Ecdysis Fall 2018 Issue by Ecdysis Journal

E C D Y S I S FALL 2018

ECDYSIS A journal for the aesthetic expression of science at Harvard College

Cover Art: Astronaut (Hypsibius dujardini), photograph by Olivia McGinnis ’20 and Isaac Sebenius ’20, edited by Lily Lu ’19 (pg 22) Logo Design: Ariana Chaivaranon ’18 ecdysisjournal.org

Braintree Printing Braintree, MA 2018

Editor’s Note

Dear Ecdysis readers: Our little microscopic astronaut welcomes you to another issue of Ecdysis. We have returned, energized by the passion of our founding editor to the journal’s core mission: celebrating the beauty inherent to science, and the ways it inspires us to learn, to explore, and to create. In this issue, we present the work of botanists and biologists, mathematicians and physicists, naturalists and computer scientists. Flip through and find yourself lost in a forest of nanowires or the architecture of a budding flower. On each page, a snapshot of a moment that inspires us to dive deeper, to probe further, to unravel the world beyond what we can see with the unaided eye. Even the mundane receives an injection of novelty and discovery. You may find something new amidst the waves of iridescence on a soap bubble, or in the bold exoskeleton of a shrimp that you might soon see at dinner. In any case, it’s our pleasure to bring these little portraits of the universe to you. May they inspire you to capture a few of your own. - Lily Lu ’19

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Annual report of the N. Y. Forest Commission for 1894, by W. F. Fox

At Our Core: Meet the Board Olivia McGinnis is a junior and the design chair of Ecdysis. A Neurobiology concentrator from Philadelphia, PA, Olivia hopes to work at the intersection of science and policy. Her favorite spot on campus is the sunken garden at Radcliffe Yard, and she misses her dog very much (hi Willow!).

Vaibhav Mohanty is the technology chair and associate editor of auditory art for Ecdysis. He is a senior currently pursuing a concentration in Chemistry & Physics with a secondary field in Music. Vaibhav is passionate about scientific research and composing classical and jazz music.

Lily Lu is a senior in Dunster house concentrating in Integrative Biology and is currently the editor-in-chief of Ecdysis. Aside from overseeing the journal, Lily also does small jobs here and there ranging from designing posters to opening bank accounts. Outside of Ecdysis, Lily likes to spend her time drawing and being impressed by birds.

Joy Li is the writing editor of Ecdysis. She is a senior from San Diego, CA in Winthrop studying Visual and Environmental Studies. If you want to contact Joy, odds are you can find her scouring the Square for cheesecake or acai bowls (or where her next AADT practice is!).

Maximillian Prager is the visual art editor and publicity chair of Ecdysis. He is senior concentrating in Integrative Biology. Max has been interested in nature photography for several years now, with a particular focus in macro photography of small invertebrates and reptiles.

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Table of Contents

10 ................................................................................................................................... Zorro by Christina Janulis 12 .................................................................................................... How Time Can End by Elba Alonso-Monsalve 13 ...................................................................................................................... Nanowire Forestry by Kai Trepka 14 ................................................................................. Light Interference on Bubble by Elba Alonso-Monsalve 15 ............................................................................................................................. Penaeus Monodon by Lily Lu 16 ...................................................................................................................... Floral Morphogenesis by Ya Min 18 ................................................................................................................. Extended Phenotype by Caroline Hu 19 ...................................................................................................................... Hunters by Katherine McGaughey 20 ........................................................................... The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus by Sahar Khashayar 22 .............................................................................. Hypsibius Dujardini by Olivia McGinnis and Isaac Sebenius 23 ......................................................................................................................... Mouse Skeleton by Emily Chan 24 ............................................................................................................. Cicada in August by Maximillian Prager 26 .............................................................................. Lepus Europaeus (European Hare) by Katja Diaz-Granados 27 ............................................................................................................ Sound Localization in Owls by Lily Lu 28............................................................................................................... Cores of Pinus Sabiniana by Jackie Ho 30 .................................................................................... To a Flock of Hummingbirds by Elba Alonso-Monsalve 31 ...................................................................................................................................... Trochilidae by Jang Lee

Zorro

by Christina Janulis

I painted this piece while on a summer program tagging turtles at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas. It is based on a photograph of one of the juvenile green sea turtles that our research team worked with. We caught the turtles by tracking them by boat until we had the opportunity to jump in, free dive down and carry them to the surface. I had the chance to tag, biopsy and take measurements of each of these turtles, which added to the Institute’s database for future research. I chose to paint this turtle, later named Zorro, because I feel that the intersection of conservation and visual art is an amazing way to spread awareness and engage others. There seems to be an indifference towards the fate of our marine life, which can only be explained by a lack of knowledge and understanding. Art provides the common ground to showcase the beauty of the environment and draw attention to the work being done in the field. The data collected during my time at the Cape Eleuthera Institute will give us a greater understanding of how our way of life affects the turtles, and in creating this painting I hope to spark other people’s interest in these animals. Communicating the importance and relevance of marine life will hopefully give the recognition and praise it needs in order to inspire a larger demographic. Acrylic paint on paper, 6” x 10”.

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how time can end by Elba Alonso-Monsalve

I know the math of how black holes work as long as no one put them where they are and instead they simply are and have always been but only far enough or else distance is not r and time is not t though as for that I can’t know how far is far only I see some black grinning back yet if the hole has charge electric charge that no one put there but just is since the start (what start?) the paths will arc sensuously will arc naked curves of a singular star down - down then up but out again somewhere else and I don’t really know unless I plunge it’s a complex thing, time Einstein’s theory of general relativity describes gravity with his so-called field equations. These relate how massive objects attract each other by ‘’bending’’ space and time. Most people have seen pictures of a two-dimensional analogy, where balls dropped on a bedsheet represent planets. A solution (they admit many) to these equations tells us how gravity behaves in a specific region or our universe, for example, where there is a black hole. While this mathematical description of a black hole is well-defined, the physical interpretation is unsettling. For example, a black hole need not have a beginning or an end in time. Inside its horizon (the point of no return), time becomes distance and distance becomes time. And if the black hole has an electric charge, you can fall into the horizon and be able to come out again, yet perhaps somewhere else in the universe. The title of this poem is a subtle reference to John Preskill’s “A poem for Stephen Hawking”.

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Nanowire Forestry by Kai Trepka

Nanowires are very small rods, with diameters often one thousand times smaller than a cell. When grown in parallel, they resemble a forest of parallel trunks, barren of leaves for the cold wintertime. Their nearly atomic size, high surface area to volume ratio, and uniform structure makes them useful in a variety of applications, from biology (inserting drugs into single cells) to sensing (using nanowires as microscopic, sensitive detectors). This is an image of a forest of silicon nanowire sensors intended for use as probes in a magnetic force microscope, grown using a heat-evaporation method. Zeiss FESEM Supra55 VP.

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Light Interference on Bubble by Elba Alonso-Monsalve

The soapy water forms a very thin film that sags and gets slightly wider toward the bottom due to gravity. At the heights where the thickness of the film is a multiple of the wavelength of a specific color, the light that passes through the film and is reflected by the back surface of the film interferes with the light reflected from the front surface of the film (sometimes constructively, other times destructively). This produces a pattern of horizontal colored bands as seen in the photograph. Although this sequence of colors resembles a rainbow, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem quite right; this is because rainbows are caused by a completely different process, called diffraction, while these colors are a result of light interference. Canon EOS Rebel T6i, 18-55 mm lens.

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Penaeus monodon by Lily Lu

The giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) is a marine crustacean that is native to the Indo-Pacific region and also found as an invasive species around the southern US, as well as a potential meal in your local supermarket. This shrimp is the one of the most commercially important farmed seafood in the world, and most people may visualize the shrimp as a brightly orange, softly buttered side dish ready to be eaten, or a frozen, dull-gray chunk of meat ready to be cooked. In nature, however, the patterns and coloration on the shrimpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body are actually quite striking, particularly the black stripes on its tail from which it derives its name. Depending on the local environment, the shrimpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diet, and water turbidity, its body colors can actually vary anywhere from green, brown, red, blue, yellow, and black. Adobe Photoshop.

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Floral morphogenesis by Ya Min

Morphogenesis, the origin of forms. A flower is a structure composed of different floral organs that are arranged in centric (radially symmetrical) whorls or spirals. Stem cells in the floral meristem give rise to floral organs from the outer most whorl to the innermost whorl. Since plant cells are bounded by cell walls, the pattern of plant cell division is very organized and we can trace back every cell division that has occurred during the process of making a flower. This image is a section of buds of Aquilegia (columbine) flowers on a microscope slide. The cell walls were stained with calcofluor white, which binds to cellulose and emits a blue fluorescent light. There are two flower buds in this section, one younger and one older. The younger bud is at the bottom, and its floral meristem (the dome of differentiating cells) has only made a few organ primordia, the earliest stage of development, that all have a similar initial appearance. In contrast, the older bud at the top has generated all of its floral organs and is in the process of differentiating each organâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s respective morphologies. Zeiss confocal microscope.

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Extended Phenotype by Caroline Hu

Mice instinctively create nests and burrows to protect themselves from harsh conditions and predators. Unlike most behaviors, these behaviors leave behind a physical trace that can be preserved and quantified. I drew inspiration from how we capture these behaviors in the lab: nesting by a scoring rubric (top right) and burrowing by casting and measuring (top left). My mimicking mouse structures also draws connections between my own drive to create and the behavior of my study animals. Fiber, 15â&#x20AC;? x 15â&#x20AC;?.

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Hunters

by Katherine McGaughey

The rise of industry and human governance of wildlife has altered our native landscapes and redefined the relationships forged between humans and animals. The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995 has caused a trophic cascade of ecological changes between species. Specifically, the predatorprey dynamics between the grey wolf and the elk. Before wolves returned to Yellowstone, elk had destroyed the biodiversity and ecological integrity of the landscape, while pushing the limits of the park’s carrying capacity. Biologists today have the unique opportunity to witness the process of an ecosystem becoming whole again through the reintroduction of a keystone species, and how this relationship will alter the landscape in the coming decades. Linoleum print, 14” x 17”. ECDYSIS Fall 2018 |

The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus by Sahar Khashayar

The first number you ever learned was one. You are one year old, you have one glorious life to live, and there is one of you and only one. Then you learn to count. You learn how to add things together, you learn that you have the power to make something from nothing, you learn how to create and how to finger paint your cleverness across graphed paper and plus signs. You learn that 3+2 is five but so is 4+1; you learn that there is more than one way to get the same answer, that two different things can reach the same place. Still, it is not long before they tell you to exchange your fingerpaints for grey pencils, and your plus signs for minuses. You learn that it is as easy to take as it is to give. Perhaps easier. And somewhere along the way, the concept of nothingness, zero, oblivion, opens the door to your memory bank uninvited and resides there without taking up any space at all.

You are in middle school and you learn about negative numbers. This is the first time you experience what it is like to have less than nothing. You shrink into yourself from the weight of what is not there. And it is only fitting that when you become unsure of your being is when you learn what imaginary numbers are, how they seem to defy reason just by their mere existence, how you cannot find words for yourself but perhaps you can find numbers, or theorems or proofs. Perhaps you can find the laws that you are defying. You learn what an asymptote is, learned how to approach the brink but never cross it; you learn what a tangent is, that you can touch the other side but never return again. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t decide which would be worse.

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You learn to hate math because it makes too much sense. Because it deals with you logically, assigns you to a variable equal to the absolute value of nothing and never substitutes it for anything else. Because some equations have only one solution and you are not it. And it makes too much sense to you.

But then you learn calculus and it learns you. It takes one look at your wrists handcuffed by theorems to a wall of cartesian points and tears you away, divides you by zero, stretches you to the maximum value and pushes further until it finally gets into your head that the limit to your expansiveness does not exist. You learn about the science of change, that you are not a variable but a catalyst, a derivative, a flare of change that fades in a breath; you are a jewel of an equation, a Shakespearean sonnet of formulae – the Euler’s identity. You are everything you’ve ever learned; you are irrational, you are imaginary, you are nothing and yet you are one. And there is one of you and only one.

The first number you ever learned was one. You are still learning. You have learned to like math because it doesn’t make sense.

“The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus” is a poem that relates the things I’ve learned in math to the things going on in my life at the time. It was sort of inspired by my calculus teacher’s explanation of the Euler’s identity, and how it’s considered the ‘most beautiful equation’ because it’s the culmination of everything you’ve ever learned in math up until that point. It contains math’s most important constants - the numbers 0, 1, pi, e, and i.

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Hypsibius dujardini

by Olivia McGinnis and Isaac Sebenius

Tardigrades or water bears (imaged here is the species Hypsibius dujardini) are 1mm micro-animals that can be found almost anywhere on earth, from the tropics to the Arctic and puddles in parking lots to the deep sea. They are highly adaptable creatures, withstanding extreme temperatures, pressure, radiation, and dehydration. Tardigrades are the first known animals to survive in outer space, and when imaged like this, I think they look like little astronauts, indeed. These images are z-stacks; all of the z-slices are stacked one on top of the other to create a 3D rendering of the creature. One z-slice of the full specimen is an image of a single plane along the z-axis, imaged with optical slicing made possible by confocal microscopy such that the specimen itself does not have to be physically sliced. Zeiss confocal microroscope.

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Mouse Skeleton by Emily Chan

The unique adaptations of the common house mouse (Mus musculus) are clear from examining its skeleton. A mouse is able to squeeze through a space roughly ¼ of an inch across, or the width of a pencil. Its skull is the largest part of its skeleton, which allows the mouse to gauge whether the rest of its body will fit through a space simply by poking its head through. Gouache and watercolor, 9” x 12”.

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Cicada in August by Maximillian Prager

I encountered this cicada perched atop its exuvia (freshly molted exoskeleton) on an August night in Alabama. On summer nights, cicadas emerge from the soil in their burrowing form, climb a few feet up on a tree, and begin the arduous process of ecdysis, metamorphosing from the burrowing larval form to the aerial adult form. This process can take hours, and once molted, the adult cicada sits atop its abandoned exuvia and allows its fresh exoskeleton to harden up. Because this cicada had freshly molted, its carapace colors hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet set. Thus I was unable to identify it from within the many species found in southern Alabama. Canon DSLR EOS 80D.

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Lepus europaeus (European hare) by Katja Diaz-Granados

Hares have a number of remarkable adaptations that allow them to thrive in hot, arid conditions. Among these are their unusually large ears, which help them dissipate heat. However, hares have developed some bizarre traits that are less readily apparent. A female hare, for instance, is capable of supporting multiple pregnancies at a time, a feat termed superfetation. Ceramic sculpture textured with craft flocking, 16â&#x20AC;? x 11â&#x20AC;?.

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Sound Localization in Owls by Lily Lu

Many species of owl are able to hunt for prey in total darkness solely through extremely accurate sound localization, which allows them to determine exactly where the source of a sound is in three-dimensional space. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sound Localization in Owlsâ&#x20AC;? is a short animated video explaining the mechanism behind this amazing ability by using a combination of images and animated graphics to communicate the topic to a general audience. Adobe Illustrator, animated in Adobe AfterEffects.

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Cores of Pinus sabiniana by Jackie Ho

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Studying tree rings can tell us about the past climatic conditions a tree stand has lived through. The gray pine, Pinus sabiniana, is a non-porous softwood species found in the foothills and valleys of California. Under a microscope, we see the tracheids used for water transport and a clear distinction between early wood and late wood. A tree core that reaches the pith, the center, allows us to age an individual. The center, made of parenchyma cells for nutrient transport and storage, is surrounded by semi-circle shaped vascular bundles of xylem and phloem cells. Leica microscope and camera.

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To a Flock of Hummingbirds1 by Elba Alonso-Monsalve

Sizzling chimes that puncture the scene gifts us the hummingbird’s aquamarine plumage. Even when illuminated in a case display its feathers glisten with the gloss of a grass blade washed with a shade of moonlight in moonstone darkness. Looking from below you examine like prey the monochromatic constellation of charcoal chests against an ivory wall and realize color is in the eye of the beholder. Rogue avian lights of onyx merge upon rising – into a surge of purple malachite, not unlike dirty silver when cleaned. These feathered creatures are by nature deceptive; even when preserved behind glass, hummingbirds delude your senses with their motionless dances of peridot twitches. In life, they can thrive in all countries and climates, “from lowland rainforests to dry de serts,” and when dead, they can, too, capture – on a feathery slate – the color out of space; when the glass limits your angle only left are saffron sparkles, frozen in a delirious concoction of pewter twinkles on vantablack. In memory of the dead hummingbirds on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and their misleading iridescence and angle-dependent colors. 1

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Left: The Harvard Museum of Natural History hosts hundreds of hummingbirds, all with their characteristic iridescent colors which seem to change depending on how you look. This poem is an ode to these animals, in a style inspired by Marianne Moore. From below, the chest of a hummingbird looks dark and uninteresting. But as you shift your perspective, colors start to appear almost magically. The seemingly dull plumage gives rise to purple and blue shades, which quickly become bright green, yellow, orange, red, and then fade back to black. How can a single feather hide all these colors at once? The answer is a phenomenon known as interference, which is often part of high-school physics classes. The different colors of light reflect off of the feathers at different angles. But this does not only apply to birds; interference also explains why bubbles or oil puddles on the road appear colorful.

Trochilidae by Jang Lee

The smallest of birds, those in the family Trochilidae (commonly known as hummingbirds), are known for their humming sound which comes from the beating of their wings. I was interested in capturing the fragility of the bird through watercolor while simultaneously depicting the strength of its wings. Watercolor, 8" x 8".

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Contributors

Elba Alonso-Monsalve is a senior studying Physics and Math. Her life is a superposition of two states: working on her problem sets and singing in the Harvard University Choir. Emily Chan is a sophomore at the college studying Computer Science. Katja Diaz-Granados is a junior from Miami, Florida concentrating in Integrative Biology. In her free time, she enjoys taking care of adorable froglets in the Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell dart frog lab. Jackie Ho is a senior in Kirkland House studying Integrative Biology with a secondary in environmental science and public policy. When sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not thinking about conservation and thesising in the Moorcroft Lab, she loves to do photography and dance. Caroline Hu is a post-doc in Hopi Hoekstraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lab researching brain and behavioral evolution. In addition to scienceinspired fiber art, she also draws a comic about the journey that is graduate school (www.hudrewthis.com). Christina Janulis is a sophomore in Lowell House studying Integrative Biology. She believes that art can bridge the gap between the scientific community and those who cannot experience the beauty of the oceans themselves. Sahar Khashayar is a freshman in Wigg tentatively concentrating in Physics. She is a lover of space, subatomic particles, and all things Dungeons and Dragons. Jang Lee is a senior concentrating in Philosophy. Lily Lu is a senior in Dunster House studying Integrative Biology. She thinks that birds are the coolest life forms on earth, and hopes to find opportunities to work with them in the future. Katherine McGaughey is currently pursuing graduate studies in Evolutionary Biology, with a focus on wildlife conservation. Working in a variety of media, Katherine is inspired by the human relationship to wildlife, and has completed field work with the USFWS and wildlife rehabilitation centers. She previously received a BFA in Sculpture, and hopes to blend science and art together in future projects.

Olivia McGinnis is a junior in Dunster House studying Neuroscience. Olivia is fascinated by the discord between perception and reality. She is now working on her thesis concerning the perceptual behavior of zebrafish in the Engert Lab. Ya Min is a fourth year Ph.D. student at the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, studying the molecular basis of floral evolution, innovation, and diversity. She considers art an a excellent way of communicating her research and her love for plants to people, and as one of the remedies to cure â&#x20AC;&#x153;plant blindnessâ&#x20AC;?. Maximillian Prager is a senior concentrating in Integrative Biology. Max has been interested in nature photography for several years now, with a particular focus in macro photography of small invertebrates and reptiles. He is currently conducting a senior thesis on ornamental head structures in lizards, and is fascinated by the ways they use these structures to display to rivals and mates. Isaac Sebenius is a junior in Quincy House studying Molecular and Cellular Biology. He loves playing the piano and hunting down injera - an Ethiopian fermented bread. Isaac is currently working in the Church Lab. Kai Trepka is a junior concentrating in Chemistry and Physics. In his free time, he can be found playing in orchestras or dancing in various groups across campus.

Acknowledgements

Dr. Brian Farrell, for his last lecture in OEB 10: Foundations of Biological Diversity, Spring 2016, which inspired the aim of this journal. The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, for their interest in the educational aspect of our mission and for their media support. The Elson Family Arts Initiative Fund, The COOP Public Service Grants Program, and the Office for the Arts for their generous gifts that made this publication possible. Dr. Robert lue, for his advice on exploring the interface between the arts and the sciences. Dr. David Edwards, for his mentorship and introduction to his inspiring art & design center Le Laboratoire Cambridge. Dr. Oliver Knill, for introducting us to the art of multivariable calculus and linear algebra and to the Elson Family Arts Initiative Fund. Dr. Andrew Berry, for knowing interesting people and pointing us towards them. Dr. Elena Kramer, for introducing us to the impressive arts initiative in her class OEB 52: Biology of Plants. Rebecca Greenberg â&#x20AC;&#x2122;18, for founding this journal, for being our fearless leader, and for her dedication to helping others see the beauty in science and the natural world.

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