World Elephant Day, coming up on Monday, August 12th, was established in 2012 as a way to celebrate these wonderful mammals and promote conservation efforts. There are two main genera alive today: the African elephant (Loxodonta) and the Asian elephant (Elephas). The African elephant genus is split between two species the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Only one species of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is still alive today. (more…)
Graduating ScIU Writers 2019
Our blog would be nothing without our writers. Unfortunately they can’t stay here forever; they must go on to their next great adventures in life. So we wanted to take a moment to recognize a few of our authors who have recently left or are preparing to leave soon. We wish you all the very best in your careers! (more…)
Apollo 11: 5 photos (and 1 video) you might not see in the news
The anniversary of the first steps on the moon is today and undoubtedly you’ve seen a lot of images from the landing. News media love to show the footprints, the saluting of the flag, and the Earth-rise over the lunar surface. However there are many pictures that get overlooked. So here we present 5 photos (and 1 video) from Apollo 11 that you won’t see in the news.
The power of quantum computing: Parallelism
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. To understand this, let’s review how normal computers solve problems and compare this to how a quantum computer would do it.
Today’s computers use billions upon billions of 0’s and 1’s called bits to represent information like numbers, words, images, etc. To watch a movie or simulate life-saving chemical reactions in medicine, a processor in the computer takes a group of bits and modifies them according to programmed instructions. For example, to watch Infinity War, your computer processes more than 16 billion bits. By repeating this process very quickly, your computer can turn a file of 0’s and 1’s into moving images on your display or store answers to complex math equations in a new file.
Quantum computers take a different approach to information processing. Instead of solving a problem one outcome at a time, a quantum computer computes every possible outcome simultaneously. To understand the power of that statement (and what it even means) let’s consider an example. (more…)
Back to the Stone Age: Why study primate archaeology?
This is the first installment of the Primate Conversation Series. You can read parts two and three here!
In 1960, Jane Goodall observed a chimpanzee, whom she named David Greybeard, deep in the Tanzanian jungle using a stick to fish for termites. This discovery was the first documented observation of a chimpanzee using tools in the wild and quashed the long-held view that humans are unique in their ability to make and use tools. Although many other animals, including all great ape species, have since been observed using tools, our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), are by far the most adept non-human species at making and using tools in the wild. Chimpanzees have been observed using over 40 different tool types in their repertoire, including tools for feeding behaviors, grooming, comfort, protection, socialization, and even curiosity. Therefore, they are the most widely studied tool-using species, both in the wild and captivity. In recent years, researchers have started exploring how studies of primate tool use can help us learn about ourselves and our extinct ancestors.
Collection is not curation: artifact hunting and personal collections
This is a ScIU guest post by Krystiana Krupa, a Ph.D. candidate in IU’s Department of Anthropology and Research Associate for IU NAGPRA, and Molly Mesner Bleyhl, a Ph.D. student in IU’s Department of Anthropology and Graduate Assistant for IU NAGPRA
It is common practice for hikers to pick up artifacts that they find on or near trails, or to walk through cornfields and survey the ground for stray arrowheads. Plenty of people have personal artifact collections — the viral FBI case from 2014 is not a unique scenario. While artifact collecting might seem to cause no harm, because of the legal and ethical issues associated with finding and collecting artifacts, it is usually best practice to leave artifacts or human remains where you find them. However, in cases where the site, burial, or artifact is in danger of being damaged or looted, it may be necessary to call an appropriate preservation or conservation official to report the location of that material. In this post, we will walk through a couple of examples of potential scenarios, including steps to take if action is required.
Conflating mental illness with the supernatural and occult
Disclaimer: Spoilers for the film Hereditary present throughout this piece!
I have seen hundreds of horror films; in fact, I even began my graduate school personal statement on the topic. As a shameless horror fan, I am often asked, with perplexed and disgusted looks, “Why?” I am fascinated by the psychological processes —decision making, sensory perception, emotion regulation, acute and chronic stress effects— being tested and explored within these films and the effects of the processes on the viewer — the ability to elicit an emotion such as fear or disgust through a set of quickly flashed images, despite the rational knowledge that you are safe in your home. I think that horror films and how we interpret them is closely tied to humanity’s history with and persistent views on mental health.
Many horror films craft characters that exhibit stereotypes of mental health illness — for example, the Babadook (major depressive disorder/prolonged grief), Donnie Darko (psychosis), The Visit (mental health facility escapees), Identity and Split (dissociative identity disorder). Regardless of accuracy, what does it mean when a film intentionally or unintentionally portrays clinical features? To consider this question, I will unpack a recent film, Hereditary.
The perils of publish or perish
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 before other researchers working on similar topics, or watches as their career tanks. They may miss out on a job, fail to secure resources for their research, or get passed over for tenure. In fact, a host of tools and metrics which let scholars evaluate their publishing success has developed alongside this pressure to publish in prestigious journals. These tools can track the simple number of publications, to the citation count of a paper (how many other papers cite it), to the journal impact factor, even to the convoluted h-index metric.
The arcane details of all these metrics are of little interest to anyone not seeking a career as a scientist or other academic, but what should matter to everyone is how the incentive to publish no matter what can lead to bad science. (more…)
A psychology commencement speech
The author of this post is guest contributor Josiah Leong, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington. He recently moved to Bloomington after finishing his graduate studies at Stanford University. He is excited to share insights from psychological science with his new community. Below is an unconventional commencement speech that may ring true for some students of psychology.
A change of perspective
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 photo below is beautiful, but you might be surprised by what it is depicting. In fact, I might argue that this photo shows us something we encounter almost every day and, unfortunately, is thought of as far less magical and majestic. It is funny how a new perspective really does change our view!
