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PhD Mom: A day in the life

Posted on by Chloe Holden

Today, we’re going to talk about the typical day of a PhD parent – mom addition – except I don’t have a “typical” day. Instead, I have a three-and-a-half month old, Percy, who is teething and going through the four month sleep regression1 early, so no sleep for baby and no sleep for me. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to run downstairs in the morning – normally, a little bit before 7 a.m. – to start making my breakfast. Before it’s even ready, my son will wake up from his last nighttime sleep session. Before eating my oatmeal and drinking my tea, I’ll go back upstairs and change him out of his pjs and dirty diaper. When infants don’t feel well (like when teeth are forcing their way through their gums), they tend to get clingy, so he’ll sit on my lap while I eat breakfast. Sometimes, he’ll let me set him down long enough to clean some bottles.

a stainless steel sink is filled halfway with water and bubbles from dish soap and you can see bottles and breast pump parts sticking up throughout the bubbles
I stare down a sink full of bottles and pump parts at least 3 times a day.
An aerial view of a 3 month old infant napping in a crib with blue dinosaur sheets, wearing a long sleeve onesie with cartoon wolf faces and gray socks
Percy tends to only nap for about 30-40 minutes at a time, which leaves very little time to get stuff done while he’s asleep

After breakfast, we go back upstairs, where he gets to play on his mat. Currently, this activity includes lots of arm waving and clumsy grabbing, and when he figures out I’m more than two feet away from him, getting dressed and brushing my teeth, it includes screaming. With all the running back and forth to reassure him I didn’t disappear, this process usually lasts until his first nap around 8:30 or 9 a.m. 

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The new beast in our backyards

Posted on by Allison Nelson

Watch out, Hoosiers! There’s a new predator afoot. Thirty to forty-five pounds, hungry, mobile, and traveling 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. These creatures are sometimes referred to as Eastern Coyotes. Those who believe they are separate enough (in terms of genetics and physical characteristics) have coined a new species name, Canis oriens (literally Eastern Canid – the group that includes dogs, foxes, wolves, and coyotes). This name has not caught on yet, due to a number of scientists who do not believe they are a separate species. Through the process of speciation (which includes interbreeding between species, populations changing diets, or geographic separation), new animals are constantly being created through evolution.

One such ‘new’ animal is the ‘coywolf.’ First seen in 2009 in Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada, they are a mix between wolves, domestic dogs, and coyotes. They exhibit personality and community traits of each of the three established species. Like dogs, coywolves are unafraid of humans. Like coyotes, coywolves are able to hunt in open areas. And like grey wolves, coywolves are able to hunt in forested areas. Coywolves also hunt in packs like grey wolves. In short, they eat everything and are afraid of nothing. 

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PhDad: A day in the life of a PhD parent

Posted on by Taylor Woodward

Graduate school is challenging. Between navigating new coursework, new teaching responsibilities, and conducting independent research projects, it can be an overwhelming endeavor for anyone. But doing all that with a family? Is that even possible?  

After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience, I worked for a couple of years as a technician in a research lab. My wife and I wanted to start a family sooner rather than later, so when I started grad school, I had a 1-year-old daughter and a son on the way. I never get tired of the look of surprise that people give me when they find out about my family situation. 

A father, reading a book with his daughter on the couch, is saying ‘...and so, that’s how they found out what the prefrontal cortex does…’
Image credit: CC0 on Pexels (edited by the author).

Balancing a Neuroscience PhD program and family life with young children is difficult, but also incredibly rewarding. During work hours, I wrestle with intellectually difficult concepts as I try to ask and answer questions about the neurobiology of anxiety, depression, and opioid addiction. In the mornings and evenings, I try my best to take an active role as a parent and help my family as much as I can. I’m not perfect at balancing my home life and school life (no one is), but I try as best as I can. One of the things that I’ve tried to apply is intentionally separating ‘school time’ from ‘home time,’ which is difficult. 

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Neuroimaging: Three important brain imaging techniques

Posted on by Taryn Bosquez

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. (more…)

Scientists can be creative too!

Posted on by Taylor Woodward

Scientists of all disciplines have pop culture ‘pet peeves.’ I’m sure physicists cringe at the rampant misinterpretation/misuse of quantum physics in movies (I’m looking at you, Ant-Man). I can almost hear the distant facepalm of a chemist each time a commercial plays that advertises ‘chemical-free’ soaps (like, all matter is technically a chemical by definition). As a neuroscientist, one of my pet peeves is the idea that people are either ‘right-brained’ or ‘left-brained,’ similar to how people favor their right or left hand.  

An illustration of a ‘left’ and ‘right’ brain, where one side is filled with math equations, and the other is filled with colorful blots. The author scribbled an ‘X’ over this .
Image Credit: Pixabay.com. Edited with artistic expertise by the author.

It’s a misconception that’s based in some truth.  In some of the early explorations of the human brain, scientists discovered that there were particular parts of the brain that were involved in certain specialized functions.  If the back of the brain was damaged, vision issues would pop up.  If certain areas on the left area of a patient’s brain were injured somehow, they would lose the ability to speak or understand language.  As seen in the fascinating story of a patient known as H.M., surgical removal of the temporal lobe completely wipes out a person’s ability to form new memories.  Work done by Roger W. Sperry in ‘split brain’ patients showed that the two halves of the brain function differently.  However, his findings were popularized and taken out of context. (more…)

Fieldwork codes-of-conduct

Posted on by Dan Myers

A female scientist in waders views a blue science test outdoors on a fall day.
Scientists often engage in fieldwork environments, which can exacerbate harassment, discrimination, and dangerous situations. Fieldwork codes-of-conduct make the experience more inclusive and safer. Image credit: UNH Manchester.

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.

Even for the best-intending scientists, fieldwork environments can also have often-overlooked hostilities such as when different tasks are assigned to different genders or there is unequal access to important resources such as bathrooms, health care, and religious needs. All of these harmful situations can be perpetuated by the remote and isolated nature of fieldwork campaigns, limited access to institutional support systems, and inexperience identifying and addressing unsafe and unfriendly conditions. Scientists can be at a heightened risk during fieldwork due to their race, disability, gender expression, and religion. These common problems with fieldwork environments can negatively affect the wellbeing of students and their interests in science careers – furthering the lack of inclusiveness and belonging in scientific fields. This is a major problem for the scientific community. (more…)

The grocery store sells many kinds of salt, but are they actually different?

Posted on by Allison Nelson

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?

From a geologic perspective, salt is a mineral called halite. Halite or sodium chloride is found in seawater. A mineral is anything that has a set chemical formula (although ion substitutions are allowed) that has a set, repeating crystal structure. This base repeating structure can be repeated as long as the right ions are present. But if the chemical formula is always the same, how are there so many types of salt? (more…)

Making and Reaching New Year’s Resolutions the SMART way

Posted on by Lindy Howe

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. 

To start: Goal setting is an effective way to focus attention on behavior change. But don’t just make any goals – make “SMART” goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

A notebook sits in the middle of the photo with “2022” written in big words on the left side and “Goal” written in big letters on the right with one through four numbered under it. To the left is a bunch of flowers sitting on the table and to the right of the notebook there is a coffee cup with coffee in it.
A notebook being used to write down goals for 2022.

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Red wolves are endangered, but how can we protect a species we can’t define?

Posted on by Allison Nelson

Red wolves and grey wolves may have once been a single species. But throughout the 1900s, the interbreeding of coyotes and red wolves  blurred the line between species. How can we  determine whether red and grey wolves are the same or separate species?

The question is a pressing one, if you consider that conservation efforts are based on species.  In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was passed, creating the Endangered Species List, which mandates conservation efforts for every animal and plant on the list – based on species. Without a clear definition, conservationists don’t know what exactly they are trying to protect. The red wolf is on the list, but the more populous grey wolf is not. However, if the red wolf and grey wolf were considered the same species, the red wolf would be removed from the Endangered Species List and lose the protections and monetary assistance that the status of being listed provides.

First, a definition: a species is the fundamental biological grouping and denotes a group of the same organism that live, eat, and breed together. Species split frequently, whether through geographic separation, different populations beginning to eat different things, or hybridization (when one species mates with another) (Sites and Marshall, 2004). Hybridization blurs the species boundary. The dog and wolf in the photos below are difficult to tell apart just based on their faces and skulls. Sometimes, a face or skull is all we have. (more…)

Why Worry about James Webb?

Posted on by Jennifer Sieben

If everything has gone according to schedule, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched on December 24 and is currently on its way to its final orbit. JWST is designed to be a revolutionary telescope, building on the accomplishments of both the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. With its infrared instruments, it will enable us to see stars that were previously hidden by dust and to even detect water in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Its huge mirrors will help us collect more light to study the very earliest galaxies and uncover more information about how our universe was formed. Yet, the JWST will still give us gorgeous images of the universe, like Hubble does.

The mission has been in development since 1989, and astronomers around the world have already submitted proposals for their research projects to be part of the 5-10 years of science expected from the telescope. Now, astronomers around the world are biting their nails. There have been numerous delays up to now, but the next month is the scariest part. Why?

A History of Failure

Flinging anything into outer space is scary business. Astronomers also have history looming over their shoulders. In 1990, when the Hubble Space Telescope launched, the telescope wasn’t perfect. There was a problem with the mirror, resulting in blurry images. It took three years of tests and intense training before a shuttle mission was sent into space with astronauts, who manually added corrective lenses to the telescope, before we could get the spectacular images that the telescope is now known for.

Unfortunately, there are even more things that could go wrong with JWST. Actually, there are hundreds of things that could go wrong; the telescope has 50 major deployments, 178 release mechanisms (107 for the sunshield alone), and 300 single point failure items, and all of these parts need to work perfectly for the telescope to unfold.

A large silver sunshield is unfolded while a bunch of scientists look on. The shield is approximately diamond-shaped and one side has twelve people standing alongside it.
The sunshield on JWST is the largest part of the observatory — five layers of thin membrane about the size of a tennis court that must unfurl reliably in space to precise tolerances. In 2014, engineers stacked and unfurled a full-sized test unit of the sunshield for the first time. The sunshield separates the observatory into a hot, sun-facing side (reaching temperatures close to 230 degrees Fahrenheit) and a cold side (approximately minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit), where the sunlight is blocked from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments. Image credit: NASA/Chris Gunn.

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