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Astronomy to Zoology www.academicminute.org

  1. 2 days ago

    Samantha Dodson, University of Calgary - She Sees the Trees, He Sees the Forest: Gender Stereotypes of Concreteness and Abstractness

    Why do implicit biases still exist in hiring decisions? Samantha Dodson, assistant professor of organizational behavior and human resources at the University of Calgary, answers this. Faculty Bio: Samantha Dodson’s research program focuses on when and why women experiencing roadblocks and adversity are evaluated as deserving of opportunities and support at work. Transcript: Since women began joining the modern workforce after World War II, support professions such as secretaries and paralegals have been predominantly occupied by women. The more powerful professions they support, such as executives and lawyers, are predominantly held by men. These low-power support professions often involve developing efficient processes and paying close attention to detail. In contrast, individuals in high-power organizational roles tend to engage in tasks like identifying and creating values, strategies, and visions. Thus, women are more likely than men to be in roles that require concrete mindsets and less likely to be in roles that require abstract mindsets. Drawing on research linking gender role segregation to gender stereotypes, we theorized that people might believe there are innate attributes that enable women to perform well in process-based roles requiring specificity and attention to detail, whereas men have attributes that help them excel in roles that require seeing the big picture. Six experiments showed that we do, in fact, hold implicit and explicit descriptive stereotypes – or beliefs about what men and women are – such that people tend to believe women are more concrete than men, women are more concrete than abstract, and men are more abstract than concrete. Women tend to hold these beliefs more deeply than men, and these stereotypes arose across dozens of occupations and industries. These beliefs have real-world consequences. In one study, we found that in nearly 550,000 LinkedIn recommendations, connections are more likely to use words such as “detailed and exact” to describe women and “visionary and farsighted” to describe men. Critically, we also found that these beliefs increased the likelihood of women being assigned detailed tasks at work, such as filing paperwork and proofreading, on top of their existing workload, perpetuating gender roles and organizational inequity. Read More: [APA PsyNet] - She sees the trees, he sees the forest: Descriptive gender stereotypes of concreteness and abstractness This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  2. 3 days ago

    Ken Brown, University of Iowa - AI is Not Just For Work Anymore

    Older adults are starting to use AI at home, too. Ken Brown, Tippie Children Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa, says it’s not just for work anymore. Faculty Bio: Ken Brown, Ph.D., is Tippie Children Professor of Management in the Tippie College of Business and department executive officer of the Educational Policy and Leadership Studies Department, College of Education, both at the University of Iowa. He earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Maryland and MA and PhD degrees in Psychology from Michigan State University. Brown is the former associate dean of the undergraduate program in Tippie and served as a Fulbright Specialist at Seoul National University. Transcripts: We know that generative artificial intelligence tools are becoming a bigger part of peoples’ work lives, but are they using those tools at home, too? A recent survey we conducted here at the University of Iowa shows that yes, they are. For many, in fact, AI has become an even bigger part and is now a go-to tech tool at home as well as the office. We surveyed more than 1,000 people in December and found that more people are using generative AI for personal activities and projects than use it for work. We found that of those familiar with generative AI, more than 50% used it for personal activities and projects; only 35% used it at work. Even among full-time employees, more people reported they used it for personal activities than work, and more people feel that generative AI helps them personally than helps them professionally. Of those most frequently using generative AI programs, ChatGPT was the best-known, followed by CoPilot and Gemini. One of the findings that surprised us was that more retired people than we expected use ChatGPT for projects for personal use at home. Nine percent of the more than 264 retired respondents reported they were frequent users of the technology. Only 6 percent of retirees had never used it or heard of it, suggesting a willingness on their part to embrace the new technology. One of the study’s co-authors said that finding tracks with his own family experience, as his retired parents have started using AI as a search engine for such tasks as finding recipes or learning about things they see in the news. While the conversation about AI so far has been focused on the technology’s impact in workplace and educational settings, our survey suggests we should be looking more closely at its impact on retirees, as well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  3. 4 days ago

    Emery N. Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Your Brainstem's Bundles

    Brainstems are hard to image because of their size and density, but is that about to change? Emery N. Brown, professor of neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says yes. Faculty Bio: Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D. is the Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience at MIT in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory; the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School; and an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Brown is a neuroscientist-anesthesiologist-statistician whose research has contributed toward understanding how anesthetics act in the brain. In his statistics research he has developed signal processing algorithms to solve important data analysis challenges in neuroscience. For his work he received the National Medal of Science in January 2025. Transcript: Don’t sleep on the importance of your brainstem. This part of your brain is a vital conduit between your body and the rest of the brain. The signals that flow through bundles of nerve fibers there govern essential functions such as consciousness, sleep, breathing, heart rate and motion.While we know that the brainstem is absolutely crucial and that damage there can present patients with major problems, we haven’t had good ways to image and keep track of the health of its fiber bundles for reasons including how small and densely packed they are.But earlier this year, my colleagues and I, led by my graduate student Mark Olchanyi, developed a new way to clearly see brainstem fiber bundles in diffusion MRI imaging. The Brainstem Bundle Tool uses AI to analyze MRI images from patients, enabling us to track the size and structural integrity of eight distinct nerve fiber bundles.In the study we showed that the tool could reliably spot different effects on fiber bundles from Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury. Mark even used the tool to retrospectively look at the bundles in a patient who had been in a coma for seven months before recovering. He was able to show how the bundles were healing during that time.We are hopeful that this innovation, developed at MIT, Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital can transform the brainstem from being something of a mystery into a brain structure essential for understanding normal brain physiology as well as brain diseases and injury. Read More: [The Picower Institute] - Opening a new window on the brainstem, AI algorithm enables tracking of its vital white matter pathways [Picower People] - Emery N. Brown, innovative neuroscientist, statistician and anesthesiologist earns National Medal of Science [MIT News] - 3 Questions: Emery Brown on improving anesthesia with neuroscience This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  4. 5 days ago

    Fabian Klenner, University of California, Riverside - How Do We Search for Life Beyond Earth?

    How do we search for life beyond Earth? Fabian Klenner, assistant professor of planetary sciences at the University of California, Riverside, explores the cosmos to find out. Faculty Bio: Fabian Klenner is an Assistant Professor of Planetary Sciences in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Riverside. He received his Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) in Germany. Prior to joining UC Riverside, he held postdoctoral appointments at FUB and the University of Washington. Being involved in various space missions, Fabian Klenner’s research centers around ocean worlds in the solar system. His research group addresses astrobiological questions to advance our understanding of extraterrestrial geochemical processes and the detection of potential life beyond Earth. Transcript: Are we alone in the universe? This is one of the most intriguing questions of mankind. We only know of one example of life, that is, life on Earth. In order to make life, you need the right ingredients, and the main ingredients of life on Earth are liquid water, enough energy and organic chemistry. Organic chemistry refers to chemical processes that involve carbon-containing compounds. When we search for life beyond Earth, we can start by searching for liquid water and then we analyse what is in the water.Within the solar system, so-called ocean worlds are at the forefront of the search for life. Ocean worlds are objects that harbour large bodies of liquid water. Examples include Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. The oceans on these moons do not exist at the surface and instead they are hidden below thick ice crusts in the subsurface. However, Enceladus, and maybe also Europa, emit material from their oceans through geysers into space. Such emissions provide us a unique opportunity to sample an ocean beyond Earth. This can be done by spacecraft flying to these moons and analysing the emitted material.My research at the University of California in Riverside combines spacecraft observations, laboratory experiments and computational efforts to advance our understanding of chemical processes on ocean worlds in the solar system and the detection of potential life beyond Earth. In a recent study, we re-analysed data that was recorded by NASA’s and ESA’s Cassini spacecraft in the geysers of Enceladus. The data contained clear evidence of a variety of organic compounds that came from Enceladus’s subsurface ocean. These organic compounds open up many new pathways for chemistry that may occur inside Enceladus and bolster the case that Enceladus could support life. Read More: [Nature] - Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’s ocean LinkedIn [CBC] - Discovery on Saturn’s moon Enceladus boosts possibility it could support life This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  5. 6 days ago

    Harry Reis, University of Rochester - How to Feel Loved

    Do you feel loved? Harry Reis, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, examines why most do not. Faculty Bio: Harry Reis, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, is one of the world’s leading experts on relationships and connection and has studied the complexities of well-being and love in depth. His research examines the factors that influence the quantity and closeness or social interaction, and the consequences of different patterns of socializing for health and psychological well-being. Truly feeling loved, he has found, differs widely from the actions that we usually associate with loving, being loved, and falling in love. Transcript: Most people want to BE loved, but above all, they want to FEEL loved. Ask yourself: Do you feel loved as often as you would like? Do you feel loved by the people you want to feel loved by? A book I co-authored with Sonja Lyubomirsky, How to Feel Loved, is meant to help people find, keep, and grow the love they feel.In our research, roughly two-¬thirds of a random sample of Americans wantedto feel more loved or loved more often.Studies show that not feeling loved is the root of the so-called loneliness epidemic; it hampers performance at school and work; it harms our health and well-being, and it even predicts dying sooner. Feeling loved is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.Ironically, some of the most common ways we try to feel more loved can make things worse, not better:For example, we try to make ourselves appear more attractive and successful;We spotlight our positive qualities while hiding our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.But feeling loved is not about changing yourself or making another person love you. It’s about changing the conversation.The pathway to feeling more loved begins with conversations that help your partner feel more loved. Listen attentively to what they say and show genuine curiosity into what makes them tick. Be non-judgmental and open-hearted. This approach invites your partner to reciprocate your curiosity and caring. When you help another person feel loved, they become interested in you. When this happens, it is important to share your full self: not just your accomplishments and strengths but also your shortcomings: the authentic person you believe yourself to be. By opening up, you allow yourself to be seen and understood.Adopting the right mindset – the attitude with which you approach others – creates the conditions in which love and connection can flourish. Read More: [Amazon] - How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  6. 3 Jul

    Robert DiNapoli, Binghamton University – Easter Island Myths

    What happened on Easter Island? Robert DiNapoli, post-doctoral research associate in the environmental studies program at Binghamton University, says reality may be different than long thought. Лучше всего то, что большинство этих наборов поставляется с инструкциями, в которых подробно описано, как использовать входящие в комплект продукты. В конце концов необычные подарки парню своими руками, они […] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  7. 2 Jul

    Craig Clements, San Jose State University - Understanding the Science of Wildfires and Extreme Fire Behavior

    We have much to learn about wildfires. Craig Clements, professor and chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University, uses a research lab on wheels to get close to the action. Faculty Bio: Craig Clements is a professor and chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San José State University, where he is director of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC) and director of the Fire Weather Lab. His research focuses on the micro-meteorology and behavior of wildland fires, mountain and boundary-layer meteorology, air pollution and turbulence.His research and teaching focus includes wildfire meteorology and fire weather, extreme fire behavior, mountain and boundary-layer meteorology, turbulence, and meteorological instrumentation. Transcripts: Californians are concerned about the growing threat of extreme wildfires, such as the recent Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires, that resulted in loss of life and extensive property damage. But residents of other states, including Washington, Oregon, Texas and parts of the Midwest and Southeast are now facing increased dangers from wildfires.My research seeks to improve accurate predictions in wildfire science, a field that wasn’t even on the map when we began our work well over a decade ago. Since then, we launched the mobile fire weather lab--which allows us to travel to the fires--similar to the ways scientists have studied hurricanes and tornadoes--learning about their formation and dynamics for better prediction models. We’re really the only team that’s done this for wildfires, which are significantly under-sampled compared to all other atmospheric phenomena.Our “research lab on wheels” consists of a pair of lifted pickup trucks, both four-wheel drive, with state-of-the-art equipment, including Doppler LIDAR surface weather equipment and an upper air sounding system--basically a weather balloon--satellite radio to communicate with fire personnel, a suite of laptop computers, and other useful gear. Our team drives around forests and mountains using the two trucks in tandem to study fire dynamics and wildfire plumes. We gather, examine and provide useful data, much like that which is collected in severe weather and hurricane research, to better understand key elements of fire behavior and to test models and forecast systems. We collect information from the ground, but also from airborne assets and remote sensing satellites.When it comes to wildfires, it’s notable that their frequency and intensity is the result of a complex interplay of climate, topography, and vegetation. Extreme wildfires bring these elements and other factors together in ways that can become so powerful that they can actually create their own weather. Read More: Craig’s LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min

  8. 1 Jul

    Clinton Haarlem, Trinity College - How Ecology and Lifestyle Drives an Animal's Speed of Sight

    Not every animal experiences the world at the same speed. Clinton Haarlem, postdoctoral research fellow at Trinity College, looks to visual processing speeds to explain why. Faculty Bio: Dr. Clinton Haarlem’s research focuses on variation in visual perception rates, both across species and across individuals. Clinton’s work is multidisciplinary and incorporates zoology, ecology and neuroscience to explore the dynamic interplay between sensory perception, behaviour and the environment. Transcript: Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to swat a fly? One of the reasons is because flies can see events happening in the world more than twice as fast as we can, allowing them to react to situations with incredible speed. But why do different animals see the world at different rates, and how does this shape their interactions with the world? These are the types of questions we aim to address with our research. Using a metric called the “critical flicker fusion threshold,” we can measure how fast the visual processing abilities of animals are. We can then compare how species with different visual processing rates differ in their physiology, their behaviour and the types of habitats they occupy. For example, we have found that species that live fast paced lifestyles, like those that are highly manoeuvrable or those that actively chase after prey, tend to possess much faster perception than more sluggish species or species that graze on stationary foods. Flying species in particular have extremely fast vision. After all, a peregrine falcon diving at over 300 km/h through the air needs pinpoint precision and expert timing to catch its prey. A high visual temporal resolution allows it to do just that. Our work informs how sensory systems are not only highly influenced by evolutionary background, but also by the environment and by behaviour. This helps us develop a greater understanding of how species living in similar habitats may have an entirely different experience of the world around them. Gaining a better understanding of the sensory worlds of animals is not only valuable in behavioural - and ecological research, but it can also help to improve conservation strategies and animal welfare practices by fostering more tailored - and individualized approaches. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

    3 min
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