By Stephanie Baringer Do you strive to know all about the cutting-edge scientific inventions? Do you enjoy thoroughly critiquing a concept or invention? If so, I’ve got a career for you: patent examiner. Patent examiners are federal employees who examine patent applications to decide if the invention is novel enough to be accepted. These inventions … Continue reading Reviewing the Cutting Edge: A Career Interview with a Patent Examiner

Thank you to everyone who voted for Lions Talk Science’s best blog post of the Fall 2020 semester! The results are all in, and your favorite LTS article from the spring semester was "How Neanderthals Impacted Our Health" written by Kevin Fundora. For his winning article, Kevin will receive a $25 gift card!  Thank you again … Continue reading Best Fall 2020 LTS Article

By Cole Burgess As the holidays rapidly approach, the number of cooking and baking shows that I watch exponentially increases. Although I remain an average or below-average cook, my knowledge of innovative cooking techniques expands. Currently, my favorite technique that chefs use is termed 'molecular gastronomy.' This technique characterizes chefs who explore food presentation and … Continue reading Fine Dining with Fruit Caviar and Spaghetti

By Kevin Fundora Reconstruction of a male and female Neanderthal.(ScienceSource, S. Entressangle & E. Daynes) Do you sunburn easily or suffer from allergies? Are you wondering why some people have severe symptoms from COVID-19 while others do just fine? The reason why may be from genes we inherited from another species of human, the Neanderthals. … Continue reading How Neanderthals Impacted Our Health

By Stephen Matthews There’s a lot of misconception surrounding inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). I find most people have heard of it, but few people understand what it is or what patients with IBD deal with. As a researcher working on IBD, I thought I could take some time to explain some of the complications, treatments … Continue reading I Make the Good Guts Go Bad: An Introduction to Inflammatory Bowel Disease

By Sonam Lhamo A fish with a discarded plastic band around its head. Karen Doody/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images Plastics are ubiquitous in our life; they are found in our common household items such as toothbrushes and toys, they make up parts in our cars, and they are used even in life-saving medical devices. Plastics … Continue reading Considering the Impact of Plastic Usage

By Mariam Melkumyan With Thanksgiving a few days away, it seems very hard to find things to be grateful about this year. 2020 gave us COVID-19, environmental issues, political and human rights movements, terrorist attacks and hostility all over the world, including a war in my home country Armenia, and a crazy, stressful period of … Continue reading The Neuroscience Behind Gratitude

By Gaelyn Lyons Photo Credit: American Red Cross In the US, someone needs blood every two seconds (American Red Cross, n.d.-a). To put in perspective how much blood is needed, someone involved in a car accident may need up to 100 units of blood, which is about 100 pints. Importantly, blood isn’t only given to … Continue reading Short on Blood: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Led to a Blood Shortage

By Elizabeth Lesko (Paris Catacombs – By Vlastula at the English language Wikipedia) If you’re anything like me, you love a good museum. Most cities in the world have at least a local history museum to their name, and an afternoon spent wandering through one can be a great way to learn about a culture. … Continue reading Morbid Museums: The Ethics of Displaying Human Remains

By Rebecca Fleeman We are consistently told that throughout our lives we should “eat right and exercise”. Ask anyone why diet and physical activity are important, and they will likely respond with answers on disease prevention and longevity. The general public is largely aware that a bad diet can lead to weight gain, and that … Continue reading Food for Thought: How Diet Can Affect Your Brain