by Janet Nganga Picture this: It's New Year’s Eve and you are with family, friends, loved ones, or even on your own, making a list of things you’d like to accomplish over the next year. January 1st hits and you have this burst of motivation to get your life together (eat healthier, go to the gym, study better, get good grades, etc). You stay on track for the first week, and then motivation begins to decrease. Don’t worry, this is not an uncommon phenomenon. The brain was not wired to work...

Figure 1: Child wearing headphones With the holiday season approaching, we can see the power that music has. As holiday music can help brighten up our mood and get ourselves into the spirit of giving, we can think about what else music can do. This curiosity is detailed in the Mozart effect—the belief that babies listening to classical music like Mozart will become smarter. Even though it would be amazing for just listening to music to boost our intelligence, this effect isn’t true and...

by Sucharita Desu Mathematics is defined as the study of numbers and shapes; more commonly, it may be considered the process of calculating using numbers. Overall, we know that it is an academic subject we learn throughout our educational journeys to be able to solve problems. Math can involve many different shapes, symbols, rules and reasonings, numbers, and more! But, how do we come to understand all of this?  To start our discussion, it is important to understand that the process of...