Vol. IV Issue No. 2

DickinsonScienceMagazine

16 April 2018 - Vol. 4 Issue No. 2

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CONTENTS

16 April 2018 - Volume 4, Issue Number 2

EDITOR’S CHOICE 5 CRISPR-Cas9 Technology 8 Bioinformatics

SCIENCE NEWS 10

In Brief

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World News

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Assessing Aluminum in Autistic Brains

16 Environmental Neuroscience

TECHNOLOGY

RESEARCH 26

Capsaicin Receptor

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Memories Are Made of This

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28 Three-Dimensional

Modeling of Lithium

Ion Distributions in All-Solid-State

Lithium-Ion Batteries

31 BOINC

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32 A Potential Microbial War?

Linking Mom’s Stress Before or During Pregnancy to Child Health

OPINION 32

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FEATURES 18

Slimy Highways

22 Hand in Hand with Archaeology

The Good, The Bad, and the Unknown of Autonomous Vehicles

Space Sustainability

Seeing Double

ENTERTAINMENT 34 Is Star Wars Episode VIII’s Lightspeed

Scene More Science

than Fiction?

36 Inside Inside Out 38

Under the Microscope with Dr. Anthony Rauhut

39 Crossword

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DSM

Letter from the Editor Hello, readers!

The National Academies define interdisciplinary research as “a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.”

The scope of problems that can be solved through cooperation between disciplines inspired us to adopt interdisciplinary research as the theme of Vol. 4, Issue 2. Topics ranging from bioinformatics to environmental neuroscience and more are discussed in this issue, and the implications of these areas of research reach unexplored territories of science. I am especially proud of the breadth of topics and disciplines that are featured in this issue, and I hope that the interdisciplinary focus of this edition will expand your awareness of specialized areas of research.

Additionally, Dickinson Science Magazine held a photo contest for the front and back covers of this issue. Our first prize winner was Micki Williams, who submitted a photo taken during her research on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands. Micki spent a semester abroad in South Caicos, but she took a field trip around the islands to compare the ecology of neighboring islands to that of South Caicos. This photo depicts a hike around “Wade’s Green Plantation” where students learned about the history of slavery in the region. Interestingly, Micki’s photo was taken shortly after he group had

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Dickinson Science Magazine Editor-in-Chief Alexis Scott ’19

just found the world’s smallest boa constrictor. As well, our second prize winner was Kayla Simpson, who submitted her photo of various beneficial dung beetles found in cattle manure on the Dickinson College Farm.

They were collected as part of a study investigating the role of insect growth regulator pesticides (IGRs) on non-target dung fauna.

I would like to thank each individual who submitted photos for the contest -- it means a lot to be able to reach so many Dickinsonians via Science Magazine.

I would also like to thank everyone who has contributed to Vol. 4, Issue 2 this semester. Dickinson Science Magazine is made possible by many wonderful students and faculty members who are incredibly hardworking and passionate about science. I look forward to continuing to bring science news, research, and more to the Dickinson community.

Last but certainly not least, I would like to memorialize the late Stephen Hawking, whose commitment to unraveling the universe’s mysteries has greatly impacted our understanding of physics and the cosmos.

Perhaps Dr. Hawking’s most memorable scientific accomplishment was his discovery that black holes “leak” radiation. Throughout his life, he became a cultural icon, inspiring many with his book “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.”

Dr. Hawking died in his home on Wednesday, March 14th at age 76. His loss affected many, as he not only revolutionized his field, but also educated countless people about cosmology through his writing.

— Alexis Scott ‘19

Managing Editor Jacqueline Hwang ’19 Executive Layout Editor Courtney Gamache ’18 Associate Layout Editor Alice Kuklina ’20 News Editor Eric Palermo ’20 Features Editor Savannah Woods ’21 Research Editor Leah Wachsmuth ’19 Science & Technology Editor Anna Zaremba ’19 Science & Entertainment Editor Tom Wegman ’19 Opinion Editor Simona Bajgai ’20 Executive Copy Editor Allison Curley ’19 Copy Editors Jordan Cox ’21 Abigail Brickler ’21 Event Coordinator Janice Wiss Faculty Advisor Missy Niblock Email: scinews@dickinson.edu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ DsonScienceMagazine/ Issuu: http://issuu.com/dickinsonsciencemagazine

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet.”

— Stephen Hawking

Editor’s Choice

CRISPR-Cas9 Technology

by Sadie Signorella, ’19 Designer babies. An end to genetic disease. A cure to cancer, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HIV. These are the possible implications that the CRISPR-Cas9 technology stirs up in the minds of researchers, doctors, and scientists.

While they aren’t reality yet, researches around the world are excited about this technology, and articles regarding advances in the technology seem to pop up almost every day (Webster & Wheeler).

It all started a little over 20 years ago, when Dr. Francisco Mojica discovered repeated DNA sequences in the microbe Haloferax mediterranei (Lander, 2016). It is unusual for the DNA of bacteria to contain repeats at all, thus making this discovery quite interesting to Mojica, who was a current graduate student at the time (Webster & Wheeler). A few years later, as DNA sequencing technology and creation of databases containing this information improved at a rapid rate, Mojica typed the base pair letters of the repeated DNA into a database called BLAST to see if this sequence had been identified. He got a match….to a phage, a virus that attacks DNA. Why would viral DNA be present in the genome of bacteria? Turns out that bacteria who formed resistance to the virus had taken a piece of viral DNA and stored

it in their own genome at their CRISPR loci. Thus, if that virus ever attacked again, the bacteria could recognize its viral enemy and fight. The bacteria send an enzyme ca-

For the first time, the CRISPR-Cas9 technique had been used with a direct impact on improving human health. pable of identifying the specific virus from that stored DNA snapshot to find its target.

Once found, this enzyme latches onto the virus’ DNA and makes a cut through both strands. The CRISPR-Cas9 technique was born from the manipulation of this normal bacterial immune response. Currently, the most widely used enzyme is Cas9 isolated from the microbe Streptococcus pyogenes

(Wang et al., 2018). By designing Cas9 to target a specific sequence, scientists can insert the enzyme into a cell where it will make a specific double strand cut in the DNA at that sequence. The specificity of the cut allows this technique to be highly useful and versatile as a gene editing technique (Wang et al., 2018).

In August of 2017, Shoukhrat Mitalipov, PhD, and his team of researchers successfully corrected the MYBPC3 gene of human embryos using CRISPR-Cas 9 (Ma et al., 2017). When four base pairs are missing in MYBPC3, this gene causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a cardiac disease responsible for the sudden death of young athletes (Rahiti, 2017). The researchers gathered sperm of donors who carried the mutated gene, and eggs, or oocytes, from donors who carried the wild type, or complete and normal gene. They injected CRISPR-Cas9 and sperm into the oocyte during metaphase II. In 50% of the 163 embryos, the technique was successful in correcting the gene (Ma et al., 2017). For the first time, the CRISPR-Cas9 technique had been used with a direct impact on improving human health (Rahiti, 2017).

Gene editing in embryos allows for the possibility of completely correcting a DNA mutation. When performed accu-

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Editor’s Choice

rately at this early stage, all subsequent cells are derived from this corrected version. However, the situation is slightly different for treatment applications in fully formed humans. This technique could possibly be used as treatment for HIV. In HIV infection, the virus circulates in the blood attacking white blood cells, which it recognizes from a specific receptor, or protein, expressed on the surface of these white blood cells (Wang et al., 2018). Without white blood cells, the person can no longer mount an immune response and any form of viral or bacterial infection could take over. When the immune system is lost, the person has developed acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS (Wang et al., 2018). What if we could edit the DNA of these white blood cells so that they no longer express the receptor that the HIV latches onto in an effort to invade the cell? In effect, the white blood cells would hide from the HIV in plain sight, as the virus would no longer be able to recognize the host cell. A person who has been infected with HIV could be saved from developing AIDS.

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There still exist limitations to this technique, however. The CRISPR-Cas9 technique relies on normal DNA repair systems of a cell to be initiated after Cas9 makes a cut, and a cell can initiate two types of DNA repair responses (Winblad & Lanner, 2017; Lim, 2017).

The system mainly used by the cell is called non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). In this response, DNA is repaired by adding or deleting base pairs somewhat randomly to fix the break.

However, in homology-directed repair (HDR), the cell uses another piece of DNA as a template and fills in the break with base pairs. It is the latter system, HDR repair, that allows for accurate gene insertion essential for gene therapy techniques. However, researchers cannot always control which system gets turned on by the cell.

Moreover, scientists need to be able to deliver the Cas9 protein and the template DNA to the cell of interest. Researchers are currently testing the use of Adeno-associated Virus (AVV) to carry the gene editing tools to the target cells.

Furthermore, stretches of the genome are very similar, so there is a possibility that the Cas9

Editor’s Choice

could attach and cut DNA at the wrong spot, which would be extremely detrimental in clinical therapy.

Ultimately, the development of CRISPR-Cas9 and the rapid advancements of this technique give us a glimpse into a reality in which painful, debilitating diseases could be eliminated. CRISPR, however, is not quite ready for widespread implementation in humans, as more research and optimization are needed. Furthermore, as we continue forward, we should hope that careful steps will be taken, and that conversations will be conducted and revisited both within and outside of the scientific community. Editing our genomes has a direct effect on the person receiving the technique, as well as, an indirect effect on their children and the generations to come. As we enter this new era of medical history, in which our genomes hold the key to combating disease, we can be hopeful for a brighter future. We should also be prepared to answer difficult ethical questions that accompany this powerful tool. (Ma et al., 2017).

References Cohen, J. “Stopping CRISPR’s genome-editing scissors from snipping out of control” Science (2016) Cornu, T.I., Mussolino, C., Cathomen, T. “Refining strategies to translate genome editing to the clinic” Nature Medicine. Vol 23, 415–423. (2017) Foley, K.E. “Chinese scientists used Crispr gene editing on 86 human patients” QUARTZ. (2018) Kaiser, J. “New animal study raises concerns about highdose gene therapy”. Science (2018) Lander, E. “The Heroes of CRISPR”. Cell. Vol 164, Issue 1, 18 – 28. (2016) doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.041 Lim, G. “Human genome editing in heart disease” Nature Reviews Genetics. (2017).

Ma, H., Marti-Gutierrez, N., Park, S., Wu, J., Lee, Y., Suzuki, K., Koski, A., Ji, D., Hayama, T., Ahmed, R., Darby, H., Van Dyken, C., Li, Y., Kang, E., Park, A., Kim, D., Kim, S., Gong, J., Gu, Y., Xu, X., Battaglia, D., Krieg, S., Lee, D., Wu, D., Wolf, D.P., Heitner, S., Belmonte, J.C.I., Amato, P., Kim, J., Kaul, S., Mitalipov, S. “Correction of a pathogenic gene mutation in human embryos” Nature.

Vol 548, 413–419. (2017) Rathi, A. “A highly successful attempt at genetic editing of human embryos has opened the door to eradicating inherited diseases”. QUARTZ. (2017) Wang, G., Zhao, N., Berkhout, B., Das, A.T. “CRISPR-Cas based antiviral strategies against HIV-1” Virus Research. Vol 244, 321-332. (2018) https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2017.07.020.

Webster, M., Wheeler, S. “Update: CRISPR” Radiolab. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/ Winblad, N., Lanner, F. “At the heart of gene edits in human embryos”. Nature. Vol 548, 398-400. (2017) http://dx.doi. org/10.1038/nature23533

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Editor’s Choice

BIOINFORMATICS The Rebirth of a Forgotten Field?

by Joe Detrano, ’19

Bioinformatics, or the collection, classification, storage, and analysis of biochemical and biological information using computers, is a relatively new field, and certainly not one that has made its way into the realm of common knowledge so far (Merriam-Webster).

It’s an interdisciplinary effort that merges techniques from biology, mathematics, engineering and computer science to develop methods and software tools for handling scientific data. Although the term was technically coined in 1970, bioinformatics has gained steam in the past 15 years, establishing itself as a key biological discipline. Today, it is used to aid in over 15 different fields, including molecular medicine, climate change studies, and gene therapy.

The field’s real claim to fame was its role in the Human Genome Project, an international effort to fully map the human genome. When the project began in 1990, the process of DNA mapping was slow and expensive, and scientists knew they would have to overhaul the process if they were to make any real progress. This overhaul was aided by systems and programs developed through bioinformatics; according to the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the first billion genome mappings were completed in four years, but as the process became more and more automatic, the next billion

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were sequenced in only four months.

During the final month of the project in January, 2003, 1.5 billion genomes were sequenced (NHGRI). Bioinformatics also reduced the mapping costs to one percent of what they were in 1990, from ten dollars down to ten cents by 2003.

Since its crowning achievement however, bioinformatics has dropped out of the spotlight over the past decade.

The field remains active through numerous software developers and institutions pushing programs to aid in genome analysis and biological research. Some have even gone so far as to say the field has nowhere left to go, such as Christos Ouzounis, head of the Computational Genomics Group in Cambridge, UK and associate editor of Oxford University Press’ Bioinformatics Magazine. In his piece “Rise and Demise of Bioinformatics? Promise and Progress”, he cites the field’s greatest achievements (such as the Human Genome Project) and includes a few possible reasons as to why it could be failing. One such reason is the possibility that bioinformatics has made too much progress in the past decade, aiding in the birth of Protein Docking, Personalized Medicine, Synthetic Biology, and numerous other efforts (Ouzounis). Ouzounis theorizes that this flood of new ideas eventually turned counterproductive, especially since “old problems remain with us and should not be

neglected [...] all these problems come back with a vengeance, including training”. Ouzounis warns that too much progress has forced bioinformatics to a standstill to prevent a structural collapse. The towering list of systems and technologies is growing faster and faster, despite the familiar cries of existing issues with its supports. Ouzounis cites the issue of training as well: these advancements will be meaningless if time is not given to allow a solid population time to learn them.

In the piece’s epilogue, Ouzounis goes on to clarify what he feels is the “demise” of Bioinformatics: Since computing has become such a necessary pillar of modern biology, it is becoming harder and harder for bioinformatics to stand out as a separate field. Some could say that bioinformatics has essentially replaced – or at the very least, merged with – modern biology, even if the name didn’t stick. However, recent market analysts disagree with Ouzonis’s claims; according to the latest market report published by Credence Research, the bioinformatics market is expected to rise 450% by 2024. This may be due to a huge cash of government funding towards biological research in combination with a growing and expanding need for companies to adopt a more efficient method to sort and decipher a large wealth of incoming data statistics. In his

Editor’s Choice

own market analysis, veteran Opinion Investor author Robson expands on the market’s shifts towards Bioinformatics in his own piece, “Bioinformatics Market Is Expected To Reach USD 38,614.0 Mn By 2024”. Robson points to an increase in the use of integrated data by drug markets and hypothesizes that the applications for the field may only become more and more numerous as companies around the world find themselves taking in more raw data than they known what to do with (Robson). According to Robson’s research, the supply/demand curve of accumulated data currently sits quite firmly on the side of too much supply and not enough to do with it, and this could be where bioinformatics finds its niche.

Despite a bright future on the horizon, those invested in the field are not about to sit back and wait for their glory day. Regardless of lackluster Google Trends reading, bioinformatics research is still very much alive.

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation, for example, is a non-profit group founded to create open-source, free programs to aid in biological research.

Two such programs, BioPython and BioPerl, were released one and three years ago respectively, and represent a collection of modules that allow for easy development of bioinformatics programs in the programming languages of Python and Perl. This volunteer-run organization continues to provide a platform on which the field can grow and evolve to further change the nature of biological work.

In addition to the more lab-oriented side of biology, bioinformatics has also shown applications in the educational field. Take the University of Calgary, for example: A public facility in Alberta, students attending the university and studying bio-

informatics have merged their roots in computer science and biology to create a VR experience perfect for an exploration of both. In an article by Canadian news magazine Maclean’s, U of Calgary student Nicole Ewert describes the project as being “sort of like a video game” (Ewert). Ewert, who worked on designing the experience, goes into more detail, explaining that herself and fellow students “brought in a bunch of models of human anatomy - the organs, the skeleton, the circulatory system—and displayed them in a virtual gallery that you can walk through” in virtual reality (Ewert). But according to the University, the experience has more to offer than a good show. Drug researchers could, for example, use it to closely analyze how their drugs are affecting different systems of the body, using the 3D perspective offered by the system to gain perspective on their data. This “virtual lab” may also facilitate the running of certain experiments in the future, especially experiments too costly or time consuming to regularly run in real life.

This is an example of how quickly the applications of a bioinformatics project can explode. What first started as a simple learning exercise may quickly become a new frontier on which experiments can be reliably conducted.

The speed at which programs and software created to serve bioinformatics can be altered to serve new and growing needs may become the field’s new calling card as all of biology continues to evolve. In its breakout moment, bioinformatics was placed at the tip of the spear, used to break pre-existing molds and forge new progress in the field of data collection. Now that data collection has become overwhelmingly simple, however, the role of bioinformatics has switched; rather than building the tower further, it fo-

cuses to find new ways to structure its supports and train those who wish to climb to its peak. It appears to be a role that suits the field very well, as removing what’s not working and replacing it with something that does is what bioinformaticians have been doing for decades. And it may be something it finds itself doing for decades to come, as it proves itself to be far from an obsolete term and continues to expand and reiterate upon the frontier of biological research.

References

Bayat, A. (2002). Bioinformatics. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 324(7344), 1018–1022.

Jongeneel, Cor (2014) Bioinformatics in Genome Sequencing Projects. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0005311.pub3] Lapidus, AL. “Bioinformatics and it’s applications” SPbAU, SppSU, St. Petersburg.

Maclean’s. “The Healthy Crunch of Data: University of Calgary’s Bioinformatics Program.”Macleans.ca, Rodger’s Digital Media, 9 Feb. 2018, www.macleans.ca/education/bioinformatics-program-calgary/.

“Open Bioinformatics Foundation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Bioinformatics_ Foundation.

“Online Education Kit: Bioinformatics: Introduction.” National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health, 18 Mar. 2013, www.genome.gov/25020000/online-education-kit-bioinformatics-introduction/.

Ouzounis CA (2012) Rise and Demise of Bioinformatics? Promise and Progress. PLoS Comput Biol 8(4): e1002487. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pcbi.1002487/ Robson. “Bioinformatics Market Is Expected To Reach USD 38,614.0 Mn By 2024: Credence Research.” Investor Opinion, 6 Mar. 2018, opinioninvestor.com/bioinformatics-market-is-expected-to-reach-usd-38614-0-mn-by-2024-credence-research/103678

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Environmental Neuroscience “Currently, a strong correlation between urban environments and mental illness exists.”

Slime Highways “If civil engineers could develop and harness a slime-based algorithm, a new future lies ahead in the planning of transportation networks.”

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Memories Are Made of This “If a drug improves or impairs memory, knowing what that drug does to the nervous system can help us to more deeply understand how memories come a b o u t .”

Space Sustainability “According to the European Space Agency, there are over 166 million objects ranging from 1 mm to over 10 cm orbiting around our Earth.”

In Brief

an overview of this issue’s content

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World News Alex Meyers, ’19

Penguin Poop Reveals Huge Colony Researchers on a trip to Antarctica recently discovered a massive colony of Adélie penguins with more than 1.5 million members. Scientists knew that there was a penguin colony on this 10-km Antarctic island, but they had no idea it was this large; satellite images showed tremendous amounts of guano (penguin feces) on the island, more than was possible for a group of the size they suspected. This prompted them to gather more data on the colony, finding over 751,000 penguin nests!

Borowicz, Alex, et al. “Multi-Modal Survey of Adélie Penguin Mega-Colonies Reveals the Danger Islands as a Seabird Hotspot.” Scientific Reports, vol.

8, no. 1, 2018, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22313-w.

Genomics Against Pediatric Cancer Ultrasounds Unlikely to Increase Risk of Autism Autism rates have been on the rise in recent years, and so have the number of ultrasound scans given to a mother during pregnancy. Is there a causeand-effect relationship to be found here? Not likely. A new study shows that children with autism were, on average, exposed to fewer ultrasounds while in the room, instead of more.

The study wasn’t perfect, and more investigation needs to be done, but the results hold promise.

Sanders, Laura. “A New Study Eases Fears of a Link between Autism and Prenatal Ultrasounds.”

Science News, 21 Feb. 2018, www.sciencenews. org/blog/growth-curve/autism-prenatal-ultrasound-study?tgt=nr.

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Researchers recently pored over the genomes of more than 1700 pediatric tumors (from 20 different types of cancer) to help build a list of potentially carcinogenic mutations. This list can aid oncologists in determining the severity of a patient’s cancer and can inform future chemotherapy drug targets. The benefit of working with pediatric cancers is that they tend to have fewer mutations, meaning it may be easier to find key genetic errors than in an adult patient. A large number of the tumors showed errors in the DNA repair process, much like the famous adult cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Ledford, Heidi. “Genome Studies Unlock Childhood-Cancer Clues.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 28 Feb. 2018, www.nature.com/ articles/d41586-018-02359-6.

News

Microbes on Mars?

A new study confirms that a very tough group of bacteria live in the Atacama Desert of Chile. The environment is so dry and inhospitable that scientists believed the bacteria previously found there must have been blown in from somewhere else.

Now knowing the bacteria (which can survive without water for more than 10 years) make their home there, scientists are starting to wonder why they couldn’t find life on Mars, which has a similarly inhospitable climate and soil composition to the desert.

Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Microbes Found in One of Earth’s Most Hostile Places, Giving Hope for Life on Mars.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 26 Feb. 2018, www. sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/microbes-foundone-earth-s-most-hostile-places-giving-hope-lifemars.

Redefining the Second Scientists are getting ready to redefine the unit of time we know as the second.

Currently, the clocks that designate official time are a type of atomic clock that loses one second every 200 million years.

Scientists think they can improve on this margin of error. Instead of tuning clocks to the microwave frequency they are now, soon they will be tuned using higher-frequency visible light. In testing, these new clocks are already 100-fold more accurate than the current models. Why does this matter? This precision can allow physicists to investigate constants at a new level, and it can aid in better spacecraft navigation as well.

Cartlidge, Edwin. “With Better Atomic Clocks, Scientists Prepare to Redefine the Second.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 Mar. 2018, www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/better-atomic-clocks-scientists-prepare-redefine-second.

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A

utism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder of the nervous system. The causes of ASD are yet unknown, but it has been linked to both genetic and environmental factors. In 2017, researchers at Keele University in the UK surveyed the aluminum content of brain tissues in donor brains with ASD. Their results indicated that ASD brains often contained tissues with high concentrations of aluminum, relative to the researchers’ previous study of aluminum content in aging human brain tissue.

Aluminum content was measured in 0.3g tissue samples from different regions of the brain of 5 individuals using atomic absorption spectrometry. This method utilizes the difference in the light absorption capabilities of different atoms to find the chemical composition of samples. The values ranged from 1.20 to 4.77μg/g. Past studies have suggested values ≥2.00μg/g as pathologically concerning and those ≥3.00μg/g as pathologically significant. The results showed at least one tissue in each individual that exceeded the established pathologically significant value.

In addition to the concentration,

the locations of the aluminum deposits were also examined using fluorescence microscopes. A dye that selectively stains aluminum in cells and human tissues and makes them appear orange or bright yellow was used to view aluminum on the images obtained through the microscope. Deposits were found both inside and outside brain cells. However, the most distinct observation was the presence of metal deposits in the microglia. Microglia are the main immune defense cells inside the central nervous systems and scientists concluded that the deposits seen in them were a direct indication that aluminum had somehow crossed the blood-brain barrier.

Aluminum is toxic to living cells.

Although the microglia could remain functional for a certain time period, the metal will eventually show its adverse effects by disrupting this functionality. In addition to microglia, fluorescence microscopy revealed that aluminum-loaded cells were found in both white and grey matter in tissue samples.

This study presents the first ever instance of aluminum concentration measurement in human brain tissues from individuals with ASD. Despite these results,

Editor’s Note

the research was limited due to small sample size and the minimal amount of tissue cells that could be obtained for the study. In addition, the only control used was existing data from a previous 60-brain study on neurodegenerative diseases associated with age, which allowed the researchers to “define loose categories of brain aluminum content” (House, et al., 2011; Mold, Matthew, et al., 2018). These factors render the research inadequate by itself to establish ASD as a direct outcome of aluminum deposition from vaccines, for example, in brain tissues.

These results call for further studies examining the roles of environmental exposures in autism, while still appreciating the enormous role the vaccines have played in eradicating disease epidemics.

References House, et al. “Aluminium, iron and copper in human brain tissues donated to the Medical Research Council’s Cognitive Function and Ageing Study.” Metallomics. 2012 Jan;4(1):56-65. doi: 10.1039/c1mt00139f.

Epub 2011 Nov 1.

Mold, Matthew, et al. “Aluminium in Brain Tissue in Autism.” Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, vol. 46, 2018, pp.

76–82., doi:10.1016/j.jtemb.2017.11.012.

The amount of aluminum that an infant would receive from vaccines is small relative to the amount that they would receive even from breast milk or formula over time. While this study shows a link between aluminum in brain tissues and disease, the source of said aluminum is not established.

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Assessing Aluminum in Autistic Brains ———————— Concrete Results or Limited Experimental Design?

by Simona Bajgai, ‘20

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News

Environmental Neuroscience

The Biophilic Nature of our Brains

By Ashley Tucewicz, ‘19

B

efore you curl up in your bed, ready to watch the latest episode of Black Mirror on Netflix to wind down, you may want to consider going for a walk in the park instead. A study published in 2015 by Bratman, et al. indicates that nature experience can reduce repetitive, negative thoughts as well as alter brain activity in areas associated with such emotional patterns. Currently, a strong correlation between urban environments and mental illness exists. In a world of rapidly transforming living spaces, investigating the influence of environment on our brain and behavior will be key to humanity’s well-being.

Despite the benefits offered by the concrete jungle, many stressors sprout from urban living. More than 50% of people now live in urban areas, and this figure is expected to rise to 70% by 2050. Those that grow up in a rural versus urban setting show less responsivity to stress. Oth-

er studies have shown that window views including natural elements are associated with superior memory and subjective wellbeing. However, the physical changes that occur in the brain as a result of green space exposure are unknown, including how they may combat the development of mental illness. This study proposed that walking through a natural environment would decrease rumination, a pattern of negative self-talk that is associated with depression and other mental illnesses. It also proposed that activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex (sgPFC) would decrease, as this area of the brain tends to be more active during sadness.

Individuals living in urban environments were assigned to a 90-minute walk in either a natural or urban environment. The scientists obtained self-reported measures of rumination and measured sgPFC activity of the participants before and after the walk. sgPFC activity was determined with a method called arterial spin labeling, which involves measuring the volume of cerebral blood passing through

the brain with MRI imaging. Remarkably, participants who went on a walk through a natural environment reported lower levels of rumination and had reduced neural activity (less blood flow) in the sgPFC compared with those who walked through an urban environment. This study shows that exposure to nature can alter our behavior at the neurobiological level. An urban green space may not only benefit the environment, but also our own mental health.

This study has significant implications upon how urban design and city planning can help augment mental capital. Much research has yet to be done regarding how natural space impacts individual psychological and neurological attributes. As we shape the environment, we must also learn how the environment shapes us.

Reference: Bratman, Gregory N., et al. “Nature Experience Reduces Rumination and Subgenual Prefrontal Cortex Activation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 112, no. 28, 2015, pp. 8567–8572., doi:10.1073/pnas.1510459112.

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SLIMY

HIGHWAYS A NEW FUTURE FOR URBAN DESIGN

by Leah Hotaling, ’19

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News

“Indescribable… Indestructible! Nothing can stop it!” was the Hollywood catch phrase from the original 1958 thriller, The Blob. Unlike the monstrous, man-eating mass that would ooze from the underground, a new slime has caught the eye of the public— Physarum polycephalum (P. polycephalum). The nickname of “slime mold” has stuck to this marvelous organism, even though it is technically not an actual mold. Instead, the bright yellow P. polycephalum is a single-celled amoeboid organism containing several million nuclei. The only time this organism causes a fright is when an occasional runner stumbles upon the yellow masses clinging to rotting logs. P. polycephalum are usually found spread across damp forest floors consuming bacteria, yeast, and fungi from the breakdown of vegetation (Slime Molds, 2012).

Although the P. polycephalum may seem like a mindless forager, it is the slime mold’s intelligence that has caught the attention of many researchers. Increasing evidence has proven that the P. polycephalum are incredible at establishing efficient and direct connections to food sources. P. polycephalum move by shuttling cytoplasm in contractile motions and branching in coral-like patterns called pseudopods (Intelligent?, 2016). Initially, the P. polycephalum explores the landscape in a continuous manner to maximize the search for potential food sources (Tero, 2010). However, P. polycephalum then retract to only link direct food sources, which sequentially reduces the length of the connecting network to improve transportation productivity. The connections are formed in a rather clever manner, as the slime spreads along a surface it leaves behind a translucent residue (Jabr, 2012). Not only does the residue signal for the P. polycephalum to avoid investigating an area twice, it allows for researchers to track the motion of the slime. Additionally, the mold has shown evidence of “learning” in response to adverse stimuli and is still able to form incredibly efficient routes to the nearest food source despite the lack of a central nervous system. P. polycephalum are traditionally studied by biologists and serve as a model organism for cytoplasmic streaming, biochemistry, 20

and cytology (“Slime Molds.”), however, the focus of this fascinating mold is now shifting to real-life applications in the construction of transportation networks.

Not only has slime mold fascinated biologists, but unexpectedly, civil engineers and computer scientists are impressed by the mold’s ability to successfully network the quickest routes to food sources, which have mimicked real-world infrastructure webs (Tero, 2010). Although the P. polycephalum expand their connections at a rate of one centimeter per hour, time-lapse photos have been able to show remarkable and efficient networks (“Slime Molds.”). An early study showed that slime mold can quickly navigate a maze, proving that this intelligent organism is able to solve the shortest path problem (Chumbley, n.d.). Food sources were placed in several locations within in the maze. As the P. polycephalum continued to branch within the walls of the maze, it would retract if a food source was not located. The P. polycephalum would leave behind residual slime, indicating not to re-explore fruitless paths. After two days, the researchers found that the P. polycephalum formed a thick plasmodial tube between the food sources, indicating that it was able to navigate the shortest route to the food source (Nakagaki, 2000).

A remarkable study by Tero and colleagues at Hokkaido University in Japan, took the maze experiment a step farther by proving that slime mold is able to form efficient, fault tolerant, and cost effective replicas of real-world transportation network systems (Tero, 2010). The researchers placed the mold’s favorite food source, rolled oats, in comparable locations of 36 cities within the Tokyo area railway system to examine the subsequent patterns of foraging (Tero, 2010). The researchers found that the path of the slime mold remarkably mimicked the tracks of the Tokyo railway system (Tero, 2010).

Tero and colleagues have established a perfect example of a biologically inspired model that is capable of providing researchers from a multitude of disciplines with information that can be applied to advanced technical systems (Slime Design, 2010).

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If civil engineers could develop and harness a slime-based algorithm, a new future lies ahead in the planning of transportation networks.

Transport networks are critical to urban design and serve as the basis for transferring people, goods, information, and resources. Mass transit is available in many forms with valuable advantages to urban transportation networks.

From an environmental standpoint, mass transit reduces the number of cars on the road, thus cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, it enables all members of society to travel regardless of owning a driver’s license.

Mass transit systems are incredibly expensive to construct and operate (Newton, n.d.). Many of the current transportation systems found within cities have emerged without a clear design and the projects were constrained by limited resources. Often, the consumer is responsible for paying higher prices for using mass transit because little government assistance is provided for construction of newer developments (Newton, n.d.). Additionally, it takes years of urban planning to decide the best routes of transportation unlike slime mold, which is able to compute efficient networks in just several days.

Professor Andrew Adamatzky for Unconventional Computing Department at the University of the West of England has recognized the potential of harnessing the information provided by P. polycephalum and is hoping to apply it to design plans of national highway systems (Jabr, 2012). Adamatzky and colleagues have used slime mold to determine the most logical routes for connecting major U.S. cities. Interestingly, in almost every trial, the paths formed by the slime mold mimicked Route 95 connecting Boston to New York and Route 45 from Dallas to Houston (Stromberg, 2012). In other trials, the

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mold was able to closely correlate with highways spanning the southwest and eastern seaboard (Stromberg, 2012). An additional study by Adamatzky et al., sought to address the notable limitation of using only flat surfaces to study the P. polycephalum. Instead, a three-dimensional model of Balkan Peninsula was examined to account for the physical boundaries that have lead humans to construct certain pathways (Evangelidis, 2017). The P. polycephalum amazingly imitated the paths established by the Romans in the 3D mold of the Balkans. The researchers theorize that the slime mold’s efficiency of replicating previously established routes is related to the similar method of trial and error used by early prehistoric human paths and animal trails (Jabr, 2012), though the slime mold does so without a single neuron.

Additionally, Adamatzky brings up an important feature of using P. polycephalum to design future highway systems; it’s cheap and simple. The slime mold is incredibly easy to grow and requires few resources to maintain. Also, it is less complicated than traditional silicon-based computational programs for designing transportation networks.

A simple, brainless organism possess the ability to reshape the way regions construct advanced and more efficient transport networks. Although it may seem difficult to apply the analysis of P. polycephalum networks to urbanized areas, researchers can start by looking to implement the information in underdeveloped regions or even college campuses. For example, Dickinson College runs a safety shuttle at night to provide students with an easily accessible mode of transportation. However, if the college sought to reduce carbon emissions from the Dickinson shuttles, the slime mold could serve as a tool for determining the quickest and most

cost-effective routes. Another potential way that P. polycephalum would be useful is by harnessing their mechanism for establishing quick paths to design organized trails in national parks. Although P. polycephalum may not be an alien amorphous blob that crashed from outer space, the organism’s immense capacity to design systematic transportation routes is seemingly extraterrestrial.

References Chumbley, A. (n.d.). Shortest Path Algorithms.

Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://brilliant. org/wiki/shortest-path-algorithms/ Evangelidis, V., Jones, J., Dourvas, N., Tsompanas, M., Sirakoulis, G. C., & Adamatzky, A. (2017, August 01). Physarum machines imitating a Roman road network: the 3D approach. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.nature.com/articles/ s41598-017-06961-y Intelligent? Brainless slime can ‘learn’: study.

(2016, April 27). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://phys.org/news/2016-04-intelligent-brainless-slime.html Jabr, F. (2012, November 07). How Brainless Slime Molds Redefine Intelligence [Video]. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brainless-slime-molds/ Nakagaki, Toshiyuki; Yamada, Hiroyasu; Tóth, Ágota (2000). “Intelligence: Maze-solving by an amoeboid organism”. Nature. 407 (6803): 470. doi:10.1038/35035159 Newton, D. E. (n.d.). Mass Transportation - Disadvantages Of Mass Transportation. Retrieved March 7, 2018, from http://science.jrank.org/ pages/4169/Mass-Transportation-Disadvantages-mass-transportation.html Slime Design Mimics Tokyo’s Rail System: Efficient methods of a slime mold could inform human engineers. (2010, January 22). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.sciencedaily. com/releases/2010/01/100121141051.htm “Slime Molds.” World of Microbiology and Immunology. . Retrieved March 06, 2018 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia. com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/slime-molds Slime Molds: No Brains, No Feet, No Problem.

(2012, April 05). Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-sublime-slime-mold Stromberg, J. (2012, May 15). If the Interstate System Were Designed by a Slime Mold. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/if-the-interstate-system-were-designed-by-a-slime-mold-93309928/ Tero, A., Takagi, S., Saigusa, T., Ito, K., Bebber, D. P., Fricker, M. D., . . . Nakagaki, T. (2010, January 22). Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from http://science.sciencemag.org/content/327/5964/439.full

IF CIVIL ENGINEERS COULD DEVELOP AND HARNESS A SLIME-BASED ALGORITHM, A NEW FUTURE LIES AHEAD IN THE PLANNING OF TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS. 21

Hand in Hand with

Archaeology Katie Schorr, ’21

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rchaeology has always been a field on the edge of science. Early archaeologists used both quantitative and qualitative data to come to conclusions about how people lived in the past. Linguistics have also played a large role in the field, enabling researchers to understand the written word of past civilizations. As science has advanced and our ability to find out things about the environment around us has increased, archaeology has increasingly used scientific discoveries to learn more about the history of humans. Archaeology uses technology from every branch of science, from physics to biology, in a variety of ways. Radiocarbon dating is perhaps the most commonly known scientific method used in archaeology to date organic artifacts, but there are many more, from isotope analysis of the teeth of Neanderthals to LIDAR, a type of ground penetrating radar that allows archaeologists to study a site without disturbing the

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ground itself. Chemical analysis of the contents of the stomachs of human remains provides vital insight to the lifestyle they led when they were alive. Geological study of the stone and metal tools and jewelry used and worn by people provides insight into the trade routes and technologies that they had access to. All of these things allow for a greater understanding of the societies that came before our own and how we have developed to the point we are at now.

What is radiocarbon dating? Radiocarbon dating is a method used to determine the age of an organic artifact. Carbon dating can only be used on artifacts that at some point exchanged gasses in the atmosphere. Radiocarbon dating works by measuring the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in

a sample, and using knowledge of the half -life of carbon-14 deducing the age. The half-life of carbon-14 is about 5730 years, and the limit to age determinations using this method is about 100,000 years, an increase in the previous limit of 50,000 due to the low activity of the element. The new upper limit is because of advancing mass spectrometer technology and increasingly sensitive instruments that can be applies to samples as small as a milligram. Carbon-14 is formed in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays bombarding nitrogen. The now radioactive carbon-14 then bonds with oxygen to create carbon dioxide, and is then inhaled or absorbed by organisms on the surface of the planet.

Because the ratio of carbon-14 to other carbons in the atmosphere is relatively constant, comparing the radioactivity in dead organisms to the known equilibrium level of living things can be used to determine the age of an organism. This method works because throughout an organism’s life it will have about

Cooperation and sharing between scientific communities serves to expand the collective knowledge of history, and may help lead to new discoveries in all fields.

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an equal amount of carbon-14 to the current atmosphere during the time it was living, thus allowing calculations to be made for its age. This application of physics to archaeology has been one of the most exciting advancements for archaeologists in recent history, and is an integral part of modern archaeology.

The application of geology and mineralogy to archaeology is another interesting way that science helps archaeologists.

Although geologists and archaeologists are one of the most commonly confused fields, they are quite distinct from each other.

The intersection between geology and archaeology is commonly known as geoarchaeology, and the crossing of the two fields began in the late 1970s. Geologists help archaeologists in many aspects, and contribute much to studies of sites.

Geologists help in locating sites, analyzing the stratification at sites, analysis of stone tools in both manufacturing technique and trade routes for stone tools, and in many other ways. The application of geological science to archaeology has been a huge move forward, allowing for a deeper understanding of the sites that are studied and has led to greater cooperation between scientific fields that were formerly not affiliated.

The application of biology to archaeology is a natural and obvious step. Because archaeology so often examines organic remains and human mortuary sites, knowledge and application of biological methods come in handy. The fields

of biological archaeology and bioarchaeology are both very important branches of archaeology and focus on slightly different subfields.

Biological Archaeology looks at the evolution of humans and non-human primates through their evolution and development of culture.

It is very focused on the biological aspect of the field because of the focus on evolutionary theory. Bioarchaeology focuses on the study of human remains in the context of where they are found and focuses on both the contexts that remains are found in and the biological condition of the remains. Archaeology and biology have always been related fields, because of the inherently biological nature of studying humans and their development through time. The wide-ranging applications biological knowledge has to archaeology is incredibly important to further studying and understanding human history and cultural development.

One example of interdisciplinary application in archaeology is the study of Ötzi the Ice man, a mummified, frozen Copper Age man who died high in the Italian Alps and was nearly perfectly preserved. Copper Age refers to the late stone age and early iron age, when copper had just been discovered and been used to make tools, but stone tools were still the tool of choice. Ötzi was found with a rare copper axe, along with his clothes and other weapons, and a traveling bag. He is thought to be either the head of a tribe or a nomadic herdsman. Upon his discovery, multiple paths of study were taken on him,

including a chemical analysis of the contents of his stomach and intensive x-rays and physical examinations. Because of the intense and comprehensive studies done on Ötzi, knowledge about ancient migration patterns, illnesses, and food consumption have been expanded. He has also expanded modern knowledge about ancient tattooing traditions and healing methods. As time progresses and science becomes more advanced, new tests and studies can be done on him to even further understand what life was like in late stone age Europe.

An interdisciplinary approach to archaeology is the best way to ensure that the maximum amount of knowledge and analysis is done to discover more about the history of humans and our ancestors. Without taking knowledge from other fields and applying it to archaeology, much of the knowledge we now have would not exist.

Cooperation and sharing between scientific communities serves to expand the collective knowledge of history, and may help lead to new discoveries in all fields.

References Nave, R. “Carbon Dating.” Carbon Dating, hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Nuclear/cardat.html.

Hassan, Fekri. The Geologist and Archaeology. www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/279076. pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A8dd5d792e876e dd397f8a35f6510585d Sugiyama. “Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, and Biological Anthropology.” Sociology and Anthropology, soan.gmu.edu/ about-overview/archaeology.

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Research

Capsaicin Receptor: A Potential Protector of the Brain Upon Hemorrhagic Stroke

by Haeji Chung, ’19

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Could a capsaicin receptor protect the brain during hemorrhagic shock? This is the question I explored throughout last summer when I joined the Wellman Lab in the University of Vermont for the 10-week Summer Neuroscience Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SNURF). Our lab’s main focus was on the potential neuroprotective role of Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channel, a Ca2+ permeable, non-selective channel, which gets activated by capsaicin, heat, acid, and pro-inflammatory cytokines.

This channel, also known as the capsaicin receptor, has mostly been studied through the lens of pain sensation. Its functional role in vascular tissue remains controversial. From past studies, this lab discovered that TRPV1 exists in a subset of arterial smooth muscle, and acts as a major calcium-influx pathway for vasoconstriction in specific vascular beds, including the external carotid artery (ECA) territory. The common carotid artery splits into the external and internal carotid arteries as it goes up along the neck. External carotid arteries (ECA) provide blood to non-brain areas of the head and neck, such as the face. Interestingly, the TRPV1 channel is distributed only in the ECA territory. This led to the interesting hypothesis that when TRPV1 gets activated by significant drops in blood pressure, such as during hemorrhagic shock, vasoconstriction of ECA territory occurs to redistribute more blood to the brain.

My independent research was to test out the possible pathway of TRPV1 channels’ vasoconstriction.

We believe TRPV1 is another pathway of vasoconstriction mediated by α1-adrenergic receptors (α1-ARs), which is separate but interrelated to the traditional calcium-influx pathway of voltage-gated calcium channels (VDCCs). α1-AR is one of the players

of sympathetic nervous system’s fightor-flight response. Therefore, the purpose of my research was to find out the contribution of TRPV1 channels in α1-AR-mediated vasoconstriction, independent to VDCC pathway. I isolated facial arteries from wild-type and TRPV1-knockout(KO) mice, cannulated them in a chamber, and treated them with phenylephrine, an α1-adrenergic receptor agonist, and nifedipine, a VDCC blocker. Cannulation, the most exciting part of the experiment, involved inserting a glass micropipette into each side of the arterial segment and securing it in place with string knots. As a mouse’s facial artery is smaller than 0.5 mm, it required fine forceps, a delicate handiwork, and intense focus

Changes in arterial diameter were measured upon drug treatment through video edge detection. The results of the study were less exciting than the process. The statistical results were not significant, possibly due to the small sample size and time constraints of the study. I was only able to use the last two weeks of data because of consistent changes made to the experimental conditions, such as types and concentrations of drugs

Moreover, there were multiple technical problems; the gas had to be changed, the chamber’s leakage had to be fixed, and the arterial diameter detector had to be recalibrated. I went through what every researcher experiences daily, the real science that isn’t as straightforward or as easy as in the textbook. Spending my summer in the Wellman lab was an invaluable experience that helped me shape my dream of becoming a neurosurgeon and a cerebrovascular researcher. The summer of 2017 gave me insight into the world of arteries and what my life would be like as a scientist.

Research

Memories Are Made of This

By Teresa Barber, Professor of Psychology

I remember most things well. In fact, I have a “photographic” memory, which means that I only have to look at something once to be able to recall most details.

However, I am terrible at remembering names. The reason why I am so bad at names has always bothered me, and it is probably why I became the scientist I am today.

I am a behavioral and cognitive neuroscientist, someone who tries to relate thinking behavior to brain activity. I’m interested in where memory is located in the brain, how it’s made and maintained, and what happens when memory is faulty. I study memory in a couple of different ways. Sometimes I study memory directly, by measuring the changes in specific chemicals, or examining the effects of lesions of the brain. Alternatively, I also use indirect methods. For example, if a drug improves or impairs memory, knowing what that drug does to the nervous system can help us to more deeply understand how memories come about.

In my laboratory, we explore memory through the use of a paradigm called “taste-avoidance learning” in the day-old chick. To examine this, the chick performs a test where it pecks a bead coated with an aversive-tasting liquid.

In theory, because the chick associates the bead with the bad taste, it will avoid pecking similar looking beads at test. The training, which can occur with only a single 30-second presentation of the MeA-covered bead, results in reliable memory retention lasting at least 24 hours, accompanied by well-known discrete biochemical and physiological consequences.

Additionally, we’ve been looking at things that might improve memory. We’ve looked at a variety of drugs and foods that improve memory, and have recently turned our attention to behavioral interventions, which ultimately affect the nervous

system. We found that making a stimulus very salient improves memory and additionally, we found that increased “sociability” improves memory. This means, making a memory special, perhaps through interactions with others may increase the memory for certain events. Most recently, we have found that exercise improves memory. We know that exercise is stimulating to the nervous system, and there are a few studies that have shown elderly people have memory improvements following exercise. These experiments are useful, as they indicate that behavioral interventions modulate memory and may be very useful in helping those with poor memories, for example, people with age-related impairments.

Studying memory is satisfying to me. I’m writing this as I come back from the gym, and hopefully that hour of exercise will improve my memory today!

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Research

THREE-DIMENSIONAL

MODELING

OF LITHIUM ION DISTRIBUTIONS IN ALL-SOLID-STATE

LITHIUM-ION

BATTERIES

by Julia Huddy, ’19

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The market for energy storage devices is continually growing as countries look for better ways to manage energy while taking global issues into consideration. With the potential to expand to medicine, robotics, and space, one of the most popular devices on the market, the lithium-ion battery, has yet to be perfected. Today, these commercial batteries can be found in anything from cell phones to electric cars, as they are easy to recharge and hold a lot of energy, making them an obvious choice for energy storage in new devices. However, these batteries are produced with a liquid electrolyte, making them flammable and susceptible to leakage. Developing a lithium ion battery with a solid electrolyte would provide a safer alternative while maintaining high-power density, a long cycle life, and a potential for light weight and compact packaging. All-solid-state lithium ion batteries (SSLIBs) have a higher voltage capacity and would be safer, more stable, and more reliable than current lithium ion batteries, making them desirable and applicable in various markets.

In order to improve the material properties and design better lithium ion batteries, it is necessary to visualize the distribution of lithium-ions in SSLIBs in three-dimensions. This summer in the Leite lab at the University of Maryland, we were able to achieve this by combining a specific type of mass spectrometry, known as ToF-SIMS, with Scanning Electron Microscopy to take a deeper look at how two different anodes perform in SSLIBs. For our project, we analyzed a lithium ion battery with an aluminum anode and another one with a silicon anode before, during, and after cycling. With the data produced from this process, we were able to create three dimensional maps of lithium ion distributions in all parts of the battery, enabling us to monitor where the ions were moving throughout the cycling process and determine what other ions, if any, lithium ions were interacting with. These three-dimensional maps allowed us to draw conclusions about the batteries we

were testing and could help us to develop more effective batteries.

Aluminum is a promising anode in lithium-ion batteries because it is low cost, nontoxic, and abundant. However, in all-solid-state devices, aluminum and lithium ions react to form a very stable AlLi alloy, which reduces the amount of lithium ions in the anode causing rapid capacity loss in these devices. Creating and investigating ion concentration maps within the battery helps show that there is a large amount of lithium trapped at the surface of these batteries by aluminum ions that do not dissipate during cycling. This means that, with each cycle, the amount of lithium moving through the battery decreases, causing the battery life to decay over time. As a result, aluminum would not be applicable in large energy storage devices, so we moved to analyze another anode.

Silicon is a promising anode, with a low discharge potential and a high theoretical charge capacity. Lithium ions diffuse ten orders of magnitude faster in silicon than in aluminum, eliminating the time it would take for the lithium to become trapped. Creating three-dimensional maps of ion concentrations throughout cycling allowed us to see that there is no significant movement of lithium ions throughout the battery nor any change in intensity of lithium ion concentration. Overall, these ions tend to move as they are supposed to throughout cycling and maintain about the same battery life over time. Currently, this anode seems very promising, and in the future, we aim to take a closer look at the interfaces between active layers of the battery to further understand how the ions move and interact when transitioning from one layer to the next. This will help us determine how the ions are moving and apply these batteries on a larger scale.

Reference Gong, C., Ruzmetov, D., Pearse, A., Ma, D., Munday, J. N., Rubloff, G., Taliln, A. A., & Leite, M. S. (2015). Surface/Interface Effects on High-Performance Thin-Film All-Solid-State Li-ion Batteries.

Applied Materials & Interfaces, 7 (47), 2600726011.

Linking Mom’s Stress Before or During Pregnancy to Child Health

by Marguerite Adams, ‘18

Do a mother’s experiences during pregnancy, or even before conception, affect how her child responds to stress? This semester, I am working on a project that examines maternal factors that predict patterns of cortisol, an important stress hormone, in children. Together with Assistant Professor Christine Guardino in the Psychology Department and Meddy Smith ’20, our lab group at Dickinson College is conducting a systematic review. We are examining research on maternal preconception and prenatal predictors of child cortisol patterns over the course of the day (known as diurnal patterns) as well as cortisol change in response to stress.

Cortisol, a hormone produced by the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis), is secreted throughout the day in a diurnal pattern characterized by high levels upon awakening, and in response to acute stressors. Cortisol is an important hormone to examine because it reflects stress physiology. Furthermore, dysregulated cortisol patterns have significant implications for health. In the context of maternal-child health, research has shown that a child’s exposure to prenatal or early life adversity may alter patterns of diurnal cortisol and stress reactivity. For example, in one of the studies we identified through our review, researchers assessed 5-year old children on their first day of school and measured their cortisol levels (Gutteling, de Weerth, & Buitelaar, 2005). This study found that children whose mothers had elevated stress and anxiety levels during pregnancy had higher cortisol levels on this stressful first school day than children born to mothers with lower stress

and anxiety levels during pregnancy. Our literature review aims to collect and analyze the findings from this fascinating body of research.

This project has helped me learn the ways in which a systematic review differs from a more general literature search in that we must carefully document each step so that an interested researcher could potentially replicate our findings. As we continue working on the literature review, I hope to strengthen the skills needed to read and evaluate scholarly articles and find connections between them. I am also leaning how to extract important information from journal articles, critically evaluate sources, and relate findings from individual studies to broader research literature.

The next step in this project will be to run analyses of related data that Dr. Guardino helped to collect during her postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA. These analyses will look at the effects of maternal stress during the preconception period and during pregnancy on children’s daily patterns of cortisol production using data collected in collaboration with researchers at UCLA, NorthShore Research Institute, the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, and the University of Denver. We hope that this work will identify risk factors that can be targeted for early prevention of adverse health outcomes throughout the lifespan.

References Gutteling, B. M., de Weerth, C., & Buitelaar, J. K. (2005).

Prenatal stress and children’s cortisol reaction to the first day of school. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 30(6), 541-549.

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNKNOWN OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

by Michael Skalak, Professor of Computer Science

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utonomous vehicles, commonly called self-driving cars, have arrived. Several companies, ranging from traditional car companies (GM), to new car companies (Tesla), to tech giants (Google) have cars on the road now with varying degrees of independence. These cars are slowly becoming more and more available to the public. These machines will greatly change society in unexpected ways, but here are a few predictions.

THE GOOD

Self-driving cars will save lives.

Car accidents kill about 100 people every day in the US (Bogost, 2018), including about 16 pedestrians (Stockton, 2018).

To put that in perspective, here are some comparisons to other causes that inspire protests and legislation. People driving cars kill about as many people as heroin and all homicides combined (by whatever weapon, not just guns) (USA causes of death by age and gender, 2018). More people die in accidents in two months than all U.S. combat deaths since the end of the Vietnam War (American War Deaths Throughout History). Furthermore, over 90% of these deaths are attributed to operator error (Bogost, 2018), including 28 deaths per day from drunk driving.

Computers do not drive drunk, or drive distracted, or fall asleep at the wheel. They do not mess with the iPod, yell at the kids in the back seat, or weave 30

in and out of traffic. Autonomous vehicles will stop more sudden deaths than any other upcoming advancement.

On a less morbid note, self-driving cars will also free up time. The average American spends 290 hours a year driving a car (Johnson, 2018). That time could become extra recreation, extra work, extra sleep, or extra whatever you want. They will also likely reduce prices on almost everything, because of cheaper shipping (more on that later). These cars will also provide greater mobility to those who cannot (or should not) be driving. Blind people, children, senior citizens, and drunks will all safely travel to and from their destinations without someone to drive them.

THE BAD

Self-driving cars will kill people, though many fewer than human drivers. Just recently, an autonomous vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian, the first such death known (Cava, 2018). While a human may have also had the same accident, the simple fact is that these machines will have errors or mistakes. Driving is a difficult task for human or machine. Unfortunately, the public often loses grasp of the magnitude of the current problem.

Many would rather have thousands killed by drunk drivers than one killed by a robot.

Another difficult issue with autonomous vehicles will be their effect on

a wide variety of employment. One estimate concludes that over 4 million people currently work in jobs that would not exist in a self-driving world, such as driving a truck or taxi (Lee, 2016). While these may not be considered “good” jobs, they provide relatively high paying employment for many people with relatively low education levels.

THE UNKNOWN

I am confident in the predictions I have made above, but I am also confident that the larger effects will be unpredictable. Will it help or hurt global warming?

What does a city or house designed for a self-driving world look like? Will anyone own their own car? Will people drink more? Will radio stations and car repair shops go out of business? The future is the hardest thing to predict, but I guarantee it will be surprising and exciting.

References “American War Deaths Throughout History.” Military Weapons, www.militaryfactory.com/american_ war_deaths.asp.

Bogost, Ian. “Can You Sue a Robocar?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 20 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/can-yousue-a-robocar/556007/.

Cava, Marco della. “Top Robotics Expert on Uber Crash Questions Whether Sensors Worked.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 23 Mar. 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/03/23/ top-robotics-expert-uber-crash-questions-whethersensors-worked/451420002/.

Johnson, Tamra. “Americans Spend an Average of 17,600 Minutes Driving Each Year.” AAA NewsRoom, 6 Sept. 2016, newsroom.aaa.com/2016/09/ americans-spend-average-17600-minutes-driving-year/.

Lee, Joel. “Self Driving Cars Endanger Millions of American Jobs (And That’s Okay).” MakeUseOf, 19 June 2015, www.makeuseof.com/tag/self-drivingcars-endanger-millions-american-jobs-thats-okay/.

Stockton, Nick. “As Pedestrian Deaths Spike, Scientists Scramble for Answers.” Wired, Conde Nast, 22 Mar. 2018, www.wired.com/story/pedestrian-death-rates-climb/.

“USA CAUSES OF DEATH BY AGE AND GENDER.” World Life Expectancy, www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa-cause-of-death-by-age-and-gender.

Technology

A NOVEL SOLUTION TO COMPUTATIONAL LIMITS

by Michal Burgunder, ’15

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hen I was working on my physics degree at Dickinson, I took a course on climate modeling that required us to build a basic climate model of the earth. Back then, the idea was to use the Windows machines in one of the Tome labs to create the model on which we all collaborated on. However, any single computer did not have the required RAM in order to interpret our code, which put us all at a disadvantage.

Lack of computing power is an obstacle with certain scientific and mathematical projects, even with the continual advancement of Moore’s law. Searching for prime numbers, for example, is computationally extremely expensive but it is very much doable. Faithful models of galaxies are also nigh impossible to do without powerful machines.

Luckily, the computational power to do these things does exist inside the innumerable idle computers in office buildings, or laptops and desktops around the world that are either turned off or idle.

Enter BOINC, a program that allows you to volunteer this computing power to scientific projects of your choice. The variety in projects is vast: cancer research, brain modeling, asteroid spin calculations and the project that started it all, signal processing for astrobiology by SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), and many more.

Most projects have a short description of what exactly they need your computer to do, and some even have animations that show you exactly what you are doing at any given moment.

Furthermore, to make computing more enjoyable and competitive, BOINC allows you stack up credit points, which shows you how much work you’ve completed in comparison with other users. Users can also join teams and compete against one another in an attempt to “out-compute” others, making the simple task of leaving your computer turned on overnight into a sort of game, where you are actively contributing to science. In one project, your name might even

end up on a scientific publication.

Of course, there are challenges to the process, such as overheating, incompatible computer configurations between different OS’s and coding errors for newer projects. Green energy might be another issue if you care for the environment: computation uses up quite a bit of electricity. Even so, many of these projects can only survive off of dedicated volunteers, and with the craze for cryptocurrencies that is sweeping the world right now, graphical processing units (GPUs, used for high end gaming) are in desperate demand.

It’s a relaxing past-time to watch your computer calculating molecular energy states, or see it computing Fast Fourier Transforms. To me, I am glad to know that even though I’ve decided not to pursue a career in the sciences, my presence in research is not entirely invisible and that no matter where I am, what I am doing or whom I’m with, I might, at that moment, be discovering something that will push humanity forward.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://medium.com/@gridcoinnetwork/an-introduction-to-boinc-1925d5a5ee23

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There is a car floating in space; what was Elon Musk thinking? Here are some perspectives about the Falcon Heavy Launch from our Students and Professors.

Space Sustainability

of the Falcon Heavy was Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster. Sure, the Tesla that SpaceX launched into space was comby Amanda Meinschein, ’19 ical and I love to imagine it floating around in space right now, but it got

Almost everyone has heard me thinking about sustainability in of the Falcon Heavy Launch. It was a the Space Industry. According to the big day for all fans of our reinvigorated European Space Agency, there are over space program. Watching the rock166 million objects ranging from 1 et launch powerfully into space and mm to over 10 cm orbiting around our release its payload was a sight to see.

Earth. These pieces might be small, but Most also know that perched-on top each one is capable of damaging the

A Potential Microbial War?

by Catrina Hamilton-Drager, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy

I recently visited the SpaceX website and clicked on their “Careers” tab. A phrase on this webpage caught my eye. “We have the potential … to have an incredible effect on the future of humanity and life itself ” (emphasis added). With the launch of Elon Musk’s cherry midnight sportster into interplanetary space by the Falcon

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Heavy rocket, concern has been raised by some that if (and when?) Musk’s Tesla crashes into Mars, hitchhikers in the form of bacteria from the Earth may one day contaminate it – possibly launching a war at a microscopic scale – IF the red planet is currently host to life. This vehicle, actually driven by Musk, could very easily have picked up Earthly microbes. Was there an effort to decontaminate the sportster?

In September 2017 NASA deliberately destroyed the Cassini spacecraft at the end of its mission to ensure that Saturn’s moons would remain unspoiled for future investigation. We still don’t know if there is life elsewhere in the Solar System, but there is a theory that life was really transported to Earth from Mars in the first place. So, if Elon’s hitchhikers actually survive the journey to Mars, perhaps it’ll be a homecoming of sort.

International Space Station or causing satellites to crash into each other. If the space junk gets bad enough, it will adversely affect future space travel. I think that rather than launching “space cars”, we need to focus on cleaning up our space waste before it’s too late.

References European Space Agency. “Space Debris by the Numbers.” ESA, Jan. 2017, www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers.

Opinion

SEEING DOUBLE

by Leah Hotaling, ’19

I recently read the headline of a New York Times article stating, “Barbra Streisand Cloned Her Dog. For $50,000, You Can Clone Yours” (Stevens). As much as I would love to preserve an exact copy of my Italian Greyhound, there is a new species of cloned animals to watch out for - monkeys.

Most of the world was stunned by the first mammal cloning in the form of Dolly the sheep from adult cells at the Roslan Institute in Scotland (Cloning Dolly). Since Dolly’s genesis, 22 other species of animals have been cloned.

Over twenty years later, an article published in Cell has once again sent shock waves with the groundbreaking cloning of long tailed macaque monkeys (Lui, 2018). So what’s the big deal? Although many argue that cloning

is unnatural, human advancements have defying nature for centuries. Primates could serve as useful models to replicate human disorders for research and help scientists discover new medical breakthroughs that could enhance millions of lives. However, harming other organisms for the sake of humans has questionable ethical implications.

References “Cloning dolly the sheep.” Ari.info, www.animalresearch. info/en/medical-advances/timeline/cloning-dolly-thesheep/.

Liu, Zhen, et al. “Cloning of Macaque Monkeys by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.” Cell, vol. 172, no. 4, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.01.020.

Stevens, Matt. “Barbra Streisand Cloned Her Dogs. For $50,000, You Can Clone Yours.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes. com/2018/02/28/science/barbra-streisand-clone-dogs.html

CROSSWORD KEY

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1. Anger 3. Lithium 5. Radiocarbon 6. Haloferax 8. Tesla 10. Aluminum 13. Adelie

2. Dolly 4. Physarium 7. Bioinformatics 9. Vantablack 11. Exercise 12. Rumination

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Is Star Wars Episode VIII’s Lightspeed Scene More Science than Fiction?

By Joe Detrano, ’19

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Sci & Entertainment

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f you haven’t seen The Last Jedi yet, stop reading right now. Seriously, stop; if you don’t, you’ll risk spoiling yourself for what is arguably the film’s most jaw-dropping moment. If you have, you likely already know what’s being discussed: Admiral Holdo’s last-ditch tactic that tore a massive First Order capitol ship in two. The scene was beautifully crafted, masterfully edited and was an altogether stunning turn that absolutely no one saw coming. But, according to a few calculations and theories, this suicidal stunt lands much closer to reality than one might expect.

First, let’s check some numbers. According to the official Star Wars: The Last Jedi Incredible Cross-Sections book, the craft entering hyperspace - The Raddus has an area of 1.0948×109 m3. Its target, the New Order Supremacy, is 3.1944×1012 m3. Since there doesn’t seem to exist any information on the density of Duralloy, Laminasteel, or any of the other fictional materials out of which Wookiepedia states Star Wars

starships are constructed, we’ll be using the classic Star Destroyer as a base metric, which, according to the official webpage of Star Wars Combine (A Star Wars Simulation Role Playing Game), has a mass of 655 million tons and an area of 5.28×107 m3. After a few unit conversions, we emerge with our best estimate at the approximate mass of a Star Wars Starship - 11,472kg/ m3. By this metric, the Raddus has an approximate mass of 1.26×1013 kg, and the Supremacy a mass of 3.6646×1016 kg.

Now, as for impact velocity, it is unclear as to whether the Raddon was able to fully accelerate to lightspeed prior to its impact.

For the purpose of our calculation, let’s assume it was traveling at 90 percent of the speed of light, or 269,813,212 m/s. If this was the case, the collision would release 4.558×1017 Joules of energy. For purposes of comparison, that’s roughly equivalent to one-hundred-million times the energy released by an atomic bomb. Probably enough to rip the Supremacy to shreds.

...but maybe not enough to rip it apart quite like what occurred in the film. According to Newton’s third law, whatever amount of force was exerted by the Raddus on the Supremacy would also be exerted back on the Raddus, making it highly unlikely for the smaller ship to “tear through” the capital ship as we were shown.

Think of it like a bullet colliding with a metal scale model: Although the impact may very well destroy the model, the bullet would likely be demolished on impact as well. You might expect to see a fragmented, shattered model more than one sporting a narrow bullet hole. The film’s take on the event was still cool, though, and undeniably necessary for the proceeding events: A fully-realistic collision would probably have left the Supremacy in countless pieces, leading to the instant and rather anticlimactic deaths of Ren and Rey. And if it’s for the survival of those two, we’re willing to bet that the force had something to do with it.

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Sci & Entertainment

Inside Inside Out The Inside Story of an Outsider Providing Insight into Inside Out (An Inside Out Review)

by Derek Schneider, ’19

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Inside Out is the story of Riley, an eleven-year-old girl whose family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, and the difficulties she has with the change. The movie follows the personification of her five emotions; Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust as they control Riley from her brain. Joy and Sadness get lost in Riley and have to make their way back to the control center. Along the way they will learn that there are benefits to sadness and that it is okay to have emotions other than joy. In the end Riley grows into a more emotionally complex person.

At the surface one might think that Inside Out is scientifically inaccurate. And a person would be right in thinking this, but wrong to think like this. Inside Out takes many liberties with its portrayal of the inside of a Riley’s mind, because it is not a science fiction film. Still, Inside Out has plenty to teach about the human mind. Especially the effects that emotions have on functioning.

The one thing that inside does a great job of capturing is how emotions shape how we interpret memories. That is to say how we are feeling at a given time will change what aspects of a memory we think of. For example, if I am happy when I think back to watching Inside Out I will probably think of the more enjoyable moments of my experience watching the film, but if I were sad my memories would probably recall parts of the experience I didn’t enjoy. This is shown well in the film when Joy and

Sadness are on the train looking at the same memory, Joy likes it because it is when Riley’s hockey team all came and cheered for her and they had pizza. Sadness likes it because Riley had missed the Game winning shot.

In the movie the scene is used to show that sadness can lead to joy, but it also shows how emotions affect our recollection of memories.

This is not to say that Inside Out is not rife with inaccuracies.

Though there are a few different theories behind what constitutes personality, none of them argue that Family, Honesty, Friendship, Goofball, and Hockey are the five core aspects of personality. Also, memories are not as set in stone as the memory orbs would have you believe and there are more than five emotions.

But ultimately this does not mean that the movie is a bad movie.

Inside Out tells a touching tale of self-discovery that shows the importance of embracing your emotions and being true to yourself. Although the filmmakers chose to take some liberties in its portrayal of the mind, the movie does have some general scientific consistency to it. I see this movie as being able to inspire children to want to learn more and in the end that is what matters. In lieu of the fact that Inside Out is not a science fiction film, I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

★★★★★

Sci & Entertainment

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Sci & Entertainment

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

with Anthony Rauhut

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

Professor Rauhut received his BA in Psychology with a Minor in Philosophy from St. Louis University, and then earned his PhD from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a specialty in animal learning and conditioning processes. He started working at Dickinson College in 2002 and has taught courses in the area of animal learning and behavioral pharmacology. His current research investigates how environmental factors such as exercise influence drug sensitization in mice. His office is in Kaufman, Room 173.

Madeleine Gardner: When and why did you decide to study neuroscience?

Dr. Anthony Rauhut: Initially, I actually had no interest in neuroscience. I went to graduate school because I was interested in animal learning. Sometimes those programs are housed in psychology or experimental psychology programs, but the one I joined was housed in a neuroscience and behavior program.

I started taking neuroscience classes and I gradually fell in love with them.

When I finished my PhD, my doctorate was in neuroscience. I decided to do a post-doc at the University of Kentucky in the area of behavioral pharmacology. I moved more in the direction of neuroscientific research and I began to focus on drug addiction. Now at Dickinson, my program of research focuses on the neurobiology of drug addiction.

on one of their drugs, reboxetine [Vestra]. We looked to see if the drug was a nicotinic receptor antagonist. In our preclinical model of smoking in animals, it decreased nicotine self administration and blunted the reinforcing effects of nicotine. It was exciting to be part of a project that might ultimately result in that drug going to market as a smoking

MG: Of all your research projects and publications, which are you most proud of? Why? AR: When I was a post-doc, I collaborated with some people in the College of Pharmacy to work on medication development. We were contracted by Pharmacia [now owned by Pfizer] because they were interested to see if one of their antidepressants might be a smoking cessation agent. This can be very profitable for companies. Once a drug is already approved and known to be safe for people, if you can take that drug and come up with a new application, it can be really beneficial to pharmaceutical companies. We worked with Pharmacia

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pressant, might be working as a smoking cessation agent and started doing more research in that area.

MG: This semester’s theme is “Interdisciplinary Science.” How did the combination of philosophy and neuroscience influence your education?

AR: I’ve always had an in interest in trying to understand human nature. When I was in seminary, I was required to major in philosophy, and I absolutely loved it. When I left the seminary, I became disenchanted with philosophy and I wanted to do something where I was doing more experiments to test ideas. I moved to psychology, which is also about trying to understand the human mind, but through an experimental process.

Going from philosophy to psychology seemed to me to be a very organic development. I see philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience as interconnected in that they are all interested in understanding human behavior and human nature. With each of these disciplines there are different tools and a different way to think about human behavior.

MG: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

cessation agent. We had a really nice publication in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics that came out of that work. It also inspired me in terms of my own research program.

When I started at Dickinson I was interested in how bupropion, another antide-

AR: I have kids and I try to spend a lot of time with them and going to sporting events. ­— Madeleine Gardner, ’18

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2. Name of the first cloned animal 4. Scientific name of the slime mold that makes efficient and direct connections to food sources 7. The collection, classification, storage, and analysis of biochemical and biological information using computers 9. A color so dark it absorbs 99.965% of all light 11. Something that helps improve memory

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1. One of the five main characters in Pixar's Inside Out 3. The 'L' in 'SSLIB' 5. A dating method used to determine the age of an organic artifact 6. Bacteria with repeated DNA sequences in its genome discovered by Dr. Mojica 8. Company behind the recent launch of a sports car into space 10. Metal that appears in higher frequency in the brains of subjects with autism

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