Top Stories

The Good, The Bad, The Plastics

It’s virtually impossible to read this blog without the aid of plastics. Our phones, our computers, our printers, all use the material made popular by a 20th century revolution in manufacturing. And...
Read More
+

A New Kind of Ice Age

Ice often evokes images of cold drinks on a summer’s day, icicles dripping off a roof in winter, or frost spreading on a windowpane. Its appearance and texture, most will agree, are familiar: the...
Read More
+
Image of sperm and egg

Not All Germ Cells Are Bad: Some Need to Grow for Us to Grow

Do you remember sex education and how awkward it was? Almost everyone had some form of sex education at school. Usually, it focused on certain parts of the female and male anatomy that middle...
Read More
+

When Your Car Must Choose Who to Kill

You are in a self-driving car. It is careening down a narrow alleyway, sandwiched between a brick wall and a convenience store. A man exits the shop and pauses in front of the entrance to light a...
Read More
+

Face Blindness in a Nutshell: Putting a Human Face on Prosopagnosia

Contemporary painter and photographer Chuck Close has displayed artwork at famed galleries around the world. He has published several books of his paintings and was an acting member of the President...
Read More
+
.
.
.
.
.

Topics

Some practical ways to build public trust with your science
By: Lawrence Crosby
Mar 28, 2018
Science is about more than just running experiments. We researchers know this, but we can often... Read More
The Physics of Free Will
By: Kimberly Anne Clinch
Jan 14, 2018
You’re playing a game of pool. You line up your cue stick behind the cue ball. You practice your... Read More
A computer simulation of 3 black holes in close proximity, created as part of black hold reseach at Northwestern University
Astronomy Fugato: two approaches, one vast field of discovery
By: Shi Ye
Dec 18, 2017
Last week, my mother called from the other side of the Pacific Ocean. After chatting about the... Read More
MORE ARTICLES

Blog

Finding Beauty in the Beast: A Tale of Naked Mole Rat Longevity
By: Danielle Fanslow
Nov 12, 2017
The key to youth and beauty may be found in one of the world’s ugliest critters, the naked mole rat. These... Read More
Changing Your Mind: The Science of Transplanting a Human Head
By: Austin Lim
Nov 5, 2017
In 1967, a surgeon in South Africa successfully carried out the first human heart transplant. Doctor... Read More
DIY Bio: To Hack or Not to Hack?
By: Han Teng Wong
Sep 23, 2017
As a molecular biology graduate student, I am often asked what I actually do at work. Badly explained, my... Read More
The Bacteria That Eat Methane
By: Alex Berr
Sep 16, 2017
What do cows, landfills, and petroleum extraction all have in common? Each produces methane, one of the... Read More
MORE BLOG POSTS

Helix Magazine

is a publication by Science in Society, a Northwestern University research center for science outreach and public engagement.

Follow Us

SiS Initiatives

Silverstein Genetics for High School

With support from Science in Society and visiting scientists and faculty, high school students in this program undertake a genetics case study, learn about a hereditary health disorder, and use DNA-based laboratory diagnostics to determine the likelihood of mutation in the fictional patient. Afterward, students assess risk around...

MORE INITIATIVES