The Earth Magazine
Terra Letter from the Editors In latin, Terra means “Earth�. Terra cotta, terra firma, and extraterrestrial all share this root. Our magazine is about Natural Science, and is dedicated to sharing the wonders that our world has to offer. Biology, Geology, Oceanography, meteorology, and a few other random topics are represented here, to be read about by those with a significant interest in the scientific world. We can only hope that you will learn something new when you read this, whether it’s about science, religion, or yourself. Sincerely, Calli, William, and Charlie
Earth Sci
Atomic M
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Table of
Contents
Letter from the Editor How to Survive Getting 3 Lost 5 Top 5 Texas Caves 6 After Ike 10 Where is it All Coming From? 14 Free the Turtles! 16 (Mostly) Useless Vocabulary Enhancimafiers 17 A Trip to Remember 19 Test in Progress 21 The Ultimate Religion 23 Differentiation 25 Charlie’s Angels 26 Biographies
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How to surviv
Terra
In the Desert... Earth Sciences Atomic Muffin
Travel at night, rest during the day. It’ll be cooler and more comfortable, so you can travel farther without getting as tired or sunburned. Stay hydrated and conserve water. If you can find a cactus, try to cut or break it open. There should be water inside
Try to avoid drinking stagnant water. If you can, boil what you drink. Find a river or creek and follow it downstream. eventually, it will join a larger river, where you’re most likely to find other people In order to catch the attention of SaR teams, pile dry wood on your fire at night to make a bright flame. During the day, put green wood and grasses on your fire to make more light-colored smoke, and anything rubbery or oily makes the smoke darker.
In the Forest... 0
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ve getting lost
By William P.
In the Mountains... Wear bright clothes that stand out from your surroundings. Search and Rescue teams can find you more easily. Stay as dry as possible. Water, including sweat, will evaporate and suck heat away from your body. If you’re taking a break or resting for the night, try to get to ground level. The soil and rocks should be slightly warmer than the snow on top
SCIENCE WING
DU
C
IA TER AFE
NG
Get a Map and use it to find reference points (i.e. Fine Arts wing, Cafeteria, The Dungeon...)
N EO
X
Pay close attention to the hallway colors. Remember that you have a full 5 minutes each passing period in which to search for your next class Don’t piss off any seniors Befriend Pace
In a Uterus-shaped magnet school... 0
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Terra
5 Must See Caves in Texas
Earth Sciences
By: Charlie B.
Atomic Muffin 1. Honey Creek Cave
As the longest cave in Texas, at 32,256 meters long, this is one cave you can’t miss out on. The cave might be too long to make it out and back in one day, but you don’t have to go all the way in. Just remember to pack water and food! Honey Creek Cave
2. Sorcerer’s Cave
This cave goes 173 meters into the Earth, which is the deepest any cave goes in Texas. Although this cave might not be for beginners because it is shaped into a steep decline into the earth, it should be very rewarding once you get to the bottom.
3. Airman’s Cave
Sorcerer’s Cave
4. Cave-Without-A-Name System
Airman’s Cave
Right here in Travis County, Airman’s Cave is the 10th longest cave in Texas at 3,444 meters long, is easy to get to, but unfortunately, not easy to get through. Although you don’t need a guide, the average ceiling height is about 18 inches, and in some places it is even less than a foot wide.
At 4,360 meters long, this cave includes a commercial tour for all people, and a more difficult tour for experienced cavers, which includes traversing water filled caverns and steep climbs. As long as you take a guide, this cave makes for a thrilling adventure and breathtaking sights.
5. Carlsbad Cavern
Technically, this cave is not in Texas, it is in New Mexico, but it is close enough to the border to be considered in Texas by me. This cave is one of the most famous cave in the nation, and it is also one the more difficult caves to get to the end of in the USA, but it is worth the effort.
Cave-Without-A-Name
Carlsbad Cavern 0
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After HURRICANE IKE SWEPT THROUGH THE TEXAS COAST WITH INCREDIBLE FORCE, TAKING OUT BUILDING AFTER BUILDING AND, IN SOME CASES, RESHAPING THE SHORE LINE. SIX MONTHS LATER, DAMAGE IS STILL EVIDENT ALONG GALVESTON BAY AND EFFORTS TO REBUILD ARE STILL UNDER WAY.
IKE
Gonna Need A Tow
Before the hurricane came through, this boardwalk was a popular place to come and fish. Sections of the walkway have been completely stripped off and now a lone truck and a handful of pigions are the only ones that spend the day here.
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Colapsing Under Our Feet Ater the sand under this ramp that extended into the bay washed away, the entire structure began to colapse and is now just a mess of debris.
Flattened
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The force of the wind and waves bent this handrail down completely against a set of stairs leading down the sea wall to the beach.
Washed Away
The large granite blocks in this monument were forced back by the strom and bare foundation beams are all that is left of the cluster of buildings that once stood here.
Refill
Truck after truck dumps its payload of sand in an effort to build up the beach and replace some of the sand that was washed away.
Terra
Earth Sciences Atomic Muffin
Location, Location, Location
Both of these buildings were badly ddamaged because of their proximity to the coast.
Access Denied
This was a section of the raod that connected the hotel on the left to the street running parallel to the beach. Where the chair came from is anyone’s guess.
The Cycle Continues
Despite all the destruction that was left behind, rebuilding and clean up efforts are just as numerous, and in some cases like the one below, there is even new developement.
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Where is it all Coming From? By Calli M
It’s hard to say exactly how much depends on oil. There are cars, power
plants, machines and factories that make and process everything from food to toys and clothing. A good indicator of our dependence is the insanity that occurs after extreme fluctuations in oil price. Few people actually think about how it’s found or drilled out despite its huge importance. When we think about it in connection with the environment, we often just think about the negative effects and never how the earth leads us to the oil. Many ways of finding this precious resource rely on geological indications of where the oil will gather. To locate the oil, seismic information is taken in an area where oil is expected and this information is loaded onto computers. After running through a few handy programs, the computer spits out more information in the form of data sheets, tables, graphs, and cross-sections. Now it’s time for the geologists to start sifting through the mass of data. “I have to look at all the logs, which are readings taken in the wells after they’re drilled,” said John McAnulty, a geologist at Hilcrop Energy Company. “I use those logs and the seismic information to map the reservoirs, the underground layers, and help determine how much oil and gas is left.” Hilcorp is a company that buys properties that are known to have oil reserves and then goes back and drills out all the oil that they can. The recently lowered price of gas has been harmful to many companies who are trying to get as much as possible for their oil, but Hilcorp is actually benefiting, for now. “Our company isn’t affected as much because we buy reserves,” McAnulty said. “It was hard to buy things last year because the price of oil was so high and properties cost more than we wanted to pay.” 1
The effects are different for companies that do their own exploration, though. “It hurts them because your economics for a project aren’t the same between 40 dollars a barrel and 140 dollars a barrel,” McAnulty explains. If the price of oil is higher, companies can afford to spend more money looking for it. When companies like Exxon Mobile, for example, do more “pure exploration,” especially in other countries, they have to bid on areas that the country sets aside, called concessions. The companies base the amount of oil that they believe is in an area, and therefore 0
the amount that they’re willing to bid, on any seismic information or wells that already exist.
As soon as a company gets a concession, they use a process called “shooting seismic” to create a grid of lines that can be modeled into a three dimensional map. The topography of this map helps geologists determine where the oil is likely to gather and where they should drill. “The first thing you would look for,” MacAnulty said, “would be physical traps. Since oil is lighter than water it tends to move up through the water column until it reaches a barrier that traps it.” These barriers come in several forms, but two common ones are oil that gets trapped in sand underneath a fault line or an “impermeable shale bed.” Geologists also look for HCIs, or HydroCarbon Indicators, which are often in the form of “bright spots.” The seismic
lines can often indicate differences in density, and since gas has a much lower density than water, the low density sand with gas in it will show up as a bright spot. These indicators don’t always show up the first time or with just one angle, so geologists can also compare angles or areas to find bright spots with low density. Along the Gulf Coast, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, sediments build up and eventually put so much pressure on an area that a growth fault forms. Over millions of years, the sediment continues to build up on the down thrown crust that continues to slide further down until an upside-down bowl like structure forms. “Any oil coming up from beyond that fault will come up through the sands on the down thrown side and it’ll get trapped in that bowl-like structure that’s been created,” McAnulty explained.
“Because all the sediment loading is occurring on the coast, everything tends to dip or slope toward the coast so any time you find dip going back away from the coast that’s a pretty good place to look. A slope that dips away from the coast will eventually form a bowl like structure that can trap hydrocarbons (oil) when it starts dipping toward the coast again. Hydrocarbons can also be found in and around salt domes all over the world. In a salt dome, thousands of feet of sediment pile up on top of a layer of salt over millions of years. The salt is of a lighter density than the sediment, so eventually it will push its way through the sediment. As the salt is traveling through these different layers, a network of faults and cracks is created that traps hydrocarbons. “Imagine taking Jell-O and laying it in a bowl an then piling sand on it. Well, eventually the weight of that sand is going to weigh on the Jell-O and it’s going to find a weak spot and somewhere,” he explained. Once the weak spot is found, the Jell-O will squeeze through and form a pillar. “That’s exactly what the salt does, only over a much, much longer period.” Governments that need a place to store oil have taken our use of these salt domes one step further. “They figured out that if they drilled actually into the salt dome, and pumped boiling water down there it would dissolve the salt and create a huge salt cavern where you can put millions of barrels of oil,” he said. “They buy oil when it’s
Earth Sciences
sandier, more permeable shalier, less permeable
Low
Resistivity
High
60%
Porosity
0%
Top of Sand High resistivity with good porosity = oil
Base of Sand
Low resistivity with good porosity = water
Significant curve separation with Neutron curve to the left of Density curve = shale
Gamma Ray curve (measures shaliness ) Spontaneous Potential curve (measures permeability)
Resistivity curves (measure resistivity of rock + fluid) Caliper curve (measures hole diameter)
Density curve (measures porosity) Neutron curve (measures porosity)
cheap, they pump it into these caverns, and it just stays in the salt [until it’s needed].” Many places where oil is known to exist are too hard to get to for them to be considered worth the cost of separating out the oil. “There’s a lot of oil in shale, but the shale is so tight and so impermeable that it’s very difficult to get it out,” he said.
So what will need to happen before some of these areas will be economic to drill oil from?
cause? “In the early part of the last century, when this was all starting, people didn’t know how bad it was to put oil in the water, they didn’t know how to control it as well,” he admitted.
“The oil business
has always been much
more cooperative in terms of environmentalism than is perceived by the public.”
The oil sands in Canada are another good place to find oil. The oil within these sands has slowly made it’s way to the surface. “The volatile component of the oil and gas has been left off to the atmosphere and all that’s left is the heavy component of the oil,” McAnulty explained. The heavy component doesn’t flow very well, especially since it’s under no extra pressure right at the surface. “They literally mine the sands with bull dozers and then dump it into a big retort, heat it up, and extract the oil that way,” he says.
“If oil went to $60 or $80 per barrel, much more of this would be economic without having to go all the way to $140. Most of the price rise in oil from $90 to $145 last year was because of speculators in the market, it wasn’t because demand was that high.” Many people are concerned not only about price of oil, but also alternative energy and the impact of drilling on the environment. Unfortunately, like the hard-to-reach oil underneath shale, recent oil prices have made funding expensive alternative energy research unrealistic . “Until oil gets over $80-100 per barrel, most of these alternative energy [projects] will not be funded to a large degree unless the government decides to fund them,” McAnulty said. So how realistic are concerns about the damage that the industry has and will 1
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Now, McAnulty said, the oil companies are making up for past mistakes by lessening their effects on the environment.
“The oil business has always been much more cooperative in terms of environmentalism than is perceived by the public,” he explained. “Politicians in Washington like to use the oil business as a tool to play against each other.” Unlike some politicians would have you believe, the oil industry isn’t the evil earth destroying corporate disaster that many have come to think of it as, McAnulty said. “It’s almost never the exploration and drilling aspect of it that’s anything detrimental to the environment,” he explained. “Most of it is in the on shore transportation phase when you have a problem, like when you have a pipeline break.” The industry now follows requirements and guidelines to keep from spilling oil and uses special valves and new methods of cleaning up to keep its impact minimal when spills do happen. In McAnulty’s words: “It’s just not a dirty industry anymore.”
Just searching “conservation effort” on
will probably bring up hundreds of websites with the same general message—something along the lines of “humans are killing the world, here’s what we’re trying to do about it, and here’s where you can donate to our cause.” Among these countless programs are a few that aim to restore populations of the loveable sea turtle throughout captive breeding and then release them into the wild, a process known as “headstarting.” What these websites are unlikely to tell you is that headstarting can cause a lot of problems and may even be worse for a sea turtle population. In short, we need to determine for sure if the headstarting programs actually work in order to make the most of the funding that’s available. As surprising as it may be, there are known problems with the effectiveness of captive breeding. According to CaribbeanCompass.com’s turtle headstarting page, certain forms of skin fungus are common in captive hawksbill turtles because of the more confined living conditions. Scientists fear that this fungus and other diseases may spread through captive animals and into the wild when the turtles are re-
By Calli M
Free the Turtles! A second look at headstarting and captive breeding programs
leased. In fact, living conditions of the turtles are a big concern for scientists. It’s not that the turtles are being purposefully mistreated; the wide open ocean is just a hard environment to replicate. There are concerns that the unusual environment would cause behavioral differences in turtles that could lower their chances of survival or successful breeding after release. According to the Bagheera.com webpage on leatherback turtles, some species like the leatherbacks just don’t breed or live well in captivity to start with. Another more direct problem is that even if a headstarting program is effective, it doesn’t do anything to fight the real problems for the turtles: poaching and habitat loss. Some would argue that many of these arguments are mostly speculation because of a general lack of information that could irrefutably support or oppose headstarting. Many previous programs have tried to show that they were effec-
tive but the results have been mostly inconclusive. To be fair, researching and tracking the turtles is no small task, so not much is known about the spread of disease and other concerns. Also, the previously mentioned Bagheera.com page references one turtle breeding program in Grand Cayman Island that was fairly successful. In the end, educating the public and stopping the real problems of poaching and habitat loss is a more direct and effective approach to helping the turtles. According to Bagheera.com (http://www. bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_turtle.htm), about 700,000 turtles, or about 1.5 million pounds (680 metric tons) of shell, were imported by Japan. In the long run stopping the real cause could cost less time and money, and it treats the real source of
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the issue while avoiding all other problems with captive breeding. Also, headstarting and captive breeding could continue if more money is directed to education and other conservation of habitat. If the programs are harmful, or even relatively unsuccessful, it could be beneficial to make sure that the money for these programs is being spent wisely. Funding is a valuable and rare resource for sea turtle conservation efforts just like many other projects. Anyone who would deny that needs to crawl out form under their cozy little rock and take a good look around at the real world.
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(
) tly
s mo
Vocabulary
s s e el
Us
Enhancimafiers
Absquatulate
ab-skwach-u-late, (v):
To
run away
The
child absquatulated.
Faveolate
faav-ve-o-late, (adj):
Hon-
eycomb shaped
Orbicular
or-bic-u-lar, (adj):
Round or sphereical
the pearl was shiny and
Nematology
nem-e-tol-o-jee, (n):
“I
tologst.”
Orbicular.
The study of Nematodes
always wanted to grow up to be a nema-
Spaghettification
spa-get-if-i-kay-shun, (n):
The streching of
matter as it enters a black hole
He
knew that he wold never be the same after
spagettification.
Sarcoplasm
Sigmatism*
muscle
with
sar-koe-plas-um, (n): a fiber’s cytoplasm of
“I
I Sarcoplasm.” hope
By Calli M
don’t run out
sig-muh-tis-um, (n):
Greek numerals
“You
The over-obsession
should really see a professional
about your
Sigmatism“
*This is the only made-up word on this page (aside from “enhancimafiers,” of course) 1
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Terra
A Trip to
Remember Crawling through a cave that is less than a foot high and a foot wide, the last thing you want to happen is to be attacked by a poisonous animal.
S
By: Charlie B.
AM PORTER REMEBERS THE MOMENT CLEARLY. He was crawling through Airman’s Cave after a short break taken while waiting for his fellow cavers to catch up to him. Suddenly, one of them shouted out “Sam, there’s a scorpion on your back!” “While laying face down on solid rock, helpless, petrified in fear, one of my friends was brave enough to flick it off with a rock,” recalled Porter, a 15-year-old freshman who attends LASA High School, shuddering as he remembered the awful moment. Porter got interested in caving about six weeks ago, when a friend told him about Airman’s Cave, and said he has been addicted ever since. “It’s one of those things where you either hate it or love it. You either turn back after the first 10 minutes, or you can’t stop thinking about it until you’ve made the 5000 ft trek to the end of the cave and back.” Porter, who was a beginner caver himself not too long ago, hopes that other cavers won’t be discouraged by a mere scorpion tale, 1
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but also thinks cavers who go caving unprepared are just asking for trouble. “You shouldn’t go caving unless you are serious about staying in the cave for a while and you shouldn’t plan anything else for that day, because it will take much longer than you think it will. Also, make sure you have plenty of water (and in some cases food), at least two flashlights per person with new batteries, not half-used ones, and something to mark your path with so you can find your way back to the entrance. When you’re in a small space, don’t panic because you can probably work your way through. I fit into much smaller places than I ever could have imagined.” Fortunately, Porter’s other caving expeditions have been more enjoyable than the expedition when he encountered a scorpion. On his second trip in Airman’s Cave, he reached the Aggie Art Gallery, a room with red clay covering the ground and 30 year’s worth of sculptures from local cavers. “I saw a life-size dog with an expression of hatred on its face that must have taken a whole
day to make.” Porter said. Along with a very detailed face, there was a spiked collar with a chain that led into the ground. Yet, this cave has more to offer than sculptures of dogs and other animals. At the very end, about 2500 feet back, there was a room full of formations made as the water dripped through the tiny cracks in the rock above the cave and onto the rocks on the floor of the cave. Sam just can’t quite pinpoint what draws him back to Airman’s Cave every time. “Maybe it’s the formations at the end of the cave, maybe it’s just the satisfaction of finally reaching the end of the 7th longest cave in Texas, or maybe it’s both.” When Stefan Hubner, who has been caving for 2 years and has been in caves all over Texas, such as Carlsbad Caverns and Natural Bridge Caverns but prefers to cave locally in Austin, suggested he should give Airman’s Cave a shot about a month and a half ago, Porter was reluctant to go, but gave it a try and was hooked. “I enjoy caving not only because it is a challenge that tests both your physical and mental stamina, but it can also be really fun or really bad to get yourself into something you’re not quite ready for, and I’m willing to take that risk,” Hubner said. However, none of Hubner’s bad memories about caving have actually occurred in a cave. Instead many have occurred the day before, when some of his caving group members call him and say they have too much homework to
Sam P. and Stefan H. inside Airman’s Cave
“I enjoy caving not only because it is a challenge that tests both your physical and mental stamina, but it can also be really fun.” -Stefan H. do and they can’t go caving that weekend. “I have been screwed like this numerous times and I will always remember how disappointed I was after looking forward to going caving for a week when I heard their explanations,” he said. Even though he has been deserted by his friends at the last moment a couple of times, Hubner still goes caving, as he had never been deserted in the first place. “What brings me back every time is the simple mystery of what lies beyond the passages that I haven’t explored, and to say that I have 1
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seen the end of the cave I am exploring.” Hubner’s uncle, Flip, is actually the one who sparked Hubner’s interest in caving about 2 years ago, and since then, Hubner has convinced countless other people like Porter to try caving. “Flip talked about his childhood and the many caves he and his friends explored,” Hubner said, “He also talked about scuba diving and underwater caving, but I doubt I will ever take that much of a risk. I’ll probably just stick to caving where I can breathe.”
Terra
Earth Sciences Atomic Muffin
By William P.
In a high-tech testing facility, Black and his coworkers try to make the world a quieter place... Mike Black proceeds to wave his arms around dramatically, smiling, while explaining the purpose of the “Reverberation Chamber” that surrounds us with tons of steel and cement. He points out the large speakers, the thick walls, and the lone, removable window, set in a slot in the wall. He continues to describe the structure, the special properties of it, all the tests they conduct within, and claps his hands to demonstrate. The single clap echoes throughout the room for a full five seconds... Black is the Laboratory Technical Director at the ETSLindgren Acoustic Systems facility, a high-tech laboratory in Cedar Park. Here, materials are tested for sound absorption, emission, and isolation. The
Reverberation Chamber where we stand is a room designed specifically to echo as much as possible. The sound is meant to “reverberate” and bounce throughout the room so much that the entire room is filled with near-uniform noise. Then, the scientists can measure how much of the sound is able to get through the window. “Our chamber walls and roof are made of very thick steel,” Black says. “[They] have almost NO absorption.” To continue the demonstration, he walks down the hallway and through another door to enter a slightly larger, but otherwise identical reverberation chamber. He calls it the “Receiving Chamber” and with a quick command to wait, he leaves the room. A faint 1
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buzz begins to emanate from the closed window connecting us to the smaller, adjacent chamber— the first one we were in— and Black re-enters the room. “I’ll open the window just a crack. You won’t even be able to see it, but the sound’ll go way up,” he claims, walking over to the window. He peels away some protective putty from the seams of the window, and the sound level already climbs. He pulls the vibrating lower pane up slightly, and the volume increases dramatically. Then, just as quickly, he closes it and the sound levels drop back down to a bearable level. This same method can be used with doors and walls, to determine how much noise gets through and
Earth Sciences
why. Also, anything from a sofa to a rug can be placed in the room, and a trained scientist can measure how many decibels the object absorbs. Such information can be used to reduce echo in large spaces, as well as dull background noise. The reverberation chambers have many uses, but they are useless for measuring small amounts of sound, so the laboratory has another specialized test room. “The Hemi-anechoic Chamber was designed to create a very quiet environment where we can measure how much sound something emits, even things you don’t think about such as camera shutter clicks,” Black explains. The room is certainly unique. As the airtight door opens with a “whoosh”, we catch a glimpse of the ridged foam walls of the chamber. The floor appears to be simple enough, but it hides an interesting feature. “It is a 50-ton slab of concrete that ‘floats’ in air on 25 very large springs,” Black says. This suspension prevents any ground vibrations from entering the room. The stark difference in building material is just a part of the Hemi-Anechoic experience. A more in-depth look at the name reveals why: In Hemian-echo-ic, “Hemi” means half, and “an” means “no”, thus, “half no-echo”. Rough as the translation may be, the idea is that the room provides an entire hemisphere of no echo, while
the other hemisphere (the concrete floor) echoes quite well. The foam walls reflect only a miniscule amount of sound, the closest imitation we can get to open air. Though we take small echoes for granted in daily life, the lack of any audible reverberation “sounds” much different to human ears. But it’s this lack of sound that allows the scientists at Acoustic Systems to measure more precisely how loud something is. With these two main chambers, this company has done some important work.
“[The floor] is a 50-ton slab of concrete that “floats” in air on 25 very large springs” -Mike Black
“I’ve done a lot of work with the Navy, I’ve done a lot of work with NASA,” Mr. Black recounts, “I worked on some of the original space station, which they called the Freedom at the time.” His company has worked with the military to make its ships quieter so that the enemies of the US have a harder time finding them. His company has helped make its planes quieter so that they don’t broadcast their whereabouts. And seeing 2
0
that sound in a space station Atomic Muffin can’t travel out into the vacuum, it is stuck inside the structure. Because sound is only transmitted by matter, vibrations within such a small, enclosed, isolated space have nowhere to go, and begin to build up. Thus, he and his colleagues help design ways to absorb that sound, reducing the likelihood of deaf astronauts. Acoustic Systems wasn’t always a branch of ETS Lindgren. In 2002 they were purchased by the multinational company and are currently settling into their new home in Cedar Park. ETS-Lindgren designs broadcast studios, like those used by XM Radio, and environments for measuring radio frequency interference (important for MRI facilities as well as cell phones, radios, and I-Pods). They also design and manufacture all types of antennas for measuring and detecting signals in these environments. Since July 1997, Black has been testing many of the products we use every day— like the doors we open and close, and many that we don’t— like the materials currently floating in space. He loves the work he does and knows nothing else he’d rather do. “It serves people, the community, my nation, and the science [of acoustics] in general,” Black explains. “To me that is important.” Photos by William P.
Terra
Earth Sciences
THE
Atomic Muffin
ULTIMATE Religion By: Charlie B. 2
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A made up religion, used as a joke in a letter written to the Kansas school board in 2005, has over 100 million followers. For centuries people have debated how man came to live on this earth. Did God make us? Some other supernatural being? Did we evolve from apes? Bacteria? People discuss their beliefs as if they were there when humans evolved from apes, or as if they have been good friends with the guy who created the universe since pre-K. The point is, nobody really knows how humans came to exist, so no one should be completely closedminded about any one theory, until they can prove the theory they believe in. Unfortunately, Creationism (the belief that humanity, life, the earth, and the universe were all created by a deity or deities), and Evolutionism (the theory that all of humanity evolved biologically from some other organism that was on the earth at one point in time), have holes in them that can’t be answered. The main hole in Creationism is that scientists are finding a lot of proof that Evolutionism actually happened, while the main hole in the Evolutionism theory is that there would be many fossils of various crosses between apes and man, but we can’t find those missing links. These holes make Evolutionism and Creationism very difficult to prove; yet the believers of these theories are in a heated (but stupid) debate over which one is correct. On the other hand, Pastafarianism, the belief that an undetectable, invisible flying spaghetti monster created the universe, can be proved simply
because there is no way that it can be disproven. If someone says that God created the universe and everything inside it, I, the average Pastafarian, will tell that person that the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) created those things and the reason for the Earth being a little flawed, what with Global Warming and all that, is that the FSM was intoxicated while creating it. If someone brings up the fact that humans are causing Global Warming, I will argue that’s not the case. Instead, I will say that the cause of Global Warming is the decrease in pirates, or the divine beings, and no one can prove me wrong because there has been a decline in pirates as well as an increase in temperature, along with the fact that Somalia, the country which has the most pirates in the world, and releases the fewest amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere of any country in the world. In all seriousness though, the Creationism theory isn’t just a hoax, because there are many different ways to prove it, like the fact that a living cell has 60,000 proteins in over 100 different combinations. This is so unlikely that there is only a 1 in 10 4,478,296 that this assembly could occur by chance. Also, the rate of population growth in the world is about 2%, but to have a more practical rate for human growth in the past, that number should be cut in half. If 8 people start a population about 4500 years ago (the situation of 2
2
Atomic Muffin
Noah’s Ark) the population of people on the Earth today would be about 6 billion, the population of humans on today’s earth. However, if we started with a couple in the same situation about 41,000 years ago (the approximate date the first humanlike organisms were discovered), the population of the earth would be 2 x 1089. It is impossible for the universe to hold this massive number of people. The Evolutionism theories might have a couple of flaws, but there is still a lot of proof for the theory that can’t be denied. This proof includes vestigial organs, or organs that were needed at one point in human history but are useless now, such as the appendix. If an intelligent designer created the human race, they could have just left these organs out to create more space for vital organs such as the brain or the heart. Also, homology, the anatomical similarity between species, suggests that they have similar lineage. This proves the Evolution theory because if species have homology, there had to be no more than a couple species that evolved and kept evolving to form the present day species, including humans. Unless we get people to realize how stupid this “Great Debate” really is, people will continue to waste their breath. The people who are arguing could eventually repulse any would-be followers, and these theories could die out, even though they may be right.
Terra
Differentiation
Earth Sciences Atomic Muffin
Story and Photo Illustration by William P.
In the heated Stem Cell debate, knowlege is key. The citizens of the United States should know both sides of the story, such that they can make an educated choice. Stem cell research remains an enigma for most residents of the United States. According to a study published by the University of Michigan late last year, only 11 percent of American voters felt that they knew a sufficient amount about stem cells. I will not support any arguments for or against stem cell research, but I believe that the people of the United States don’t yet know enough about stem cells to make an educated decision on the matter. Despite its bad connotations, stem cell research is not centered around death, and could significantly benefit mankind. Human embryonic cells compose only a small fraction of this field, so banning the entire area of study, which includes adult stem cells, as well as the cells of various animals, would be impractical and unnecessary. “Stem cell research” is simply too broad of a term. Unfortunately, people are too quick to hide behind a thick shield of religious morality rather than spend their time researching a topic that likely won’t affect them. It’s much easier and less time consuming, so they choose to remain ignorant. However, many do know about the research and still oppose it. 76.5% of Americans belong to some division of Christianity, and nearly a third of those are Catholic. Followers of Catholicism, as well as most Protestant religions, believe that life begins at conception and that abortion and stem cell research are no
Embryonic Stem Cells: Here, stem cells are harvested from a blastocyst using a very thin glass tube. The cells are then cultured on petri dishes. better than murder. These Americans believe the research must be opposed— regardless of the benefits— or they will suffer eternal torture in hell. A less debated alternative is adult stem cells, which can be found all around the body. While they may take more work than embryonic stem cells to utilize, they can be taken from a grown human with minimal risk and no loss of life. Some stem cell research has very little at all to do with human cells. Many stem cell researchers work with mouse cells or those of other common animals. Stem cell research, whether with embryonic or adult cells, could lead to many great medical breakthroughs. Stem cell research has already helped us facilitate bone marrow transplantation which treats leukemia, lymphoma and other inherited blood disorders. In addi2
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tion to these, researchers continue to search for treatments for other ailments. Treatment research for Type 1 diabetes and advanced kidney cancer are on the agenda. If this field is allowed to expand and evolve, entire organs could be cloned and copied from the cells of the person requiring it, making transplants far safer and easier, and removing the chance of rejection by the body. The same goes for blood transfusions and helping people to recover from intense chemotherapy, replacing the stem cells that were killed by the toxins. Stem cell research could even lead to cures for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, heart diseases, stroke, birth defects, and spinal cord injuries. Though the use of embryonic stem cells may seem highly immoral to pro-life supporters, some sources put unwanted blastocysts to a good cause. It may seem insensi-
Earth Sciences
PRO
Atomic Muffin
LIFE
It goes against the teachings of the church. Every donated blastocyst is an unborn child. We don’t have the right to decide if an innocent child lives or dies.
Th
eS te
m
Ce
All life is precious, and no human shoud be experimented upon against their will.
ll D eb
at
e
If life begins at conception, then stem cell research is no better than murder.
Stem cells can be used to copy and clone organs for transplants
Stem cells could help provide treatments and cures for many diseases
Stem cells could help patients recover from cancer and chemotherapy People should have the right to make their own decisions about embryo donation Many Stem cells would have been destroyed anyways, regardless of what purpose they are used for.
PRO tive, but if the cells are being disposed of anyway, it makes logical sense to use the condemned stem cells for something that will save many other lives. The unwanted, excess cells from an in-vitro fertilization process are sometimes destroyed, but if donated to science, researchers could obtain stem cells from the embryos.
Even with the heated highly debated ethics of embryonic stem cell use, the field of stem cell research, with adult stem cells and animal cells, remains largely “morally acceptable” to the American people and still poses a way to improve and save lives. According to the University of Michigan Health System, only 20% of American 2
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CHOICE
voters are strongly opposed to embryonic stem cell research (the rest are either supportive or undecided). I’m not trying to impose my choice upon anyone; I just encourage humanity to learn about all sides of the argument, and then make their decisions on stem cell research.
Terra
Charlie’s Angels
Earth Sciences Atomic Muffin
Since Darwin first discovered natural selection and evolution, religion has faced an uphill battle to keep up with the multiple science theories of today. This ASF takes a look back on the beliefs of the world before Darwinism was introduced.
Charlie B.
Crescent Moon
Islamic Symbol
Buddha
Ying Yang Symbol
Haykal
Jesus Christ
Star of David
Islam- As a monotheistic religion, islam means the submission of oneself to God. There are over 1 billion to 1.8 billion muslim followers around the world, making it the second largest religion. Muslims believe in the teachings of the prophet Muhammed, but also include Jesus and Abraham as prophets, contrary to most Christian beliefs. Hinduism- This polythiestic religion dominates the Indian subcontinent, and with over 776,000 followers, it is the world’s third largest religion. Hinduism, also called the world’s oldest religion, revolves around the belief that people’s souls are eternal and it is reincarnated into a body, depending on how good you were during your previous life. Buddhism- Buddhists are neither polytheistic, or monotheistic, because they don’t believe in a god. Instead, they believe in the teachings of Siddharta Guatama, who was a Hindu who got tired of the caste system and decided that he should live without any materialistic things. After a couple of years, he compromised and only lived with the materialistic things he needed. Taoism- Lao Tzu founded Taoism to avoid constant warfare and social feuds that disrupted his life. The most famous Tao symbol is the Yin Yang symbol (shown on the left), which illustrates the balance of opposites in the universe. Tai Chi is also a famous Tao art, where the Taoist distributes all of his chi throughout the body to calm himself. Bahai- This monotheistic religion is fairly new (founded in the 1800’s by Baha’u’llah) but is catching on fast, with 235 countries and territories having significant populations of Bahai followers. An ideal Bahai world would include a unified population in one country, with one language, and one religion, which would, of course, be Bahai. Christianity- This monotheistic religion has the most followers around the world, with about 2.1 billion followers. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that he was crucified, ascended into heaven, and will come again one day to judge the living and the dead. Judaism- This monotheistic religion is the religion that led to the founding of both Christianity and Islam, the first and second largest religions in the world. There are approximately 13.2 million followers of Judaism around the world. The Jews study the Torah, the book of faith and worship in synagogues. 2
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BIOGRAPHIES Charlie B
Charlie is a lazy bum who never gets his work done on time. He has never worked on a magazine before, and his lack of experience is often glaringly obvious. He wrote the “Ultimate Religion” piece and created the accompanying “Charlie’s angels” piece, the title and idea of which were given to him by a colleague.
Calli M
Calli can’t help but bring her personal interests (in the case of these articles, science) into her writing. She has had little previous experience with writing articles for a magazine and wanted to try several different styles in this project. She has spent most of her life in Austin, and her other interests include art and reading about almost anything.
William P
William is highly interested in almost all fields of science, including biology, chemistry, physics, and geology. However, his writing skills are somewhat lackluster and he has never written a magazine article before. His interests include reading, video games, music, the internet, math, and science. He authored the stem cell article in this magazine
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