Emi Krishnamurthy

How do Snakes Move?
Columns Quirky Queries

How do Snakes Move?

Emi Krishnamurthy

How do these legless creatures slither, glide, crawl, and climb? Here we discuss multiple different mechanisms of snake locomotion (including flying!).

Characters Kaa, an Indian python, and Mowgli in Disney’s “The Jungle Book” (1967). From the Disney gallery. Quirky Queries answers your random science questions. If you have a query, let us know! -- How do these legless creatures slither, glide, crawl, and climb? Here we discuss multiple different mechanisms of snake locomotion (including flying!). Serpentine locomotion Snakes are known to slither. They move by pushing off of rocks, branches, and other surfaces in order to propel forward, but how do snakes travel on flat surfaces? Slithering, called serpentine locomotion, is dependent on the muscles that connect a snake’s skin, spine,...
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Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded for Discovery of Temperature and Touch Receptors
News Science in Society

Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded for Discovery of Temperature and Touch Receptors

Emi Krishnamurthy

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for research on how we feel temperature, touch, and bodily spatial awareness. This discovery marks a key breakthrough in our previously limited understanding of our sense of touch.

2021 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine, David Julius (above) and Ardem Patapoudian (below), and the discovered temperature and touch sensing proteins. Images via NobelPrize.org. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoudian for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch, marking a key breakthrough in our understanding of how mechanical stimuli are converted into electrical impulses in the nervous system. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, our five major senses, connect our bodies and brains to the world. A sixth sense, proprioception, which helps our body know where it is...
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Haverford Bee Handbook
Features Science in Society

Haverford Bee Handbook

Emi Krishnamurthy

Which bees should I be afraid of? What should I do if a wasp lands on my sandwich? Did I just see a murder hornet? This is your guide to the bees on Haverford’s campus.

Bees run the world. They are widely recognized as being integral to biodiversity and food security. Their little lives impact our water cycle, carbon cycle, GDP, architecture, and so much more. Interior of the Vessel in Hudson Yards, NYC (left), honeycomb (right). Photos by Soly Moses and Archana GS. Honeybees First and foremost, the honeybee is an excellent pollinator, skilled honey maker, and close friend to Haverford’s campus. Our own beehive hosts thousands of fuzzy, golden-brown bees that help pollinate our produce at the Haverfarm. The honeybees you encounter on campus are most likely female worker bees collecting pollen and...
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Bark Bacteria May Limit Tree Greenhouse Gas Emissions
News

Bark Bacteria May Limit Tree Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Emi Krishnamurthy

Wetland trees are an unexpected but major source of global methane emissions. Methane-oxidizing bacteria recently discovered in tree bark could inform how climate scientists and legislators approach future methane mitigation strategies.

Paperbark Trees in Coombabah Lake Conservation Park. Photo by Silverish Lily via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Wetland trees are an unexpected but major source of global methane emissions. Methane-oxidizing bacteria recently discovered in tree bark could inform how climate scientists and legislators approach future methane mitigation strategies. Methane comprises 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but can be 32-87 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming Earth’s atmosphere. Natural sources produce millions of metric tons of methane every year because of climate change feedback systems, with wetland forests contributing about one-third of total methane emissions...
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The Ocean as a Key Resource in the Antibiotics Arms Race
Features

The Ocean as a Key Resource in the Antibiotics Arms Race

Emi Krishnamurthy

One key solution to fighting antibiotic resistance is to discover new antibiotics. Shreya Kishore ’21 shares how she screens marine bacterial cultures in pursuit of discovering a novel antibiotic.

Shreya Kishore ’21 in the Whalen Lab at Haverford College. Shreya Kishore is currently a senior Chemistry major with a biochemistry concentration and health studies minor at Haverford College. As a peer tutor and member of the Chemistry Student Group, Kishore is passionate about increasing the transparency of Haverford’s chemistry department. She plans on working toward her Chemistry PhD at Stanford University this fall. One key solution to fighting antibiotic resistance is to discover new antibiotics. Shreya Kishore ’21 shares how she screens marine bacterial cultures in pursuit of discovering a novel antibiotic. Almost 100 years ago, Sir Alexander Fleming...
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