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Tag: Biology

Cancer cells and their invisibility cloak

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T- cells attacking a cancer cell (Illustration of an electron microscopy photo). Source: royaltystockphoto.com/Shutterstock

[T- cells attacking a cancer cell (Illustration of an electron microscopy photo). Source: royaltystockphoto.com/Shutterstock.]

I remember being mind blown when I first read about how Harry Potter was able to disappear into alleys by wearing his invisibility cloak. The idea that someone could hide in plain sight always fascinated me as a child. What if I said that this happens right in the human body, where certain cells are able to use an invisibility cloak to camouflage themselves? You read it right: cancer cells have this extraordinary ability to hide in plain sight in the body. But, scientists are working on ways to get cancer cells to come out of hiding and to target them for destruction…

Are you sure you should eat that?

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[Image showing two cartoon people six feet apart, saying

Amid this pandemic, you may be having conversations with family members similar to my own. I was talking to my brother about going to the grocery store and buying some eggs for baking when I was pretty strictly told that “no, you shouldn’t because the virus can be transmitted through food.” As a scientist myself, this was intriguing advice. So, I asked him to show me where he had read it. Sadly, nowadays when we are bombarded with news at every corner we turn, we were unable to backtrack his source…

Science, Eugenics, and Twitter

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[Picture of a flat-faced dog (a pug) sitting gracelessly and panting]

On Saturday, February 16th, biologist and noted public intellectual Richard Dawkins tweeted about eugenics. Dawkins provided no context. No ongoing dispute he was inserting himself into. No obvious interlocutor. And certainly not anything as convenient as a few previous tweets to set the stage for this surprising announcement.  As someone interested in science communication, genetics, and ethics, I find it worth exploring how he screwed up, how he didn’t screw up, and what any of this means for science…

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 »

The cycle of life… and death… below your feet

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Photo of a deciduous temperate forest in autumn, with leaves senescing and leaf litter on the forest floor in various stages of decomposition.

As an ecosystem ecologist, I study how the cycle of life and death influences forest structure and changes over time. A walk in the woods might illuminate the forest’s dynamism as you observe squirrels tending to their buried acorn caches and listen to woodpeckers feasting on grubs. In contrast, the plant community may appear more… Read more »

Winter makes me SAD: The biological story behind seasonal affective disorder and its potential treatments

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A barren hillside with a few large boulders and trees scattered in the background. The trees pictured have no leaves, and there are a few small patches of grass growing on the side of the hill. The sky above is overcast, and no visible sunlight is shining through the clouds.

As fall transitions into winter, all animals, including humans, must acclimate to colder weather, shorter days, and less sunlight. In many northern latitudinal regions across the globe, winter is often characterized by overcast skies and snowy days, in which little to no sunlight reaches life on the ground. Colloquially, some people report having the “winter… Read more »

Stellar psychology part II: what does signaling theory tell us about communicating with other life in the universe?

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Image of an astronaut on the moon.

This is the second part of a series on extraterrestrial psychology. Read part 1 here! In Part 1 of this series, I discussed how the interdisciplinary field of evolutionary psychology can help us explore similarities between the human mind and possible extraterrestrial ones. One common potential feature is how we search for resources, which often… Read more »

On On the Origin of Species: An ode to scientist-writers

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This post is from ScIU’s archives. It was originally published by Clara Boothby in December 2016 and has been lightly edited to reflect current events. Sometimes, when we read about science in textbooks or newspaper articles, it can be easy to slip into thinking that after the scientists make their discovery, the writing is someone… Read more »

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