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7 Science Innovations That Are Changing Conservation

To solve the world's most pressing conservation problems, scientists are looking to drones, nanotechnology, microbes and even pasta makers.

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Facial Recognition Technology, for Fish

How do you recognize a fish’s face? Serious question.

Consider the state of global fisheries . The old business adage, “If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get managed” applies to fisheries, too. And of more than 10,000 fisheries in the world, fewer than 440 are assessed.

With fish catches taking place at sea, and on many boats, it’s impossible for managers or conservationists to be there monitoring fish species and harvest levels. That’s why The Nature Conservancy is developing a system called FishFace to collect, organize and share data essential to sustainable fisheries management.

FishFace uses facial recognition technology. This is similar to the computer applications capable of identifying a person from a digital photograph or video frame. For people, it is often used in solving crimes. FishFace will be used to identify information on the species and numbers of fish caught, as well as measuring the length of each fish – all information needed to assess the condition of the fishery and manage it well. Every fish caught and processed can then be identified and traced through the supply chain with accurate information of what it is.

It’s being tested in Indonesia’s deep-water snapper and grouper fisheries and in the Western Central Pacific tuna fisheries with the potential to be rolled out for fisheries elsewhere.

Batteries Powered By Blood

Batteries powered by blood or salt instead of lithium? Alternative energy production modeled on the cells of giant clams ? Science to determine how soil can be used to fight climate change? This isn’t science fiction or even wishful thinking, it’s the ongoing and applied work of The Nature Conservancy’s NatureNet Science Fellows.

The fellows work on the future-forward science the world needs to mitigate climate change, including nanotechnology research and development for viable large-scale clean energy production and storage.

The program is a partnership between the Conservancy and leading research universities (including Penn, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UCLA, Stanford, Cornell and others), and “signals to the world that conservation needs to base its work not just in ecology and biology, but in an interdisciplinary approach to science and evidence,” says Roy Vagelos, a founding funder of the NatureNet Science Fellows program, member of the Conservancy’s board of directors and former president, CEO and chairman of Merck & Co.

Vagelos sees the program as a way to “push the Conservancy and the world in new and necessary directions as we work to solve global sustainability challenges around energy, water and agriculture.”

Camera Traps: What Critters Do When We’re Not Watching

Perhaps no technology has connected more people to the wonder and mystery of the natural world than the camera, and its direct descendant: the ever-more versatile and useful camera trap.

The development of the camera trap itself is a story of human curiosity and innovation rooted in the cultural fascination with nature photography that flourished in England around the end of the 19 th century. That was when photographer George Shiras developed one of the first successful remote camera traps by hacking together a camera, a flashlight and an ingenious system of trip wires. When wild animals tripped the wires they photographed themselves. No human needed to release the shutter.

And sure, using cameras to photograph and record wild animals remotely – without human presence in a blind or behind a telephoto lens – seems obvious now, but it took a fair amount of innovation and imagination to get where we are today: with compact, low-weight, long-lived, high resolution, motion-sensitive cameras that can be strapped to trees or mounted on rocks or otherwise left unattended in the wild to record and store massive amounts of high resolution images, sounds, videos and other data collected over weeks or months.

Modern cameras can be powered by solar energy, withstand humidity, heat, rain and cold (really cold – some remote cameras are rated to -20 F), use infrared and motion sensors instead of trip wires, and even transmit real-time images over cellular networks to the smart phone in your pocket.

All of which makes the camera trap one of conservation science’s most versatile tools. Scientists all over the world – from researchers to citizen scientists – use them. Some scientists even use them to capture gallery-worthy images . At the Conservancy, scientists continue to develop innovative ways to use camera traps to measure biodiversity conservation, including watching for Venus flytrap poachers in North Carolina’s Green Swamp, measuring the impact of feral camels on watering holes in Australia’s remote Martu country , monitoring the effectiveness of prescribed fire, and documenting some of the world’s most elusive creatures, from snow leopards in Mongolia to birds-of-paradise in Papua New Guinea.

Drones, Lasers and Artificial Intelligence: New Technologies Revolutionizing Field Science

If you want to get technical about it, the practice of remote sensing began in the 1840s, when intrepid observers combined cameras and balloons to take pictures of the Earth below. Over the next 170 years, remote sensing (the term itself was coined and defined by Evelyn Pruitt of the U.S. Office of Naval Research in the 1950s) has moved so far beyond those first aerial photographs it would make Jules Verne’s head spin.

Today, remote sensing – the art and science of “identifying, observing, and measuring an object without coming into direct contact with it” encompasses an array of tools – from high-resolution satellite imagery to lasers that measure minute shifts in glaciers and shorelines to small, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) that can photograph, map and record vast amounts of data to resolutions of 2 centimeters.

Conservancy scientists, like Steve Schill, are at the forefront of developing and applying all the tools of remote sensing – including drones – to inform and guide conservation and development decisions around the world. In Gabon, scientists used drones to map 9000 km 2 of otherwise largely inaccessible wetlands . In the Caribbean, Schill mapped and surveyed habitats above and below the water with a drone that could take off and land on water . (The secret to its amphibious capabilities: a common Tupperware container. Schill and one of his students modified an existing drone to make it both buoyant and waterproof). In the United States, scientists are testing the facility of drones equipped with multispectral cameras for monitoring water quality in small streams and wetlands.

As UAV technology continues to advance – drones get smaller, more capable and less expensive – their utility for field science may be almost limitless.

Other technologies have similarly advanced. Terra-i, is an artificial intelligence program that uses real-time rainfall data to predict how green a given habitat should be — and then matches that prediction up against images of the habitat from an Earth-monitoring satellite. And lidar, a way of remotely mapping forests with lasers, has proven to be an effective and accurate tool to measure the effects of reduced-impact logging in Indonesia .

Bioacoustics: Capturing the Rainforest’s Wall of Sound

Stand outside in any natural environment, close your eyes, and listen. You’ll hear birds calling, or crickets chirping, or frogs croaking. Those sounds of the natural world are bioacoustics, and they’re more than just a nice soundtrack — they’re valuable data for scientists and conservationists.

An emerging field of research, called bioacoustics , is now using the entire scope of data, often called the soundscape, as a rough measure of biodiversity.

Researchers deploy sensitive acoustic and ultrasonic recorders in the forest. The acoustic recorders capture sounds between 1 and 24 kilohertz, roughly within the normal range of human hearing, including vocalizations from birds, some bats, frogs, mammals, and most insects. The ultrasonic recorders pick up sound up to 96 kilohertz, allowing us to gather data on bats and insects that vocalize at frequencies beyond the range of human hearing.

These acoustics provide a rough estimate of biodiversity, enabling researchers to determine if conservation activities are working. Bioacoustics is currently being deployed by The Nature Conservancy to determine the best forest management practices for wildlife conservation in Borneo, and to determine the conservation effectiveness of land use plans in Papua New Guinea .

Precision Agriculture: Saving Money, Saving Water

In many parts of the world, farmers rely on irrigation to water their crops. It’s a very effective tactic for growing food in more arid regions, but it can also result in a lot of wasted water. Water can be lost to irrigation, and areas like wetlands or rock outcroppings where crops don’t grow are often watered too.

Often, farms treat large fields as a single unit, applying the same amount of water (or fertilizer or pesticide) across the entire area. But conditions can vary widely, so a lot of resources end up wasted.

Farmers are increasingly looking to precision agriculture to reduce costs and to reduce inputs. Using a combination of technologies – including drones, computer applications and sensors – farmers can determine the right levels of inputs for each square foot of a field.

Improvements to irrigation technology and precision agriculture are being deployed by The Nature Conservancy and partners in the Flint River of Georgia, where they are saving billions of gallons of water a year while still producing crops. The water that doesn’t go onto fields remains for wildlife, like native fish and imperiled freshwater mussels. At Idaho’s Silver Creek , a globally famous trout stream, the brewer MillerCoors has worked with the Conservancy to install new sprinklers, nozzles, and computer-controlled irrigation on adjacent farms that save millions of gallons of water every day.

Soil Ravioli and Bat-Saving Bananas

Savvy conservationists are increasingly looking to other research fields, new industry developments and even local home supply stores to find the solutions to challenging conservation problems.

A common bacterium being tested to inhibit fungal growth on supermarket bananas was found to also be the first successful treatment for bats suffering from the devastating White-Nose Syndrome.

Oregon conservationists struggled to find ways to get native sagebrush seeds to survive planting – until they created a special soil mix using a pasta maker . These “ravioli” seed pellets have a 70 percent better chance of survival than if the seeds were just scattered on the land.

Advances in how we understand microbes have applications from healthcare to creating new materials. Microbes can also assist in conservation. For instance, soil microbes may be the best way to attack cheatgrass , an invasive, non-native plant that has thus far proven impervious to other control measures.

And sometimes research finds solutions at the local hardware store. Using PVC pipe and a generator, conservationists can create the sounds of running water that lure migratory shad into shipping locks. This gets them over dams and to their spawning habitat. On Florida’s Apalachicola River, this simple fix increased the shad getting past the dam from 10,000 fish to 250,000 fish in two years.

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Thanks for finally writing about > 7 Science Innovations That Are Changing Conservation – Cool Green Science Earth Connection Keto

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These projects are vital and worthy applications of technology. May their full potential for helping to save our precious planet be realized.

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NEWS FEATURE
01 May 2024
Correction 07 May 2024

Why is exercise good for you? Scientists are finding answers in our cells

Gemma Conroy

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Researchers are looking into the molecular basis of how exercise benefits health, to help treat diseases. Credit: Ozan Guzelce/dia images via Getty

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When Bente Klarlund Pedersen wakes up in the morning, the first thing she does is pull on her trainers and go for a 5-kilometre run — and it’s not just about staying fit. “It’s when I think and solve problems without knowing it,” says Klarlund Pedersen, who specializes in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Copenhagen. “It’s very important for my well-being.”

Whether it’s running or lifting weights, it’s no secret that exercise is good for your health. Research has found that briskly walking for 450 minutes each week is associated with living around 4.5 years longer than doing no leisure-time exercise 1 , and that engaging in regular physical activity can fortify the immune system and stave off chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. But, says Dafna Bar-Sagi, a cell biologist at New York University, the burning question is how does exercise deliver its health-boosting effects?

“We know that it is good, but there is still a huge gap in understanding what it is doing to cells,” says Bar-Sagi, who walks on a treadmill for 30 minutes, five days a week.

In the past decade, researchers have started to build a picture of the vast maze of cellular and molecular processes that are triggered throughout the body during — and even after — a workout. Some of these processes dial down inflammation, whereas others ramp up cellular repair and maintenance. Exercise also prompts cells to release signalling molecules that carry a frenzy of messages between organs and tissues: from muscle cells to the immune and cardiovascular systems, or from the liver to the brain.

But researchers are just beginning to work out the meaning of this cacophony of crosstalk, says Atul Shahaji Deshmukh, a molecular biologist at the University of Copenhagen. “Any single molecule doesn’t work alone in the system,” says Deshmukh, who enjoys mountain biking during the summer. “It’s an entire network that functions together.”

Endurance exercise causes a multi-organ full-body molecular reaction

Exercise is also attracting attention from funders. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), for instance, has invested US$170 million into a six-year study of people and rats that aims to create a comprehensive map of the molecules behind the effects of exercise, and how they change during and after a workout. The consortium behind the study has already published its first tranche of data from studies in rats, which explores how exercise induces changes across organs, tissues and gene expression, and how those changes differ between sexes 2 – 4 .

Building a sharper view of the molecular world of exercise could reveal therapeutic targets for drugs that mimic its effects — potentially offering the benefits of exercise in a pill. However, whether such drugs can simulate all the advantages of the real thing is controversial.

The work could also offer clues about which types of physical activity can benefit people with chronic illnesses, says Klarlund Pedersen. “We think you can prescribe exercise as you can prescribe a medicine,” she says.

Hard-wired for exercise

Exercise is a fundamental thread in the human evolutionary story. Although other primates evolved as fairly sedentary species, humans switched to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle that demanded walking long distances, carrying heavy loads of food and occasionally running from threats.

Those with better athletic prowess were better equipped to live longer lives, which made exercise a core part of human physiology, says Daniel Lieberman, a palaeoanthropologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The switch to a more active lifestyle led to changes in the human body: exercise burns up energy that would otherwise be stored as fat, which, in excess amounts, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. The stress induced by running or pumping iron has the potential to damage cells, but it also kick-starts a cascade of cellular processes that work to reverse those effects. This can leave the body in better shape than it would be without exercise, says Lieberman.

Researchers have been exploring some of the biological changes that occur during exercise for more than a century. In 1910, pharmacologist Fred Ransom at the University of Cambridge, UK, discovered that skeletal muscle cells secrete lactic acid, which is created when the body breaks down glucose and turns it into fuel 5 . And in 1961, researchers speculated that skeletal muscle releases a substance that helps to regulate glucose during exercise 6 .

More clues were in store. In 1999, Klarlund Pedersen and her colleagues collected blood samples from runners before and after they took part in a marathon and found that several cytokines — a type of immune molecule — spiked immediately after exercise and that many remained elevated for up to 4 hours afterwards 7 . Among these cytokines were interleukin-6 (IL-6), a multifaceted protein that is a key player in the body’s defence response. The following year, Klarlund Pedersen and her colleagues discovered 8 that IL-6 is secreted by contracting muscles during exercise, making it an ‘exerkine’ — the umbrella term for compounds produced in response to exercise.

A group of people doing tai chi outdoors with the Shanghai city skyline in the background.

Exercising regularly can strengthen the immune system and stave off disease. Credit: Mike Kemp/Getty

High levels of IL-6 can be beneficial or harmful, depending on how it is provoked. At rest, too much IL-6 has an inflammatory effect and is linked to obesity and insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes, says Klarlund Pedersen. But when exercising, the molecule activates its more calming family members, such as IL-10 and IL-1ra, which tone down inflammation and its harmful effects. “With each bout of exercise, you provoke an anti-inflammatory response,” says Klarlund Pedersen. Although some physical activity is better than none, high-intensity, long-duration exercise that engages large muscles — such as running or cycling — will crank up IL-6 production, adds Klarlund Pedersen.

Exercise is a balancing act in other ways, too. Physical activity produces cellular stress, and certain molecules counterbalance this damaging effect. When mitochondria — the powerhouses that supply energy in cells — ramp up production during exercise, they also produce more by-products called reactive oxygen species (ROS), which, in excessive amounts, can damage proteins, lipids and DNA. But these ROS also kick-start a horde of protective processes during exercise, offsetting their more toxic effects and fortifying cellular defences.

Among the molecular stars in this maintenance and repair arsenal are the proteins PGC-1α, which regulates important skeletal muscle genes, and NRF2, which activates genes that encode protective antioxidant enzymes. During exercise, the body has learnt to benefit from a fundamentally stressful process. “If stress doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger,” says Ye Tian, a geneticist at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.

Exerkines everywhere

Since IL-6 ushered in the exerkine era, the explosion of multiomics — an approach that combines various biological data sets, such as the proteome and metabolome — has allowed researchers to go beyond chasing single molecules. They can now begin untangling the convoluted molecular web that lies behind exercise, and how it interacts with different systems across the body, says Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University in California, who recently switched from running to weightlifting. “We need to understand how these all work together, because [humans] are a homeostatic machine that needs to be properly tuned,” he says.

In 2020, Snyder and his colleagues took blood samples from 36 people aged between 40 and 75 years old before, during and at various time intervals after the volunteers ran on a treadmill. The team used multiomic profiling to measure more than 17,000 molecules, more than half of which showed significant changes after exercise 9 . They also found that exercise triggered an elaborate ‘choreography’ of biological processes such as energy metabolism, oxidative stress and inflammation. Creating a catalogue of exercise molecules is an important first step in understanding their effects on the body, says Snyder.

How an exercise habit paves the way for injured muscles to heal

Other studies have probed how exercise affects cell types. A 2022 study in mice led by Jonathan Long, a pathologist at Stanford University, identified more than 200 types of protein that were expressed differently by 21 cell types in response to exercise 10 . The researchers were expecting to find that cells in the liver, muscle and bone would be most sensitive to exercise, but to their surprise, they found that a much more widespread type of cell, one that appears in many tissues and organs, showed the biggest changes in the proteins that it cranked out or turned down. The findings suggest that more cell types shift gears during a workout than was previously thought, although what these changes mean for the body is still an open question, says Long.

The findings also showed that after exercise, the mice’s liver cells squeezed out several types of carboxylesterase enzyme, which are known to ramp up metabolism. When Long and his colleagues genetically tweaked mice so that their livers expressed elevated levels of these metabolism-enhancing enzymes, and then fed them a diet of fatty foods, the mice didn’t gain weight. They also had increased endurance when they ran on a treadmill. “The improvement in exercise performance by these secreted carboxylesterases was not known before,” says Long, whose weekly exercise regime involves swimming and lifting weights. He adds that if the enzymes could be produced in the right quantities and purity, they could possibly be used as exercise-mimicking compounds.

During a workout, distant organs and tissues communicate with each other through molecular signals. Along with exerkines, extracellular vesicles (EVs) — nanosized, bubble-shaped structures that carry biological material — could be one of the mechanisms behind organ and tissue crosstalk, says Mark Febbraio, a former triathlete who is now an exercise physiologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. In 2018, Febbraio and his team inserted tubes into the femoral arteries of 11 healthy men and drew blood before and after they rode an exercise bike at an increasing pace for an hour. During and after exercise, but not at rest, they found a spike in the levels of more than 300 types of protein that compose or are carried by EVs 11 .

When the team then collected EVs from mice that had run on a treadmill and injected them into another group of healthy mice, most of the EVs ended up in liver cells. In a separate mouse study that is yet to be published, Febbraio and his colleagues found hints that the contents of these liver-bound EVs can arrest a type of liver disease. A big question is whether EVs also deposit genetic material into different cells, and if so, what that means for the body. “We still don’t know a great deal,” he says.

Exercise as medicine

Larger efforts are under way to build a detailed molecular snapshot of how exercise exerts its health-boosting effects across tissues and organs. In 2016, the NIH established the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) , a six-year study on around 2,600 people and more than 800 rats that aims to generate a molecular map of exercise. The effort — one of the largest studies on physical activity — is teasing apart the effects of aerobic and endurance exercise on multiple tissue types across different ages and fitness levels.

The first data set is from rats that completed one to eight weeks of treadmill training, and had blood and tissue samples collected at the end. The researchers pinpointed thousands of molecular changes throughout the rats’ bodies, many of which could have a protective effect on health, such as dialling down inflammatory bowel disease and tissue injury 2 . A separate study 3 found that the effects of endurance training differed across sexes: markers associated with the breakdown of fat increased in male fat tissue, driving fat loss, whereas female fat tissue showed an increase in markers related to fat-cell maintenance and insulin signalling, which might protect against cardiometabolic diseases. A third study 4 found that exercise alters the expression of genes linked to diseases such as asthma, and could help to trigger similar adaptive responses.

Focus on exercise metabolism and health

A big goal is to uncover why exercise has such varied effects on people of different sexes, ages and ethnic backgrounds, says Snyder, who is a member of the MoTrPAC team. “It’s very obvious that some people benefit better than others,” he says.

Researchers hope that the reams of molecular data will eventually help clinicians to develop tailored exercise prescriptions for people with chronic diseases, says MoTrPAC team member Bret Goodpaster, an exercise physiologist at AdventHealth Research Institute in Orlando, Florida. Further down the track, such insights could be used to develop therapeutics that mimic some of the beneficial effects of exercise in people who are too ill to work out, he says. “That’s not to say that we will have exercise in a pill, but there are certain aspects of exercise that could be druggable,” says Goodpaster, who has taken part in triathlons, marathons and cycling races.

Several teams are already in the early stages of developing exercise-mimicking therapeutics. In March 2023, a team led by Thomas Burris, a pharmacologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville, identified a compound that targets proteins called oestrogen-related receptors, which are known to trigger key metabolic pathways in energy-intensive tissues, such as heart and skeletal muscle, particularly during exercise 12 . When the researchers administered the compound — called SLU-PP-332 — to mice, they found that the treated rodents were able to run 70% longer and 45% farther than untreated mice. Six months later, a separate study, also led by Burris, found that obese mice treated with the drug lost weight and gained less fat than those that didn’t receive the treatment — even though their diet was the same and they didn’t exercise any more than usual 13 .

There is already evidence that exercise itself acts like medicine. In 2022, Bar-Sagi and her colleagues found that mice with pancreatic cancer had elevated levels of CD8 T cells — which destroy cancerous and virus-infected cells — when they did 30 minutes of aerobic exercise for 5 days a week 14 . These killer cells express a receptor for IL-15, another exerkine released by muscles during exercise. The researchers found that when CD8 T cells bind to IL-15, they unleash a more powerful immune response on tumours in the pancreas. This effect prolonged survival of mice with tumours by around 40%, compared with that of control mice. The findings held up when Bar-Sagi and her team analysed tumour tissue taken from people with pancreatic cancer. Those who did 60 minutes of aerobic and strength training each week had more CD8 T cells, and were twice as likely to survive for up to 5 years, than were people in the control group.

Although exercising more is a no-brainer for improving health, around 25% of adults globally do not meet the World Health Organization’s recommended levels of exercise each week: 150–300 minutes or more of moderate-intensity exercise, such as a brisk walk; or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, such as running. David James, an exercise physiologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, who rides his bike to work each day, says that understanding the inner workings of exercise could help to develop clearer public-health messages about why physical activity is important and how it can offset the risk of getting chronic diseases. “That’s a powerful message,” says James.

Nature 629 , 26-28 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01200-7

Updates & Corrections

Correction 07 May 2024 : An earlier version of this News feature gave an old affiliation for Bret Goodpaster. He is now at AdventHealth Research Institute in Orlando, Florida.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
Should graduate students be able to form unions?

What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
How does stress affect the body?
Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
What were the causes of the Civil War?
How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
What caused Hitler's rise to power?
Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
What are the pros and cons of fracking?
What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
How are black holes created?
Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
Has social media made people more or less connected?
What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

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Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

Ask a Question Below

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A collection of TED Talks (and more) on the topic of Nature.

Video playlists about Nature

A playbook for protecting the planet

TED Talks for bird enthusiasts

Unexpected lessons from the animal world

Talks to celebrate spring

Talks about nature.

If you're an adult mayfly you'll probably die before the end of this video

A climate solution? The wisdom passed down through generations

A new national park to reclaim Indigenous land

What Earth in 2050 could look like

Let your garden grow wild

Can nanoparticles help fight hunger?

Is climate change slowing down the ocean?

Does planting trees actually cool the planet?

The largest river on Earth is actually in the sky

Why science needs to get behind natural medicine

Photographing nature beyond the limits of human perception

An extreme weather report from America's weatherman

The one thing stopping jellyfish from taking over

Why rivals are working together to transform shipping

The first-ever cargo ship powered by green fuel

Can alligators survive this apex predator?

Exclusive articles about nature, climatarian, flexitarian, vegetarian, vegan: which diet is best for the planet (and what do they mean), why does it hurt so much when we get ghosted a psychologist explains, 9 youth climate activists from around the world share their book and podcast picks.

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Last updated: August 22, 2022

Research Topics

Possible research topics in the nature preserve.

Submitted By Arjan Reesink Geology. You will need to find the right sponsor/advisor.

Origin of the Rock Species- Alien Rocks

The bedrock under Fuller Hollow creek consists of shale ('stone-clay') and some sandstone. However, we find crystalline rocks in Fuller hollow creek! Where do they come from?

Method: Collect crystalline rocks from the creek, cut them open, study them, and pinpoint their origin.

Some rocks we find here have their source in Canada, some are from the Adirondacks... Which rocks are indigenous (from around here) or glacial erratics (alien rocks) put here by action of rivers and glaciers? Most rocks have unique characteristics that allow us to pinpoint their origin. The origin of rocks gives insight into their transport by major agents such as rivers and/or the ice cap/glaciers that covered North America during the Ice Ages. The amount and type of alien rocks together with geomorphology gives very interesting clues as towards the development of the landscape we live in.

Ground Penetrating Radar

Radar allows us top look inside solid objects, such as the ground, as if we were looking into glass...

Method: Generation of a soil profile by measuring radar reflections in the ground... It is much like digging a trench without digging a trench, a non destructive method!

Ground Penetrating Radar works quite well on the fluvial (river) deposits around here. Potential research questions would include (1) erosion and incision of Fuller Hollow Creek since straightening, (2) changes in stream pattern since straightening, (3) changes in morphometrics (e.g. stream width-depth ratio). All of these questions would eventually lead to a prediction of the 'steady state' of the stream and future hazards of Fuller Hollow Creek.

Soil creep on slopes

Slow, down-slope movement of soil on slopes, known as creep, pushes the trees over. Trees react by growing faster on one side, which straightens them once again. The resulting bend of the bottom of the tree trunk can be used as a measure for soil creep!

Method: Step one: gather data on tree type, trunk bend angle, trunk diameter, soil slope angle, forest type, soil type... etc. Step two: simple correlations, but the statistics can get as advanced as you want them to be...

How creepy are the soils the Nature Preserve? This research will result in a re-usable dataset for earth/environmental science or statistics classes.

Snow thickness and refreezing (for winter)

Method: Measure snow (weight) and water equivalent (% weight) and use snow pack as proxy for precipitation.

This investigation is related to snow accumulation and mass balance research on glaciers but also gives insight into many hydrological issues in the Nature Preserve.

DEM of Choconut Creek & hydrograph

Method: Repetitively make DEMs of Choconut Creek and get a Hydrograph or proxy for discharge. Relate geomorphological changes to discharge events.

This investigation focuses on an actual (minor) Natural Hazard that costs the town of Vestal much money each year. The stream erodes the bank of the stream, which holds the road and some houses... the riprap seems to be fantastically ineffective at this location. Each big storm there is a visible change.

Canopy structure and leaf area index

Method: (1) Climb trees and use the laser to get statistics on leaf cover over height, (2) make photographs of the sky and trees, calculate % sky and % leaf/branches, (3) use satellite images to calculate leaf area index (super-simple!).

This investigation allows for a detailed insight into the type, productivity and state of the forest as well as many effects on the watershed hydrology.

Storm Drainage: Nature Preserve vs. Campus

Method: Measuring water pressure and depth at four stations around campus during during rain events and non-rain events.

Continue the work of Dave Katz comparing the storm out flow from the Nature Preserve versus the parking lots and buildings of campus.

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Last Updated: 8/8/18

Understanding Phenomenological Research

Table of Contents

Phenomenology is not just a mouthful of a word; it’s a fascinating approach to research that delves into the lived experiences of individuals. Imagine peeling back the layers of everyday life to uncover the essence of human existence. That’s what phenomenological research is all about. It’s like putting on a pair of special glasses that allow you to see the world through someone else’s eyes.

How To Choose Phenomenological Research Topics?

Choosing phenomenological research topics involves a thoughtful process to identify phenomena that intrigue and resonate with both the researcher and the broader field of study. Here’s a simplified guide:

Identify Personal Interests: Start by reflecting on your own interests, experiences, and curiosities. What aspects of human experiences fascinate you the most? Personal passion can drive deeper engagement with the research.
Explore Relevant Literature: Conduct a literature review to understand existing research in your field of interest. Look for gaps, unanswered questions, or emerging trends that could inspire new phenomenological inquiries.
Consider Significance: Assess the relevance and importance of potential topics. Is the phenomenon you’re considering meaningful in the context of society, culture, or human behavior? Aim for topics that have practical implications or contribute to theoretical advancements.
Consult Peers and Mentors: Seek feedback from colleagues, mentors, or advisors. Discuss your ideas with others in your field to gain insights, perspectives, and potential directions for your research.
Stay Open-Minded: Be willing to explore diverse topics and perspectives. Phenomenological research thrives on openness to different experiences and viewpoints. Remain flexible and receptive to unexpected discoveries along the way.
Consider Feasibility: Assess the feasibility of researching your chosen topic within the constraints of time, resources, and available methodologies. Ensure that your research goals align with your capabilities and constraints.
Connect with Participants: If possible, engage with individuals who have firsthand experience with the phenomenon you’re studying. Their insights can provide valuable perspectives and inform the direction of your research.
Refine and Narrow Down: Refine your research topic based on feedback, feasibility assessments, and further reflection. Narrow down your focus to a specific aspect or dimension of the phenomenon to ensure depth and clarity in your research.

150 Phenomenological Research Topics: Category Wise

Social phenomenology.

The experience of social media addiction among young adults.
Phenomenology of loneliness in urban settings.
The lived experience of discrimination based on race in the workplace.
Identity formation among immigrants in a new cultural context.
Feeling judged or looked down upon because of mental health issues.
How feeling embarrassed or bad about something varies between different cultures.
What it’s like for parents who are bringing up a child with autism.
The phenomenon of bystander intervention in emergency situations.
Workplace bullying: A phenomenological exploration.
The experience of forgiveness in interpersonal relationships.

Psychological Phenomenology

Phenomenology of traumatic memories in survivors of natural disasters.
The experience of flow states during creative activities.
Phenomenological investigation of near-death experiences.
The lived experience of anxiety disorders.
Coping mechanisms of individuals with chronic pain.
Perception of time during periods of extreme stress.
Phenomenology of decision-making processes under uncertainty.
The experience of addiction recovery.
The phenomenon of lucid dreaming.
The lived experience of post-traumatic growth.

Existential Phenomenology

The search for meaning in life after a significant loss.
Phenomenology of existential dread in the modern world.
The experience of freedom and responsibility in decision-making.
Existential crisis in adolescence: A phenomenological approach.
Authenticity in interpersonal relationships: A phenomenological study.
The experience of awe and wonder in nature.
Phenomenology of spiritual awakening.
The lived experience of existential loneliness.
The phenomenon of existential guilt.
Phenomenological exploration of the fear of death.

Embodied Phenomenology

The experience of chronic illness and the body-self relationship.
Phenomenology of the lived body in sports performance.
Body image perception among adolescents: A phenomenological inquiry.
The experience of pregnancy and childbirth.
Embodied cognition in dance: A phenomenological perspective.
The lived experience of disordered eating behaviors.
Phenomenology of pain perception and tolerance.
The experience of touch deprivation in early childhood.
Embodied experiences of gender dysphoria.
The phenomenon of phantom limb sensation.

Phenomenology of Education

Student experiences of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lived experience of academic burnout among college students.
Phenomenology of teacher-student relationships in primary education.
The experience of cultural adaptation in international student populations.
Student perceptions of the effectiveness of feedback in learning.
Phenomenological exploration of homeschooling experiences.
The phenomenon of motivation in educational contexts.
The experience of academic procrastination among university students.
Peer influence on academic performance: A phenomenological study.
The lived experience of learning disabilities in educational settings.

Phenomenology of Technology

The experience of virtual reality immersion.
Phenomenological investigation of smartphone addiction.
The lived experience of technology-mediated communication.
Ethical considerations in the development of artificial intelligence: A phenomenological approach.
The phenomenon of information overload in the digital age.
Augmented reality experiences: A phenomenological inquiry.
Wearable technology and the quantified self: A phenomenological study.
The experience of digital detoxification.
The lived experience of privacy concerns in online environments.
Phenomenology of human-robot interaction.

Phenomenology of Art and Aesthetics

The experience of beauty in nature: A phenomenological exploration.
Phenomenology of artistic creativity.
The lived experience of aesthetic appreciation in music.
A phenomenological inquiry into the experience of poetry.
The phenomenon of art therapy in mental health treatment.
The experience of architectural spaces and atmospheres.
The lived experience of aesthetic pleasure in food consumption.
Phenomenology of the sublime in visual art.
The experience of catharsis in theatrical performances.
The phenomenon of artistic inspiration.

Phenomenology of Health and Well-being

The experience of resilience in overcoming adversity.
Phenomenological exploration of mindfulness meditation.
The lived experience of burnout among healthcare professionals.
The phenomenon of self-care practices in promoting well-being.
Coping mechanisms of individuals living with chronic illness.
Phenomenology of the placebo effect in healthcare.
The experience of caregiver burden in family caregiving.
The lived experience of terminal illness and end-of-life care.
Phenomenological investigation of holistic health practices.
The phenomenon of health-related stigma.

Phenomenology of Nature and Environment

The experience of connection to nature among urban dwellers.
Phenomenology of awe-inspiring natural landscapes.
The lived experience of environmental activism.
The phenomenon of eco-anxiety in response to climate change.
Sustainable lifestyle choices: A phenomenological inquiry.
The experience of biophilia: A love of nature.
Phenomenological exploration of outdoor recreational activities.
The lived experience of environmental degradation.
The phenomenon of environmental justice.
The spiritual experience of wilderness immersion.

Phenomenology of Memory and Time

The experience of nostalgia: A phenomenological approach.
Phenomenology of flashbulb memories of significant events.
The lived experience of time perception in different cultures.
The phenomenon of déjà vu: A phenomenological inquiry.
Traumatic memories and their impact on identity: A phenomenological study.
The experience of timelessness in moments of flow.
Phenomenology of memory distortion and reconstruction.
The lived experience of reminiscence in late adulthood.
The phenomenon of collective memory and its transmission.
The experience of time is fluid and subjective.

Phenomenology of Gender and Sexuality

The lived experience of coming out as LGBTQ+.
Phenomenological exploration of gender identity development.
The experience of sexual fluidity: A phenomenological inquiry.
The phenomenon of heteronormativity and its impact on identity.
Gender dysphoria and the search for authenticity: A phenomenological study.
The lived experience of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Phenomenology of intimacy and relational dynamics in same-sex relationships.
The experience of sexual awakening and exploration.
The phenomenon of intersectionality in understanding gender and sexuality.
The lived experience of transgender individuals in transition.

Phenomenology of Communication

The experience of empathy in interpersonal communication.
Phenomenological investigation of nonverbal communication cues.
The lived experience of cross-cultural communication challenges.
The phenomenon of language acquisition in childhood.
Communication breakdowns in interpersonal relationships: A phenomenological approach.
The experience of social influence in persuasive communication.
Phenomenology of silence in communication contexts.
The lived experience of communication apprehension.
The phenomenon of digital communication etiquette.
The experience of identity negotiation through language use.

Phenomenology of Religion and Spirituality

The lived experience of religious conversion.
Phenomenological exploration of mystical experiences.
The experience of religious doubt and uncertainty.
The phenomenon of religious fundamentalism: A phenomenological inquiry.
Religious rituals and their significance: A phenomenological study.
The lived experience of religious discrimination.
Phenomenology of spiritual practices in diverse cultural contexts.
The experience of existential questions and religious seeking.
The phenomenon of secular spirituality.
The lived experience of religious ecstasy.

Phenomenology of Aging and Life Transitions

The experience of identity redefinition in retirement.
Phenomenological exploration of midlife crisis.
The lived experience of becoming a parent for the first time.
The phenomenon of empty nest syndrome: A phenomenological study.
The experience of caregiving for aging parents.
Phenomenology of grief and loss in late adulthood.
The lived experience of ageism and discrimination in older adults.
Phenomenological investigation of life review processes in aging.
The phenomenon of wisdom and its development over the lifespan.
The experience of existential concerns in facing mortality.

Phenomenology of Politics and Power

The lived experience of political activism.
Phenomenological exploration of leadership styles and effectiveness.
The experience of power dynamics in organizational contexts.
The phenomenon of social movements : A phenomenological inquiry.
Political polarization and its impact on individual identity: A phenomenological study.
The lived experience of marginalization and oppression.
Phenomenology of resistance and protest.
The experience of political disillusionment.
The phenomenon of nationalism and identity formation.
The lived experience of participating in democratic processes.

What Are The Four Types Of Phenomenological Research?

Phenomenological research typically encompasses four main types or approaches:

Descriptive Phenomenology: This approach focuses on providing a detailed description of a particular phenomenon or experience as it is lived or perceived by individuals. Researchers aim to capture the essence of the phenomenon without imposing preconceived theories or interpretations.
Interpretive Phenomenology: In interpretive phenomenology, researchers go beyond mere description to interpret the meaning of lived experiences within a particular context. They aim to understand how individuals make sense of their experiences and the underlying structures of meaning that shape those experiences.
Psychological Phenomenology: Psychological phenomenology explores the subjective experiences of individuals within the realm of psychology. It investigates how people perceive, interpret, and experience various psychological phenomena such as emotions, cognition, consciousness, and mental health.
Existential Phenomenology: Existential phenomenology delves into the lived experiences of individuals in relation to existential themes such as freedom, responsibility, authenticity, death, and meaning. It seeks to understand how individuals navigate existential concerns and construct their identities within the context of human existence.

In simple terms, phenomenological research helps us understand what it’s like to be human. By studying how people experience things, researchers can uncover the core of different experiences and learn more about how our minds work.

So, the next time you find yourself pondering life’s big questions, remember that phenomenological research topics offer a pathway to deeper understanding. It’s a journey worth taking.

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61 Human Nature Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best human nature topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on human nature.

Freud’s View of Human Nature: Psychoanalytic Theory Research In the study of human personality, Freud believed that the central part of human nature is as a result of id and the control of human decisions by the superego.
Human Nature: Good vs Evil If a person is born in a caring and loving family, which has the knowledge to educate the child, support him/her in their beginnings and provide a perspective that is based on kindness and respect […]
Avocado vs. Artichoke: Can Human Nature Change The essence of the avocado vs.artichoke debate lies in the dynamic of opposing ideas of essentialism and proteanism in philosophy. Both views present quite polarizing extremes and have outdated pre-conceived notions, as in the case […]
Thomas Hobbes’ Views on Human Nature Generally, peace is achieved by creating a government and forsaking individual rights in favor of one entity to ensure humans’ chaos-less existence.
Plato’s and Aristotle’s Theories of Human Nature Chapter five of Kupperman’s book “Theories of human nature” looks at great philosophers, namely Plato’s and Aristotle’s points of view in trying to define humanity. The writer tries to illustrate the complexity of defining a […]
Theories about Human Nature: Hinduism and Christianity Christianity and Hinduism are certainly at the top of the list of important attempts at explaining the origin of the universe and human nature, since approximately 47% of the world’s population belongs to these two […]
Human Nature as a Power to Make Choices In some instances, as in the conception of the human beings as a make-up of the soul- body union, it is likewise clear that biological considerations are paramount.
Human Nature and Morality in “Hamlet” and “Dr. Faustus” These are the problems we are going to discuss in the current essay, and we are going to address for help with it such masterpieces of literature as the play “Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark” […]
Human Nature in Classical Philosophy: The Age of Enlightenment According to this approach, the justice system should work to defeat the imperfection of human behavior. Delinquency can be defeated only when the society’s system is reorganized according to the principles of equality, consciousness, and […]
Human Nature and Instincts: Theories and Principles Dewey proposes that the term “human nature” refers to the inbuilt differentiated characteristics that human beings tend to have as regarding to thoughts, feelings and behavior.
Human Nature: The Christian Worldview This mission statement affirms the organization’s commitment to a Christian perspective by stating that its activities are driven by a love for God and the spreading of God’s word as found in the Bible.
Exploring Human Nature, Determinism, and the Counselling Process In the discussion of past and present experiences and their effect on humans, it is impossible to disregard the importance of the past as a guide for the future.
Human Nature: Becoming Virtuous and Find Out the Nature of Man This is despite the fact that they are, to the larger extent, varying in their view of human nature and morality.
Socialization as a Human Nature Development Factor However, regarding the fact that people are social creatures, human nature is formed in the process of socialization under the impact of multiple essential factors.
Descartes’ View of Human Nature: Strengths and Flaws Among this view’s foremost weaknesses is named the fact that it is based upon the philosopher’s belief in the existence of God.
Marx vs. Weber: Different Points of View on Human Nature, Power, Resistance, Society, and Politics Though the ideas of Marx and Weber may seem to be similar in some ways, it is wrong to believe that these theorists took the same positions; Marx found it obligatory to critique the activities […]
Human Nature in Friedrich’s “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” In a sense, Friedrich develops a style of close observation, which is evident in the “Wanderer,” where the central figure examines the ‘world below.’ Hence, in the context of typical Romantic works, the “Wanderer” stands […]
Machiavelli’s and Hobbes’ Views on Politics and Human Nature The main theme of “The Prince” by Machiavelli is monarchical rule and survival. Machiavelli discusses in detail how a ruler should act in various situations or circumstances and establishes that the main goal of politics […]
The Human Nature: Locke’s and Hobbes’s Views Admittedly, there were thousands of wars in the past because of the lack of different resources, from gold to cheap labor force.
The Impact of Non-human Nature on Human Activity in Cronon’s Narrative The author concentrates on the ecological history of this region and presents the opinion that the New England landscape was predominantly formed in the 17-18th centuries.
Wealth as a Component of Human Nature In the present capitalist economy, wealth in the form of money is the basis of all economic functions. Accumulation of wealth may stem from labor, and investment, wealth may be handed down, and wealth may […]
Hobbes’ Political Philosophy Regarding Human Nature In fact, he is more concerned with the profane nature of God and human beings, as opposed to the sacred nature.
The Research Of Animal Behavior And Its Impact On Understanding Human Nature The impact of Darwin’s theory of evolution on the modern understanding of nature is immeasurable. The author often fails to cite the source or support its claims with proper research, and part of his findings […]
Human Nature and Governance by Thomas Hobbes Due to the influences of his uncle, he had a lot of acquaintances in the government that put him in a position of power and status.
Hsun Tsu “Human Nature Is Evil”: The Human Nature According to Confucianism Despite this view of the writer he receives opposition from the Mencious view of the human nature who argues that if at all a man saw a child at the verge of falling over a […]
The Theories of Human Nature The following examples from the work by Stevenson and Haberman demonstrate the unacceptable and acceptable instances of paraphrasing and explain the reasons for their acceptability: “We have here two systems of belief that are total […]
Concept and Difference in Analysis of Human Nature One of the possibilities in viewing human nature is that it is the summation of human behavior and psychology. The concept of human nature has been traditionally used to refer to the subset of human […]
Political Science: Aristotle’s View on Human Nature A citizen, for Aristotle, is an individual who has the capacity and the right to engage in the governance of a “polies”.
East Asian Conception of Human Nature The Way is the core concept of the world and it is used to explain the ultimate meaning of human existence.
Human Nature in Marx’s “The Communist Manifesto” and Dostoyevsky’s “Notes From Underground“ In such an arrangement, there is a tendency to have the opinion that the development of one individual is a benchmark for the development of another, which eventually leads to laxity among some individuals.
Human Nature Aspects Producing Our Love of Cars When searching for a car, our emotions of the kind of our present lifestyle and also the kind of future lifestyle that we would like to adopt are triggered.
Human Nature in “Lord of the Flies” by Golding Considering this, the present paper will analyze the validity of the given statement by drawing on the experiences of characters in Lord of the Flies and evaluating the conditions in which they lived.
Human Nature Debates through Political Ideologies From the early days, philosophers and scientists discussed the behavior of people and their genetics. For example, the nature side of this discussion states that people are born a certain way, and their genetics can […]
Sci-FI Stories: Society, Human Nature and Technology Jingfang paints a dreadful picture of the future where social inequality has risen to the point where the society is split into three parts, and the differences among them are emphasized in the most vivid […]
Theories of Human Nature One of the reasons for this is that the challenges of contemporary living in just about any part of the world are being directly or indirectly related to the fact that, as of today, Western […]
“Theories of Human Nature” by Peter Lopson In his analysis, the writer seeks the objective and empirical category of knowledge in the science of human nature, a shift from the more speculative and theoretical methodologies.
Human Nature: Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Chapter seven of Kupperman’s book “Theories of human nature” describes the essentiality of human imperfections to the doctrine of original sin.
Thomas Hobbes on Human Nature and Social Contracts In the first story, he assumes that no moral, ethical and binding norms exist in the society, and individuals are seeking their personal goals only without considering the implications of their actions.
Human Nature in Socialist View Since 1800 The work by Robert Owen, “Lectures on the Rational System of Society”, is written in the middle of the 19th century.”Socialism and Human Nature” is created by Arnold Peterson in the middle of the 20th […]
Marxism vs. Feminism: Human Nature, Power, Conflict Marx asserts that the ruling class uses power to exploit the working class and this argument forms the principle of Marxism.
Human Nature and Ethics in the “Talk to Her” Movie Martin Benigno is a nurse who is said to be a virgin at the beginning of the movie. It is arguably clear that Marco is compelled by the friendly love that he has for Benigno […]
Xunzi’s Conceptions of Human Nature In the Garden of Eden, the Adam and Eve had the freedom to eat of any tree except the tree in the center of the garden.
Marriage as Depicted in Soloveitchik’s Typology of Human Nature In the story of the first Adam, man and woman were concurrently created while in the second Adam story, Eve or the helper appeared later.
The Views of Freud and Post Freudians on Human Nature He likens the conscious mind to the exposed tip of the iceberg and the unconscious being to the submerged regions of the iceberg.
Kant and Shakespeare on Human Nature and Political Reality The action by the king therefore upholds the rule that man is guided by his selfish impulses and is bound to fall into temptations that lead to his abuse of power.
Human Nature: Comparative Analysis In his view, legitimate authority should be derived from the people since the powers of the monarchs are always destructive because they are used in a way that is inconsistent with the demands of the […]
What can we learn about human nature from our relatives, the chimpanzees? While this actions are very primitive compared to the ability that human beings possess, they demonstrate that it is in human nature to adapt to the environment. This paper has engaged in a discussion of […]
Various theories of human nature Comprehensive theories of personality should aspire to include both a specification of human nature and an account of the major ways in which individuals differ.
Domains of Knowledge about Human Nature by Larsen and Buss Needless to say, research on personality domain revealed that the experiences which an individual goes through in life also influence personality. The research also demonstrated that human personality is a product of both nature and […]
Human Nature – how the intellect and the will show humans have a tendency to go beyond what humans can grasp Historically, since the dawn of oral and written communication, humans have been searching for the meaning of their own existence. Therefore, humans innately have a sense of right and wrong even in the absence of […]
Aristotle on Human Nature, State, and Slavery This should be done with restraint and caution in order not to compromise the validity of modern studies and to avoid bias, as evident in the studies of some historical philosophers in their quoting of […]
Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection Evidence of this lies in the articulation of ideas and relevance of the content to the title.”Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection” is a well thought of title that highlights the main […]
Aggression as a Part of Human Nature Social learning and social psychological analyses of aggression prove that that there are many significant bases of aggression, and frustration is one of the most considerable factors, which lead to human aggression as evidence of […]
Human Nature: “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli As opposed to the freelance style of leadership, one of the difficulties over the heredity or one family customized leadership style that reflects to a hierarchical prince is the ability to contravene the ancestral background […]
Mencius’ and Hsun Tzu’s view of Human Nature The film Schindler’s List starts on September of 1939 in a place known as Krakow, Poland, with the Jews being oppressed by the Nazis.
Does Evolution explain human nature? In their work, Martin Nowak and Frans de Waal address the issue of empathy in relation to human evolution. Of the two scientists, Martin Nowak addresses the issue of empathy better in relation to human […]
The Problem of the Human Nature in The Prince Although Machiavelli’s view of human nature depends on his general vision of the balance between the people’s virtues and vices, the historian emphasizes the difference between the monarch and the citizens and pays attention to […]
Diversity of human nature basing on characteristics and circumstances Dido is the queen of Carthage and Dido’s father was a king of the Phoenicians. After Medea’s husband abandons Medea for another woman, Medea is married to another man in the land she fled to.
Five Viewpoints on Human Nature The five views of human nature are the simplistic view, the two-fold view, the three-fold view, the four-fold view, and the five-fold view.
Human Nature and the Freedom of Speech in Different Countries The paper will look at the human nature that necessitates speech and expression, freedom of speech as applied in different countries and limitations that freedom of speech faces.
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162 Best Animal Research Topics To Nail Your Paper In 2023

The world is filled with living things. There are some animals that we know about, some that we will discover, and there are many that we might never know about. All our knowledge about animals is mostly dependant on researchers. Well, we are rooting for you to be the next great researcher. Be it zoology, veterinary, or live wild stock, your study needs a research topic. If you’re looking for the best animal research topics to nail this year, we’re here with your help.

Table of Contents

Best Animal Research Topics

We have 162 Animal Research Topics that will help you get the best grades this year.

Physiology of Animals Research Topics

Description of the knowledge required to work in animal physiology
Study of animal species with different specialties in the sciences of nature and life
Life sciences and socioeconomic impacts
Neurulation appendages birds
Exercises on gastrulation and neurulation
Gastrulation amphibians birds
Fertilization segmentation in the sea species
Gametogenesis: A Detailed Introduction
Study of Delimitation: bird appendages
Particularities of the developmental biology of certain species
Technical-commercial animal physiology
Terrestrial and marine ecosystems
Animal biology and forensic science: Is there a connection?
Animal Biology Biotechnology and molecules of interest regarding food and industry
The interest in biology in the diagnosis of animal and plant diseases
Toxicology and environmental health concerns in animal physiology
Animal and plant production
Fundamentals of animal physiology research and analysis
Behavior and evolution Genetics of behavior in animals
Adaptation and evolution of behavior
Comparative studies of general ecology, zoology, and animal physiology
Study of animals about the conditions prevailing in their immediate environment
Endocrine and neuroendocrine systems in animals
Studying the nervous systems in birds
Genitals and reproductive physiology of birds
Understanding of the anatomical and functional particularities of invertebrates
Biology and physiology of invertebrates
Reconstruction of phylogenetic trees
Morpho-anatomical arguments and the importance of fossils
Argued classification of animals
Study of the evolution of living organisms by making updates on recent advances in Animalia
Phylogeny and animal evolution
Principles of echolocation in the bats
Possible evolution of the increase in complexity of the primitive nervous system
The nervous system of the insect
Circulation in animal physiology
Animals without a differentiated circulatory system
Water and mineral balance in animals
Thermoregulation in animals
Musculoskeletal system in animals
Study of animal blood
Biological rhythms of animals
Skin and teguments of mammals
Animal nutrition and metabolism
Hormones and endocrine system of animals
Emerging organic pollutants
Mechanisms of toxicity in animals
Animal physiology in animals from temperate regions
Genetic correlations between animal species
Animal communities, forest ecology, and forest birds
Wildlife-habitat modeling

Looking for research topics in general? Read 402 General Research Paper Topics

Animal Research Topics For Student

Impact of the agricultural raw materials crisis on the marketing of livestock feed
Analysis of the competitiveness of poultry produced in the USA
Animal cruelty in USA and European countries
Seroprevalence of neosporosis in cattle herds
The peri-urban dairy sector
Effect of the liberalization of the veterinary profession on the vaccination coverage of livestock
Why do people kill animals? The psyche behind animal cruelty
Evaluation of the growth performance of three sheep breeds
Study on the protection of terrestrial ecosystems
Ecology of African dung beetles
Effects of road infrastructure on wildlife in developing countries
Analysis of the consequences of climate change related to pastoral livestock
Strategies for management in the animal feed sector
The feeding behavior of mosquitoes
Bee learning and memory
Immediate response to the animal cruelty
Study of mass migration of land birds over the ocean
A study of crocodile evolution
The cockroach escape system
The resistance of cockroaches against radiation: Myth or fact?
Temperature regulation in the honey bee swarm
Irresponsible dog breeding can often lead to an excess of stray dogs and animal cruelty
Reliable communication signals in birds

Also see: How to Write an 8 Page Research Paper ?

Animal Research Topics For University

Color patterns of moths and moths
Mimicry in the sexual signals of fireflies
Ecophysiology of the garter snake
Memory, dreams regarding cat neurology
Spatiotemporal variation in the composition of animal communities
Detection of prey in the sand scorpion
Internal rhythms in bird migration
Genealogy: Giant Panda
Animal dissection: Severe type of animal cruelty and a huge blow to animal rights
Cuckoo coevolution and patterns
Use of plant extracts from Amazonian plants for the design of integrated pest management
Research on flying field bug
The usefulness of mosquitoes in biological control serves to isolate viruses
Habitat use by the Mediterranean Ant
Genetic structure of the African golden wolf based on its habitat
Birds body odor on their interaction with mosquitoes and parasites
The role of ecology in the evolution of coloration in owls
The invasion of the red swamp crayfish
Molecular taxonomy and biogeography of caprellids
Bats of Mexico and United States
What can animal rights NGOs do in case of animal cruelty during animal testing initiatives?

Or you can try 297 High School Research Paper Topics to Top The Class

Controversial Animal Research Topics

Is it okay to adopt an animal for experimentation?
The authorization procedures on animals for scientific experiments
The objective of total elimination of animal testing
Are there concrete examples of successful scientific advances resulting from animal experimentation?
Animal rights for exotic animals: Protection of forests and wildlife
How can animal rights help the endangered animals
Animal experimentations are a type of animal cruelty: A detailed analysis
Animal testing: encouraging the use of alternative methods
Use of animals for the evaluation of chemical substances
Holding seminars on the protection of animals
Measures to take against animal cruelty
Scientific research on marine life
Scientific experiments on animals for medical research
Experimentation on great apes
Toxicological tests and other safety studies on chemical substances
Why isn’t research done directly on humans rather than animals?
Are animals necessary to approve new drugs and new medical technologies?
Are the results of animal experiments transferable to humans?
Humans are not animals, which is why animal research is not effective
What medical advances have been made possible by animal testing?
Animals never leave laboratories alive
Scientific interest does not motivate the use of animal research
Animal research is torture
How can a layperson work against the animal testing?

Every crime is a controversy too, right? Here are some juicy Criminal Justice Research Paper Topics as well.

Animal Research Topics: Animal Rights

Growing awareness of the animal suffering generated by these experiments
What are the alternatives to animal testing?
Who takes care of animal welfare?
Major global organizations working for animal rights
Animal rights in developing countries
International animal rights standards to work against animal cruelty
Animal cruelty in developing countries
What can a layperson do when seeing animal cruelty
Role of society in the prevention of animal cruelty
Animal welfare and animal rights: measures taken against animal cruelty in developing countries
Animal cruelty in the name of science
How can we raise a better, empathetic and warm-hearted children to put a stop to animal cruelty
Ethical animal testing methods with safety
Are efforts being made to reduce the number of animals used?
The welfare of donkeys and their socioeconomic roles in the subcontinent
Animal cruelty and superstitious conceptions of dogs, cats, and donkeys in subcontinent
Efforts made by international organizations against the tragedy of animal cruelty
International organizations working for animal welfare
Animal abuse: What are the immediate measures to take when we see animal cruelty
Efforts to stop animal abuse in South Asian Countries
Animal abuse in the name of biomedical research

Talking about social causes, let’s have a look at social work topics too: 206 Social Work Research Topics

Interesting Animal Research Topics

The urbanization process and its effect on the dispersal of birds:
Patterns of diversification in Neotropical amphibians
Interactions between non-native parrot species
Impact of landscape anthropization dynamics and wild birds’ health
Habitat-driven diversification in small mammals
Seasonal fluctuations and life cycles of amphipods
Animal cruelty in African countries
Evolution of the environmental niche of amphibians
Biological studies on Louisiana crawfish
Biological studies on Pink bollworm
Biological studies on snails
Biological studies on Bush Crickets
Biological studies on Mountain Gorillas
Biological studies on piranha
Consequences of mosquito feeding
Birds as bioindicators of environmental health
Biological studies on victoria crowned pigeon
Biological studies on black rhinoceros
Biological studies on European spider
Biological studies on dumbo octopus
Biological studies on markhor
Study of genetic and demographic variation in amphibian populations
Ecology and population dynamics of the blackberry turtle
Small-scale population differentiation in ecological and evolutionary mechanisms
Challenges in vulture conservation

Also interesting: 232 Chemistry Research Topics To Make Your Neurochemicals Dance

Submarine Animals Research Topics

The physiology behind the luminous fish
A study of Fish population dynamics
Study of insects on the surface of the water
Structure and function of schools of fish
Physiological ecology of whales and dolphins
Form and function in fish locomotion
Why do whales and dolphins jump?
Impact of Noise on Early Development and Hearing in Zebrafish
Animal cruelty against marine life on the hand of fishermen

Animal Biology Research Topics

Systematic and zoogeographical study of the ocellated lizards
Morphological study of neuro histogenesis in the diencephalon of the chick embryo
Anatomical study of three species of Nudibranch
The adaptive strategy of two species of lagomorphs
The Black vulture: population, general biology, and interactions with other birds
Ocellated lizards: their phylogeny and taxonomy
Studies on the behavior of ocellated lizards in captivity
Comparative studies of the egg-laying and egg-hatching methods of ocellated lizards
Studies on the ecology and behavior of ocellated lizards
The taxonomic and phylogenetic implications of ocellated lizards
Research on the egg-laying and egg-hatching methods of ocellated lizards
Studies on the ecology and behavior of ocellated lizards in their natural environment
Comparative studies of the egg-laying and egg-hatching methods of ocellated lizards in different countries
Studies on the ecology and behavior of ocellated lizards in their natural environment in the light of evolutionary and ecological insights

Animal research topics are not hard to find for you anymore. As you have already read a load of them. You can use any of them and ace your research paper, and you don’t even need to ask permission. If you are looking for a research paper writing service , be it animal research, medical research, or any sort of research, you can contact us 24/7.

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50+ Research Topics for Psychology Papers

How to Find Psychology Research Topics for Your Student Paper

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Specific Branches of Psychology
Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy
Human Cognition
Human Development
Critique of Publications
Famous Experiments
Historical Figures
Specific Careers
Case Studies
Literature Reviews
Your Own Study/Experiment

Are you searching for a great topic for your psychology paper ? Sometimes it seems like coming up with topics of psychology research is more challenging than the actual research and writing. Fortunately, there are plenty of great places to find inspiration and the following list contains just a few ideas to help get you started.

Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. It can be particularly important when you are writing a psychology research paper or essay. Psychology is such a broad topic, so you want to find a topic that allows you to adequately cover the subject without becoming overwhelmed with information.

I can always tell when a student really cares about the topic they chose; it comes through in the writing. My advice is to choose a topic that genuinely interests you, so you’ll be more motivated to do thorough research.

In some cases, such as in a general psychology class, you might have the option to select any topic from within psychology's broad reach. Other instances, such as in an abnormal psychology course, might require you to write your paper on a specific subject such as a psychological disorder.

As you begin your search for a topic for your psychology paper, it is first important to consider the guidelines established by your instructor.

Research Topics Within Specific Branches of Psychology

The key to selecting a good topic for your psychology paper is to select something that is narrow enough to allow you to really focus on the subject, but not so narrow that it is difficult to find sources or information to write about.

One approach is to narrow your focus down to a subject within a specific branch of psychology. For example, you might start by deciding that you want to write a paper on some sort of social psychology topic. Next, you might narrow your focus down to how persuasion can be used to influence behavior .

Other social psychology topics you might consider include:

Prejudice and discrimination (i.e., homophobia, sexism, racism)
Social cognition
Person perception
Social control and cults
Persuasion, propaganda, and marketing
Attraction, romance, and love
Nonverbal communication
Prosocial behavior

Psychology Research Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy

Exploring a psychological disorder or a specific treatment modality can also be a good topic for a psychology paper. Some potential abnormal psychology topics include specific psychological disorders or particular treatment modalities, including:

Eating disorders
Borderline personality disorder
Seasonal affective disorder
Schizophrenia
Antisocial personality disorder
Profile a type of therapy (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, psychoanalytic therapy)

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Cognition

Some of the possible topics you might explore in this area include thinking, language, intelligence, and decision-making. Other ideas might include:

False memories
Speech disorders
Problem-solving

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Development

In this area, you might opt to focus on issues pertinent to early childhood such as language development, social learning, or childhood attachment or you might instead opt to concentrate on issues that affect older adults such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Some other topics you might consider include:

Language acquisition
Media violence and children
Learning disabilities
Gender roles
Child abuse
Prenatal development
Parenting styles
Aspects of the aging process

Do a Critique of Publications Involving Psychology Research Topics

One option is to consider writing a critique paper of a published psychology book or academic journal article. For example, you might write a critical analysis of Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams or you might evaluate a more recent book such as Philip Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil .

Professional and academic journals are also great places to find materials for a critique paper. Browse through the collection at your university library to find titles devoted to the subject that you are most interested in, then look through recent articles until you find one that grabs your attention.

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Famous Experiments

There have been many fascinating and groundbreaking experiments throughout the history of psychology, providing ample material for students looking for an interesting term paper topic. In your paper, you might choose to summarize the experiment, analyze the ethics of the research, or evaluate the implications of the study. Possible experiments that you might consider include:

The Milgram Obedience Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Little Albert Experiment
Pavlov's Conditioning Experiments
The Asch Conformity Experiment
Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiments

Topics of Psychology Research About Historical Figures

One of the simplest ways to find a great topic is to choose an interesting person in the history of psychology and write a paper about them. Your paper might focus on many different elements of the individual's life, such as their biography, professional history, theories, or influence on psychology.

While this type of paper may be historical in nature, there is no need for this assignment to be dry or boring. Psychology is full of fascinating figures rife with intriguing stories and anecdotes. Consider such famous individuals as Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Harry Harlow, or one of the many other eminent psychologists .

Psychology Research Topics About a Specific Career

Another possible topic, depending on the course in which you are enrolled, is to write about specific career paths within the field of psychology . This type of paper is especially appropriate if you are exploring different subtopics or considering which area interests you the most.

In your paper, you might opt to explore the typical duties of a psychologist, how much people working in these fields typically earn, and the different employment options that are available.

Topics of Psychology Research Involving Case Studies

One potentially interesting idea is to write a psychology case study of a particular individual or group of people. In this type of paper, you will provide an in-depth analysis of your subject, including a thorough biography.

Generally, you will also assess the person, often using a major psychological theory such as Piaget's stages of cognitive development or Erikson's eight-stage theory of human development . It is also important to note that your paper doesn't necessarily have to be about someone you know personally.

In fact, many professors encourage students to write case studies on historical figures or fictional characters from books, television programs, or films.

Psychology Research Topics Involving Literature Reviews

Another possibility that would work well for a number of psychology courses is to do a literature review of a specific topic within psychology. A literature review involves finding a variety of sources on a particular subject, then summarizing and reporting on what these sources have to say about the topic.

Literature reviews are generally found in the introduction of journal articles and other psychology papers , but this type of analysis also works well for a full-scale psychology term paper.

Topics of Psychology Research Based on Your Own Study or Experiment

Many psychology courses require students to design an actual psychological study or perform some type of experiment. In some cases, students simply devise the study and then imagine the possible results that might occur. In other situations, you may actually have the opportunity to collect data, analyze your findings, and write up your results.

Finding a topic for your study can be difficult, but there are plenty of great ways to come up with intriguing ideas. Start by considering your own interests as well as subjects you have studied in the past.

Online sources, newspaper articles, books , journal articles, and even your own class textbook are all great places to start searching for topics for your experiments and psychology term papers. Before you begin, learn more about how to conduct a psychology experiment .

What This Means For You

After looking at this brief list of possible topics for psychology papers, it is easy to see that psychology is a very broad and diverse subject. While this variety makes it possible to find a topic that really catches your interest, it can sometimes make it very difficult for some students to select a good topic.

If you are still stumped by your assignment, ask your instructor for suggestions and consider a few from this list for inspiration.

Hockenbury, SE & Nolan, SA. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers; 2014.
Santrock, JW. A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2016.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Wildlife Dissertation Topics

Published by Owen Ingram at December 29th, 2022 , Revised On August 11, 2023

Animals, plants, and microorganisms that can live in their natural habitat and are not domesticated or cultivated are considered wildlife. A wide range of animal and plant species are included in wildlife, including uncultivated mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish.

Numerous studies have been conducted in this area over the last couple of decades due to the continuously declining wildlife. Research on wildlife conservation, in particular, has received substantial funding. If you are thinking about the possible wildlife topics for writing a dissertation , our team has compiled many appealing wildlife dissertation topics that are sure to inspire you.

So without further ado, here is our selection of trending and focused wildlife thesis topics and ideas for your consideration whether you are an undergraduate, Master or PhD student.

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40 Excellent Wildlife Dissertation Topics

The impact of avian migration patterns on illness transmission in seasonal host bird populations
A study of the conservation efforts for the Himalayan snow leopard
An investigation on how building railroads has affected the choice of habitat for moose in rural Canada
Studying Wildlife Tours in Protected Areas: A Review of the Security Protocols & Procedures
Optimizing Wildlife Management on Crop Farms using Site-Specific Modeling
Protecting Wildlife Herbivores on Private Game Ranches in Africa
A research project on avian ecology and protection in monsoon environments
Researchers investigate the impact of shifting weather patterns on the migration patterns of Asian geese
A review of the impact of selective annual hunting licenses on Pakistani markhor conservation
A study of the successful rehabilitation of the declining markhor communities in northern Pakistan under communal ownership
Structure of the Network and Perceived Legitimacy in Collaborative Wildlife Management
Costs of the Transaction Private versus Public Wildlife Management Trade-offs
Considering Tax Policy Ideas to Support Nongame Wildlife Programs
A research project is looking at how beaver dams impact fish biodiversity
How many other wildlife species are still undiscovered? Theory and proof
A review of flagship species’ significance to conservation efforts
A study of how politics affects the conservation of the African rhino. Are our concerns about doing business with China preventing us from saving rhinos?
A study of how politics affects whale conservation. Does the imperative protect the whale trump our political worries about Japan?
The results of aggressive initiatives for animal rights. How does it impact conservation efforts?
Relationships between Humans and Wildlife: Coronavirus Evolution
Possibilities for Interdisciplinary Science to Reduce Bio-security Risks from Illegal Wildlife Trade and Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens
Opposition to animal testing. What progress has been made during the past 50 years?
The impact of imprisonment on a grey wolf’s mating habits
An investigation of the behavioural similarities and differences between domestic dogs and wolves kept in captivity
Grey wolves’ responses to various confinement conditions focused on their mating habits
The impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on local wildlife habitat and ecology
The conservation efforts of commercial zoos
The impact of industrial waste on the preservation of wildlife
Global legislative impact of animal conservation
The impact of climate change on the preservation of animals
What Can Integrated Conservation and Development Projects Achieve in Tourism, Poaching, and Wildlife Conservation Areas?
Increased tourist support for nature conservation, both financially and in other ways, including wildlife-based tourism
Supporting Wildlife Tourism-Based Sustainable Livelihoods
Urban Wildlife Health Surveillance Developing into Intelligence for Monitoring and Mitigation of Pests
The Identification and Evaluation of Potential Wildlife Habitat Corridors
What are some of the things that prevent the wildlife sector of the economy from growing?
How can wildlife be improved so that people and various animals can species benefit?
Why shouldn’t these animals be handled gently and with respect by everyone?
What is the impact of tourists on the poor performance of wildlife sections in developing nations?
Is it permissible for the government to use different types of trees and animals for scientific research?

We recommend you pick more than one topic and conduct a little research on all of them. You can use the internet or your local library to gather sources that were created on issues similar to your selection.

If you do not find enough information on one topic, move to the next option. Researching multiple issues will help you collect enough data for various dissertation topics and choose the one you found the most information on.

Take inspiration from our list of wildlife dissertation topics, and get started with your dissertation without any further delay. You can also order a professional dissertation writing service from our expert writers, so you focus on other areas of life.

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Researchers publish largest-ever dataset of neural connections

A cubic millimeter of brain tissue may not sound like much. But considering that that tiny square contains 57,000 cells, 230 millimeters of blood vessels, and 150 million synapses, all amounting to 1,400 terabytes of data, Harvard and Google researchers have just accomplished something stupendous.

Led by Jeff Lichtman, the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and newly appointed dean of science , the Harvard team helped create the largest 3D brain reconstruction to date, showing in vivid detail each cell and its web of connections in a piece of temporal cortex about half the size of a rice grain.

Published in Science, the study is the latest development in a nearly 10-year collaboration with scientists at Google Research, combining Lichtman’s electron microscopy imaging with AI algorithms to color-code and reconstruct the extremely complex wiring of mammal brains. The paper’s three first co-authors are former Harvard postdoc Alexander Shapson-Coe, Michał Januszewski of Google Research, and Harvard postdoc Daniel Berger.

The ultimate goal, supported by the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative , is to create a comprehensive, high-resolution map of a mouse’s neural wiring, which would entail about 1,000 times the amount of data the group just produced from the 1-cubic-millimeter fragment of human cortex.

“The word ‘fragment’ is ironic,” Lichtman said. “A terabyte is, for most people, gigantic, yet a fragment of a human brain — just a minuscule, teeny-weeny little bit of human brain — is still thousands of terabytes.”

Jeff Lichtman.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

The latest map contains never-before-seen details of brain structure, including a rare but powerful set of axons connected by up to 50 synapses. The team also noted oddities in the tissue, such as a small number of axons that formed extensive whorls. Because the sample was taken from a patient with epilepsy, the researchers don’t know whether such formations are pathological or simply rare.

Lichtman’s field is connectomics, which seeks to create comprehensive catalogs of brain structure, down to individual cells. Such completed maps would unlock insights into brain function and disease, about which scientists still know very little.

Google’s state-of-the-art AI algorithms allow for reconstruction and mapping of brain tissue in three dimensions. The team has also developed a suite of publicly available tools researchers can use to examine and annotate the connectome.

“Given the enormous investment put into this project, it was important to present the results in a way that anybody else can now go and benefit from them,” said Google collaborator Viren Jain.

Next the team will tackle the mouse hippocampal formation, which is important to neuroscience for its role in memory and neurological disease.

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Stem cells: A new mechanical transducer

Professor Jiwon Jang and Seungbok Yang, a PhD candidate, from the Department of Life Sciences at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Dr. Mahdi Golkaram from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) have uncovered a novel regulator governing how cells respond to mechanical cues. Their findings were published on May 3 in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology , an international journal in the field of cell biology.

Much research in cell biology has traditionally centered on understanding how cells react to chemical signals such as diffusible signaling molecules. However, cells also respond to mechanical stimuli such as cell density, size, and substrate stiffness by expressing specific genes. Yet, the mechanisms by which mechanical regulators perceive mechanical stimuli have remained largely unexplored.

In this research, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were employed by the researchers to delve into how cells detect and react to mechanical signals. Through an examination of the transcriptome of hESCs cultivated under different cell densities, the researchers pinpointed a key player known as "ETV4," responsible for mediating variations in stem cell density and controlling differentiation.

Furthermore, the team deciphered the intricate mechanism through which ETV4 perceives mechanical cues. Initially, integrin receptors 1 recognize alterations in cell density, subsequently modulating the endocytosis of a cell surface receptor, namely the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR). Mechanical regulation of FGFR endocytosis determines the protein stability of ETV4 by ERK signaling.

During the differentiation process of stem cells, ETV4 plays a role in directing the formation of mesendoderm in regions characterized by low cell density while promoting neuroectoderm development in areas of high cell density. The researchers discovered that a new mechanotransducer ETV4 bridges cell density dynamics to stem cell differentiation.

POSTECH Professor Jiwon Jang who led the research stated, "We've uncovered the importance of mechanical cues in regulating stem cell differentiation along with the pivotal involvement of ETV4." He expressed optimism by saying, "Given ETV4's substantial implications as a critical oncogene, we envision leveraging this insight to devise technologies aimed at controlling cancer cells through mechanical cues."

The research was conducted with support from the Biomedical Technology Development Program, the Basic Research Program for Individuals, the Group Research and Basic Research Lab Program, and the Smart Specialization Infrastructure Project of the National Research Foundation of Korea.The research was conducted with support from the Biomedical Technology Development Program, the Basic Research Program for Individuals, the Group Research and Basic Research Lab Program, and the Smart Specialization Infrastructure Project of the National Research Foundation of Korea.

1. Integrin receptor: A transmembrane receptor facilitating the cell to the extracellular matrix connections and is involved in intracellular signal transduction by transmitting physicochemical changes inside and outside the cell in both directions

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Materials provided by Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

Seungbok Yang, Mahdi Golkaram, Seyoun Oh, Yujeong Oh, Yoonjae Cho, Jeehyun Yoe, Sungeun Ju, Matthew A. Lalli, Seung-Yeol Park, Yoontae Lee, Jiwon Jang. ETV4 is a mechanical transducer linking cell crowding dynamics to lineage specification . Nature Cell Biology , 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41556-024-01415-w

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Advances in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research: Exploring Pathways, Therapies, and Insights

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Research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is of paramount importance due to the severe and progressive nature of ALS, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects motor neurons. This Research Topic explores crucial pathways implicated in the disease, shedding light on the underlying molecular mechanisms. Understanding these pathways is vital for developing targeted therapeutic interventions and potential treatments for ALS. Additionally, insights gained from the research contribute to advancing the overall knowledge of neurodegenerative disorders and may pave the way for innovative strategies to improve the quality of life for individuals affected by ALS. In essence, this collection serves as a cornerstone for researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals striving to unravel the complexities of ALS and discover transformative approaches for its management In this Research Topic, we welcome articles that explore the intricate interplay between various cellular and molecular pathways implicated in ALS pathogenesis, investigating the role of genetic mutations, protein misfolding, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired protein clearance pathway. Additionally, we welcome articles on the development and preclinical testing of novel therapeutic agents, including gene therapies, small molecules, and biologics, with the goal of slowing or halting disease progression. We also welcome articles that examine the impact of environmental factors, lifestyle interventions, and patient care approaches on ALS outcomes, with the aim of improving patient quality of life and prognosis. Overall, this collection seeks to advance our understanding of ALS and facilitate the translation of research findings into tangible clinical benefits for patients and their families. We welcome a variety of article types, including under the following categories: Original Research, Review, Mini Review, Brief Research Report, and Perspective.

Keywords : Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, Protein Misfolding, Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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