From the Roman Empire to the Renaissance, arsenic was the poison of choice. Odorless, tasteless, and colorless, it could be used in a single large dose or used to slowly weaken one over the course of months (1). Its use waned as methods of arsenic detection developed. However, natural deposits...
At one time or another, most of us have experienced “pruney” fingers, or the exaggerated wrinkling of fingers and toes that results from prolonged exposure to water. Until the early twentieth century, most scientists attributed the pruney fingers phenomenon to osmosis, or the movement of water into dry outer layers...
Erik Svensson, a professor at Lund University in Sweden, spoke this past Friday at the weekly Biological Sciences seminar at Dartmouth College. Throughout his lecture, Svensson highlighted the idea that “behavior plays a dual role in evolution and speciation,” which means that the way organisms behave can serve either to...
Lamarckism: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 to 1829) was a French naturalist who is now infamous for the “giraffes stretched their necks to reach for food and therefore gave birth to offspring with long necks” example often alluded to in high school biology classes. However, contrary to popular opinion, Lamarck did not come...
The Flynn Effect is the observation that intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores have, on average, increased significantly from the 1930s to the present day. IQ tests are intended to have an average score of 100. However, psychologists revise the test every couple years in order to maintain this numerical average....
On February 4th, researchers announced that a skeleton unearthed in 2012 was indeed Richard III, the last in England’s Plantagenet line. On August 24th, 2012, exactly 528 years and two days after his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, remains were dug up from under a parking lot in...
On January 28th, the Iranian space program announced that it had successfully launched a monkey 120 kilometers into space. The creature, which was secured in a contraption that restricted all movement, was transported into space aboard the fighter jet Pishgam, which means “pioneer” in Farsi. . Completely sealed in a...
We cry when we are in despair. We tear up when we yawn. Our eyes well up during moments of immense joy. But why do we cry in the first place? What biological functions does crying serve? While the scientific community struggles to provide concrete explanations for this teary condition,...
On February 15, 2013, a small asteroid named “2012 DA14” is expected to fly past the Earth. The asteroid weighs approximately 130,000 metric tons, has a rough diameter of 45 meters, and has a speed eight times that of a high-powered rifle. If it were to collide with the Earth,...
Coming soon to the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science: a cerebral new comic series, “Interdisciplinary Studies.” Written by members of DUJS and drawn by a talented Dartmouth ’16, this comic will sure to pique your scientific interests and tickle your funny bone. Back to Comics
