Author: isci
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Let’s Face It: Beauty and Facial Recognition in Modern Society
While the concept of “love at first sight” seems far-fetched, the human preference for certain facial features is evolutionarily significant. In today’s society, however, cosmetics complicate visual cues of familiarity and attraction. Appearance plays an enormous role in social interaction. It is our first impression on new connections, and conveys information about sex, cultural background,…
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Smooth Sailing Stones
Imagine a stationary boulder of rock on a flat land sliding along a smooth valley floor independent of any human or animal involvement. This bizarre concept of self-moving boulders poses the question, “How could this phenomenon possibly occur?”. This extravagant geologic phenomenon is referred to as “Sailing Stones”. For a century, these eerie rocks and…
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A New Method of Identification?
Authentication of human identity plays a prominent role in our society, particularly within the field of forensic science. There are a number of different biological indicators that can be used to confirm one’s identity, such as DNA or fingerprints. However, more often than not, forensic investigators require more than one form of biological evidence to…
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This Lettuce is Out-of-this-World
NASA plans to send humans to Mars by the mid-2030s (The White House, 2010). However, a mission to Mars using current propulsion technology could take around eight months just to arrive (Tafforin, 2013). The amount of supplies required to meet food, air, and water requirements would be unfeasibly great (Barta and Henninger, 1994). One solution being…
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What do plants, the human heart, and special relativity have in common?
The beauty of mathematics is in the complexity that arises from simple rules. Take the following sequence of numbers: {1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …}. To get this sequence, start with the number 1, add 0 and you get the next number in the sequence: 1. Take 1 and add the previous number…
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Spooky Skeletons: Evidence for Cannibalism
The Hallowe’en season conjures all sorts of monsters, legends, and gruesome displays that are allegedly grounded in truth. Grisly murders, ghost hauntings, and appalling acts of cannibalism survive as folklore – but is there evidence to suggest that cannibals did exist? For hundreds of years, Inuit legends told of cannibalism among doomed explorers of the…
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Homework Totally Rocks!!! #JK #sarcasm
“I absolutely adore midterm season!!!! WOOOHOOO!” If you have ever been a student, then you know that I am being sarcastic. You also understand what I feel and know what I mean. But how can a computer algorithm, which cannot relate to my situation and does not know me personally, tell that those words do…
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Why Bad Smells Smell Bad
When you smell a new scent that you have never come across before, you never have to stop and ponder “hmmm is this smell unpleasant?” On a daily basis, we take 24,000 breaths, each one full of molecules that interact with our olfactory receptors, allowing us to smell the chemical world we live in (Agapakis…
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Techniques of 3D bioprinting for organ production
The applications of three-dimensional printing are endless. From prototyping to specialized manufacturing, 3D printing allows users to develop unique creations for specific purposes, without requiring skills in the manufacturing process (Shimizu et al., 2000). Its use is widespread through the manufacturing and technology industries, and shows great promise in other fields as well, including healthcare. One of the…
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Global St(Warming)
The words climate change trigger thoughts of hot temperatures, mass extinctions and melting ice caps. Even though these are all frightening changes, one specific danger that is overlooked by the media is the increase in the incidence rate of violent thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are one of the primary causes of catastrophic loss in the United States.…