Sep 7Test Your Brain: Can You See These Visual Illusions?Harnessing Physical and Cognitive Illusions to Illuminate the Mechanisms of The Visual System — Neuroscience8 min readNeuroscience8 min read
Aug 24The Explore Fellowship: A Week of Growth, Laughter, and FriendshipLife is sweet, love is free, and we live in abundance — No words are adequate to describe what the past five days of my life were like. The Explore Fellowship was energizing, inspiring, and thought-provoking. I felt a deep sense of belonging, surrounded by a community of people who wanted to change the world for the better. Everyone was willing to…7 min read7 min read
Jul 17Member-onlyCalculating the Distance to Nearby Stars: The Stellar ParallaxUnderstanding Earth’s place in the universe has been a question in the minds of humans for millennia. …Math4 min readMath4 min read
Jul 17Member-onlyWhich planets are most likely to have surface water?An Astrobiology Thought Experiment — This thought experiment is presented by Distinguished Professor of Astronomy Chris Impey in his University of Arizona Coursera course, Astrobiology: Exploring Other Worlds. In this exercise, a team of astrobiologists is investigating three exoplanets. They are trying to determine which is most likely to have liquid surface water. All three…Space4 min readSpace4 min read
Jul 16Member-onlyHow do we know if a planet is habitable?An Astrobiology Thought Experiment — This thought experiment is presented by Distinguished Professor of Astronomy Chris Impey in his University of Arizona Coursera course, Astrobiology: Exploring Other Worlds. In this exercise, a team of astrobiologists is investigating two newly discovered exoplanets. They are trying to determine which planet is most Earth-like. …Space4 min readSpace4 min read
Jul 15Member-onlyWhat could life be like on a 2.15 billion-year-old planet?An Astrobiology Thought Experiment — Using knowledge of the evolution of life on Earth, one may speculate about the trajectories of life on other astronomical bodies. Though strictly theoretical, this type of postulation offers a beneficial exercise that relies on a combination of imagination and known facts about the origin, evolution, and distribution of life…Space4 min readSpace4 min read
Jul 1Member-onlyTraveling to Nepal: Reflections and RevelationsMy feet swayed, suspended in the air. Thin-trunked trees towered above me, their snaking branches gently waving as a delicate breeze swept through the forest. I took a slow inhale. My gaze was locked on fluttering leaves that obscured the sky. Patches of blue occasionally peeked through the canopy layer…Travel7 min readTravel7 min read
Dec 6, 2022The Near-Extinction of the Buffalo During Westward ExpansionThe “Slaughter on the Plains” — The American Plains Bison, colloquially known as the buffalo, is a native animal in North America that moved freely throughout the Great Plains in population sizes of tens of millions. Since the end of the Last Glacial Period, around 10,000 years ago, buffalo lived without consequence across the Plains and…History6 min readHistory6 min read
Published inMind Magazines·Jul 20, 2022Member-onlyTargeting the Deadliest Animal in the WorldHarnessing Copepods as Bio-Control Agents — Science8 min readScience8 min read
Published inMind Magazines·Jul 1, 2022Member-onlyCopepods: Unheralded Upholders of the Aquatic Food ChainCopepods are a group of zooplanktonic crustaceans encompassing an estimated 20,000 species worldwide. This is mainly due to their versatility as a life form — copepods have adapted to survive in a diverse array of habitats, ranging in salinity and temperature. Copepods have been found living in both saltwater and…Science7 min readScience7 min read
