Articles

April 26, 2024

Arielle Nguyen

Don’t get me wrong; I would love to be paid to sleep. It would be my dream job. But occasionally, sleep feels unnecessary, especially on days when I’m extremely busy. Sometimes you just wish for more hours in the day, and to retaliate against the ancient Egyptians who started 24-hour days, you choose to stay up. And for good reason, probably. Maybe you have a pile of homework waiting to be finished, or your projects must be checked on. Maybe you’ll never regret not sleeping… until you wake up. And then, that question begins to impale like a… Well, I’m not exactly sure. Did you know that lack of sleep affects your memory, too? Why do we sleep despite our hatred for rest?...click here to read more

April 25, 2024

Reggie Dao

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, there have been several ways of producing energy to fuel our daily resources. Although the introduction of fossil fuels and manufactured energy is still prominent in the market, we’ve turned ourselves toward more natural sources of energy. Currently, society is leaning more towards a wide variety of renewable gasses ranging from solar power, wind power, and hydropower. Specifically for solar power technology, the strategy of collecting energy from the rain has been applied to fuel the electricity in today’s houses. But what exactly is rain energy?...click here to read more

April 24, 2024

Spandana Cheruvu

Various branches of mathematics are required to problem-solve, analyze algorithms, and write efficient codes in computer science. A fundamental five, however, are most necessary in computer science: discrete mathematics, linear algebra, calculus, number theory, and statistics. All of these types of math serve as the backbone for computational thinking and can be applied in algorithm formulation, robotics, software development, and artificial intelligence...click here to read more

April 22, 2024

Caroline Mora

In 2016, two sophomores at the University of Washington became one of seven recipients of the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for the undergraduate "Use It" category. The invention submitted was a pair of gloves with the technology to translate American Sign Language (ASL) into audible words. The gloves are called “SignAloud” and they use sensors to pick up different gestures and signs, sending them via Bluetooth to a computer where the information is then sorted, translated, and spoken through a speaker. This product, though a prototype, could have major benefits for deaf and hearing people alike...click here to read more

April 17, 2024

Uy Pham

What if you could walk forever in an immersive virtual world, yet still physically remain in the same place? With Disney’s new HoloTile floor, visitors at Disney’s various attraction parks may soon be able to do so thanks to this new technology...The HoloTile floor. It allows a person to walk infinitely in any direction; however, the person remains in the same place on the floor. The floor adjusts to a person’s movements in any direction and can manage users at any speed up to Usain Bolt’s sprinting pace. Multiple people can step on the floor at the same time, making the HoloTile floor an omnidirectional, multi-person treadmill apparatus...click here to read more

April 15, 2024

Jessica A. Dennehy

Genetic modification is the umbrella term indicating the process of altering the genetic makeup of an organism. Modifying an organism's DNA can range from deleting segments, adding new segments, transferring segments from one organism to another, or even intentionally altering a singular base pair. Any organism that has been genetically modified would fall under the category of a genetically modified organism (GMO); they are typically used to improve a characteristic or trait, ranging from decreased susceptibility to disease to increased fertility. Various gene-editing technologies can be used in tandem or separately to genetically alter organisms; one of which is CRISPR/Cas-9...click here to read more

April 12, 2024

Claire Story

The SYNGAP1 gene, located on chromosome 6, has recently been discovered to have novel implications. It was originally discovered in 1998 by Richard Huganir, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was known for controlling learning and memory in mammals. It was previously thought that the gene solely encoded proteins to regulate the formation of synapses, links between brain cells that strengthen as a person learns something new. Recent experiments have revealed a new function of the SYNGAP1 gene, and this discovery may alter the methods and treatments used for children with SYNGAP1 irregularities...click here to read more

April 10, 2024

Jessica A. Dennehy 

A group of interdisciplinary researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Northeastern University have invented a shape-shifting fiber made of LCE, or liquid crystal elastomer, coined “FibeRobo”. FibeRobo can be made directly into fabric or embedded into other preexisting materials depending on the desired effect of its application. The LCE that makes up the fiber is thermally activated, contracting up to 40%, with minimal twisting when temperature increases and reverting to its original form as the temperature decreases, all without utilizing sensory technology...click here to read more

April 2, 2024

Jasmine Nguyen

For decades, plastic consumption has been a significant threat to our environment. The consequences of overconsumption have been made apparent through wildlife endangerment, polluted habitats, and food contamination. Scientists have taken action, recognizing these recurring issues due to plastic pollution, and increased their focus on combating these issues. The carbon structures of plastic make it much harder to decompose in a natural process. Scientists have been working hard to understand and reveal the works behind breaking down plastics. So, how have scientists combated the study of decomposing plastic? In what ways have they developed the process of breaking down these stubborn bonds? Is there a way to assess this problem without further damage to our environment?...click here to read more

April 1, 2024

Mary Isabelle Reyes

Artificial organs for transplantation, herbicide-resistant crops, and space suits — what do these three have in common? If you guessed anywhere along the lines of "same discipline", "made by a certain profession", or "related to life", you would be correct! Specifically, these three significant scientific innovations and many other similar breakthroughs are all products of biological engineering...click here to read more

March 29, 2024

Ela Selin Akgün 

The US Environmental Protection Agency, also known as the EPA, is an institution responsible for the protection of human, public, and environmental health within the United States, utilizing tactics such as including the regulation of pesticide usage, marketing of chemicals, and cleaning up chemically contaminated lands to safeguard the environment. The EPA has authorized the use of OX5034 GM Ae. aegypti mosquitoes for release in counties in Florida and Texas. Genetic modification is a process of altering the gene sequence of an organism with laboratory-based technologies by using methods like nucleotide insertion, deletions, and gene replacements...click here to read more

March 27, 2024

Lily Sharkey

Scientists believe that about half of all human DNA descends from viruses that infect the germline of our ancestors with viral nucleic acid. Indeed, the human body contains ten times more bacterial cells than human ones. Microbes such as these exist all throughout our bodies and carry out processes that synthesize vitamins, digest food into nutrients, and stimulate immune systems. The ten trillion microbes found in the gastrointestinal tract protect the gut from disease-causing microorganisms, called pathogens...click here to read more

March 26, 2024

Audrey Tran

Stronger than steel and thinner than human hair, spider silk has remained a fascination to scientists. The liquid silk is secreted by glands in the abdomen and passed through the spider's spinnerets, leaving the body as a dry material. With its high tensile strength, flexibility, and lightweight nature, this natural fiber is extremely difficult to replicate synthetically. Its unique properties can be used in clothing and rope and its biodegradability and biocompatibility present much potential in medical applications...click here to read more

March 25, 2024

Ridhi Garg

Recently, AI has gained a lot of attention, and many are concerned that it could become overly dominant and begin to take over the world. Some fear that it may even be more intelligent than humans and that it will result in a large number of job losses. AI has become a major technology that has changed the game. This topic has been discussed extensively on social media. Because AI appears to be able to build memories in the same way that humans do, some people are worried about the future of the human race...click here to read more

March 22, 2024

Monique Nguyen

With the exponential growth in the healthcare industries, medical ethics is involved in even the most basic of operations. It is loosely defined as the moral obligations involved in a healthcare worker’s decisions to ensure a patient’s safety. As the concept has been developed, basic principles have been integrated as standards in procedures. This includes beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence, and justice. Beneficence is ensuring patient safety, autonomy is considering the patient’s will, nonmaleficence means doing no harm, and justice means providing fair treatment...click here to read more

March 22, 2024

Caroline Cronin

Climate change has been gradually affecting our planet since the 1950s. For the past 50 years, the Earth has warmed by 0.13℃  (1/4 of a degree Fahrenheit). While this may not seem like a lot, the impacts are detrimental and continue to worsen as more time passes. Scientists predicted that in the next twenty years, our planet will warm up 1 ⁄ 3 of a degree Fahrenheit. While climate change affects many things, its effects on agriculture are quite damaging. With the increase in heavy rains, nutrients in the soil are rapidly being expended. If crops can not be grown, then supply cannot keep up with demand, and the economy will as a result of this catastrophe...click here to read more

March 13, 2024

Sasi Kondru

Under 9% of STEM-related bachelor's degrees in the U.S. were earned by African Americans in 2023. The race and gender gap in STEM has historically been prevalent due to a lack of STEM-related opportunities or resources for marginalized communities. Additionally, due to the field being traditionally male-dominated and having little diversity, many people, especially women of color, feel discouraged from pursuing a STEM-related career...click here to read more

March 4, 2024

Aliyan Nadeem

Pollution is an intractable issue that has been persisting for centuries. More specifically, air pollution is the deadliest type of pollution, with around 99% of the global population breathing air that exceeds the WHO guidelines. Consequently, the combined effect of environmental and household air pollution leads to seven million annual premature deaths. To tackle this pressing issue, a team of researchers in the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research of the University of Belgrade, Serbia, developed a photo-bioreactor that they call Liquid 3. Liquid 3 essentially mimics the photosynthesizing functions of a tree– that is, cleansing the environment’s air by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and releasing oxygen (O2) into the atmosphere. As such, Liquid 3 has fittingly been referred to as a “liquid tree”, despite it not being a liquidized tree, but rather a photo-bioreactor containing water, nutrients, and microalgae...click here to read more

March 1, 2024

Caroline Cronin

   Eureka! That is what Archimedes, the famous mathematician, exclaimed as he sprinted out of his bathtub and through the streets of Syracuse. This moment in history was a huge mathematical breakthrough and possibly the greatest math discovery of all time. But who is Archimedes? And how did we get here? It all started over 2,000 years ago when a genius was born. Meet Archimedes, one of the most famous ancient Greek mathematicians and inventors...click here to read more

February 28, 2024

Amy Nangia

   Neurodivergence refers to the natural variations in how individuals' brains function. It encompasses conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurological differences that deviate from the so-called neurotypical norm. Rather than pathologizing these differences, the neurodiversity paradigm views them as valuable variations that contribute to the richness of human cognition...click here to read more

February 27, 2024

Suri Le

   The merge of machine learning with the realms of atomic science and pure mathematics has transformed a new era of scientific exploration. This article dives into the captivating intersection between machine learning and these intricate fields, shedding light on groundbreaking advancements that promise to reshape our understanding...click here to read more

February 26, 2024

Janessa Angela Alerre

   The Potato Paradox, a brain teaser with the use of potatoes, is a mathematical calculation with counterintuitive results. To break it down, a paradox is a statement or situation that seems contradictory, though it expresses truth. The potatoes come into play as there is a contradiction of potatoes weighing more than it’s been cooked...click here to read more

February 21, 2024

Chrinnah Torres

   Back in 1949, the foundation of hydrogels induced the significance of a healing process. There were times when it would take a prolonged period to recover under certain conditions. However, now researchers have uncovered a rehabilitation medicine that can enhance muscle and nerve growth in the body. Whereas, this hydrogel injection could build up, meaning it restores the tissues when injured, and gives its desired robustness. When looking into this, it has summed up the needed care for an injury...click here to read more

February 20, 2024

Janessa Angela Alerre

Firefighters, notable figures who ensure the safety of communities, go through risky endeavors. According to the U.S. Fire Administration and National Fire Protection Association, there have been 60 and 100 firefighter line-of-duty deaths each year. Consequently, they cannot avoid hazardous situations where their lives are on the line—putting out the fire and rescuing people. However, firefighting personnel encounter situations where they cannot access the fire site. This is due to extremely high temperatures, or the presence of explosive materials. Under such circumstances, how is it possible to minimize the risk of death among firefighters as they try their best to save others?...click here to read more

February 19, 2024

Reggie Dao

As you stroll along the beach and kick sand into the shore, there is always a creature in the corner of your eye that stands out among the scattered seashells and seaweed. That prickly-skinned, sharp-edged animal glistens on the protruding rock, un-moving, and intrigues your curiosity to find out why its shape is the way it is. This familiar, unusual sea creature is known as a starfish, its name coined from their body holding a close resemblance to a star shape. The question of how their body shape formed has always been lingering in the air, and the history of their genetics can explain why their body is different from their sea neighbors...click here to read more

February 15, 2024

Kathlyn Phan

In the complex world of trigonometry, there are three key functions: sine, cosine, and tangent. These functions help us solve problems and better our understanding of right-angled triangles. But how were they created? These mathematical tools stemmed from ancient mathematicians and astronomers deriving them from side length ratios in right-angled triangles. By understanding their history, we can see how sine, cosine, and tangent evolved from ancient problem-solving techniques to the essential math tools we use for everyday applications today...click here to read more

February 14, 2024

Niamh Jones

In the rapidly advancing field of medicine, it is crucial to improve surgical training for the next generation of healthcare professionals. With the emergence of Generation Z into the workforce, a cohort characterized by their reliance on technology, there is a growing need to adapt traditional training methods to ensure the highest quality of patient care. Therefore, it is imperative to explore new avenues for improving surgical training for the first ‘digital’ generation...click here to read more

February 13, 2024

Niamh Jones

In recent years, the global incidence of dental emergencies has been a growing concern, impacting individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Dental emergencies can range from severe toothaches to traumatic injuries and broken teeth, often causing significant pain and discomfort to those affected. Therefore, it is imperative to explore comprehensive strategies to reduce the global incidence of dental emergencies and promote oral health and well-being on a broader scale...click here to read more

February 13, 2024

Hana Zubair

In the world of pediatric healthcare, where tiny footsteps echo with the promise of future dreams, every interaction holds the weight of the responsibility bestowed upon the doctor. Let us delve into the perspicacious world of 29-year-old Dr. Arifa Tajwany, a pediatrician with a passion for nurturing the well-being of children, not only becoming a proficient medical practitioner but also a beacon of support for families navigating the often-unpredictable terrain of pediatric healthcare...click here to read more

February 12, 2024

Sofia McGrath

Have you ever wondered why it rains? What about if it is possible to make it rain? There is a science behind rain that you may be vaguely aware of, but there is so much detail and advancement in the field that the average person may not know about it. Recently, science has granted scientists the ability to cause it to rain or enhance its probability through a process referred to as “cloud seeding.”...click here to read more 

February 9, 2024

Sasi Kondru

The gender gap in technology-related fields has to continue to persist. Only 32.8% of entry-level positions related to computer science are held by women, and only 28% of jobs in computers and math and less than 16% of engineering and architecture-related jobs are held by women. However, many people are working to fight this gender gap in STEM, including Reshma Saujani. Saujani created an organization called Girls Who Code, dedicated to teaching girls about coding and encouraging them to pursue a technology-related career. In this article, we will take a look at who Reshma Saujani is, how she started Girls Who Code, and the numerous accomplishments of Girls Who Code...click here to read more

February 7, 2024

Amy Nangia

In a world where light transforms into captivating illusions, holograms emerge as the enchanting wizards of visual storytelling, bringing three-dimensional wonders to life and transcending the boundaries of ordinary perception. At its core, a hologram is a photographic recording of a light field, capturing both intensity and phase information. Unlike traditional photographs that flatten a scene into two dimensions, holograms reproduce the depth and parallax of the original objects. This is achieved through the interference of laser light. The process involves splitting a laser beam into two parts: one that directly illuminates the subject and another that serves as a reference beam. The light from these beams combines on a photosensitive surface, creating an intricate interference pattern. When illuminated by coherent light, such as another laser, the hologram projects a three-dimensional image...click here to read more

February 6, 2024

Lara Villard

When building the future, we must first look into the past. Although seemingly counterintuitive, history holds many of the answers to the problems we face today. In the increasingly globalized society we live in, many architects have designed buildings, while groundbreaking and impressive, that lack regard towards the region they inhabit. Vernacular architecture challenges the notion that a building stands separate from its surroundings. Although there is no clear definition, vernacular architecture is buildings constructed with local contexts in mind. That means taking a look into regional materials, cultural influences, and the needs of the community...click here to read more

February 5, 2024

Kevin Yacub

Within the modern era, artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most rapidly developing fields of technology. This simulation of human intelligence has now become a significant part of life, from voice-activated virtual assistants to the recommendation algorithms on streaming services. However, with the development of AI, ethical considerations must be placed for the parameters of utilizing it as a form of service to one’s advantage. These ethical considerations would serve as a guiding framework that ensures AI technologies are developed and used in a manner that provides respect toward human rights and societal norms...click here to read more

February 2, 2024

Lily Sharkey

Daughter, wife, mother, cook, farmer, dancer, fashionista: Henrietta Lacks never could have foreseen how her very own cells would shape the future of worldwide biomedical research. Henrietta was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia, the ninth child of Eliza and Johnny Pleasant; over time, her name evolved to “Henrietta.” From the age of four, Henrietta was raised in Clover, Virginia, by her grandfather, following the death of her mother in childbirth. She was raised alongside her cousin David “Day” Lacks, whom she would later marry in 1941. During World War II, Henrietta and her family moved to Turner Station, Maryland, after her husband found work at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point steel mill...click here to read more

January 31, 2024

Ela Selin Akgün 

Light microscopes are devices used in laboratories that operate based on the interaction of visible light with small objects and structures by providing magnified images. Compared to other microscope technologies, light microscopes have numerous benefits in terms of scope and versatility. To illustrate, it provides a magnification of 10x to 2000x, the most ideal magnification settings for biological fields such as histology, and the microscopic study of tissues. This promising technology is used in multiple other fields such as micrology, medicine, and material science...click here to read more

January 29, 2024

Armita Rohani

With a new world of technology dominating everyday lives, ranging from iPads and iPhones to the James Webb telescope, devices such as these have caused a remarkable change to societal life—including manufacturing. A smart factory system is an interconnected network of machines, communication mechanisms, and computing power that utilizes A.I. technology for data analysis, system improvement, and to drive automatic processes. By integrating machines into a “digitally connected ecosystem,” (What is a Smart Factory?), smart factories can interpret data–by using artificial intelligence, sensors, gateways, and previous data from a business–regarding production and efficiency, and change workflow to optimize performance...click here to read more

January 22, 2024

Jaimah Nusrat

The sky and cosmos are our limit; at least, that’s what we’ve believed. However, with our ever-growing population, we need to take the time to ask the question: Why limit ourselves to a planet of 71% water and an oxygen-rich atmosphere, when we could live among the stars and explore the galaxies? What keeps us tied to the planet we insistently call home when we have the potential to experience daring adventures and become the next Captain Marvel? With the progress and data we have acquired, it would only hinder our advancements if we failed to consider space life as significant to the future of Earth...click here to read more

January 17, 2024

Sarah Nguyen

Working as a research associate for Imperial College, physicist Dr. Jessica Wade studies the use of polymers as semiconductors, focusing on chiral organic semiconductors. Despite Wade’s impressive work as a physicist, she also advocates for the diversity of women in STEM and has been awarded the 2019 UK Wikimedian of the Year and the British Empire Medal for her contributions and efforts...click here to read more

January 15, 2024

Reggie Dao

When we hear the word “cancer”, realization dawns upon us, as we constantly lose our close friends and loved ones due to this terrible disease that takes advantage of our cells and rips the life out of them. But as time progresses and we’ve gotten to know the tactics of this condition, many entrepreneurs and scientists have found ways to combat the severity of this disease. When cancer first enters the body and spreads cells outrageously to other parts, the individual with the disease is unaware that they’re even experiencing it. The chances of survival are higher when a patient figures out its arrival early, rather than finding out in the later stages of their body undergoing the condition. New inventions that are incorporated into our daily lives make it easier to tell if we’re infected, from a simple toothbrush to even a bra. The cancer-detecting bra is utilized for patients to tell if they are at risk for breast cancer. It can be hard to tell if the cells in the breast are uncontrollably growing in large amounts, so wearing this ultrasound bra can benefit millions of women when it comes to fighting cancer...click here to read more

January 8, 2024

Ridhi Garg

The world of sports has been significantly transformed through the influence of technology. With millions of passionate fans around the world supporting their favorite athletes in diverse sporting disciplines, sports have become a separate realm of excitement and competition. Over the years, the sporting industry has witnessed remarkable growth, and the introduction of innovative technologies has further facilitated this expansion. While the range of technologies implemented in sports is extensive, VAR and virtual reality have made a particularly positive impact on the field...click here to read more

January 3, 2024

Kathlyn Phan

From helping you answer your homework to effortlessly generating multiple complex lines of code, ChatGPT is an all-in-one generative AI chatbot that has the solution to any problem powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Although this technology is relatively new as it only came out a year ago, ChatGPT has been rapidly growing in usage to roughly 100 million monthly users in only two months. The AI is continuously learning and evolving itself with every question it’s asked with the help of machine learning. With other generative AI being produced by industry giants like Facebook and Twitter, what makes ChatGPT so special? How does it manage to make itself stand out and accumulate such a vast user base?...click here to read more

December 29, 2023

Sylvie Pagovich

Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet in our solar system, located about 2.8 billion miles from the sun. Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea. The planet was discovered in 1846 by Johan Galle and Heinrich Louis d’Arrest. Urbain Jean-Joseph Le Verrier is also credited with the discovery because of his mathematical involvement. Neptune is the first planet to be predicted before its time using mathematics. Neptune was explored by the NASA mission Voyager Two, along with Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. Voyager Two discovered many things about Neptune, including five of its moons, several ring arcs, the great dark spot, four rings, and its magnetic field...click here to read more

December 27, 2023

Lily Sharkey

Music is made of patterns - combinations of notes of different lengths arranged on a staff, coming together to create melodies. Patterns are vital in music; otherwise, the notes will lack structure and the result will be incoherent and confusing. Generally, notes are intentionally orchestrated to create these patterns, but can this process be reversed? Can scientists create a list of notes and use the music to find patterns in a sequence of DNA? This is where protein music comes in...click here to read more

December 25, 2023

Sylvie Pagovich

Just like fully developed humans, babies also have the five senses- sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Babies begin to experience touch when they are still in the uterus before they’re born. Touch can give babies a warm feeling and a feeling of security. Babies are sensitive to touch and prefer warm and soft touches. The sense of touch for a baby is fully developed at birth but continues to grow and evolve along with the baby. A fetus can even feel the vibrations when its mother’s stomach is rubbed. Touch influences the emotional status of a baby. Affectionate touch can lead to a baby having less negativity and stress...click here to read more

December 20, 2023

Claire Story

Time and space have remained a perplexing question for generations of scientists, particularly how time behaves differently on Earth, in outer space, or the distant universe. According to A Briefer History of Time, by Stephen Hawking, time is a “personal concept, relative to the observer who measured it” and is not absolute (Hawking 106). People observe time based on the clocks they carry, and not all clocks may agree (Hawking 106). Renowned physicist Albert Einstein proposed the theory of relativity, saying that the laws of science and the speed of light should be equal for every freely moving observer regardless of their current speed (Hawking 44). As described in relativity simultaneity, time passes at different rates for everyone and “depends on our state of motion relative to each other” (Al-Khalili 61). Time moves slower when near a body with a high gravitational pull. For example, because Mars has less gravity than Earth, time passes ever so slightly faster (Hamer)...click here to read more

December 18, 2023

Nathaniel Keoni De La Cruz

Water is a necessity for all living things, and direct access is a true blessing. Electrical engineering is the future of accessible clean water. Water purification systems that are electrically engineered allow people in modern society to receive water with very few contaminants. While most developed countries have direct access to clean water without risk of illness.  The United Nations has taken notice of the importance of providing clean water for all living things, especially in developing countries. Goal six of the United Nations' sustainable development goals is focused on exploring innovative ways to grant universal access to uncontaminated water and sanitation. There are many ways to purify water using electrical engineering including electrolysis water purification systems, and desalination processes which include reverse osmosis. Are these sustainable ways of purifying water?...click here to read more

December 15, 2023

Taelor Mafnas 

Butterflies, beetles, peacocks, and plasmonic paints: one of these are notably different from the rest, but they all share similar properties in their coloration. Rich and rare colors can be found throughout nature, most significantly in butterfly wings, beetle elytra, and peacock feathers. Where do they get these colors, and why aren’t they more common in animals? Well, unlike other organisms, their colors don’t come from pigments but instead from their structure! Nano (super tiny) structures within these organisms manipulate how light reflects or is absorbed, producing the range of colors we see on them...click here to read more

December 13, 2023

Reggie Dao

Our world has been exposed to certain substances shaped in pills, dust, or any shape or form that is either illegal or prescribed, known as a drug. All of this material is bound to place extreme psychological effects on people, which raises a certain question. What kind of receptors are in someone’s DNA to determine how they’ll react? Doctors in the field of pharmacogenomics are actively seeking ways to treat their patients, and need to know the cerebral effects that come with these drugs. Thanks to Watson and Crick’s discovery of the DNA structure, figuring out how one’s DNA detects drug reactions is made easier in the lab...click here to read more

December 11, 2023

Jaydaniah Quitugua

Big data has become one of the most significant resources for innovation and decision-making in today's digital age. With continuously increasing amounts of data being generated every second, big data refers to the massive volume of structured and unstructured data that cannot be effectively managed by traditional database management systems. Other than its volume, big data is also characterized by its velocity and variety. It gathers data from a huge variety of sources. For example, social media platforms, online transactions, sensors, machines, and so much more...click here to read more

December 6, 2023

Janessa Angela Alerre

Humans use their imagination to visualize potential outcomes or situations daily. For instance, we imagine how our presentation will go, how the next day will begin, how a home-cooked meal will taste, and much more. However, rats, the pests roaming in society, were recently discovered using their imagination to move digital objects! But how did they identify this ability?...click here to read more

December 4, 2023

Bobo Lin

How many jelly beans can fill a room? How many piano tuners are there in Chicago? How long would it take you to count to one million? These seemingly impossible questions are called Fermi questions, or back-of-the-envelope questions. Fermi questions are estimation problems answered with reasonable quantitative estimates and smaller sub-questions. The purpose is not to answer the question correctly (because it doesn’t have a correct answer!) but rather to practice thinking logically and encourage communication...click here to read more

December 1, 2023

Kevin Yacub

Although art and mathematics, two greatly contrasting elements, may seem to belong to different worlds, they are actually intricately intertwined. The apparent subjectivity of art and the objective nature of mathematics are not mutually exclusive but rather collaborate in profound ways. This synergy between art and mathematics has a rich historical presence, with artists often employing mathematical concepts consciously or unconsciously in their creative processes. This article delves into the significant areas where mathematics has exerted a profound influence on art; these areas include the Golden Ratio, perspective and proportion, anamorphic art, tessellations, polyhedra, fractals, and symmetry...click here to read more

November 29, 2023

Lily Sharkey

December 5, 2022, was the first time in history that nuclear fusion reached ignition- that is, nuclear fusion produced more energy than was put into it. On July 30, 2022, California scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) reached ignition for the second time. If it can be successfully and continuously repeated, nuclear fusion can be the next clean and cheap energy source. However, nuclear fusion is still in its preliminary phase, and much more experimentation is required before it can become the next green power source. Thus, it is unclear if nuclear fusion will have an impact on current climate issues by the time it will be available commercially...click here to read more

November 27, 2023

Stephanien Khoury

By definition, psychology is the study of the mind, but most people fail to realize how our minds relate to science. While commonly perceived as a social science due to its exploration of emotions and human interactions, psychology is intricately linked to the natural life sciences. Each psychological principle that has been verified by the American Psychology Association relies upon the scientific method to test its theories. The scientific method is the universal procedure used to test hypotheses...click here to read more

November 22, 2023

Lily Sharkey

Every person has more than 20,000 genes that code for their very existence. Genes are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) wound up into tight structures called chromosomes. All chromosomes are found in the nucleus, the core structure of each cell. Every person has two replicas of each gene, one inherited from each parent. A mutation, which is a variant or alteration in the DNA, can drastically change what the DNA codes for. The variant can be benign, meaning they don’t pose a serious threat to one’s health, or pathogenic, which causes genetic and health issues...click here to read more

November 20, 2023

Dave Achonu

The HTT gene, also known as the Huntington gene, has been of intense scientific and medical research interest for decades. This gene is primarily associated with Huntington's disease (HD), a debilitating and devastating neurodegenerative disorder. The history of the HTT gene is a story of scientific exploration, breakthroughs, and the pursuit of a cure...click here to read more

November 17, 2023

Jaydaniah Quitugua

Dinosaurs are an extinct species that have been studied for many years through their fossils. The first recorded study occurred around the 1600s but wasn’t officially published until 1677. Since dinosaurs were extinct before the existence of human beings, there’s a lot unknown. Studies and theories are still being conducted. An example of the studies is fossilized dinosaur feathers. It has shown that dinosaur feathers have a very similar protein composition to those of modern birds...click here to read more

November 16, 2023

Taelor Mafnas

Pavements are the paths that bind our homes, businesses, states, and ultimately, families and communities together. Despite this, many people don’t know the history and processes that contributed to the convenience of our everyday lives. As bicycles became more prominent in the United States during the 1800s, bicyclists came together to kickstart the Good Roads Movement, highlighting the importance of quality roads for religious groups, farmers, and students. The support behind this movement led the federal government to begin looking into funding the transformation of traditional streets and organizations to form for the same cause...click here to read more

November 15, 2023

Jasmine Nguyen

Imagine a world where people are starving from a food shortage, where once-common animals are on the brink of extinction, and where going outside starts to seem unbearable due to the constant heat waves. There’s no need to imagine it because that’s where the world is headed. Sea levels are rising, the temperature of oceans and our atmosphere are skyrocketing, and habitats are being destroyed. These are the consequences of the world’s increasing use of fossil fuels and production of greenhouse gases...click here to read more

November 14, 2023

Chrinnah Torres

From 1900 B.C. up until the present, the 21st century, the jobs associated with finding the missing length of a right triangle have had abundant amounts of impact on our world. Pythagoras’ Theorem is introduced in Algebra 1. It is also known as the Pythagorean Theorem when being taught in school. A bunch of major roles use this theorem for their everyday workspace. For example agriculture, aviation, construction, and so on. These jobs using Pythagoras’ Theorem have benefited our society. Without this discovery, our universe wouldn’t have evolved as it is today and stay as an ennui...click here to read more

November 13, 2023

Mai Shashua

Emily Warren Roebling was an engineer who helped guide the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Roebling was born in Cold Spring, New York, on September 23, 1843. She was the second youngest of twelve children, the closest to her older brother, Gouverneur K. Warren. He was one of the people who led Roebling to work on the Brooklyn Bridge after supporting her decision to get educated. He later became a corps commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Emily visited him; there she met Washington Roebling, an engineering officer on her brother’s staff. Emily and Washington fell in love and got married on January 18th, 1865...click here to read more

November 10, 2023

Janessa Angela Alerre

The term “social media” refers to the communication systems where individuals produce, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual groups and networks. The largest social media platforms worldwide include YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. With teenagers having quick access to social media from their mobile devices, it becomes a daily and essential part of their lives. For instance, 95% of all youth between the ages of 13 and 17 have access to social media. Hence, the question arises, “What impact does social media have on adolescents?” First, it’s significant to acknowledge that it has positive and negative aspects on their mental health, views, and communication. Social media has allowed teens to communicate with others across geographic barriers, build awareness, and express themselves. However, it has also allowed teens to be cyberbullied, be exposed to inappropriate content, and develop self-esteem issues...click here to read more

November 9, 2023

Audrey Tran

The number zero represents nothing, an empty quantity. This prevalent symbol surprisingly only arrived and was accepted in the West in the late 12th century, though with resistance. Since then, the development of the number zero has transformed prior numbering systems and revolutionized calculations in mathematics and science. But, prior to that, ancient civilizations did not need a value to represent nothing. Counting usually involves physical objects like the number of people in a tribe or animals in a herd, so it wouldn’t make sense to count zero objects. So why was zero invented and when and where did this symbol first appear?...click here to read more

November 8, 2023

Caroline Cronin

In the 1960s and 1970s, during the days of Apollo 11, 12, and 17, the first samples of lunar soil were collected from different parts of the moon. After being stored for some 50 years at NASA’s archives in the Johnson Space Center, never exposed to air or water, they were taken out. Scientists at NASA made amazing discoveries that will continue to foster research and help mankind survive longer on the moon in the future. They successfully grew plants in lunar soil...click here to read more

November 7, 2023

Kathlyn Phan

Have you ever used ChatGPT before? How about a customer service chatbot? You may have interacted with artificial intelligence before at some point. In doing so, you might have unintentionally helped further develop one of the fastest-growing fields in recent years. Machine learning has rapidly become an in-demand skill because of how versatile, powerful, and continuously self-improving it is. Although some might question how trustworthy a computer is in analyzing mass amounts of data, machine learning has proven its worth over the past few years by examining and recognizing algorithms that help improve other fields such as marketing, business, education, and much more...click here to read more

November 6, 2023

Eliza Karel Gruta

From the moment we wake up, we make up lies. You might tell yourself, “It’s okay, five more minutes won’t make me late,” even though you know that you’ll be spending more than five minutes in bed. “I was late because of the traffic,” even though you know you just woke up late. Lying is normal - so normal that we don’t even question how it happens. In this article, we will tackle the hows and whys of this very ordinary phenomenon. This is Lies-ology 101...click here to read more

October 31, 2023

Fadwa Dalay

The world of instruments is one that we all hold a fond love for in our hearts. As humans, we are constantly listening to music, making it, and dancing to it. With that being said, have you ever wondered about the history of the wonderful world of music? Why do all instruments sound distinctly different and how do their designs differ? The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture. The Neanderthal flute dates back from 50,000–60,000 years ago. To this day, the Divje Babe is the oldest known musical instrument in the world, still standing as the best evidence for the existence of music in the tribes of archaic humans. During these early times, musical instruments were generally used for rituals, such as horns to signal success after a triumphant hunt or drums during religious ceremonies. Cultures eventually ended up developing compositions and performances of melodies for entertainment purposes...click here to read more

October 25, 2023

Kevin Yacub

Artificial intelligence, commonly referred to as AI is defined as a simulation of human intelligence that provides digital computers or computer-controlled robots with the ability to perform tasks that are commonly associated with intelligent beings. In this modern era, AI has emerged as a significant sector within the technological industry, with an exponential proliferation of AI tools, which, as of August 2023, has surpassed a staggering 7000 in total. Over time, AI has not only multiplied in quantity but has also expanded in its capabilities. Unfortunately, many users would simply assume that AI tools are limited to mere question and generative answer systems such as ChatGPT-3.5 and Bing AI. In reality, AI possesses the capability to undertake tasks that are far beyond this spectrum, including neural machine translation, facial recognition, creating generalizations based on patterns within pre-existing data, and a multitude of other functions...click here to read more

October 23, 2023

Reggie Dao

Marjorie Lee Browne, one of the most influential women in STEM, laid the pathway to the feminist movement regarding the area. She was born on September 9, 1914. She soon would accomplish many mathematical achievements and become a respected figure of African-American women's suffrage in the modern world of mathematics. Browne was an African-American analytical prodigy who enjoyed solving difficult arithmetic and held a passion for learning, ultimately earning herself a Ph.D. Not only did she become one of the few women to hold the title in 1949, but the impact of her work guided her to being the first African-American woman to obtain a prestigious academic degree in the strenuous and competitive fields of abstract mathematics...click here to read more

October 18, 2023

Lily Sharkey

Discovered in 1869, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an organic chemical that is the basis of life. Found in all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells (and even some virus cells), DNA codes for the genetic information that is responsible for the expression of inherited traits. Traits such as hair color, freckles, nose shape, and height are coded for by DNA. DNA is structured as a double-helix polymer, or in other words, two strands of DNA wound around each other. Each strand of DNA is composed of monomer nucleotides (compounds of nitrogenous bases joined with a sugar and a phosphate), which are held together by covalent bonds. The two strands of DNA are connected by hydrogen bonds. During the DNA replication process, the two strands “unzip” into individual strands, with each strand serving as a template for new nitrogenous bases to bond to. The result is two new molecules, each containing one strand of the original DNA. This means that whatever trait is coded for on the original DNA will be perpetually replicated, allowing diseases like cancer to persist and spread throughout the body..click here to read more

October 17, 2023

Maryam Bala

Have you ever looked at a building and wondered, “How was this even built?” Many New Yorkers (including myself) have stared in awe at a building known as “The Edge” and asked this very question. Despite its world-renowned status and popularity, many have wondered whether it is a sound structure. Buildings require a great deal of planning and construction.  All forms of mathematics, physics, and engineering statistics are used to determine what a building can handle. Architects and civil engineers perform equations and tests that are responsible for not only The Edge but many other interesting buildings all across the world...click here to read more

October 13, 2023

Kathlyn Phan

Chances are that the majority of people have encountered, scanned, or generated a QR code at some point in their daily lives. We see them being used everywhere both in the digital and physical world around us. QR codes have been utilized to replace physical copies of menus in restaurants to prevent the spread of germs since COVID-19, to advertise by taking the user to a company’s web address, to share contact information conveniently, etc. According to Roselle from QR Tiger, QR codes have grown 443% year-on-year in usage in 2022 alone. Their rise in popularity stems from their vast capacity for storing URLs, text, photos, and videos. Barcodes can only contain 20-100 characters. Meanwhile, QR codes can contain up to 7,089 numeric and 2,953 alphanumeric characters. QR codes can contain multiple data types; such as numeric, alphanumeric, byte, and kanji. Additionally, whereas barcodes are limited by the amount of data they can store due to them only being able to be read horizontally, QR codes are two-dimensional and can be read both horizontally and vertically...click here to read more

October 12, 2023

Sofia McGrath

Science is involved in numerous aspects of our day-to-day lives. Even seemingly simple processes that may be overlooked can have intriguing scientific explanations backing them, including paint varnish.  What is paint varnish and what does it have to do with science? Varnish is a relatively transparent liquid coating composed of either synthetic or natural solutions. It primarily serves as a protective layer on a painting, enhancing the final product's overall aesthetic through the intensification of its pigments. Science plays a significant and fascinating role in how varnish affects a painting, the properties of varnish, and how it changes over time...click here to read more

October 4, 2023

Janessa Angela Alerre

Self-driving cars, or robotic cars, are vehicles that are capable of traveling without human intervention. They are nothing new in today’s society -  the concept of an autonomous vehicle dates back to the 1900’s. In 1925, an electric engineer from New York, Francis Houdina, was the first to apply the idea of an autonomous vehicle, a car controlled through a remote...click here to read more

September 27, 2023

Stephanie Khoury

Eunice Newton Foote (1819-1888) was a women's rights activist and scientist. In her childhood, she never took an interest in science. It was only when she was introduced to the subject in her adolescence while studying at the Troy Female Seminary School that she began to develop a strong passion for it. While exploring her new-found passion, she began to experiment. Her most notable experiment included her using thermometers to compare the temperatures of air and carbon dioxide...click here to read more

September 26, 2023

Anya Puangsawas

Given the title of “Australian of the Year” five times in a row, Dr. Fiona Wood is a distinguished plastic and reconstructive surgeon in her field of expertise– treating burns and other types of skin damage. She is principally recognized by the public eye and the world of science for her development of “Spray-on Skin”, a revolutionary and innovative treatment that shortened the time needed to cultivate enough cells to cover serious burns from the prior three-week duration to only five days...click here to read more

September 24, 2023

Kieran Schmitt

It’s no surprise that the Amazon Alexa has spread into what seems like nearly every household, but there are things potential customers should know about these devices before making the purchase. Alexa is a personalized AI (artificial intelligence) powered voice assistant confined to a small speaker to be placed strategically around your house. The goal behind Alexa is to allow users to speak to it from anywhere in a room and receive support. This is designed to prevent distractions and increase efficiency in users...click here to read more

September 22, 2023

Andrea Mojsoska

From patterns to percentages, through skyscrapers and sunlight, math is all around us. And it has been for a while. Ages ago, the Ancient Greeks regarded this discipline as inherently beautiful, whereas Pythagoras and his followers viewed numbers as the center of our universe, placing emphasis more on their stringent rules than their larger, inherent beauty. The belief that mathematics can be both beautiful and practical has thus been shared by philosophers, mathematicians, and neuroscientists ad infinitum. As Bertrand Russel put it, “Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth but supreme beauty.” As such, the scope of mathematics transcends pen and paper. It extends to situations that, at first glance, have nothing to do with neither numbers nor calculations. Among this wide array of mathematical applications lies the concoction of beauty and brains: cosmetology...click here to read more

September 21, 2023

Tsz Kiu Amanda Leung

The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on December 25, 2021, at 07:20 am EST is an infrared space observatory developed by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Initial designs began in 1996, six years after the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed. It was first named the Next Generation Space Telescope, then named after NASA’s second administrator James E. Webb in 2002. Webb led the agency from 1961 to 1968 and struck a balance between human space exploration and scientific research, overseeing the Mercury, Gemini, Pioneer, Mariner, Apollo, and many more space programs, retiring just before the first moon landing in 1969...click here to read more

September 20, 2023

Fadwa Dalay

Picture this: It's a normal day and your phone vibrates, signaling that you've received a new message. You grab your phone, look into your camera, and then just like that your phone is unlocked! Have you ever wondered how exactly Face ID works? Why does it only grant users access to their phones, and not someone else's? And how does Face ID discern between an actual face and a close-up picture of said person's face?...click here to read more

September 18, 2023

Joshua Morgan

How did our universe, something so massive and complex, come to be? What was the trigger that created the cosmos? Questions regarding the origins of our universe are so direct yet at the same time very complicated. The subject has been controversial and puzzling for ages, where many individuals have speculated and hypothesized. As of the 1960s, however, the cosmology community has come to accept only one theory: the Big Bang theory...click here to read more

September 15, 2023

Aye Chan Mon 

The universe comprises billions of trillions of stars. Stars may seem to harmonize in the night sky, but in truth, they vary vastly in mass, luminosity, diameter, color, temperature, and lifetime. Just as every organism has a circle of life, the stars in space do, too. But how exactly? All stars’ are born from cold and dense gas clouds termed nebulae. Hydrogen gas is the primary constituent of a nebula. Nebulae remain in a fixed stable position for millions of years...click here to read more

Wednesday, September 13

Lucia Xiao

In the developing field of neuromarketing, researchers analyze consumer behavior and marketing strategies, enabling a more direct understanding of the correlations between physiological processes, consumer behavior, and decision-making. This essay outlines major scientific advances in the field of neuromarketing, particularly concentrating on its potential applications and contributions to our understanding of human behavior...click here to read more

September 11, 2023

Tsz Kiu Amanda Leung

What do lightning bolts, rivers, and our blood vessels have in common? They are all examples of fractals. Fractals are unique geometric structures that differ dramatically from traditional Euclidean shapes like triangles, squares, and circles. Unlike these familiar shapes, fractals exhibit never-ending patterns that retain their initial patterns when you zoom in, the mathematics of which is invariably linked to calculus. One key characteristic of fractals is self-similarity. They are also quantified by a parameter known as the fractal dimension, which measures the “complexity” of said shapes...click here to read more

September 8, 2023

Janessa Angela Alerre

Every year, one billion trees worth of paper are utilized and discarded. Yet the increasing rate at which trees are cut down annually is abetted by the even quicker rate at which paper is discarded daily. Paper is made of a thin, non-woven material that is usually created from a blend of fibers and milled plants. Paper can be used in a plethora of ways, such as writing, drawing, wrapping, printing, etc. After it has finished its assumed purpose, this paper is too quickly thrown away and the vast majority of it ends up in landfills. This means that we are effectively taking away from our habitats for a purpose that also adversely impacts our planet. These facts are simply ignored by the general public, and thus, plantable seed paper presents a promising solution to this crisis...click here to read more

September 6, 2023

Tsz Kiu Amanda Leung

We live in a world of protons, neutrons, and electrons. However, if we examine the universe as a whole, all light and atoms, “normal matter,” only make up about 5% of the cosmos. If so, what exactly is the remaining 95%, and how do we find it? A concept first proposed in the 1930s by Fritz Zwicky, dark matter was only confirmed by Vera C. Rubin and her colleagues in the 1960s, making it a very recent discovery. Our universe is mainly dark matter and dark energy, where dark matter makes up about 27% and dark energy roughly 68%. One view of dark matter is that it is non-baryonic - that is, it is not made up of protons and neutrons, but other particles, such as leptons, quarks, or axons. Scientists generally agree that dark matter is a new, invisible type of particle that our sensory equipment cannot pick up...click here to read more

September 4, 2023

Janessa Angela Alerre

Charles Darwin, born on February 12, 1809, living in Shrewsbury, England, grew up intrigued by the world around him. During his childhood, he spent his time reading nature books and collecting plants and insects from the fields and woodlands surrounding his home. He happened to come from a family of scientists. For instance, his grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, was a renowned botanist, and his father, Dr. R.W Darwin, was a medical doctor...click here to read more

September 1, 2023

Sofia McGrath

There has been a recent advancement of a company named “Releaf Paper,” which utilizes new technology to manufacture and internationally produce paper and packaging from a unique raw material: fallen leaves. They are working towards the goal of replacing wood cellulose as a source of paper since it entails cutting down a tremendous number of trees annually. Releaf Paper promotes this idea of sustainability by using biowastes to create paper for the well-being of our earth’s forests. But how did such a remarkable company - with such an evident impact on the environment - initially come to be?...click here to read more

August 30, 2023

Caroline Cronin

The history of the hybrid car dates back to the 1900s, proving that we have been striving for healthier transportation options for over 100 years. The first hybrid car was made by Jacob Lohner and Ferdinand Porsche. Initially, Lohner decided that gas cars were loud and smelled bad. Around the same time, Porsche made an in-wheel motor, which was an electric motor that could fit inside the wheel of a car. Lohner then sought to combine his car with Porche's invention to make a hybrid. The car was named the “Lohner-Porsche Elektromobil” in honor of its makers. It was also the first car designed with four-wheel drive, as requested by the customer. However, it wasn’t until 2002, just over a century later, that hybrid cars gained recognition and that people started buying them...click here to read more

August 28, 2023

Lara Villard

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have garnered attention in the past few years. However, though NFTs have made a name for themselves, for most people that’s exactly what they have remained: just a name. The concept of NFTs remains foggy for the majority of the population, despite their worldwide reach. Therefore, in order to clear the clouds, here’s the general breakdown...click here to read more

August 23, 2023

Soulava Gabr

Drug abuse is a significant and ongoing issue affecting approximately two million Iranians daily, with heroin being the most widely abused substance in the country. The prevalence of opium, a precursor to heroin, has contributed to the rise of addiction rates, particularly among the working-age population between fifteen and sixty-four years old. The abuse of prescription medications has also played a role in escalating opioid misuse, leading to more potent narcotic consumption like heroin, which poses severe threats to physical and mental health...click here to read more

August 22, 2023

Roumaissae Bouaid

Along with the booming success of Netflix’s original series The Queen’s Gambit, in October 2020, chess experienced a resurgence and suddenly became extremely popular. Although it is challenging to determine chess's age or origin, the legend is that it was invented in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as they are known today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century. However, people didn't just play chess but were also captivated by the maths deeply seated in the game. Many mathematicians had theories about chess, and these century-old theories and problems are still of interest -- and are being further developed -- today...click here to read more

August 21, 2023

Benjamin Woo

Our universe may not be the only one out there in the unending night sky. Many have proposed that other universes could exist and that our universe is simply one of many outside of the observable realm. However, is this idea actually true? Can such a proposal be substantiated? This article will explore the multiverse theory and some different interpretations of the seemingly absurd concept...click here to read more

August 16, 2023

Paola Crespo

Have you ever wondered about who maintains and protects your data? Cybersecurity is the field in the tech industry that addresses this concern. Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems and digital information from unauthorized access to prevent theft, damage, or attacks. Cybersecurity enables technology users to trust that their information is being kept safe...click here to read more

August 15, 2023

Jasmine Nguyen

The initial thought that comes to mind when discussing dopamine is the feeling of pleasure that it gives the body. However, it is much more complicated than that. Dopamine is one of many neurotransmitters, chemicals that sends electrical signals throughout the brain’s and body’s neurons and target cells. These neurotic messages control emotions, behaviors, and the function of muscles and organs. Dopamine is especially vital to the functions of our bodies’ motor control, memory, attention, motivation, mood, and more. Although dopamine plays a crucial role in many bodily actions, this article will specifically focus on its relationship with individuals’ reward centers...click here to read more

July 27, 2023

Ayushi Kasotia

In recent years, air fryers have gained significant popularity as a versatile kitchen appliance that promises to deliver crispy and delicious meals with little to no oil...This article aims to provide a basic understanding of air fryers, namely how they cook food without oil, their construction, a brief history, current examples, and a glimpse into their future...click here to read more

July 25, 2023

Tsz Kiu Amanda Leung

With the rapidly rising sea levels and occurrences of wild weather events today, stormwater management systems are of increasing importance. Retention ponds in particular help manage floodwater and protect watersheds. Retention ponds, or stormwater ponds, are man-made with a permanent body of water and vegetation around the perimeter...click here to read more

July 12, 2023

Letícia Alves da Silva

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is positioned between the moon and the sun, causing a precise alignment of the shadow of Earth with the lunar surface, darkening it. Depending on the type of eclipse, it can occur twice a year or every two or three years. It is noteworthy that such a phenomenon only happens during the full moon phase. In general, there are three types of lunar eclipses...click here to read more

July 10, 2023

Julie Arangio

In 1905, 26-year-old Albert Einstein published three papers that debunked the principles of Newton’s mechanics and shifted the world’s perspective on the forces that regulate our universe. Needless to say, he would later become known as one of the greatest and most influential minds of the 20th century. Let’s take a step back to understand how this all happened...click here to read more

July 5, 2023

Audrey Tran

The human body consists of 200 different types of cells. All cells, ranging from blood cells to nerve cells, originated from the stem cell. Stem cells are cells that have yet to differentiate into a specific function, much like a body’s raw materials. These cells do not have particular tissue characteristics; however, they can later differentiate into numerous specialized cells and tissues. Unlike most body cells that divide for a limited amount of time, stem cells can divide indefinitely. Due to the versatile nature of stem cells, they hold the remarkable potential to be clinically applied in therapies and organ transplantation...click here to read more

July 3, 2023

Suhani Desai 

Over the last few months, Canada has begun to experience one of the harshest wildfire seasons to date. Canada, which holds 9% of the world’s forests, typically experiences a wildfire season during this time of the year which usually extends from early May to October. This year, as Canada was hit with its most devastating fires, the fumes of the fires - which have reached almost every corner of Canada - have begun to spread south over the Canadian border into the United States. The hazy skies and large amounts of smoke have set new record highs of air pollution triggering shocking air quality warnings across Canada and the US...click here to read more

June 28, 2023

Tsz Kiu Amanda Leung

We all have encountered this symbol, π (“pi”),  in our math and science classes. It might seem complicated, irrational, or transcendental, and it goes on without any patterns emerging. But pi is simply defined as the ratio of the circumference of a perfect circle to its diameter. The first ten digits of pi are 3.141592653…and it goes on forever...click here to read more

June 21, 2023

Maryam Bala

Engineering is a science that has existed since the dawn of time. Our Primitive and Stone Age ancestors created Oldowan tool kits, kits that consisted of stone hammers and Acheulean handaxes, the oldest testament to modern-day Manufacturing Engineering. The Egyptian pyramids serve as the oldest testament to Civil Engineering. These beautiful yet seemingly outlandish pyramids demonstrate complex understandings of both structures and the logic behind them. Those who came before us in the world of STEM possessed no knowledge greater than ours. They knew of no magic for construction and could read from no all-knowing book. Rather, they used a process known as the engineering process, a process very similar to the one still in effect today...click here to read more

June 18, 2023

Brendan Kaminski

Russia plays an instrumental role in the global food supply, producing large quantities of corn and wheat. 1 In 2018, Russia’s wheat exports peaked at 26.4 percent of its total exports, making it the largest global wheat exporter.2  These exports significantly contribute to European grain supply, as over 70 percent of Finnish and Turkish grain imports are from Russia.3 However, in July and August of 2022, Russian wheat exports decreased by 22 percent.4 Scholars contend that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the primary source of this decline, overlooking the issue of climate change. Since several European countries depend on Russian agribusiness, this deficit is not simply a domestic issue but impacts the entire European continent. It is therefore vital that the environmental undertones of this topic are addressed...click here to read more

June 7, 2023

Avni Kyal

After studying the planets and how they all formed, scientists opted to study one of the larger, quite literally existential, questions of the universe: do planets other than Earth have conditions that could potentially sustain life? Scientists ventured towards researching the developmental and generational changes in the composition of radiation, matter, and life throughout the universe...click here to read more

May 31, 2023

Krisha Gupta 

Nanotechnology is the application of STEM fields on a nanoscale between one and one hundred nanometers. It focuses on modifying atoms and molecules at the nanoscale to design, build, and implement devices, mechanisms, and frameworks. Essentially, nanotechnology is the study and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale scale...click here to read more

May 24, 2023

Noa Essner

Over the course of human history, especially in the primitive years, mankind’s need to adapt to their surroundings has been a vital component of their survival. This adaptation has entailed learning to hunt for food, finding some form of shelter, and most especially, making fires. The exploration of this topic began in the Qesem Cave in Israel, where scientists suggest, based on ancient wood samples, that Neanderthals first started learning to make fires. Subsequent to this discovery, scientists have and continue to rely on analyzing the remains of bones and charcoal to trace the continued usage of fire. This has led scientists to conclude that as humans have evolved, ensuring their survival has not been the only use of fire. Science indicates that fire has played a critical role in actual human development from the early homosapien, a near-distant ancestor of apes, to the more complex species of humans that we are today....click here to read more

May 22, 2023 

Krisha Gupta 

From Dobereiner’s triads to Newland’s octaves, a plethora of scientists has tried arranging the chemical elements feasibly and reasonably. Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev first created the conceptual layout for the modern periodic table in 1869. At least, that is how the world perceives it...click here to read more

May 18, 2023

Keren Teichner 

In recent years, anxiety medication has been more widely used due to anxiety becoming a more rampant symptom of day-to-day life. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), one out of every thirteen people suffer from anxiety, making it the most common mental health disorder in the U.S. Many people use anxiety medication to help combat their anxiety and live with the stresses of life; however, many people do not know what these medications are. What types are there? Are they safe? Who uses them? This article will speak about several different types of anxiety medication...click here to read more

May 10, 2023

Noa Essner

For over a century, receiving the Nobel Prize has been a standing signifier of great progress and achievement in one of seven disciplines: chemistry, physics, economics, physiology, peace, literature, or medicine. Of nearly a thousand winners since the prize originated in 1901, only 59 of those winners have come from an Asian ethnicity. Yet, among those winners, one remarkable female scientist has truly broken down barriers and made her mark on the STEM community by becoming the first female Asian scientist to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in either physiology or medicine. This individual is Tu Youyou, a Chinese chemist whose development of the drug artemisinin is providing people worldwide with a life-saving treatment..click here to read more

May 3, 2023

Sylvie Pagovich 

Volcanoes are defined as an opening in the crust of a planet or moon. These openings allow molten rock, heated gases, and other substances to erupt. Volcanoes can be found in many places, not just on Earth. As layers of rock and ash accumulate from numerous eruptions, volcanoes frequently take the form of a hill or mountain, but they can also be found either on land or in the ocean. In general, volcanoes can either be active, dormant, or extinct...click here to read more

April 26, 2023

Carter Hoskins, Dave Achonu, Jacob Moran

Have you ever wondered what drives the Joker, the iconic villain from DC Comics, to his maniacal behavior? In the video game “Arkham Knight,” the Joker suffers from a mutated version of a rare and fatal neurological disorder known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. If you haven’t heard of this disease, don’t fret; it doesn’t take a caped crusader to understand this disorder...click here to read more

April 19, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

Jennifer Doudna is an American biochemist born in 1964 who co-discovered CRISPR, an invaluable tool for saving lives through genetic modification. Doudna was originally born in Washington, D.C., but she grew up in Hawaii where her love of science stemmed from exploring rainforests on her native island, Hilo. Her father, who taught at the University of Hawaii, lent her the very book that would spark her insatiable curiosity for genetics: The Double Helix, by James Watson. A few years later, she studied biochemistry at California’s Pomona College, then went to Harvard University for graduate school, where alongside Jack Szostak she researched ribonucleic acids (RNA) as well as DNA (deoxyribonucleic acids)...click here to read more

April 12, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

May-Britt Moser is a Norwegian psychologist born in 1963 who is known for her groundbreaking work in studying brain cells. She grew up fascinated by plastic brains and received a strong education in science that fostered an eventual career studying psychology...click here to read more

April 5, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

May 12, 1910 marks the day one of science’s greatest heroes was born. Dorothy Hodgkin was a chemist whose contributions to the field greatly impacted scientific research. Her love of chemistry began at the young age of ten years old. She was born in Cairo, Egypt, and had an interest in science, particularly botany and archaeology. She then went to school in London. There, she was one of two girls granted the opportunity to study science alongside a class filled with boys...click here to read more

March 29, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

Ada Lovelace was born in London on December 10, 1815. Her father left Ada and her mother at a young age. From that point on, Lovelace was forced by her mother to study science and mathematics. She was taught by several tutors as well as the first professor of the University of London, Augustus De Morgan. In the 1820s, Charles Babbage, a mathematician and mechanical engineer, created the Analytic Engine and the Difference Engine. These inventions were able to do simple mathematical functions...click here to read more

March 22, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

Sally Ride was the first woman to have traveled to outer space. Born on May 26, 1951, Ride’s childhood included playing volleyball and tennis. She grew up and attended high school in Los Angeles, and then she studied at Stanford University to earn her degree in Physics. In 1977, NASA wanted women astronauts and started an astronaut program that encouraged women to apply. Ride applied, and was one of six women to be accepted for the program...click here to read more

March 15, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

Marie Curie was a French scientist who worked alongside her husband, Pierre Curie. Together, they both won two Nobel Prizes and discovered radioactivity. Maria Sklodowska was her birth name, and she was the youngest of five in her family. She was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. As both her parents were teachers, Marie was able to read and write very early on. She was known to be an excellent student with a remarkable memory. During the time Marie grew up, Poland was controlled by Russia, and reading or writing in Polish came to be forbidden, restricting Curie from the opportunity to learn and grow. Due to the Russian invasion, Marie’s father lost his job. By the time Marie was ten, her sister had passed away from Typhus. Two years after that, her mother died from tuberculosis. Marie graduated from high school and went to University. However, University was not encouraged for women during that time...click here to read more

March 8, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

Rosalind Franklin is best known for her contributions made towards the uncovering of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and its molecular structure. DNA is the portion of a cell that stores genetic information. It is responsible for the development of an organism. Other contributions made by Franklin include observing and discovering new insights into the structure of viruses, which helped in creating the foundation in the field of structural virology. Franklin was born on July 25, 1920. As a child, she enjoyed reading novels, drawing, and photography. While attending St. Paul’s Girls’ School, Franklin excelled at science and Latin. Although it was not encouraged at the time for girls to be interested in these subjects, especially science, Franklin had the mind and attitude for it....click here to read more

January 29, 2023

Dave Achonu 

The second wave of the opioid crisis has been running rampant in the United States since 2010. This public health crisis has been characterized by a stark increase in the number of heroin overdoses. Heroin, a semi-synthetic opioid, has successfully eroded the quality of life of millions of Americans. However, heroin is not the only opioid currently plaguing the United States. Fentanyl, a more cost-effective and synthetic opioid has recently risen to fame amongst drug users and infamy amongst public health leaders. Illicit fentanyl usage has proliferated immensely as of late, increasing twenty-fold between 2010 and 2015. This fatal drug has stolen the lives of millions, leaving a permanent stain on this nation...click here to read more

January 2, 2023

Maya Puterman

You have likely encountered deepfakes while browsing the internet, scrolling through TikTok, or watching videos on YouTube, without even realizing it. Deepfakes have gotten better and better since they were first created to make people look like they are doing things that in reality they never actually did...click here to read more

December 19, 2022

Noa Essner

Beneath the Scotia Sea Floor in the Antarctic Ocean, scientists unintentionally discovered remnants of DNA from microorganisms. This DNA, known scientifically as sedimentary ancient DNA, due to its being found among the accumulation near the sea floor, is estimated to be roughly one million years old. Though the DNA found in Antarctica was discovered back in 2019 as part of a research project prompted by the International Ocean Discovery Program, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that scientists concluded that this strange DNA is much older than the 650,000-year-old sedaDNA (“Sedimentary Ancient DNA”) found in the frozen Antarctic, making it one of the world’s oldest found DNA samples to date...click here to read more

October 11, 2022

Noa Essner

Throughout history, the objectives of space agencies’ projects worldwide were to expand humanity’s knowledge of the universe and how it works beyond its limited comprehension. Among all these incredible missions, however, none have previously considered the benefits of allocating more resources to design projects in a field known as “planetary defense.” This changed when in September 2022, NASA paved the way to protect the Earth should a celestial body be aimed to crash into it...click here to read more

October 9, 2022

Kymberlyn Calderon

Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) was an American mathematician known for her contributions to NASA’s early spaceflight research. Johnson was a brilliant force, skipping several grades in school to become one of the first black students at Virginia State College to get into the graduate school program. In 1957, Johnson’s life would change forever. During the Cold War, the Space Race also began. Katherine’s previous work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) landed her a vital role in the Space Race when NACA was incorporated into NASA due to desegregation, enabling her to become one of the first black engineers for NASA in 1953, setting a precedent for countless other women, especially women of color, to follow...click here to read more

August 25, 2022

Kymberlyn Calderon

When the Rubik's Cube was first released in the 1980s, it was seen as a toy that only the smartest people might figure out. Eventually, people realized the need for patience surpassed the need for intelligence to solve it. Solving the puzzle once creates a euphoria for people to improve, and one of the easiest ways to improve is by buying a puzzle that turns better. Traditional Rubik's Brand puzzles are often quite stiff and may require the solver's entire wrist to turn a single side, but innovations throughout the decades have allowed people to turn the puzzle with up to fifteen turns per second. Though Rubik's Cubes operate primarily on mechanics and mathematics, science also made this innovation possible...click here to read more

July 26, 2022

Dora Fields

In 1921, the word “robot” was first used in a Czech play. The playwright, Karel Capek, used the word (derived from the Czech word for “slave”) to describe a group of machines that worked in factories. By the end of the play, the robots rebelled against their human operators and defeated them. While the word “robot” has evolved since its initial usage, the fears of the public remain the same: with robots becoming more complex and gradually gaining more self-autonomy, where does this leave humans?...click here to read more

May 25, 2022

Bianca Silvera and Samantha Zoltan

Many of our basic necessities such as electricity, heat, and transportation require the burning of fossil fuels. But when these fossil fuels are burned, they release extremely large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air. These greenhouse gases in turn trap heat into our atmosphere, which has led to a situation known as the human-enhanced greenhouse effect. A greenhouse effect is naturally beneficial to the earth to regulate the planet’s temperature, but when exacerbated by humans when more greenhouse gasses are emitted, the planet warms up in a process known as global warming...click here to read more

May 23, 2022

Lara Villard

More often than not, the stores from which we buy our clothes are major contributors to the “fast-fashion” crisis undertaking the world in the twenty-first century, which is directly feeding global emissions. Take a moment and think about the last item of clothing you bought. A graphic tee, a pair of boots, or possibly a new outfit for your high school dance? Now think about where you bought that piece of clothing...click here to read more

May 23, 2022

Gabrielle Alder

When we think of virtual reality, our thoughts typically conjure up high-tech video games.  However, virtual reality is far more complex and is now being utilized for a number of important everyday functions. Virtual reality (VR) uses computer modeling to enable a person to interact with an artificial three-dimensional sensory environment. VR simulates reality using goggles, headsets, gloves, or bodysuits that send and receive information...click here to read more

May 5, 2022

Lily Freilich

Though only 74 years old, Israel has made a name for itself as being one of the leading countries in agriculture, technology, and entrepreneurship. Some of their revolutionary innovations include Waze, Mobileye, and Netafim. These help people everywhere, whether by providing the most efficient route to a specific location, alerting a driver of structures near them, or modernizing irrigation through an unapparent, yet simple strategy...click here to read more

May 2, 2022

Liviah Lewis

A Japanese company is planning on making curated specifically to their customers' saliva and taste. Human hearts for transplants are being grown in labs. Additionally, scientists are growing even closer to building houses, apartments, and other infrastructure on the moon. How is all of this happening? 3D printing...click here to read more 

May 1, 2022

Leo Eigen

Fire has always been present in nature. Scientists consider it to be one of the most important elements of “forest ecology” – the complex biological relationships that build the basis for forest life. But with the intense rise of destructive wildfires across the West Coast of the United States which threaten homes, communities, and, above all, human life, firefighting agencies have adopted a “zero-tolerance” approach whereby all fire is considered bad...click here to read more 

April 29, 2022

Lara Villard

In an age where temperatures are rising at an increasingly concerning rate, and as our world faces catastrophes such as severe storms, droughts, and a loss of biodiversity, we need living spaces that curb these disastrous effects and connect us to our environment, rather than isolate us from it. While it is only one factor of many, buildings play a big role in energy consumption and leave a large impact, whether positive or negative on the environment...click here to read more

April 29, 2022

Keren Teichner

In our world there exist thousands of different species of bees, but the seven of these species that can produce honey have long had a target on their backs. Since the 1980s, the bee population has been in rapid decline due to farmers and manufacturers seeking to use the bees for their honey, and in recent years, the bee problem has further deteriorated, leaving the situation worse than ever before....click here to read more

April 29, 2022

Noa Essner

The Rubik’s Cube, originally popular in the seventies and eighties, made a comeback a few short years ago around 2017. In fact, in 2018, a rough estimate of 350 million cubes was sold worldwide. Ranging from 2x2 to 22x22, the Rubik’s Cube has evolved, and now so has the world’s addiction to solving it...click here to read more 

April 22, 2022

Maya Puterman

The United Nations defines climate change as “long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.” Rising temperatures are causing natural disasters. The globe is already more than 1°F warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution. Though seemingly insignificant, a temperature increase of just one degree is enough to wipe out an entire population of sea life and wildlife and disrupt the food chain...click here to read more

April 19, 2022

Maya Puterman

The term AI stands for artificial intelligence. AI refers to the ability of smart machines to perform human tasks through artificial intelligence that would normally require human intelligence. In 1950, Alan Turing, a mathematician, posed the question: “Can machines think?” His question led to his subsequent writing of a paper designed to explore this idea...click here to read more

April 18, 2022

Noa Essner

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, is renowned for its historic progress in space exploration and reaching new frontiers of discovery beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Having maintained this reputation for over sixty years, it may come as a surprise that an agency concerned with space endeavors is now directing its focus somewhere else...click here to read more