SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY

C ata p u ltaWinter 2016

BACK TO THE FUTURE

TARDIS,ETERNAL LIFE

+ MORE

1

We hope 2015 was a great year for you--it certainly was for the scientific world! In fact, we even have a special spread titled “2015 in Science” that features some of the newest discoveries and technological advancements. This issue also features a wide array of ar-ticles: from Star Trek to the concept of im-mortality to highlights of the International Ed-ucation Week hosted by Boston Latin School’s Clough Center of Global Understanding. We hope you enjoy all there is to explore in this is-sue! And as always, do not hesitate to contact catapultasciencebls@gmail if you would like to contribute in the future.

Dear READER,

BLS CATAPULTA

2Stem Cells

5STAR TREK AND The WARP DRIVE

16 Hydrogen as energy

11New Planet discovered

13Reindeer Mating

6Pollution and Marine Life

12The THorny DRAGON

back inside Clough Center spotlights

7 OceaN Acidification

14-15 Promse of eternal life

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Faculty Advisor: Ms. Bateman

3A Dog’s SENSE OF SELF

4 TARDIS and Dr. WHO

10 55 Cancri e: Diamond planet

8-92015: YEAR IN REVIEW

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Meritorious award (2014(American scholastic press association

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3GRACIELA REINHardt, VI2 PATRICK o’SHEA, II

Though many scientists have tested if animals, like humans, have a sense of “self,” their approach varies with the animals they test. Like people, Asian elephants, mag-pies, some dolphins and monkeys have passed the test of having a sense of “self ” by touching their heads when they saw in a mirror that their heads were marked. Dogs on the other hand did not pass this test. In-stead of recognizing their own reflection in the mirror, the dog would pee on the mirror or sniff it. This indicated that the dog’s

most powerful sense was being used—his sense of smell. To

accomodate this, another test was created to ex-

periment with dogs. Instead of mark-

ing a dog’s

head and showing him a mirror, this test was created by wetting a cotton ball with a dog’s urine, sealing it in a container and doing the same using other dogs’ urine. Then, scientists would open the containers and let loose one of the dogs whose urine was being used and observe the fol-lowing: That dog would sniff and

further inspect the containers in order to identify which dog’s territory he was in but when it

came to his own urine-stained cot-ton ball, the inspection would be brief, if any. Not only does this prove that dogs do in fact have a sense of “self ” through their scent, but also that the ways in which dif-ferent organisms identify them-selves varies and the method used to test them is not always the same as that which is best for humans.

A DOG’S SENSE OF SELF

DOGS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES BY THE

SCENT OF THEIR URINE.

The Potential of Stem Cells

Stem cells could help you live forever—in theory. More realistically, they could help you grow or repair your or-gans. Stem cells are blank cells waiting to be told what type of cell to become. Research has shown that these “program-mable cells” differentiate into distinct types of cells depend-ing on their location in the body and what organs and other cells they are in proximity to. Subse-quently, these cells can provide many uses like replacing dead tissue, creating new organs, etc. Despite their potential, embry-onic stem cells have always been a controversial topic since they must be taken from infants. However, there is anoth-er type of stem cell that has been gaining more and more attention in the scientific commu-

nity. It is called an induced plu-ripotent stem cell or IPS cell. The induced pluripotent stem cell is actually an adult cell, usually skin or blood, that is put into a stem cell-like state. It fol-lows the same “rules” as an em-bryonic stem cell, but first it has to go through two additional steps to transition into a stem cell. First, several factors, such as genes, are added into the adult cell to reprogram its func-tions. Next, the cells are given the ability to become pluripo-tent, capable of becoming new kinds of specialized cells. This completes the process of synthesizing stem cells.

In spite of their potential utility, IPS cells are still being tested and there are potential drawbacks. IPS cells are hard-er to grow in cultures, harder to find in adults, and likely to be rejected in transplants. It is worth noting, however, that IPS cells from a patient’s own skin can be grown into specialized cells that would not be rejected by the immune system. The future, however, still looks promising for these cells, which could potentially change the world of regenerative medi-

cine as we know it.

“could help you live forever—in Theory”

4 5ethan kim, ii

Star Trek (and) Beyond:

The Warp Drive

Time and Relative Dimension in Space

TARDISTraversable Achronal Retrograde Domains in Spacetime

The Time and Relative Dimension in Space (TARDIS), a spaceship from the popular TV show Doctor Who, and other forms of time travel may not be as impossible as we think.

Over the years, many ideas have been proposed for theoretical time-travel. In this partic-ular theory, a quaint “bubble,” or domain, of spacetime geometry that

travels at speeds greater than the speed of light, therefore mak-ing it achronal, or outside the dimension of time. The do-main travels in retrograde (backwards) to the standard progression of cause-and-effect, and allows massive objects to traverse it. The most illustrious origina-tors of this theory are Dr. Benjamin K. Tippett and Dr. David Tsang, from the Gallifrey Poly-technic Institute and the Gallifrey Institute of Technology (GalTech), respectively.

A disclaimer before we venture further: creating a TARDIS would require exot-ic matter with bizarre and unphysical properties, breaching classical energy conditions, and thus not conform-ing to any type of matter discovered so far. However, the sheer enjoy-ment of considering such theories is not diminished, because sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles.

The TARDIS geometry can essen-tially be described as a ring or a loop that travels a circular path back and forth within spacetime; it would be de-scribed from the inside as constantly moving forward, while an outside observer would see objects inside the bubble split into two and merge back together as they first view a single point at the “bottom” of the ring, then cross-sections through the “middle” (where one side is travelling forwards in time and the other backwards), and fi-nally the “top” of the ring where both sides of the ring become one again.

As interesting as this is, staying within the bounds of a circle would not do much in the way of actual time travel; the true power of the TARDIS lies in the fact that

it is possible to “cut and paste” sections of TARDIS structures together so that anyone or anything could theoretically travel to any point in time and space; every-

where and anywhere; and to every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?

Nearly all science fiction, perhaps most prominently Star Trek, in-corporates the idea of traveling faster than light. Indeed, it is a necessary capability of any sci-fi spacecraft—at sub-light speed, the sheer vastness of the universe would force our heroes to travel for millennia just to get past a few solar systems.

Fortunately, Einstein’s theory of relativity may allow a way around this difficulty: in the future, physicists may devise a method for warping spacetime to create a shortcut between location and destination. This would require enormous amounts of energy, but that is what matter-antimatter

reactors are for. The question we attempt to answer here is: How could a ship travel faster than light without breaking any of the established laws of physics, and without using wormholes? Star Trek’s most plausible answer to this is a system known as the warp drive.

In essence, the idea behind this system of faster-than-light travel is not to use any sort of rocket at all for propulsion, but rather to use spacetime itself by warping it. Einstein’s equations state that nothing can travel locally faster than light. However, physicist Miguel Alcubierre has demon-

strated that it is, in fact, possible to tailor a spacetime configura-tion in which a spacecraftcould travel between two points in an arbitrarily short amount of time. Moreover, in respect to its lo-cal surroundings the spacecraft would be moving at speeds much slower than the speed of light, so the laws of special relativity would not apply—all the chro-nometers on board the Enter-prise would remain synchronized with those back on Earth. This also means that no one’s family will have been dead for 600,000 years by the time the ship returns to spacedock, so we can have our cake and eat it too.

The basic principle behind the warp drive can be explained with the following analogy. Imagine you are standing on a fixed point, A, on a large piece of elastic cloth. Your destination, B, lies somewhere in front of you—for the purpose of this explanation, we will continue to use terms like “in front,” even though they lose their meaning when one is float-ing in an infinitely large, four-di-mensional universe. Now imagine that the cloth between A and B is “bunched up,” or compressed—clearly, this lessens the distance between the two points. Similarly, if we stretch the cloth behind A, the point will appear to be pro-

pelled towards B like a surfboard on a wave. Applied to the warp-ing of spacetime, this seemingly simple method could decrease the travel time from A to B by an unimaginably large amount, all while preserving the integrity of the local area of space around the starship.

So where do we stand at the end of all this? We know enough about the general nature of spacetime to describe a method by which a spacecraft might, at least in theory, travel from starting point to destination in much less time than the amount dictated by the laws of special relativity. On the other hand, we have no idea whether the physical conditions required to achieve any of these are realizable in practice, nor do we know how we could harness the vast energy needed for the manipulation of spacetime. So could the warp drive become a reality within our lifetimes? May-be, but let’s not get our hopes up.

More certain, and perhaps more worthy of celebration, is the re-markable body of knowledge that has brought humanity to this point. Without ever leav-ing Earth’s atmosphere, we now find ourselves able to stretch our minds past the limits of space and time, postulating methods by which we may probe the depths of the universe—seeking out new life and new civilizations. And as Star Trek continues to re-mind us, the human adventure is just beginning.

4 LAUREN JIANG, III 5SARAH kiamie, ii

7CHRISTIAN BADAWI, VIEmily parkerson, 6

Marine life in the United States is in real trouble. Lately, toxins have been the reason for the deaths of otters in the Gulf of Mexico, sea lions in Cali-fornia, and manatees in Florida. Many pollutants origi-nating from sewage plants and boat yards poison otter’s prey, and these consumed pollut-ants eventually poison the ot-ter itself. Another poison con-tributing to the disappearance of otters is microcystin, a toxin produced by certain algae. Oil is causing the deaths of otters, too. Otter fur absorbs oils, which prevents otters from keeping heat; due to the extreme cold, oil-soaked otters die. In 2010, the giant oil spill in the Gulf of

M e x i c o , also known as the Deepwater Ho-rizon oil spill, negatively im-pacted the otters dwelling there. Toxic algae is mainly re-sponsible for the deaths of sea lions in California through brain damage. Brain scans led by cognitive psychologist Pe-ter Cook have revealed that toxic algae has led to “neuro-logical and behavioral changes in the animals.” As with most toxins that affect marine ani-mals, these come into contact with the marine animals after the animals consume prey in-fected by the toxins. The toxin travels up the food chain: al-gae consume toxins, prey con-sume algae, predators con-sume prey.

There are already many animals on the endangered list of the In-ternational Union for Con-servation of Nature (IUCN). Significant actions must be taken in order to prevent their extinctions, and if we do not intervene, we should not be surprised when even more marine animals are added to the endangered list.

Marine animals Affected by toxins and pollution

“neurological and behavioral changes in the animals.”

IDAHOR OSASENAGA, VI6

Ocean Acidification Every day, at least one-third of our carbon dioxide emissions is being absorbed into the ocean. At first, people thought this was a great thing and that the ocean was slowing down global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While this is true, there is a side effect to all this: the pH of the ocean is de-creasing. The pH of a solution is the measure of the solution’s acidity. The pH scale ranges from 1-14, and the lower the pH, the more acidic some-thing is. By its Arrhenius definition, an acid is a solution that donates H+ ions (protons), which can react with other substances to cause damage. The ocean’s acidity is increas-ing because when the carbon dioxide comes into contact with water it cre-ates carbonic acid, which increases acidity in the ocean. You might be thinking, “Why does this matter?” For one thing, it is harder for coral reefs to build their skeletons and for shell-fish to build the shells they need for protection. This is because carbonic acid dissociates into H+ ions and car-bonate ions. Carbonate ions can react with hydrogen to produce bi-carbonate ions, but this p r o c e s s reduces

the amount of carbonate ions in the ocean, causing calcium carbonate, which is used in the hard parts of ma-rine animals, becomes harder to find. If coral die or stop building their skeletons, it would be detrimental for the aquatic life that live in coral reefs. The rising acidity of the ocean will also have an effect on other types of aquatic life. Fish will start having trou-ble reproducing, and when the pH gets to around 4.0, adult fish will die. A study funded by the Euro-pean Union found that ocean acidifi-cation is already having a noticeable ring. They hatched eggs taken from herring caught off the coast of Nor-way and put them in tanks with dif-ferent levels of acidity. Those in tanks of 7.07 pH showed more organ dam-age than those in 7.45. Their livers and kidneys were abnormally shaped, and developed more slowly. After 39 days, the fish larvae in the medium acidity (7.07 pH) tank weighed thir-ty percent less than those in normal water and those in high acidity (7.45 pH) water weighed forty percent less than those in normal water, and the

smaller fish would be less likely to survive.

The death of the majority of

aquatic life would have a detrimen-tal effect on the environment, pub-lic health, and the economy. There would be an economical crisis be-cause most countries with coasts rely on the fishing industry for a large part of their yearly revenue. This would lead to public health problems because more than 1 bil-lion people rely on aquatic life for a major source of protein. If they do not get enough, their health will suf-fer and they will be more susceptible to diseases. Also, at some point the ocean will cap out in carbon dioxide and will not be able to absorb any more, thus accelerating global warm-ing.This would hurt the environment because a huge part of the food chain would be gone, and that could cause a domino effect, hurting more than just aquatic species. All these are forms of environmental injustices. A solution to this problem is to reduce our carbon and nutrient footprint. Some ways to do this are using public transportation, carpool-ing, biking, or driving electric or fuel efficient cars. One can also waste less water, use hot water more efficiently, and drive efficiently. All of t h e s e

“huge threat that does not receive the attention it deserves”

Earth and Space Sciences

Biology

Physics

Environmental Sciences

Chemistry

January 2 Researchers from the University of Utah

find a protein that is assembled by another protein instead of series of amino acids.

January 13 First-ever synthetically complete muscle is grown.

April 29 The World Health Organization announces

that rubella, or the German measles, has fully been eradicated from the Western Hemisphere.

June 4 Scientists publish a paper discussing new research showing

that bacteriophages may be harnessed to kill bacteria, which has increasingly been a problem due to antibiotic resistance.

June 19 Researchers claim that Planet Earth is experiencing

the largest mass extinction since the Cretaceous Mass Extinction, which occurred 65 million years

ago and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.July 29

The first artificial ribosome is produced.November 19

The Food and Drug Administration approves salmon that has been genetically

modified for human consumption.

January 6 U.S. researchers find a correlation between the speed of a star’s spin and its age.March 3 NASA discovers scientific evidence that Mars once may have had a large ocean in its Northern Hemisphere.

January 7 A new study by geologists is published showing

that soil erosion has occurred one hundred times faster under human activity than it would naturally.

March 18 The largest study of the Amazon Rainforest in 30 years concludes that

human activity is extremely threatening to wildlife diversity in the region.November 30-December 12

Members from 196 nations meet in Paris to discuss what to do about climate change.

January 23 Scientists discover how to change the shape of photons, and as a result, slow down the speed of light.March 2 Scientists take the first picture of light existing as both a particle and a wave. June 3 After about two years of maintenance shut down, the Large Hadron Collider starts operations again.October 6 Takaaji Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald win the Nobel Prize for showing that neutrios have mass.

October 7 Tomas Lindahl, Paul L. Modrich, and Aziz Sancar

win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the mechanisms of how cells repair DNA.

November 12 A team at MIT discovers a more efficient way of

desalinating water than the current techniques of ion separation that expend tons of energy.

December 30 Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 are

discovered.

2015 Year in revieW

12 Kevin S. Qi, IV

55 Cancri e, an exoplanet (a planet that orbits a star outside our solar sys-tem), was discovered around 2004. The radius of this planet is slightly larger than twice the Earth’s radius, and, as a result, its volume is about 8 times the Earth’s mass; these properties give it the title “Super-Earth.” 55 Cancri e orbits the star 55 Cancri A. The distance between the planet and its star, however, is about 26 times less than Mercury’s distance from the sun. With this knowledge, scien-tists estimate that the 55 Cancri e’s tem-perature should be at least 32,000°F, or 1,760°C. Since it is so close to the star it orbits, scientists claim that soon it will be devoured by the star. Because of its proximity, 55 Cancri e orbits its star ev-ery 18 hours, much faster than the 365 days it takes Earth to orbit the sun. Unlike the Earth’s surface, which is primarily composed of water and

granite, 55 Cancri e’s surface is primar-ily composed of graphite and diamond. Yale geophysicist Kanani Yee said, “By contrast, Earth’s interior is rich in oxy-gen, but extremely poor in carbon — less than a part in thousand by mass.” One-third of 55 Cancri e’s surface is pure dia-mond, which is almost equivalent to the amount of land that we have on Earth. As much as we might want to bring back the diamonds from this planet, if people were to do this, the diamond would lose its value and the price of the diamonds would simply crash due to inflation. The discovery of this planet discredits the theory that other Earth-like planets have a similar composition to Earth. Who knows, there could be a pure gold planet, or maybe even another diamond planet! The discovery of 55 Cancri e opens up many doors to ideas that were previous-ly deemed ridiculous.

55 Cancri e,55 Shades of carbon

“A Diamond in the sky”

10 JERRY HAN, IV 13Liane Xu, IV

New Planet Discovered

On August 10, 2015, a team of astronomers

and researchers from San Francis-

co State Univer-sity discovered a new planet. Known as either Kepler-453b or Kepler-9632895b, it orbits a pair of stars, similar to the planet Ta-

tooine from Star Wars. Kepler-453b is in a hab-itable zone

(the area around a star

where liquid wa-ter can exist); howev-

er, scientists believe it is a gas giant unable to sustain life. Like gas giants in our solar system, such as Jupiter, Kepler-453b could have rocky moons, which may be able to support life. The planet takes 240 days to orbit its host stars, and its erratic path limits the number of times it transits directly between its stars and the earth.

If it had not been discovered when it was, there would not be another chance to see it for 50 years. Af-fected by the gravitational pull of two stars, the planet is only vis-ible to astronomers for 9% of its orbit. During the transit, the planet blocked out 0.5% of its host stars’ light, allowing scientists to figure out that its radius is 6.2 times that of Earth, or about 60% larger than Neptune. An inhabitant of the planet would see two suns in the sky, orbiting each other every 27 days. Its larger host star, Kepler-435A, is 94% the size of our Sun, and the smaller one, Kepler-435B, is only 20% the size of our Sun and emits less than 1% of the en-ergy that our Sun emits. Kepler has taught us about systems that sci-entists previously never knew existed.

11JOSEPH RICHARDSON, VI

similar to planet Tatooine from

Star Wars

14 Jackie Kam, ii

“The thorny dragon” sounds like something straight out of Harry Potter, and the fact that its scientific name is Moloch horridus is not much of an invalidation. An Australian lizard, Moloch horridus is the only species in its genus, Moloch, which refers to a Canaanite god to whom children were often sacrificed. Its species name, horri-dus, can mean horrible or wild. On account of its spikes, it is also commonly referred to as “the thorny devil.” The thorny devil dines exclusively on ants, eating thousands of them in a single day. It favors ants, such as Ochetellus flavipes, which are, on average, around two millimeters long. This is about one-hundredth the size of the average Moloch horridus. If a human were to do this, it would be equivalent to eating approximately 1,000 Star-bursts every single day! Even so, the thorny dragon’s diet and name are the least eccentric thing about it. For one thing, after genera-tions upon generations of deceiving predators, the thorny dragon has developed an odd gait. It will creep forward, then suddenly stop, and possibly sway side to side. After a few seconds of this dance, it will step forward another pace, and so on. This seemingly useless habit is presumed

to aid it in deceiving predators to think that Moloch hor-ridus is debris. Another odd trait that the thorny devil has acquired is its false head. Indeed, there is a circular knob on the thorny dragon’s neck that resembles a small head. When faced by one of its predators, Moloch horridus will dip its head down between its legs, and the false head will take its place. If any predator tried to bite the false head, they would be hard-pressed to do any real damage. The knob consists of nothing but fat. But quite possibly the most alien adaptation that the thorny dragon has received relates to its environment. Living in the dry and hot regions of central Australia, Moloch horridus has developed an astounding way of col-lecting water to drink. After dew falls, the thorny devil brushes past shrubbery and allows the dew to fall onto its back. From there, specialized muscles transport the wa-ter to its mouth. A spectator may see the thorny dragon walk past a bush, and then freeze, opening and closing its mouth periodically. Imagine if humans had the same capability! One could dive into a tub of chocolate, and rivulets of chocolate would be propelled by tiny muscles on his or her back, straight up into his or her mouth.

THE THORNY DRAGON

12 KEVIN s. QI, iV 13LIANE XU, iv

Reindeer are famous for pull-ing Santa’s sleigh, but like every other organism, they need to reproduce. Also known as caribou, reindeer live in Can-ada, Alaska, Greenland, and northern Eurasia and generally travel in herds of up to a few hundred. During the few months before Christmas, howev-er, the breeding season, or the rut, oc-curs, and the peaceful herds break up. The competition between male reindeer is fierce, and depending on their sub-species, they may employ several strategies. For example, high Arctic reindeer collect harems, clusters of females to mate with and protect against other competitive males. Rein-deer that live in forests, on the other hand, prefer to defend resource-rich territories and mate with the females that are lured to the area. Reindeer liv-ing in the tundra must migrate during the breeding season and are usually

only able to defend one female during her estrous cycle, during which she un-dergoes physiological changes due to reproductive hormones. Males of sub-species with harems tend to fall into three sub-categories: dominant, sub-dominant, and sneaker. The dominant male’s goal is to attract as many females as possible. Sub-dominant males stay around dominant male harems to try to steal females and create their own little group, while sneaker males, usual-ly younger, quickly mate with females when the harem leader is not pay-ing attention. If two dominant males fight, the loser can lose his harem and become a subdominant male. Their antlers can make fights quite severe. During the peak rut, a ten-day period when up to ninety percent of mat-ing occurs, males’ mating behaviors become much more active. Females, however, are only receptive during a

two-day period during the peak rut. To test a female for estrus, a state in which successful concep-tion can occur, a male will grunt and sniff her vaginal area while doing the Flehmen Response, lifting his upper lips to expose his teeth. The Flehmen Response allows males to detect cer-tain chemicals in the area. If the fe-male is in the estrous phase, the male will grunt and make the Flehmen Response even more throughout the day. During this period, the female is responsible for keeping away sneaker males. When it is time to mate, the male will try to mount the female from behind, usually taking a few at-tempts before success. After a few sec-onds of success, the male ditches the female and stops guarding her, even if she tries to stay near him. Even if reindeer bring you presents in De-cember, guys, don’t be male reindeer.

Santa’s Reindeer Under the Mistletoe

16 Catherine flynn, IV14 MASHA LEYFER, IV

The desire to escape death is as ancient as humanity itself. What if we could prolong our survival for hundreds or thousands of years? What if we could prolong it indefi-nitely? What was once science fiction might someday be a common reality.Some scientists believe that it is pos-sible to stop the aging process. One of the pioneers in this field is Aubrey de Grey, an English biomedical ger-ontologist who believes that aging is a disease, and like any disease, it can and should be cured. De Grey, along with other scientists in the field of immortality, argue that im-mortality, or at least a highly expand-ed life span with an equally expanded youth, is beneficial to human society. Aging can be divided into two parts: physical aging and mental aging, which might be treated dif-ferently. Scientists have narrowed the solution to physical aging down to seven main parts. The first part is loss, atrophy, or degeneration of cells. As we age, our bodies tend

to become less capable at producing healthy cells. This is especially prob-lematic in tissues that do not replace themselves as they die, such as those in the heart and the brain; these are the two organs which fail most often, resulting in the loss of a life. Scientists propose treating this by introduc-ing factors that would stimulate cell division or by stem cell transfusions. Secondly, accumulation of unwanted cells plays a role in this

process. This refers to excess fat cells, as well as cells that have become un-healthy and “old,” that tend to ac-cumulate in the cartilage of human joints. Scientists are currently working on treatments that would get rid of the unwanted cells but would not harm cells that belong in the human body. Mutations in chromosomes are a third factor. The most danger-ous effect of cell mutation is cancer growth. If scientists could eliminate

harmful genes, such as those that cause cancer, they would be able to solve this problem. Scientists propose replacing a person’s stem cells approx-imately once a decade with cells engi-neered not to carry harmful genes. Another factor is mutations in the mitochondria. Mitochondria, as we all inexplicably know, are the powerhouses of the cell. They con-tain little bits of DNA which are very susceptible to mutation, as they are

not housed in the chromo-somes of the nucleus. Sci-entists propose moving this

DNA into the nucleus, where it will be much safer. A fifth cause of aging is the accumulation of “junk” within the cell. This junk is the material that build up in the lysosomes as a result of the cell’s breakdown of large molecules. Once enough of it has accumulated, it starts interfering with the function of the cell. One of the leading ideas to solve this problem is utilizing nanoro-bots, which can clean out the cells.

“ancient as humanity itself”

THE PROMISE of eternal

1715MASHA LEYFER, IV

Penultimately, accumulation of “junk” outside of the cell causes aging symptoms. Cells are bathed in a liquid called extracellular fluid. As people age, the extracellular fluid be-comes polluted with proteins that cannot be broken down. A propo-sition to solve this is a vaccine that would stimulate cells to attack the un-wanted materials. Finally, crosslinks in proteins outside of the cell have proven to be another component in aging. Extra-cellular fluid contains flexible protein molecules, which give tissues traits such as elasticity and strength. Over time, chemical reactions affect these proteins. One of the most damaging effects is the formation of chemical bonds called crosslinks between two molecules that were previously independent of each other. This results in thickening of the tissues, which can be danger-ous in multiple situations. For ex-ample, if the tissue is the wall of an

artery, its thickening can lead to high blood pressure. A proposal to solve this is to identify chemicals that will break down crosslinks, but leave ev-erything else intact. Now, we as a species must answer the question: do we really-want an immortal population? There seem to be two pos-sible outcomes: a utopian society

where humans are capable of incred-ible things and rapidly advance, or a dystopian society with an enormous class rift and numerous unforeseen implications. It is very difficult for to imag-ine what this potential society would be like. The definition of “human”, something that is never questioned in modern society, will take on a flexible

meaning. Humanity’s entire premise of existence will be completely dif-ferent. Currently, humans live with the constant knowledge that time will run out. This is the driving force be-hind all of our decisions. An immor-tal being, or even a being that lives one-thousand years, does not have this fear. Currently, the future belongs to the descendants. With an immortal

population, the future would be-long to the generation of today.A decision is inevitable. Even-tually, humans will need to de-cide whether they want to re-alize the full potential of the species - and everything that

goes along with it. When we decide, we need to ask ourselves: do we want to sacrifice the possibility of being gods for the possibility that we will destroy ourselves from the inside?

“DO WE really WANT AN iMMortalPopulation?”

LIFE

?

16 JOHN REZZA, II

Hydrogen:

Since the Industrial Revolution, human-ity has sought an eternal energy source to no avail, but since before then there has been a promis-ing, abundant fuel: hydrogen gas. An effec-tive form of eco-friendly energy, it can be cheaply produced through electrolysis, a process in which hydrogen and oxygen gas-es are split from water by an electric current. The machines which perform this process are much less damaging to the environment than oil rigs and coal mines, easy to build, and extreme-ly cheap to make compared to oil rigs. Many al-ready exist in labs around the world and some people have even created do-it-yourself versions. Hydrogen gas would work in a combus-tion engine due to its explosive properties. Its flammability and reactivity that cause hazards in other applications like balloons would seem to be very apt in the scenario of car engines. Even so, the engine and tank would still need to be modi-fied and made of a strong material because the gas would have to be highly pressurized. One benefit to this process is its environmental safety--when hydrogen is combusted, the only net product is water vapor. One of the only drawbacks, how-ever, to switching to hydrogen-powered vehicles is the cost of replacing oil-combusting cars. The government's most effective method for replacing the old cars would be to issue a rebate for turn-ing in old cars and buying new ones; the govern-ment would need to pay around $5,000 per car is-sued via rebate. This rebate system has already been

implemented: in 2014, a family bought a Hyundai Tucson (a recent attempt at hydrogen powered car), and the government gave them a $5,000 rebate. For the time being, the government would not be able to handle the collective cost of all cars. At any rate, though, there is hope of progress on the horizon for the automobile and environmental industries.

Potential Eco-Friendly Energy for the Future

For International Education Week, Boston Latin School’s (BLS) Clough Center for Global Under-standing hosted programs daily in the Seevak Room, from November 16 to November 19. The numer-ous opportunities that the Clough Center’s Travel Program showcased included the Global Health Fellow-ship, and two of the offered inter-national trips are scientifically cen-tered: BLS in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the BLS Beijing Science Team. In the Virgin Islands, students ob-serve coral reefs and collect data

through exploration and discovery. Over many years, these data have been used to identify trends caused by climate change. The BLS Beijing Science Team focuses on remedy-ing global issues, like pollution and energy shortage. Every year, a few members travel to Beijing to com-pete in the Beijing Youth Science and Creation Competition and to present a year-long project. Sometimes, the trends that BLS students observe in the Virgin Islands are used by the Beijing Science Team. In a true wolf-pack, everyone helps one another!

CLOUGH CENTER HIGHLIGHTS

“remedying global issues, like pollution

and energy shortage”

Puzzle Balancingequations

The Science The Activity The Law of Conservation of Mass is a scientific law stating that the mass of a closed system remains constant. Closed systems do not exchange matter or energy with their surroundings. One application of the Law of Conservation of Mass is in chemical equations, which take into account the universe as a closed system. Chemical equations involve an input, called the reactants, that come together to form an output, called the products. When dealing with chemical equations, the mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products. When balancing chemical equations, you must make sure that both sides are equal. Therefore, each atom on the left side (the reactants) must be accounted for on the right side (the products).

Your task is to balance each of the following equations with a coefficient from 1-26, making sure that your chemical reactions follow the Law of Conservation of Mass. Then, using the code (A=1, B=2, C=3, and so until Z=26), identify the mystery word!

example

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1. ___ AlBr + 3 Cl2 -->→ 2 Al2Cl3 + 2 Br2

2. ___ Ag + 2 HNO3 -->→ AgNO3 + NO2 + H2O

3. 6 N2 + ___ H2 → --> 12 NH3

4. ___ CH4 + 46 O2 -->→23 CO2 + 46 H2O

5. 6 Fe2O3 + ___ C → --> 12 Fe + 9 CO2

6. 7 H2 + 7 Cl2 -->→ ___ HCl

1 O2 + 2 H2 -->→ 2 H2O

In this reaction there are 2 oxygen atoms on the left side in O2, which are accounted for in 2 atoms of H2O. Note that the coefficient 2 is used to balance the oxygen in this reaction. Likewise, there are 4 hydrogen atoms on the left side and 4 hydrogen atoms on the right side. Multiplying the coefficient by the sub-script gives you the total number of an atom.