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By Jia Hao Liang Have you ever wondered why some knots you tie seem to untangle so easily? That may be because the knot you tied is actually an unknot—a knot that is simply a plain loop. By pulling and adjusting, you’ve effectively transformed your knot back into this trivial loop. This naturally raises a question: how can we find a way to distinguish knots from the unknot? Further, how can we identify and categorize every distinct knot? These challenges form the heart of the knot equivalence problem, the central focus of knot theory, a branch of topology (the study of shapes under continuous change) devoted to the mathematical study of knots.
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Addictive drugs profoundly alter brain circuits, triggering lasting changes that hijack the reward pathways of the brain. Drugs, such as cocaine, increase the release of dopamine, a chemical messenger associated with pleasure, mood, and attention span. This surge in dopamine reinforces the behavior of drug use, encouraging the brain to seek the drug repeatedly. As the initial high subsides, a portion of the brain called the amygdala is activated, spurring negative emotions, which create a cycle of seeking the drug for temporary relief from discomfort.
 Illustration by Kai Yara By Servi Bulu A 1 millimeter worm helped scientists map an entire organism's nervous system for the first time. Many major leaps in biology, such as this one, owe their thanks to model organisms like C. elegans. Model organisms are non-human species studied to understand biological processes that often generalize to other species, such as humans. Model organisms are fundamental to biological research because they provide standardized platforms that allow scientists to build on shared findings and collaborate globally, accelerating discovery (Yang & Du, 2025).
 Illustration by Jaina Modi By Bradley Kelton 19th-century England stank–literally. In the era before sewage treatment became widespread, the burgeoning metropolis of London faced an unpleasant problem. As the city’s population tripled, the limited number of cesspools led to effluent leaking out of the system and accumulating on the banks of the River Thames. The smell had become so unbearable that Charles Dickens remarked in 1858 that even a short whiff was “of a most head-and-stomach distending nature.” The situation came to a head in August 1858 when the scorching summer heat propelled the smell into the air and the accompanying cholera outbreaks drove mass public outcry and disgust. Enter Sir Joseph Bazalgette, an early civil engineer who proposed using a network of drainage pipes to divert wastewater away from the city. The system he built drastically improved public health and ended the “Great Stink” for a reasonably low annual expense (Warburton, 2025). While others allowed London’s sewage problem to fester, Bazalgette recognized the importance of acting upon the crisis before it exacted a human cost.
By Yuliya Tarnovetska In 2020, during the midst of the pandemic, an online trend surfaced across platforms in which teens practiced reality shifting, or visiting an alternate universe in a dream-like state. Some of the most popular destinations included worlds based on Harry Potter and the Marvel Universe. This trend created an online community where people shared tips and tutorials on how to build specific desired worlds through meditation and “scripting,” a practice of writing descriptive storylines and details for what they wanted to happen. These written works included positive affirmations, set intentions, and even safety measures like “safe words” to help them return to their current reality. Limited research has left many unanswered questions regarding this neurological phenomenon, the biggest one being what made this induced dream-like state so hyper-realistic and perceived by so many as an alternate reality?
 Illustration by Mercedes Luna By Rokhyatou Toure 1:55 am. Walking into Butler Library during the week of Columbia University’s 2025 Homecoming game, my body adjusted to the warm temperature. The lights are dimmed on the first floor which set the mood for a cozy autumn night so comfy. It is so cozy that my eyelids lose control and soften slowly, getting lower and lower with each blink you take. It is almost as if I am being lulled to sleep. This was my experience on the Saturday of the 18th, but not for the night owls that nest the rooms of books, wakeful yet drooping. Slouched over their creaky Butler chair with an empty coffee cup in hand, their tired faces glowed from the laptop brightness.
 Illustration by Elizabeth Torna By Riya Kishen When trauma leaves scars, it might not stop at the skin. Emerging research in epigenetics suggests that extreme stress can embed chemical marks, not on the DNA code itself, but on how that code is read, that ripple into future generations.
By Risa Farber Throughout the 1800s, businessmen were tiring of the long and arduous journey to ship goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The trip would take around two months by boat, traveling from the East Coast over 8,000 nautical miles all the way around the southernmost tip of South America by Cape Horn before traveling back up to the western coast of the U.S. The French attempted a solution to this problem, spearheaded by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the engineer behind the Suez Canal in Egypt. They began excavating a canal across the Isthmus of Panama in 1880, but went bankrupt and had to stop due to outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever that took approximately 20,000 lives. Twenty years later, in 1901, the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty gave the U.S. license to make a second attempt at building the canal, but after discussing terms with the Colombian Foreign Minister Tomas Herran, Congress decided the cost was too steep and declined the offer. President Theodore Roosevelt strategized a solution to this by supporting the ongoing fight for Panamanian independence from Colombia, in hopes that a new government would prove more profitable to the U.S. His wish came true, and a new treaty was signed, granting American access to a 10-mile-wide strip for the canal.
 Illustration by Annika Rui Chen By Priyanka Matthews Earlier this month, the Nobel Prizes were announced from their base in Stockholm. But their prestigious diploma ceremony isn’t the event Nature has referred to as “the highlight of the scientific calendar.” (Pilcher, 2004) That honor goes to the Ig Nobels, “a gala mix of awards ceremony, circus, opera, and many other things.” The satirical prize awards “research that makes people laugh, then think” and has honored work on everything from spiceless jalapenos to homosexual necrophilia in ducks. And while the King of Sweden may not be present, the prize is presented by figures just as noble: Nobel Prize laureates.
 Illustration by Jaina Modi By Noah Proctor “I’m beautiful in my way, cuz’ God makes no mistakes, I’m on the right track, baby, I was born this way!”
My hairbrush handle is no stranger to these lyrics. In her 2011 chart-topper, Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” serves as an anthem for members of the LGBTQ+ community, effectively advocating for self-liberation and acceptance—that no matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender life, we all share the same DNA. Hold on, same DNA? |