During the fall 2024 semester, Tufts’ Department of Earth and Climate Sciences announced two new majors, earth science and climate science, and a minor in earth and climate sciences. This semester, the department is making the academic transition and moving into new lab spaces in Bacon Hall.
When asked to describe her four years at Tufts in a single sentence, graduating senior Carmen Smoak was inspired by words often attributed to writer and professor Joseph Campbell: “Say yes to the whole catastrophe.” “It’s gonna be a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess,” Smoak said. “You might as well just say yes to the whole catastrophe and embrace it for all it’s worth.”
From sledding down Prez Lawn on laundry basket lids to running half-marathons with friends, Ian Lau, a graduating senior and a former photo and science executive for the Daily, has had what can only be described as a whirlwind four years filled with lifelong friends, supportive communities and unforgettable memories. Now, about to graduate with a degree in biology and biotechnology, he can confidently say that coming to Tufts was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
In the first 100 days of his presidency, Donald Trump slashes government spending in multiple different departments. Some of the departments most hard hit are those that fund and support research at universities across the country. Notable standouts include the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which houses the National Institute of Health (NIH), as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Additionally, the Trump Administration has hit university research with restrictions to federal grant funding for university medical research.
Staring at a litter of puppies, the first to go are the ones with unique colorings, mixes of merle, little white boots, or floppy ears. These days people pick their pets based on how cute they think they are. But are these really the characteristics that pet owners should be searching for?
In a lab in the heart of Boston, professor Bree Aldridge leads a team of researchers trying to understand a threat that is both microscopic in size and global in consequence. The subject of Aldridge’s research is the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. In 2023, TB made 10.8 million people sick and killed around 1.25 million people.
Imagine if anyone — or anything — could perfectly copy your voice or face and spread it online. A flawless imitation, indistinguishable from the real you, saying things you never said, showing up in places you’ve never been. How would that change the way you see yourself? How would it feel to lose control over your own image, your own sound?
In 2000, the United States declared measles eradicated in the country due to the development of a vaccine. Yet, recent data has shown a measles resurgence in the United States with an outbreak in New York in 2019 and a larger outbreak this year in Texas and New Mexico.
An outbreak of tuberculosis within Kansas City in the United States has been ongoing since Jan. 2024 and has highlighted new trends of TB in the United States. According to March 2025 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, the TB rate in Kansas increased by 148% from 2024–25.
Magic, art or science? Film photography blurs the lines between these categories and creates permanent images from nothing but light and chemicals. This process feels like magic, even when you do it yourself from start to finish. So let’s look behind the curtain and learn how this chemical process comes to life.
When you think of bees, what comes to mind? It might be the sweet taste of honey or an ever present buzzing next to your ear. It may even be the 2007 cinematic masterpiece, “Bee Movie.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic still fresh in the minds of many U.S. citizens, concerns over the government’s ability to contain emerging health threats persist. The ongoing struggle to control the H5N1 bird flu outbreak has raised alarms, particularly as the virus has begun spreading beyond poultry to cows and even humans. While the likelihood of a pandemic remains low, if one does occur, it could be as disruptive as 2020, if not worse.
One of the first things that students learn when they enter a biology class is the central dogma: DNA → RNA → Proteins. Proteins are the workers of our cells. From signaling cascades to intracellular transport, from energy metabolism to DNA repair, proteins are behind it all. In most intro level biology courses, we learn simply: amino acids dictate a protein's structure and thus determine its function as a result. However, there is another piece to this story: namely, what happens to proteins after they are formed. Post-Translational modifications are chemical changes that can change a protein's function, inactivate it or activate it.
There’s a new term to describe the rise of respiratory illnesses this season: “quad-demic.” The “quad” in quad-demic refers to four diseases that are part of the outbreak: respiratory syncytial virus, COVID-19, influenza and norovirus. The suffix “-demic,” stemming from the word “epidemic,” signifies a large occurrence of a disease or illness in a community or specified area. Knowing pertinent information, keeping up with available data and learning how to prevent these illnesses are three key steps in managing and ending this quad-demic.
Staring up at the night sky, you might see thousands of stars sprinkled above the horizon. It feels as though you can see so much of the universe beyond Earth; however, some of the most interesting aspects of space are hiding in the darkness between. Exoplanets, planets that exist outside of our solar system, can be discovered in the darkness if you know how to look.
From deadly, destructive fires in the West to major snowstorms across the Mid-Atlantic and South, extreme weather events have dominated these first few weeks of 2025. Among other causes, the influence of climate change in the uptick of such destructive events is a topic that has been spotlighted by many. Yet, climate change’s effects extend beyond immediate weather events into other harmful but perhaps less obvious phenomena. One such phenomenon is landsubsidence: the sinking of the ground as the materials below are disturbed. While a natural occurrence, subsidence has been exacerbated by heavy extraction of ground materials and other manmade causes.
Assistant Professor Lauryn Spearing joined Tufts University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering this semester. Spearing obtained her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and, she was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago before joining Tufts. The Daily sat down with Spearing to discuss her transition, research and goals.
With the beautiful colors on Prez Lawn and parties galore on weekends, we are in the peak of fall frenzy. However, with fall comes many respiratory illnesses and the continuation of the “freshman flu.” So, what actually is the freshman flu that is so often spoken about? The “freshman flu” is a common umbrella term used among university students to describe the variety of respiratory illnesses that first-year students contract during their first few months at college.
In August 2024, a man from Worcester County was infected with the Eastern equine encephalitis virus, the first human case in Massachusetts since 2020. The virus, also known as Triple E, can severely impair the human nervous system and cause illness, potentially proving fatal.
Ten thousand doses of mpox vaccines arrived in Nigeria on Aug. 27, courtesy of the U.S. government, in response to the World Health Organization's Aug. 14 declaration of a public health emergency of international concern regarding an outbreak of a new strain of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
