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Health & Science

Now, perhaps more than ever, it is critical that we continue the LGBTQ movement’s fight for recognition and representation. The health of our community depends on it.

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brian mustanski
“People have tried to classify personality types since Hippocrates’ time, but previous scientific literature has found that to be nonsense,” says William Revelle, professor of psychology and a self-proclaimed skeptic when it comes to personality types. So when his Northwestern colleagues Luís Amaral of the McCormick School of Engineering and Martin Gerlach, a postdoctoral fellow in Amaral’s lab, proposed a study to outline new personality types, Revelle, who specializes in personality measurement, theory and research, balked.

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personality illo
Your brain, says neuroscientist Ken Paller, is not like a laptop, shutting down when you close the lid. Instead, when you close your lids at night, your brain remains hard at work, consolidating information you’ve learned that day — and the days before.

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sleep learning
A team of McCormick School of Engineering sophomores created the Alligator Tail, a device that is placed on the axle of a wheelchair and is used prevent the user from falling while learning to do a stationary wheelie. It allows users to practice wheelies with minimal assistance.

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alligator tail
Alzheimer’s disease is most commonly diagnosed in people over age 65. That, says molecular biosciences professor Richard Morimoto, offers a critical clue to understanding Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

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new morimoto 1920x1400 hero v2
Longtime audio engineer and professor Benj Kanters now focuses on hearing conservation.

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benj kanters NYT
On the outer edge of the color spectrum of visible light lies a mysterious place on the far side of violet. As red morphs to orange and then fades to yellow and so on, the wavelengths become shorter and shorter.

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vadim backman in lab
You can add climate change to the list of threats that might harm certain species of bees. A study done by Northwestern and the Chicago Botanic Garden found that warmer temperatures may drive local extinction of mason bees in naturally warm climates.

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paul caradonna bee researcher
The typical Becoming a Man session includes a simple game: One young man tucks a small ball into his palm, while his partner has one minute to do whatever it takes to get it away from him. Often the young men start wrestling, trying to pry open their partner’s hand by force.

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becoming a man illustration
A common cause of death following traumatic head injury is subdural hematoma, when blood builds up between the brain and the covering over the brain beneath the skull. This condition, which is often the result of a fall and relatively common among older adults, causes headaches, seizures or even death, and conventional treatments involve invasive surgery, such as drilling a hole in or removing a part of the skull to drain the blood.

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knopman hematoma