Category: Current Articles

  • The Vigil at Carl Schurz Park

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    Audrey Goldfarb   Every night at 7 p.m., Upper East Side community members gather at Carl Schurz park for a socially distant vigil to honor those killed by police. The discussion is led by various volunteers from the community, with time allotted at the end for anybody in attendance to speak. These short speeches might…

  • Culture Corner

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    Giants of Classic Films: The Exceptional Mind Trapped in a World of Their Own Creation Bernie Langs The misunderstood great mind standing firm and alone with their vision, genius, or obsession has long been a theme in film history. Many of the genre’s greatest masterpieces center around such figures and feature actors of legendary stature…

  • Pets of Tri-I

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    Pooja Viswanathan For this issue, I interview Maggi, the cat who lives with Priyanka Lakhiani (Graduate Student, The Rockefeller University) and her roommates. I caught sight of Maggi during a virtual meeting as she bathed herself gloriously while carefully listening to the ongoing discussion. She paused every once in a while as if she were…

  • Life on a Roll

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    Inside Iran: the Columns of Persepolis Nan Pang Persepolis, or “the city of the Persians,” is located northeast of Shiraz—just about one hour by car. As the history of the site stretches back almost 2,500 years, Persepolis had embodied the magnificent wealth and prosperity of the Achaemenid Empire and is considered one of the most…

  • July/August Cover

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  • Black Lives Matter at The Rockefeller University

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    Natural Selections Editorial Board The appalling and tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis during a pandemic that was already disproportionately affecting Black communities provoked a global re-awakening for justice for Black people. This seeking of justice has not excluded the realm of academia.  The Rockefeller Inclusive Science Initiative (RiSI) is a student-run organization formed…

  • Twenty-first Century Racism in America

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    Tracy Adams For decades, four simple words have been the articulation of hope for people of color who, speaking out against never-ending violence and injustice in their communities, are simply fed up…“No Justice, No Peace!” These four words have been the rallying cry of every protest, march, and assembly of people who simply just want…

  • Talking to My White Child About White Privilege: A Work in Progress

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    Gretchen M. Michelfeld I am ashamed to say, my first attempt to explain white privilege to Beckett was only a few months ago. My son is almost twelve and I have been complacent, you see. I have practiced the complacency of a liberal urban mom who is reassured by the diversity of her neighborhood and…

  • Graduating Class of 2020

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    Megan E. Kelley On Thursday, June 11, The Rockefeller University held a virtual convocation for the conferring of doctorate degrees upon thirty graduate students. This streamed ceremony was the culmination of years of dedication, hard work, and perseverance by the honorees. Although we were not able to commemorate this occasion with our usual parade and…

  • Murder Hornets, What’s in a Name?

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    Aileen Marshall With so many more significant stories in the news recently, you may have only vaguely noticed stories about murder hornets. Is this yet another thing we should worry about? It turns out, not as much as the name would imply. While they might look very frightening, they aren’t going around killing people. However,…

  • What It’s Like to Get a COVID-19 Antibody Test in NYC

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    Anna Amelianchik Antibody testing for COVID-19 is now widely available in New York City. Unlike the polymerase chain reaction test used to detect coronavirus from the infamous nasal and throat swab, the antibody test does not determine whether you currently have the disease. Instead, it can detect antibodies against COVID-19 present in blood and determine…

  • Culture Corner

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    And the Alternative Oscar Goes To… Bernie Langs You obviously cannot hand out Academy Awards for every superlative acting performance and deliver a statuette to all deserving movies every year. That said, here is a commercial-free presentation of Honorary Oscars for a handful of overlooked actors, actresses, musicians, films, and filmmakers that doesn’t take three…