Emilie Ma – Yale Daily News https://yaledailynews.com The Oldest College Daily Tue, 27 Feb 2024 06:32:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 181338879 ‘Blank Space’ in memory? Researchers investigate Taylor Swift-induced amnesia https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/02/25/blank-space-in-memory-researchers-investigate-taylor-swift-induced-amnesia/ Mon, 26 Feb 2024 04:44:32 +0000 https://yaledailynews.com/?p=187817 In a recent review, School of Public Health student Nathan Carroll theorized that excitement and sensory overload could explain memory lapses among concertgoers during the pop star’s Eras Tour.

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Pop superstar Taylor Swift’s concerts have a reputation for elaborate costumes, friendship bracelets and high-powered vocals. And for Barrie Berger SPH ’24, the singer’s Eras Tour concert was the best experience of her life. 

But there’s one problem: Berger said she doesn’t actually remember much from the show. When she thinks back, she said that she blanks on the specifics, like the outfits, the dances and the speeches. 

“If I didn’t have the set list beforehand, I would’ve had no idea what she actually said,” Berger said. “In the moment, it was like having an out-of-body experience.”

Berger is not the only Swiftie to report lapses in memory during the singer’s performances, with many fans documenting mysterious memory gaps during shows on social media and in the press. But Nathan Carroll SPH ’24, a resident psychiatrist at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and a second-year student in the School of Public Health’s Executive Master of Public Health program, might have an answer. 

In a pre-published literature review titled “Here And Then Swiftly Gone: Taylor Swift-Induced Amnesia,” Carroll and a team of researchers investigated the scientific basis behind those reports of memory gaps among concertgoers. While Carroll’s report is not yet peer-reviewed and does not include real participants, it compares reported memory loss symptoms to existing scientific research on short-term amnesia.

Behind Swifties’ memory loss, the researchers believe, could be a type of amnesia linked to heightened emotion and excitement.

Carroll’s team focused specifically on post-concert amnesia associated with Swift’s Eras Tour, which debuted on March 17, 2023. Anticipation for the tour was palpable from the onset: Following Swift’s announcement that she was going on tour for the first time in five years, Ticketmaster’s website experienced unprecedented demand, leaving many fans unable to snag tickets in time.


Carroll recounted watching his fellow residents trying to secure tickets on Ticketmaster when the platform crashed. While they were eventually able to get tickets and attend the concert, Caroll said he noticed that they returned with gaps in their memory for portions of the concert.

“I remember trying so hard to remember everything because I spent a lot of money and a lot of time,” said Gabriela Mendoza Cueva SPH ’24. “I think I just had so much adrenaline from being hyped up that I don’t remember a lot of things.”

Swift fans’ loss of memory sparked Carroll’s interest. How was it possible, he recalled thinkimg at the time, that people could forget concerts they’d been so passionate about?

But that passion, Carroll and his colleagues now hypothesize, might be behind fans’ lapse in memory — a phenomenon that Carroll said he believes shares similarities with a condition called transient global amnesia, or TGA.

TGA is a type of short-term memory loss often triggered by highly emotional experiences, such as physical exertion, emotional stimulation, high-stress events and migraines. While the condition involves an inability to form new memories, it does not result in a loss of consciousness or self-awareness, and memory issues last for less than 24 hours. Individuals experiencing TGA may also encounter symptoms like disorientation around people and places, agitation and anxiety, and occasionally, headache, dizziness or nausea.

Though TGA has been well-documented in scientific research among older individuals between the ages of 50 and 80, post-event amnesia has not been as extensively studied in younger people, Carroll said — making the process of finding published literature on TGA in younger populations challenging. 

“The overlap between the Taylor Swift concertgoer population and the traditional population seen with TGA don’t share a tremendous number of characteristics,” he said. 

But Taylor Swift’s shows might fit the bill for an emotional, TGA-linked event. For fans, Carroll described the event as a “three-hour concert of non-stop excitement.”

During highly emotional or strenuous events, Carroll said, the body begins to release the stress hormone cortisol, a natural chemical that alters heart rate and blood pressure. Researchers believe that, in TGA, those changes in blood pressure affect the brain’s hippocampus, a portion of the brain that plays a major role in learning and memory. 

“These fluctuations in blood pressure are thought to affect the ability of your brain to record episodic memory, giving rise to transient global amnesia,” Carroll said.

Carroll and his team note in their review that, given that the number of young people with TGA in scientific literature is small, it’s an important and unexplored area of research. And since TGA symptoms are temporary, many who experience it don’t report memory loss to health professionals.

“Since the memories do come back, a lot of people don’t seek treatment for it either, so it’s missed all the time,” he said.

However, not all researchers think that Carroll’s theory about Swifties’ amnesia and TGA answers the question.

According to Philip Corlett, an associate professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, memory loss at concerts is not a brand-new phenomenon.

“I worry that we scientists try a little too hard to be current sometimes,” Corlett said. “I think the phenomenon itself is perhaps not so novel — people have been having extreme emotional responses to pop stars since Elvis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.” 

Corlett also questioned whether Swift fans were experiencing TGA at all since many typically didn’t end their night in a characteristic “fugue state” — where people become temporally or spatially disoriented. 

But that doesn’t diminish the impact that music can have on the brain, said Corlett.

“We remember music because it is a really potent combination of stimulus features that render it very memorable,” Corlett said. “It is characteristically structured like a story.” 

For concertgoers, Carroll and his team’s review recommends some prevention mechanisms to avoid amnesia, including staying hydrated, being mindful of breathing and excitement levels and avoiding recording the concert while watching.

Those recommendations resonated all too well with some Taylor Swift fans. 

A few months after Madelyn Dawson ’25 saw Swift’s Red Tour in 2013, she said she couldn’t remember any details. Dawson chalked up the lapse to the show’s overwhelming nature and competing mental priorities between experiencing and documenting the show.

“It’s hard to both live in the moment and experience shows while you’re there and also trying to have an archival collection of them,” she said. 

But for Shivesh Shourya SPH ’25, who went to an Eras Tour concert twice and saw the tour’s film, avoiding his phone helped him remember more of the performance. By the time he watched his second show, a new mindset improved how he remembered moments from the experience.

“I remember most of the concert simply because I wasn’t … trying to capture every moment on video and being more present,” said Shourya. “When I went to go see the Eras movie, I had great memory at that point.”

The Eras Tour set the record as the first tour to gross over one billion dollars

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Google VP talks cybersecurity at Tsai CITY event https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/11/07/google-vp-talks-cybersecurity-at-tsai-city-event/ Tue, 07 Nov 2023 05:55:01 +0000 https://yaledailynews.com/?p=185524 At an event Thursday, Google vice president of privacy, safety and security engineering Royal Hansen ’97 spoke about artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

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Royal Hansen ’97, Google’s vice president of privacy, safety and security engineering, visited Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale on Thursday to speak about cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

As part of the Dean’s Invited Speaker Series through the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the event featured a talk by Hansen on safety for artificial intelligence, followed by a discussion facilitated by Dean Jeffrey Brock ’92. During his talk, Hansen described how artificial intelligence and machine learning have evolved since his time as a Yale undergraduate in the 1990s. Now, he said, the technology is used widely, from automating app safety to filtering out spam emails and screening for breast cancer. 

But the development of AI can also have far-reaching implications, Hansen added.

“We in technology will be coding the laws of today and tomorrow,” he said. “Will the spirit of the law actually meet the spirit of the regulation?”

Hansen highlighted the role of machine learning in Google products like the Google Play Store — where the company scans 28 billion app-to-device pairs to make sure apps meet safety standards — and Gmail, which uses machine learning to efficiently sort large quantities of data and block spam. He described how Google’s Chrome web browser uses machine learning to prevent cybersecurity threats, a feature that is now featured on Safari and Firefox.

Beyond Google, Hansen also spoke about how artificial intelligence could play a role in secure technology and digital infrastructure.

“We’re headed to a world where the structures of life and society are digitized, and the whole supply chain needs to be safe,” said Hansen. “The mistakes here are very different from when I miss a spam message.”

Those risks, Hansen said, can impact governments and economies across the world.

Hansen said that after visiting Poland and working with Eastern European cybersecurity experts over the past 18 months, he learned how cyber attacks have disrupted digital supply chains in Ukraine for years, even predating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

“I think we’re in a unique moment where the infrastructure for the 21st century is being laid down,” Hansen said. 

Hansen stressed the importance of continued cybersecurity research and cautioned against hasty development of artificial intelligence technologies. 

At Google, he said, they use a set of principles known as the Secure AI Framework to help mitigate those risks by establishing guidelines for secure AI systems.

Brock said that artificial intelligence creates a new medium for individuals to engage with technology.

“This changes the way anyone can interact with a computer, whether it’s someone who wants to write a technical piece of code, or somebody who just kind of wants to take an idea and turn it into something,” Brock said. “The fact that we’re able to have a conversation as bizarre as this one represents a turning point in the evolution of the history of these technologies.”

Students also expressed that they thought Hansen’s talk was informative. 

Braden Wong ’25, who attended the talk, also said the event served as a social gathering place for peers interested in computer science.

“The work in privacy and cybersecurity is an interesting topic,” said Wong. “It’s good to see friends, so there’s always people you run into that you know.” 

The Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science is located at 17 Hillhouse Ave.

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Taiwan Semiconductor CEO C.C. Wei speaks at the Yale Science Building https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/10/05/taiwan-semiconductor-ceo-c-c-wei-speaks-at-the-yale-science-building/ Thu, 05 Oct 2023 05:59:16 +0000 https://yaledailynews.com/?p=184675 C.C. Wei GRD ’85 gave a talk at O.C. Marsh Hall on Monday as one of this year’s four Wilbur Cross Medal recipients.

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C.C. Wei GRD ’85, chief executive officer of Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a Taiwanese company that designs and manufactures semiconductors, returned to Yale on Monday to receive the Wilbur Cross Medal, an award given to graduate alumni for outstanding achievements. 

Wei is one of this year’s four alumni who came to campus to receive the Wilbur Cross Medal. Wei’s event was also part of the Dean’s Invited Speaker Series, which organizes discussions with prominent industry leaders in engineering and adjacent fields.

While the session was originally intended to be a conversation between Wei and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo LAW ‘98, Raimondo was unable to attend due to obligations in Washington, D.C. 

Instead, Dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Jeffrey Brock ’92 facilitated the discussion, which centered on Wei’s time at Yale, his transition from academia to industry and the role of the United States in semiconductor manufacturing. 

“So many of our alums have made their way to the top of the industrial world, in one role or another, that have incredible stories,” Brock said when introducing Wei at the event. “Our guest today really implemented that probably more than any of our alums.” 

In his opening remarks, Brock commented on Wei’s tie, which was navy blue and covered in white Yale logos. Wei said that the event was the only time he could wear the tie with pride, joking about possible complaints from other schools’ alumni if he wore it to work. 

In the beginning of the discussion, Wei described his educational journey. After attending college in Taiwan, Wei said he was drawn to Yale in part to work with his graduate mentor, Professor Tso-Ping Ma. Wei said that Ma greatly influenced him and taught him how to research and write well. 

“[Ma] was very patient and very instructive,” Wei said. “He also showed me how to write a good paper.” 

After earning his PhD from Yale, Wei worked for various semiconductor companies, eventually joining Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 1998. Over the next decade, he climbed the company ladder and was appointed CEO in 2018.  

In his discussion, Wei reflected on his transition from managing transistors as an engineer to managing people as CEO. After pointing to the large number of policy and industry leaders that Yale has produced, Wei cited President Peter Salovey’s research on emotional intelligence as essential reading for future leaders. 

“I like to manage the machine because it doesn’t protest,” Wei said. “Managing people is way tougher.”

Wei also talked about the importance of semiconductors in the modern age. 

Wei said that there are important applications for semiconductors in autonomous driving, medical operations and artificial intelligence. 

“[The] semiconductor is the center of every technology,” Wei said.

Following Brock’s interview questions, undergraduate and graduate students asked Wei questions about his career and present-day issues related to technology. 

One student asked about why TSMC recently decided to build a semiconductor production plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Wei said TSMC chose to locate the plant in Arizona where there was the larger pool of skilled workers, a practical limitation that TSMC faced in Taiwan. 

“To tell the truth, the U.S. is the country with the most talented and innovative people, especially for the Ivy League student,” Wei said. 

He said that the U.S. government’s commitment to helping TSMC build this plant might encourage the construction of more American factories in the future. 

Another student asked about TSMC’s role in an era of rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Wei declined to comment, though he noted that China is the company’s second largest customer.

Several students told the News that were excited to hear about Wei’s experiences, especially about his enthusiasm for Yale and the importance of semiconductors.  

“I thought the talk was insightful about Yale and international trade,” Connor Flood ’26 said. 

In the event, Wei offered advice to students about how to achieve success after graduating school. Wei emphasized the importance of enjoying one’s work, no matter the industry. 

“You have to find passion in your work,” Wei said. “If you cannot find passion, don’t do it. Change to another company, or change your boss.”

TSMC was founded in 1987.

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Yale hosts sustainability symposium featuring academic, policy and industry leaders https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/04/18/yale-hosts-sustainability-symposium-featuring-academic-policy-and-industry-leaders/ Tue, 18 Apr 2023 04:18:39 +0000 https://yaledailynews.com/?p=182758 Last Tuesday, Yale hosted their second annual Increasing Human Potential Symposium featuring leaders in sustainability.

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The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences hosted its second Increasing Human Potential Symposium on April 11, featuring University, policy and industry leaders who shared their insights about sustainability. 

The event took place across Davies Auditorium and the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale. Intended to promote cross-collaboration between different fields and industries, guests at the symposium included executives from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, NASA and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, among others.

The program commenced with opening remarks by University Provost Scott Strobel and Paul Turner, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. This was followed by discussions with industry executives and an exhibition of faculty research and student ventures, showcasing the university’s dedication to sustainability initiatives on its campus and across various industries.

“We are here … to discuss topics such as climate change, biodiversity loss, issues that are… the defining issues of our time,” Strobel said in his speech at the symposium.

In their statements, Strobel and Turner emphasized the imperative of exploring interdisciplinary endeavors that catalyze sustainability and increase human potential. 

Strobel referenced the existing collaborative programs established by the university, such as the Planetary Solutions Project which partners with FedEx, Southwest and Boeing to mitigate climate change. Such projects were designed with the purpose of “training the leaders of tomorrow and convening the leaders of today to address these issues,” Strobel said.

Following these initial remarks, a plenary session featuring former NASA chief scientist James Green, and NRDC president and CEO Manish Bapna covered issues of sustainability and climate change policies.

Green called to attention the critical role planetary exploration plays in government climate policy. For instance, by understanding the trends on Earth’s surface, such as water management, ocean salinity and atmosphere composition, countries around the world can understand what resources are available and implement policies accordingly.

Bapna further expanded on the vital connection between sustainability and law, citing recent policies, such as the Clean Water Act, the Inflation-Reduction Act of 2022 and the Paris Agreement, as crucial steps towards widespread adoption of clean energy and ecosystem preservation. 

“We are at an inflection point,” Bapna added. “Where we as a community must think about building this different structure around clean energy.”

Bapna acknowledged the unequal challenges different countries face in living up to international accords such as the Paris Agreement. He proposed that countries share technologies and offer help to each other to mitigate the global effects of climate change. 

A panel discussion about various industry initiatives to encourage sustainability followed, moderated by Stuart DeCew, the executive director of the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. 

Kelly Levin ’02 ENV ’03 ’09, chief scientist of the Bezos Earth Fund, spoke about her experience with technological innovation and the problem-driven nature of seeking climate change solutions. 

She emphasized the urgency of taking action now, as extreme weather, ice caps and rising sea levels change landscapes around the world. She noted the need for radical systemic transformation, from energy production to urban planning and land management, using a diverse set of perspectives. 

“With every transformation, there is no silver bullet,” Levin said. “It’s going to take many leverages of change coming together, [such as] leadership from governments, corporations… policymaking, legal action, financial incentives and philanthropy.”

Ryan Dings, president and CEO of New Haven climate technology incubator ClimateHaven, discussed sustainability initiatives as economic opportunities, as well as moral imperatives. He advocated for a “silver buckshot” approach that included a wide range of climate technology solutions and innovative business models to create a regenerative economy. 

“We have to invent this future that we want,” Dings said. “We have to think of the thousands of technologies that we’re going to need in order to get there.”

He described how New Haven is uniquely poised for the expedited growth, trajectory and scalability of climate technology solutions, given the support of the University. 

“[This] is an incredible opportunity to put that money to work, invent these solutions, deploy them at scale and ultimately reap the benefits from it and build prosperity for ourselves and all the people that are in this fight,” Dings said.

Brian Osias ’99, managing director of the Three Cairns Group, an investment firm centered on accelerating climate action, also underlined the importance of making data-driven investments, grants and strategic initiatives to facilitate transition to a low-carbon economy. Osias noted the efforts of Three Cairns in expanding Yale’s certificate programs and scholarships in sustainability, as well as encouraging market design changes to promote favorable capital growth.

According to Osias, given that commercial capital has historically been limited in projects based in the Global South, kickstarting green energy infrastructure projects in these regions is critical to paving the way for the private sector to embark on large-scale projects in renewable energy. His group is dedicated to bridging this gap, providing the initial capital to funding such early-stage projects. 

The featured speakers, with interests ranging from local action in New Haven to regional activity in the Global South and global climate mandates, all highlighted the importance of working together across disciplines and sectors to tackle complex sustainability challenges. 

“It has to be truly multidisciplinary in how we think about it; we can’t just associate this push to decarbonize with the amazing scientific breakthroughs that are so critical, but are just the start,” Levin said.

In her closing remarks, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Lynn Cooley underscored that seeking planetary solutions driving sustainability is a priority for the University.

“What makes Yale … very well-prepared to participate in this challenge is our commitment to interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving,” Cooley said. “The ideas are here, the will is here, we just need all of us to contribute in the way that we can.”

The evening reception hosted at Tsai CITY showcased projects pursued by faculty researchers and students, ranging from vegan leather to a shared medical data platform. The event spotlighted the variety of efforts made by the academic community to drive innovation and sustainability.

Attendees at the symposium ranged from local residents to Yale students, alumni and faculty. 

Kevin McCarthy, a New Haven resident with over 30 years of experience in climate legislation, noted the complexities surrounding climate policy, but expressed optimism about the insights shared at the symposium.

The symposium also drew interest from students at Yale with interests in sustainability, including Adi Kulkarni ’26 and Miriam Huerta ’24, who work with Schneider Electric to analyze the impact of photovoltaic solar panels on gas emissions in buildings, and Ravish Dubey, a postdoctoral research associate at the Yale School of the Environment currently researching the applications of low-cost sensors to test carbon dioxide concentrations around the city.

“We are lucky to know so much about this topic now, including many of the needed solutions, and Yale has played a key role in that,” said symposium attendee Alexander Posner ‘19, who works in the climate change think tank Climate Solutions Fund. “I’d say, the biggest remaining hurdle is to turn that into reality.”

The symposium was organized by Vishal Agrawal ’96 GRD ’96 MED ’02, Shah Karim ’81 GRD ’87 ’07, Richard Kayne MED ’76, among other alumni from Friends of Yale from Industry, as an initiative in response to the pandemic to facilitate students’ professional development and amplify the impact of the ideas that emerge from collaboration between the University and alumni-led organizations.

“Every student has a lot of potential here, and I am in awe and humbled by what I hear,” Kayne said. “Some of it is innate talent, some of it is opportunity, and the university creates opportunities so brilliantly that it’s a privilege to participate [in these events].” 

Agrawal and Kayne both encouraged collaboration to bridge generational and sectoral gaps while approaching long-standing issues such as climate change.

“Yale is such an amazing place to be, to meet people who are coming in because they want to help make the world a better place,” Agrawal said. “The opportunity for students to be a part of that discussion is real.”

Friends of Yale from Industry was established in May 2020.

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SEAS Research uncovers how runners stay upright on uneven terrain https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/03/31/seas-research-uncovers-how-runners-stay-upright-on-uneven-terrain/ Fri, 31 Mar 2023 04:11:57 +0000 https://yaledailynews.com/?p=182339 The lab of Madhusudhan Venkadesan recently published a study that finds runners rely on the body’s natural response to stay upright while running over uneven terrain.

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A recent study by the lab of Madhusudhan Venkadesan in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has shed light on how runners stay upright while running on uneven ground. 

The research revealed that humans rely on the body’s mechanical response for stability, as opposed to a deliberate response. Furthermore, it found that runners exhibited similar levels of efficiency in motion and energy consumption on uneven terrain as they do on flat surfaces, and rather than consciously plotting out each step, the body’s natural response guides navigation on relatively level surfaces.

 “Long-distance running — it’s what drove human evolution in the last two million years,” Venkadesan, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, told the News.

The team employed mathematical and statistical modeling to measure and analyze stepping locations and footstep patterns, testing subjects who have run at least one half-marathon or marathon in the past year in India. Built upon data from a past paper, the study compared how runners might seek out the flattest path and compared it to how runners actually guide their steps.

To achieve this objective, the researchers set up three 24-meter-long custom-made tracks that allowed the researchers to accurately digitize the surface with peaks and valleys and a motion-capture system that visualizes the subject’s center of mass. 

Nihav Dhawale, a postdoctoral researcher in the Venkadesan lab and a graduate of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, highlighted the distinctiveness of the experimental arrangement.

“Building terrains like this haven’t really been attempted before, at this scale, and having the track custom-made allowed for greater accuracy in the analysis portion,” Dhawale said.

The findings have key evolutionary implications for understanding how running evolved in humans with regard to hunting and looking for prey. With vision being central to tracking footprint and searching for prey, the need for the body to naturally stabilize itself is crucial, especially while running. 

The results could also change the way that locomotive robotics are designed and controlled. Because current robots are primarily vision-based, the results propose that robots do not necessarily require the detailed planning of every step, which could reduce the difficulty of control for engineers. 

Venkadesan suggested future research studies investigating the effect of types of training on trail running, a skill distinct from treadmill running and track running, on energy consumption, the incidence of injury, and other parameters. 

Marcus Lisman ’25, president of Yale Club Running, expressed his interest in the study. The finding that humans intuitively plot their steps on trail-running resonated with him.

 “When you’re running, you’re not going to hit the ideal point of stability every single time,” Lisman said. “Instead, it makes sense that the body’s mechanical systems will compensate for any uneven surfaces.”

Demilade Omolade ’26 agreed with the findings as an avid outside runner who has experience in cross country and track.

“By engaging my abdominal muscles, I just feel more stable,” Omolade noted. “The glutes, the hamstring – all of the muscles working together in harmony really help runners stay stable in running, including on uneven places.”

In addition to the work from this study, Venkadesan’s lab explores a variety of fundamental topics at the intersection of biomechanics, control and evolution. 

Venkadesan also emphasized the importance of experience outside the classroom that allows for hands-on interaction with subject matters, describing how the application of research findings can emerge at times in unexpected ways. 

“There is no recipe to research. Let your curiosity and desire to dig deep guide you,” he said. “We are surrounded by so many questions and interesting phenomena that beg to be explained.”

A list of the ongoing projects and published papers Venkadesan and his team work on can be found here. Published in eLife, the comprehensive research article can be found here

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Leitner Planetarium reopens for first time since COVID-19 pandemic https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/01/26/leitner-planetarium-reopens-for-first-time-since-covid-19-pandemic/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 07:23:43 +0000 https://yaledailynews.com/?p=181025 The Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium to present a new planetarium show after reopening earlier this month

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On Jan. 17, after a nearly-three-year closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium fully reopened to the public with a planetarium show titled “Oasis in Space.” Although the Leitner observatory reopened for public viewing in 2021, the planetarium has been closed since March 2020. 

Displayed every Tuesday night with two showings, one at 6 p.m. and one at 7 p.m., the exhibit illustrates the journey through the galaxy in search of liquid water, a critical aspect of the existence of life on Earth. The program displays celestial objects of interest for that night, such as nebulas and comets, followed by the 25-minute show “Oasis in Space,” which is projected onto a dome and gives the audience a tour of the galaxy’s planets, each with its own theme song. 

“We are getting answers to big questions and ideas, like the origin of the universe, using astronomy,” Michael Faison, lecturer of astronomy and director of Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium, told the News. “In some ways, it’s very democratic. Everyone sees the same stars, with the same eyes to look up and see amazing things like the rings of Saturn and star clusters. We can look up and wonder about our place in the universe.” 

First created in the early 2000s, the show was recently updated by its producer Spitz Planetarium with new technologies, such as sophisticated, high-definition visuals and more scientifically accurate findings. The producers, for instance, were able to incorporate new images that the New Horizon spacecraft captured in 2015 as it flew by Pluto and its moon, Charon. This is, however, the show’s debut at the LFOP. 

Led by Faison, the LFOP serves to bridge the gap between public outreach and student research.

The LFOP, furnished with a digital planetarium theater, two permanently mounted telescopes, and a lecture hall, also invites the public to observe space at night with a variety of telescopes.

Faison noted that a hands-on telescope experience is essential for every university, including Yale. He further emphasized the role that the observatory plays within the community.

“It’s important that we improve scientific literacy with our public viewing nights, whether it means meeting families, kids, retirees or students,” Faison said. “It’s quite the mix of the New Haven community.”

As a facility of Yale’s Astronomy Department, the LFOP serves as a center for astronomical research, with classes taught in the summer and fall for high school students around the world and college students to embark on research projects, ranging from tracking extragalactic supernovas to modeling comet trajectories.

Over the summer, the center is home to the Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics for high school students to visit Yale and take classes at the planetarium, perform research and ultimately write a research paper on their findings. During the fall semester of the school year, the Observatory serves as the teaching center for classes and labs for students of any major. 

“I’m always striving for more undergraduates to come,” Faison remarked.

He acknowledged the distance from central campus as a possible detractor from students visiting the center, which can be an 18-minute walk from Cross Campus. However, he mentioned that its distance also helps limit light pollution.

The reopening of the observatory has also been exciting for students who are enthusiastic about space. Dalaney Westbroek ’25 expressed their interest in learning more about astronomy.

“I’ve always been interested in space,” Westbroek said. “There’s something exciting about learning the expanse of the universe beyond our world.”

Theo Schiminovich ’25, an earth and planetary sciences major, agrees. He cited the opportunity that activities like stargazing provide to connect to nature.

“I enjoy going out and looking up at a sky full of stars because it’s a connection to nature that many people have lost living in cities with light pollution,” Schiminovich said. “I’d like to get an idea of what’s out there and explore the possibilities of what space has to offer.”

Julia Levy ’25, a physics and computer science major and observatory assistant, noted her enthusiasm for the opening of the planetarium with the new show.

 “It’s fascinating how these shows demonstrate how minute the planet that we know is in relation to the entire universe,” Levy said. “It enables us to speed through galaxies in seconds when all one fathomed before was a tiny speck that was our planet.”

The observatory suggests a $10 donation per adult to fund the facility’s activities and requires advanced registration with about a 40-person capacity. Reserve tickets and find details here

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