Author: Laura Busak

Laura is a physics student with a love for all things cosmic. She enjoys making and listening to music, reading books that make her think, and generally doing whatever random things she thinks of, often until 2 am.

Issue 20 News

S3 is back in Požega

Co-author: Dora Grbavac

Those of you who have been around these parts of the web long enough to remember last year’s Summer School of Science announcements, as well as all the S3 alumni among you, may be pleased to read the title of this post. ‘Tis true! We are proud to announce that the Summer School is back – in person – and in spite of the pandemic that led to its cancellation twice in a row. If by some chance you have found this post without having heard of S3 before, read ahead a quick rundown. We urge all of you to check the School’s website for up-to-date information on what we are preparing for you.

Academic Life Issue 19 PhD Presenting Alumni

Éva Bényei: “Doing research is 99% failure, but that is part of the game”

Post author By Laura Busak
Post date January 30, 2022
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This month’s issue brings us an interview with alumna Éva Bernadett Bényei, a medical doctor from Hungary and current PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Éva was a participant at S3++ 2013 and since then, she has already proven herself to be one of the most inspiring people most of us will ever get the chance to meet, as well as a very promising scientist.

Issue 18 Science (of) Fiction

Dune: how sand takes form

Post author By Laura Busak
Post date November 8, 2021
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“Dune” is a powerful word, and a fitting title for the Frank Herbert book which has been all the rage recently due to its long-awaited new film adaptation being released. Dune is really an entire franchise set in a politically, socially and scientifically intricate universe thousands of years in the future. The eponymous “Dune” is a planet also known as Arrakis, covered in sand and wildly alien creatures, which plays a key role in the Duniverse. In fact, it happens to be where most of the new movie is set. There is something not quite so alien, though, that is related to Dune (the planet and the book) very intimately, but also happens to be one of its rare phenomena you can witness first hand here on Earth, without much of a stretch of imagination. The thing in question would be Dune‘s other namesakes – sand dunes.

Academic Life High School Issue 17 Presenting Alumni

Felix Lahr: “The most important thing to me is to have ways to share my passion with other people”

Post author By Laura Busak
Post date October 17, 2021
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Today, let us welcome another S3 alumnus to the Presenting Alumni stage – Felix Lahr, now a new biochemistry student at the University of Heidelberg. Despite having just finished high school, Felix is already shaping up to be an incredibly accomplished and inspired scientist. Join us for an overview of his endeavors so far and his experience as a participant at S3 2019.

Issue 15 Understanding Science

From Röntgen to Damadian: demystifying radiation and explaining radiology and nuclear medicine

Post author By Laura Busak
Post date August 29, 2021
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Co-author: Mario Zelić

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
Marie Curie

Radiation is a word that incites fear in a lot of people. Much of that fear originates from a misunderstanding of what it actually is, what it does and what it does not. “Radiation” is a very broad term, generally used to represent any emission of energy by a source of some kind. However, there are many different phenomena that fall under that umbrella, and they come in varying degrees of rarity and of danger. Even those that may be seen as “dangerous” in some respects can be more useful than harmful – which is why medicine has both treatments for those who suffered too much damaging radiation, and treatments utilizing the purposeful irradiation of a patient.

Issue 15 Science Shoutout

How we know what we know

If you have ever sat in a science class, you might be familiar with the classic science-teacher opening to an introductory lesson on a new topic. Quite typically, you are not given an immediate outline of the new concepts, but rather briefed on how and why we came to know them in the first place. If you are to study the classical law of universal gravitation, you first need to know the story of how an apple supposedly decided to study the crown of Isaac Newton’s head. You might think this is somewhat silly. Why turn a physics lecture into a history class? Well, there is a reason for this trend, and it is not to fill time.

Academic Life Issue 14 PostDoc Presenting Alumni

Srinath Krishnamurthy: “You may not have the resources to answer a question, but you definitely have the resources to ask the question”

Today, it is my pleasure to present another Presenting Alumni interview, this time with Srinath Krishnamurthy. Srinath was a project leader at the Summer School of Science in 2018, where he held a biochemistry project alongside his wife Sindhuja. He is in his final year as a postdoc in biophysics, working with membrane protein complexes.

Academic Life Issue 13 MSc Presenting Alumni

Iwona Kotlarska: “Things that are fun are usually also the things that are good in life”

Post author By Laura Busak
Post date June 20, 2021
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It is time to talk to another immensely interesting alumna of ours – this time, Iwona Kotlarska. Iwona participated at S3++ in 2017 and is currently studying towards a master’s degree in computer science, as well as a bachelor’s in mathematics. So, Iwona, why don’t you give us a short introduction for a start?

Issue 13 News

One year of the Summer School of Science Blog

Post author By Laura Busak
Post date June 6, 2021
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Can you believe it? It’s been a year since we first greeted you on this blog, and what a year it’s been. We started this blog as a way to connect with our amazing alumni community, but also to reach out to the world and show it what we’ve got, trying to survive 2020. And survive, we did, with your help! Today, we’d like to take a quick look back on this past year and what we’ve built – together.

Issue 10 News

S3(++) 2021

Co-author: Mario Zelić

Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to join together the Summer School of Science and the Internet in matrimony. Due to current circumstances, which make it impossible to organize S3 in Požega like we used to, this year we are in dire need of evolution and adaptation. The School is coming back, but in a different format. In this post, we bring you a detailed description of how we envisioned this year’s Summer School (and what you need to do if you’d like to join).