It’s Not the Chlorine

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Guest Contributor

This post was written by IU undergraduate students Alexa Akers and Amanda Lawson. It is the second in a series of featured stories written for a ScIU in the Classroom collaboration with Dr. Cathrine Reck in the Department of Chemistry.

There are some smells that are universal. They transcend region and culture, and can be recognized instantaneously. There’s no better example for this than the smell of chlorine.

As a former swimmer, chlorine has always been one of my favorite smells. It brings me back to summer, pool parties, and splashing around with my friends. However, that smell got a little less enjoyable after I learned what was really causing it. And to give you a hint — it’s not the chlorine.

Swimming pool with line divider and one swimmer approaching. — It looks peaceful, but chemical reactions in pool water can be more harmful than you think.

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IU Science Fest 2018: An Out of This World Experience

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Victoria Kohout

When thinking about October, people often picture falling leaves, football, Halloween and everything Pumpkin Spiced. However, for the past four years, the end of October in Bloomington also brings to mind the IU Science Fest, an expansive multi-disciplinary science experience. So what is it about this educational festival that draws thousands of children and adults to IU on a Saturday morning?

Figure 1. This image is a hands-on demonstration involving a volunteer and participants at the 2016 IU Science Fest.

The IU Science Fest provides the opportunity for children and adults of all ages to discover and learn more about science. (more…)

Planetary migration and the architecture of planetary systems

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Karna Desai

Planets are formed in “protoplanetary disks” composed of gas and dust orbiting a central star. Once a planet has formed in the disk, the radius of its orbit can change due to gravitational forces between the planet and material in the disk. In this way, planets can migrate from their original location, a phenomenon that can explain the diversity of exoplanets (an exoplanet is a planet outside our Solar System). For more on the diversity of exoplanets, please refer to my earlier post.

In our Solar System, all the planets most likely achieved their current locations after some history of migration. Consider, for example, the migration of Uranus and Neptune, illustrated in Figure 1.

Animated image showing, in order, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, followed by two blue bars. The first blue line is a darker blue, and represents the original position of Neptune, it is followed by the paler blue (cyan) line representing the original position of Uranus. The animation shows Neptune closer to the Sun than Uranus, but finishes with Neptune further from the Sun than Uranus. — Figure 1: This image is a simple adaptation of the “Nice Model,” named after the observatory in Nice, France, where it was developed. According to this model, Neptune was originally formed closer to the Sun than Uranus, before they both migrated during the early evolution of the Solar System. The vertical blue and cyan lines indicate the original locations of formation for Neptune and Uranus, respectively. See this image if you’d like to learn more about this intriguing theory. Image Credit: Karna Desai

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Obstacles to the Stars

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Jennifer Sieben

Taking astronomical images can be a very rewarding process—in part because of the gorgeous images you take, but also in part because of all the obstacles that can prevent you from observing the skies. We can protect our telescopes in buildings during the day to keep them clean and dry, but when night comes and we open the domes, the weather becomes our worst enemy. My most recent observing run was plagued by all of these problems, and it was a constant battle to try to collect data.

The most common obstacle is clouds. Optical telescopes, just like the human eye, cannot see through a cloud. It doesn’t matter how big the telescope is, all you see is gray static in your image. Sometimes you are lucky enough to observe at a telescope situated on top of a mountain that is above any clouds. However, the telescope most IU astronomers use–the WIYN telescope in Arizona–is not quite this high. So instead, while you wait for the clouds to clear, you can busy yourself with other work—for example, I recorded a video for a summer class I am teaching.

Looking up at a large silver building, octagonal in shape, that contains the WIYN telescope. There is a blue sky behind it. — The WIYN telescope (owned and operated by a consortium of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), and the University of Missouri) at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. This building contains the telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 3.5 meters. This is the telescope that I used to collect data during my trip. Image credit: Jennifer Sieben.

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Think twice before cramming: The risks of using stimulants recreationally

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Guest Contributor

This post was written by IU undergraduate students Catherine DeBruyn, Nuha Zakariya, Hannah Maluvac. It is the first in a series of featured stories written for a ScIU in the Classroom collaboration with Dr. Cathrine Reck in the Department of Chemistry.

Picture this: you are up for a big promotion and it all depends on finishing the massive project your boss gave you in the unreasonable time frame they set. You want that promotion, you need that promotion. So, you ask your friend for some of their Adderall^TM, telling yourself “it’s just this once.” Despite its intended prescription for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to enhance focus, Adderall^TM is widely abused as a cognitive enhancer, to make your brain work better and faster. Students often use it to help cram for tests and it is even used in the professional world in competitive industries, such as finance and coding, to improve performance. Though Adderall^TM can be helpful in many cases, what many people do not know is that it is addictive and can be dangerous when used recreationally. But why is that?

A single Adderall pill in an open hand. — “Adderall” by Quote Catalog. CC-BY 2.0

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A moving target: How reliable are dementia assessments?

Posted on September 25, 2018 by ScIU Editorial Team

This post is from ScIU’s archives. It was originally published by Emily Byers in February 2017 and has been lightly edited to reflect current events.

“We’re going to do a few tests to see whether your mother is showing typical signs of dementia.” The word conjures chilling images of loved ones’ lives reduced to confusion and fear as memories and independence slip away. While loss of physical independence is unfortunate, it can be more devastating to lose a loved one’s verbal companionship. Dementia reduces one’s ability to name objects, people, or recollect specific memories. As a result, dementia sufferers use language less and become removed from conversations happening around them.

As scientists, our goal is to ascertain what can be done to slow the progress of dementia and mitigate its symptoms. This takes the cooperation from many teams to break down the individual symptoms and see how these symptoms respond to treatment. In Speech and Hearing Sciences, our focus is on preserving language faculties in patients with dementia so that they can communicate effectively for as long as possible. Patients’ progress (or decline) is measured at various intervals to see how well selected treatments are working. For many years these assessments were primarily behavioral in nature. For example, therapists might count how many words a patient with dementia could name in one minute. Behavioral tests work well because they are inexpensive and easy to administer; however, patients’ performance may vary considerably from day to day based on fatigue, emotional state, or other factors. (more…)

Engaged Science: 6 Tips for the Trump Era

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Adrienne Keller

Hi ScIU Readers! I co-authored this blog post written for an audience of scientists with Vijay Limaye, Ph.D., for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s blog (and cross-posted on the Union of Concerned Scientists’ blog), but I think the topic is important and highly relevant to all scientists, scientists in training, and science allies so I wanted to share it with the ScIU blog community as well. I hope you enjoy.

A 2017 public opinion survey found that only about one in five American adults has a great deal of confidence in scientists. Some of the most pressing environmental challenges, including climate change, have not motivated sufficient action despite the accumulation of scientific evidence. These days, the Trump Administration routinely attacks, misrepresents, and ignores science to the detriment of the environment and our health. How can scientists improve their engagement with the public and decisionmakers to help solve these problems? (more…)

Blood, sweat and fingerprints: the science behind crime scene investigation

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Lana Ruck

Fingerprint in blue and green pigment on a white background. — Colorized fingerprint. CC0 on Pixabay.

We’ve all seen it on a TV crime series – fingerprints taken from a crime scene are put into a computer, instantaneously matched to a person of interest, and “Voila!” The crime is solved. As with many aspects of TV crime drama, however, fingerprint analysis is more complicated in real life. The reason? According to IU Psychology and Brain Sciences (PBS) professor Tom Busey, a lot of the work for fingerprint identification and matching is actually done by human experts. Although the process is much more difficult in real life than on TV, in the real world the result of a trial can still hang on fingerprint analysis. With this in mind, let’s explore the ins and outs of a fingerprint analyst’s work. (more…)

How cutting edge technology can help us understand animal migration

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Abby Kimmitt

Scientists have long been interested in understanding animal migration, but gathering migration data proved difficult in the past. For example, the process of catching and recapturing migratory songbirds using mist nets is a laborious process. In the past, recovering songbirds produced data only about the breeding location and their migration destination, and rarely about the migration itself. Studying the mechanisms of migration for short-lived species such as butterflies was especially challenging because they undergo multiple generations within a migratory route. Advanced technology now permits scientists to collect more information about the migratory journey. At Indiana University, Dr. Adam Fudickar and his collaborators use cutting-edge technology to study how environmental change affects animal migration and threatens biodiversity and agriculture in Indiana. (more…)

Science without borders – why travel across the globe to dig in the dirt?

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Adrienne Keller

In May, graduate student Saskia Klink and faculty member Johanna Pausch, both from the University of Bayreuth in Germany, visited the Phillips Lab in the Indiana University Biology Department to collaborate on a project with me. In our increasingly interconnected and globalized world, such international collaborations in scientific research are becoming more and more common. As Saskia and Johanna are working on innovative methods to measure plant root and soil microbial effects on soil carbon and nutrient cycling, our collaborations offered opportunities to share technical expertise. Just as importantly, international collaborations are exciting and challenging exercises in cross-cultural communication and science diplomacy. Here, Saskia and I talk about our experiences collaborating together as German and American graduate students.

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