The Tech Digest (Vol. 2, Issue 4, FEB 2022)

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The Tech Science Digest February 2022 Volume 2, Issue 4


Table of Contents Introductory Articles-3 Gut Microbe Idenfitifed as Possible Cause of Depression The Marvelous Development of Man-Made Snow Your Child May be Carrying a Deadly Bacteria Poor Sleep Can Heighten your Risk of Having a Heart Disease Down the Road

Biology-8 Using Eyes to Reveal your True Biological Age Starfish and its Diamond-like Structure Goodbye Guinea Worm Disease How to Avoid a Hungry Mosquito Scientists Discovered a New Flatworm...And Named it After Covid?

Chemistry-13 Spider Silk Fibers and Cell Growth

Astro/Physics 16 First Images of Venus Surface Unknown Interstellar Object Discovered How Moons May Hold the Secret of Life Cyanide, and its Role in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Earth/Environmental Science 23 Evolution of Life on Earth Affected by Supermountains Cold Damage in East Asia caused by Arctic Winter Warning

Technology 26 Read Better with Video Games

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Blast from the Past: Noting Unknown Scientists In honor of Black American History month, the SNHS Magazine committee will be commemorating a few of MANY noteworthy Black scientists that have made contributions to the scientific community!

Mae Carol Jemison

Charles Henry Turner

Mae Carol Jemison is an engineer and physician. Her greatest accomplishment is her career as a NASA astronaut, being the first African American women to travel into space! She boarded "the Space Shuttle Endeavor" on September of 1992.

Charles Henry Turner (1867-1923) was a remarkable biologist, neurologist, and psychologist. Although he was one of the first African Americans to graduate from University of Chicago with a Ph.D., and known for his discovery of animals capable of cognitive skills.

Gladys West Gladys West is a mathematician responsible for the foundation of GPS. Among many other accomplishments, Gladys West is the second Black women to have been hired by the US Naval Surface Warfare Center. Later on, she developed an interest in programming to analyze satellite data, leading to the detailed mathematical model of Earth. Her works has been embedded into several instance of our every day lives such as navigation and communication! https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/ten-black-scientists-that-science-teachers-should-know-about-and-free-resources https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/black-scientists-history-1.5918964

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Introductory Articles

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Gut Microbe Identified as Possible Cause of Depression

Discoveries of how connections between specific bacteria and brain conditions aren't new. For example, a study has shown that people with autism and mood disorders have lower amounts of certain bacterias compared to other people. Despite being unclear if these deficiencies are the direct cause of these brain conditions, these findings have encouraged scientists to look for possible treatments by using gut bacteria. Recently, a study from Finland on how diet and genetics affect the microbiome identified a bacteria, Morganella, as a possible cause of depression. Led by Guillaume Méric, a microbial bioinformatician at the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, the study initially aimed to find the underlying causes of chronic disease in the Finnish people.

The study started in 2002 and ended in 2018. Researchers compiled information on 6000 participants, including their genetic makeup, gut microbes, diets, lifestyles, prescription drug use, and health. Using this information, Méric and his team identified two bacteria that caused depression in hospitalized patients, Morganella and Klebsiella. In a later microbial survey of 181 people in the study who later developed depression, levels of Morganella significantly increased. This discovery serves as more proof that gut bacteria can influence moods. Using this information, scientists seek to find microbes that can be given as supplements and ways to eliminate harmful bacteria, like Morganella, from the guts.

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THE MARVELOUS DEVELOPMENT OF MAN-MADE SNOW By Francesca Negri This year’s Winter Olympic Games in Beijing were no doubt an amazing display of some of the world’s best athletic performances. However, what enabled such feats to occur can be attributed to a rather brilliant scientific invention: the development of fake snow! Typically, only receiving a few inches of snowfall during the winter months, Beijing's mountains needed to be coated with this manmade substitute so that events such as the alpine skiing downhill, snowboard slalom and many others could take place. So what is the science behind fake snow? Traditionally, this artificial substance has been produced using high pressure water, compressed air and specialized nozzles which blow the droplet into the air upon which they will freeze during their descent to the ground. In real snowfall the droplets are able to freeze at the familiar temperature of 32 degrees fahrenheit because of the presence of ice nuclei, particles which act as scaffolding for the formation of ice crystal structures. To replicate this process, fake snow uses a commercial version of ice nuclei, most commonly used for the practice is a protein produced by the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae.

A major difference between artificial and real snow is the structure of these ice particles. Naturally, occurring snow begins as a crystal which during its descent to the ground develops into the classic six-sided snowflake. Fake snow, however, does not have the same structure. Instead the sprayed water droplets take on a compact spherical shape, making fake snow feel hard and icy especially in comparison to the powdery texture of freshly fallen snow. Overall, despite the speed benefits of sleek artificial snow, most skiers and snowboarders favor the natural powder as it provides a layer of safety for any potential wipeouts. Currently, scientists are working on developing different ways to produce snow particles that are more similar in structure to those of naturally occurring ice crystals. One such method that is being studied is the creation of a machine that can manufacture snowflakes which if accomplished would result in the production of fluffy and practically natural snow. Unfortunately, the process of growing snowflakes is not one of speed, meaning that as of now researchers are a long ways away from producing enough crystals that could feasibly be used for sports such as skiing.

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Your Child May be Carrying a Deadly Bacteria

By Maya Tello

During early medieval England, the death of a 6-year-old boy helped give insight into the history of the pathogen Haemophilus influenza type b. Researchers report that this is the oldest case of this bacterial infection, called Hib, ever diagnosed. 1,300 years later in 1892, the next confirmed case of this bacterial infection was found when H. influenza was first identified. It was found that Hib can cause other serious illnesses such as pneumonia and meningitis, found prominently among young children. Forututnly a vaccine was developed in the late 1980s to combat Hib and has had success doing this.

In the case of this young boy DNA from the boy’s tooth indicates that Hib was infecting people at the same time as the first historically documented pandemic due to plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Meriam Guellil, a paleogeneticist at the University of Tartu in Estonia, highlighted that the relationship between H. influenza and humans, the pathogen’s only host, is probably much older than the official documentation of the pandemic due to the plague. The boy’s tooth was also found to have genetic remains of Y. pestis. Guellil and his colleagues hypothesize that the boy was already very sick when he caught Y. pestis and the plague was what killed him. These findings help dive into the evolution of pathogens to pandemics. In fact, Pontus Skoglund, an expert in ancient genomics at the Francis Crick Institute in London articulates that the detection of Haemophilus influenzae in an early medieval child promises that “it will be detectable in more cases in history, and potentially prehistory.” Caption your image here

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POOR SLEEP CAN HEIGHTEN YOUR RISK OF HAVING A HEART DISEASE DOWN THE ROAD BY MAYA TELLO

The sleep data of 6,820 U.S. individuals with an average age of 53 who self-reported their sleep characteristics and heart disease history were examined in a study sponsored by the University of South Florida. Researchers looked at several elements of sleep health, including regularity, satisfaction, alertness during waking hours, sleep timing, sleep efficiency, and sleep duration, and found a link between these factors and physician-diagnosed heart disease. For every sleep problem reported, it was associated with a 54 percent increased risk of heart disease. The research team took into account the participants' health issues and they also took into account sociodemographic characteristics such as race, sex, smoking, depression, and physical activity, as well as family history of heart disease. Considering all of these factors, researchers found that while women reported more sleep health problems, men were still more likely to suffer heart disease. However, the researchers also noted that gender did not impact the overall correlation between the two factors. Soomi Lee, assistant professor of aging studies and director of the STEALTH lab at USF, articulated that the team focused on middle adulthood as it spans for a longer period of time, consists of diverse and more stressful life experiences due to work and family roles, and is the prime time when heart disease and age-related sleep issues begin to arise. The research team is confident that these findings can help with future preventative initiatives for heart disease, which is the leading cause of mortality in the United States. coro nary hear t

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Biology

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USING EYES TO REVEAL YOUR TRUE BIOLOGICAL AGE

Biological age differs from chronological age in that in a group of people with the same chronological age, their biological age differs depending on different factors like lifestyle and health. Previous studies have shown that there are many indicators of biological age, such as specific genes, cognitive abilities, blood pressure, immune system function and the retina, a layer of tissue at the back of your eye that senses light. Authors of the study on the retina and biological age wrote, "The retina offers a unique, accessible ‘window’ to evaluate underlying pathological processes of systemic vascular and neurological diseases that are associated with increased risks of mortality," in their study published on January 18, 2022 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. In a new study, scientists constructed a deep-learning model that predicted a person's risk of early death using the biological age from their retina. Their model was a type of machine learning and artificial intelligence which they used to analyze more than 80,000 images of fundus - the back surface of the eye that includes the retina. The researchers first analyzed fundus images from more than 11,000 participants who were in good health to test the accuracy of the model because those in good health would have a smaller gap in their biological age and chronological age. The model was able to predict within 3.5 years of chronological ages. Then, the model analyzed the remaining fundus photos of 36,000 participants. The researchers found that 51% of the participants had a "age" gap of more than 3 years, 28% had a gap of more than 5 years, and 4.5% had a gap of more than 10 years. In conclusion, most participants had a larger biological age than chronological age. The greater the gap, the higher risk of death from causes other than cardiovascular disease or cancer, about 49% to 67%. Despite these findings, the researchers couldn't determine a direct cause and effect relationship between biological age from the retina and early death. The authors of the study state, "These findings suggest that retinal age may be a clinically significant biomarker of ageing." NOMADIC

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STARFISH AND ITS DIAMONDLIKE STRUCTURE HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT KEEPS STARFISH IN SHAPE? TURNS OUT THAT BENEATH A STARFISH’S SKIN IS A SKELETON MADE OF PENNY GROWTHS, OR OSSICLES THAT ARE STRENGTHENED IN AN ARRANGEMENT THAT WOULD BE FOUND IN A DIAMOND. LING LI, A MATERIALS SCIENTIST AT VIRGINIA TECH IN BLACKSBURG CAPTURED PICTURES OF ITS STRUCTURE USING AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE. EACH OSSICLE SHOWS A MESH LIKE PATTERN THAT IS SIMILAR TO HOW CARBON ATOMS ARE ARRANGED IN A DIAMOND, HELPING IT KEEP ITS HARD AND STABLE STRUCTURE AND UPKEEP ITS NAME AS THE HARDEST NATURALLY OCCURRING MINERAL. LI AND HER TEAM BELIEVES THAT IF THEY ARE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT HOW STARFISH BUILD THEIR OSSICLES, THEN IT MAY MEAN DEEPER INSIGHTS ON HOW TO CREATE STRONGER POROUS MATERIALS, SUCH AS CERAMICS.

by: Michelle Lei

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GOODBYE GUINEA WORM DISEASE

By Mylien Lai

Smallpox was the first to be globally eradicated. Could Guinea Worm Disease be next? Guinea Worm Disease is a parasite which causes painful skin lesions and was previously found in over 20 countries and infected about 3.5 million people annually. Now, only 14 cases were reported last year! The reduction is thanks to a global effort to track and disinfect contaminated water sources, where the parasite mainly resides. Of course the disease is difficult to fully eradicate, especially since animals can still be infected from drinking the contaminated water. However, Adam Weiss, director of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program of the Carter Center, is optimistic that with some more work, Guinea Worm Disease can be gone!

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HOW TO AVOID A HUNGRY MOSQUITO By Francesca Negri Ever wondered how you can prevent pesky mosquito bites? Well then you’re in luck because some recent scientific findings may have an answer! Researchers at the University of Washington have conducted a study whose results indicate that a common species of mosquito is generally more attracted to certain colors such as red, orange, black, and cyan and tend to ignore others such as green, purple, blue and white. This is because mosquitoes, regardless of skin pigmentation, can identify humans by their strong “red-orange” signal emittance.

as CO2. Once the mosquitoes pick up the scent, through a process known as olfaction, they scan for visual patterns and certain colors which are indicative of human skin. Understanding the behavioral patterns of these insects could prove crucial to the development of better technology to prevent mosquito attacks such as improved repellents and traps. Perhaps even doing something as simple as wearing a specific color could save you from being the victim of a hungry mosquito.

Senior author of the study, Jeffery Riffel explains that mosquitoes, when searching for hosts, are stimulated by scents emitted by human breath such

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SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED A NEW FLATWORM... AND NAMED IT AFTER COVID? We know that small organisms within our soils such as snails, worms, and slugs are vital to the Earth’s ecosystem and environmental health. However, flatworms are a type of worm that often feed on other organisms in the soil, threatening biodiversity. A newly discovered flatworm, named “Humbertium Covidum” after the coronavirus, was found in France and Italy, and could also be present in China, Japan, and Russia. While scientists are unclear of its origin, there is speculation that flatworms make their way around the globe and spread through the global plant trade. The Humbertium Covidum flatworm is black, with a slight shine, hammer-headed, and metallic-looking. They are over an inch long. There is a chance that this tiny worm could possibly become invasive, especially with the way they feed on other soil animals relentlessly, making soil less fertile. Flatworms have a reputation for this, as seen in a 2012 study that found that New Zealand flatworms killed 20% of earthworm populations in the UK and Ireland. Scientists named this flatworm after covid-19 because the

pandemic actually gave scientists the time and opportunity to gather extensive research on this worm in their time working remotely at home, according to Jean-Lou Justine, a professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The name was also a recognition of all the lives lost due to the pandemic. The other species, called the ​Diversibipalium mayottensis was discovered in Mayotte. It is said to have come from Madagascar.

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Spider Silk Fibers and Cell Growth “Spider silk has enormous potential in regenerative medicine thanks to being a natural fiber that is tough, stable, and biodegradable.” With researchers’ production of spider silk fibers that are double stranded, a platform is created for damaged nerve or muscle cells to grow. “… one side of the fibers is suitable for cell adhesion, while the other side could be used to attach factors or other substances.”

Spider silk is a great medium for nerve cell growth because some of their properties are that it is nontoxic, biocompatible, and “attracts virtually no microbes.” However, the process can take a long time and the steps can be complicated when the silk is in its original form. “With this in mind, materials scientist Thomas Scheibel from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, along with his team, optimized the natural product in more than one way simultaneously, using a biotechnological approach.” The team used a microorganism that is genetically modified for the production of spider silk. This will serve as a great advantage in regards to the quality of the silk and it allows the team to modify the protein.

The team produced what is known as Janus spider silk fibers which contain “two differently optimized proteins in one material.” Janus fibers have two sides; one side is the single amino acid that the team substituted forming the spider silk protein. The net charge of the protein was reversed from negative to positive so the material’s surface will be attracted to the cells. The other side of the Janus Fibers “was formed from a spider silk protein to which the team added the amino acid cysteine.” Having the cysteine added will make it possible for the partners of the reaction to react easily known as “click chemistry”. The silk fibers were coated with gold nanoparticles in order for it to be electrical conductive which allows for the direct measurement of the success of the modification. These silk fibers can play a role in muscle cell growth.

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Astro/Physics

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USING THE WIDE-FIELD IMAGER (WISPR) INSTRUMENT, NASA’S PARKER SOLAR PROBE HAS CAPTURED THE FIRST VISIBLE LIGHT IMAGES OF VENUS’S SURFACE FROM SPACE. ALTHOUGH VENUS IS THE THIRD BRIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE SKY, NOT MUCH INFORMATION HAS BEEN UNCOVERED DUE TO ITS DENSE ATMOSPHERE SHROUDING THE SURFACE. HOWEVER, WISPR WAS ABLE TO PEER THROUGH DURING FLYBYS AND CAPTURE IMAGES OF THE NIGHTSIDE OF VENUS IN VISIBLE LIGHT. THESE IMAGES ADDED TO PREVIOUS ONES BY “EXTENDING THE OBSERVATIONS TO RED WAVELENGTHS AT THE EDGE OF WHAT WE CAN SEE.” THESE FINDINGS WILL EVENTUALLY HELP SCIENTISTS BETTER UNDERSTAND THE GEOLOGY, MINERAL COMPOSITION, AND EVOLUTION OF VENUS, AS WELL AS IF VOLCANISM WAS A FACTOR IN THE CREATION OF ITS THICK ATMOSPHERE. THIS WILL ALLOW SCIENTISTS TO FIND OUT WHAT MADE VENUS INHOSPITABLE TODAY, AND WHETHER IT WAS ONCE A WORLD WHERE LIFE FLOURISHED.

by: Michelle Lei

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In the outback of Western Australia, an honors student at Curtin University peers through Australia’s Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope, and spots something strange: a spinning object, well within our galactic backyard, sending out an impossibly strong radio wave every twenty minutes. Of course, stellar objects turning on and off are not entirely new to the astronomy community; such objects are referred to as ‘transients,’ which include short-lived supernovae, who disappear after the course of a few months, and rapidly spinning pulsars, which turn on and off in a matter of milliseconds. However, there was something off about this specific case. This object did turned on and off in regular intervals of 20 minutes, an unheard of time-frame. This description, the team realized, matched the same criteria as a theorized astrophysical object known as an ‘ultra-long period magnetar,’ a type of slow spinning neutron star. This observed instance of one is significantly brighter than astrophysicists have theorized, apparently converting magnetic energy to radio waves in a far more effective way than any prior observed object. The MWA director is continuing to focus on observing more of these objects in our night sky, coordinating with other telescopes and astronomers to see if they too can discover if there is a greater, as-of-yet unrevealed population of these objects out there, waiting to be found.

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By Adam Santana


Our moon has loomed above us for millennia, a staple of an earthly night sky. We owe it a great many aspects of our day-to-day (or perhaps, ‘night-to-night’) life; it controls the length of our days, the tides of our oceans, and stabilizes our planet’s spin. It is as a result of these crucial roles the moon plays in maintaining life on Earth that scientists have begun to conjecture that the presence of a moon may be conducive to habitability on other planets. Our moon is unique in that it’s quite large compared to the size of Earth—its radius is larger than a quarter of our own, an impressive size ratio when compared to that of other moon-planet pairs. As such, astronomers have delved into examining the formation of moons and developing an understanding of the contributing factors leading to a large moon through the usage of various simulated impacts, akin to those responsible for the creation of our own moon. Our moon was the result of an impact between a proto-Earth and a Mars-sized impactor, creating a partially vaporized disk around the newly fledged Earth that had eventually become the moon we know today. In the simulations, it was discovered that significantly larger planets—rocky planets larger than six times the mass of Earth and icy planets larger than the Earth’s mass—produced fully-vaporized disks instead, which could not form large moons. This is due to how, in fully vaporized disks, the moonlets present within—liquid building blocks of moons, formed from cooling within the planetary disk—experience enough drag from their vaporous brethren that they are pulled down to the planet’s surface. Meanwhile, in a partially vaporized disk, such gas drag is not nearly as strong. This research has given searchers for habitable exoplanets a new criterium: planetary masses must be smaller than these identified thresholds if they are to produce similar moons, which may, in turn, hold the key to life.

By Adam Santana

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Although cyanide is known to be a lethal gas used in chemical warfare, it may have had a great role in the early years of life on Earth, billions of years ago. Chemists at Scripps Research have discovered how cyanide could have spurred metabolic reactions to make carbon-based compounds from carbon dioxide. According to Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, PhD, an associate professor of chemistry at Scripps Research, biochemistry is a big help in understanding the first signs of life on various planets. Since cyanide spurred these early metabolic reactions, that says a lot about how different life could be. One type of chemical reaction that bacteria today goes through is called the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle (r-TCA cycle) that processes carbon dioxide and water into chemical compounds that are essential for life. However, today’s bacteria’s r-TCA cycle is much more evolved than that of early life, utilizing various proteins that didn’t even exist back then. Instead of using these modern proteins, these bacteria would use metals to spur the chemical reactions vital to life. This only would work under very acidic/hot conditions though, which isn’t common on Earth at least.

Knowing that cyanide was present on early Earth, Krishnamurthy theorized that cyanide could’ve been one of the metals used in the r-TCA cycle. He and his colleagues used some cyanide in a test tube and experimented with some chemical reactions. It worked, and cyanide successfully was able to spur the transfer of electrons between molecules! Plus, this worked under regular room temperature conditions and at a wide pH range, showing what life was like on early Earth. Therefore, cyanide simplified the r-TCA cycle and was actually quite simple in comparison to the modern cycle. It’s interesting how chemistry played a role so early in life on Earth, and this discovery really helped gain insight on what it was like. There is even a possibility that life could evolve from these cyanide driven reactions, according to Krishnamurthy.

Cyanide, and its Role in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 20


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Evolution of Life on Earth Affected by Supermountains "Giant mountain ranges at least as high as the Himalayas and stretching up to 8,000 kilometres across entire supercontinents played a crucial role in the evolution of early life on Earth, according to a new study by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU)." The formation of these mountains were tracked by the researchers utilizing zircon traces with low content of lutetium which is a mineral and rare earth element combination that can be found in high mountains' roots. It was found from the study that the most giant supermountains were also formed twice, one of which was between 2000 and 1800 million years ago and the other which was formed between 650 and 500 million years ago. "Both mountain ranges rose during periods of supercontinent formation." It was said by Ziyi Zhu, the lead author, that these two instances and the two most important evolution periods have links between them. For example, the Nuna Supermountain coincides with the eukaryotes' likely appearence. The Transgondwanan Supermountain coincides with the first large animals' appearance. The erosion of these supermountains provided to the oceans essential nutrients which supercharges "biological cycles and driving evolution to greater complexity." Also, the supermountains may have created a boost in oxygen levels. There was almost no oxygen in Earth's early atmosphere. It was thought that there is a correlation between the oxygen levels and the supermountains.

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Cold Damage in East Asia caused by Arctic Winter Warming “Due to climate change, Arctic winters are getting warmer. An international study by UZH researchers shows that Arctic warming causes temperature anomalies and cold damage thousands of kilometers away in East Asia.” The effects of those are: reduced growth of vegetation as well as smaller harvests, and less carbon dioxide being absorbed by the region’s forests. During this year’s winter, the United States’ east coast “experienced heavy snowfall and low temperatures as far south as Florida.” Researchers have found that these extreme winter weathers in East Asia have been triggered by the warmer Arctic winters. The cooler southern winters have a negative impact on the vegetation; they reduce the activity. They also have a negative impact on the ecosystem. The cooler winters also have led to the reduction of activity regarding agriculture. For a study, the scientists have used a combination of system modeling, satellite data, and local observations. “They also analyzed an index of sea surface temperatures from the Barents-Kara Sea and found that in years with higher than average Arctic temperatures, changes in atmospheric circulation resulted in an anomalous climate throughout East Asia.” These conditions particularly in cold years have adverse effects on the growth of vegetation as well as crop yields. “Moreover, the researchers estimated a decrease in carbon uptake capacity in the region of 65 megatons of carbon during winter and spring (by way of comparison, fossil fuel emissions in Switzerland are 8.8 megatons of carbon per year).” There is a correlation between climate change and the reduction of the carbon dioxide absorbed. This shows how big of an effect Arctic warming has on other ecosystems.


Technology


Read Better With Video Games By Mylien Lai

PRESS START Video Games usually aren’t tools used for learning. It appears to harm rather than help someone’s learning? Yet…it can help people learn how to read! Even though it’s seemingly simple in theory, reading actually requires a lot of essential mechanisms that we don’t think about. We have to know how to move our eyes across the word and use our memory to put sounds together in a long chain. With all of this in mind, a child-friendly action video game was developed to increase attention span and cognitive flexibility. In this fun game, children, along with a cute creature named Raku, are tasked with different missions to save planets! When schoolchildren in Italy went through various tasks (from remembering an order of symbols to responding to Raku at a certain signal), they were seen to improve tremendously at reading Italian. Even though it's currently only proven for Italian, it can be for other languages as well as the experiment is expanded!


Fun Section

Magazine Trivia Terms ageing Earth flatworm heart

influenza microbiome Morganella mosquito

ossicles retina silk space

Hib transients starfish supermountains spider


Sources:

Australian National University. “Supermountains Controlled the Evolution of Life on Earth.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 3 Feb. 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220203103029.htm. Blakemore, Erin. “Scientists Name Newly Discovered Flatworm after Covid-19.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 Feb. 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/02/06/flathead-worms-covid-19/. Dance, Amber. “A Deadly Bacteria Has Been Infecting Children for More than 1,400 Years.” Science News, 2 Feb. 2022, www.sciencenews.org/article/deadly-bacteria-infectionmedieval-child-haemophilus-influenzae-type-b. Hadley, Megan. “Astrophysicists Discover Mysterious Energy Pulse in Milky Way.” UPI, UPI, 26 Jan. 2022, www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/01/26/space-radio-transientdiscovered/2251643228424/. Kreier, Freda. “Just 14 Cases: Guinea Worm Disease Nears Eradication.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 11 Feb. 2022, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00385-z. Musto, Julia. “NASA Probe Captures First Images of Venus' Surface in Visible Light.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 10 Feb. 2022, www.foxnews.com/science/nasa-probe-capturesfirst-images-venus-surface-visible-light.amp. Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Gut Microbe Linked to Depression in Large Health Study.” Science, 4 Feb. 2022, www.science.org/content/article/gut-microbe-linked-depression-large-health-study. Saplakoglu, Yasemin. “Your Eyes May Reveal Your True Biological Age.” LiveScience, 21 Jan. 2022, www.livescience.com/eyes-may-reveal-true-biological-age. Scripps Research Institute. “New Role for Cyanide in Early Earth and Search for Extraterrestrial Life.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 3 Feb. 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220203122918.htm. “The Science behind the Fake Snow at the 2022 Winter Olympics Hiii.” Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, NBC Olympics, 9 Feb. 2022, www.nbcolympics.com/news/science-behindfake-snow-2022-winter-games.


University of Rochester. “Moons May Yield Clues to What Makes Planets Habitable.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 1 Feb. 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220201144027.htm. University of South Florida (USF Innovation). “Poor Sleep Can Triple Risk for Heart Disease.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 7 Feb. 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220207155642.htm. University of Washington. “Mosquitoes Are Seeing Red: These New Findings about Their Vision Could Help You Hide from These Disease Vectors.” Phys.org, Phys.org, 4 Feb. 2022, phys.org/news/2022-02-mosquitoes-red-vision-disease-vectors.html. University of Zurich. “Arctic Winter Warming Causes Cold Damage in the Subtropics of East Asia.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 8 Feb. 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220208105229.htm. Université de Genève. “Improving Reading Skills through Action Video Games.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 17 Jan. 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220117115113.htm. Wiley. “Regenerative Medicine: Spider Silk Janus Fibers Could Attract Nerve Cells and Stimulate Their Growth.” Phys.org, Phys.org, 4 Feb. 2022, phys.org/news/2022-02regenerative-medicine-spider-silk-janus.html. Wilke, Carolyn. “A Diamondlike Structure Gives Some Starfish Skeletons Their Strength.” Science News, 10 Feb. 2022, www.sciencenews.org/article/starfish-skeleton-structurediamond-strength-calcite.

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