A writer who crafts accurate, compelling stories about research and its impacts on society.

Hillsdale College •

Athletes Who Make Art

When most people think of dance, they picture the austere grace of a tutu-clad ballerina leaping across the stage.  Visiting assistant professor of dance Holly Hobbs, however, says Hillsdale’s dance minor offers much more than classical ballet, offering everything from Highland to modern dance for all experience levels. Modern dance provides dancers with unique physical challenges, and the freer movement lends itself to a certain freedom of the mind. “It also provides...
Maryland Sea Grant •

Septic Maintenance Matters for the Chesapeake Bay

It’s almost certainly the most expensive appliance in your home. Like the kitchen sink, it gets used each day. It requires maintenance just like a washing machine or oven. But unlike other home appliances, septic systems are out of sight and out of mind—until something goes wrong. “If your system fails and you need to replace it, that’s several thousand dollars minimum,” says Water Quality Specialist Andy Lazur.
Virginia Sea Grant •

Moving Islands: VASG researcher studies historical—and future—changes along Virginia’s barrier islands

The saying goes that you can’t step in the same river twice, and for barrier islands along the coast of Virginia, the same is true. Barrier islands are sandy dune systems that stand between coastal lagoons and the ocean. In Virginia, barrier islands extend along the Eastern Shore—and some are moving. Cedar Island has been migrating back toward the mainland at an average rate of almost 20 feet per year over the last 30 years.
Virginia Sea Grant •

Building neighborhoods of the future in communities prone to flooding

When designing features to help reduce flooding, some architects think in terms of what they call sponges and barriers: features that keep the water out or temporarily absorb it. Although the basic principles of architectural design don’t change, there are many out-of-the-box ways to apply them to manage flooding in individual neighborhoods, like using empty lots as greenways to break up long stretches of pavement in Huntersville. “These areas not only help with people getting through the neigh
GeoSpace •

Researchers identify ‘substantial’ amount of Mercury’s water ice

Mercury may have more exposed water ice held in cold traps than previously thought, a new study finds. Researchers have identified three new craters and four small-scale cold traps on Mercury filled with surface ice and suspect the planet may harbor many smaller patches of exposed ice too small to observe directly. The newly observed ice makes a substantial contribution to the amount of exposed ice thought to exist on Mercury’s surface.
Hillsdale Collegian •

Knecht connects cows, chess, and musical cognition

Human short-term memory only has a capacity for five to seven items — like the digits of a phone number — yet expert musi­cians can learn and retain music they may have heard for the first time only a few minutes ago. According to Pro­fessor of Music Melissa Knecht, these feats of memory involve the musician’s schema, the framework of expe­rience to which he or she compare the new music they encounter. Knecht shared her insights into musical cog­nition in her April 11 pre­sen­tation.
Hillsdale Collegian •

Ramette assists LIGO in confirming Einstein’s theory

In the largest project ever funded by the National Science Foun­dation, sci­en­tists have found evi­dence con­firming Albert Einstein’s theory of general rel­a­tivity. Among the hun­dreds of col­lab­o­rators is junior Joshua Ramette, whose research over the summer con­tributed to the first-ever detection of grav­i­ta­tional waves. The Laser Inter­fer­ometer Grav­i­ta­tional-Wave Obser­vatory, or LIGO, uses a high-powered laser beam reflected across a series of mirrors.