Browsed by
Tag: science

Our Planet, Our Health, Our Future

Our Planet, Our Health, Our Future

Comments 0 Comment

On September 21, 2014, hundreds of thousands gathered in New York City, and in various locales around the world, to march together in a peaceful demonstration for climate justice. On September 23, 2014, politicians, celebrities, and corporate moguls alike convened at the United Nations headquarters to discuss preliminary strategy for addressing the causes and effects of climate change on local, national, and international scales. As demonstrated by these impressive showings in recent weeks, it is clear that the issue of…

Read More Read More

Erin Brokovich, Take Two: A Case of Negligent Industrial Carcinogenicity in Asheville, NC

Erin Brokovich, Take Two: A Case of Negligent Industrial Carcinogenicity in Asheville, NC

Comments 0 Comment

Imagine: you’ve just learned that the water you drink daily is laced with carcinogenic chemicals at levels over four thousand times the legal limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). You’ve spent years watching an endless stream of neighbors, friends, and family members from your small community be diagnosed with cancer at abnormally high rates. And finally, you’ve discovered that the federal government has been aware of the contamination of your water and the state of your community’s health…

Read More Read More

The Neuroscience of Partisanship: Do Differences in Brain Activity and Anatomy Relate to Political Party Preference?

The Neuroscience of Partisanship: Do Differences in Brain Activity and Anatomy Relate to Political Party Preference?

Comments 1 comment

Jon Stewart versus Sean Hannity, the Occupy movement versus the Tea Party, MSNBC versus FOX News–it doesn’t take an expert to appreciate the vast ideological split in our society’s political structure. From abortion to gun control, how is it possible for one country to be so polarized in its beliefs? A recent study at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) suggests that biology may underlie such extreme differences in opinion. Darren Schreiber, Ph.D is a ‘neuropolitical’ researcher at the…

Read More Read More

Coal Trains, the Environment, and Human Health: Why the Gateway Pacific Terminal is a Train Wreck Waiting to Happen

Coal Trains, the Environment, and Human Health: Why the Gateway Pacific Terminal is a Train Wreck Waiting to Happen

Comments 0 Comment

Imagine: while sipping your morning coffee, you peer out your kitchen window and see a mile-and-a-half-long locomotive passing your home, the first of twenty that will do so that day. Black plumes of exhaust are expelled from the train’s engine while clouds of dark particulates stream off each of the uncovered cars. What you are seeing before you is a train transporting enormous quantities of coal from mines in the Powder River Basin (spanning northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana) to…

Read More Read More

Ultramarathons and the Human Body: A Scientific Look beyond the Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Ultramarathons and the Human Body: A Scientific Look beyond the Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Comments 0 Comment

After a full day of classes, lunch dates, and club meetings, it can be quite tempting to proclaim, “I feel like I’ve been running around all day!” Of course, the majority of our waking hours are usually spent sitting down–whether studying or on Facebook–while the majority of our exercise comes from madly dashing across campus. To say we’ve been running around “all day” is certainly an overstatement for most of us–but not for all. Enter a small group of elite…

Read More Read More

The Science Behind the Smell: A Closer Look at How We Perceive Food Odors

The Science Behind the Smell: A Closer Look at How We Perceive Food Odors

Comments 0 Comment

From freshly baked cookies to rotten eggs, an Italian restaurant to a fish market, our strong reactions to the odors emanating from different foods is really quite amazing. The sight of a moldy Tupperware dish does not disgust us as much as its stench; likewise, the sensation of chewing a warm chocolate chip cookie does not excite us as much as does its mouthwatering aroma. We may be repulsed by the smell of a particular food item at one point, only to…

Read More Read More