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Colorism and the killing of unarmed African Americans by police

Hempfield et al. | Nov 08, 2021

Colorism and the killing of unarmed African Americans by police

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between colorism and police killings of unarmed African American suspects. The authors collected data from the Washington Post database, which reports unarmed African American victims from 2015–2021, and found that the victims who were killed by police were darker on average than a control population of African Americans that had not encountered the police.

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Physical Appearance and Its Effect on Trust

Ledesma et al. | Nov 09, 2020

Physical Appearance and Its Effect on Trust

Do different physical traits affect teenagers’ initial trust of an unknown person? Would they give greater trust to women and people of similar ethnicity? To test these hypotheses, the authors developed a survey to determine the sets of physical characteristics that affect a person's trustworthiness. They found that gender and expression were the main physical traits associated with how trustworthy an individual looks, while ethnicity was also important.

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Fluorescein or Green Fluorescent Protein: Is It Possible to Create a Sensor for Dehydration?

Joshi et al. | Dec 09, 2019

Fluorescein or Green Fluorescent Protein: Is It Possible to Create a Sensor for Dehydration?

Currently there is no early dehydration detection system using temperature and pH as indicators. A sensor could alert the wearer and others of low hydration levels, which would normally be difficult to catch prior to more serious complications resulting from dehydration. In this study, a protein fluorophore, green fluorescent protein (GFP), and a chemical fluorophore, fluorescein, were tested for a change in fluorescence in response to increased temperature or decreased pH. Reversing the pH change did not restore GFP fluorescence, but that of fluorescein was re-established. This finding suggests that fluorescein could be used as a reusable sensor for a dehydration-related pH change.

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