Ohio State News is once again inviting readers to select the year’s coolest science story.
This is our sixth annual contest, and the winner receives a very cool trophy from Ohio State News and a $500 award from Ohio State’s Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge.
We’ve done the hard part, selecting three finalists for consideration from the over 160 stories we’ve written so far this year about cool research – and let’s just be honest, all Ohio State science is inherently cool. From here, we are asking readers to vote early and often – really! – to pick the winner.
Be sure to watch the videos above of our finalist faculty talking about their work and the excitement of being a scientist. And scroll down to VOTE!
Here are the finalists:
Climate change is turning the trees into gluttons: Forests appear to be bulking up on the excess carbon they pull from the atmosphere. This study showed that elevated carbon levels consistently led to an increase of wood volume in 10 different temperate forest groups across the country, suggesting that trees are helping to shield Earth’s ecosystem from the impacts of global warming through their rapid growth.
Future wearable health tech could measure gases released from skin: Scientists have taken the first step to creating the next generation of wearable health monitors. New research suggests that a wearable sensor may be able to monitor the body’s health by detecting the gases released from a person’s skin. The method would allow the technology to sense biomarkers related to metabolic disorders, like heart disease or diabetes.
Blocking enzyme could hold the key to preventing, treating severe COVID-19: Blocking a single immune response-related molecule holds promise in preventing or treating severe COVID-19 symptoms by reducing inflammation, tissue injury and blood clots in the lungs, research in mice suggests. Versions of this enzyme exist and have similar functions in both mice and humans, making it an attractive therapeutic target.
Voting starts today – see the poll below – and is open until 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. The process is decidedly unscientific: Participants may cast one vote per day until the poll closes.
Thank you in advance for helping us name the Coolest Ohio State Science Story of 2022!