Category: public posts
The select public posts from syn·op·sis, written and reviewed by iSci students at McMaster University. Each post is interdisciplinary in nature, and a wide variety of subject matter is covered. So sit back, relax, and start learning.
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Where is “here”? And other questions not answered by entanglement
If you have ever been without your best friend, you may both find yourselves behaving similarly, almost as if you were together. By definition, you and your friend are entangled ― having a relationship based on probability (NASA, 2016). With particles, quantum entanglement is slightly more complicated. Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon where the states…
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Learning by Doing
Confucius, an influential philosopher in 450 BC, once said “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand” (Sims, 2002). To achieve deep learning, students need exposure to new behaviours, skills, and settings. In contrast to the traditional classroom and lecture-based teaching styles, experiential learning requires…
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Running High: What Running Does to your Brain
What do you think of when someone asks you to picture going on a long run? A runner’s high was described by the neuroscientist Arnold Mandell in the 1970’s as “Colours are bright and beautiful, water sparkles, clouds breathe, and my body, swimming, detaches from the Earth” (Hutchinson, 2019). This description isn’t the image that…
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The Elephant in the Room is Tuskless?!
As ecosystem engineers, humans have not only altered, but deformed the ecological dynamics of natural environments. The innocent victims of these unsustainable practices are subject to reap the consequences of unethical behaviour. African elephants, in particular, are an extant manifestation of this crisis; what was once a unique and distinguishing feature of these majestic creatures…
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Solving a Public Health Crisis?
For many of us, when we fall ill with a cough, flu, or sore throat, our first instinct is to visit a doctor to seek relief of our symptoms. A few hours later, we leave the clinic armed with antibiotics that will seemingly treat everything from sinus infections to strep throat. However, as miraculous as…
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Mathematical Modelling and the Monte Carlo Method
While science and mathematics are two distinct areas of study, their applications often collide. In this era of computers and technology, the use of mathematical analysis and simulation to solve scientific problems is becoming increasingly more prevalent. While some scientific problems can be solved analytically using simple equations, others require significantly more complex operations (Wittwer,…
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Fluorescence-based Sensors: A Twinkling Tool with Useful Implications
The natural world is an elaborate mixture teeming with a plethora of compounds. On a macroscopic scale, the structural organization of these compounds is ubiquitous; however, to the unaided observer, their role in biological and chemical systems can be easily overlooked. Typically, scientists employ analytic assays to better visualize, quantify, and assess the activity of…
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A Brief History of Canadian Medicine
Among scientists worldwide, there is generally one common fault: lack of appreciation for the history of science. While it is common for scientists to believe that examining the past may stunt the progression of the future, this ideal is blatantly incorrect (Creath, 2010). Similar to how geologists use the concept of uniformitarianism to relate the…
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Tools and Brains, Then and Now
By imaging the brains of participants learning to make Stone Age tools, researchers are beginning to unravel the neural connections that may have been responsible for, and formed by, the toolmaking industry of our hominin ancestors (Renfrew et al., 2008; Stout and Khreisheh, 2015; Putt et al., 2017). This research sheds light on our evolutionary past, and helps us to…
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Dinner is Served: Vaccines on a Golden Platter
In a world where access to quality medical care is highly dependent upon the wealth of a nation, lack of immunization imperils the health of citizens residing in developing countries. In Africa alone, one in five children do not have access to critical vaccines, and are thus subject to illness at premature ages (Hasan, 2017).…