Dr. Kinghorn’s presentation was very interesting as he talked about the paradigm shifts to drug therapy. His passion for botany was so deep and I loved learning about the various compounds that have been discovered to impact medicine. I had no idea that roughly ¾ of world’s population rely on plants as a major resource in traditional medicine! It makes me wonder about the process to the discovery of the uses of certain plants, and how people figured out if certain plants were poisonous or beneficial. I thought it was really interesting to learn about the study of digitoxin, because that had a huge impact on drugs later affecting the human cardiovascular system. Dr. Kinghorn has traveled a lot throughout his career and visited some incredible places, and I was happy to hear all of his stories and recommendations in London!
Author: Jenna
Dr. Alber
Pasteur was a major contributor to science as a microbiologist and experimentalist. His greatest accomplishments included discovering vaccinations for rabies and anthrax, while also developing protocols for pasteurization and researching the role of “germs”. Dr. Alber’s talk was intriguing as we dove into Pasteur’s timeline of these accomplishments. I found it particularly remarkable that Pasteur did most of this work on his own, and also didn’t have a very good laboratory setting for a very long time. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to discover and prove his groundbreaking theories without the adequate resources! I also found it interesting how big of a germaphob he was, especially with the idea that he would move his bed in order to enter his room differently after showering. I really liked the way his lab was set up, and I hope laboratories will become more aesthetic. Even with all of the people opposing him, Pasteur’s drive and passion for science is so motivating and inspiring.
Dale Gnidovec
Mr. Gnidovec’s talk was so interesting and enjoyable to hear! I loved learning about the different organisms that existed way before our time. I had no idea that megalonyx jeffersonii was a species in the past, and now I get excited to tell everyone the random fact that giant sloths used to exist on Earth. It was also really interesting to hear about all of Cuvier’s contributions, as I had only known of his idea of catastrophism prior to this talk. I also really enjoyed seeing and holding the preserved teeth of animals that have gone extinct and learning about how they influenced the way that those animals chewed. While the content of Mr. Gnidovec’s talk was really intriguing, something he said that really resonated with me was “I could not have designed a better job than this for me.” His passion for working as a collections manager of the Orton geologic museum is so clear and authentic, and I hope I can feed just as much passion into my career in the future.
Dr. Otter
I thought Dr. Otter’s talk was interesting as he helped break down Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions into simpler terms. It’s interesting to think about how much science has evolved in the last sentury, and how these paradigm shifts involved distinguishing science from pseudoscience, and error to truth. I found it particularly interesting when he touched on the fact that many scientists have committed suicide as a result of a paradigm shift. I can only imagine that feeling of hopelessness when all the work your whole life has revolved around has been tucked away as wrong. This all also makes me wonder if anything we are studying today is accurate. Many beliefs accepted and reproduced through normal science were later to be proven as wrong, so I’m curious what theories in our world today may be proven wrong in 50 years from now!
Dr. Mathur – Jenna Zhu
Dr. Mather’s talk on Stephen Hawking and black holes was absolutely fascinating to learn about. Black holes was always a topic that I found difficult to understand, but Dr. Mather was able to take the confusing topic and convey it to us in more simplistic terms. Prior to his talk, I knew the simple idea that if you were sucked into a black hole, you would never be able to come out. However, I never knew why. But Dr. Mather was able to explain the idea of energy being extracted by bringing two bodies together, which ultimately leads to all the information being lost in a black hole with infinite density. Dr. Mather seems like a brilliant physicist, and the fact that he “explains” rather than “lectures” makes me want to take one of his courses in the future just out of curiosity!
Jenna Zhu – Women in Science
Dr. Breitenberger’s presentation was very empowering as she discussed the major contributions of women in science in England and France. The gender inequality has always frustrated me in the past, as many women did not receive any recognition for their contributions towards science and all other fields. I thought it was really interesting to hear about the origin of the tongue twister “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”. Mary Anning spent much of her life collecting fossils, and that not only helped support her family but also scientific research on what organisms lived on this planet before humans. I also thought it was really interesting how Émilie du Châtelet and Marie-Anne Lavoisier both made contributions in translating books and documents into French. This makes me wonder, how advanced would science be today if there was never a language barrier?
Another thought that hit me was the evolution of nursing. It has been common for more females to take the role of a nurse rather than males in the past. Women have previously been seen as the ones to be the caretakers. With this being the case, women probably had just as much exposure to medicine as men in the past. I’m curious what discoveries and advancements would have occurred in the field of medicine if there was gender equality in the past, because women were so involved in the medical field but often ignored when it came to research.
Jenna Zhu – Dr. Cogan 1/22
Dr. Cogan’s lecture was really interesting as he covered the Enlightenment, a scientific revolution highlighting scientists I had not learned about before like Lavoisier and Priestly. He discussed the timeline of Priestly’s life, his struggles, and his experiments as he studied air and its components. I thought it was really interesting that the tuberculosis he had as a child, was thought to be caused by foul air. There was little to be known about air at the time, and the long process of experiments he performed were intriguing. I thought it was neat to hear about how he discovered soda from infusing CO2 into the water, and how he called it “windy water”. Carbonated drinks are something that people today take for granted, but to discover a new sensation from a drink in previous times must have caused a wild reaction. I also was interested in the idea of the Royal Society in England. The people of this society meet, pose problems with practical use, improve knowledge, and covered a vast range of fields in science. Because there are so many unsolved questions in the modern world, I am curious to see what kind of societies exist like this today, and what questions and types of research they are most devoted to.
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Jenna Zhu – Dr. Root 1/17/19
Dr. Root’s lecture was really interesting in the sense that she introduced a new perspective to the study of geography to me. I had actually heard of GIS before, as my roommate recently took a course on it (she had to pinpoint every stop sign on OSU campus!). While mapping for the purpose of updating and improving apps like Google Maps is useful, it is also just as vital in epidemiology when determining the causative factor of a disease to eventually slow down the spread of infection. I also found it really interesting when Dr. Root brought the topic of landscape genetics to the table. In previous biology classes, we talk about how environmental factors can drive selection in a population. However, I had not realized that there is an entire field of scientists that devote their research solely into the ways that these environmental factors alter genetic variation. Finally, I was happy to hear Dr. Root’s emphasis on the safeness of vaccinations, as these vaccinations do not cause the disease they are trying to protect for those who end up still contracting the disease. Many people choose not to get vaccinated because they don’t trust the vaccine, or simply rely on the herd effect. I would be curious to hear Dr. Root’s explanation on vaccines to a person that is anti-vaccines.
Jenna Zhu – Dr. Anelli
Dr. Carol Anelli discussed Darwin’s background, his biggest influences, and major breakthroughs in science in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Not only did the Darwinian theory make a huge influence on biology and medicine at its origin, but also on science and phenomena to this day. His theory sustained time, and the technological advances throughout the centuries only served to further strengthen his theory.
I find it interesting to see how conflicting ideas are addressed in a classroom setting, especially the clash between science and religion. One quote that resonated with me from the lecture was “you want to eliminate faith as much as possible when using scientific procedures”. While faith can be a heavy influence on an outcome, no one would ever want an unexperienced person performing life-threatening surgical procedures on someone, relying solely on faith. There will always be an unclear line between faith for a religion and science, and it was interesting to hear about how everyone draws this line differently.
Dr. Anelli helped paint the picture of Darwin’s life story beyond the movie Creation. I did not know he came from a religious background, and that he had to have been religious to attend Cambridge. From the movie, I expected him to be nonreligious mainly due to his silence when attending church and his contradicting theory about evolution. However, it now makes sense that his faith may have faded as he learned more about science and after his daughter Annie passed away.