Social media filters can seem harmless when looking at the shape of someone's eyes and deducing things about their character, but the deeper context connects to problematic pseudoscience.

Phrenology and physiognomy trending on social media

Phrenology and physiognomy are two distinct pseudoscientific practices. Phrenology attempts to establish a connection between cognitive ability, as well as the size and shape of a person’s skull. In contrast,…

I upgraded and felt nothing: Viking Voices

  Viking Voices guest submission: Jonathan Pauly, Portland State student   In the decade since the iPhone was first introduced, we’ve become accustomed to carrying around supercomputers in our pockets….

Kate at sea

Recent Portland State micro- and molecular biology graduate Kathleen Kouba embarked on an oceanographic research project in an unusual part of the ocean this spring to collect samples of a…

New student org launches for PSU women in medicine

Lelani Lealiiee, Portland State University senior and BUILD EXITO scholar, is in the process of recruiting members for a PSU branch of the American Medical Women’s Association. The student organization…

Uncomfortably advanced tech

It’s an afternoon in early April, and I’m reading a story about workers in Sweden implanting microchips into their bodies. The story itself isn’t as sinister as it sounds—Sweden’s work environments…