“Our sexuality is becoming digital,” notes Dr. Justin Garcia, a leading expert in modern human mating. While new modes of sexuality and romance bring benefits, they also invite ethical questions. Take the phenomenon of “sexting,” the transmission of sexual images and messages via mobile phone or other electronic media. After discovering that sexts are shared… Read more »
Social behavior is most commonly associated with electrical and chemical signaling in the brain. But, did you know that your gut may also communicate with your brain? There is emerging evidence that the gut microbiome, a population of about 100 trillion microorganisms that resides in the gastrointestinal tract, may communicate with the central nervous system… Read more »
Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in our atmosphere continue to rise, and global warming has transitioned from a possible future phenomenon to a present environmental reality. Given this reality, scientists are motivated to improve calculations of how much carbon there is on Earth and how it flows from the biosphere to the atmosphere and back to… Read more »
The author is ScIU guest writer Krystiana Krupa, a graduate student in IU’s Department of Anthropology. So let’s talk about these antibiotic-resistant bacteria, otherwise known as superbugs. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are bacteria that cannot be killed by pharmaceutical drugs that would normally be effective. While many of us know that superbugs exist and are becoming more problematic (think… Read more »
This is a story about the fundamental underpinnings of biology, but it starts with a story about baking brownies. What do brownies and biology have to do with one another you ask? Well, let’s begin. First, I must introduce you to my dad, the World’s Best Brownie Eater. He’s the kind of guy who… Read more »
Have you ever heard of genetic testing? Ever had a family member who sent a sample to companies like ancestry.com? With the rise in popularity of sites like ancestry.com, it’s becoming increasingly tempting to trace your roots through genetic testing. But, how do these genetic tests work? In this post, I will explain the science… Read more »
When I am on Twitter, every now and then a witty or funny tweet catches my attention. I laugh, and sometimes re-tweet. More often, however, I read tweets that cause anxiety and make me frown at my computer screen with the countenance of a distraught fish. I am talking about tweets like this one (Fig…. Read more »
My research is dependent on migratory birds being present on their wintering grounds in the Appalachian Mountains in the month of March. But this year it was an unseasonably warm winter, and it was not possible to know when migrants would depart for their breeding grounds. Luckily, the temperatures dropped again and the migrants hung… Read more »
Pathogens and parasites are the hidden players of many of nature’s most bizarre and beautiful patterns and processes. For example, the extraordinary levels of plant animal biodiversity we find in the tropics is thought to be due, at least in part to the high levels of disease and natural enemies we find in those environments…. Read more »
Did you and your grade school friends ever find yourselves in intricate negotiations around the lunch table, trading that boring snack your mom packed you with the sweeter and more enticing dessert in your friend’s lunchbox? Well, similar to you and your childhood friends, plants also partake in such a trading of commodities around their… Read more »