The Wake

Illustration by Lucy Michell

Most college students have difficulty trying to balance their checkbooks. The students in Professors Sean and Meg Emery’s class do a bit more than that. They balance themselves on chairs, ropes, and even a trapeze. One student juggles while a partner sits on his shoulders. Another practices forward rolls and leaps on a mat. Yet another …

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Illustration by Srijon Chowdhury

Columbine. Rocori. Red Lake. Virginia Tech. University of Texas. When we think of these words, we think of the tragedies they represent. We think of the sadness and despair caused by individuals who spread their pain and fear across our country in a vast media blitz of bullets. Since 1999, high school and college students haven’t …

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Illustration by Dustin Nelson

Each of us has incriminating photos from when we were toddlers. However, thanks to a psychological condition called “infantile amnesia,” we have the comfort of not remembering what embarrassing things we said or did. This condition, which isn’t true amnesia, is the explanation scientists give for not retaining childhood memories. It also explains why humans can’t …

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Dolphins will never be able to speak English, or any other human verbal language for that matter, but that doesn’t mean we won’t understand them anytime soon. Dolphins are incredibly intelligent animals that can communicate at least as well as any comatose college student early in the morning.Dolphins use two different acoustic forms of communication, echolocation and whistling. Dolphins use echolocation—very short bursts of low-frequency clicks—to figure out their surroundings. They blast these clicks in …

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Mankind has achieved great things with the use of science. Ed Cussler, a professor in the Chemical Engineering department at the University of Minnesota, has achieved great things too. He’s written several books, published over 200 articles, and holds a number of patents in his chosen field. He’s also filled a swimming pool with thickener and tested how it affects swimmers’ speeds. It’s this particular experiment that Cussler will be discussing during the latest edition …

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