Geekology | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012

If there’s one foodstuff that everyone should be required to consume at least once in their life, it’s guaranteed to be chilli peppers. Maybe a cayenne pepper or perhaps a habanero? If you’re particularly brave, you could opt for the one of the world’s hottest chilli peppers, the Naga viper or the Read more...

Geekology | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012

Science is an awesome thing! The whole process begins with a simple hypothesis (a prediction). Researchers will then design an experiment to test their hypothesis, often using some extremely clever techniques and manipulations. It is in most cases a long, slow (and let’s not forget, fun!) process. Read more...

Geekology | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012

Hello again budding Einsteins! This week you’re getting your science fill from the Psychology department, where Sophie Slater is currently unravelling the mysteries of memory formation. Specifically, Sophie is exploring how a small area of your brain – the dentate gyrus (DG) – can retain information Read more...

Geekology | Issue 3

Posted 6:37pm Sunday 11th March 2012

Hello again young science buffs! This week’s column is coming at you from Otago Uni’s very own Physics Department, where PhD candidate Ken Hughes has been doing some scintillating research on Antarctic sea ice. Specifically, Ken has been constructing a computer simulation of how sea ice is formed in Read more...

Geekology

Posted 5:56pm Friday 24th February 2012

The human brain is a complex beast, with approximately 100 billion cells and perhaps 100 trillion connections between them. These connections form information “highways”, which pass electrical currents from one part of the brain to the next. Almost everything you do as a human is dependent on these Read more...