• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Sidebar
IU

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

Menu

ScIUConversations in Science at Indiana University

  • Home
  • Home
  • About ScIU
  • Write with Us!
  • Contact ScIU
  • The Writers and Editors of ScIU
  • ScIU in the Classroom
  • Annual Science Communication Symposium
  • Search

Tag: evolution

The tale of anthropology’s sweetheart: Lucy

Posted December 5, 2020 by Guest Contributor

[An artist’s rendering of two Australopithecus afarensis. They are both standing upright and are partially covered in black hair all over their bodies. One is grabbing a low tree branch.]

The skeleton known as Lucy is arguably the most recognizable specimen of the modern human lineage. Anthropologists have used her remains to learn about the behavior and anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis, a member of the modern human lineage, as well as evolution in general. While she is one of the most famous and recognizable skeletons to the general public, she is also beloved in the field of anthropology.

An Archaeological Introduction to Coding in Python

Posted January 18, 2020 by Chloe Holden

A left-hander sits facing the camera holding a core in her right hand and a hammerstone in her left hand. She is preparing a core to begin making flakes off the rock. Both the core and the flakes produced are considered stone tools.

Programming skills are not only becoming more in demand in industry jobs, they’re also becoming a required skill in academia as well. Programming is now used in almost every discipline for tasks such as data collection,  organization, and analysis. In this post, I’m going to demonstrate how some basic programming in Python can be used… Read more »

Back to the Stone Age: Why study primate archaeology?

Posted July 6, 2019 by Chloe Holden

An orangutan with a ripped paper bag on her head acting as a hat.

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… Read more »

Can science be value-free? The “gap” argument

Posted May 7, 2019 by Chris ChoGlueck

This graphic has the structure of two circles connected by a bridge. The right circle has a line graph and is labeled "data,", which is conntect by a bridge labeled "evidence" with background knoweldge, to the left circle labeled "hypothesis" with a lightbulb inside.

If scientists are in the business of facts, is there still space for human values?  Like many other scientists-in-training, I used to think of the sciences as ideally free from societal values, such as environmentalism and feminism.  Sure, our ethical or political biases might guide what scientists study or how others use that knowledge.  But,… Read more »

When the things we can’t see matter: the plant vs. environmental change edition

Posted April 16, 2019 by Abby Kimmitt

Mark Hammond is planting seeds in a large pot filled with soil for the mesocosm experiment. Pots are lined up in two rows on shelving in a greenhouse. Another lab assistant is planting seeds in another pot in the background.

Farmers are facing new challenges in the age of global change. Drought is a major stressor for crops in Indiana and other regions of the U.S. and is forcing farmers to face the question: to irrigate or not to irrigate? Irrigation equipment is incredibly expensive, but is often the best quick solution to water crops… Read more »

Kissing, hand holding, and somatotopic organization in the brain

Posted February 12, 2019 by Taylor Woodward

A couple holding hands during a sunset.

Have you ever wondered why humans express affection by kissing and hand holding?  As with most things in life, the more you think about it, the weirder that it seems.  Here’s an interesting insight from neuroscience that is fun to think about next time you decide that you want to over-analyze your love life even… Read more »

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

Posted January 29, 2019 by Lana Ruck

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

Posted December 25, 2018 by ScIU Editorial Team

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 »

Stellar psychology part I: Evolutionary psychology informs the search for extraterrestrial intelligence

Posted December 18, 2018 by Lana Ruck

A man stands and looks up into a very starry sky.

Last December, bombshell reports were released detailing the Pentagon’s use of tax-payer funds to investigate claimed UFO sightings. With continued discoveries of habitable planets across the universe, the probability that life exists outside the Earth is rapidly rising. This may be why the former head of The Pentagon’s UFO program, Luis Elizondo, recently stated that… Read more »

Fatherhood in the animal kingdom and its intricate relationship with aggression

Posted June 12, 2018 by Kat Munley

A photograph collage of different animal species displaying aggressive behavior or providing parental care. In the upper left image, two juvenile male lions practice fighting behavior while playing. One lion is growling at the other, and the second lion is lunging towards the other. In the upper right image, two blue jay birds face each other mid-air with their wings spread apart and their beaks open. The two birds have gray beaks, bright blue feathers with a black and white stripe on their backs, and gray feathers on their abdomens. In the lower left image, an adult discus fish swims alongside its tiny juvenile offspring. The adult fish is flat and dark orange in color, with intricate iridescent blue markings along its body. Its offspring are silver in color, with orange fins and a thin black stripe running vertically through their eyes. In the lower right image, an adult Barbary macaque embraces a small infant. Both macaques have light pink faces and golden-colored fur.

On Father’s Day, hundreds of thousands of people across the United States will show appreciation for the love, encouragement, and support that their fathers have provided them throughout their lifetimes. Interestingly, numerous animals provide parental care to their offspring, from fish and birds to non-human primates and humans. Yet, there is substantial evidence that many… Read more »

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next »

Additional Content

Search ScIU

Categories

Tag cloud

#Education #scicomm animal behavior anthropology archaeology astronomy astrophysics Biology Black History Month Black Lives Matter brain Chemistry climate change Collaboration conservation coronavirus COVID–19 diversity Diversity in Science diversity in STEM Ecology endocrinology Environmental Resilience Institute evolution history and philosophy of science infectious disease Interdisciplinary Interview Mental Health methods microbiology neuroscience outreach Plants primates psychology Research science communication science education Science Outreach science policy Statistics STEM technology women in STEM

Subscribe

Receive a weekly email with our new content! We will not share or use your information for any other purposes, and you may opt out at any time.

Please, insert a valid email.

Thank you, your email will be added to the mailing list once you click on the link in the confirmation email.

Spam protection has stopped this request. Please contact site owner for help.

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Current Contributors

  • Log in
  • Workspace
  • Sign up to write

Indiana University

Copyright © 2018 The Trustees of Indiana University | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Help

  • Home
  • About ScIU
  • Write with Us!
  • Contact ScIU
  • The Writers and Editors of ScIU
  • ScIU in the Classroom
  • Annual Science Communication Symposium
College of Arts + Sciences

Are you a graduate student at IUB? Would you like to write for ScIU? Email sciucomm@iu.edu


Subscribe

Subscribe By Email

Get every new post delivered right to your inbox.

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.