DUJS Science Lecture Series: MythBusters

Nearing the end of Fall 2011, Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science held its termly DUJS Science Lecture Series—co-sponsored with Dartmouth Society of Biological Sciences—in honor of its newest fall issue. More than fifty students and faculty members attended the event, hosted by DUJS President Alice Pang ’12 with the help from DUJS’s Managing Editor Derek Racine ‘14, Publicity Relations Officer Diana Pechter ‘12 and Editor-in-Chief Andy Zureick ‘13.

The party was composed of two lectures centered on the theme of DUJS’s new publication, “Mythbusters.” Roger Sloboda—the Dartmouth Ira Allen Eastman Professor of Biology and the biology faculty advisor to DUJS—shed new light on the most current research on Flagellar Hip Complex and mused on the ongoing research on cell biology. Thalia Wheatley, an assistant professor of the Dartmouth Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the highlight of DUJS’s newest “Faculty Spotlights,” spoke about some of the foundations of hypnosis, her own contributions to this growing brain of brain studies and some of the most common misconceptions and the historical stigma associated with her research.

Wheatley’s presentation was followed by an actual hypnosis demonstration given to the entire audience. For more than thirty minutes, the audience listened attentively to the sound of her voice. Many participants who had unwittingly fallen under the influence of hypnosis were unable to raise their arms or to separate their interlocked fingers. Following the group hypnosis, members of the audience enthusiastically asked questions about the demonstration and the field in general.

The lectures were followed by a dinner catered by Jewel of India. A recorded video of the DUJS event, including the lectures and the hypnosis demonstration, can be found on the official Dartmouth YouTube account at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZF7ejBZywU&feature=youtu.be