Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Dr Rens van de Schoot – Statistical Methods for Small Data
Researchers are heavily reliant on statistical techniques that are based on large sample sizes. Therefore, attempts to gain useful information from small samples can often lead to biased, or incorrect conclusions. Dr Rens van de Schoot at Utrecht University has shown...
Dr Floris Roelofsen – Inquisitive Semantics: A New Mathematical Framework for Analysing Linguistic Meaning
Semantics is the linguistic and philosophical study of meaning in human languages. Dr Floris Roelofsen, Professor at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), at the University of Amsterdam, has been collaborating with some of his colleagues on a...
Professor Gerhard Heyer | Dr Michael Richter – Models for Understanding Language
Languages are filled with unexplored quirks that can be attributed to more than their mere design. The way we use words has an interdependent relationship with the rules of that language. Professor Gerhard Heyer and Dr Michael Richter of the University of Leipzig have...
Professor Stephen Maren – Learning to Forget – Extinguishing Fearful Memories
We often hear how impairments in learning can have a negative impact on peoples’ lives but what about problems with forgetting? The inability to forget the association between everyday cues and previous traumatic events underlies anxiety-related disorders, such as...
Dr Simon Friederich – A Rare Universe? The Multiverse Debate Through the Lens of Philosophy
How did we get here? How could a universe with such simple physical laws have created something as complex as us? These questions are so fundamental that even after millennia, neither scientists nor philosophers have reached a universally satisfying answer. Dr Simon...
Dr Francesca Dominici – Life-Saving Data: How Breathing ‘Safe’ Air Can Kill
Air pollution can have serious health impacts. However, until now, the link between air pollution and death had not been comprehensively shown in the US, especially for rural areas and underrepresented populations. Using data science methodologies, Dr Francesca...
Dr Shawn Riley | Dr Göran Ericsson – In Pursuit of Wild Game: Investigating People’s Perceptions of Hunting
Hunting is among the most ancient of human activities, and still plays a major role in obtaining food for many people worldwide. Dr Shawn Riley and Dr Göran Ericsson work to understand the volume and distribution of wild-harvested meat, how this meat moves through...
Dr Robert Lempert – Solving Long-Term Wicked Problems
Climate change is one of the most pressing long-term challenges facing humanity and planet Earth. However, scientific uncertainty still leaves the scope of the threat unclear, and the path forward even more so. Now Dr Robert Lempert and his colleagues at RAND...
Professor Bo Rothstein – The Core of Corruption
Corruption in governments affects all aspects of daily life. A society’s health, prosperity and even trust in others are all impacted by the integrity of administrations. Professor Bo Rothstein, co-founder of the Quality of Government Institute at the University of...
Dr Roger Cooke | Dr Bruce Wielicki – Knowing What We Face in an Uncertain Climate
Dr Roger Cooke of the non-profit Resources for the Future and Dr Bruce Wielicki of the NASA Langley Research Center have been researching the challenges, costs and benefits of a proposed international climate observation system capable of providing the highly valuable...
Dr Fiona Stanley – Empowering Indigenous Communities: Modern Solutions to Colonial Problems
Dr Fiona Stanley and her team of multi-disciplinary researchers at the Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing use novel strategies to empower Indigenous Australians and promote public health. An Institutional Legacy of Failure Worldwide, the...
Philosophy and Science Meet at Humboldt University Berlin
A new program at Humboldt University Berlin encourages academic discussion about Greek, Roman and Arabic models of knowledge and the intersection of philosophy and science. Georgia-Maria (Giouli) Korobili, Benjamin Wilck, Gonzalo Gamarra Jordan and Juliane Küppers are...
Professor Lisa Dierker – Falling in Love with Statistics: Shaping Students’ Relationships with Data
Statistical data analysis is a cornerstone of the sciences and operates as a shared language across disparate fields, from neuroscience to astronomy. However, current curricula often result in disengaged and stressed students who struggle to connect the concepts of...
The National Science Teachers Association
Founded in 1944, the Virginia-based National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is the largest organisation in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. In this exclusive interview, we talk to Executive Director of...
Dr Edmund Gordon | Dr Cynthia Mc Callister – Centring Students and Changing the Landscape of Classroom Education
Recent advances in science have demonstrated that human learning and thinking are highly social processes, governed by the learner’s ability to manage attention and effort. Drs Edmund Gordon and Cynthia McCallister propose an approach to education that centres the...
Dr Edward Maibach – Climate Matters: A Novel Approach to Educating Americans About Humanity’s Greatest Challenge
Over the past few decades, global climate change has emerged as the preeminent issue facing modern society. In many countries around the world, climate change is shifting weather patterns for the worse, with impacts predicted to grow increasingly more erratic and...
Dr David A Hennessy – The Farmer and the Rancher
A collaborative effort driven by researchers from Michigan State University, South Dakota State University, Iowa State University and North Dakota State University, aims to improve the age-old art of farming. Vast, dry, and flat. The Great Plains of the...
Dr Beate Priewasser | Dr Josef Perner – Revealing Human Nature Through Early Competition
Developmental psychologists Dr Beate Priewasser and Dr Josef Perner at the Centre of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology of the University of Salzburg play games with young children to reveal nuances of social development and illuminate how we...
The STEM Education Coalition
The STEM Education Coalition was founded more than 15 years ago with a mission to raise awareness in the U.S. Congress, the administration, and on the state level about the critical role that STEM education plays in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and...
Dr Marian Klamer – Language as a Time Machine
Language is the primary tool used by human beings to communicate with each other, allowing them to co-operate, explore their similarities and sometimes even bridge their differences. Yet it can also become a means to dive deep into the past, acting as a time...
Dr James W. Mjelde | Dr Rebekka Martin Dudensing – Shaping Rural Transportation for Elderly Populations
As we enjoy longer life spans, the proportion of the world’s population classified as elderly is increasing. This creates unique challenges for rural communities, where the mobility of elderly residents is often limited by access to safe transportation. Currently,...
Professor Peggy Petrzelka – Solutions to Modern Challenges in Gender, Agriculture and Conservation
In recent decades, farmland in the United States is increasingly cultivated by operators that rent the land, rather than the land owner. This shift holds major implications for land use dynamics, particularly in conservation practices used in farming, and this...
Professor Matilde Inglese – Imaging Multiple Sclerosis: Searching for Patterns in the Brain
Professor Matilde Inglese, Director of the Neurology Imaging Laboratory in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is at the forefront of using sodium MRI as a means to better monitor and understand the pathophysiological changes caused during multiple...
Dr Hsien Seow – Changing How People Are Cared For At The End Of Life
By demonstrating the benefits of homecare, investigating palliative homecare teams, and informing healthcare policy, Dr Hsien Seow is aiming to revolutionise how palliative care is provided in the home for Canada’s most vulnerable patients. Failing the dying when they...
Trees for Cities: Boosting Public Health
Trees for Cities – Scientia’s charity partner – has been working on an international scale to create greener cities, engaging over 70,000 people to plant almost 700,000 trees to date. Here, we have had the pleasure of speaking with Kate Sheldon, Development Director...
Dr Mario Noti – Do Modern Lifestyles Cause Food Allergies?
Over the last 30 years, there has been an explosion in the prevalence of food allergies in the Western world. What’s going on and what are the culprits for this epidemic? While genetics may not be blamed for the rapid increase in food allergies over such a...
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society
Founded in 1886 at Cornell University, Sigma Xi is an international community of scientists and engineers dedicated to promoting excellence in research, enhancing public engagement with science, and fostering the next generation of researchers. Here, we have had the...
Soapbox Science
Soapbox Science was founded as a public outreach platform for promoting women scientists and their research. Now in its seventh year, Soapbox Science takes female scientists out of the lab and onto the streets, to talk to the passing, unsuspecting public about...
Professor Pamela J. Lein – Contributions To Environmental Health Through Research And Training
Professor Pamela J. Lein is a neurotoxicologist and current Program Director for the Advanced Training in Environmental Health program at UC Davis. She investigates the potential roles of environmental contaminants as risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders....
Trees For Cities
As the only charity working on an international scale to create greener cities, Trees for Cities has engaged over 70,000 people to plant over 650,000 trees in parks, streets, schools and housing estates across the UK and internationally. Trees for Cities helps to...
Professor Elizabeth Jonas – The Mitochondrion: The Powerhouse Behind Neurotransmission
Professor Elizabeth Jonas and her colleagues at Yale University study the function of cell components called mitochondria and their role in neurotransmission. In particular, Professor Jonas is interested in characterising how channels in the mitochondrial membrane...
Professor John Vucetich – Forging A Healthy Relationship With Nature Through The Marriage Of Science And Ethics
Professor John Vucetich of Michigan Technological University spends much of his research life studying wolves in Isle Royale and Yellowstone National Parks. He is also deeply involved with carnivore conservation throughout North America – work that depends on the...