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Classifying Eating Disorders: A Closer Look at Anorexia and Bulimia

Recently, efforts have been made to increase awareness about mental health through pop culture. Netflix Original shows such as 13 Reasons Why and To the Bone highlight various aspects of mental health such as major depression and eating disorders, and they project these to broad audiences. Unfortunately, of all mental health conditions, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate. However, how eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are distinguished and categorized is still a topic of discussion among psychologists today.

athenssciencecafe October 12, 2017

The Skinny on Dieting

We've all seen the infamous weight loss advertisements – the ones that claim to have finally found the magic diet that will absolutely make you lose weight. You can look at virtually any store's checkout line to find dozens of diet plans endorsed by celebrities. However, most people don't know that dieting can be counter

athenssciencecafe October 9, 2017

Saving the Earth’s Sunscreen: The Ozone Layer

In honor of September 16th, otherwise known as World Ozone Day, let's spend some time talking about ozone in Earth's atmosphere! You may be wondering why ozone is significant enough to have its own designated day of acknowledgement. To answer this question we need to dive into a little bit of history involving early measurements

athenssciencecafe October 3, 2017

Casper the Friendly Snake

Jeez, he sure was beautiful. Our new snake, that is, before it escaped into the car in a mysterious, Houdini-like fashion. I left my family in the car with the snake while on my way into the store to purchase a new home for it. By the time I got back, 15 minutes later, everyone

athenssciencecafe September 28, 2017

The Structure of Color

When I was young I learned that the colors I saw in the world were due to materials absorbing certain wavelengths of light and reflecting others. Leaves appear green because the chlorophyll in plant cells absorbs blue and red light and reflects green. While this holds true for most natural materials, it turns out that nature has more than one way of making color. Many of the most striking colors found in nature often occur through the development of structural coloration. For instance, the absurdly bright colors of butterfly wings, beetle scales, day gecko skin, bird feathers and even certain berries all come from structural color.

athenssciencecafe September 28, 2017

My boyfriend might be a psychopath

It is that time of the year we've all been waiting forâ€¦ pumpkin spice season. That means pumpkin spice pancakes, pumpkin spice snickerdoodles (seriously, you need to try them), and of course pumpkin spice lattes! Now I'm not a regular at Starbucks most of the year, but when pumpkin spice is in the air, you

athenssciencecafe September 22, 2017

He leks me, he leks me notâ€¦

The breeding behavior of animals is vastly diverse and has fascinated biologists for centuries. Birds sing elaborate songs and flash their colorful plumage, some mammals fight with each other for the right to breed with females, and some insects offer food as nuptial gifts to win their ladies' hearts (who says romance is dead?). Among

athenssciencecafe September 22, 2017

The Power of Poop: Fecal Transplants

Everyone poops; it is a fact of life. It is something we do behind closed doors, and rarely discuss in civilized conversation. We refer to it as â€œwasteâ€ to be flushed away and forgotten, but for some people your poop could be a precious medical commodity. Poop is a tool that can help in fighting bacteria that are antibiotic resistant. Individuals dealing with these resistant infections may be looking for someone just like you to aid in a fecal transplant. You heard me right, a poop transplant from one person to another to treat a medical condition.

athenssciencecafe September 21, 2017

America's Greatest Idea – The National Park Service

â€œ The mountains are calling and I must go.â€ – John Muir Most days I feel a lot like John Muir, only I think it would be frowned upon if I dropped all my responsibilities to visit mountains and live amongst the trees. While I can't become a mountain man and live in a treehouse,

athenssciencecafe September 20, 2017

The bizarre world of insect sex

Insects: tiny, alien. We tend to treat them like little machines, little nuisances, little scurrying things we call â€œIt.â€ Swat It! Catch It! Don't let the dog eat It! But we really should cry, Swat Him, Swat Her! â€“ because insects, just like other animals, are biologically and genetically gendered as males or females. Insect

athenssciencecafe September 15, 2017

Bird Flu Finds Fido

Seriously, don't come to work if you're sick. How many times have we all heard this mantra? When people bring their infectious illness to work, it spreads like wildfire. Especially in the case of influenza (flu), a sick person can spread their tiny infectious droplets to other people up to 6 feet away. The same

athenssciencecafe August 20, 2017

The Science of Awe

When I was very little, I asked my dad how long it would take to get from Earth to the Sun.

I was wondering because I was attempting to pay a visit via a well-timed leap off the swingset. After he initially shattered my travel plans with the reminder that, to avoid a fiery death, I'd have to go at night (which, unfortunately, was past my bedtime), he proceeded to shatter my fragile 4-year-old notion of the universe with the fact that the sun is 93 million miles away.

athenssciencecafe August 17, 2017