Archive for May, 2009

Thursday, May 28. 4 pm. Fahey-McLane Ground Floor Lounge.

The Journal will be hosting its second paper party today at 4 pm. All students and faculty are invited to the event, which seeks to provide a venue for members of the Dartmouth science community to learn about and discuss the latest research on campus. Three [...]

Keynote speaker for the annual Wetterhahn Undergraduate Science Symposium and Dartmouth alumnus Ginny Eckert ’90 spoke to student researchers and faculty, discussing life as a marine biologist in a lecture titled “One in a Million: Marine Ecology in the Subarctic.”

Daniel Gilbert, a professor at Harvard University and author of a New York Times bestselling novel, presented aspects of mental simulation as the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences’ 2009 John T. Lanzetta lecturer.

Physics and Astronomy
Errors corrected in quantum computing
Post-doctoral fellow Kaveh Khodjasteh and physics and astronomy professor Lorenza Viola have developed a new method for correcting errors in quantum computers, as reported in Physical Review Letters.
In the future, quantum computing may be incredibly fast and powerful. But for now, the individual units, known as quantum gates, are highly prone to errors [...]

Among all the battles we fight with cancer, one has gained the most public attention is breast cancer. Yet, after after years of research and millions of dollars in funding, one in eight women will still be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime (1). The best defense we have so far against this malady [...]

Dean Wilcox is a Dartmouth professor of chemistry who has been a part of the Dartmouth College faculty since 1984. Wilcox has long been highly involved with chemistry.  He received his BS and MS degrees in Chemistry from the University of California, after which he did graduate research at MIT and Stanford University, obtaining a [...]

In 1871, English naturalist Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex as a follow up to his renowned 1859 work on evolutionary theory, The Origin of Species. In the introduction of The Descent of Man, Darwin states that “the homological structure, embryological development, and rudimentary organs of a species, [...]

Extinction marks the evolutionary death of a species. Observing the fates of many species ancient and recent, it appears to be Nature’s mechanism of periodically clearing out the outdated to make room for the fit. But is extinction necessarily inevitable for every species? More specifically, are humans destined to meet an unavoidable end?  
Extinction, Then [...]

Everybody hiccups, especially often as children. The mysterious physiological phenomenon is surrounded by plenty of folklore. Hiccups are an excuse to eat spoonfuls of sugar and try to swallow water upside down. Of course, none of these “remedies” work, as hiccups are simply jerky contractions in the diaphragm. Hiccups can be caused by taking in [...]

When Darwin published On the Origin of Species 150 years ago, he may not have realized the rippling effects it would have throughout history. The work engendered a spark in scientists, educators, and lawyers. Both in the United States and abroad, policy surrounding the inclusion of evolution in education has changed as well. From the [...]