Science Publication

The Ramaz Science Publication Fall Edition / November 2018

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Table of Contents

New Study Shows that Cancer Risk Increases with Height

by Zach Buller ‘20 Pg. 3 Why the World’s Largest Organism is Shrinking

by Lucy Doft ’20 Pg. 4 Advancements in Mind Reading Technology

by Avigail Dupont ‘21 Pg. 6 Electron Rocket Launch & the Expanding Space Market

by Daniella Feingold 20’ Pg. 8

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Can Food Cure Your Sickness?

by Gabrielle Ostad 21’ Pg. 9 Earth’s Long-Lost Twin

by Sophia Rein 21’ Pg. 12 The Ocean Is Warming Up

by Hayley Schreiber ‘20 Pg. 14 I Can Hear Myself Think

by Samantha Sinensky ’21 Pg. 16

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New Study Shows that Cancer Risk Increases with Height A recent study conducted by a group of University of California Riverside scientists has demonstrated a direct relationship between a person’s height and their risk of cancer as he or she ages.

Evolutionary biologist Leonard Nunney, the one in charge of the study, analyzed 23 types of cancers affecting hundreds of human patients. His data demonstrates a direct correlation between height and risk of cancer over time. In fact, according to Nunney, an additional 10 cm in height corresponds to a 10% greater chance of having cancer.

Nunney explains this correlation with the simple idea that the taller that someone is, the more cells that one has. Cancer, which results from a mutation in the cell that causes DNA replication to spur out of control, will therefore be more likely in someone that has more cells. One caveat for the study is that the relationship is not causational, but correlational. Someone 170 cm doesn’t have a 10% chance of getting cancer than someone 160 cm tall per se, but it is simply more likely that the taller person will develop cancer over time in certain situations.

An additional limitation to the study is that out of the 23 cancers studied, only 19 of them demonstrated a relationship between height and development of cancer. Nunney attributes these discrepancies from the overall trend, including cancer of the pancreas, mouth, stomach, and esophagus, to different factors causing those cancers unrelated to height. For example, smoking or overconsumption of alcohol leads to greater risk mouth of cancer even in a shorter person.

Overall, Nunney’s study shows that there is a relationship between height and risk of cancer, but the specific applications of this study remain in question. Similar studies conducted in the past, including one in 2013 studying the relationship between height and development of cancer in postmenopausal women, have shown similar results with uncertain applications. Nunney hopes that his data will allow scientists to better understand the causes of cancer and utilize this information to devleop a working cure.

Zach Buller ‘20

Works Cited Parker-Pope, Tara. “Cancer Risk Increases With Height.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 July 2013, well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/cancer-risk-increases-with-height/.

Pultarova, Tereza. “Cancer Risk May Increase with Height for a Simple Reason.” LiveScience, Purch, 1 Nov. 2018, www.livescience.com/63990-cancer-risk-height.html.

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Why the World’s Largest Organism is Shrinking For thousands of years, the Pando has been one of the largest organisms in existence. The Pando, also known as the “Trembling Giant,” weighs 13 million pounds, and stretches over 106 acres in Utah. Pando, latin for “I spread,” is essentially a forest connected by identical roots stemming from a single parent quaking aspen. Pando reproduces asexually, each tree stemming from the same underground web. When one tree is damaged, the roots produce a new sprout. This constant reproduction is essential to its growth and existence.

While performing a study, a group of researchers discovered that mule deer were the best indicators of the Giant’s health. Usually, when old stems of the organism would die, new ones would naturally grow. Lead author Paul Rogers indicates that the new stems are not appearing. Rodgers says that there are almost no “young or middle aged trees at all,” and that “there is a clear inverse correlation between deer presence and regenerating aspen suckers.”

Aerial photos from the past few decades also show the Pando shrinking. There are more and more spaces between trees as time goes on. The source of the problem is that humans have killed off so many wolves and grizzly bears that the mule deer no longer have any natural predators. There are now so many of them grazing in this area. Rogers says that “Pando is failing because of human decisions” to control wild animals. Although we do not know how Pando grew so big, it is clear that the dwindling is result of humans.

In 2013 an area of Pando was fenced off, and since then has been thriving. If Pando is able to recover, the plants and animals that rely on it will be saved as well. However if it continues on without more management Pando and many other species will continue to suffer.

Pando Lucy Doft ’20

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Works Cited Klein, Joanna. “Pando, the Most Massive Organism on Earth, Is Shrinking.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/science/pando-aspensutah.html? rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=ra nk&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront.

Rogers, Paul C., and Darren J. McAvoy. “Mule Deer Impede Pando's Recovery: Implications for Aspen Resilience from a Single-Genotype Forest.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0203619.

Saplakoglu, Yasemin. “One of the World's Oldest and Largest Organisms Is Dying, and It's Mostly Our Fault.” LiveScience, Purch, 17 Oct. 2018, www.livescience.com/63852-failing-aspenclone-utah.html.

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Advancements in Mind Reading Technology In recent years, mind reading technology has taken some major steps forward. For decades, the ability to detect brain-wave patterns has been possible, however, the tool to interpret them was missing. With the help of A.I (artificial intelligence), researchers are able to take a peek at people’s thoughts. Mind reading has taken several turns, and different researchers have discovered different methods to reading a person’s mind. What all these methods have in common is the following: Every person's thoughts has a different pattern based on its neural pathway, which can be deciphered with a fMRI machine that's paired with A.I. An fMRI machine, or a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine, detects brain activity by changes in blood flow. When an area of the brain is used, the blood flow in that area increases.

Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana conducted an experiment where an fMRI scans the brains of different people while they watch videos on a screen displaying animals, people, and other images. A.I used all the data collected to predict the person's brain activity depending on the images displayed. They used a deep learning algorithm called a convolutional neural network. In the past, it was used to separate patterns associated with a visual image in the brain that didn’t move. In this experiment, this deep learning algorithm was used with videos. This is a very important step to finding out how to interpret and evaluate the brain in real time. The deep learning program decoded the fMRI machines recordings and placed each image pattern into categories. Researchers were able to see what regions of the brain were responsible for what visual. The A.I program then reconstructed the videos only using the data from a person's brain scans. The results were impeccable.

Haiguang Wen, a doctoral student and lead researcher at Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, gives an example to help us understand how the brain works. He says “a scene with a car moving in front of a building is dissected into pieces of information by the brain. One location in the brain may represent the car: another location may represent the building. Using our technique, you may visualize the specific information represented by any brain location, and screen through all the locations in the brain’s visual scene into pieces, and re-assembles the pieces into a full understanding of the visual scene”.

A recent study at the university of Toronto Scarborough shows the ability to recreate faces shown to people based on their brain activity. 13 people were shown 140 faces. An A.I. algorithm developed by scientists processed electroencephalogram (EEG) readouts and

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created somewhat recognizable copies of the pictures the people were shown. In a similar study, Japanese researchers at the University of Kyoto show pictures to people, and use an fMRI scan with A.I to recreate those pictures based on blood flow in the brain.

Avigail Dupont ’20

Works Cited Elgan, Mike. “Mind-Reading Tech Is Here (and More Useful than You Think!).”

Computerworld, Computerworld, 7 Apr. 2018, www.computerworld.com/article/3268132/emergingtechnology/mind-reading-tech-is-here-and-more-useful-than-you-think.html.

Perry, Philip. “‘Mind-Reading’ Technology Has Been Developed by Purdue Scientists.” Big Think, Big Think, 5 Oct. 2018, bigthink.com/philip-perry/mind-reading-technology-has-beendeveloped-by-purdue-scientists.

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Electron Rocket Launch & the Expanding Space Market On Sunday, November 4, Rocket Lab launched a rocket carrying several small satellites off the coast of New Zealand. This, while a small launch, was a momentous occasion. It marks the beginning of a new market. Currently, there are many companies vying to send up rockets, both small and large, into space. Rocket Lab is one of the first companies of its kind, who is focused on small launches with small satellites, to get a rocket into space. Many are familiar with companies such as SpaceX, which work to get large commercial rockets into space, however Rocket Lab’s goal is very different. It is similar to the comparison of a bus to taxi. Buses are inexpensive, but taxis tend to be more convenient.

There is also a worry that buses, such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will not have very many customers. Taxis, such as Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket, work to get customers’ satellites into space. Rocket Lab has just gotten their first rocket into space, however this is just the beginning; they plan to launch rockets monthly, which is a much greater feat. Companies like Rocket Lab have formed because satellites are shrinking. In the past, huge satellites were sent up to orbit in the same path as the earth, staying above one area. Now, it has been discovered that large constellations of satellites will perhaps be more effective, which has created a demand for companies like Rocket Lab. SpaceX also intends to act on realization by setting up an internet system in space, as opposed to a ground-based one. This would allow for much greater coverage. There is so much competition in this market that an investment company has been formed, Space Angels, that tracks over 150 companies, most of which will not be successful, but all of them with different approaches.

Daniella Feingold ‘20

Works Cited Chang, Kenneth. “Rocket Lab's Modest Launch Is Giant Leap for Small Rocket Business.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/science/rocketlab-launch.html? rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank &module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront.

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Can Food Cure Your Sickness?

We all know the saying “what you eat affects your health” is indeed true. However, can certain foods also be used to help cure illnesses and infections? A breakthrough in science recently declared that certain foods are made of things that can combat germs in our body and help revive us from being sick.

Being sick is when your body or mind is in an unhealthy condition; it is functioning to the best of its ability.

There has been an advancement in certain foods that are beneficial and necessary for fighting infections. A few foods are poultry, yogurt, cauliflower, and kale. Poultry has two components that our body has shortages of when we are sick, those being iron and zinc. Iron helps bring oxygen to cells and the vitamins it has is vital to maintaining a healthy cell and to prevent blood clotting. Zinc helps control inflammation and restore inflammation to being neutral and better the ability of our immune system to respond. Yogurt that contains live and active cultures (living organisms) also betters the the way our immune system works, enabling it to better fight disease and illnesses. Yogurt is all filled with vitamin D, which also helps immune systems to react. Cauliflower contains multiple antioxidants that also help strengthen the immune system. However, cauliflower has additional nutrients that make it useful in times of fighting infections. Cauliflower contains choline, a chemical that advances the development and structure of the cell. Additionally, one antioxidant in cauliflower is glutathione, which is purposeful in fighting infections. Kale on the other hand is vibrant (loaded) with vitamin C. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and also helps restore beneficial antioxidants. Like poultry, kale has zinc which the body uses to create new white blood cells.

And the sayings continue… tea is in fact also beneficial to our bodies when they are weak.

Green tea is one of the best substances to intake to fight a cold. It consists of flavonoids, an antioxidant that strengthens the immune system and possessives anti inflammatory acts. Green tea also contains another antioxidant, catechin, which is antiviral and antibacterial and can kill bacteria that is prompting to start a cold. Similar to the properties of green tea, ginger and ginger tea is a great remedy for illness.

Since ginger is anti inflammatory, it is vital to the roots’ power to fight against a cold and can help improve your immune system.

Even though these foods do cure sicknesses, there are certain foods which specifically contain certain traits needed to combat cancer. An example of one of these foods are tomatoes. The tomato contains an antioxidant called lycopene, which is responsible for giving tomatoes their red color.

Lycopene protects cells from damage and has the ability to kill those that are not growing properly (shape) within the body. It can also prevent skin cancer because one of its abilities is being able to absorb UV lights. Additionally, whole grain is constantly advertised as being better for our body and that is true! But it also contains resources that can lower the rate of diseases such as cancer. Whole BREAKTHROUGH -NOVEMBER 2018

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grain consists of germ and bran layers which are filled with antioxidants and other positive nutrients.

Studies have proven that people who get their necessary amount of whole grains have a 21% - 43% lower risk of getting cancer than those who receive an insufficient amount or no whole grain. Certain fibers within grain when fermented in the colon, a part of the large intestine can produce substances that can protect cells from things that cause cancer. Whole grain has the ability to fight breast, lung and stomach cancer.

Garlic does have a strong aftertaste and is disliked by some, however, there has been a revolution in garlic not in the food industry, but rather in the field of medicine and health. Garlic is a plant in the Allium or onion family.Most of garlic’s health benefits are released when garlic goes through physical changes such as being chopped, crushed or chewed. When garlic undergoes these changes, sulfur compounds are formed which is one of the sources of health benefits. Garlic is known for being rich in antioxidants and is able to fight infections and reduce risks of diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer. Eating garlic provides vitamin C as well as b6, fiber, potassium, and calcium.

Garlic has proven to help prevent the common cold. A study shows that a group of participants in a study who ate garlic throughout a 3 month time period, in total only had 24 cases of the common cold and the control group reported 64 cases of the common cold. Garlic is also noted for its ability to reduce cancer. Garlic contains an uncommon antioxidant phytochemicals called “allyl sulfides” that interrupt the steps of the cancer process. Studies show that these antioxidants have stopped colon tumors from forming and cell growth of cancer. Specifically, garlic is used to combat stomach, breast, lung and colon cancer.

I am sure many of you have not seen someone walking around with a clove of garlic in their ear, but I have. Surprisingly, it has been discovered that this is a natural way to cure pain caused by headaches and earaches. By simply putting a cotton ball with garlic oil or a peeled clove of garlic in the opening of your ear. Garlic is able to treat earaches and headaches because of its antibacterial and antiviral properties. After leaving the garlic in for at least 35 minutes, a heat sensation will occur and pain will decrease, proving the garlic is effectively working and combating the bacteria from the infection which is in the inner ear.

What you eat can really change the state of our bodies. It is important to continue to eat foods that are good and beneficial to our bodies and that provide necessary nutrients. Now, instead of resorting directly to medicine, try to cure your body’s problem by using the most natural thing, that being the food in its natural state.

Gabrielle Ostad ‘21

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Works Cited “5 Crucial Foods for Fighting Infection.” Advanced Tissue, 14 Aug. 2018, advancedtissue.com/ 2015/09/5-crucial-foods-for-fighting-infection/.

“10 Foods That Help Fight Cancer.” Stroke Center - EverydayHealth.com, Ziff Davis, LLC, 14 Nov. 2017, www.everydayhealth.com/cancer/10-foods-help-fight-cancer/.

“11 Proven Health Benefits of Garlic.” Healthline, Healthline Media, www.healthline.com/ nutrition/11-proven-health-benefits-of-garlic#section10.

TodayShow. “17 Immune-Boosting Foods to Get You through Cold and Flu Season.”

TODAY.com, TODAY, www.today.com/series/start-today/17-immune-boosting-foods-get-youthrough-cold-flu-season-t120427.

Tubeston. “This Is What Happens When You Put Garlic In Your Ear Overnight - Tubeston.”

YouTube, YouTube, 6 Nov. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMNhb1fKawg.

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Earth’s Long-Lost Twin Billions of years ago, Venus was very similar to Earth. Today, astronomers question how Venus transformed from a hospitable, Earth-like twin to a very hot planet with a toxic atmosphere. Venus and Earth still remain alike in size, mass, density, and composition. Venus is 67.24 million miles away from the sun, making it the second farthest planet from the sun in our solar system, after Mercury. To compare, Earth is 96.92 million miles away from the sun. Venus is engulfed by a very dense atmosphere that mainly consists of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid. Venus’s thick atmosphere allows for less radiation to hit the planet’s scorching-hot surface. Its surface is hot enough to melt led. The surface is 864 degrees fahrenheit, 90 times the temperature of Earth’s surface. Today, almost all of Venus’s surface appears to be recently solidified basalt lava. About 300-500 million years ago, there was volcanic activity on the planet. The volcanic activity could possibly be the cause of the sulfuric acid found in Venus’s clouds. There are thousands of inactive volcanoes on Venus right now.

On May 4, 1989, the US spacecraft, Magellan, mapped out Venus’s surface. Magellan was a 1,035 kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA. It cost 680 million dollars to launch the spacecraft. The spacecraft never landed on Venus, rather it orbited around Venus. Between 1961 and 1984, the Soviet Union sent a series of space probes to Venus in order to capture pictures of the planet.

The mission was named the Venera Series, “Venera” being the Russian name for Venus.

With all the research available, NASA is planning a new mission to Venus. NASA would like to send people to the planet without landing them. Instead, they will use aircrafts that can stay aloft.

Astronomers believe that they can use the dense atmosphere to construct aircrafts that will hover over the planet. Venus’s upper atmosphere is very similar to Earth’s lower atmosphere. The two are very similar in pressure and density which can help NASA with their designs. NASA will have to design a spacecraft that could protect astronauts from the high amounts of radiation, as Venus is much closer to the sun than Earth. They could also harvest the radiation and use it to power the spacecrafts as they hover over the planet. The aircrafts will also have to be resistant to the acid clouds in Venus’s atmosphere. Our technology today is always growing - sixty years ago, it was unimaginable to send people to Venus. Our space-travel has advanced and allowed us to discover remarkable aspects of nature. NASA is excited about their new mission idea. With the right technology, anything is possible in our universe!

Picture captured by Magellan of Venus’s surface. Notice an inactive volcano in the upper right corner of the image.

Bettex, Morgan. “Mapping Venus.” MIT News, 22 Mar. 2010, news.mit.edu/2010/venus-mapping-0322.

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Sophia Rein 21’

Works Cited Baggaley, Kate. “Venus May Once Have Been Habitable. Now It Can Tell Us If Other Worlds Might Be as Well.” Popular Science, 1 Mar. 2018, www.popsci.com/venus-once-habitable-earth.

Dorrian, Gareth. “NASA Wants to Send Humans to Venus, to Live in Airships Floating on Clouds.” LiveScience, 16 Oct. 2018, 10:12 am ET, www.livescience.com/63840-nasa-humans-tovenus.html.

“Magellan (Spacecraft).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Magellan_(spacecraft).

“Venus.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/terms/venus.htm.

Wei-Haas, Maya. “Planet Venus, Explained.” A Guide to Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, National Geographic, 18 Oct. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/ venus/.

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The Ocean Is Warming Up Climate change is very quickly warming up the oceans, which in turn is killing aquatic creatures such as coral reefs and kelp forests which secure entire ecosystems. It is also causing a rise in sea levels and makes hurricanes and other extreme weather events much more devastating. On Wednesday, December 31, a study was published in the journal Nature that implies that oceans are warming faster than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (I.P.C.C.), the worldwide organization for climate information, had previously estimated. The study, which was led by Laure Resplandy, a biogeochemical oceanographer at Princeton University, showed that the oceans warmed, between the years 1991 and 2016, 60 percent per year more than the panel’s estimates.

The I.P.C.C. released a report in October which predicts that the worst effects of climate change, like food shortages, coastal flooding, and a killing of coral reefs, could pass by 2040 if the levels of greenhouse gases being emitted continue at a constant rate. This shows that what scientists had previously predicted about the severity of the climate’s course might have been an underestimate. And if the new ocean temperature estimates from the study are authentic, it would prove that the scientists have indeed underestimated the global warming, and that their worst-case scenarios are in fact the reality.

The researches from the study used a different approach in calculating the ocean temperatures.

Instead of using Argo, a program that was created as a global network of instruments that measure ocean temperatures, they measured the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen. The gases dissolve in oceans in amounts based on the oceans’ capacity to hold them, which is based on its temperature. However, the studies’ findings might not hold up, as Kevin E. Trenberth, a senior scientist in the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, noted that their methodology does not specify what occurs on a yearly basis, just over long periods of time.

Dr. Resplandy said that her study does not invalidate or overturn the I.P.C.C.’s warnings about the time given to ward off the worst effects of climate change. She said that “it doesn’t change the results,” just “makes it harder to get there.”

Hayley Schreiber ‘20

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Works Cited Pierre-louis, Kendra. “Taking the Oceans' Temperature, Scientists Find Unexpected Heat.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Nov. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/climate/oceantemperatures-hotter.html? rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=strea m&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=sectionfront.

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I Can Hear Myself Think When looking at the number eight written in black ink, most people simply see a black-colored number eight. For others, the black number eight might be seen as a green-colored number eight or may be accompanied by the smell of bananas. Others may perceive the number eight as having a personality. Individuals who cross-associate numbers, letters, or words with specific smells, colors, sounds, tastes, and personalities have synesthesia.

It is only in 1980 that synesthesia was researched and became known and explainable, although some mention was noted in medical textbooks starting from the 18th century. Derived from the Greek words syn (together) and aisthesis (perception), synesthesia quite literally means “linked perception.”

Synesthetes (those with synesthesia) experience a correlation between the senses. Such individuals might hear sight or might smell sound. Bright lights may hurt their ears because they are felt as “loud” sensations, or specific words make them smell a specific scent. Often, the associations serve as triggers of remembrance. While synesthetes might forget the name of someone who they met, they may remember that this person has a “yellow name.” Because these additional correlations between sensory perceptions and experiences aid in their retention of facts, synesthetes have a good memory; in fact, 10% of synesthetes have a photographic memory.

Synesthesia can start at a young age, and youngsters with this neurological disorder initially assume that everyone perceives the world the same way as do they. After telling others of the blended senses that they experience, synesthetes soon realize that most do not share these correlations. Even multiple individuals with synesthesia may disagree on which colors represent what letters, numbers, etc. As a result of their mental isolation and fear of being labeled as insane or unusual, synesthetes cease discussing these experiences for years. Usually, it is only when they discover an article addressing their experiences that they understand this is a medical condition. Synesthetes are relieved to understand that they are not the only ones who link senses in an untraditional manner.

Although a neurological disorder, the identity of the specific location affected in the brain is still unclear. A study conducted by Dr. Richard Cytowic (the neurologist who discovered synesthesia) showed that synesthesia was controlled by the limbic system, which are the neural complexes in the brain that deal with emotions. Yet, studies by others showed evidence of synesthetic activity in the cerebral cortex, the site of processing information. Individuals without synesthesia lack stimulations in this area of the brain, despite being told to mentally associate a color with a word. Just like research on dreams and dizziness are difficult to scientifically analyze, experiences of synesthesia cannot be researched and proven as “true” or having actually happened. Therefore, scientists like Dr. Cytowic, must rely only on those experiences relayed by the synesthete, with little-to-no scientific method for analysis. As synesthesia is in the early stages of research, it is difficult to diagnose.

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As Dr. Cytowic researched synesthesia, he developed a standard of what most synesthetes were known to experience, and a pattern of behavior was developed as follows: Synesthetes noted that the sensory associations occurred throughout life and remained unchanged. For example, the association between the name “Julie” and the color “white” which initially occurred in childhood continued into adulthood.

Particular synesthetes who correlated colors with images or with words were known for being very specific in the shade that they imagined, even not being able to identify the exact color shade in box of multiple colored crayons.

Telling a non-synesthete to identify a particular color with a certain word may lead to an association, but this correlation is “learned” and forced. For those with synesthesia, often the tastes, smells, or sounds that pop into their head are spontaneous and involuntary. No thought is required in remembering the sensory correlations.

The words that come to mind for a synesthete typically are not overly complex and are not long phrases, but rather are short, simple associations, such as bumpy/smooth and tight/loose. An association such as the “sky” with something specific, as “children eating a picnic at the park,” would be too complex.

Only after Dr. Cytowic shared his discoveries at a meeting of the Neuropsychological Society and published his work in a popular magazine, did he start to receive letters from people who related to his findings - those living with synesthesia! Synesthetes were relieved to realize that they were not alone in the manner in which their minds functioned and that they were “not crazy.”

There probably is a genetic aspect to synesthesia, as some cases run in families. Furthermore, different forms of synesthesia may be controlled by genes on different chromosomes. For example, the association of color with letters, words, and numbers may be a sex-linked trait (that is, the gene for transmission of this form of synesthesia is on an X chromosome). In a study of color → letter, word and number synesthesia, the female-to-male ratio was 6:1 and synesthetic parents were more likely to pass the trait to their daughters than to their sons. In a different study of hearing → visual synesthesia, the defective gene controlling transmission of this trait was identified on chromosome 2, an autosome.

Now that there is no shame in admitting to experience synesthesia, more people are acknowledging this condition. The prevalence of synesthesia in the general population is 1 in 2,000.

Samantha Sinensky ’21

Works Cited Avruch, Alisa, 2018, I smell something blue. A look at synesthesia, Binah, June 4th, pp. 32-36.

Phillips, Melissa Lee, Neuroscience for Kids - Synesthesia, https://faculty.washington.edu/ chudler/syne.html (retrieved 6/14/18) Safran, Avinoam B. and Nicolae Sanda, 2015, Color synesthesia. Insight into perception, emotion, and consciousness, Current Opinions in Neurology, 28:36 - 44.

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We hope you enjoyed this issue of BREAKTHROUGH! EDITORS Daniella Feingold ’20 Samantha Sinensky ‘21 FACULTY ADVISOR Ms. Lenore Brachot

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