Category: Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond

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Noncommunicable Diseases and Socioeconomic Status in Turkana, Kenya w/ Grad Student Benjamin Muhoya

In this episode of Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond, Thiago Tarraf Varella sit down with Benjamin Muhoya, a graduate student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department to learn more about his research. Benjamin discusses his research in hospitals prior to coming to Princeton, his research looking at the evolutionary perspective of the trends noncommunicable diseases among different socioeconomic backgrounds in Turkana, and some exciting research results coming out soon.

This episode of Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond (B cubed) was produced under the 147th board of the Prince in partnership with the Insights newsletter.

For more information about Benjamin's research, check out the original insights article linked below.

RESOURCES:

Original Paper: Socioeconomic status effects on health vary between rural and urban Turkana

Princeton Insights coverage: Socioeconomic status effects on human health have evolved with industrialization

CREDITS:

Written and Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella 

Edited and Sound Engineered by Senna Aldoubosh

Transcript by Ketevan Shavdia

Produced by Senna Aldoubosh

Original Princeton Insights coverage by Kimberly Sabsay (QCB, G3).

Subscribe to Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

For more from the Daily Princetonian, visit dailyprincetonian.com. For more from Princeton Insights, visit insights.princeton.edu. Please direct all corrections to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

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Jupiter's Auroras with Dr. Jamey R. Szalay

In this episode of Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond, Thiago Tarraf Varella sits down with Princeton researcher Dr. Jamey R. Szalay to discuss the science behind Jupiter's auroras. Dr. Szalay also discusses exciting NASA breakthroughs being made by the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) in learning about Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

This episode of Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond was produced by Princeton Insights in partnership with the 146th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian. Insights show host Thiago Tarraf Varella is a graduate student in Department of Psychology at Princeton and can be reached at tvarella@princeton.edu. 

To view the transcript for this episode, click “More Info” and then “Full Transcript” in the episode player.

Correction: A previous version of this description referred to the “Stellar Reference Unit” instead of the “Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) plasma instrument.” The 'Prince' regrets this error. 

RESOURCES:

Original Paper: Water-group pickup ions from Europa-genic neutrals orbiting Jupiter 

Princeton Insights coverage: Proton Outflow Associated With Jupiter’s Auroral Processes

CREDITS

Written and hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella
Edited and Sound Engineered by Senna Aldoubosh
Transcript by Ketevan Shavdia
Produced by Senna Aldoubosh 

Original Princeton Insights coverage by Cecilia Panfil (CHM, 2022) and Alexandra Libby (PNI, GS)

Subscribe to Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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What can vocal marmosets tell us about human development? With Thiago Tarraf Varella

In this episode of The Highlights, show host and third-year graduate student in psychology Thiago Tarraf Varella discusses his research on pre linguistic vocal learning in marmosets, and what this can tell us about human vocal development.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Thiago Tarraf Varella is a graduate student in Department of Psychology at Princeton and can be reached at tvarella@princeton.edu.

To view the transcript for this episode, click “More Info” and then “Full Transcript” in the episode player.

RESOURCES:

Princeton Insights coverage: What other species can teach us about how infants learn to speak

Original Paper: Cooperative care and the evolution of the prelinguistic vocal learning

CREDITS

Written and hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Senna Aldoubosh

Edited and sound engineered by Sophia Villacorta and Isabel Rodrigues

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Princeton Insights coverage by Sarah McFann GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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Futuristic nostalgia with Yeon Soon Shin and Rolando Masís-Obando

In this episode of The Highlights, we’re joined by Yeon Soon Shin, who completed her doctoral degree in neuroscience at Princeton in 2020 and Rolando Masís-Obando, a 5th-year graduate student in neuroscience. We discuss their paths to graduate work in psychology, their research on how environmental context affects memory, and the virtual reality environments they created to test their ideas.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Rolando Masís-Obando is a graduate student in the Princeton Computational Memory Lab and can be reached at rmasis@princeton.edu. Yeon Soon Shin is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University and can be reached at yshin@princeton.edu. 

To view the transcript for this episode, click “More Info” and then “Full Transcript” in the episode player.

RESOURCES:

Princeton Insights coverage: Using virtual reality to demonstrate the environmental reinstatement effect

Original Paper: Context-dependent memory effects in two immersive virtual reality environments: On Mars and underwater

CREDITS

Written and hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Paula Brooks GS

Edited and sound engineered by Sophia Villacorta and Isabel Rodrigues

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Princeton Insights coverage by Paula Brooks GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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Talking toddlers with Mira Nencheva

In this episode of The Highlights, we’re joined by Mira Nencheva, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. We discuss her path to graduate work in psychology, the day-to-day of working with toddlers at the Princeton Baby Lab, and how the vocal pitch of a caregiver can affect learning early in life.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Mira Nencheva is a graduate student in the Princeton Baby Lab of the Department of Psychology. She can be reached at nencheva@princeton.edu.

To view the transcript for this episode, click “More Info” and then “Full Transcript” in the episode player.

RESOURCES:

Princeton Insights coverage: The moment-to-moment pitch dynamics of child-directed speech shape toddlers’ attention and learning

Original Paper: The moment-to-moment pitch dynamics of child-directed speech shape toddlers’ attention and learning

CREDITS

Written and Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Liza Mankovskaya GS

Edited by John Shin and Isabel Rodrigues

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Insights Coverage by Liza Mankovskaya GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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A 'bird's eye' view with Professor Cassie Stoddard

In this episode of The Highlights, we’re joined by Jarome Ali, a graduate student in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB), and Professor Mary Cassie Stoddard, the head PI of the Stoddard lab in EEB. We discuss her career in sensory ecology and color vision in birds, her field experiments in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and the science of nonspectral colors.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Jarome Ali is a graduate student in the Stoddard Lab of EEB, and Cassie Stoddard is an associate professor of EEB. Dr. Stoddard can be reached at mstoddard@princeton.edu.

Additional resources:

Princeton Insights coverage: Prince, perception and purple: The colorful world of wild hummingbirds

Original Paper: Wild hummingbirds discriminate nonspectral colors

Credits:

Written/Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Jarome Ali GS

Edited by Sophia Villacorta

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Insights Coverage by Jarome Ali GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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‘Which side are you on?’ with Patricia Hoyos

In this episode of The Highlights, we’re joined by Patricia Hoyos, a graduate student in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI). We discuss her work on the development of spatial biases in school-aged kids, the challenges and perks of working with children, and her experiences transitioning her work from undergraduate independent work to a graduate project.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Patricia Hoyos is a graduate student in the Kastner Lab of PNI. She can be reached at phoyos@princeton.edu.

To view the transcript for this episode, click here.

Additional resources:

Princeton Insights coverage: The development of visual-spatial biases in children

Original Paper: Development of spatial biases in school-aged children

Credits:

Written/Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Crystal Lee GS

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Insights Coverage by Munisa Said GS and Crystal Lee GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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Decoding Mosquitoes with Zhilei Zhao

Episode 3 of Princeton Insights: The Highlights

In this episode of The Highlights, we're joined by Zhilei Zhao, a former graduate student in the McBride Lab of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. We discuss his experiences working in the lab during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his study of the delicate neuroscience of mosquitoes and its potential impact on the fight against malaria and other insect-borne illnesses.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Zhilei Zhao is a post-doc in the Goldberg Lab at Cornell University. He can be reached at zz367@cornell.edu.

Additional Resources:

Princeton Insights coverage: Infectious mosquitoes decode the unique smell of humans to pick their next meal

Original Paper: Chemical signatures of human odour generate a unique neural code in the brain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Coverage by the Daily Princetonian

Credits:

Written/Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Olivia Duddy GS

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Insights Coverage by Olivia Duddy GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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Automating Observations with Talmo Pereira

Episode 2 of Princeton Insights: The Highlights

In this episode of The Highlights, we're joined by Talmo Pereira, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Neuroscience. Pereira holds a Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship, one of the highest graduate honors given by the University. We discuss the ups and downs of grad school and how the software he is developing, Social LEAP Estimates Animal Poses (SLEAP), is working to unite neuroscience, ecology, and computer science.

RESOURCES:

Princeton Insights coverage: A computational model for automated tracking of socially-interacting animals.

Original Paper: SLEAP: Multi-animal pose tracking.

Coverage by the Daily Princetonian.

CREDITS:

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of the Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Talmo Pereira is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Neuroscience. He can be reached at talmo@princeton.edu.

Written/Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Andy Jones GS.

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues.

Original Insights Coverage by Andy Jones GS.

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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Nematodes and reproductive aging with Dr. Nicole Templeman

Episode 1 of Princeton Insights: The Highlights

In this episode of The Highlights, we're joined by Nicole Templeman, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Victoria. As a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton, Templeman was part of molecular biology professor Coleen Murphy’s lab, where she studied reproductive aging. We discuss her most recent publication, which explores how inter-tissue communication affects rate of “age-related reproductive decline,” and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected her lab.

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