✴︎ The
Hypothesis
The Online Edition of the Berkeley Scientific Journal
Research & Blogs Department
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The Very Hungry Astronaut
Orbiting Solutions for Better Post-Space Care Exploring space is made possible with the help of astronauts. Space travel allows humans to gain a clearer understanding of our planet and the other celestial bodies that surround us. Consequently, astronauts are exposed to ionizing radiation at anywhere from 50 to 2,000 millisieverts (mSv).1 Many units represent the…
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Where’s my umbrella? Thunder, Chaos, and Lorenz Attractors
Where’s my umbrella? Thunder, Chaos, and Lorenz Attractors Okay, you live in California, but there must have been at least one or two occasions when you’ve had to endure complaints against the weather–and the weather app. For example, perhaps an umbrella-less friend expected a sunny weekend before the skies decided to open itself on him…
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Breaking Barriers with BCIs!
Background For the first few years of my life, I had a minor speech disability classified as “PDD-NOS.” Personally, the disability did not inhibit most activities but made normal communication difficult. I was able to improve my speaking skills after receiving occupational and speech therapy. During my time in therapy, I saw many of my…
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Of Goldfish and Jellyfish
There may be some truth hidden in the classic American novel, The Fourteenth Goldfish. The fictional coming-of-age novel follows the story of a boy whose grandfather discovers a jellyfish and uses it to regress his age back to an elementary schooler. Though it may seem far-fetched that any being could rewind the biological clock, it…
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Umbilical Cord Blood Transplants: A Sustainable Alternative to Bone Marrow Transplants
Following the success of pioneering medical procedures, umbilical cord blood, which was once often discarded as medical waste, could serve as a potentially valuable therapeutic tool. Now, it has been integrated into treatment plans for several blood disorders, such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and genetic blood disorders.
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Tiny, Indestructible Creatures: Tardigrades In Healthcare
In an effort to combat the harmful repercussions of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, scientists have discovered the potential of a creature of microscopic origin with macroscopic capabilities: the tardigrade.
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Multilingualism: A Way to Gasconade
Though the specific number of people who speak more than two languages is unknown, an estimated 60% of the world are multilingual—roughly six in ten people.Many scientists have speculated that the reason multilingual individuals rarely make errors when switching between languages is because of cognitive control mechanisms.
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The Rising Toll of Climate Change on Mental Health
When we think of climate change, a few things come to mind: ice caps, extreme weather events, and rising temperature, to name a few. What one might not think of is the profound impact it has had on mental health.
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The New Dimension to the Climate Crisis: ChatGPT
Many have expressed some apprehension towards the extent of AI integration into our daily lives. An overlooked variable in the creation of large language models (LLM) like ChatGPT is the massive amount of energy it uses, and the subsequent destruction of our environment.
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The Mysteries of the Cosmos
What are black holes? To better understand the incredible properties, components, and secrets of the black holes–our neighbors in the vast cosmos–we must further study the insights of the particulate matter that they provide.
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Earth’s Cosmic Jenga: Humanity’s Universal Balancing Act Against Entropy
Earth is like a cosmic game of Jenga, each block represents a fragment of order in the universe. As we pull and place each block, the tower grows taller, more complex, yet increasingly unstable. Entropy becomes a perpetual game of Jenga, where there is a constant tendency for the universe to move toward chaos. Can…
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Tom-ate-to, Tom-ah-to: Consumer Choices
Recently, a new study has built upon previous behavioral models by adding an additional biological perspective behind decision-making. Most notably, a recent study on consumer decision-making investigates the role of serotonin on choice deferral; the choice to not make a choice; and the compromise effect, the tendency for consumers to pick the most intermediate options.