The Chelt Scientist ISSUE 4

Sci Team

Editors-in-Chief

Amandine Bourrier

Charlotte Lim

Siya Narayan

Art by Suri Liang, SFC2

Amandine Bourrier

Deborah Li

Charlotte Lim

Charissa Lim

Siya Narayan

Ludmilla Nell

Megan Ma

Val Ostapchenko

Ivy Song

Writers

Amandine Bourrier

Natalie Chan

Isabel Huang

Natalie Lam

Sophia Lau

Charlotte Lim

Siya Narayan

Wendy Qi

Odelia Yang

Editors

Tina Jinzhang

Sophia Lau

Aerin Loh

Cynthia Tian

Janice Wan News

Graphic Designers

Amandine Bourrier

Sophia Lau

Charlotte Lim

Siya Narayan

Bonita Wong

Illustrators

Amandine Bourrier

Sandy Chen

Isabel Huang

Issy Hugget

Charmaine Lai

Siya Narayan

Hazel Ryan

Xindi Zhang

Giselle Chan

Isabel Huang

Jenny Huang

Mr Isaac

Sophia Lau

Mrs Mech

Muse Wang

The Unsolved Mystery of Prime Numbers

Women’s History

Narayan

The Real Anti-Ageing

Odelia Yang

Amandine Bourrier, Charlotte Lim & Siya Narayan

is the Sublime? Isabel Huang & Charlotte Lim

Possible Future for Humanity?

Spell Out The Death of Creative Expression?

or Foe?

Editor’s note

As young scientists, navigating science in the modern world seems daunting After all, science has quietly and powerfully woven itself into the fabric of our everyday lives and is shaping the technologies that lie ahead Especially with the many unsolved mysteries of our time, one of which is explored on p19, and the limitless scope of science, we find ourselves thinking about what it takes to be a scientist You may look upon successful figures, as we do on p22, and wonder what they did to get there Much like any great achievement, progress starts with a small step, a small breakthrough, some of which we have delved into within our science news section

Speaking of breakthroughs, the emergence of AI has catalysed developments in the scientific world, including the innovation of Dall-E and Chat-GPT which has started to carry out skills, once perceived as strictly human. So, we ask ourselves, “Will AI replace the necessity of humans entirely?” (p39) Being a scientist encompasses a mind that extends beyond curiosity, coupled with a creative approach to solving problems, a capacity that AI has yet to fully replicate.

The idiosyncrasies and imagination of humans allow science to truly flourish. It is scientists like Katsuhiko Hayashi who challenge preconceived notions and epitomise the concept of creativity in science by reimagining the approaches to today’s problems. From the mice with two biological dads that were genetically engineered (p7) and the creation of melting robots capable of escaping jail (p11), science embodies a plethora of possibilities.

Science in the modern world is about pushing the boundaries of human knowledge a little further. In creating this edition of the CheltScientist, we’ve come to appreciate the vast realm of science. We hope this magazine inspires you to indulge in what science has to offer, so sit back and enjoy diving into this issue!

The Editors, Amandine, Charlotte & Siya

Physics

HELIOPHYSICS

Northern lights seen in the UK

Earlier this year, much of the UK witnessed the stunning aurora borealis spectacle due to increased

solar activity from the sun, creating picture-perfect moments The glimmering lights in the sky have been captured in many areas including, Scotland, Dorset in the south of England, and Anglesey in the north of Wales

If you are wondering how this natural phenomenon occurred and why it relates to the sun, in short, the aurora borealis in the north or aurora australis in the south, is caused by the interaction of charged particles expelled from the sun, also known as solar wind, and gaseous particles like oxygen and nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere. When these two collide, energy is gained and released in the form of photons, or light particles, emitting flashes of different coloured lights, depending on the type of gas and location of the collision. Generally, the aurora is seen at the Earth’s poles as our magnetic field deflects the sun’s charged particles to these regions, allowing it to penetrate our upper atmosphere

Recently, an event called coronal mass ejection in the sun, causing rapid magnetic field variations, created an exceptionally large expulsion of electrically charged particles In addition to higher speed solar winds, aurorae have been able to reach locations not normally achieved

Fun fact: Compasses were invented long before the Earth's magnetic field was understood; the north pole on an ordinary compass points towards the geographic North Pole, but when it comes to magnets, it is said that opposite poles attract. In other words, the magnetic north pole on a compass is attracted to and points towards a magnetically south pole. So, our geographic North Pole is in truth Earth's magnetic South Pole!

ASTRONOMY

A Midnight Snack

Theories have long suggested that the sun will one day engulf our beloved planet - Earth. Although that’s far

off in the future, in the next 5 billion years, one unfortunate planet wasn't so lucky in escaping its fate

In a preview of what’s to come for us, researchers at MIT were able to detect unusual bursts of light originating from a star around 13,000 light-years away. Although, initially believed to be a red nova (when two stars merge together) due to its similar appearance, scientists quickly discovered that it was in fact a giant gas planet roughly 30 times the size of planet Earth being “devoured” by an expanding star, revealing the first photographic evidence that supports this theory

Our sun is a medium-mass star, and in order to sustain its life it undergoes the continuous nuclear fusion of hydrogen which turns into helium in order to create an outward pressure to prevent the star from collapsing in on itself. However, unlike giant stars which explode into supernovas before abruptly turning into a black hole, stars like our sun suffer a long and tortured end When the hydrogen runs out the star can no longer exert an outward pressure Once the outward pressure changes, even slightly inwards gravity, wins causing the star to cave and turn into a red giant. Consequently, the star begins to transition into a red giant and expands, engulfing any planets residing nearby. This is because as the star collapses the heat inside the core increases till it is hot enough to fuse helium While the hydrogen had fused into helium, the helium now fuses into carbon However, once all the helium is used up the star cannot reach temperatures high enough to undergo the nuclear fusion of carbon. Due to another imbalance in pressure and gravity, gravity again will win causing the star to collapse in on itself The star will produce a wave of energy causing further expansion Dying stars can expand up to a million times their original size, destroying anything in their proximity

So, while it's safe to say that you and I won't be around for the dramatic end of planet Earth, the same cannot be said for our unfortunate solar system which like all other planets will simply end up as a tasty snack for a greedy sun

Exploring more of the universe...

ASTROBIOLOGY

An update on the Perseverance rover on Mars

The Perseverance rover that landed on Mars over two years ago, in February 2021, has recently made one

of its most exciting finds. The rover collected samples from the site of an ancient river delta that has been composed of many layers of rocks, which can be used as a geological record of the past on Mars. The delta ‘is like this flashing signpost beautifully visible from orbit that tells us there was a standing body of water here,’ says astrobiologist Ken Williford of Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle.

Perseverance has mainly been focusing on this area called the Jezero Crater, a large geological feature around 28 miles in diameter. Through tests conducted remotely, researchers have been able to learn more about the composition of these rocks. Some of the rocks are thought to contain the highest amount of organic materials ever discovered, according to NASA scientists.

Minerals associated with sulphates can be found among organic matter, proving that there was once water on Mars, as these substances can only be formed with the presence of water. Another notable discovery is the existence of carbonates in the ground. Carbonates and other geological matter can give us an insight on the history of Mars, and may also maintain evidence of any previous habitable sites as well as microbial life that may have thrived there. Could these discoveries prove that there was life on Mars? I guess we will see in the years to come…

ASTRONOMY

JWST's recent discoveries

The James Webb Space Telescope has broken not one but possibly two more records! Earlier this year, the

telescope stumbled upon the most distant galaxy cluster

when its light reached the telescope, Morishita and his team at the California Institute of Technology applied a phenomenon called Red Shift.The phenomenon is caused by the expansion of the universe – the further away an object is, the faster it travels away from the Earth From their calculations, they deduced that the JWST has been observing these galaxies about 650 million years after the Big Bang Therefore, the galaxy cluster currently looks comparatively average and small However, it would look very different if light in the Universe could travel instantaneously With the calculated gravitational pull of these observed seven galaxies, they would have attracted thousands of smaller galaxies towards themselves, creating a massive proto-cluster

Siya Narayan Ludmilla Nell

JWST's very first deep field - a galaxy cluster named SMACS 0723, composing of pictures taken at different wavelengths, total camera exposure was 12 5 hours

A detailed image of the Tarantula Nebula, in addition to dozens of galaxies in the background

The Perseverance Rover and all its instruments

Chemistry

FORENSICS

A New Forefront of Forensics

"Invented accidentally as the best things are,” said Beth McNash, a chemist at Foster + Freeman, is a

new RECOVER LFT system, leading the forefront of forensics The RECOVER system is a latent fingerprint technology which can recover fingerprints from decadesold crime scenes, paving a new future for forensics It was an accidental discovery in a chemistry lab at Loughborough University by Roberto King and Paul Kelly who were only focusing on pure chemical research, but faced obstacles when finger marks kept developing on the insides of their glass equipment

Traditional fingerprint analysis involves methods like dusting, where powder is brushed onto a surface and sticks to oil residues left behind; there is also chemical treatments, where reagents such as cyanoacrylate or ninhydrin react with the fingerprint residues to form a pattern visible to the naked eye. However, these often come with limitations, especially when fingerprints have been ‘washed’ away or fades over time.

RECOVER uses a chemical vapour fuming process, relying on a corrosion signature - an invisible mark left behind after touching a metal surface What is unique about this new piece of technology is that it can retrieve fingerprints from difficult surfaces, including those exposed to extreme heat, buried, or thrown into lakes, and even if items have been ‘washed’ to remove finger marks Fingerprints will develop a blue-black print on the surface which can be removed and photographed

RECOVER has now been adopted by police forces and has led to the reopening of previous, old, unsolved cases A butter knife recovered from a murder scene on November 13th, 1983 has been used to reclaim fingerprints that could not be retrieved using old processes; the fingerprints matched those of the suspect leading to trial and arrest, nearly 40 years after the committed crime

This technological advancement has allowed many cold cases to be re-investigated and it works especially well on metallic surfaces including bullet casings and knives Scientists believe RECOVER to be a valuable, new asset to criminology and will continue to inspire new processes within forensic research

Charlotte Lim

MATERIALS

Glass Made from Amino Acids

In an incredible feat, Xuehai Yan and his team has developed a novel type of glass composed of

amino acids, showcasing both renewable and biodegradable properties

You may be asking yourself why we even need an alternative to traditional glass The production of glass is a non-equilibrium reaction that requires silicon dioxide (sand) to undergo extreme heat conditions, sometimes reaching up to 1600 C. These extreme conditions have various environmental effects. The large-scale industrial production of glass releases significant quantities of toxic gases like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. These contribute to rain acidification, creating harmful effects on fragile habitats.

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The new glass is composed of amino acids which have undergone chemical alterations on their ends, allowing the thermal stability of amino acids to increase, helping the glass have a wider usage - hydrophobic groups are used for this process The chemically altered amino acids were then melted before being supercooled into a liquid Subsequently, they underwent quenching to form bio-molecular glass The glass created so far transmits light in similar ways to traditional glass as well as showing versatile properties, opening the possibility for further applications

This new glass is strong, flexible and biodegradable all of which are promising features for applications in the medical field Adaptations include drug delivery systems in the body as well as temporary structural support to enhance cell growth The glass can dissolve on its own removing the further need for surgery Although, further research and clinical trials are required on the potential adverse effects once dissolved, as well as more information on compatibility for different cell types Recent experiments conducted on mice showed the glass took only 12 days to completely dissolve This seems very promising for the future of amino acid glass!

Amandine Bourrier

Biology

GENETICS

Mice with Two Dads

Agroup of scientists led by Katsuhiko Hayashi have made a remarkable breakthrough in genetic science Previously thought impossible, Hayashi and his team were able to make viable mice from 2 male cells The aim of the experiment

was to see if a male cell which contains an X and Y chromosome could lose the Y chromosome So that after further cell manipulation and cell division the cell would have XX chromosomes allowing for reproduction Hayashi also described how the “biggest trick of this is the duplication of the X chromosome”

The researchers collected cells from the males' tail, which contained XY chromosomes The cells then underwent stimulation and manipulation to become Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) These cells have been used in lots of recent groundbreaking research as they have the ability to turn into virtually any cell in the body In the lab Hayashi and his team observed that some iPSC spontaneously lost the Y chromosome Consequently, resulting in the formation of “XO” cells Some of these cells further went on to become XX cells through random mutations and cell division errors, essentially being female XX cells They soon discovered that the addition of a compound called “reversine” increased the likelihood of the cell becoming XX With further programming and stimulation, the XX cells turned into egg cells The XX egg cells then fused with a sperm from another male to form an embryo Subsequently, they were transferred into the uterus of a a surrogate mother While some embryos resulted in live pups, the majority did not Only 7/630 embryos were successful However, Hayashi argued that lab conditions reduced the likelihood of successful embryos

This discovery paves the ways for lots of exciting innovation Once refined this technique could be utilised in animal conservation, helping to increase genetic diversity in populations which may be endangered or limited in numbers An example as to where this could be used is Northern White Rhinos Other uses could include same-sex couples as well as couples struggling with infertility Although this is exciting it is not probable that this technology will be transferable for at least another decade Ethical ramifications must also be carefully considered This technique could allow for the rise of embryo farming, when individuals create hundreds of embryos before selecting the one which they decree is best The question remains as to what would happen to all the leftover embryos Further problems could include individuals collecting cell samples from their favourite celebrity without their consent or knowledge and potentially creating mini Timothée Chalamets!

ENTOMOLOGY

Artificial Light Disorientates Insects

We have all quite possibly been victim to the insects that make their way into our homes, the lights being their main destination As such, we've believed that was

due to their attraction to lights, with the central hypothesis being the insect's nature of using the moon's light for navigation, causing them to mistake artificial lighting for the moon However, this doesn't explain why insects don't fly towards the sun during the day, nor the movements they make around a light source New, slow-motion camera footage reveals insects to turn their backs against a light source, causing them to fly upside down, or around the light in circles - bringing about disorientation, as they tumble into the light This is part of their control system where insects tilt their body in parallel to the light, supposing this is in the 'upwards' direction, like the sun and moon Nocturnal insects like moths have evolved to travel with the guidance of the moon's light, using a method called transverse orientation, where the light source is kept at a specific position in relation to their body Consequently, artificial lighting can 'confuse' their navigation systems as insects cannot distinguish between the two

Charlotte Lim

Amandine Bourrier

Environment

CONSERVATION

UN High Seas Treaty

After 20 years of negotiations the United Nations High Seas Treaty has been signed! Just a few

months after the UN Convention on Biological Diversity proclaimed to protect 30% of global sea and land by 2030, the UN has finally created an international legal framework that offers protection to roughly 60% of the ocean beyond national control

Practically, the approval of this new treaty means that internationally recognized marine protected areas [MPAs] will become larger and more abundant They will also be managed by a conference of the parties [COP] of the UN Highs Seas Treaty

Although the treaty will protect more oceans within the MPAs, it does not eliminate commercial and organisational activity in the High Seas; however, the treaty will ensure that every large project that takes place from now on must carry out an environmental impact assessment, thereby regulating the environmental impact of activities organised in the High Seas Based on the assessment, the COP can determine whether or not the project is viable to go ahead.

Whilst this is an incredible step forward, there is still more work to be done. As this treaty only sets up the legal framework for marine protection, the COP must now act to create MPAs whilst working alongside scientists on the environmental impact assessment criteria, ensuring a continuous high standard of environmental protection for the world’s oceans.

GEOLOGY

A New Ocean, A New Africa

Geologists have confirmed that, with the help of the African and Arabian tectonic plates, a new

ocean forming may split Africa in half. The Somali plate, which is under the part of Africa, has been colliding with the other tectonic plates for the past 30 million years, and possibly contributing to the shifting land above and new ocean forming. Geologists theorise that the new ocean forming connects to the extensive 35-mile-long rupture that formed during the aftermath of an earthquake in Ethiopia’s desert. While another few millimetres go towards diverging the two pieces of land every year, it is estimated at least another 5 to 10 million years will be taken for this ocean to form

Scientists believe this event to be a good opportunity for more up-to-date research on how the Earth’s surface was formed However, they are also researching the ocean’s effect on many countries in Africa, for example, landlocked countries like Uganda and Zambia may have a new coastline This natural change could also be the root of a new set of challenges, risking many lives along the way and displacing countless species of flora and fauna Furthermore, the added effect of the changing climate’s rising sea levels raises more concerns for safety

Another theory is that this new ocean could have unforeseen effects on our world Most African nations source vital day-to-day food items like bananas, tomatoes, and onions while the continent produces other pertinent forms of sustenance such as corn, wheat, and rice. A new ocean forming would severely complicate and hinder the transportation and growth of these crops, potentially more affecting everyday lives.

Image credit: Christian Mehlfuhrer via Wikimedia Commons

World News

INDIA

Tiger Conservation Initiative

Three-quarters of the world’s wild tigers live in India, but the destruction of their natural habitat for commercial use has caused their numbers to decrease In order to further tiger conservation efforts in the country, the National

Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established by the Indian government in 2005, which made efforts to enhance monitoring and enforce stricter forest protection laws in designated tiger reserves This act has been extremely successful so far, as the tiger population in India rose from 1,411 in 2006 to over 3000 currently Additionally, research has shown that this effort has also led to a secondary benefit of a reduction in carbon emissions The tiger conservation policy prevented the loss of over 5,800 hectares of land, which is equivalent to a cut in nearly a million tonnes of CO emissions Aakash Lamba, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, told AFP that tigers are an ‘umbrella species’, which means that ‘by protecting them we also protect the forests they live in, which are home to an incredible diversity of wildlife ’ Initiatives like the NTCA, which not only protect tiger populations, but preserve ecosystems and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, are greatly beneficial, and a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone

UNITED STATES

The Willow Project

The ConocoPhillips Willow Project is an extensive oil- drilling plan that intends to produce roughly

65 7 million tons of oil every year for the next 30 years in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) in Alaska This increased production of oil supply is estimated to generate 17 billion USD for the US government and create 350 permanent jobs and up to 2500 construction jobs

Although seemingly an apt and lucrative solution to reduce US dependence on foreign oil companies and energy supply, the plan will entail significant environmental damage Over the course of the 30 years, the Willow Project will release approximately 260 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to roughly 9 million additional tons per year Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is a major contributor to climate change and both indirect and direct greenhouse gas emissions, by absorbing and radiating infrared waves, and ‘trapping’ heat within the Earth’s atmosphere.

Additionally, the project will require the construction of roads, pipelines and factories - infrastructure that

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would damage the surrounding ecosystem Many arctic animals that occupy these coastal regions of Alaska are already endangered, and the approval of the Willow Project could further threaten existing populations The NPR also happens to be a calving ground for the Great Barren Caribou every spring, where female caribou migrate to give birth to calves However, increased noise from drilling and road traffic from the Willow Project would force caribou to migrate to other lands The forced migration will disrupt their foraging season, eventually causing the population to decline Warmer temperatures in the Arctic would also invite mosquitos and other fleas to attack and weaken newborn caribou calves, and caribou will no longer have the chance to graze in the areas nearby due to oil-drilling This migration also has devastating impacts on the Indigenous Alaskan population as they have relied on caribou as a source of food and clothing for centuries Evidently, the destruction of these natural habitats will have cascading effects on the fragile global ecosystems in Alaska.

The recent approval of the Willow Project by President Joe Biden reflects a shift from environmental protection to a profitable gain. However, there are still various activist groups whose efforts may prevent the Willow Project from running, as although this endeavour may have its benefits, we should not disregard the environmental and social costs of the project.

Siya Narayan

The Rising Threat of Fungi

OMYCOLOGY ver the recent years, fungi have become a useful resource for many things. The rise in the use of

mushrooms can be seen in packaging supplies, bricks for buildings and even canoes and surfboards! Acting as light, low-cost, biodegradable materials, fungi are versatile and resilient against contamination The media has placed fungi on a pedestal – but how much do we know about the sinister side of the world of fungi?

Let’s take a trip to the tropical rainforest. Imagine an ant, about 10 inches off the ground. It is stitched to a leaf by mycelium - a network, part of a fungus consisting of thread-like hyphae, and it’s jaws sunk into a leaf vein on the north side of a plant. This is an ant suffering from ‘summit disease’.

‘Summit disease’ occurs after an ant is infected by a fungus called Ohpiocordyceps unilateralis, also known as the zombie-ant fungus. This fungus’ spores can attach to and penetrate the exoskeleton of a nearby ant. It then grows mycelial cells and releases chemicals into the ant's body, hijacking its nervous system and controlling its muscles, turning it into a zombie

Once this has occurred, the ant suddenly feels the compulsion to leave its nest for a more humid microclimate, that is favourable to the fungus’ growth This is the point where the fungus begins to feed on the ant’s innards, awaiting the death of the ant It then sends a fruiting body through the base of its head and casts its spores to infect new nearby ants

There is little known about Ohpiocordyceps unilateralis, but scientists theorise that the fungus becomes a prosthetic organ of the ant It has been discovered that upon infection, 40% of the infected ant’s biomass becomes the fungus, and the hyphae wind through its body cavity,

head, legs, and muscle fibres – thus indicating the possibility of the fungus being able to control the ant’s activity via an interconnected mycelial network!

Fortunately, scientists say that for any fungi to infect a warm-blooded animal would require millions of years of evolutionary genetic changes It is also notable to mention that each strain of fungus is evolved to infect a specific species Luckily for us, this means that we are under no threat by the zombie-ant fungus!

However, fungi still have the potential to be dangerous to humans Researchers expect a rise in the severity and quantity of fungal infections due to climate change The main thing protecting us from severe fungal infections are our warm bodies, due to the significant difference between our body’s temperature and the temperature of our external environment As global temperatures rise, this difference will decrease Fungi will also evolve to withstand hotter temperatures, therefore rendering our body’s natural defenses useless.

This has already become a problem in certain parts of the world. In South America, Africa, and India, the fungus Candida auris, which emerged in 2007, was suspected to have developed the ability to infect humans due to the rising global temperatures. It presents symptoms similar to a bacterial infection, and due to the lack of vaccines and medications to prevent and treat fungal pathogens, it has killed 30-60% of infected people.

30-60%

It has killed of infected people.

Candida auris is the first of many fungi species which has evolved to infect humans due to climate change Professor Casadevall, known for his work on fungi, believes that a fungal outbreak akin to COVID-19 is possible He is working on developing antifungal medicines and vaccines, and urges us to combat climate change

The kingdom of fungi is incredible They act as versatile and useful resources, but do not be fooled, as they have potential to pose huge threats to humanity

Charissa Lim

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Melting Robots

Sea cucumbers are seen as precious ingredients in Chinese cuisines for their gelatinous texture, thanks to their structural proteins But what makes a sea cucumber biologically special? It is their possession of a type of collagen called mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) or catch connective tissue (CCT) MCTs allow sea cucumbers to change their stiffness in defence to facing potential dangers, thus assisting them to survive The dermis, a typical MCT of the sea cucumber body wall, can sense and respond to any surrounding mechanical strain by stiffening or softening, as well as achieving this through nervous control

Sea cucumbers have inspired scientists to find a balance between different robots: the traditional robots are rigid and stiff, while some softer robots are weaker and more difficult to control. Melting robots, mimicking the abilities of sea cucumbers, are therefore a great alternative that combines the advantages of both types of robots as they can undergo reversible liquefaction.

Magnetoactive solid-liquid phase transitional machine is the material that melting robots are made up of. Magnetic particles are embedded throughout gallium, a silver metal with a melting point of just 29 76˚C, allowing the material to be dragged around easily by a permanent magnet when in solid form The material can also be liquified by exposure to a rapidly alternating magnetic field The changing magnetic field lines interact with the conducting metal, generating current within the gallium, increasing its temperature, and causing it to melt due to its low melting point

The mobility of melting robots in fluid states is still in the midst of research as scientists are experiencing difficulties controlling their movement The particles in gallium are able to rotate freely, which, in addition to their unaligned magnetic poles after melting, lead to many varying orientations of particles This causes the particles to respond differently to a magnet by moving in different directions, making it harder to control melting robots in fluid states The

potential melting robots is no doubt high Carmel Majidi, the creator of melting robots, demonstrated this with his team from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania by testing their robots with different tasks The most famous one is when a melting robot shaped like a Lego figure escaped through jail bars by melting and resolidifying into its original form The flexibility of melting robots can also be utilised in potential biomedical applications For instance, melting robots are so far able to approach, melt over and pull out an object inside an artificial stomach Melting robots are therefore useful in terms of their potential ability to remove foreign objects from places that traditional robot arms or surgeons cannot access as easily

Unsurprisingly, there are problems surrounding the application of melting robots as they are still relatively new technologies. As the average human body temperature is above the melting point of gallium, melting robots will turn into ‘goo’ inside a real human body, which significantly reduces their mobility. A method to raise the melting point of melting robots is adding a few more metals like tin. What’s more, it is also important to ensure that melting robots can be safely controlled and monitored inside patients. A large quantity of gallium is likely to react with our stomach acids, producing lethal gallium trichloride. The magnetic forces applied on the material needs to be precisely controlled as well in order to ensure the patient’s safety

Melting robots are undoubtedly a compelling innovation

As robotics engineer Nicholas Bira of Harvard University states, “the true innovation to come lies in combining these different innovative materials ” Hence, we wait, with admiration, for more captivating research results

Ivy Song

BIOLOGY

A Breakthrough in Stem Cell Research

Monkey Embryonic Stem Cells Form Embryo-like Structures

In a remarkable feat of scientific ingenuity, a team of researchers from China has successfully created embryo-like structures from monkey embryonic stem cells. The researchers also transferred these embryo-like structures into the uteri of female monkeys, determining that the structures could implant and elicit a hormonal response similar to pregnancy. This groundbreaking discovery could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of embryonic development and may even lead to new infertility and genetic disorders treatments.

"The molecular mechanisms of human embryogenesis and organogenesis are largely unclear," says co-corresponding author Zhen Liu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai "Because monkeys are closely related to humans evolutionarily, we hope the study of these models will deepen our understanding of human embryonic development, including shedding light on some of the causes of early miscarriages

The study, published in the journal Cell, describes how the researchers used a combination of embryonic stem cells and specialised culture conditions to generate structures known as blastoids Blastoids, which are stem cell-based embryo models, appear similar to early-stage embryos and can be used to study the embryo's development in unprecedented detail

What makes this achievement so significant is that it was previously thought impossible to create such complex structures in the lab. However, the researchers were able to overcome this challenge by carefully manipulating the culture conditions to provide the necessary signals for the cells to organise and differentiate into the various cell types required for embryonic development.

In future work, the investigators plan to further develop the system of culturing embryo-like structures from monkey cells "This will provide us with a useful model for future study," Co-corresponding author Fan Zhou of Tsinghua University "Further application of monkey blastoids can help to dissect the molecular mechanisms of primate embryonic development "

Of course, with any new technology comes ethical considerations The researchers were careful to note that they did not implant the blastoids into a uterus or attempt to develop them further than a few days Notably, the embryo-like structures do not have full developmental potential

It's hard not to be excited by the possibilities of this groundbreaking discovery As we continue to unlock the secrets of embryonic development, we may be able to develop new treatments and cures for a wide range of diseases and conditions

The Language of Bees

As Busy as a Bee

Unlike us when picking what to eat, bees have to ma quick decisions, often flying at high speeds as they se flower to pollinate. So you may be wondering - how they able to select the right flower? Well, bees are trichromatic like humans, which means they are sens to all three primary colours While humans can actua more colours, bees have a wide range and are able to in UV A bee's vision is based on blue, green and ultraviolet light, which means they cannot truly see r but instead purple and UV rays This makes violet an far more attractive to bees Their 5 eyes means that t can see 5 times faster than us, allowing them to choo the right flower swiftly and effortlessly when flying L us, bees are somewhat picky eaters and look for the attractive flower They observe the colour, scent, pol production, and even the its surroundings This resul the discovery of the ‘perfect flower’

Once the bee picks the perfect flower, it needs to sh location with other bees Due to the presence of an internal sun compass, bees use solar navigation to de the location of a flower in relation to the sun They c can't shout across a field, so bees develop an intricat complex way of visually communicating - dancing

’The waggle dance’

This is when the bee starts flying in a straight line, waggling It then stops and flies in a semi-circle back their starting point making sure not to waggle in the circle phase The length of the waggle dance is direct proportional to the length of the journey from the hiv Let’s this w

Intelli , recog g j y quent bees. If there is a considerable amount of wind, the waggle dance will be carried out for longer, communicating that more energy will be needed to make the journey

to leave the hive. This is because it affects the worker bees' behaviour and leads to an increase in activity of bees leaving the hive to collect nectar. It is most likely that the pheromones are used to recruit worker bees. As they grow old, they no longer work in the hive but instead go out and collect pollen.

FORMULA 1 The SPEEDY SCIENCE Behind FORMULA 1

Sophia Lau UC4

“It’s lights out and away we go!” The revving of 20 engines fills the silent circuit within milliseconds. Nothing is better than hearing this on a Sunday for a Formula 1 fan. Formula 1 is like no other. An F1 car is an incredible piece of engineering, a physics laboratory on four wheels, the pinnacle of motor racing - all built for one thing: speed. But is Formula 1 just cars zooming around circuits? Is it even a sport? What is the science behind it?

Flirting with aerodynamics

Downforce is the vertical component of aerodynamic forces, which is generated by producing a region of low pressure underneath the object and high pressure above. The most influential element of the aerodynamic package is certainly the front wing. However, as opposed to wings of aircrafts that are made to lift, the car wings are designed to be mounted upside down to produce downforce This all makes sense when it is illustrated by Bernoulli’s principle, which defines the function of the wing

Pressure difference is created due to different speeds and distances of air flowing over two sides of the wing, and when there is a region of low pressure beneath the wing and high pressure above, downforce is generated In fact, an F1 car generates so much downforce that at 160km/h (just at ½ of its top speed) it can drive on the roof of a tunnel; and at maximum speed, it has as much as 5G downforce G-force, representing gravity, determines how much we weigh; this means drivers experience a force 5 times their weight at top speed To put this in context, we experience 0 7-1 3G on a typical plane flight, any higher than 5G will feel like your spine is snapping, while 9G is the ultimate humans can withstand with blood rushing to the feet and the heart struggling to pump blood to the brain Combining all downforce generated by the car would feel like a small elephant sitting on top of it At the end of the day, more downforce means more grip and faster corner speeds, which gives the car improved stability and performance. No wonder teams spend millions every year battling to produce the most downforce and the least drag.

Slipstream? Dirty air?

Whenever you tune into any Formula 1 race, you’re definitely going to hear commentators talking about “slipstream” and “dirty air”, both terms describing the flow of air directly behind cars. In simple words, “slipstream” is great while “dirty air” is awful and the key difference lies in which part of the track it occurs (a car circuit is formed by straights and curves!)

Slipstreaming occurs when a car is aligned right behind another down a straight to gain extra speed, which means cars are fighting for the position on track! Let’s call the front car A and the trailing car B - as car A goes down track and produces downforce, it produces circulation which generates an area of lower pressure behind it If car B follows up close enough, it can be drawn into the lower pressure zone and result in loss of air resistances, but also downforce, which is less required in a straight line B with less drag is able to accelerate at a faster rate than the leading A And if both cars reach maximum velocity (where engine power = total drag), B will travel at a higher speed than the leading A. Eventually, at a point where car B is so so close to A,* it pulls itself out of the zone and passes the leading car Overtake acquired

*Remark: B experiences an increase in drag which means there is deceleration when it pulls out of the tow which brings both car A and B to the same speed again (assuming conditions are the same) This means the distance between two cars determines whether the overtake is successful - or else deceleration would have already slowed car B down before it overtakes A This explains why we see lead cars weaving (in F1 or even movies!) to avoid cars getting too close

On the other hand, dirty air occurs when one car is behind another around a corner. It’s hot, turbulent air consisting of disrupted vortices. A vortex is a spiral movement of air around an imaginary axis (imagine a tornado) that is the biggest cause of drag. Not only does it disturb the car’s aero-balance which leads to less downforce (crucial at corners!), the hot air behind the leading A starts to affect the cooling systems of the trailing B. Facing the loss of downforce and the risk of overheating, drivers can do nothing but slow down to make the corner, until the engine sufficiently cools down and the car is able to attack again No one would have known that something as basic as air could be so hard to comprehend

As controversial as it gets: DRS

If you’ve never ever watched a grand prix, I present to you DRS - Drag Reduction System, a driver-controlled system aimed at increasing chances of overtaking on straights to gain back time loss in the corners. This is done by opening the flap on the rear wing to alter the car’s aerodynamic profile and decrease drag, allowing the attacking car an overtaking advantage With certain DRS zones that only occur on straights, drivers are informed by dash lights on their steering wheel on when they can activate the system The leading Car A will usually be informed by their team over the radio about their enemy, while Car B will activate the DRS button and begin its attack Of course, the controversial device has stirred some criticism over

Elevating engineering to high art

Aerodynamics is just one part of the car that generates performance Tyres, power units, and the chassis (frame of the car) all play an integral part in order to make Formula 1 cars one of the fastest ones on the planet Not only are cars equipped with a V10 or V12 engine that generates 1000 horsepower (meaning it takes merely 6 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 124 mph), cars also contain over 1000 sensors that monitor every system of the car Back at the base, a team of engineers use this data to optimise the car, extracting its maximum performance and elevating engineering to the highest form of art

Taking it to the limit

So is F1 a sport? Yes, F1 drivers are top athletes both mentally and physically. Lose concentration for a second and you end up in a wall. Blink once and you’ve already travelled across half a football field. Fear of crashes and you are already driving seconds slower in the same car. Every corner you drive, you feel 2-6 times heavier. Every brake you make, 100 kg of force is needed. Every 2 hour race you drive, 4kg is lost through sheer sweat alone.

"I am an artist. The track is my ccanvas anvas and my car is my brush brush . - Graham Hill

"

ll things combined, physically and mentally, driver and ar, makes F1 one of the toughest but most rewarding ports on the planet It’s been 70 years since it was ounded, yet Formula 1 remains the pinnacle of motor acing

Arearwing with DRSactivated

ARTICLES

A Tug of War Between Hu

Natalie Lam SFC2

takes a deep dive into our history, reminding us of society's past

When the word ‘war’ is uttered, one envisages the graphic imagery of guns, tanks, bloodshed, and

soldiers. Our heart resonates with the pain and anguish of war, it leaps towards the courageous spirit that united people to persevere amidst the carnage, it clutches onto hopes for peace and the prevention of another war. But we must also remember that no war has taken on a greater role in shaping our current technologies than World War II, and no war was as heavily influenced by science as WWII.

Dr. Jekyll: Shedding light on the technological front lines

It wasn’t just courageous spirit and perseverance that won World War II. WWII was won with innumerable technological advances that, in many facets of battle, gave the Allies the driving seat

The game “I Spy with My Little Eye” is so 1930s; revolutionary developments in radar technology were at their peak by 1940, which meant that objects beyond the range of sight could be detected It involved sending out radio waves that bounced off solid objects at a distance, and the reflected wave was analyzed to identify the distances, heights, and bearings of targets Goodbye to guessing games and surprise attacks: radar was especially vital in the Battle of Britain in 1940 by giving air defenses early warning of German attacks As one of the many technological innovations that paved the road to Allied victory, radar unveils a whole new category of unsung heroes from WWII: inventions Perhaps inventions were really the puppet masters pulling the strings of history’s fate

To elucidate this point, how could we forget the world’s first electronic computer, Colossus? Colossus was developed from 1943-44 and operated in Bletchley Park during WWII for one purpose: to decipher the Lorenzencrypted (German cipher system) messages between Hitler and his generals. Thanks to these deciphered

messages, the Allies gained a decisive advantage by knowing what enemy armed forces were plotting, and as a direct result, Colossus shortened the war by about two years, saving 14 million lives More importantly, though, is noting that its immense impact did not just lie within the borders of war The dissemination and analysis of information was no longer a race limited by human capacity. The manipulation of numbers, no longer solely reliant on our brains (experiences in the Maths classroom can testify to my relief – kidding). The invention of computers played a vital role in sculpting the society we live in, and to deny its significance even today would be a blatant lie: the influence of technology from the past extends so far into our present and future that an end remains unseen, perhaps because it does not exist.

Colossus being operated in Bletchley Park in 1943 Image credit: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Now, we could depict even more technological advances that changed the course of WWII and beyond We could talk about the Norden bombsight, which hoped to achieve pinpoint accuracy during bombing runs but turned out somewhat unsuccessful, yet was used to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. We could highlight the

mans, History and Science

plethora of articles on the internet titled “Nylon: the reason we won World War II” and wonder how this particular fabric, previously known for its comfort and disposability, was used primarily for parachutes and airplane cords during the war But the pervading presence of technology in WWII did not just reverberate within the front lines and the battlefields. Before guns and tanks, bloodshed and soldiers, we must first envisage families and children, one day thriving in vibrant city streets, the next, sleeping in metro stations under deserted streets, in a country plagued by silence, famine, and disease: the home front. These were civilians, ordinary people like you and I, but while we get to reflect upon the horrors of war, they had to live through it. How did technology change their lives?

Mr. Hyde: Concealing Truths from the home front

The radio had a profound impact on civilians While the idea of a radio (the theory that information could be transmitted over long distances using electromagnetic waves) was first developed in the 1890s by Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, the idea of radio as entertainment was born in 1920 During the first weeks of WWII, public entertainment venues closed down, and radio became the next ‘big thing’ News and talk show programs cast shadows of hope against the flames of war,

enlightening the 12 million US households who owned a radio Yet, 5000 miles away from America, the Germans had a different history to tell

Nazi Germany served as the prime example of how technological inventions, encased in a bundle of good intentions, can still be deployed as forces of evil. The radio, coined as the “eighth great power” by no other than Joseph Goebbels himself, was appointed as henchman in running his prized propaganda machine. In a speech glorifying the radio, Goebbels said, “Radio reached the entire nation, regardless of class, standing, or religion”. I find it humourlessly ironic that radio, itself described as indiscriminate of religion, was weaponized to perpetuate falsehoods of Jews and millions of others deemed “undesirable” to the German state. Outrageously, not even the flames of war were enough to illuminate such abhorrent lies until it was too late: World War II reached its pinnacle of darkness when the Nazi Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were murdered, caused the world to erupt into waves of grief and fury And as we question how ordinary citizens became barbaric murderers, we begin to uncover how science itself can be twisted to accommodate the darker side of humanity

Genocide One of the most appalling crimes in history, yet seen as anything but that by the perpetrators themselves This begs the question: how did the Nazis justify the Holocaust? In an interview with a British historian, Laurence Rees, one Nazi remarked, "at the time, I felt it was the right thing to do” Of course, multitudes of factors were responsible for this warped thought – the thought that the mass murder of millions was rational and reasonable – being entrenched in the mind of the Nazis Ultimately though, the root of such justification lies not in propaganda or fear, but in the theory of Social Darwinism

Forming the basis of Nazi ideology, the significance of social Darwinism can hardly be understated Call it Hitler’s interpretation of the work of the late Charles Darwin, social Darwinism was the theory that humanity was dependent on the same scientific laws of natural selection

First Long-Distance Wireless Telegraph Developed by Guglielmo Marconi Image Credit: Published on LIFE, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“As we question how ordinary citizens became barbaric murderers, we begin to uncover how science itself can be twisted to accommodate the darker side of humanity.”

that Darwin observed in animals and plants The idea that everything in nature lives in constant struggle, in which the weak eventually perish, was adopted in Nazi ideology to replace man as beast, with a beast’s values The bully ought to win if he is stronger Here, the notion of viewing human interaction as identical to that of animals seems utterly senseless, but the rationale behind this belief starts to truly fall apart when we examine the use of pure scientific theory as an ideology. Hitler, in using social Darwinism as their ideology, isolated one single scientific theory, distorted it to accommodate German civilization, and expected it to work for an entire society for years to come. As much as I find snow globes attractive, one cannot freeze scientific theory in a sphere of time and anticipate success, simply because the body of scientific discovery is one that is constantly fluctuating and evolving. Nevertheless, flaws and all, the Nazi regime illustrates how science and technology can be exploited to serve and create atrocities.

An Eclectic Blend of Good and Evil

Of a war that so drastically changed all aspects of life, the enduring technological and scientific legacies that World

War Two left behind remain as profound and powerful now as they were in 1945 Many of these were gifts –revolutionary inventions and discoveries which set the stage for societal innovation and reconstruction It is, however, lamentable, to say the least, that so many of these gifts can be perverted to be used instead for humanity’s most destructive activities Still, the fact remains: that technology and history have always been distinctly intertwined and will continue to cross paths with each other.

Like the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, science can be seen as duplicitous: one moment employed as overpowering forces of good, the next released as debilitating forces of evil. But the nature of science can be depicted more accurately with the reminder that science by itself knows no morality. Alone, science exists only in form, barren of actual uses for both good and bad. It is only when we humans apply our wishes and aspirations to science that opportunity and hope spring to life. Then perhaps humans are truly the victors of this tug of war Still, Tug of War is a precarious game, and it is imperative that we act wisely with thorough consideration of the history of science before tampering with future scientific developments

19, 21, 23, 29, 31, 37...

TheUnsolvedMysteryofPrime Numbers

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17...

Wendy Qi Guild

When you hear the term "prime numbers," what comes to mind? They are positive integers only

divisible by 1 and themselves, except for 1, which is not considered a prime Primes are the fundamental building blocks for all other integers, as any number can be expressed as a product of primes The list of prime numbers begins with 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and so on Although this knowledge is well-established, prime numbers still hold many secrets, making them an intriguing and essential topic in mathematics

Over the centuries, mathematicians have been captivated by the distribution of prime numbers Can we predict the number of primes up to a given point using a formula? How can we locate the next prime number after a massive one, such as 15331? Are there an infinite number of twin primes, which are primes that differ by only two? Is there a pattern to prime numbers that we can follow? These questions have led to numerous conjectures and hypotheses, but only a few have been proven true. The Riemann Hypothesis is one of the most prominent hypotheses, which has puzzled mathematicians for over a century, and it remains unsolved. It is also one of the Millennium Prize Problems - yes, it means you will get US$1,000,000 prize money if you solve the Riemann Hypothesis!

The Prime Number Theory

The Theory of Prime Numbers is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of prime numbers Before Bernhard Riemann discovered this hypothesis, many mathematicians had estimated the number of primes below a certain number.

They represented this estimation as a graph, with the number of primes on the y-axis and the certain number on the x-axis. If plotted, this would be a staircase-shaped graph that reaches infinity, with the equation of xln(x) giving a curve close to it. This formula was brilliantly named the Prime Number Theorem as the first-ever estimation.

However, there is a better estimation known as the Logarithmic Integral Function Li(x):

In the above graph, the staircase-shaped line represents π(x) - the number of prime numbers under and including the given number, x - with the line above depicting the Logarithmic Integral Function defined earlier and the line below depicting the Prime Number Theorem

The Riemann Zeta Function and its Roots

The key for the Riemann Hypothesis is the zeta function, which is an infinite series:

ζ(s)=1+2 +3 +4 +⋯

or, in more compact notation,

ζ(s)=∑ where ∑ meansthesumof n terms(where startsfrom1),

Euler found a relationship between the z the prime number (Euler’s product formu

ζ(s)=∑ =∏ where∏meanstheproductofthe n

s

We’ve now narrowed the range of the existence of the non-trivial roots to between 0 and 1, which is called the critical strip A 2D graph of the zeta function, with the xaxis being the real part of s and the y-axis being the imaginary part of s can be used to visualise the roots.

In the following graph, the real parts of ζ(s) are in red, and the imaginary parts are in blue.

The circled areas represent the non-trivial zeros, where the real and imaginary parts of the function intersect They all seem to be in a line, which can be hypothesised to be Re(s) = ½, which means that all non-trivial roots of the function will be of the form s = ½ + it This then leads to the actual mission of the Riemann Hypothesis - to prove that all the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function fall on the critical line Re(s) = ½

The Riemann Zeta Function and Prime Numbers

Recall the term π(x) from earlier, which gives us the number of primes up to and including x Using this, Riemann constructed a new function known as Riemann’s explicit formula:

Now, observe the image below which plots the graph J(x) using the first 100 non-trivial roots instead.

The explanation of this function is as follows:

1

The first term Li(x) has been seen in the graph outlined at the start of this article, and gives an overestimation for π(x)

2

The second term is the sum of Li(xρ), summed over ρ, where ρ represents the non-trivial roots of the Riemann zeta function

3

The third term is simply the constant -log(2) = -0 6993147

4

The fourth term is an integral, which can be derived by taking the log on both sides of the zeta function, followed by a series of calculus operations

When plotted on axes, we can compare the graphs of J(x) and π(x). The image below plots the graph J(x) using the first 35 non-trivial roots.

In this image, we can see that the shape of J(x) is already tending towards π(x), approaching its shape but not exactly overlapping Now, observe the image below which plots the graph J(x) using the first 100 non-trivial roots instead

Here, J(x) is much closer to π(x), telling us that as the number of non-trivial roots used increases, the closer J(x) is to π(x)

Every non-trivial root holds a little secret about the prime numbers and, with all of them, Reimann’s prime counting function J(x) could be powerful enough to give the exact value of the number of primes up to and including a real number x

The Riemann Hypothesis is one of the most significant unsolved problems in the world, and many mathematicians have contributed to attempting to solve it. While the first 10,000,000,000,000 roots have been proven to fall on the critical line, further evidence is necessary. It is crucial to prove that every non-trivial root falls on the critical line since any roots that are off the line will disprove the entire hypothesis.

This hypothesis has remained unsolved and buried for over a century, and it is an exciting prospect to consider the possibility of someone finally proving it. I hope that one day we will witness what I believe will be the most remarkable achievement in the mathematical world

Katherine Johnson

Rosalind Franklin was a British Chemist who is mostly recognised for her role in the discovery of DNA’s structure, and for her revolutionary use of X-ray diffraction. In 1951, Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling made a key discovery by using X-ray diffraction to take pictures of DNA. The photos were procured through 100 hours of X-ray exposure from a machine Franklin herself had developed. One of their photos, now known as Photograph 51, became famous and was used as crucial evidence in identifying the structure of DNA.

Scientists Crick and Watson used what they saw in Franklin’s photo as the basis for their model of DNA, which they received a Nobel Prize for in 1962, taking most of the credit for the finding Sadly, Rosalind Franklin passed away in 1958 due to ovarian cancer, before she was given the credit she had well earned for her discovery

In light of Women’s History Month in March, we would like to introduce to you six inspirational women in STEM, who have changed, and continue to change our lives for the better.

Well known as one of the leading mathematicians who helped successfully achieve space flight, Katherine Johnson had a role as one of the ‘human computers’ working for NASA in the 1950’s and 60’s She conducted the calculations that sent astronauts into orbit in the early 1960’s and then to the moon in 1969

"Like what you do, and then you will do your best."

In 2015, Johnson was honoured with the Presidential Medal of Freedom You may also recognise her from the 2016 film, Hidden Figures, where her story is depicted and is given the recognition she deserves

Rosalind Franklin

Vera Rubin

Chinese American particle physicist Sau Lan Wu is a distinguished professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has made important contributions to the finding of the J/psi particle, offering experimental proof of the charm quark's existence, the gluon, and the strong force's vector boson Her team’s finding was referred to as the November Revolution, as it helped lead to the development of the Standard Model of particle physics

Currently living in Geneva, Sau Lan Wu works at CERN where she uses the Large Hadron Collider, the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world, to look for the tiniest components that make up the universe One of the 17 fundamental particles, the Higgs boson, was discovered thanks to her work at CERN

Jennifer Doudna

Vera Rubin was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates By studying galactic rotation rotation curves, she was able to uncover a problem; that there was a discrepancy between the predicted and observed angular motion of galaxies After identifying the galaxy rotation problem, her work was able to provide evidence for the existence of dark matter, a theory that has been in the works for decades

Rubin has a great legacy, and she was described by Sandra Faber and Neta Bahcall, as one of the astronomers who ‘paved the way for other women in the field, as a guiding light’ for those who wished to have families and careers in astronomy

Sau Lan Wu

Jennifer Doudna is a Nobel prize recipient in Chemistry, and a professor in Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology The research into RNA that her lab conducted led to the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 genetic ‘scissors’ as a technique for modifying the genome precisely In order to build up adaptive immunity in bacteria, CRISPR systems are able to preserve invasive genetic material and incorporate it into surveillance complexes Better crops, new tools in the battle against cancer and hereditary illnesses, and new scientific discoveries are all possible thanks to the CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors She received the Nobel prize in 2020 with Emmanuelle Charpentier for ‘The development of a method for genome editing,’ becoming one of the first few female scientists to share a Nobel Prize

Siya Narayan SFC2

Epigenetics

Odelia Yang SFC2

The Real Anti-Ageing Potion

Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, conquered China’s 7 kingdoms and ruled them all There was only one threat left for him to overcome: death itself He ordered an obsessive search for the elixir of life, sending every scholar, magician, and wise man on a quest to find this magical potion Inevitably, Qin Shi Huang failed in his quest to accomplish immortality, and he died at the age of 49

It’s safe to say that the phenomena of ageing have continued to fascinate us for centuries, and as scientific discoveries began to advance rapidly, scientists theorised that our DNA was the root cause of ageing They believed that it was an accumulation of DNA mutations over the course of our lives that prevented genes from functioning properly, which in time caused cells to lose their identity This triggered the breakdown of tissues and organs, ultimately leading to the development of old age diseases and the visible features typically associated with ageing

However, studies have since contradicted this theory – humans with cells with high mutation rates do not seem to show signs of early onset ageing or age-related diseases, and older mice were found to have cells with low levels of DNA mutation. These discoveries led scientists to believe that ageing was not caused by changes to the DNA itself, but rather by the way DNA is expressed in living beings.

Epigenetics

Epigenetic factors control the way in which DNA is expressed in living beings- it affects how the DNA sequence is read in transcription without changing the genetic code itself This is known as gene expression, which is when or how often proteins are created from the instructions within genes (a small section of DNA that codes for a specific protein) When genes are inactive in a cell, they are packed more tightly (known as methylation, the addition of a CH3 group), stopping proteins involved in transcription from accessing these genes, meaning that the proteins that these genes code for are not produced

Epigenetic changes can cause genes to turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ by changing how tightly packed the genes are These changes make genes more or less accessible to proteins involved in transcription, which affects which proteins are produced in the cell In addition to regulating gene expression, epigenetics also play an important role in repairing breaks in the DNA.

When DNA is broken, DNA repair proteins are recruited to interact with DNA to repair it. However, if the DNA is tightly packed in a cell, it can prevent repair proteins from accessing the broken site. Epigenetic factors cause certain regions of DNA to relax, which allows the repair proteins to repair DNA, while causing other regions of DNA to condense, repressing transcription to facilitate repair

“Our bodies experience 1 million DNA breaks per minute.”

Once DNA is repaired, the epigenetic factors such as, DNA methylation and histone modifications, return to their original state prior to the damage

Our bodies experience 1 million DNA breaks per minute This led scientists to theorise that a leading cause of ageing is due to the continuous breaking and repairing of DNA, and the breakdown of epigenetic information that accompanies this

Ice Mice

To test the theory that a loss in epigenetic information drives ageing, a group of scientists at Harvard University engineered a strain of transgenic (an organism that has been modified to include genetic material from another organism) mice named ICE (Inducible Changes to the Epigenome) mice. These transgenic mice had an enzyme that, when activated by the drug Tamoxifen, would break the DNA within many of the cells throughout their bodies. The rate of DNA breakage was around 3 times the natural rate and mimicked the low-grade, ongoing breaks in DNA that mammalian cells experience every day.

Most importantly, scientists ensured that the DNA breaks were not made in the coding regions of DNA, preventing the genes from mutating Instead, the DNA breaksaltered the way DNA is packaged and folded This experiment

was carried out for 10 months By the end of the experiment, all the ICE mice exhibited classic features of old age, beginning to look and act old, while all the control mice did not To verify that the ageing exhibited was not due to mutations in the mice’s genes, scientists

sequenced the entire genome of each mouse, (finding no genetic differences) determining the only difference between the mice to be their epigenetics.

Why?

As mentioned above, epigenetic factors are used to repair breaks in the DNA and regulate gene expression. Each break in the DNA initiates a repair, which is coordinated by epigenetic factors. At first, after DNA breaks were induced in the mice, epigenetic factors paused their normal job of gene regulation and moved to the site of DNA breaks to coordinate repairs and returned to their original locations afterwards. The packaging of DNA resets to its original tightness, giving transcription proteins access to the correct genes that need to be expressed.

However, as time passed and more DNA breaks occurred scientists noticed that the epigenetic factors got “distracted” and did not return to their normal locations after repairing DNA breaks The epigenome the collection of all the epigenetic factors in an organism) became disorganised and lost its original information of regulating gene expression and repairing DNA As a result, the DNA did not reset to its original tightness, meaning that some genes that were initially turned “on” were turned “off”, and vice versa These changes in gene expression caused cells to become more dysfunctional, as wrong genes were expressed in cells This caused the organ that the cells form to show signs of ageing , the mice also started to exhibit characteristics associated with old age

Eternal Youth

To test their theory even further, the scientists experimented with reversing the epigenetic changes in the aged ICE mice to restore their youth. The ICE mice were given a gene therapy, which included 3 genes (Oct4, Soc2, Klf4) highly expressed in embryonic stem cells and can rewind mature cells to an earlier stage After 5 weeks of continuous expression of these genes in the mice, scientists found that the mice’s kidneys and muscles were rejuvenated, and the age of the mice’s cells reversed by 50-75% How exactly the trio of genes achieved this remains unclear, but this discovery allowed the scientists to determine that mammalian cells maintain a back-up copy of epigenetic information that, when accessed, allows an aged, epigenetically scrambled cell to return to a youthful, healthy state The team of scientists concluded that “by manipulating the epigenome, ageing can be driven forwards and backwards ”

What does this mean for the future?

The discovery of epigenetics being the primary cause of ageing may radically change our outlook on degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases Researchers theorise that by controlling ageing and ‘resetting’ the age of the body, age-related diseases may be eliminated. Instead of treating these ailments with medicine when they arise, scientists may be able to take a specific organ or a patient’s whole body and make it young again, which would extend the human life and health span drastically.

Of course, medical applications are a long way off, and further extensive research and experimentation still needs to be carried out before this can be achieved. However, it may not be long until Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s dream of immortality becomes a reality.

Whereas, bottom-up is when single atoms and molecules are assembled into a larger nanostru

Graphene is a relatively new nanom the early 2000s Awarded a Nobel P 2010 for their groundbreaking findi Geim and Konstantin Novoselov dis using adhesive tape to meticulously of graphite, until it was just one ato and Novoselov used a top-down ap discovery, higher-quality graphene using a bottom-up approach

Graphene has properties that could reveal new markets, and replace ex is used in a range of industries, rang medicine, where applications could semiconductors, bendable phones, and targeted drug delivery As there materials that hold the same outsta development of graphene could imp sectors, as its variety of application

The carbon allotrope consists of a s atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattic covalently bonded by sigma bonds. contain delocalised electrons which electrically conductive material. On resembles a lattice of carbon atoms a hydrogen molecule could flow thr three million sheets of graphene sta another would stand only one millim width being a million times smaller t single human hair, it is the stronges been measured thus far. It is over 1 than steel, and the first 2D substan Heber, editor of the Nature Materia ‘it is ultra-thin but mechanically ver between the carbon atoms are stro also carry large electrical currents, w electronic devices such as graphene miniaturised far beyond present sili Graphene also forms the basis of ot

like carbon nanotubes, which show the same type of

Lim and Siya Narayan SFC2

Organic nanoparticles involve molecules such as liposomes and polymers These are developed using cells and molecules naturally found in the human body

Liposome-based nanoparticles have an outer lipid layer that can contain hydrophilic or hydrophobic drugs, which allows them to replicate the characteristics of living cells

Lipid-based nanoparticles are most commonly used to treat breast and prostate cancer These organic nanoparticles have been shown to reverse drug resistance in patients As the nanoparticles are derived from natural sources such as cell surface membranes, they are beginning to gain popularity due to their safety and decreased possibility of side effects

Apart from organic nanoparticles, we also have inorganic nanoparticles, which have a higher surface area to volume ratio in comparison However, this comes at a price as they are less biocompatible and biodegradable

Carbon nanotubes, an inorganic nanoparticle, is a carbon allotrope with a hollow cylindrical structure, its diameter smaller than one of a single hair Carbon nanotubes have unique properties which allow them to deliver cancer drugs directly to the targeted antibody, which is located on the cell surface membrane of the cancerous cell. Their hollow structure allows them to exhibit a specific functional group that can attach to the drug, acting as vehicles that will only go to the targeted location. A combination of quantum dots and Transmission

Electron Microscopes has been used to observe the process once the carbon nanotube crosses the cell membrane, and scientists were able to see that it entered the nucleus with ease before releasing the drug. However, once they are engulfed by the cell, scientists are unsure as to what mechanisms occur

While inorganic and organic nanoparticles both have their distinct advantages, hybrid nanoparticles can live the best of both worlds in terms of chemical and biological properties, reducing drug resistance and increasing the capacity for drugs For example, nanoporous silicon

particles can be engulfed by phagocytes without being detected as foreign due to the presence of a human leukocyte cell membrane This means that the particle can travel with the circulatory system for extended periods, resulting in an increased concentration of the drug around the tumour

Nanoparticles will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in the future of cancer treatment, pioneering in their ability to only affect the intended cancer cell, contrasting significantly with its predecessors

ELECTROCEUTICALS

The nervous system is an intricate network where impulses are sent all around the body to evoke reactions

and regulate activity from within, so that when intervention is necessary, stimulation of targeted neurons and properties of materials that naturally occur at that scale.” optical

“Working at the nanoscale enables scientists to utilise the unique physical, chemical, mechanical

- The National Nanotechnology Initiative

“Nanoparticles are often promoted as silver bullets or against pollution bacteria but we must make sure that the is not than cure worse the disease

- Detcheverry

Furthermore, we must also pose the question as to how nanoparticles could inadvertently cause harm and disrupt the environment Despite having a small size and large surface area, nanoparticles cannot dissolve like conventional particles, so they have the potential to be more reactive and possibly toxic However, this is also dependent on factors in their environment and how they are released The possibility of inhalation of nanoparticles which are released into the atmosphere may create cause for worry as they could bind to toxic pollutants in the atmosphere and become more easily inhaled along with the nanoparticles

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN THE FUTURE

There are benefits and drawbacks to the potential of nanotechnology in the future On one hand, the sector is predicted to expand enormously on a global scale, due to advances in technology, increased investment from governments, and a growing demand for these products On the other hand, the development of nanotechnology holds many safety, health, and environmental risks, and some scientists have concerns about commercialising certain applications of nanotechnology, causing a slowdown in their expansion ”

What is the Sublime?

Isabel Huang and Charlotte Lim SFC2

Imagine - a vast, starry night sky engulfing an open field, with you standing in the centre of all of it. You’re completely consumed by the overwhelming feeling of insignificance in the face of the grand cosmos, a drop of water drowned out in an ocean. Imagine the edge of the Grand Canyon - never-ending crests and troughs of a dizzying landscape. One that, despite your knowledge, seems to go on forever. Chills go down your spine and goosebumps appear on your skin. Is this instinctual awe, or an evocation of fear? Is it relief? Wonder?

What is this feeling?

This abstract feeling is commonly known as the sublime If I asked you to explain what exactly this feeling is, I’m sure you’d be compelled to use examples that encapsulate this feeling rather than defining it exactly, much like I did earlier And it’s no wonder to do so with such an abstract concept In fact, the definition of the sublime in and of itself has been both a philosophical and psychological concept that scholars have been attempting to frame for decades to no avail.

Recent scientific research has two main conflicting interpretations of characterising the sublime. While some believe the sublime to be an encounter with something beautiful - filled with heightened positive emotions, others contend that the sublime is one filled with positive emotions derived from fear.

Studying the Sublime

Core examples of the complexity of characterising the sublime include two studies that were conducted in 2018 These took place at the University College London (UCL) in collaboration with the University of Vienna, where a team of researchers aimed to explore this relationship in an impartial and informed manner

Both studies started with a group of participants bringing in photographs of their own choices, with the photographs being ranked in their degree of fear and happiness elicited To avoid participant suspicion, the notion of the sublime was avoided throughout the experiment The participantbased image selection further encouraged a wider range of stimuli that could untraditionally represent the sublime, as opposed to it being limited to the researcher’s selections

In Study 1, an independent group of participants then rated all the photographs based on the degree of sublimity, fear, beauty, and happiness felt These results consistently showed a positive correlation between sublimity and fear, as well as between sublimity and beauty; but there was no consistent positive correlation between sublimity and happiness. Unlike the sublime, there was no consistent positive correlation between beauty and fear, though there was one between happiness and beauty. The distinct difference in emotional profiles between sublimity and beauty argues against the conflation of the two being inherently linked as, unlike beauty, the sublime does not always elicit positive emotions.

The findings of Study 1 seem to support the notion that the sublime represents an aesthetic experience based on fear instead of pleasure-based beauty, but the study itself doesn’t explore the full range and nuances of emotion

For example, if a participant felt discomfort, they would categorise this feeling as the only negative option available - fear - since discomfort isn’t an available choice.

To overcome this, a second study was carried out. In addition to the original emotional ratings, Study 2 also utilised a large subset of images from Study 1 while focusing on the use of physiological measures. This includes observing how the corrugator supercilii (frowning), zygomaticus major (smiling), and medial frontalis (inner brow raise) facial regions were activated during the observation of the stimuli

Exploring the Results

Although the image-rating results for both studies suggest that the sublime is a fear-based aesthetic experience, the physiological results of the second study provide contrary evidence: Participants who exhibited higher sublimity tended to have reduced levels of frowning, with no change in levels of smiling or inner brow raise.

This then raises the question: How can the sublime be fear-inducing in spite of physiological evidence indicating it reduces negative emotion?

One explanation for the deactivation of the corrugator (frowning) is the physical distance between the subject and the stimuli The photographs being shown on a 2D screen at a distance from the participant could have induced a sense of safety and lower threat levels compared to if the participant were at the actual scene depicted in the photograph This subdued initial threat of the monumentality of the photograph’s scene could explain the reduced frowning.

Alternatively, the feeling of sublimity may have given the participant a sense of overwhelming awe towards the stimuli, causing ‘false appraisal’ - regardless of whether the participant’s emotions are negative or positive, they could have been surpassed by a strong, overpowering emotional response. If such an occurrence had happened, the participant would most likely have registered it as fear and experienced a delay in physiological reaction.

So, is there really any fundamental basis of the sublime?

We started with an attempt to evaluate what exactly the sublime is with the aid of two studies However, both studies resulted in conflicting conclusions with no true way to figure out what exactly caused them to differ, as well as which is more reliable Based on all of this, we could say that the sublime seems to exist both in fearful and non-fearful forms, evoking both our positive and

negative emotions And yet, if the sublime is so subjective and uncertain, is there anything that can truly characterise this strange experience?

There is a small singular principle that can encapsulate this magnificent feeling: The sublime is an aesthetic experience, in which a strong emotional response is evoked by stimuli initially too overwhelming for ordinary cognitive ways of comprehension

The word ‘sublime’ is derived from the Latin word ‘sublimis’ , meaning “above one's limit”. With a meagre few words to define this awe-inspiring, perceivable-indescribable feeling, only one thing is clear: the sublime is an overwhelming experience that makes one go “above one’s limit” of initial comprehension. We can see this through both physical distancing and false appraisal, where both mechanisms are a result of there being too much stimuli for humans to initially process.

In the end, we can only draw our own conclusions. This sublime feeling we feel when confronted by phenomena beyond our comprehension could be to do with the discomfort of the unknown, or it could also be a product of the mechanisms used to protect ourselves from objects too overwhelming to comprehend, or maybe even a little bit of both After all, the sublime is a complex emotional construct - different studies based on varying methodologies are only bound to give diverging answers

Quantum Mechanics and Memory

Natalie Chan UC4 gives light to what we may not know about our very own brains

The Subatomic Brain

Have you ever wondered about how the intrinsic structure of the brain – composed of seemingly random neurons –could be one of humanity’s most powerful tools as well as where all our dreams, memories, and ambitions could come from?

The way our memories and cognition rises from the brain with such efficiency and order is still one of the biggest unsolved questions in the modern world With the power and realm of quantum physics, we might soon be able to grasp hold of the truth that we can’t observe Quantum physics means just that – it refers to the particles and waves on a subatomic scale that behave differently than the world that we can observe

Particle Telepathy?

One of the most substantial phenomena in quantum mechanics is quantum entanglement, in which two or more particles are invisibly linked in a way that one could instantly affect the other, regardless of the distance they have from each other Scientists have made a proposal suggesting that when a memory is formed, the neural circuits that are involved could become entangled and establish a shared quantum state This state would allow the memory to be stored durably, as the same information would be distributed across many particles A study published in 2014 has stated their observations of quantum activity in the group of neurons in the hippocampus

The phenomenon observed was quantum coherence – the state in which the waves associated with each one of the particles are in sync with each other. This observation of quantum coherence could easily lead to identifying entanglement in the brain as well.

Searching for more…

The field of quantum mechanics remains relatively new and unexplored to this day. Yet, despite its uncertainty, the overarching theories combining both the quantum field and neurology have been more promising than ever, with the potential to redirect the future of neuroscience as well as cognitive science With ever-moving scientific discoveries, new insights into the intricacies of the brain would not only allow a deeper understanding, but expose the exact blueprints of the brain on a quantum scale

Fields including AI could provide even more powerful models that could mimic the very essence of how humans construct memory and the thoughts that arise from them

The future that quantum mechanics could bring into our modern world is greater than anyone could ever imagine, with the power to break down our understanding of everything in this universe Although research still seems to be lacking, scientists are ceaselessly working on a way to interconnect this field of science with the mysteries of the universe Perhaps, one day, we will truly be able understand the power of quantum mechanics on both biological and subatomic levels

Will AI Will AI Will AI

Make or Break Make or Break Make or Break

HHumanity? Humanity? umanity?

ar ti fi cial in tel li gence . . . . . .

“the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”

“the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

ma chine lear ning . .

“the use and development of computer systems that are able to learn and adapt without following explicit instructions, by using algorithms and statistical models to analyse and draw inferences from patterns in data ” art

au to no mous . . .

“the use and development of computer systems that are able to learn and adapt without following explicit instructions, by using algorithms and statistical models to analyse and draw inferences from patterns in data.”

To what extent can AI transcend the boundaries of pattern replication and truly exhibit creative capabilities?

How might the integration of AI and advanced robotics into industry redefine the notion of work?

Who decides what values and beliefs that AI should be embedded in?

How can we ensure that AI algorithms remain resistant to biases and discriminatory behavior, given their ability to learn from inherently flawed humangenerated data?

Who is responsible for the mistakes made by AI?

What ethical considerations arise from the growing autonomy and independence of AI?

Giselle Chan UC5

"Are we on the brink of a new era in human history? While the benefits of newly advancing artificial intelligence are immense, it also poses potential risks So, the question arises: is AI a possible future for humanity? The answer is a resounding yes ” ChatGPT wrote this hook - could you tell? Either way, it is undeniable that the impact of the ChatGPT phenomenon, as well as newly emerging AI, is astronomical

For years, artificial intelligence has been recognized to trump humans in accuracy, reliability, and speed However, we have been holding on to the belief that it cannot possibly take over our world because machines are not creative nor can they communicate or simulate human communication at its root nature

That notion was disproved in January of 2023 following OpenAI's ChatGPT release, where it secured 100 million active users globally! What distinguished ChatGPT from fellow chatbots is its ability to communicate in such a human-like way, made possible due to its language model being pre-trained with endless amounts of text data; according to Entrepreneur magazine, it is able to understand context, references, and adapt its knowledge to mimic humans! Paired with it’s ability to remember conversations (allowing follow-ups), and its firm grip on general knowledge, it makes for the perfect personal assistant or doer of tedious research tasks.

Similarly, the world was shocked when another AI software, DALL-E, proved to be able to produce highquality artwork as well Based on the prompt inputted, it returns images that match your wishes, having been trained on millions of text and artwork DALL-E uses a VQGAN program to generate artwork from keywords, then with CLIP, self-assesses how well it matches the prompt Iteratively, the artificial intelligence then combines or reproduces outputs to generate the next iteration until it satisfies the prompt DALL-E's competitor, Midjourney AI, is another AI art software that receives 3-4 million user visits a month! Jason Allen, utilized Midjourney to generate his first-place winning artwork in the Colorado State Fair fine arts competition, over thousands of artists who spent hours upon hours manually drawing theirscausing huge controversy There is also conflict as to whether AI could be classified as an artist because their work is not original, rather, they are pieces from the artworks in its database combined to fit the prompt However, it is undeniable that AI with its successful learning techniques is disrupting the art industry as well

So is AI a possible future for humanity? Indisputably, it will extensively shape our future - it has proven itself capable of doing manual, logical, and developmental work and is able to have creative, human-like attributes. But with AI taking over, will humanity still have a future? The answer to this question is indefinite and can only be defined by the future generation.

Muse Wang SFC2

In the age of artificial intelligence, natural language processing has witnessed significant progress in terms of the use of language models. A recent example, GPT-4 designed by the OpenAI company, can be included in many uses such as writing articles, answering questions, and even providing imaginative ideas and recommendations based on different conditions. It can also be used to understand hidden meanings of a text and generate coherent responses that are human-like.

The magical generating process of the chatGPT model is similar to the production of a cupcake. To bake a cake, you need to buy ingredients such as flour, sugar, and eggs, as well as search “how to make a cake” on YouTube This is the first step of GPT-4 production: learning and preparation The database provides a large range of data collected from the internet, ready for chatGPT to digest It takes them in and sorts the information to form different models So now, you are fully prepared and ready to start baking

Once you gain the knowledge to bake, you mix all the ingredients and place the cupcake tray in the oven You also learn from experience like using cupcake liners for the removal of a cake Just like

how GPT-4 speciates the pattern, gains feedback, and adapts its model.

Once baked, you decorate the cupcakes using your preferred frosting, sprinkles, and various other toppings. The same process appears in GPT-4 since it is trained to be imaginative and to give creative instructions rather than just “the plain cake embryo”. After being asked a question, GPT-4 can now interpret the meaning of your question and provide unique corresponding solutions.

However, there are also limitations and concerns about the GPT-4 model, such as ethics and biases. GPT models learn from vast amounts of data, including text from the internet, which can inadvertently incorporate biased or controversial content This means that ensuring fairness, inclusivity, and addressing potential biases would be an ongoing challenge Contextual understanding limitations is also a problem since GPT-4 still struggles with nuanced and complex contextual cues like sarcasm, humour, or cultural references Yet, this paragraph mainly comes from GPT-4 itself, so if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that ChatGPT definitely has the ability to self-reflect

Jenny Huang UC4

AI doesn’t generate art magically out of thin air – there needs to be an input for it to have an output What is this ‘input’?

LAION-5B is the most commonly used ‘input’ or database for AI art It has a collection of 5 billion images, which is almost equivalent to one image for each person in the world. The scary thing is your art might be in there; your private photos might even be there for reference!

This company functions as a non-profit research practice. However, the corporations behind the funding of this research – Stability AI – made this into a commercialised product. So, this for-research, non-profit database is used by a for-profit company. That means all your copyrighted artworks and private images are there right in front of them: free for them to use without your consent. Some argue that this is an example of copyright infringement, an illegal act

On February 21st, 2023, the US Copyright Office stated that AI-generated images are not entitled to copyright protection NFTs would not classify as original works and therefore unlikely to have copyright protection Getty Images also opened a lawsuit against an AI generator at the beginning of this year, which used copyrighted and unlicensed Getty Images photos to create AI images

Not only are your copyrights not protected, but when AI generation is built to look like your work, this causes issues like reputation damage, fraud, and identity theft Just imagine pouring your passion and soul into every one of your art, only for someone

else to use it against you by training these, as some would say, unethical AI models

As a result, many artists are furious by this. One of whom shared his personal experiences with AI art on his social media accounts. This artist – Sam Yang – is famous for his unique, semi-realistic art style until AI replicated his style. He claimed that 300 pieces of his artworks were used to train an AI model, meaning anyone could use this to generate a painting in the exact style as him. The creator of this model not only did not receive the artist’s permission but also fed copyrighted artworks taken without the artist’s knowledge or consent to AI.

Eventually, Sam called it out and revealed his discontent, yet he still sparked a flame in his community. People online made models from even more of his legally owned works as a way of getting back at him for causing all of this ‘drama’. He was even more criticised as people went as far as running competitions to see who could make a model that looked the most like his work The issue here is that there was no empathy nor attempt to understand why artists would feel so upset by AI stealing something that they supposedly own

Therefore, it is essential to be educated on the potential copyright implications of using AI and the negative impact it has on the lives of many artists who have poured hundreds of hours into their art

Isabel Huang SFC2

AI has taken the world by storm Not only has it proven to accelerate advancements in various industries, but it has shown itself capable of surpassing the efficiencies of humans Since 2000, AI robots and automation systems have made around 1 7 million jobs obsolete - particularly in manufacturing, retail, and agriculture

This begs the question: Will AI replace the necessity of humans entirely?

The simplest way to measure the limits of AI replicating human intelligence is by discussing whether AI can become autonomous - capable of novel, artistic creation. However, given that the realm of artistry and creative expression is incredibly broad; I will be focusing on AIgenerated poetry.

To me and presumably, to most, poetry comes to mind as a literary expression that encapsulates the creativity of the human mind It paints a picture through the subtleties of diction, sentence structure, and literary devices The emotions evoked by poetry come from the sensory experiences and qualia the poet hoped to elicit, and such knowledge should seem to be confined to human experience

If that is the case, why is AI-generated poetry possible? Well, the fact that I was able to list features that define poetry such as literary devices implies that there is a methodical approach to constructing poems that AI can automate More specifically, AI creates found poetry It retrieves information from its database to stitch phrases together, basing it on poetic sentence structure to form a new poem This AI-generated poem is unlike traditional poetry in that it's difficult to pinpoint a singular poet who created the poem due to the imagination and sensitivities of multiple humans that have inadvertently been used to piece this new work together

One may reject AI-generated poetry as only poetic at best because of AI’s apparent incapacity for autonomous creativity. What is poetic is arguably not necessarily poetry without an artistic license. However, one must also be aware of AI’s capability for deep learning. Deep-speare

is one such AI program that uses deep learning to generate poetry The creators provided the AI poet with around 2700 sonnets from the online library, Project Gutenberg, training it profusely to create lines of poetry capable of imitating the examples provided

Through such training, the program managed to independently create its own automated approach and rules that pertain to the sonnet writing of Shakespeare, such as his rhythms, and rhyme schemes. The AI poet was eventually able to produce sonnets so similar to Shakespeare’s that most readers are unable to discern the tw

Here is a short poem generated by ChatGPT:

Soft breeze whispers through the trees, Carrying scents of summer breeze, Golden sunbeams dance and play, Creating a warm and inviting day.

Un g

bu y

be able to create poems of higher quality and variety due to a greater corpus of literary references Why then, does this poem sound so trite and sterile? This poem is nothing near the literary prowess of Larkin, Duffy, or Keats ChatGPT is undeniably capable of writing poem-like sentences It has mastered the pattern and structure of poems, but, there still seems to be a limit to AI’s mimicry

AI may have become autonomous, but the emotional experience and synaesthetic novelty of sensory experiences are currently out of reach of emulation Poetic writing and poetry are worlds apart Appreciation of poetry traditionally entails understanding the emotional context of the poet, and with good poetry is the ineffable vulnerability of oneself through artistic expression AIgenerated poetry does not reflect the human experience At this moment in history, the uniqueness of the human touch which characterises the beauty of poetry is protected from AI’s rapid pervasion into all aspects of our lives. For now, AI will not break humanity - at least, not in the way of poetry.

AI-Generated Architecture

Credits: Ulises by Ricardo Orts @ulises.ai

“Read and Roll”

Influenced by the vibrance of bustling cities and concepts of futuristic worlds, Utiles Design Studio has introduced an ingenious idea - portable libraries that roam the city The perfect blend of function and form, this library features a multistorey bookshelf on four wheels, wrapped in a sleek, white shell, dazzling under the golden sun Walk around the library and you are enthralled by its aesthetic exterior; step into the library and you are embraced by the warmth of literature This project seeks to explore alternative approaches to providing cultural services, inviting communities to discuss and reflect, as well as promoting a society where culture and knowledge has no limits

https://www.instagram.com/ulises.ai/

“Density Deckers”

In a world where megacities arise, densely populated cities face significant challenges in transportation and traffic congestion. Using Midjourney, an AI-art generating tool, Ulises Studio Design introduces Density Deckers, a new transport solution. Not only is this triple-decker tram equipped with newly-developed technology such as energy-efficient engines, it also exploits the use of vertical space, minimising the number of vehicles, while maximising the number of passengers it can hold. Overall, Density Deckers presents itself as an upgraded version of the typical doubledecker bus, aiming to reduce emissions and, boost the quality of life in future cities with its advanced technology

Ulises, is a renowned Berlin-based design studio founded by Ricardo Orts, specialising in architecture with the help of Midjourney By re-imagining modern spaces through a creative and poetic lens, Ulises strives to approach projects in a multidisciplinary way, envisioning a better future - we hope you enjoy some of these stunning visuals!

“Kinetic Kingdom”

Rethinking different types of communitybased living, Ulises Design Studio challenges the traditional caravan, which at most is equipped with bare necessities and just provides adequate space. A multidecker caravan is introduced to provide all amenities and deliver comfortable living. Designed with modern facilities with a retro-futuristic look, multi-decker caravans change the way that caravans have been perceived Each deck is meticulously designed to your liking, making your dream home a reality Of course, this concept may not exactly be useful in cities - think of driving in tunnels or changing tires! Yet, Kinetic Kingdoms provides an alternative solution for contemporary nomadic communities

“Portable Pools”

What’s better than having a dip in the pool on a balmy day in summer? Midjourney has once again showcased some creativityportable pools in a buzzing metropolis, reimagining a different way of city life. This urban oasis blurs the boundaries between recreation and city life, inviting everyone to experience the concept of relocatable amenities and the joys of summer. Visualising a future in which everyone can access leisure and recreational facilities, Portable Pools encourages us to explore beyond the orthodox urban design concepts and advocates for a community of inclusion

Friend or Foe?

Mrs Mech

I often wonder if, when computers made their appearance decades ago, people thought that they would take over the world and that this would spell the end of human intelligence. Are we at the same point now with the advent of AI?

Italy responded a few weeks ago by banning the use of ChatGPT; other countries and organisations have embraced it It is interesting to note that Elon Musk has recommended a six-month moratorium on the training of new AI systems whilst the potential dangers and risks to the future are examined He also talks about a ‘benign dependency’ on AI which could potentially be dangerous to civilisation, creating an environment in which human beings forget how to operate the machines that enabled AI in the first place

So, amid some of the doom and gloom about AI, what about the good news? AI is also transforming the manner in which healthcare is being delivered Vast data sets in the form of health records are being collected, images are being stored and clinical trial data is being uploaded AI technologies are analysing this data and interpreting this information much faster and a lot more efficiently than researchers would ever be able to do The use of algorithms allows better clinical decisions to be made and improve the quality of patient care. In the UK, where the NHS is under immense pressure, these AI technologies can only be a huge advantage. Being able to link up healthcare data across different areas of a country in order to provide a coherent and holistic medical history of a patient can only be of huge benefit – to the patient and the medical practitioner. In order to successfully implement this, AI platforms and technologies would need to be introduced at the medical school level so that trust is built up as there is still a level of distrust amongst many medical practitioners. Of course, there is always the issue of the safety of patient data which would need to be very monitored very carefully

UNESCO quotes that “AI has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, innovate teaching and learning practices” These technological developments inevitably bring many risks and challenges Education is however very much a human-driven activity; interaction between teacher and student is vital to promoting progress in any area of education, be it in academia, sports, drama, or art

Does the AI technology have the ability to be truly understanding of a student’s personal needs? Many would argue that this can only ever be done by an empathetic human being who is capable of understanding emotions

“Does the AI technology have the ability to be truly understanding of a student’s personal needs?”

My final point relates to the automation of jobs; one which is laden with discussion and debate Many claim that AI and the automation that this brings will revolutionise the workforce, improve productivity and improve economic growth. Machines will be able to replace humans, perform tasks quicker and even undertake tasks that humans cannot do. One only has to think about the emergence of driverless cars on our roads. What are the consequences of this? It is an inevitability that many occupations will decline and even disappear, but many new ones will appear. This points to a huge period of transition in the workplace and for educators an even bigger challenge as we are trying to prepare young people for a society, the likes and needs of which we don’t know. New machinery will need developing, new software needs to be produced and people will need new skills

So, friend or foe? One can clearly see that the implementation of AI provides huge benefits to society, but care is needed There are issues around data privacy, bias in the algorithms, and security, all of which need to be carefully thought about One must also not forget that a vast amount of financial investment is required when implementing AI technologies; underdeveloped countries cannot be left behind in this new era and a lot of philanthropy will be required here

Mr Isaac's perspective on…

Employment …

For the longest time, we have considered certain work to be beyond the limitations of ‘machines’ We as a race, pride ourselves on our unique capacity for creative work However, the evolution of generative AI is putting this ‘Unique Selling Point’ of humanity to the test In the not-too-distant future, machines will not only be building cars for example, but will also be capable of designing them too with the potential to do this better than we ever could What does this mean for the human workforce? Quite simply, it will just be assembly line and call centre workers who are finding themselves on the employment scrap heap Will AI continue to drive mass job cuts (as we are currently seeing play out in the service industry with the rise of ChatGPT and Bard), or will ‘we’ adapt, by finding new niches to inhabit that AI driven machines cannot. There is also the question around societies’ attitude towards AI and the work that it does. Will something continue to be thought of as beautiful when we know that there is no humanity attached to it? Perhaps we will see a collective societal ‘reaction’, with people boycotting the use of AI to replace this human-touch.

« Will something continue to be thought of as beautiful when we know that there is no humanity attached to it? »

politics

We already know that the content we stream influences the way we think and the views we hold. We also know that AI and machine learning is working away in the background to personalise this content for EVERY individual based on their habits and personal digital footprint. Advancements in AI will only serve to amplify the extent to which our screens pander to our every whim and create the echo chambers that have driven such significant wedges through modern society. What will this mean for society? Less bipartisan work in government? An increasingly fractured population? Civil unrest or even a breakdown in the very fabric of society itself? We often default to disaster when we predict what the future might hold (not unreasonable based on experience). But, what if AI had the capacity to ‘fix’ society. Imagine a world where Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) was able to objectively identify what it perceived to be the challenges afflicting modern society and wrote its own algorithms to put these right: Suggested content that exposed people to alternate viewpoints to broaden their horizons and perspectives. What if AI wanted us to flourish? Humanity has not (yet) proven itself as able to effectively tackle some of the complex adaptive problems that are threatening society: climate change, poverty and conflict Why not give AI a try? Its capacity to process and interpret massive data sets might make it infinitely better at understanding the complex systems that are underpinning these problems and in turn, identify the leverage points required to have a positive impact on them

« AI will only serve to amplify the extent to which our screens pander to our every whim and create the echo chambers that have driven such significant wedges through modern society »

lWhat if AI reaches the point of singularity? And what if, at this point, the machines decide that the only way to save the world (or itself), is to replace humanity as the dominant force on this planet? How would it do this? Hollywood has some suggestions Will we all be turned into batteries and plugged into the Matrix? Or perhaps killer cyborg robots will terminate us all in cool pitched battles complete with lasers and scorched skies? What if the end does not look too different to society now? Perhaps we are encouraged not to reproduce, gradually shrinking global populations over generations while machines simply wait it out? What if they turn us on each other, convincing us that we should all be suspicious of what our neighbours are up to, to the point where trust is completely eroded and everyone is spoiling for a fight? What if this is happening right now?

Whatever the future holds for humanity’s relationship with AI, one thing is for certain. AI is here to stay. As a species, we need to understand it and evolve with it to ensure that we can continue to flourish.

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Physics : What's Eating

The Universe

Paul Davies

Physics : The Elegant Universe

Brian Greene

Engineering : The Design of Everyday Things

Donald A

Norman

Chemistry : The Disappearing Spoon

Sam Kean

Biology : Entangled Life

Merlin Sheldrake

Algorithm Art

Medicine : The Song of the Cell

Siddhartha Mukherjee

Laugh Out Loud!

2 Na! Why shouldn’t you trust atoms?

Because they make everything up!

What type of fish is made out of 2 sodium atoms?

Thank you

Creating our first edition of CheltSci has been more than memorable. To end the issue, we would like to give a special thanks to all the writers, editors, illustrators and graphic designers who have contributed towards the making of this magazine. For willingly working and helping us during the moments we stumbled a bit, up until our last-minute arrangements, we could not thank you enough for your countless hours of hard work and couldn’t have done it without you. Not to mention, Lily, Vanessa, and Mr Gill for giving us this opportunity; we have learnt so much from this process, and truly loved every step of building this magazine Finally, we could not end without thanking you, our readers; we hope reading this magazine has furthered your curiosity and love for science

Bibliography: https://docs google com/document/d/1dRYNd iiyrqFuKf7lfgNoAwohwUe vxqEIZNXWUzaqc/edit

If you have any questions or submissions, please feel free to contact us at: thecheltscientist@gmail.com

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