Magazine of Science

THE MAGAZINE

OF SCIENCE! 1st Edition

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Human Augmentation By: Jeff Sterchi

Human augmentation. We have been doing it for centuries. Human augmentation is using things to heighten or increase our abilities. Anything from glasses to hearing aids to magnets in our hands. We have been creating ways to improve our abilities and extend past our limitations. In more recent years people have been getting implants in their hands and ears. In their fingers they have gotten magnets and microchips so that they can affect devices and do things like find studs in walls. These advancements are just continued examples of the growing possibilities. Large examples of human augmentation that we see, use, and share every day are small things that fit in your pocket. Cell phones. These little things count as an augmentation because they help increase our abilities to communicate and store information. Things we wear and use everyday are examples of human augmentation. In the past we worried more about external augmentation, but now it seems we are leading into a world of internal changes.

In TV shows and in real life we see examples of external augmentation all around us. Fake or robotic limbs, hearing aids, glasses, and even shoes. While this is still newer technology and is constantly being improved on there are newer ideas that while not currently being professional medically practiced they are still being tried and tested.

Internal augmentations are becoming a new and popular thing. Getting microchips implanted in fingertips is one of these new ideas. The point of it is so that you can't easily transfer data between devices such as phones and computers with just the touch of a finger. Another more recent thing is magnets in the fingers. These strong magnets can be useful for lots of things anywhere from construction work to finding things in the field (criminal investigations work). These are just small examples of our seemingly ever increasing future.

The world is furthering on and advancing beyond what I thought it might ever reach in my lifetime. By the year 2025 I fully believe we will have completely functional mechanized prosthetic , robotic eye implants, and internal increases in our mental capacity. The world is rapidly changing and I can’t wait to see what it has in store.

Bonsor, Kevin. "How EUVL Chipmaking Works." HowStuffWorks. 23 May 2001. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.​ http://computer.howstuffworks.com/euvl.htm "What's the Technological Singularity?" HowStuffWorks. 14 Oct. 2008. Web. 2 Dec. 2015..​ http://computer.howstuffworks.com/euvl.htm "Human Augmentation: Blurring the Line Between Biology & Technology." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Dec. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

Warwick, Kevin. "Kevin Warwick." Kevin Warwick. 2007. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.​ http://www.kevinwarwick.com/

"Edward Elric Appearance." EdwardElric.info » Dashing Blonde Hair. Kibumie, 2003. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <​ http://edwardelric.info/information/edward­elric/appearance/​ >.

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"Cyborgs Among Us: Human 'Biohackers' Embed Chips In Their Bodies ­ NBC News." NBC News. JULIANNE PEPITONE, 11 July 2014. Web. 2 ​ http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high­tech­gadgets/technological­singularity.htm Dec.2015.​ http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/cyborgs­among­us­human­biohackers­embed­chips­their­bodies­n150756 Nelson, Bryan. "7 Real­life Human Cyborgs." MNN. 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.​ http://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/7­real­life­human­cyborgs Trew, James. "Doctor Dubbed 'the Father of Cyborgs' Tested Implants in His Own Brain." Engadget. 15 Nov. 2015. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.​ http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/10/the­father­of­cyborgs­tested­implants/ "Cyborg Eye After Effects V­01." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <​ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I3owp0CzzA​ >.

Jetpacks. Even the barn animals will want one.

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Under the Sea

By Madison Busse Have you ever considered living underwater?

In an article written by Ben Hellwarth for Discover magazine, underwater living is made clear to be a future possibility and already a work in progress.

“Until just half a century ago, the idea of housing human divers on the seabed was pure science fiction,” wrote Wellwarth. “Even with the advent of modern scuba in the 1940s, strict depth and time limits were inevitable because of the physiological effects that come from breathing underwater and under pressure.”

As time progressed however, scientists made many advancements in the technology used, going from a photo­booth sized prototype (​ 4' 6" x 6' and about 6' 2" tall)​ ​ , to a living quarters large enough to house four divers for 60 days.

With American progression in the subject, the Japanese eventually decided to join the race, announcing a $25 billion underwater colony that spirals to the ocean floor.

The ​ Shimizu Corporation announced that the project would cost about three trillion yen ($25 billion) and the technology would all be in place by 2030.

The colony is predicted to be able to house and allow 5,000 people to work in the sphere, which would have a diameter of about 500 meters and be able to plunge to depths up to 4,000 meters.

Though, despite developments, as of December 15, 2014 the longest anyone has ever lived underwater is 73 days. This record was set by Jessica Fain and Bruce Cantrell, aquanuts and professors at Roane State, who lived in the Jules Undersea Lodge at Key Largo Undersea park.

They filmed nine episodes of a show called “Classroom Under the Sea” and hosted web chats with students across the world. They aimed to break the world record, which teaching students about taking care of the oceans and preservin​ g them.

The task required getting through social iso​ lation and living under pressure and breathing in a mix of gases that substitute for the air they were used to on the surface.

Though both divers made it through without struggle, they were relieved when they finally got to see the sun again.

“Enjoying some well deserved sun!” tweeted Fain soon after they resurfaced.

Even with the many tests that have been done, scientists are still unsure the effects that long term pressure and times without sun could affect people physically and mentally. But with increased developments, and Japan’s plans for Ocean Spiral, maybe someday not only can we save our oceans, but colonize them as well.

Japans “Ocean Spiral”

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Divers Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain

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Enlightenment, Bright. "US NAVY DEEP SEA UNDERWATER COLONY ­ SEALAB I ­ Digitally Restored Documentary Film." ​ YouTube​ . YouTube, 6 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plkv42uElxA​ >.

Driskill, Owen. "Classroom Under the Sea." ​ Classroom Under the Sea​ . Roane State. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.roanestate.edu/classroomunderthesea/​ >.

Fain, Jessica. "@Aquanautjess." ​ Twitter​ . Twitter, 17 Dec. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ https://twitter.com/AquanautJess​ >.

Hallwarth, Ben. "The Long, Ongoing Dream of Undersea Colonies."​ Discover Magazine​ . Kalmbach Publishing Co., 30 July 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

<​ http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jun/02­alpha​ >.

Howard, Brian. "Fabien Cousteau Leads "Aquanauts" in Record­Breaking Undersea Expedition | Innovators." ​ National Geographic​ . National Geographic Society, 24 June 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140624­fabien­cousteau­aquanauts­aquarius­m ission­31­ocean/ ​ "Medina Aquarius Brochure." ​ Issuu​ . FIU, 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

<​ http://issuu.com/fiupublications/docs/seas_aquarius_broch­issuu​ >.

​ Nuwer, Rachel. "Will We Ever... Live in Underwater Cities?" ​ BBC Future​ . BBC, 30 Sept. 2013.

Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130930­can­we­build­underwater­cities​ >.

Presse, Agence France. "A Japanese Construction Company Is Planning A $25 Billion Underwater Colony That Spirals Into The Ocean Floor."​ Business Insider​ . Business Insider, Inc, 25 Nov. 2014.

Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

http://www.businessinsider.com/afp­japan­sees­modern­atlantis­spiral­deep­into­ocean­2014­11

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Rogue planets, humanities new home, or just cool science article?

By​ ​ Michael Doerge

Rogue planets. Interstellar rocks. These are all nicknames given to the rocks flying through space freely, that were planets once perhaps, officially named sub­brown dwarfs. These rogues are not asteroids, but planets that were booted from their solar system during its youth. They now fly throughout the galaxy without a star to call home; interstellar bachelors. My kind of planets. Rogues planets are an oddity of astronomy and a topic of some debate over how they were formed; whether they were actually planets, or just extremely weak brown­dwarf stars that don’t have the gravity needed to start a solar system. Another theory is that globulettes, which are small dust clouds in space, that are unusually dense and moving fastly away from the nebula region. The density of the clouds means that it is likely they will collapse into a planet­mass object.

All this means that it is possible that rogue planets could form completely independant out in space. Any of these, perhaps all, could be true.

Scientists believe there could be billions of rogue planets in our galaxy, all roaming freely in intergalactic space, but are not certain for rogue planets are difficult to study due to the fact they do not orbit a star. Scientists say that with every star in the sky, there are two rogue planets that were kicked out, Jupiter and Saturn, are rather “obedient” by the galactic standard.

One topic of discussion among the people of the internet is whether it is possible for humans to colonize a rogue planet. Some say that without a sun to provide warmth and drive the carbon­silicate cycle, that any planet could never be self­sustaining or even relatively sustainable. Scientists say that a rogue planet’s atmosphere is made up of hydrogen, a substance that does not mix well with oxygen. This doesn’t bode well for 7

the self­sustainment of a rogue world. But if the beings of earth couldn’t live a rogue planet, could there be life on them at all?

Well, Caltech planetary scientist David Stevenson theorized that if a planet could maintain a hydrogen atmosphere that it could remain warm enough to have liquid water on the surface, and even if the planet has no atmosphere anymore, there still could be subsurface oceans. Could these bodies of water sustain life? Heikki Vanhamaki at the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki said “​ It has been speculated that Earth­like rogue planets could have very thick atmosphere that keeps them relatively warm, or moons of giant rogue planets could experience tidal heating and have oceans beneath their icy surface.” ​ It would be impossible to know unless we physically travelled there.

How cool would that be though?

Atkinson, Nancy. "New Rogue Planet Found, Closest to Our Solar System."​ Universe Today.​ N.p., 14 Nov. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. http://www.universetoday.com/98478/new­rogue­planet­found­closest­to­our­solar­system/ Chang, Kenneth. "Wandering Planets Could Support Life." ​ ABC News.​ ABC News Network, 01 July 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=99236&page=1 Drake, Nadia. "A Guide to Lonely Planets in the Galaxy." ​ Phenomena A Guide to Lonely Planets in the Galaxy Comments.​

N.p., 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/13/a­guide­to­lonely­planets­in­the­galaxy/ Grossman, Lisa. "Rogue Planets Could Harbor Life." ​ Wired.com​ . Conde Nast Digital, 02 Oct. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

http://www.wired.com/2011/02/steppenwolf­planet/ Koberlein, Brian. "Going Rogue ­ One Universe at a Time." ​ One Universe at a Time​ . N.p., 27 Aug. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. https://briankoberlein.com/2014/08/27/going­rogue/ Pillai, P.P. "Extraterrestrial Guide." ​ Google Books.​ N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

https://books.google.com/books?id=5EKGBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA550&lpg=PA550&dq=sub­brown+dwarf+rogue+planets&source=bl&ot s=S­pZPjPo9X&sig=HhHphpHGC00W8­8Mt2Q­RvSfdb8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEwADgKahUKEwiJj4Hjl5XJAhVLmh4KHdG OBSc#v=onepage&q=sub­brown%20dwarf%20rogue%20planets&f=false Raymond, Sean. "Could We Make Our Home on a Rogue Planet without a Sun? ­ Sean Raymond ­ Aeon Essays." ​ Aeon​ . N.p., 9 Apr. 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. https://aeon.co/essays/could­we­make­our­home­on­a­rogue­planet­without­a­sun Schulze­Makuch, Dirk. "Life on a Rogue Planet." ​ Air & Space Magazine​ . N.p., 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

http://www.airspacemag.com/daily­planet/life­on­a­rogue­planet­2718142/?no­ist Yeager, Ashley. "Solo Planets May Be Surprisingly Common." ​ Science News.​ N.p., 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/solo­planets­may­be­surprisingly­common

Suicide mission or next step for Humanity

volunteer for the mission to mars and be a HERO!!

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Science Fiction I

By Michael Doerge

The hull of the ship rattles and shakes as it descends into the dark atmosphere.

Private Dan Thomas of the NASA Colonization Corps sits strapped into his seat aboard the USS ​ Seeker​ . The planet below is an interstellar free­floating sub­brown dwarf, a “rogue planet”, and it is NASA’s latest subject for colonization. In the last few weeks, the colony has gone dark, and NASA has sent a squad of soldiers to investigate. The Seeker ​ dives down through the dark clouds into the hydrogen filled atmosphere of XBBW­121, and approached one of the ice capped oceans on the planet’s surface.

XBBW­121 has three subsurface oceans that are capped by five kilometers of ice.

Underneath the ice is a geothermally heated body of water that has sustained life. Alien shrimp­like fish, tube worms as big as a man, and who knows what else lives in these oceans. In NASA’s attempt at colonising the world, they drilled through several kilometers of ice and built a facility on the bottom up the ice sheet, hanging into the water.

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“This place was going to be used as a waystation to refuel vessels on their way to the Proxima Centauri System” said Captain Boris, Thomas’s commanding officer, “We get in, find out why the facility hasn’t been checking in, and we get out.

Understood?” All replied with a stern “Yes Sir.” There was six of them; Thomas, Boris, Higgens, Quincy, Kowalski, and Peterson. The ship touched ground on the surface of the ice cap, the rockets on the ship fired on to allow for a soft landing and then powered down. “All disembark” commanded Boris. The squad hopped out of the ship and began moving towards the metalic structure to the east that was the elevator down to the facility. All the soldiers wore full­body environmental protection suits, the air pressure was different here than on earth and the air was filled with hydrogen, and all are armed with rifles. After a short hike, they enter the elevator building.

The building was just an enclosed metal canopy covering an elevator car. “Power is still on,” said the Boris, “get in.” The squad piled in the elevator and sent it down. The elevator descent lasted for two hours, as it dropped several kilometers through the ice cap. At last the elevator stopped, and the door opened. Immediately water rushed into the elevator car, filling it to the top.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Kowalski. Luckily for the squad, the environment protection suits had gills for underwater breathing. ​ The whole facility is underwater,​ thought Thomas, ​ this isn’t good.

“It’s alright, the whole facility might not be underwater. The scientists might still be alive,” said Boris, “Move out. Flashlights on. Higgens, check where the breach in the wall is.”

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“Copy that,” replied Higgens. The squad entered the first room. It was rectangular, the right side wall slanted outwards from the floor facing out into the subsurface ocean, the left side wall faced into the ice cap. In the room were lockers and benches, there were space suits floating at eye level in the completely flooded room.

“Those scientist guys must have got trapped deeper in the facility, no way out but through here.” said Quincy. He reached out and grabbed a hold of one of the space suits. “And with these suits they wouldn’t have been able to get into this room without freezing to death.”

“Maybe they…” said Peterson before being cut­off by Boris.

“Cut the chatter! We need this channel open incase the scientists try and send a distress call,” barked Boris looking back at the squad. “Higgens, report.”

Higgens was standing by the far right wall, inspecting it for breaches.

“Found it sir, patching it up now.” replied Higgens as he reached for a roll of duct tape on his hip. The breach was a meter long and maybe a foot wide and it looked like someone has torn the two foot thick metal like a tiger’s claw through paper. “I wonder wha…”

That was all he could mutter before a long tentacle reached in through the breach and grabbed him. “Holy s***,” screamed Higgens as the tentacle began trying to pull him through the hole in the wall. “Shoot it! Help!”

“Higgens! Fire!” yelled Boris. Kowalski and Peterson were closest to Higgens.

The both of them opened fire shooting bolts of blue energy at the tentacle holding Higgens around the waist. Both bolts hit the tentacle, and it released its gripped and pulled away out of the breach.

“Get away from the wall!” yelled Thomas. As soon as Thomas could say this, three more tentacles came crashing through the breach, grabbing each side it, and tearing the metal apart more to reveal what appeared to be a giant albino alien shrimplike creature floating outside the wall in the water, it’s tentacles reaching into the facility room the squad was in.

The shrimp grabbed Higgens with all of its tentacles and pulled him out into the ocean, and then right into its giant mouth, swallowing him whole. The last words the squad could hear Higgens croak were muffled curses and screams as he was being swallowed by the beast.

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Thomas moved as fast as he could to open the door to the next room. When the door open, the water from the room he entered from flooded into the dry room he had just open. He was thrown forward by the rushing water. The door behind him shut quickly and forcefully to stop the flooding. He jumped up onto his feet as fast as he could to try and open the door for his squadmates. He could open it, it was magnetically sealed.

This room seemed to be some­type of security room; there were several skeletons of dead security guards lying on the ground, floating in the now knee­deep water. In the middle of the room was a standup x­ray machine, probably for screening new arrivals to the facility. Across the room to the ocean side of the facility was a desk with computer monitors surrounding.

As quick as Thomas could, he ran over to the desk and looked at the monitors for any controls that would open the door. No luck. The only thing he could do was watch as Kowalski, Quincy, and Boris were picked up one by one and taken away into the ocean by the beast. Peterson was nowhere to be seen when Thomas looked. The last words he heard his squadmates mutter before their radios were crushed along with their bodies, was screaming and chaos.

The door to the next room was magnetically sealed as well, through the camera Thomas could see that that room was flooded as well in a similar fashion. He glanced down at the skeletons of the floor. ​ So I guess this is how you went too. ​ he thought.

Thomas tried for six hours to find a way out.

It was all in vain.

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The water made thud­sound has Thomas plopped onto the floor. He sat, leaning against the far wall from where he had entered. He then popped the seal on his suit’s helmet and slide it off, laying it on the ground next to him. The soldier’s hands and arms went limp, letting his weapon drop into his lap.

“Men were not meant to live on this planet,” muttered Thomas, realizing his demise had come.

To be Continued?

​ Grizzlies Don’t Get Diabetes while Hibernating

By Brad Calta Recently people have been studying bears and the effects that hibernation have on them. Before hibernation bears will gain massive amounts of weight so that they can sleep through the winter. Bears can hibernate for up to seven months. So they will need to eat a massive amount of food and gain a lot of weight. A bear can gain up to forty pounds a week. How is it that these animals don’t get diabetes? They gain this much weight and yet don’t get diabetes.

If a human was going to gain that much weight then the likelihood of getting diabetes rises substantially because the body can’t handle the amount of weight gained.

Type 2 diabetes is a rising problem in America and with these new findings in the the world of health. A protein called PTEN, bears are able to turn off certain parts of it so that they can gain weight but there metabolism stays the same so that they stay healthy. During the winter they shut off parts of the PTEN and continue to produce insulin and they still sugar in their cells. Shutting it off helps you maintain insulin sensitivity and helps prevent getting diabetes. By not getting diabetes they stay far healthier and can keep their weight on. It could help in humans with overweight or obese people from getting more unhealthy. They are also less likely to develop more diseases like cancer, or metabolic diseases. The bears don’t succumb to metabolic 13

ailments such as poor blood sugar control, which is found in obese humans. During summer and fall they are insulin sensitive and when they are hibernating their resist to insulin.

PTEN regulates cell growth and division. PTEN is linked to diabetes. Essentially scientists are trying to figure out a way to get this Protein into humans so that we can resolve or slow down diabetes in humans.

Phosphatase and tensin homolog are the two proteins that are encoded. It helps with Cancer cells and 70% of men with prostate cancer find an extra PTEN cell in it. If this cell is defective then it can result in autism and other diseases. They are studying the effects of this protein to see if you can regenerate the cell or manipulate it to be able to help humans fight diseases. It is also a tumor suppressor which is what helps it fight off cancer so well.

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In all if we could be able to get the ability to get cells rebuilt and and control what they could do, then in the future we will be able to fight many diseases and fight cancer.

This will lead to many advances in technology and help human and animal life.

Niesel, David , Herzog, Norbert , “‘Bearly’ Understanding Diabetes” , Medical Discovery News , 2014, Dec 2, 2015, http://www.medicaldiscoverynews.com/shows/393­barely.htm​ l

http://www.prevention.com/health/diabetes/how­grizzly­bears­are­fit­and­fat­without­getting­diabetes Praderio Caroline, “” can you really be fit and fat? one mammal has it down””, Health diabetes prevention, August 25 2014,11,31,15

http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/021898.html Lansing state journal, “”why do bears hibernate””, 2/19/98, 12/2/15

http://speakingofresearch.com/facts/medical­benefits/ Medical benifits,Speaking of research, Vivienne parry, feb/2/2014, 11/29/15

http://www.statesforbiomed.org/content/how­animals​ ­help benefits of animal research, december 7, 2015,11/28/15

Polio Coming Back?

By Dane Minadeo

Polio which can lead to Poliomyelitis originated early in the 20th century. Polio struck during the hot summer months, it swept through towns and cities every few years. 95% of Polio cases begin with almost no symptoms at all. The other five percent can be categorized into three cases, abortive, non­paralytic, and paralytic. In Abortive Polio, a host will experience symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headache, sore throat, nausea and diarrhea. Non­paralytic Polio will cause the same symptoms as Abortive but with increased sensitivity to light and neck stiffness. Paralytic Polio combines the first two, but can not be cured.

Many doctors and scientists from organizations all over the world are working around the clock to eradicate this deadly disease that starts in faeces and is then transmitted through physical contact. They are getting extremely close reducing the number of new cases from 35,000 to 650 from 1988 to 2011. In 2012 two new dangerous strings of the virus developed from lack of funds to find a final cure. This is scary to doctors because funds are running out. Research has cost over 8 billion dollars, but over 2.5 billion children have been saved, or prevented from getting the disease since 1988 so the money has not gone to waste.

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Lack of money is not the only obstacle that is trying to be cleared. Political conflict has led to the lost funding and the lost ability to research. Although Nigeria is a known supporter of the vaccination of Polio, the disease is known as a Western Hemisphere disease to plot to sterilize children.

With all of these obstacles and the projected 2 billion dollar budget falling short by over $700 million due to a weak global economy, Polio is at risk of becoming a real issue again in the eastern countries, with a risk to spread across the world. With the disease being so close to being defeated last year and something as capable as funding stopping the full eradication, doctors are pushing for help now more than ever.

“We need to finish the job,” Pandak says. “If reduced funding continues, children will be susceptible and the virus will return and spread.”

The Editorial Board of The New York Times. “​ The Global Polio Threat, Back Again”. M ​ay 6th, 2014. December 3rd, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/opinion/the­global­polio­threat­back­again.html?_r=0

Can You Hear Me Now? Good!

​

By Jalin Brock 500,000 Americans use sign language and completely understand it. For those who don’t understand it, it can be very difficult to comprehend.

Researchers at Texas A&M came up with a wearable device that turns sign language into English by a combination of sensors that send information to a computer, by the movements of your arms and fingers.

The concept is practically genius, it is also very simple to use and understand. There are two sensors on this device, they are both motion sensors. The first one is a motion sensor with an accelerometer, which measures the arms speed an angle. The other motion sensor, which is a big part to why this device works, has an electromyographic sensor which measures which part of the arm is moving, by electrical impulses that can detect the movement of your fingers, and which finger is moving. The sensor sends the information to a computer that analyzes the information. It then puts it into words on a computer screen.

The vocabulary of the device is not that proficient, in the sense that the vocabulary is only limited to 40 movements. The sensors are only able to detects 40 different movements of the fingers and arms, the other are 16

unknown, which is a bit of a problem. They would have to do major tinkering to widen the vocabulary of this device. Roozbeh Jafari is the main scientist on this project and wants to help improve it by putting a very small computer directly into the device. Say you’re conversing with a person with this device, the small computer Jafari wants to install, will send exactly what they’re saying to your phone.

Although there have been other devices to help those who are deaf, like hearing aids to cater to the ears and also a device to help with their babies that signal when they are crying, this one seems to be the most promising. The other things to help people are just apps made by users, such as Loud TV that help with amplifying a television set with headphones, this is for people with some hearing, not total hearing loss. ​ Other apps that have been made in recent years to help deaf and hearing people communicate with each other. An ​ app called Transcense​ , released last year, translates speech from multiple people into written words, and presents them on the screen in color­coded bubbles. It’s meant to help deaf people at meetings or in social situations, where multiple speakers can be a challenge for even the most proficient lip­readers. Another company, ​ MotionSavvy​ , has been working on a tablet that takes motions and reads the words out loud in English. In China, researchers have ​ used Microsoft’s Kinect motion­sensing equipment to translate Chinese Sign Language into spoken and written words.

The device I’m focusing on was made in a lab by scientists at Texas A&M. This idea is very promising granted there are a couple of kinks to figure out, such as the limited vocabulary, and the cost of it. They have a long ways to go, but it will be very promising in the future Speaking of the future, this device is very advanced for our day and age and even though we have other very advanced devices, there is still so much more that can be done. The two main sensors in this device are the accelerometer and electromyographic sensors. The first sensor, the accelerometer has many different uses such as in missiles and aircrafts and are used detect and monitor the vibration in rotating machinery. With multiple accelerometers (5 at most) they can detect differences in acceleration, which in this device is very important. It’s important so the movement of your arms and hands as they sign the word or words you’re trying to express. The Apple iPhone was the first smartphone to put an accelerometer in it, so the screen can be turned, it’s also called portrait orientation.

The second sensor in this device is the electromyographic sensor. This sensor detects electromagnetic movement within the skeletal muscles, so when you move even the slightest the 17

device will send data to a computer, which part of the skeletal structure moved and for how long, this device will be able to send signals to the computer when the fingers on the hand move. So, when the person signs a word with their hands, the electromyographic sensor detects which word the person is saying. Without one of the sensors, the device is rendered useless, you can’t have one without the other.

So to sum it up with the sensors, ​ the system uses two sensors. One is a motion sensor with an accelerometer and a gyroscope, which measures the user’s hand and arm speed and angle. By sensing where a user’s hands and arms are, it can begin to guess what word they might be signing. Then there’s an electromyographic sensor, which measures the electrical potential of muscle movement. It can tell exactly what part of the hands and fingers are moving, which is critical.

This device is just a prototype at the moment, but it will be available soon to the public once all of the kinks get figured out.

Smith, Dave, Mr. "How Does An Accelerometer Work In A Smartphone? Bill Hammack, The Engineer Guy, Explains [FULL TEXT]."

International Business Times​ . Intl Business Times, 23 May 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2015 http://www.ibtimes.com/how­does­accelerometer­work­smartphone­bill­hammack­engineer­guy­explains­full­text­699762

Dodds, Jeanette. "Assistive Technology for People Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing." ​ Assistive Technology for People Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing​ . Unknown, Apr.­May 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. http://www.tcnj.edu/~technj/2003/dodds.htm

Germaine, Lerry. "12th Annual." ​ Body Sensor Networks Conference 2015.​ BSNN, Jan.­Feb. 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. http://www.bsn2015.org/

Matchar, Emily. "This Wearable Device Translates Sign Language To English." ​ Smithsonian.​ Smithsoinan.com, Oct.­Nov. 2015.

Web. 07 Dec. 2015. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/wearable­device­translates­sign­language­english­180956827/?no­ist

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Race to Save the Sharks

By Blake Brumfield Sharks are one of our planet's most misunderstood and maligned creatures, and the pressure from human activities on shark populations has been pushing some species of these fish toward extinction.

An estimated one­third of over 400 shark species are under threat of extinction, millions of sharks are killed every year just for their fins, and many others are killed as '​ bycatch​ ' while fishing for other species.​ To make matters worse, 95 – 98% of the shark is wasted during the finning process. Reported trade in shark fins more than doubled from 3,011 metric tons in 1985 to 7,048 metric tons in 1997. Since then, the reported trade has continued to rise steadily. ​ Using data on shark catches, discards and mortality rates worldwide, researchers estimate that approximately 100 million sharks are killed per year by humans. However, they add that this is a conservative estimate, and the true number could be as high as 273 million sharks killed annually by humans.

Finning occurs worldwide and is most common in high seas fisheries, hundreds of miles out at sea. Oceanic fishing fleets target valuable fish such as tuna, using thousands of baited hooks on miles of long­line, and freezing their catch onboard. Until relatively recently, this shark 'bycatch' was considered a nuisance, and sharks were cut loose and allowed to swim away. However, as shark fins have become increasingly valuable, sharks are now deliberately targeted by these same fisheries, with captured sharks finned while alive and then, while the shark is often still alive, it is thrown back into the water to suffocate or bleed to death.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about 80% of our global fisheries are now being fished close to, already at, or beyond their capacity – with more than 50% of fish stocks considered fully exploited. 1% of the world's industrial fishing fleets account for 50% of the world's catches. It is estimated that global fishing fleets are 250% larger than the oceans can sustainably support around the world, so governments provide subsidies of over $15 billion a year to fisheries. Laws often support the fishermen and until recently, the oceans, for all practical purposes, have been within their control.

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The main reason for shark finning is to make shark fin soup which is considered a delicacy in many Asian countries. Much like the poaching of elephants for their tusks, the sharks are left to die once they’ve been finned. So while people enjoy their “delicacy”, millions of animals are dying. Is this fair? Is having a tasty meal worth the death of an entire species? I’ve given you the information, you decide.==

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http://sharkangels.org/issues­facing­sharks/looming­extinction​ Shark Angels, Looming Shark Extinction, 2011, accessed 12/4/15

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http://www.seashepherd.org/sharks/what­can­be­done.html​ Sea Shepard, What can be Done to Save Sharks, 2013, accessed 12/3/15

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http://ocean.si.edu/ocean­news/shark­finning­sharks­turned­prey​ Ocean Portal, Shark Finning: Sharks Turned Prey, Smithsonean Institution, 2015, accessed 12/3/15

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/18/conservation.aaas​ The Guardian, Shark Species Face Extinction amid Overfishing and Appetite for Fins, Guardian News, 2015, accessed 12/3/15

3D Printers By: Bri Matras

The earliest 3D printing technologies first started in the late 1980’s. They were called Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies because the processes were originally created to be a more cost­effective method for creating prototypes for product development within 20

industry. The very first patent application for RP technology was founded by Dr. Kodama, in Japan, in May 1980. However, the full patent specification was not filed before the one year deadline after the application. The real origins of 3D printing can be traced back to 1986, when the first patent was issued for stereolithography apparatus (SLA). This patent belonged to ​ Charles (Chuck) Hull​ , who first invented his SLA machine in 1983. Hull went on to co­found 3D Systems Corporation (http://www.3dsystems.com/), one of the largest and most successful organizations operating in the 3D printing sector today.

In 1999, scientists at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine printed human bladder cells. This synthetic bladder was transplanted in a human, opening the door to the 3D organ printing market. The 2000s had many 3D printing milestones, providing advancements in medical, manufacturing, and do­it­yourself achievements.

The fabrication of the bladder paved the way for many medical milestones, including the construction of a miniature functional kidney, a prosthetic leg, and the first 3D­printed blood vessels. In 2006, machines were now capable of 3D printing with filaments comprised of an ever­expanding number materials, allowing greater complexity, density, and strength in printed objects. In 2011 the world’s first 3D­printed unmanned aircraft was created.

Types of 3D printers Stereolithography (SLA) Fused deposition modeling (FDM) Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Selective laser melting (SLM) Electronic Beam Melting (EBM) Laminated object manufacturing (LOM)

Modern SLA printers The process works by printing layer by layer adding information for each layer. ​ ​ It starts from the creation of 3D model in CAD (computer­aided design) program. Software processes the CAD model and generates a file that contains the information for each layer. There could be up to ten layers per each millimeter. Then the SLA machine exposes the liquid plastic and a laser starts to form the layer of the model. After the plastic hardens a platform of the printer drops down in the tank a fraction of a millimeter and laser forms the next layer until printing is completed. Once all layers are printed the object needs to be rinsed with a solvent and 21

then placed in an ultraviolet oven to finish processing.

FDM Printers Fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology was developed and implemented at first time by Scott Crump in 1980s. 3D printing machines that use FDM Technology build objects layer by layer from the bottom to the top by heating and extruding thermoplastic filament. The whole process is a bit similar to stereolithography. First, special software makes CAD models into layers and calculates the way printer’s extruder should build each layer. Then the printer heats thermoplastic to its melting point and extrudes it through a nozzle onto a base, along the calculated path. A computer of the 3D printer translates the dimensions of an object into X, Y and Z coordinates and controls that the nozzle and the base follow calculated path during printing.

SLS Printers Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a technique that uses laser as the power source to form solid 3D objects. This technique was developed by a student of Texas University, Carl Deckard, and his professor Joe Beaman in the 1980s. The process starts with creation of computer aided design (CAD) file, which is then converted to .stl format by special software. The material to print with might be anything from ​ nylon​ , ceramics and glass to some metals like aluminum, steel or silver. SLS is more popular among manufactures rather than 3D amateurs at home. This technology requires the use of high­powered lasers, which makes the printer to be very expensive.

SLM Printers 22

The history of SLM started with German research project held by group of people from the Fraunhofer Institute ILT in 1995. Selective laser melting (SLM) is another technique that also uses 3D CAD data as a source. It forms 3D object by using a high­power laser beam that fuses and melts metallic powders together. This method of printing is widely applied to parts with complex geometric structures with thin walls and hidden voids or channels. SLM is great for project that experience such kind of problems like tooling and physical access difficulties to surfaces for machining, as well as restrict the design of components.

EBM Printers EBM is another type of additive manufacturing for metal parts. It was originally founded by Arcam, AB Inc. in the 21st Century.​ ​ EBM uses an electron beam, which is the main difference between these two methods. The material used in EBM is metal powder that melts and forms a 3D model layer by layer by means of a computer, that controls electron beam in a high vacuum. The most well spread materials that are used for EBM are pure Titanium, Inconel 718 and Inconel 625. The application of EBM is mainly focused on medical implants and aerospace area.

LOM Printers Laminated object manufacturing (LOM) is a more rapid prototyping system that was developed by the California based company Helisys Inc. During the LOM process, layers of adhesive coated paper, plastic or metal laminates are fused together using heat and pressure and then cut to shape with a computer controlled laser or knife.

Post­processing of 3D printed parts includes such steps as machining and drilling. LOM printers use continuous sheet coated with an adhesive, which is laid down across substrate with a heated roller. The heated roller that is passed over the material sheet on substrate melts its adhesive. Then laser or knife traces desired dimensions of the part. After the layer is finished, the 23

platform is moved down by about one­sixteenth of an inch. A new sheet of the material is added. The process is repeated over and over again until 3D model is fully printed.

Average Prices (taken from 4 of top rated printers)

SLA

FDM

SLS

SLM

EBM

LOM

$2,899

$2,051.47

$15,000

$1,599

$2,099

$1,499

2015.

"2016 Best 3D Printer Guide." ​ 3D Hubs​ . N.p., 22 august 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ https://www.3dhubs.com/best­3d­printer­guide​ > "3D Printer Buyer's Guide." ​ MakeZine.com​ . N.p., ​ Copyright © 2004­2015​ Maker Media, Inc.​ ​ Web. 02 Dec.

<​ http://makezine.com/comparison/3dprinters/​ > "3D Printing History: The Free Beginner's Guide ­ 3D Printing Industry." ​ 3D Printing Industry​ . N.p. May 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ http://3dprintingindustry.com/3d­printing­basics­free­beginners­guide/history/​ > "Types of 3D Printers or 3D Printing Technologies Overview | 3D Printing from Scratch." copyright 2015.​ | 3D Printing from Scratch​ . . Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ http://3dprintingfromscratch.com/common/types­of­3d­printers­or­3d­printing­technologies­overview/​ > "The Evolution of 3D Printing Technology." ​ Gizmo Dorks​ . N.p., 14 June 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ http://gizmodorks.com/blog/the­evolution­of­3d­printing­technology/​ > "Rapid Prototyping, Advance Digital Manufacturing." ​ Rapid Prototyping, Advance Digital Manufacturing, 3D Printing, 3­D CAD | 3D Systems​ . N.p., copyright 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.3dsystems.com/​ > "Formlabs Form1 Review – Effortless Precision At a Price." ​ 3D Printing for Beginners​ . © 2015 3D Printing for Beginners, 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <​ http://3dprintingforbeginners.com/formlabs­form1­review/​ > "Best 3D Printer 2015 ­ Top­Rated 3D Printers ­ Tom's Guide." ​ Tom's Guide​ . Richard Baguley. 22 February 2014. N.p., 02 Dec. 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.tomsguide.com/us/3d­printer­buyers­guide,news­17651.html​ >

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How is the environment affecting animals?

Animals are being affected by the environment for many different reasons, this is becoming a major problem in today’s society. A few contributors to this include ● habitat loss ● climate change (global warming) ● pollution ● bycatch ● invasive species

​ Habitat loss The first major conflict is habitat loss, this is where animals are losing their homes due to some main reasons which are natural causes and human expansion.

Natural causes are those that happen naturally in the environment such as forest fires, erosion, mudslides, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, and natural disease. These are problems to the animals because they need habitat in order to survive, when these natural disasters occur their homes and shelters are destroyed as well as their food and water sources. Tornadoes and hurricanes cause major destruction of anything in its path, the wind speeds of tornadoes are estimated to be 200­300 mph and hurricanes are estimated to be 74 mph or more. Earthquakes, mudslides, forest fires and erosion are capable of destroying miles of land and habitat and force animals to migrate to other 25

areas or be wiped out. Natural disease such as plant fungus and tree diseases can destroy large areas of forest over a period of time. Habitat loss to animals is a major problem and if it is allowed to continue, and at the rate it is at now, we will see horrific changes to the environment. Animals will die off due to lack of the three basic needs food, water and shelter, and soon this will not only be bad in the effect of not having animals that are interesting, or entertaining but it will affect ones that our necessary for human survival as well. Animals that we eat such as deer and turkeys that are found in the wild will be wiped out as well, which will greatly affect the food chain as a whole.

food chain shows the levels that each living thing is put into

Climate Change Climate change is another major contributor to how animals are affected by the environment. The main problem that is linked with this is ​ global warming ​ this can be defined as a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, and other pollutants. Global warming has become a major candid to many problems with the environment, some effects from global warming are 1. melting of polar caps 2. air pollution 3. more extreme temperatures 4. rising sea levels 5. cloud forests drying

What is this caused by?

The main cause of all of these things happening is from what is known as “Greenhouse gases” these are heat trapping gases that are hard to get rid of as we continue to 26

evolutionize. “As the earth spins each day, it takes with it the new heat, picking up moisture over the oceans and settling it here and rising it there, it changes the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely on”.

Polar bears habitats are being destroyed as the ice around them is melting do to global warming

The greenhouse effect is what is the result of heat being trapped in the environment, these gases allow light to pass through but trap the heat inside, this was first known in 1824, they figured the earth's climate would be much cooler without an atmosphere.

Without this greenhouse effect scientists have predicted the earth to be on average 60 degrees cooler. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions, humans are enhancing this effect and further warming earth. Often times scientists prefer the term climate change over global warming because the earth isn't just warming, wind and ocean currents carry heat around the globe that in some places make it cooler while in other making it warmer, some countries are seeing more snowfall while others experience severe high temperatures. These fluctuations in the weather are causing big effects to the environment, the polar ice caps are melting due to higher temperatures, animals such as polar bears, seals, and penguins are losing their homes since the ice is melting. Sea levels are rising which is causing the shores of beaches to be covered in water, this is causing animals who live on shore such as sand crabs and animals who need the shore for things such as breeding in the case for sea turtles who lay their eggs in the sands of the beach to either move more inland or move to a new habitat. Climate change is a major influence on the lives of animals and the environment and needs to be changed.

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Pollution ​ Imagine you are an animal such as a white tailed deer, you are walking through the forest and are trying to find something to drink, you can normally hear the water flowing in the streams but today is different, it’s been getting worse, the air you breathe has started to get harder to breathe, your food you eat is mostly covered in litter, you find the stream eventually but it’s barely a trickle. You see that the stream you have drank out of for so long has shrunk down and is almost nothing, you take a sip, the water doesn’t have that nice cold fresh taste that it always did. What was the problem? What caused this? What is the effect on you?

Pollution is a major problem, whether it be air, water, food, or other forms, pollution is affecting us in a very negative way. Animals like the white tailed deer are having trouble finding the things they need to survive and what they do find is most often than not polluted by our doing. In a single day of human life for the average person they produce 2 kilograms of waste. When you take into consideration how many people are on the planet, and every person is adding to the waste everyday, it adds up.

Landfills, waste dumping or spills, and factories are a few of the most common and main contributors to the pollution. Landfills are big stretches of land that is used for dumping trash from the people's trash cans you put out every week. Landfills add to the earth's pollution not only from the trash trying to decompose, but also the trash most often than not blows away and is swept to all areas around it and carried for miles from it and spread all over, littering the area with garbage. The trash is also swept into the lakes, rivers, and oceans which further pollute the area. Waste dumpings are caused from people illegally dumping waste materials or bio hazardous chemicals into waters that are forbidden and not safe to do so, as well as waste spills such as oil spills into the ocean. Oil spills affect animals in two main ways, the oil itself, and the steps required to clean the oil. In April 2010, when the gulf of mexico had a huge oil spill, as much as 60,000 barrels of oil were dumped every day into the water. This oil moved through the waters and caught currents and was spread out contaminating everything, most of the sea life was killed, and allot of animals dependent on the waters as a food source were either killed or severely injured. The oil itself was poisonous to ingest as well as it was so think many animals were covered in it and unable to breathe. Factories are the leading cause of air pollution, all the chemicals it takes to manufacture something in a factory puts out tons of chemicals into the environment and harming the air we breathe.

Animals lungs are being affected just like ours, these chemicals are shown to have long term effects and the animals are dying at a younger age due to respiratory issues. It 28

also affects newer generations who are born into the world with polluted air, their lungs are weaker and not as suitable to thrive in habitats necessary for survival.

Animals like this bird are covered in oil from spills​ ​ Landfills are covering land that animals use for food.

Sea turtles get caught in fisher nets

​ Bycatch and Invasive species Bycatch can be defined as a fish or other marine animal being unintentionally caught in a fisherman's net while trying to fish for other species. Invasive species are any species brought to an area that did not have it naturally, most often than not the species is harmful to the environment and messes up the food chain. For bycatch, sea animals get tangled in large nets and are unable to escape and can die, others get tangled and may get free but severe injury is common. Others may get a small piece of net still stuck to them and possible loss of limb can occur. These animals are being disturbed in their habitat and then are harmed. For larger animals such as whales, these nets are a big problem and need to be taken seriously. Many smaller pieces such as litter and plastic and fishline can also get caught on these animals and cause damage.

Invasive species are a problem because they are not natural to the environment that they are being introduced to, a few examples of recent invasive species include, kudzu, the black rat, asian tiger mosquito, cotton whitefly, snakehead fish, asian longhorned beetle, cane toad, asian carp, zebra mussels, and many many more. As you can tell from the list, not all of these are animals, invasive species does also include 29

plants, many of these plants are sometimes more harmful than the animals because they thrive better in the given area and are very easy and fast to spread. The new species once introduced are very hard to contain and often times over populate the area and push out animals or plants native to the area. Many animals living there become prey to the newer species and are often times killed completely which messes with the natural balance of nature and the animals.

How can this change?

Is there still hope for our world? What are some ways we can help? Are we too late? These are all good questions that many want to know. So what do you think, can the world change? There are many ways that we can help, one of the first and most common forms is just to think about what you are doing, is what you are doing right or good for the environment? Another way that we can help is to minimize our daily waste, understandably we are always gonna have trash, that is just something that unfortunately cannot change, it's just about being smart with the waste. There are many things we can do such as using less materials made of plastic, which is harmful to the planet, one of the main things is to recycle! Anything you can recycle it so it can be reused instead of just sitting in a landfill. Next we can limit the amount of bad chemicals that are going into the air by finding new and safer ways to make the same products, just being more efficient and smart about it. Another way we can help is by treating these animals fairly, they were put on this earth with us and we need to respect that and share the land. A few other ways to help would be joining groups who are raising money to clean the earth and help the animals, not only that many groups are out there who are trying to preserve animal habitat and keep animals from going extinct. Animals bring so much to our lives and it would be a shame and really the death of all of us as well without them. You want your children to live and see all the magnificent beauties of nature and animals that you saw, so why not make a change and help out the environment.

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Kukreja, Rinkesh. "51 Facts About Pollution ­ Conserve Energy Future."​ ConserveEnergyFuture​ . Conserve Energy Future, 08 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.conserve­energy­future.com/various­pollution­facts.php​ >.

Roberts, Carter. "Pollution." ​ WorldWildlife.org​ . World Wildlife Fund, 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/pollution​ >.

Stein. "Habitat Loss." ​ National Wildlife Federation​ . National Wildlife Federation, 2015. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. <​ https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats­to­Wildlife/Habitat­Loss.aspx​ >.

Orton, Frances. "Effects of Environmental Change on Wildlife Health."​ Philosophical Transactions B​ .

Frances Orton, 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. <​ http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1534/3429​ >.

United States. National Park Service. "Environmental Factors." ​ National Parks Service​ . U.S. Department of the Interior, 05 Dec. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.nps.gov/olym/learn/nature/environmentalfactors.htm​ >.

Zimmerman, Matt. "Amazon Deforestation Could Cause Extreme Droughts : DNews." ​ DNews​ .

Discovery Communications, 2015. Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <​ http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/amazon­deforestation­could­cause­extreme­droughts­15111 3.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1​ >.

W. V. Reid, "How Many Species Will There Be?" in Tropical Deforestation and Species Extinction, T.C. Whitmore & J.A. Sayer ed. (World Conservation Union/London: Chapman & Hall, 1992), 63. Cited by World Resources Institute:​ http://archive.wri.org/publication_text.cfm?id=555&pub=2691​ , accessed January 12 2011.

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Possible Jackpot of Riches In New Zealand Volcano Reservoirs

By Emry Hollopeter

Researchers have found traces of gold and silver deposits in reservoirs inside a chain New Zealand volcanoes. Six reservoirs of hot water hundreds of meters deep that were rich in gold and silver. Stuart Simmons is a research professor at the University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute and the leading researcher in the new zealand volcano study 15 years ago he designed and built a device that went in wells down to 1.8 miles deep. He used it in New Zealand and obtained samples of thermal water to determine the concentration of precious minerals in it. For some time it had been known that precious metals were embedded in underground rocks in the area. However their low concentrations were too small for mining to be worth it. The minerals he and his team found contained traces of gold and silver deposits.

Magma heats New Zealand’s deepwater reservoirs that are loaded with millions of dollars’ worth of dissolved gold and silver.

How do the traces of gold and silver particles get into the water?

The magma heats up the chloride rich water in underground reservoirs and gets to temperatures of up to 752 degrees Fahrenheit. These high temperatures are able to dissolve rocks and they contain the gold and silver. The traces are then in the water and this is how Stuart discovered them. These traces were found in six underground reservoirs, hundreds of meters deep, inside a chain of New Zealand volcanoes. Stuart and his team noted that at the two sites of Rotokawa and Mokai have high concentrations, which suggest to produce around 1,500 to 16,500 pounds of gold per year. From the Rotokawa reservoir alone they estimate they could obtain 150 pounds of 32

gold a year. In today’s current price that is close to 2.3 million dollars. All six reservoirs combined of the geothermal system under the Tuapo Volcanic Zone “There could be anywhere from 5 million to 250 million dollars worth of precious metals in the area.”

Simmons says. “The more practical thing to do is to attempt to extract the metals from the fluids as they flow through the surface pipe work,” he said. “The gold and silver are passively accumulating in the shallow parts of the wells and in surface pipe work, so it is not lost.” Stuart Simmons

What is the plan to retrieve them?

The researchers have an idea of a two­phase pipeline that would allow for capturing the metals as the accumulate, rather than digging in the ground to get the lost traces. “alternative is to let precious metals accumulate in two­phase pipelines, to be recovered in intervals, when practical for steam field operations and optimal in terms of profitability.”

Digging could also affect those tapping into the heated water for geothermal usage.

Simmons said that there currently isn’t much interest in developing mining techniques due to possibility of disrupting energy production such as the geothermal and steam powered turbines. One solution that was proposed in the study was to mine the reservoirs in intervals after enough gold and silver had accumulated so as to make the disuse of the steam­field worthwhile. Simmons says the information isn’t super accurate enough to start mining and mining for gold in hot springs is very difficult. It is also difficult to successfully extract precious metals without interfering with the environment.

“Tell me one good thing that comes from selling gold,” gold­mining is almost always an environmental disaster.” Simmons says.

Buy the new Polar 3D printer for as low as $800 today.

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Mining Volcanos For More

In Indonesia, the “Kawah Ijen” volcano in Java is actively mined. The Volcano has a 12.42 mile wide caldera at the top of which is a 650 ft. deep lake of sulfuric acid. The volcano is quietly active, with many steaming fumaroles, which poor out acidic gases, and sulfur. The miners help the process of mineral formation by using stone and ceramic pipes to funnel gases from the top of the fumaroles so that the sulfur condenses into a red liquid, which drips back down the pipe and solidifies into pure sulfur. In Colombia the “Galeras” Volcanoes send up to 1 pound of gold into the atmosphere per day, with about 45 pounds per year being put onto rocks in its crater. It is not found worth it to mine due to its explosive and very active history of over a million years of eruptions. Six scientists were killed on the volcano when it unexpectedly erupted in 1993.

Bibliography Oakes,Troy “$3 Billion Worth Of Gold Discovered in New Zealand Volcanoes.” ​ The Vision Times.​ Web. 27 aug. 2015. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.visiontimes.com/2015/08/27/3­billion­worth­of­gold­discovered­in­new­zealand­volcanoes.html​ > Bonner, Walt. “Volcano Zone Reservoirs Could Hold Huge Amounts of Gold and Silver.” Web.2 sept 2015. 2 Dec. 2015. <http://bgr.com/2015/09/02/volcano­zone­reservoirs­could­hold­huge­amounts­of­gold­and­silver/>

Malara, Marilyn.​ “Gold, Silver Found in Abundance underneath Volcanoes.” ​ UPI.​ Web. 22 Aug. 2015, 2 Dec. 2015. <http://www.upi.com/science_news/2015/08/22/gold­silver­found­in­abundance­underneath­volcanoes/3511440261069/> Yirka, Bob.“Large Amount of Gold and Silver Found in Reservoirs under Volcanoes in New Zealand.” ​ Large amount of gold and silver found in reservoirs under volcanoes in New Zealand.​ Web. 24 Aug. 2015 2 Dec. 2015. <http://phys.org/news/2015­08­large­amount­gold­silver­reservoirs.html> MailOnline, Richard Gray for. “Huge Reserves of Gold and Other Precious Metals Are Hiding in Reservoirs of Water within Active Volcanoes.” ​ Mail Online​ . Associated Newspapers, 2015. Web. 24 Aug. 2015 2 Dec. 2015. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article­3209249/huge­reserves­gold­precious­metals­hiding­reservoirs­water­active ­volcanoes.html> Gibbons, Matt.“Millions Of Dollars in Gold and Silver Are Sitting under These New Zealand Volcanoes.” ​ Quartz​ . Web. 28 Aug. 2105 2 Dec. 2015. ​ <http://qz.com/486557/millions­of­dollars­in­gold­and­silver­are­sitting­under­these­new­zealand­volcanoes/> Sumner, Thomas. “Millions Of Dollars' Worth of Gold and Silver Found beneath Volcanoes.” ​ Science News.​ Web. 21 Aug. 2015 2 Dec. 2015. ​ <https://www.sciencenews.org/article/millions­dollars’­worth­gold­and­silver­found­beneath­volcanoes> Sinpetru, Laura. There Is Gold Hidden Under Volcanoes In New Zealand.” ​ softpedia​ . Web. 24 Aug. 2015 2 Dec. 2015. <http://news.softpedia.com/news/these­is­gold­hidden­under­volcanoes­in­new­zealand­489946.shtml>

Hendo Hoverboard

By John Garner It finally exists! The future is here. Not because those cell phone watches, not because water resistant cell phones. After decades of waiting hoverboards are finally here. Marty Mcfly’s dream is now reality. Only way to get your hands on one of these is 34

to have Tony Hawk size bank account. A 5 minute ride with assistance from Hendo staff with cost one hundred bucks. A replica board with no engine will cost $450. An actual hoverboard will cost $10,000.

How It Works

The Lexus Hoverboard relies on superconductors and magnets, which combine to overcome the force of gravity and lift an object. A bamboo and carbon fiber skateboard emitting wisps of smoke, levitates an inch or two off what appears to be concrete platform. Eric Palm Deputy Laboratory Director at FSU’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory said, ​ Instead you have something called the ​ Meissner effect​ , which essentially says when you take a magnetic field and put a superconductor near it, it creates currents but since it’s a superconductor the currents won’t die away. The smoke that’s rising from the side of the Lexus board isn’t just for effects. It’s liquid nitrogen that’s cooling superconductors below the transition temperature. Palm says, the liquid nitrogen gets as cold as ­321 degrees fahrenheit. When the liquid nitrogen runs out the superconductors warms up and the hoverboard stops. “There’s interaction between the superconductor and the magnet that repels the force of gravity and allows the thing to levitate” said Norman. That’s why it can't hover over pure concrete.

A cross­section of a high­temperature superconductor (blue rectangle) "embedded" in a magnetic field (black lines). The magnetic channels through the superconductor are called "quantum vortices."

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History of Hendo Greg Henderson got the first prototype to hover over his kitchen table. The first prototype was created May 12 2013. “A futuristic­looking amalgamation of whirling magnets and seemingly detoothed saw ​ blades​ .” The first prototype of the Hendo Hoverboard only lifted 60 pounds. Greg and Jill, the creators, were watching history right in the living room floor. The Hendo 2.0 Prototype was created October 21, 2015.

The latest hoverboard, Hendo 2.0, has a skateboard design inspired by Tony Hawk.

“The next generation hoverboard is going to showcase our evolutionary new hover engines.” ​ The Lexus Hoverboard project began 18 months ago through a collaboration with a team of scientists from IFW Dresden and evico GmbH, who specialize in magnetic levitation technology.

​ Prototype

Hendo 2.0

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http://www.wired.com/2015/06/lexus­hoverboard­slide/

Barrett, Brian. "How That Lexus Hoverboard Actually Works." ​ Wired.com​ . Conde Nast Digital, 26 June 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. http://hendohover.com/ "The Hendo Hoverboard." ​ The Hendo Hoverboard​ . Hendo Hover, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. http://www.wired.com/2015/10/how­the­most­promising­hoverboards­actually­work/ Allain, Rhett. "How the Most Promising Hoverboards Actually Work." ​ Wired.com​ . Conde Nast Digital, 20 Oct. 2015. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Back­Future­Hoverboards­Finally­Exist­Cost­Insane­Amount­68316.html Ashley, Kendall. "The Back To The Future Hoverboards Finally Exist, But Will Cost This Insane Amount." ​ ­ CINEMABLEND.​ N.p., 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/150602­hendo­hoverboard­demo­vin "Hoverboards Are Real." ​ Hoverboards Are Real.​ National Geographic, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.

Ways The Earth Can End

By Bailey Gundling

Hollywood produces movies every year traumatizing viewers by throwing absurd fantasies about how the Earth can end so suddenly. Ranging between the popular alien invasion theory to the possibility of a second ice age. Movie lovers enjoy the freight of these kinds of movies such as the 1996 classic, ​ Independence Day.​ Many people do not take into account how realistic some of these ideas are. The probability of an alien invasion is unlikely at this time but scenarios such as devastating climate changes and meteors striking the earth are very real and reasonable situations.

As people burn fossil fuels and rid of the world of trees, carbon dioxide is being disbursed into the air constantly and scientist fear the Earth soon won't be able to absorb much more. Gases released into the atmosphere act as a blanket and trap heat warming up Earth and effects of this is already being seen in multiple places all over the world. According to NASA the sea levels are raising 3.24mm a year, the global temperature is up about 17 degrees celsius since the start of the 1900s. The Carbon Dioxide levels in the air are at their highest levels in 650,000 years and the icecaps are melting at a faster rate than what expected such as in Greenland whose ice loss has doubled between 1996 and 2005. If nothing is done such as cut backs to fossil fuels, the impacts will only worsen for other generations. Droughts will increase, sea levels will rise and disease will spread and this is a real possibility on how the Earth can end.

Another movie hit is a threat of a severe worldwide spread of a disease such as in the 2011 movie Contagion. There have been many outbreaks of diseases throughout 37

the world such at the Black Plague, Ebola, Typhus and many other that have wiped out millions. These are just small examples of how realistic it is that a disease can emerge and could kill billions of people without anyone finding a real cure to stop it. “When we think of the major threats to our national security, the first to come to mind are nuclear proliferation, rogue states and global terrorism. But another kind of threat lurks beyond our shores, one from nature, not humans ­ an avian flu pandemic,” Said Barack Obama.

The only thing we can do as humans is keep up to date with vaccines, stay clean and most importantly take your daily vitamins.

During 1947 and 1991 nuclear war seemed inevitable between the United States and U.S.S.R. Nine countries possess the ability to make nuclear weapons including the United States, Russia and Iran has joined the group. Many fear Middle Eastern conflicts could set off a war that could virtually “end all wars.” Fear in nuclear warfare is real but unlikely because of the many protocols NATO has such as the limit of nuclear weapons allowed and common sense many have about the dangers. Is Einstein said “WW4 will be fought with rocks and sticks.”

People have argued and debatable throughout civilization about when and how the world will end. No one knows when the final days will be for this place we call home but like everything in life it will come to an end someday. Until then life will continue on and prosper all over while Hollywood producers create million dollar projects based on speculations.

1.​ Ghose, Tia. "Doomsday: 9 Real Ways the Earth Could End."​ LiveScience.com​ . N.p., 30 May 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.​ http://m.livescience.com/36999­top­scientists­world­enders.html

​ 2. Choi, Charles Q. "Asteroids – Facts and Information about Asteroids | Space.com." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2014 07 Dec. 2015 ​ http://www.space.com/51­asteroids­formation­discovery­and­exploration.html

3. Hughes, Sam. "Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth." ​ LiveScience​ . TechMedia Network, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. ​ http://m.livescience.com/17875­destroy­earth­doomsday.html

4. Andrei, Mihai. "The 8 Coolest Ways the Earth Might Be Destroyed." ​ ZME Science​ . N.p., 09 Oct. 2009.

Web. 07 Dec. 2015 http://www.zmescience.com/science/astronomy/the­8­coolest­ways­the­earth­might­be­destroyed/

5.Sommer, Jack. "20 Shocking Photos That Show the Many Ways Humans Are Destroying the Earth."

Business Insider​ . Business Insider, Inc, 15 June 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015 .​ http://www.businessinsider.com/shocking­photos­of­humanitys­devastating­impact­on­the­earth­2015­6

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How Music Affects Our Brain and Body

By: Deanna Holt

We hear it all around us everyday. In the car, in restaurants, stores, and even on the streets. Yes, you guessed it, it’s music. We listen to music just about everyday, but do we know how it truly affects our body and brain? Is there a certain music that we all should be listening to in order to make sure our brains don’t turn into useless goop. Or is listening to that punk and hard rock really beneficial? Music has several benefits to our brains and bodies according to several studies.

In a study by McMaster University, they experimented with babies one year of age and their parents. In this experiment they made two groups go into different music classes, one that focused on the parents interacting with their baby by learning lullabies, nursery rhymes, learning to play percussion instruments, and singing specific songs. The other group allowed the babies to play at different toy stations while “Baby Einstein” was played in the background. These studies showed that the class with the parents interacting with their babies, the babies communicated more, were less upset when they were distressed, and tended to smile more when they were compared to the babies exposed to the Baby Einstein[1].

Music is also said to help those with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. A study was conducted with two groups of elderly people with moderate to severe dementia who living in nursing home like settings. Both groups were put into music classes, where they attended 50 minute classes three times a week for about four months. One group, the people attending were encouraged to sing along to the songs playing that were familiar to their childhoods, such as “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, “Sound of Music”, and “When You Wish Upon a Star”, while the other class was told to just listen. After 4 months of attending these music classes, the group that was encouraged to sing along had higher scores in tests that challenged their memory and thinking skills than the ones who just listened[2].

Another study was done with the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that provides an after school program for children who come from low income families and gives the children an opportunity to take music 39

lessons with instruments such as flutes, trombones, trumpets, and obes. When they did a study on the children whom took part of the program and had the music lessons for over two years, they found that not only did the children improve on their ability to play the instrument, but also improved on the ability to be able to process language [3].

Another study was conducted on 251 children and young people with behavioural and emotional problems that lasted from March 2011 to May 2014. The group was split into two groups, 128 underwent the usual care and therapy to improve their behaviour and emotional problems while 123 were assigned to music therapy as well as the usual care. The study found that those who received the music therapy had improved on their communicative and interactive skills when they were compared to those who didn’t undergo music therapy. The music therapy had also reduced the childrens’ depression and increased their self­esteem [4].

The effects of music tend to be very clear to see on the human body, especially classical music from the baroque period. Studies have shown that classical music causes the heartbeat and pulse to slow down to the beat of the music, thus making the body relaxed. As the body becomes relaxed, the mind is able to concentrate easier, the persons blood pressure lowers, and their learning ability increase [5].

Not only are humans affected by music, but plants can be as well. An experiment was conducted where plants were exposed to different types of sounds and styles of music. Both set of plants were exposed to only 3 hours of music per day. One set of plants had soothing music playing, while the other set had ‘rock and roll’ played. After five days there was a noticeable difference with the plants. The plants that were exposed to the rock and roll had small or stunted growth while those that were exposed to soothing music had significant growth and even started to grow in the direction the music was coming from. [6]

Works Cited McMaster University. "Babies' Brains Benefit from Music Lessons, Even before They Can Walk and Talk." ​ ScienceDaily​ . ScienceDaily, 9 May 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509123653.htm​ >. [1]

L.E. Maguire, P. Wanschura, M. Battaglia, et al: “Analysis of effects of singing on cognitive and emotional factors in assisted­living patients with and without Alzheimer’s disease.” Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, San Diego, Nov. 9, 2013. 2 Dec. 2015. The American Music Therapy Association. https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/singing­and­music­have­benefits­for­alzheimers/​ [2]

Turner, Cory. "This Is Your Brain. This Is Your Brain On Music." ​ NPR​ . NPR, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/09/10/343681493/this­is­your­brain­this­is­your­brain­on­music​ [3]

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Queen's University, Belfast. "Music Therapy Reduces Depression in Children, Adolescents."

ScienceDaily​ . ScienceDaily, 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141023091841.htm​ >. [4]

O'Donnell, Laurence. "Music and the Brain." ​ Music and the Brain​ . Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.html​ >. [5]

Robertson, Don. "The DoveSong Foundation ­­ The Effect of Music on Plants (The Plant Experiments)."

The DoveSong Foundation ­­ The Effect of Music on Plants (The Plant Experiments)​ . Web. 2 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.dovesong.com/positive_music/plant_experiments.asp​ > [6]

McMaster University. "Babies' Brains Benefit from Music Lessons, Even before They Can Walk and Talk." ​ ScienceDaily​ . ScienceDaily, 9 May 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509123653.htm​ ​ Fernando Cortés [​ First Picture] [7]

Tritt, Annie. ​ "This Is Your Brain. This Is Your Brain On Music." ​ NPR​ . NPR, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/09/10/343681493/this­is­your­brain­this­is­your­brain­on­music [Second Picture] [8]

Why should we try to colonize Mars?

Okay guys let’s face the fact that we can’t stay on earth forever. The resources we need like oil and other nonrenewable resources aren’t going to last us forever. Also the possibility of the planet becoming uninhabitable due to disasters both natural and human made. The trip to Mars and making the planet safe will be a challenge though.

Let’s start by listing why we need to find out how to make this a new home. First, our population is eventually going to be too large for the planet we have now. We’re going to need more space to expand our species and thrive. Also, we will eventually have too many people and not enough resources for such a large population. We can search for metals and other materials on the planet. Second, if we can discover life on Mars we will finally know if we’re alone or not.

Could you imagine if we were to find something like us or a completely different being unlike anything we’ve ever seen? Since there is water on the planet it is a possibility. The similarities between the length of our days would also benefit us greatly, because we wouldn’t have to adapt to a new schedule. It’s the only other planet that’s in the habitable zone that would be the best fit for us. Venus is in it too, but the planet is

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far too hot and the acidic rain isn’t very attractive either. Mars is also closer to us than Venus. As nice and pleasant as this trip sounds, it will be a very difficult task.

The very first problem with colonizing the red planet is the trip there. The average time for the Rovers to make there is around 311 days. That’s only the time it takes to get there though. There is also the factor of making it back home. Sending a robot there would cost less, because it doesn’t need food and isn’t living. Imagine being on a spaceship for 622 days. You can’t see your family, can’t go out with friends, no social media, no home cooked meals, just you and your crew. Only people with amazing mental stability could accomplish this. NASA has had some budget cuts over the past years.​ "Unfortunately, development is closely tied to budget," said Ayanna Howard, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and the chair of the robotics doctoral program at the Georgia Institute of Technology.​ There is a possibility that they might need help from international partners or corporations.

There is no air on the planet which means if you were dropped on the planet without a pressure suit and an oxygen tank you would quickly pass out and quickly die from a lack of oxygen. Along with that, the atmosphere isn’t very thick so there is a constant pour of radiation. There is also terraforming, which is the changing the climate and surface so it is hospitable for humans. This could take almost 100,000 years for the the atmosphere just to be breathable. The moon has all of these same problems and some, like the varying temperatures, get even worse. The soil is also toxic due to perchlorate, but that can be easily fixed with the technology we have. Now if we were to get past all of these problems we would of course fall into more. One being the problem of food and supplies. We can’t keep constantly sending food and supplies sent across space to Mars, because the cost would be incredible and the amount of time it would take would take long.

Also, being on the planet will affect the human body. Mars’s gravity is only 40% of ours so this could cause effects of those of people on space stations, but the effects aren’t exactly known since humans haven’t been there yet. There is also twice the amount of radiation that what is seen on the international space station. This would mean people would live very short and sick lives on the planet. We also run into the problem of space suits. If the suit is ever damaged the colony could partially repair it, but they won’t have the resources to replace them. This process of taking over this 42

planet will take us years to complete. So long that we won’t be around long enough to see it happen sadly.

Williams, Matt. "How Can We Live on Mars?" ​ Universe Today​ . N.p., 04 June 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. ​ <​ http://www.universetoday.com/111462/how­can­we­live­on­mars/​ >

Orwig, Jessica. "5 Undeniable Reasons Humans Need to Colonize Mars ­ Even Though It's Going to Cost Billions." ​ Business Insider​ . Business Insider, Inc, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.businessinsider.com/5­undeniable­reasons­why­humans­should­go­to­mars­2015­4​ >

Daines, Gary. "NASA's Journey to Mars." ​ NASA​ . NASA, 14 Sept. 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015.

Magazine, Anuradha K. Herath Astrobiology. "Why Is It So Hard to Travel to Mars? | Future NASA Space Exploration & Red Planet | Space.com.". N.p., 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2015 < ​ http://www.space.com/11417­mars­missions­space­travel­challenges.html​ >.

Williams, Matt. "Will We Ever Colonize Mars?" ​ Universe Today​ . Universe Today, 31 May 2015.

Web. 07 Dec. 2015 ​ <​ http://www.universetoday.com/14883/mars­colonizing/​ >

Alford, Justine. "Mars One Mission Selects Final 100 Candidates to Colonize Mars." ​ IFLScience​ .

IFLScience, 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.iflscience.com/space/mars­one­mission­whittles­potential­candidates­down­final­ 100​ >.

Warmflash, David. "Forget Mars." ​ Discover.com​ . Discover, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2015. <​ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2014/09/08/where­build­off­world­colonies​ >.

Lee, Rhodi. "Top 5 Problems Humanity Must Solve Before Colonizing Mars."​ Tech Times RSS​ .

Tech Times, 16 May 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.techtimes.com/articles/53454/20150516/top­5­problems­humanity­must­solve­be fore­colonizing­mars.htm​ >.

David, Javier E. "Why Humanity's Survival May Depend on Colonizing Mars."​ NBC News​ . NBC News, 17 Oct. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <​ http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/why­humanitys­survival­may­depend­colonizing­m ars­n446196​ >.

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