Author: Young Investigators Review

The Young Investigators Review is Stony Brook University's undergraduate-oriented, all-inclusive science journal. Founded in 2008, our mission is to provide the student community with a way to learn more about the research currently being done on-campus by their faculty and fellow peers. We feature articles that span all fields, from Physics to Neuroscience, as well as original student research reports straight from the campus laboratories. Our journal offers aspiring talented future researchers and physicians a way to hone their science writing skills and spread word of their experiences to inspire incoming students to think about devoting their futures to the various fields of science.
2025-26, General Neuroscience

My Brain Is Shrew-nking: Connections Between Eurasian Common Shrew’s Evolutionary History and Their Seasonal Neuroplasticity

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  Image of the Eurasian common shrew The Eurasian common shrew (S. araneus) has two rare traits. One is seasonal brain size plasticity, where the brain shrinks during winter and regrows in spring. The other is extensive chromosomal rearrangements, or structural differences in chromosomes, within the species. In a study examining S. araneus, William R. Thomas and his … Continue reading My Brain Is Shrew-nking: Connections Between Eurasian Common Shrew’s Evolutionary History and Their Seasonal Neuroplasticity

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

A Real Eye-Opener: How Demyelination May Be Linked to Poor Color Vision

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  Retinal fundus photographs of the right and left eyes in a patient with acute optic neuritis, a common presenting manifestation of multiple sclerosis. Acute optic neuritis (ON) is a common first symptom for a later diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). It is known that high-contrast visual acuity—the ability to read black letters on a white background—tends to … Continue reading A Real Eye-Opener: How Demyelination May Be Linked to Poor Color Vision

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2025-26, General Psychology

Feeling blue: How different colors on campus can affect student mental health

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of the Stony Brook University campus depicting natural green tones and strong warm colors. College students experience many changes in their mental and physical health while on campus, and the colors of a campus may directly contribute to their health. Yingjie Li and his colleagues at Shandong Agricultural University and the Shandong Academy of Forestry … Continue reading Feeling blue: How different colors on campus can affect student mental health

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

The Pandemic on the Brain: How COVID-19 may be affecting the nervous system

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 COVID-19, a disease that notably affects the respiratory system, has also been shown to affect the nervous system. While some have initial experiences of insomnia and even stroke, others continue to have long-term neurocognitive changes like memory loss after the initial acute symptoms, which researchers have labeled as neurological post-acute sequelae (N-PASC). Xiaohua Yang and colleagues from the Renaissance … Continue reading The Pandemic on the Brain: How COVID-19 may be affecting the nervous system

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Physics and Technology, Technology, YIWC 2025

Technology – Tyler Nicastro

Quantum computing has immense potential to transform a plethora of industries. Leveraging knowledge of quantum mechanics, quantum computers perform computations more efficiently than classical computers (Kim, 2025). Classical computers represent data in bits, as either a 0 or 1, whereas quantum computers store data in qubits, which utilize the unique property of superposition. This quantum principle allows qubits to exist in multiple states concurrently until … Continue reading Technology – Tyler Nicastro

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Environment, YIWC 2025

Environment Science – Hannah Sack

Society faces an important challenge, namely managing climate change while accommodating the world’s growing population and demand for renewable energy. To address this challenge, and move toward a low-footprint, low-emission future, nuclear power has become a viable solution. Currently, nuclear power provides about ten percent of global electricity, rising to nearly twenty percent for the industrialized economies (Limin et al., 2023), and supplies almost a … Continue reading Environment Science – Hannah Sack

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Biology, physiology, YIWC 2025

Translational Biology – Anthony Guidi

Imagine walking into a store and being handed a single shirt labeled “one size fits all.” Chances are, it wouldn’t fit you perfectly. Yet, this is essentially how traditional healthcare treats patients, providing the same treatments to everyone, despite biological differences that can lead to drastic changes in medical needs. Personalized and precision medicine seeks to revolutionize healthcare by customizing treatments to each person’s distinct … Continue reading Translational Biology – Anthony Guidi

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General Psychology, Psychology, YIWC 2025

When Hashtags Replace Help: The High Cost of Online Self-Diagnosis

By Anvitha Rayala An internet-based self-diagnosis of Lyme disease, causing the death of a young woman with systemic lupus erythematosus, was reported in 2019. No one could’ve imagined a quick Google search in WebMD would result in such a devastating death of the 37-year-old mom. While physical health-related self-diagnoses have long been recognized as risky, online mental health self-diagnosis has risen greatly in recent years. … Continue reading When Hashtags Replace Help: The High Cost of Online Self-Diagnosis

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2025-26, Announcements, education, YIWC

2025 YIWC has concluded!

✨ Congratulations to the Winners of YIR’s Annual High School Science Writing Competition! ✨ We at the Young Investigators Review are thrilled to share the results of this year’s High School Writing Competition—designed to celebrate curiosity, creativity, and the next generation of scientific thinkers. In our largest application pool yet, talented students and aspiring scientists from across the country submitted pieces answering prompts in 1 … Continue reading 2025 YIWC has concluded!

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Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, Genetics, Molecular Biology, physiology

HP1𝛼: How DNA Unwrapping can Support Heterochromatin Maintenance

Author: Sean Krivitsky, Class of 2026 Many have been led to believe that DNA contains all the information we need, but the regulation of the expression of genes encoded in DNA is also incredibly important. This differentiates humans from, for instance, gorillas, which otherwise share more than 98% genetic identity to humans. One level of regulation is at the level of chromatin, which results from … Continue reading HP1𝛼: How DNA Unwrapping can Support Heterochromatin Maintenance

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Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, Genetics, Molecular Biology

Natural Antifreeze: Insights into Animals’ Adaptations to Extreme Cold

Author: Sean Krivitsky, Class of 2026 Many organisms, like fish and insects, are capable of living in extreme conditions far outside of the viable range for humans. While some bacteria can live in hot geysers, others live in the extreme cold, relying on adaptations such as the expression of antifreeze proteins (AFP) to survive. These proteins help adapt to the cold by depressing the freezing … Continue reading Natural Antifreeze: Insights into Animals’ Adaptations to Extreme Cold

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Biology, Ecology, Environment, Molecular Biology

Tiny Plastics, Big Impact: How Microplastics Affect Earthworms and Soil Health

Author: Diego Javier, Class of 2026 A concern that is emerging worldwide is plastic contamination in agricultural soils. Farmers frequently use plastic mulching films in order to improve crop yields and control weeds. However, these films can break down into tiny fragments, called microplastics, which are then ingested by soil organisms like earthworms and can affect soil health. In order to better understand these effects, … Continue reading Tiny Plastics, Big Impact: How Microplastics Affect Earthworms and Soil Health

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