectual question about the physiological and psychological processes happening throughout our body; it has real world consequences.
What to know about organ donation
This post was written by ScIU Undergraduate Intern Kaitlynn McKibbin.
Throughout high school, I knew I wanted to make a difference in the community around me. After working at my local hospital for a couple of months, I started to notice that many people were impacted by organ donation in my small town alone. Soon after, I went to a healthcare conference in Indianapolis, IN, and I learned about groups advocating for organ donors and donor recipients. This is when I knew I wanted to be involved. With this information, I decided to start a Student Organ Donation Advocates club at my high school. It started with just me and two other girls, but in a year membership grew to 30 students and multiple teachers. With this group, we were able to reach out to the community with many events and show them that we are fighting for them too. Ultimately, this club showed me the love and support that the organ donation community has to offer and the privilege of supporting so many people who have been impacted by organ donation.
So how does organ donation affect people like you and me? Here is what we discovered.
Enough about polar bears: Who else is vulnerable to climate change?
his post was written by ScIU Undergraduate Intern Hayeon Byun.
Polar bears are one of the most iconic symbols of the impacts of climate change. Their struggle is depicted in campaigns across the world, which show animals that have become endangered as a result of climate change. Yet, polar bears aren’t the only animals impacted by global warming. This post explores other animal species that are also heavily affected by the impacts of climate change and aims to raise awareness of the struggles the wildlife around us experience. (more…)
The Cosmic Compass: How birds Master the Skies
This post was written by ScIU Undergraduate Intern Savannah Ahmad.
Every year, the skies come alive as billions of birds begin their migration. From the Arctic Tern, with its remarkable marathon around the Earth to the quaint journey of the Dusky Grouse, the avian spectrum is a captivating display of nature’s variability. How do these travelers embark on such extraordinary journeys, navigating through continents and oceans with such precision? The secret lies in their ability to sense Earth’s magnetic field (magnetoreception) and their use of celestial patterns (stars position, sun position, and skylight polarization) as guiding tools.
Extremophiles: The alien-like creatures of Earth
This post was written by ScIU Undergraduate Intern Komal Kumar.
The discovery of extremophiles – organisms that thrive in extreme environments – completely changed scientists’ perspectives on the conditions necessary for life. These evolutionary marvels provide context for the origins of life, evolution, and are maybe the best case for the possibility of the existence of life on other planets with extreme environments. Moreover, extremophiles are being widely studied among biotechnologists and engineers to understand how we can utilize their unique capabilities. Here are some of the types of extremophiles and the characteristics that make them incredibly useful:
PhD Mom: Baby development
This is the third post in the PhD Parenting series, click here to read PhDad and PhD Mom.
I’ve been doing this mom thing for about 2 years now and along the way I’ve gotten a chance to not only watch my child grow from being a squishy potato of a newborn into a boisterous, opinionated, and hilarious toddler, but I’ve also learned some cool things about baby cognition and child development along the way.
Miss Understanding: Discussing myths about sleep health
Scientists have finally figured out exactly how much sleep humans need: “Just five more minutes!” KIDDING! We’re not here to perpetuate unhelpful sleep habits (yeah – uh – sorry, that snooze button probably isn’t doing much for you); we’re here to talk about the science behind a topic that all people can relate to: sleep.
Sleep is a huge part of our daily routines: it is a dynamic process that affects functioning, helps people encode new information, stay healthy, and re-energize. Also, research consistently suggests that quality sleep can improve brain performance, mood, and overall health in the short term. Long term, poor sleep has been associated with numerous disorders and difficulties, such as dementia, strokes, and obesity. Scientists and doctors regularly agree that quality sleep is a top priority, making it important to know exactly what quality sleep even means.
The neural foundation of psychopathology is complex
Since the “Decade of the Brain,” neuroscientists and clinical psychologists have been particularly interested in understanding how the brain contributes to psychopathology (commonly referred to as mental illness or mental disorder). However, despite all the resources poured into pursuing questions along these lines, there is little overlap in research findings between studies; it remains difficult to effectively translate neuroscience research into clinical practice, arguably the ultimate goal in studying the brain basis of psychopathology. One reason for these limitations may be that the predominant neuroscientific framework used to study the influence of the brain on these complicated clinical phenomena largely do not align with how the brain actually contributes to behavior, including psychopathology.