By Angela Murphy It is believed that John Colter, former member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, was one of the first European explorers to set foot in the area we now know as Yellowstone. One can only imagine the surprise Colter or other early explorers felt upon entering this strange landscape for the first time. After arriving home, these explorers would eagerly tell friends and family stories of “boiling rivers,” “spouting waterfalls,” and  “noxious steam,” stories which, unfortunately, were […]

by Bimal Chopra Polymers are very diverse and their applications are even more diversified in today’s world. Polymers are not just limited to plastics, they also include and can be seen in paints, coatings, adhesives, the rubber industry, textiles, the packaging industry, the medical industry, and more. There are many other fields where we can find them such as the electronic industry — they aren’t very good at conducting electricity, but their contribution in the field of semiconductors has been […]

by Shagun Kothari Scientists in the early 20th century were rather dubious about the idea that molecules existed within the vacuum of space, free from being bound to stars or planets. This could be ascribed to the fact that they were able to rationalize how any molecules in space would be destroyed but not necessarily how they were formed. However, with advancements in astronomical facilities and laboratory spectroscopy, simple molecular species, carbon chains, complex organic molecules (COMs), fullerenes, and polycyclic […]

by Berfin Dağ (written as part of the completion of the BMSIS Young Scientist Program) Regardless of our motivation, we must consider the ethical implications of going and settling on Mars before too many resources and people put into this effort. The mission will undoubtedly be extremely dangerous, like living on Mars. We do not yet know what the long-term effects of living on Mars, low gravity, exposure to high radiation, and living in a confined space with a small […]

By Nidhi Goswami Since the dawn of humanity, we have been wondering about our place in the cosmos. Are we alone in the universe? The answer to this question is obviously in the night sky, beyond the thin atmosphere of our planet. The exploration of space then seems a natural choice to move forward. However, space is vast! With current propulsion technologies, it takes days to reach the Moon, months to reach our neighbouring planets, years to cross the solar […]

By Sarah Treadwell – BMSIS Science Writer Concerns about how to protect our planet from asteroid impacts have long plagued planetary scientists. While statistically speaking the chances of a disastrous one hitting our planet in our lifetime is very slim, the consequences of being underprepared could be significant. Quite infamously, it did not bode well for the dinosaurs the last time a large asteroid found its way to Earth. While confidence has been high that humans will be able to […]

By Luke Concollato People have been observing how ecosystems function since humans first began hunting. When our primitive ancestors began cultivating land they embarked on a journey to work with nature. This journey continues today as modern ecologists unravel nature’s complex relationships.   Ecologists invented a way to quantify how nature contributes to our quality of life with a concept called “ecosystem services.” Ecosystem services have been developed to describe the various ways nature benefits our lives. Ecosystem services are divided […]

By Ishani Singh One of the most baffling mysteries of the universe for cosmologists are black holes, something that has not been directly seen yet and the study of which has been rather difficult. The twist in the story is that the existence of all that we see, discover, or imagine about space is greatly dependent upon black holes. They are in a way representative of the extremes of nature and the most bewildering aspect is that even after much […]

By Prakriti Karki  Will the dreams of those who wish to see humans settle Mars be limited to dreams only or will they turn out to be a reality some day? There are several signs that the latter may come to fruition — some important technologies like those of synthetic biology (SynBio) are even giving more hope to making Mars settlement a reality within our lifetimes.  Synthetic biology is a new trending engineering approach in biology which has made engineering […]

By Nipun Chandrasiri  To answer some of the biggest questions of life, such as how life began on Earth or if there is life out there, we need to understand what the universe is made up of. From the beginning of the space exploration era, scientific measurements were made to understand the composition of various planetary bodies. Analytical chemistry, the realm of scientific exploration that includes using instruments and methods to explore the chemical makeup of a sample or a […]