syn·op·sis

Category: syn·op·sis beta

Welcome to syn·op·sis beta, the section of the site dedicated to iSci student authors. To get writing, click on the “+New – Post” icon in the upper right. Otherwise, feel free to read, comment, and polish the work of other students.

  • Can electricity read your mind?: Electrodermal Activity

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    Ann Philip

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    No matter how great your poker face might be, your skin can’t keep a secret. A window into the human mind through physiology exists beyond crystal balls, witches, or horrific psychological control. The very electricity that we associate with changing brain activity in horror movies can serve as a hidden gateway into your mind.  Electrodermal activity…

  • The Carnivore Diet: Were Our Ancestors Onto Something?

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    Kimi Wong

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    You may have seen many influencers on social media promoting a carnivore diet. You’ll often hear them trying to convince as many people as possible that reverting to the diets of our distant ancestors will grant you life altering effects, and that the consumption of processed foods is damaging your health. Commonly referred to as…

  • (Artificially) Imaginary Friends

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    Nica Dimaandal

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    “ChatGPT, write my English essay on Hamlet.”“Meta, design a poster for my ice cream truck.”“CHAI… I feel like you’re the only one who understands me.” While most people associate AI with plagiarism or generative images, one use is often overlooked: AI companions. Platforms such as CHAI, Character.AI and Nomi simulate human interaction through conversation, role-play,…

  • Is Measles Making a Comeback? The Impact of Vaccine Hesitancy Across Canada

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    Maria Konstantinovski

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    Vaccine hesitancy has been present far longer than what was seen a few years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the creation of the first vaccine in the 1800s, members of the public have protested the use of vaccines (Jacobson et al. 2015). When Edward Jenner, the creator of the world’s first smallpox vaccine, began…

  • Is Earth Worth Saving?

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    Laura Forgrave

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    If you had to either give up your current way of life to stay on Earth, or leave Earth for another planet, which would you choose? With new technology and increasing global warming, traveling to another planet has become a more realistic and appealing option. Some groups advocate that becoming interplanetary organisms is a serious…

  • The Answers To The Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy

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    Swetha Subramanian

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    How did the universe form? This is one of the most pressing questions in the scientific community. Despite technological advances, the nature of our existence remains a mystery. Researchers are now saying that normal matter makes up only 4% of the universe, whereas the other 96% may be dark matter and dark energy (Agency 2022).…

  • Can A Forest Remember? How the Past Shapes What Grows Back

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    Nastaho Mohamed

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    Imagine walking through a forest right after a wildfire. The trees are burnt, the ground is covered in ash, and almost everything that made the forest feel alive seems to be gone. Looking at it, you might assume that whatever grows next has to start completely from scratch(Johnstone et al., 2016). Surprisingly, that is not…

  • The Advantage of Seeing Beyond the Human Spectrum

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    Tim Lamphier

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    The human eye can see many different colours, using three different coloured cones to distinguish wavelengths of light, giving us our visible spectrum (Sliney, 2016). However, our eyes are limited, where the generally accepted visible spectrum is between 380nm to 700nm (Sliney, 2016). But what if our eyes could see beyond that range? Enter the…

  • Is Creatine More Than Just a Gym Supplement?

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    Nour Al-Sakka

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    When you hear the word creatine, you probably think of people trying to build muscles. One of the most popular sports supplements is creatine, which is well-known for helping muscles in producing energy during intense exercise (McCallum 2024). However, muscles are not the only part of the body that need a steady flow of energy,…

  • Fever Dreams: Why do They Happen and Why Are They so Weird?

    Published by

    Cassia Moracci

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    The physical symptoms of fever are well researched and documented; however, a much stranger and less studied symptom is fever dreams. Sickness can cause many physical effects, including chills, sweating, headaches, fatigue, and more (Ames et al. 2013). These are all symptoms of the body’s immune system fighting an infection (Mayo Clinic 2022). The less…