Art by Anasthasia Shilov. Death, SOM, and Soil Death often stays in the soil. Over time, organisms and residues in varying states of decomposition form a vital component of the soil: soil organic matter (SOM). SOM has always been thought
Art by Ellie Gabriel. Every day, hundreds of Yale students take classes in Davies Auditorium and work in the Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Design. Likely only several will know that just a few stories above them—on the 4th floor
Illustration courtesy of Mila Colizza. Biological tissue is extraordinarily complex and diverse. Human skin, for example, guards the muscles, bones, and internal organs, protects the body from pathogens, and prevents water loss. Furthermore, skin is composed of a variety of
Illustration by Anasthasia Shilov. Cancer has been one of the hottest topics in biomedical research in the past decades. In lieu of a cure, researchers have been looking for ways to treat or prevent it. Whilst cancers can occur due
Illustration by Anasthasia Shilov. When we think about infection, we think about microscopic drama: the immune system as the sole guardians of our bodies; white blood cells as staunch defenders against pathogenic invaders. However, while B cells hunt for antigen-presenting
Illustration courtesy of Anmei Little. In the era of high-resolution imaging and advanced computer modeling, scientists can see a protein’s composition in great detail and gain extensive information about its properties and function. However, these images are only transient snapshots
Image courtesy of Miriam Kopyto Photons, little packets of light, are everywhere. By some estimates, the Earth is bombarded with 1035 photons from the sun per second. Considering that there are 1020 grains of sand on earth, the number of
Image courtesy of Sophia Zhao If science aims to explain the structures of the natural world, picoscience refines the very structures themselves—at the atomic level. Engineering at the scale of picometers operates on a trillionth-of-a-meter scale, dealing with materials that
Image courtesy of Alice Tirard Between our cells lies a concealed, interwoven tapestry of vessels that plays a central role in transporting material all over our bodies. The primary function of these lymphatic vessels is to drain our tissues of
Image courtesy of Anusha Bishop The doctors were stumped. The nine-year-old girl in front of them, who would later be code-named patient A.1, was anemic and fatigued. She had a chronic cough and difficulty breathing, and her ears, skin, and
