热点大瓜

Ana Carolina Moraes Luzardi
Graduate Student
Earth Sciences (PhD), College of Arts and Sciences

This photograph was taken at Bernal Glacier, part of the Southern Patagonian Icefield (Chile), in November 2024. It captures two women installing a stake to measure the glacier's melt on a warm summer day in Patagonia. In the foreground, a crevasse—deep and striking—lies between them and the photographer. To reach the middle section of the glacier, they had to jump across the crevasse without rope assistance, an act of extraordinary bravery. Inside the crevasse, the ice color transitions from white to deep blue as it deepens, a result of increasing pressure that reduces air bubbles within the heavy ice column.

In the background, vegetation covers the frontal moraine, a glacial sediment deposit marking the glacier's stable position during the pre-industrial period (~1850). The vast area between the current glacier front and the moraine reveals the extent of glacial retreat over the past century due to climate change, now occupied by turquoise meltwater lakes. During this expedition, researchers observed that the glacier was melting at a rate of 7 cm per day during a heatwave, when air temperatures were around 10°C.

This image is the result of an exploratory and scientific expedition to a pristine Patagonian glacier, showcasing fieldwork and international collaboration. The team included a German postdoctoral researcher (left), an Argentinian mountaineer (right), a Brazilian PhD student (who took the photograph), a Chinese PhD student, and a Peruvian mountaineer (not pictured). Additionally, this picture emphasizes the presence of women in scientific research in a male-dominated field.

Misael Hernandez
Graduate Student
Art, College of Arts and Sciences

Mountain Composition depicts a monument made from adobe bricks. The composition represents a mountain and an Aztec pyramid, referring to my Mexican heritage and Northwest American upbringing. Archived and personal photographs from the Library of Congress and personal archives are meticulously staged along the bricks to create contrasting pockets across the overall image that ignite historical and personal dialogue across an imaginative landscape. A medium format film camera capable of harnessing immense detail captures the scene while referencing photography's deep time as light fossils. Mountain Composition examines photography's ability to harness deep time, labor, and cross-cultural shared experiences by combining the real and constructed world otherwise impossible to express across traditional documentary photographs.  

Kasturika Shankar
Postdoctoral Scholar
Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences

The image, Twisted Realities: A Cartogram of the Unequal Geography of Cervical Cancer, visualizes the global disparity in cervical cancer incidence. This cartogram distorts a traditional world map, resizing countries based on their cervical cancer rates i.e larger shapes indicate higher incidence, while smaller ones reflect lower rates. The result highlights how this largely preventable cancer disproportionately affects low and middle-income countries, where access to screening, vaccination, and treatment is often limited.

Cervical cancer, caused by persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) strains, remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in underserved regions. Contributing factors include limited healthcare infrastructure, lack of education, and minimal access to HPV vaccines and routine screenings. In contrast, high-income countries report significantly lower incidence rates due to comprehensive screening programs, widespread vaccination, and advanced treatment options.

This cartogram serves as a powerful visual representation of global health inequality, emphasizing how geography and socioeconomic factors contribute to vastly different health outcomes for women. By reshaping the map based on disease burden, the image draws attention to regions most in need of support and resources.

Through this image, I aim to raise awareness of these disparities and encourage global action to improve access to cervical cancer prevention and care. By presenting this issue in an engaging, impactful format, the goal is to inspire dialogue and drive efforts toward more equitable healthcare worldwide.

Kosar Yasin
Graduate Student
Chemistry (PhD), College of Arts and Sciences

This image captures solar energy research at an impressive 12,900 feet above sea level. At such extreme altitudes, solar energy becomes the only viable power source, making this an ideal place for testing cutting-edge solar technologies. Surrounded by clouds, the solar panels on the roof of a mountain shelter work to capture the sun’s energy in one of the harshest environments on Earth.

The research focuses on improving solar panels made from fullerene. At this altitude, the challenge isn’t just the intensity of sunlight, but also the environmental factors like moisture, heat, and UV light. These conditions impact solar panel performance not only in high-altitude environments but also in cities like Buffalo, where weather can change drastically with the seasons. By studying how these environmental stresses affect solar panels, the goal is to enhance their efficiency, durability, and long-term stability, whether in extreme or everyday conditions. 

This work is aligned with the global push toward sustainable energy and supports the U.S. commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, helping improve the reliability and longevity of solar energy systems.

Émilie Saucier
Graduate Student
Earth Sciences (PhD), College of Arts and Sciences

A Crack in the Crags showcases the capabilities of the TinyPerm, a novel handheld device that measures rock permeability with high spatial resolution. Permeability refers to how easily fluids or gases can move through rock, which is key to understanding how volcanic gases escape. When gases get trapped inside a volcano, pressure builds, potentially leading to an eruption.

Before the TinyPerm, this study would have required physically removing large rock samples and transporting them to a lab, or bringing heavy drilling tools into the field. In both cases, the work required would have been extremely strenuous and disruptive to the landscape. This study, conducted at Lassen Volcanic National Park’s Chaos Crags, demonstrates how the TinyPerm allows permeability measurements to be taken directly in the field with minimal impact.

By using the TinyPerm to measure the permeability of the rocks at Chaos Craggs, we mapped how a fracture increases permeability around it. These findings help us better understand how gases move through volcanoes, ultimately improving our ability to assess eruption risks.

Ragavi Muthukrishnan
Graduate Student
Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Can music be worn? This piece, "Moonlit Sonata: Weaving Music into Motion," answers that question by transforming Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata into a living, wearable artwork.

This gown is not just inspired by music—it is music, visualized. Using artificial intelligence, the sound waves of Moonlight Sonata were mapped into a spectrogram, a visual representation of its hauntingly beautiful frequencies. AI was then used to reshape these waves into fabric textures, crafting a gown where every ripple and fold mirrors the ebbs and flows of the sonata’s melody.

The deep blues and glowing highlights reflect the tranquil yet melancholic essence of moonlight, while the waves in the fabric capture the soft arpeggios and dramatic swells of the piece. This fusion of AI, music, and fashion pushes the boundaries of creativity, proving that sound can be more than heard—it can be seen, touched, and worn.

By blending classical composition with cutting-edge AI, this artwork bridges past and future, tradition and innovation. It invites us to imagine a world where fashion is composed like a symphony, and music is not just listened to, but lived.

Emma Murray
Graduate Student
Biochemistry (PhD), Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

The cells in this image are human placental cells, which play a key role in nutrient transport between the mother and the baby. Here, we are looking at the cell junctions seen in red. The cell junctions are essential connections that help cells stick together, communicate, and transfer materials. This photo was captured on a spinning disk confocal microscope, which works by having tiny holes that let small amounts of light through at a time, creating super-clear images by blocking background blur. This allows for the visualization of these small placental cells in real time with sharp detail. 

Jazmin Corral
Graduate Student
Pharmacology and Toxicology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

In a co-culture, an in vitro technique, where we grow two types of cells together, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and Schwann cells work closely, just like they do in the body. DRG neurons are a type of nerve cell that send signals about sensations like touch, pain, and temperature. Schwann cells support these neurons by wrapping around their long extensions, called axons, to create a protective coating known as myelin. DRG neurons help Schwann cells grow and develop by sending out signals that tell Schwann cells what to do. They trigger Schwann cells to form myelin, which is crucial for helping nerve signals travel quickly and efficiently. The two cells communicate constantly, allowing us to study how they interact during nerve growth, repair, and disease. My research specifically focuses on understanding how calcium channels in Schwann cells influence these processes. Calcium channels play a key role in regulating Schwann cell functions, including their ability to respond to signals from DRG neurons, form myelin, and support nerve repair. By studying these channels, I aim to uncover how changes in calcium signaling might affect nerve development and regeneration.