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Galactic Rotation Curves Revisited: A Surprise For Dark Matter

Historically, galactic rotation curves have suggested that galaxies are surrounded by a vast amount of invisible matter, otherwise known as a dark matter halo. A few weeks ago, a team of astrophysicists published a result that completely contradicts these halo models and could even change the popular understanding of dark matter. The team found that galactic rotation curves can be calculated explicitly from a simple … Continue reading Galactic Rotation Curves Revisited: A Surprise For Dark Matter

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Seminars

Charting the Hidden World of the Brain: A tale of lasers, magnets, and fish

Recent advances in biology and physics have enabled the creation of exquisitely detailed maps of the brain that describe the structure and function of specific brain regions or even individual cells. We will discuss the technologies behind these maps as well as the insights they have revealed about how complex phenomena like behaviors and emotions can emerge from a squishy glob of cells.   Continue reading Charting the Hidden World of the Brain: A tale of lasers, magnets, and fish

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Episode 9: When is an animal not a human: aka an episode on animal models (Part 1)

Written by Michelle Frank, Alexandra Schnell, Mashaal Sohail, and Amy Gilson Part One (Listen to Part Two here) Rebecca Hi Amy Amy Hi Becky. Or, do you want me to call you Rebecca for this podcast? Rebecca Probably Rebecca. Amy Okay, Hi Rebecca Rebecca Hello Amy! Amy Can you explain who you are and why you’re here? Rebecca I’m a graduate student at Washington University, … Continue reading Episode 9: When is an animal not a human: aka an episode on animal models (Part 1)

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It’s a boy! Baby is born with DNA from three “parents”

  A now five-month-old boy was the first child to be born via spindle nuclear transfer, a controversial fertilization procedure that incorporates genetic material from three different people.  Most of our genes are located in the DNA found in a cell’s nucleus, but a few reside in tiny compartments called mitochondria.  While rare, mutations in mitochondrial DNA can result in devastating disorders that often cannot … Continue reading It’s a boy! Baby is born with DNA from three “parents”

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New Study Warns of Southwest Megadrought

A new study published in Science aims to assess the effect of climate change on the risk of a serious drought hitting the Southwest United States before the year 2100. Megadroughts are defined as decade-long periods of prolonged drought; megadroughts can occur when the delicate balance between soil moisture and evaporation are upset. The most recent megadrought dates back to the late 16th century and … Continue reading New Study Warns of Southwest Megadrought

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New technology lets researchers visualize the evolution of antibiotic resistance

Antibiotics are powerful drugs used to treat bacterial infections. Recently, however, a growing number of bacterial infections have developed resistance to many commonly used antibiotics. In fact, the World Health Organization has pegged antibiotic resistance as one of the world’s biggest threats to global health! Bacteria acquire antibiotic resistance by changing in a way that reduces drug effectiveness. In a recent article, a research team … Continue reading New technology lets researchers visualize the evolution of antibiotic resistance

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When Food Fights Back: Exploring Salmonella’s journey through the body

Over 1 million people in the United States get food poisoning from Salmonella bacteria each year – that’s almost one out of every 300 Americans! You might have heard that this bacteria enters our bodies when we eat contaminated foods, but what happens after? In this talk, we’ll answer this question by exploring the ins and outs of a typical Salmonella infection – from a … Continue reading When Food Fights Back: Exploring Salmonella’s journey through the body

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Foldit players beat scientists in determining a protein’s shape

Eight years ago, a team at the University of Washington developed Foldit, a protein folding game that pits gamers against scientists and computer algorithms. Proteins, which are made up of a string of building blocks, called amino acids, form much of the core machinery of cells. When immersed in water, protein chains adopt a variety of shapes that enable them to perform their cellular roles. … Continue reading Foldit players beat scientists in determining a protein’s shape

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Dawn of a New Era: Detecting wrinkles in spacetime

Presented by Ashley Villar and Tansu Daylan The detection of gravitational waves has crowned a decades-long experimental endeavor in physics, confirming the major prediction of Einstein’s general theory of gravity. For the first time physicists are able to detect the wrinkles of spacetime produced by colliding stars and black holes. We will discuss the history of gravitational wave detectors and the physics behind these fascinating … Continue reading Dawn of a New Era: Detecting wrinkles in spacetime

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