Alchemy is not Science

When they’re not headbanging or answering our inane questions, Columbia faculty enjoy getting dirty in the lab. Bwog takes a moment to look back on this week in science. Headlines were compiled by our Blip-Spotter-Spotter-in-Chief Ricky Raudales.

In a lengthy New York Times piece, Siddhartha Mukherjee, self-proclaimed biographer of cancer (and Pulitzer Prize winner!), tackles overreaching claims that link cell phone radiation to brain cancer. Though perhaps not carcinogenic, cell phone radiation can still apparently cause bright orange splotches to appear in your brain.

Columbia and University of France researchers have identified an antagonist known as ANA-12 that could potentially be used to treat anxiety and depression. In a recent, unpublished, non-scientific, non-peer-reviewed study, Bwog found that sunshine on the steps of Low makes Columbia students happier.

The Gray Lady recently dropped by Pupin to join in the latest data-crunching search for dark matter. While nothing was immediately apparent, the appearance of three blips on a computer screen (compared to the usual two due to background microwave radiation) left researchers hopeful for more blips in the future.

Columbia and NASA have teamed up to make space travel less stressful for astronauts, enlisting some of our architecture students in the redesign of future spacecraft interiors. Or, you know, they could just steal the space-agey furniture from NoCo.

Painting by a bank clerk via Wikimedia Commons