The Beaker November 2013

THE REACTION: COLONIZING MARS Red Planet ... our planet?

del norte high school

volume 2 | issue 1

A RADIX EDUCATION PUBLICATION

BEAKER R

the

FLIGHT

Paleontologists dig up the origin of flight

S CONTRIBUTORSS

letter

from the editors Dear Readers,

Welcome to your first issue of The Beaker in the 2013-2014 school year!

We at The Beaker have but one mission: to inspire you to have a passion for science that is as infectious as our staff’s. Our magazine is aimed at an audience with all levels of experience in science, from a middle school Earth Science student to a senior taking AP Chemistry. Because writers reflect personal interests in their articles, each issue will have something for everyone.

The Beaker has grown considerably in the months since we published our last issue. In order to foster a deeper connection to the community and further the magazine’s original mission, we’ve expanded into a non-profit organization called Radix Education, dedicated to spreading the message of STEM to the community at large.

In this issue, we cover a broad array of topics—everything from the colonization of Mars to the prehistoric origins of flight.

We’re also very excited to introduce a new section of our magazine called The Beaker Jr. As part of our goal to encourage younger students to get involved in STEM, middle schoolers will get the opportunity to write for our magazine and become published authors. Look for their articles at the end of this issue.

We’d also like to recognize the valuable contributions of our staff, sponsors and donors. Special thanks to Dr. Kevin Reeder, Mr. Senthil Nathan, Dr. Chuck Wells, and Summa Education. This issue wouldn’t have been possible without them.

So, once again, welcome to another year of The Beaker. We hope that your interest in STEM grows with every issue to come.

letter from editor Sincerely,

Christina Cheng and Ajay Nathan Editors-in-Chief

Visit us online at www.radix-education.org/beaker to read our previous issue.

You can contact us at beaker@radix-education.org.

art by ROSA CHUNG

3 NOVEMBER 2013

Resisting Antimicrobial Resistance 05 05 06 Fished Away 07 Quantum Teleportation 06 09 Hyperloop 10 Water Underneath

07 09 10

11 11Echolocation and You 12 Welcome to Deep Space 13 Quantum Teleportation 12Cleanup, Cleanup, 15 Everybody, Everywhere

17 19Water Underneath 19 Flight 21 How Smart Are They?

21Plant Power 23 24 The Discovery of Antibiotics

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Life does not stop for anyone. It only takes four short years for a student to transform from a diminutive, shy freshman to a resilient, proud senior. The same is true for other organisms, including many deadly bacteria. As modern medicine continues to advance, bacteria has to adapt and change with it, leading to the formation of antibioticresistant bacteria or antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

As antibiotics become stronger and are more frequently used, bacteria mutate in order to protect themselves. As a result, more potent antibiotics must be developed, leading to a vicious cycle of dominance between the bacteria and the antibiotics [1]. Staphylococcus aureus, or staph for short, is an example of this.

Staph infections can cause many deadly diseases, such as meningitis or toxic shock syndrome. The cure for staph was

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found in 1928: the world-renowned antibiotic penicillin. When it first emerged, penicillin easily killed staph bacteria, but just twenty-two years later, 40% of staph strains had become penicillin resistant. Today, staph has mutated into an even deadlier bacteria known as MRSA [2]. Staph once had a cure; however, scientists are now struggling to keep up as the bacteria continues to mutate and grow even more lethal. The same is true for other bacteria, including certain strains of Salmonella, E. coli, and Yersinia pestis, which caused the Black Plague.

AMR also causes significant global problems. It threatens health security and international commerce by allowing bacteria to travel more efficiently. It hampers modern medical practices, including organ transplantation, chemotherapy, and surgery by increasing

the risk of infection. It may also be the sign of a return to the pre-antibiotic era [3].

Although deadly, mutant, antibioticresistant bacteria sound alarming, there are many simple precautions you can take to protect yourself from infection [4]. Do not demand antibiotics from your doctor unless absolutely necessary. Take antibiotics in correct dosages. Get vaccinated regularly against drugresistant bacteria. Wash your hands before eating, after using the restroom, and after handling uncooked food. Cook meat and poultry thoroughly to kill bacteria, which may be drug-resistant.

As flu season approaches, performing these simple tasks will be essential to staying healthy and active throughout the year.

FISHED

AWAY

Quintessentially Japanese, extremely tasty, and increasingly popular, sushi has exploded in the United States as the hottest, cold dish to grace trendy, new restaurants. Though sushi is in vogue today, there may come a time when nigiri disappears from your diet and sashimi ceases to exist. The untold, and deeply concerning, story about the seemingly grave fate of fish and our oceans is the summation of human greed, carelessness, and corruption in a singular destructive act: overfishing.

Overfishing, the act of removing more fish than can be replaced by reproduction of the remaining fish in an aquatic ecosystem, has become a big problem in the past six decades [1]. In the 1950’s, international efforts to make protein-rich foods, including fish, more affordable resulted in increased government support of the world’s commercial fishing operations. These large-scale fishing operations’ aggressiveness and competitiveness eventually led to a tipping point. By 1989, approximately 90 million tons of fish were taken annually from the oceans. Since then, the amount of fish caught per year has declined, as fisheries with the most desirable species — including a sushi-goer favorite, bluefin tuna — have collapsed.

Researchers estimate that if fishing operations continue to indulge in the luxuries of overabundance, all fisheries will collapse by 2048 [2].

One major issue that overfishing leads to is the collection of bycatch, which is a non-target species caught by fisherman. In the interest of gaining more profit, fishermen take the easy route of fishing, by plunging large nets into a particular area of the ocean. Once

they take these nets out, the unwanted bycatch is sorted out of the overall catch and tossed back into the ocean, where it will die after being significantly weakened [2]. It is estimated that approximately 20 million tons of fish are lost as bycatch, and of this, tuna fisheries kill about one million sharks each year [1].

The overexploitation of resources because they are available as common property, open to the public, is a phenomenon typically known in the field of environmental science as “the tragedy of the commons” [1]. In areas, such as oceans, that are openly accessible to and usable by everyone, people exhaust all aspects of the ecosystem, until they find that doing so no longer returns a profit. When these ecosystems have been fully depleted, exploiters leave in their wake lifeless, polluted, and virtually useless environments.

The future of our oceans and seafood depends on people. As the number of fish continue to decline dramatically, fishermen must look to different fishing methods that reduce environmental impact. One solution to reduce wasteful practices is using circular hooks or specially shaped nets to significantly decrease the amount of bycatch collected [2]. Another solution is to avoid eating fish that are overexploited in the wild. Try to begin substituting your sea bass and salmon for tilapia and carp [3]. Only if we take mindful measures against the unsustainable methods of our world’s fishing operations today can we continue to eat delicious sushi rolls tomorrow.

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QUANTUM TELEPORTATION

You don’t have to be a die-hard Trekkie to recognize the phrase “Beam me up, Scotty!” Science fiction has long influenced the way we think about future advances in technology. Recent discoveries about quantum teleportation at the University of Tokyo may have reminded many of the teleportation technologies seen in science fiction movies. However, rather than the transportation of objects, quantum teleportation refers to the process by which quantum information, or the exact state of an atom or photon, can be transmitted from one location to another. Despite its misleading name, quantum teleportation is best thought of as a kind of communication, not a type of transportation.

The first major breakthrough in quantum teleportation occurred in 1993, when a group of international scientists met in Montreal and proved that teleportation is possible in principle, but only if the original subject is destroyed.

In the years that followed, various experiments were performed that tested teleportation in a variety of systems, including single photons, nuclear spins, and trapped ions [1]. In 1997, quantum teleportation of photonic quantum bits was achieved by an Austrian research team but only hypothetically. The process used was not practical for information processing, because the transport efficiency was far too low [2].

Since then, the field of quantum mechanics has advanced by leaps and

bounds. In May 2012, a team in Vienna, led by Anton Zeilinger, was able to transport photons 89 miles between two Canary Islands, setting a new teleportation record [3]. Even more recently, in September 2013, the Furusawa group at the University of Tokyo succeeded in using a hybrid technique that increased transport efficiency a hundredfold. This was accomplished by combining two different technologies, solving the issue that had puzzled scientists for nearly two decades [2].

The concept of quantum teleportation is remarkably complex— are the particles really being transported or not? While some photons can physically travel the distance, their main purpose is to build up what scientists call an “entangled resource.” Although this may sound important, the most crucial step is what comes next: the information describing the photons, such as their polarization, is transported. The photons that once existed in one place now exist somewhere else. This is possible because the photons share an intricate bond— one that is so strong, that whatever happens to one particle happens to its counterpart, no matter how far apart they are [3]. Information is sent like a fax, except that the original particle is destroyed the moment the copy is made.

This phenomenon was described by Einstein as “spooky action at a distance.”

Quantum teleportation has significant real world applications.

According to Philippe Grangier of the Institut d'Optique in Palaiseau, France, recent advancements in quantum teleportation may pave the way for more secure communications. The idea of “teleporting” information that can only be received when a proper transformation-measurement is made brings humankind closer to the prospect of completely encrypted data transmission. This also brings with it the possibility of safer satellite and ground communication over long distances [3].

The increase in efficiency achieved by the Furusawa group brings quantum computing one step closer to reality.

Quantum computers, which utilize a different type of transistor than that of conventional computers, are able to do many tasks more efficiently and quickly, making them a possibly indispensable tool for national security tasks, such as cryptanalysis [2].

At the moment, quantum teleportation is a grassroots concept— scientists only transported light particles, not people—but it holds an infinite number of possibilities for our future. This is the beginning of a new era, not only in secure communications and computing, but also in the possible teleportation of larger objects and maybe one day humans. Well, one can only hope.

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HYPERLOOP

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In the words of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, the Chairman of SolarCity, and the CoFounder of PayPal, Hyperloop is a system that allows for super-fast travel, consisting of “a tube over or under the ground that contains a special environment” [1]. In response to a project approved by California voters in 2008 to build a high-speed rail system from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Musk theorized plans for a quicker and cheaper form of transportation. Musk says that Hyperloop would be able to transport “capsules” carrying passengers through a large steel tube from Los Angeles to San Francisco in only 30 minutes, at an unbelievable 600 mph [2]. Musk estimates that Hyperloop would cost a total of 6 billion dollars, which may seem expensive but is only a fraction of the 68 billion dollars needed to construct the California high-speed rail system. Hyperloop would be powered by solar panels placed on the top of the tube [2]. The fact that California is a primarily sunny state makes it an ideal location for Hyperloop.

With this rather straightforward sounding idea comes many possible sources of error. One of the probable issues that could arise from the “special environment” inside the tube is extreme amounts of friction [1]. Of two possible ways to propel capsules in the tube, the first involves the use of high-speed fans that would compress and push the air to simultaneously move the capsules. Musk says that “the capsule will behave like a syringe and eventually be forced to push the entire column of air in the system” [2]. This problem could be solved by situating electric compressor fans on the front of each capsule, which would move the high-pressured air from the nose to the back of the vehicle, thus reducing the amount of friction between the capsule and the walls of the steel tube [1]. The second is through the use of an evacuated tunnel with electromagnetic suspension to avoid the problems of friction altogether. The problem with this method is that any small leak in the tubing would cause the entire system to stop working because of the need for a 100% evacuated “special environment.”

The other main fear that people have about building Hyperloop is a phenomenon of Mother Nature: earthquakes. The slightest shift in the Earth could break the tubing, having potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system. This problem can be addressed “[b]y building a system on pylons, where the tube is not rigidly fixed at any point,” thereby allowing Hyperloop to be flexible and loose during a strong earthquake [1].

At this moment, Elon Musk has made it clear that he does not have the time to make Hyperloop a reality.

Marco Villa, former director of mission operations for SpaceX, and Dr. Patricia Galloway, former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, have taken the project into their own hands [3]. They have started networking through JumpStartFund, a crowdfunding tool that they hope will attract possible investors who can aggregate a pool of funds to finance Hyperloop [4]. With fingers crossed, all we can do is hope that in the near future this seemingly science fiction idea can turn into a nonfiction actuality.

WATER underneath

On September 11, 2013, five aquifers, large underground basins of fresh water, were discovered through the use of satellites funded by the Kenyan government, the Japanese government, and UNESCO, the science branch of the United Nations. Two of these aquifers, Lotikipi Basin and a smaller Lodwar Basin, were identified and confirmed on accident by technologies originally meant to reveal oil deposits [1].

Aquifers are the result of “left-over” precipitation, which is precipitation that doesn’t flow into rivers or provide moisture for plants [2]. This excess water seeps into the rocks just beneath the soil and goes through the spaces between these rocks. As a result of both the weight of the water above and gravity, the excess water continues to go deeper underground, ultimately collecting in an aquifer, which can be replenished with constant rain or snow. During this process, the rocks act as a filter, ridding the water of its impurities. Oftentimes, this naturally filtered water ends up being cleaner than surface water [2]. Scientists are currently working to confirm that the water is safe and disease free. Once they determine that the water is pure, scientists must then extract and distribute the water carefully and thoughtfully so as to avoid both

social and environmental conflicts.

For example, aquifers can collapse when too much water is taken out at a time, because their insides may hollow. Aquifers can also be easily contaminated, when pollutants enter them or when seawater seeps in, which happens when aquifers are adjacent to the ocean. In both cases, the aquifer becomes useless [2].

If an aquifer is carefully maintained, it can be of use to millions of people. An aquifer can hold around 250 million cubic meters of water, which is enough to serve 17 million people (40% of Kenya’s population) for seventy years. An aquifer’s ability to store a large amount of water may possibly stop the disastrous tribal conflicts that are occurring due to water shortages, especially in Turkana County, where these shortages are a major problem [3][4]. The Lotikipi Basin itself will increase the current Kenyan water supply by 900% [5]. And if the water is extracted properly, these basins will never run out: they are adjacent to mountains, which provide a large amount of runoff water from precipitation [4].

Water shortage is one of the most pressing issues facing underdeveloped countries today.

To find the answer to this problem, we just have to search beneath our feet.

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What do dolphins, bats, and porpoises have in common? They all use echolocation, emitting sound waves, and analyzing the echoes created by those sound waves, to “see” the world. Echolocation helps these animals navigate their environments and hunt for food. But it turns out that animals are not the only ones who can use echolocation. Humans have been using the ability since the 18th century, and surprisingly, anyone can echolocate. Essentially, we are walking dolphins.

For those that cannot quite remember how echolocation works, here’s a quick summary: an animal first emits a sound wave, perhaps a clicking sound. The sound hits a surface, such as a wall, and then bounces off the wall, coming back to the animal. The further away the surface is, the longer the echo takes to reach the animal’s ear.

Normally, when we make sounds, the sound waves go from the sound’s source directly to our ears. We don’t hear the sound wave echoing off other objects, because our brains automatically cancel the echoes out. If our brains did not do this, we would have a difficult time doing simple

tasks, such as talking [1]. However, we can train our brains to listen to the echoes. Once our brains can hear echoes, we can navigate with sound alone.

How can we learn to echolocate?

A recent study showed that as long as the brain can be tricked to discriminate between the sound and its echo, a human can use echolocation.

In the study, participants were told to make sounds. A computer processor would then simulate the echo that the sounds would make if they hit an object, and the echo would be played through a headset worn by the participant. After several weeks of listening to artificial echoes, the participants were slowly able to identify the sources of the echoes [2].

In other words, everyone has the capability to use sound to gain awareness of their surroundings.

Echolocation can be thought of as more efficient than sight. Human vision has some limitations. For example, it is impossible to see things behind you or around corners.

However, it is easy to hear things behind you or around corners.

Echolocation can be beneficial, because it allows individuals to

perceive more of the space around them, rather than just the space in front of them. On top of that, our ears are more powerful than our eyes. The human eye can not see many electromagnetic waves. Of all the rays that exist in the universe — from gamma waves to microwaves — we can only see visible light waves, which make up a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This means that in terms of sound, we see less than one octave of frequency. On the contrary, our ears can hear a range of ten octaves [3].

If echolocation is so great, why isn’t everyone making clicking sounds all the time? It’s simple. Echolocation isn’t that beneficial to us. Sure, it is cool, but vision works well enough for humans. Unless you live in a cave where it’s too dark to see, echolocation has no evolutionary advantage for humans [3].

Mastering echolocation just takes practice, but whether we should try to put in the time to do so is debatable.

One advantage: you could really impress your friends by being able to navigate around an obstacle course with your eyes closed.

WELCOME To DEEP SPACE Voyager 1 originally launched on September 5th, 1977 and was created to analyze Jupiter and Saturn [3]. Once those jobs were completed, however, Voyager 1 was reformatted for a final mission to travel as far away from Earth as possible, while transmitting images and readings back until its battery runs out (this is expected to happen in 2020) [1].

The probe is primarily composed of a sophisticated system of sensory equipment that was specially designed to withstand outer space radiation and use as little battery power as possible. It has been hurtling through space for almost 35 years, a time period so lengthy that many people had forgotten the probe was still operational until, on September 12, 2013, NASA confirmed that Voyager 1 had entered interstellar, or deep, space on August 25, 2012.

The Discovery

The team at NASA first saw evidence of a potential leap into uncharted regions of space on August 25, 2012 when the probe read a significant shift in the

density of the energetic particles it was traveling through. NASA scientists originally believed that this change in density indicated that Voyager 1 had entered a new region of the heliopause, the outermost boundary of the solar system that contains magnetic fields and outward moving solar winds [1] [2].

It was only until eight months after the reading was recorded that scientists found data, indicating that Voyager 1 had not simply entered another part of the heliopause but had exited the solar system entirely.

Five months before Voyager 1 reported the change in density, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), an enormous expulsion of charged particles from the sun, occurred [1]. This event was seemingly unimportant until thirteen months later, on April 9, 2013, the particles reached Voyager 1, causing the plasma cloud surrounding the probe to oscillate at a particular pitch, allowing scientists to determine the density of that plasma field [1]. The readings indicated that the plasma was forty times more

dense than the plasma in the heliopause and matched all expectations for plasma density in interstellar space [1].

With this new discovery in mind, the NASA team reviewed its readings from 2012 and discovered a similar set of oscillations taking place in the fall of that year [1]. The team worked backwards and was able to pinpoint an exact date when the probe seemingly left the Solar System and entered deep space: August 25, 2012.

This means that the probe had traveled 121.6882 AU to reach the border of our solar system in nearly 35 years, while still maintaining almost complete data collection and transmission capabilities [1]. This achievement could indicate the viability of interstellar space exploration on a larger scale or even, with the advancement of technology, interstellar space exploration done by human beings. The world has witnessed a historic breakthrough in space exploration that even further dismantles the limitations of the human race in exploring the universe around them.

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A Futile Effort: Water is Not Enough Fifty square-meters of living space, hours of preparation just to step outside, and one mistake can kill you.

Living on Mars doesn’t sound that desirable anymore, does it? With the discovery that 2% of Mars’s surface is water, people are excited about the prospect of living up there [1]. But let’s slow down and take a qualitative approach.

First of all, it’s insanely cold. I’m not talking Antarctica cold: I’m talking so cold, you’d basically be walking around on dry ice since the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would solidify due to the frigid temperatures, which can reach below -100°C, colder than the coldest recorded temperature on Earth [3]. And it reaches these temperatures on a nightly basis. One small malfunction in your spacesuit or a leak in a building, and you’re done for.

The living arrangements aren’t too great either. It is estimated that each person would get around fifty meters of living space, which is as big as the average hotel room. Also, current technology isn’t advanced enough to support a re-launch back to

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Earth. So, as if the eight grueling months of actually getting to Mars couldn’t be worse, you’re stuck there forever [2]. Have fun in your hotel room.

Sustainability is the main problem. As it is now, Mars just isn’t capable of sustaining life indefinitely.

It’s highly unlikely that food grown on Mars would supply all the nutrients necessary for life. Other necessities like medicine and machinery need constant maintenance from Earth, costing upwards of billions to keep the community running [3]. And where would this money come from? Your own pockets. NASA is a governmentrun organization and receives its funding through money from the government, which in turn is collected from taxes. Your hard-earned money would go to funding a community tens of millions of miles away.

However, let’s pretend that this whole fiasco turns out to be possible in the next few centuries, and the mission to start a new colony on Mars is carried out. Let’s also say it’s a success.

Enough food, safe structures to support life, and better technology to

ensure bigger living spaces and a ride back home. Why, then, shouldn’t we colonize Mars? With overpopulation bound to be a problem in the future, expanding to extraterrestrial lands would solve the problem wouldn’t it?

Sure, it might help a bit, but even with top-notch technology, there’s one thing we can’t change: Mars’s unlivable atmosphere. The conditions of everyday life would be too severe, and the lack of gravity would inevitably cause bone loss and sickness [3]. If this were the moon, we could simply ship back the sick, have them recuperate on Earth, and go back. But this is Mars, where a one-way trip takes eight months.

No matter how tempting the colonization of Mars may seem, it just doesn’t make sense given the astronomical cost of even researching and testing something we don’t know is possible and then taking massive risks to actually carry out colonization.

It isn’t worth it. So, in the decades to come, staying cozy here on Earth is our best bet. Mars can wait.

The Feasible Dream The idea of life on Mars has captivated the interest of humankind for years. Our fascination with the fourth planet from the Sun is apparent in almost all aspects our culture: books like War of the Worlds depict the plausibility of being invaded by aliens from Mars, while others feature brave humans exploring the planet. We fantasize not only about the existence of Martian life, but also about the possibility that humans may one day colonize the Red Planet. Given the significant discoveries of recent years, this dream may soon become a reality.

Opponents of attempting to colonize Mars cite the risk of sending humans to live on a planet with such harsh conditions. Mars has a very thin atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide that provides little protection from cosmic radiation. Temperatures may drop below 100 degrees Celsius, cold enough for the CO2 gas in the atmosphere to freeze into dry ice [3].

This creates unexpected obstacles and increases the possibility of extremely risky accidents. However, the benefits of colonizing Mars far outweigh these risks.

To begin with, there is a possibility that, in the future, humans may be forced to leave Earth.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2050, the world population will hit 9.2 billion people. In fact, if fertility rates remain the same, the population would reach 296 billion in a mere fifty years [4]. Overpopulation is a real problem we face, and colonization of

another planet would help solve it.

Another major issue humans face is global warming, which is exacerbated by overpopulation. In the event that we are no longer able to save the environment, we might be forced to live on another planet. Even without these pressing issues, colonizing Mars would enable scientists to improve technology that could help us travel to more distant planets. Mars is relatively close, and it could serve as a steppingstone to the exploration of the universe.

The viability of colonizing Mars has been questioned, but doing so is entirely possible with modern technology. Mars is already the best candidate we have for colonization. It is the last planet close enough to the Sun that is able to support life and is, in fact, fairly similar to Earth. Mars has a close axial tilt and has seasons very similar to ours. Furthermore, the duration of a day is only approximately 39 minutes longer than that of one on Earth [5]. Also, although it is thin, Mars’s atmosphere offers some protection from radiation and is used for the aerobraking of spacecrafts (like Mars Rovers), indicating that the atmosphere is thick enough to sustain life.

In addition to having water, which is already extant on Mars, another requirement for life is food availability. As many opponents of the colonization of Mars have pointed out, it is impractical to periodically send food to Mars. Thus, scientists propose

that colonists could grow their own food. Despite the lack of plant-friendly soil, crops could be grown using hydroponics. Hydroponics involves growing plants with just water and minerals. Colonists could use minerals found on the surface of Mars and water extracted from Martian soil.

Hydroponics is viable for almost all terrestrial plants and is used already in biology research. It has many advantages, including stable crop yields, easy harvesting, and a lower water requirement, since water can be reused in hydroponics [6][7].

Over time, we may even be able to make Mars a more habitable place through terraforming, or changing the environment of, Mars. Multiple methods have been suggested to fix the Martian atmosphere. One is that, because most of the carbon dioxide missing from the atmosphere is frozen at the poles of Mars, we could melt the ice, restoring the atmosphere. Once the atmosphere is restored, water can be sustained, leading to plants being able to grow and oxygen being introduced to the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Although the colonization of Mars is risky, the benefits outweigh the costs significantly. While it seems difficult and impractical, colonization is actually feasible using modern technology. We just have to take action.

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Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Everywhere

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One college student’s revolutionary idea has the potential to save the world

by RAYMOND DENG

ur oceans, which contain 326 million trillion gallons of water and constitute over 70% of the Earth's surface area, are being increasingly polluted as time goes on.

The majority of this pollution can be attributed to plastic debris that has accumulated in five areas of high concentration called “gyres.” Oceanic pollution problems kill millions of aquatic and avian animals annually and cost governments, companies, and individuals around the world millions of dollars in damages each year [1]. The problem also affects us, because it significantly alters the food we eat. Let’s say a small fish eats a piece of plastic that

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contains harmful toxins, and a bigger fish, maybe a salmon, eats that small fish. That salmon could end up on our dinner tables!

Many people think the obvious solution is to just "clean it up"—but how?

In 2011, Boyan Slat, a nineteenyear old aerospace engineer at the Delft University of Technology, turned his final research paper into a project called "The Ocean Cleanup.” His idea is to use numerous self-powered machines called "The Ocean Cleanup Arrays" [pictured above], which use floating booms, chains of floating logs that act as barriers against pollutants, and a processing platform to span the radius of the gyres [1]. In the five gyres of the ocean, there are naturally rotating currents that create an accumulating mass of plastic. Slat, in a recent TEDx

Talk, said that it is possible to use these naturally rotating currents of the gyres to propel the Cleanup Arrays along a circular path [2]. The use of booms rather than nets is advantageous because marine life, such as plankton, cannot get caught in the booms. Furthermore, the Cleanup Array moves slowly enough for organisms that mistakenly enter the processing platform to escape.

The cost of a project this large in scale is still a concern, but Slat and his team of about fifty engineers, modelers, external experts, and students believe that this project's execution will be financially profitable. In the past, there have been many projects and ideas regarding how to remove plastic from our oceans.

However, the execution of these projects

would have costed exorbitant amounts of money. Regardless, Slat believes that the money made from the process of recycling the plastic pollution would theoretically outweigh the cost of executing the project.

The plastic collected, although lower in quality than other recyclable plastics due to wear and tear from the ocean, can still be mixed and recycled to produce higher quality plastic [1].

Some critics have questioned the practicality of the Cleanup Array. They believe that such a massive project could generate significant emissions, which is inherently contradictory to the project’s goal, by attempting to clean up pollution, while simultaneously polluting more. However, Slat says that processing platforms will be 100% self-supportive and receive all energy from natural resources like the sun

and ocean currents, thereby minimizing emissions.

Slat and his team estimate that in five years, The Ocean Cleanup can clear onethird of the ocean’s plastic pollution: about sixteen billion pounds worth. This estimation was made by combining data from scientific publications, measurements by Slat's team, and a computer density prediction model. However, Slat and his team are currently repeating the calculations with other plastic accumulation models to test for accuracy of the predictions made [1].

In the last couple of months, many articles have been published claiming that The Ocean Cleanup Array is a “feasible method” of extracting plastic from the gyres. However, Slat does not want people to hastily jump to conclusions. His ideas do sound very promising, but they have yet

to be proven practical. Slat and his team expect their investigative study to be complete and ready for publication by the end of 2013, so they can tell the world conclusively whether or not Cleanup Arrays are feasible [1].

Implementing the ideas of Boyan Slat and adopting The Ocean Cleanup Array will truly accomplish something remarkable. No longer will our oceans be burdened by plastic pollutants and no longer will animals die from the ingestion of chemical toxins. The ideas of a nineteen-year old college student have the potential to not only help preserve marine and avian wildlife but also us humans, who are all intertwined in the oceanic and terrestrial great chain of being.

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by ALAN TANG Whether unusual or mundane, creepy or soothing, dreaming is a key element of our lives. Despite this, not much conclusive information exists about how humans dream in the first place. Dreams are usually perceived as intangible and symbolic, often involving impossible scenarios that could never happen in real life.

The famed 19th century neurologist Sigmund Freud described them as “our subconscious fantasies, coming up for a breath of air” — our deepest thoughts and feelings rising to the surface. On the other hand, modern neurologists believe that dreams may be the work of a specific part of our brains and that the imagination is completely irrelevant in regards to dreaming.

To figure out where dreams come from, a group of French psychologists conducted a study on dreams that involved subjects diagnosed with auto-activation deficit (AAD), a neuropsychological syndrome characterized by extreme apathy. People with AAD have suffered damage to their limbic systems, the part of the brain responsible for human inclinations and desires. Simply put, those with AAD are in a permanent state of mental emptiness, able to sit complacently in the

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same place for an entire day doing absolutely nothing, because they lack the capacity to actively and independently have thoughts or experience emotion. Only when prompted can they think and answer questions like a neurotypical individual, one whose brain is not afflicted with any special syndrome or deficit. But can a person with AAD still dream? The answer to that question could reveal where dreams originate [1].

The aforementioned study was comprised of thirteen subjects with AAD and thirteen neurotypical subjects, all of whom were asked to record a journal of their dreams.

Researchers analyzed the recorded dreams for “length, complexity, and bizarreness,” and, to their surprise, they found that four of the thirteen subjects with AAD had remembered dreaming after awakening from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the sleep stage in which dreams are most prevalent. On the other hand, twelve out of the thirteen neurotypical subjects could record their dreams, which was also surprising, because many neurotypical people forget their dreams as soon as they

wake up. Analysis of the recorded dreams showed that dreams reported

by AAD subjects were significantly less bizarre than those reported by neurotypical subjects. The AAD subjects had dreamed of doing everyday things, such as walking and shaving, while the neurotypical subjects dreamed of surreal things, such as watching a lady’s hat turn into a wolf [1].

The idea that subjects with AAD, who remain completely thoughtless during the day, can be full of thoughts while asleep supports the hypothesis that dreaming is a reflexive and purely neurological phenomenon.

However, the simplicity and lack of emotion in the dreams of AAD subjects may imply that higher-order thinking is required to create the strange and unusual scenarios that are unique to the dreams of neurotypical people. The conclusions of this study show that dreams do not originate from the imagination but rather from chemical processes in the brain.

Yet dreams are still an enigma: how and why does our brain create such vivid and unusual images? Why does it seem like our dreams sometimes tell the future? For now, we can only speculate. Time will give us the answers we need to understand our dreams.

on the

origin of DREAMS

A neurological case study

18 art by ROSA CHUNG

19

Scientists finally excavate the answer to a 150 million year old uncertainty

by TRISTAN REINECKE

W

hen most people hear the word paleontologist, they picture an old man in the middle of nowhere digging for the bones of animals that died millions of years ago. And for many years, that was indeed the case. During the first few years of the field’s existance in the early 1800s, paleontologists spent the majority of their days searching through the mineral beds of London, Wyoming, and Germany [1]. As more fossils were uncovered, paleontologists earned fame from both the scientific community and the public, who became increasingly fascinated with the strange monsters being unearthed.

Eventually, at paleontology’s height in the late 1800s, scientists began to violently compete with one another to gain the most fame from their finds. The most famous of these conflicts, the Bone Wars of the 1870s, resulted in the discovery of 142 new species [2]. This battle for bones caused scientists Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh to engage in multiple schemes of bribery, theft, and sabotage of priceless fossils in their quests to become the world’s most renowned paleontologists [3]. For many, the scientific field was simply a way to strike it rich and become famous off of new discoveries.

Paleontologists that did not participate in fieldwork often used rudimentary means to study and construct fossils. Many early “species” of dinosaur were created from a mixture of many different, incorrectly labeled species. Among the most widely known dinosaurs ever, the Brontosaurus was actually created from the skull of a Brachiosaurus that was incorrectly placed on the skeleton of an Apatosaurus.

Even today, the classification of early species comes under criticism as new discoveries are made.

As technology changed and became

more advanced, paleontologists began to conduct more innovative methods of scientific experimentation in order to help discover how extinct organisms may have lived. These new methods of study have been used to answer questions that have stumped paleontologists for years.

Ever since paleontologists identified that birds evolved from dinosaurs with the discovery of Archaeopteryx in 1862, the question of how these feathered reptiles may have flown has sparked constant debate [4]. In their quest to find the answer, many paleontologists have begun to focus their attention on one species in particular: the Microraptor.

Microraptor was a small theropod dinosaur, a suborder of carnivorous dinosaurs that stood on two hind legs.

The most well-known theropod is the Tyrannosaurus rex, or T-Rex. Microraptor lived about 120 million years ago in what is now China. A tiny dinosaur that stood at less than a foot tall, Microraptor fed on small mammals in the trees of its arboreal environment. What makes Microraptor so significant is that its wings, legs, and tail all sported true flight feathers, rather than smaller gliding feathers found on earlier species of dinosaur [5]. As a result, paleontologists have concluded that Microraptor marked an important stepping stone between the evolutionary stages of gliding and the true flapping of wings used by modern birds. The animal’s strange body also left scientists confused as to how it could have actually flown.

In September 2013, a team at the University of Southampton in Southampton, United Kingdom sought to investigate this puzzling phenomenon. The scientists created a full-scale plaster model of the dinosaur and performed a series of flight simulations inside a wind tunnel.

The team discovered that the feathered dinosaur’s most stable gliding would

have been achieved when its wings created a large amount of lift underneath its body. The flight simulations demonstrated that this lift allowed for high, slow glides, resulting in a minimal height loss and the longest glide distance possible. This was perfect for the dinosaur’s natural wooded environment, which would have required the animal to glide from tree to tree while avoiding the predator filled ground.

The scientists also discovered that the orientation and shape of Microraptor’s wings and legs had little effect in terms of the dinosaur’s flight. Dr. Gareth Syke, the senior Lecturer of Vertebrate Paleontology at the University, and co-author of the Microraptor study, said, “We show that Microraptor did not require sophisticated, 'modern' wing morphology to undertake effective glides, as the high-lift coefficient regime is less dependent upon detail of wing morphology. This is consistent with the fossil record, and also with the hypothesis that symmetric 'flight' feathers first evolved in dinosaurs for non-aerodynamic functions, later being adapted to form aerodynamically capable surfaces" [6].

The University of Southampton’s investigation of Microraptor’s methods of flight offers just one example of the many ways that new technology is allowing paleontologists to find novel discoveries in the field. As technology has evolved and advanced, so has the field itself. Far from its earlier days of simple guess work and conflicts over fame and fortune, the field has grown and adapted as the world around it has changed as well. As more advances are made, such as the cloning of extinct animals and CT scanning, scientists can begin to answer even more questions that have remained buried under a thick layer of uncertainty for literally millions of years.

20

how

smart are they?

Will computers catch up to our brains in the near future?

by DANIEL KHASANOV The concept of artificial intelligence is burrowed deep in modern culture. From apocalyptic depictions in the famous Terminator series, to comedic designations in Matt Groening’s Futurama, everyone has their own sense of what a smart computer is. But exactly how similar are our own brains to the programmed machines we build?

The computers we know today use electricity and circuitry to store and use information. Electrons literally move around inside the wiring of a computer to produce an output. When looking at computers this way, one might notice the striking similarities between them and the human brain. For example, the brain operates by sending electro-chemical

21

signals through neural wiring and storing memory in a binary fashion, and it runs into similar problems, such as limits on processing power. Despite the multitude of comparisons we can make between the brain and the computer, there are some key differences that set computer programs apart from human thoughts.

While computer programs and human thinking both use a binary system (signal or no signal) for storing information, brain signal strength depends on the amount of ions in a synapse, where two nerve cells meet, and the speed at which those ions move. This phenomenon adds more variability to the kind of information the brain can send.

In the brain, both memory and

processing are done by the same cells, unlike in computers where the processes are compartmentalized. This leads to unpredictable interactions that make the formation of abstract concepts, such as goals and emotions, so unique to the brain.

The brain is able to organize itself based on its content, whereas computers can only access information through the information’s physical location on a piece of hardware. This allows for quicker and more relevant information processing in the human brain.

Lastly, the brain has extremely specialized housing: our bodies. Whereas a computer might simply draw details from a stored photograph to describe a scene, the human brain will refuse to use stored

memories if the five senses are currently available to describe that scene.

Still, technology is becoming a closer reflection of the human brain as time passes. While the exact model of human thinking may never be achieved, computer simulations are able to mimic the outcomes of thought quite accurately.

This September, researchers from across the world compiled a computer simulation that predicted the development of society, including the arrival of weapons, power distribution among civilizations, and the creation of languages, from 1500 BCE to 1500 CE. The computer simulation started with the geology of the Eastern Hemisphere and had its predictions tested against our history. The model accounted for two-thirds of the variation in the rise of large-scale societies, which is easily significant. However, we must keep in mind two things: first, the developers of the simulation had knowledge of our history and could have easily manipulated the simulation to function better; second, there is no sample of different histories to run the simulation against, so we can never truly know if it is good at predicting history in general or just our history.

Nonetheless, the development still signifies a sort of evolution in the way computers think. Right now, the world’s smartest artificial intelligence performs as well as a human four-year-old. The ConceptNet 4 A.I system was able to score as well as a toddler on a full scale IQ test.

And while it did well on straightforward

computational problems, “why” questions gave it the most trouble. It also scores extremely inconsistently, an indication that artificial intelligence still thinks much differently than an actual person. Despite all this, at the rate artificial intelligence is evolving, it is not unreasonable to say that A.I might catch up to human intellect in our own lifetimes.

Artificial intelligence pioneers at Qualcomm are currently working on project “Zeroth” (a tribute to science fiction writer Isaac Asimov), a new computer chip that is fundamentally structured like a mammalian brain. These “Neural Processing Units” or NPUs, will theoretically allow for the programming of computers the same way animals can be trained. The unique design derives its structures from the organization of neurons, employing parallel and distributed hardware. Matt Grob, Qualcomm’s chief technology officer, noted that the most novel feature of NPUs is “the ability to drop down large numbers of these structures on silicon. The tools we can create are very sophisticated. The promise of this is a kind of machine that can learn, and be programmed without software—be programmed the way you teach your kid” [4].

In a recent demo of the chip, a robot equipped with Zeroth was able to explore a tiled floor and respond to positive conditioning. The robot remembered the locations of the different tiles and after some time, would drive over to the ones where it was praised and avoid other tiles

[4]. Because of the groundbreaking nature of this technology, Qualcomm has the power to standardize the industry around neurological computation. This means that the company will essentially define and structure the near future of an entire sector of commercial hardware development.

Meanwhile, IBM and research partners at Cornell are utilizing a similar concept in computer architecture for national defense. The goal is to develop a sensor network that perceives information like humans do, allowing for a quicker detection of threats. The second phase of the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project is now complete, meaning that the design of the overall network and creation of constituent chips has been achieved. IBM stated that it will now proceed to phase three, after a current total investment of over 100 million dollars: the establishment of the previously mentioned sensor networks [4].

So, have computers finally caught up to us? No, not just yet. And, even after the final development of these initial neural processors, it might be decades, even centuries, before they surpass the quality of the brain. Having undergone millions of years of evolution, the brain might have faced challenges in developing its design that we have not yet foreseen. However, nobody really knows what is to come, because, as history has shown us, it is nearly impossible to make bold predictions about the future of technology.

22

Introducing The Beaker Jr. This issue marks the introduction of a new section of The Beaker called The Beaker Jr., which features articles written by middle school students. The two articles featured were selected as the winners of an essay competition for students at Oak Valley Middle School, which tasked them with writing an article on a topic in science that interested them. Congratulations to the winners Sukruth Kadaba (8) and Jenny Lee (8)!

If you are in middle school and want to be featured in our next issue, contact us at beaker@radix-education. org for more information.

dodder vine

knapweed

dandelion

mimosa pudica

23

plant power Plants are more complex than what we give them credit for

T

by SUKRUTH KADABA he vicious predator sniffed. The scent was real, and it was coming from… right there! After long last, the victim was right in front of him. He could strike! With sudden ferocity, he pounced, cutting deep into his prey’s flesh and feeding off its lifeblood. You’d probably think this was an animal, maybe a vampire bat, but that isn’t the real fearsome predator of this story. It is really a plant — the dodder vine.

Many plants do some amazing things, all without the huge benefit of a central nervous system. In fact, some have more genes suited to sensing the environment than some animals! The dodder vine hunts by scenting its prey (technically its host) and actually wriggling, snake-like, to find a regular plant, preferably the tomato plant.

It has little time to find an apt host to suck sap from, and once it finds a home plant, it stays there, feeding off the home plant’s resources.

The dodder vine spreads many plant diseases and is a pest to gardeners, wishing to preserve their tomato crop.

It is not just these vampires that trouble regular plants. Knapweed is a dangerous serial killer of the plant world that would give the dodder vine a run for its money. Knapweed in America is a growing problem: brought to America from Europe, this invasive species is attacking native grasses with its deadly poisons that it spreads underground. Since cattle will not eat it, knapweed is a huge problem for many ranchers. Some ranchers use sheep to graze on this weed and eat it before it destroys the precious native grasses that cows need.

While plants are being mowed or attacked, they scream by emitting chemical signals. You have probably smelled them before. The smell of freshly mowed grass is a desperate plea from the poor plant, who thinks he is being eaten alive by merciless insects. Just who is the plant screaming to? The animals that are the enemy of their enemy: the bugs that eat the insects that eat the plants. The bugs charge forth, devouring the plant’s dastardly enemies and saving the day — except when faced with something they can not beat, like your lawn mower.

Plants, like humans, have many challenges in life. One of the greatest of these challenges is making sure their kids don’t always live with them. For example, dandelions send their offspring away by scattering their seeds in the wind or even your breath. Violet flowers are more explosive. They jam their seeds into a little pod of water.

When the water evaporates, the flower wants to stretch out, but it can’t manage to do so. When the pressure gets intense enough, the pod blows up, sending the seeds flying out like shots from an AK-47.

Even more volatile is the Mimosa pudica or touch-me-not, which explodes at the slightest touch. The squirting cucumber reacts to even a tiny vibration, scattering seeds in a fountain of water [1][2].

The discovery of ANTIBIOTICS

What would we do without them?

by JENNY LEE Nowadays, people are too concerned with kidnappings, robberies, and homicides, that following down and getting scraped hardly matters anymore. Today, most people don’t know that, a few decades back, an insignificant scrape could have killed them. The main reason getting scraped is not life threatening anymore is because of the invention of antibiotics. Antibiotics have influenced the world significantly in ways people had never thought of before, saving many people’s lives and changing their view on medicine completely.

The history of antibiotics dates back to ancient civilizations, all the way back to nearly 3000 BCE. However, the first form of modern antibiotics was discovered by a scientist named Sir Alexander Fleming. In one of Fleming’s experiments, he observed that common bacteria had been worn down by a cluster of mold — the antibiotic — growing near his specimen. Intrigued by Fleming’s results, an Australian scientist named Howard Florey conducted many experiments with the strange mold, developing penicillin, the first antibiotic that always worked and that humans could use

without serious side effects [1]. After his success, many other scientists pursued the study of antibiotics and created antibiotics such as tetracycline, nystatin, streptomycin, and amoxicillin.

There are many reasons the antibiotic has earned its name “the miracle drug.”

Antibiotics saved a lot of lives during the 1940s, where common bacteria, such as Streptococcal septicemia, caused death.

During World War II, infections, especially in burn patients, were raging out of control, and doctors needed a better, more reliable way to treat them. “Penicillin is now used all over the world. Thanks to the work of scientists and their staff, together with the Illinois farms and numerous drug companies, the drug saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of war victims during World War II and has continued to shorten illness and save lives every day since” [2].

Antibiotics are helpful in the 21st century also, because antibiotics are the cheapest, quickest, and fastest form of curing disease. “Antibiotics are certainly amazing drugs. The oldest ones are often very inexpensive, yet effective. Many of them can be taken in pill or injection form, which makes

them very convenient” [3].

Penicillin changed the course of medicine drastically, because it lead scientists to a world of medicine they never imagined before. For example, penicillin was the first reliable drug that could be used in moments of crisis, apparent when compared to less reliable drugs, such as pyocyanase or common mold. After the development of penicillin, scientists experimented, “beginning to screen a variety of other natural products for antibacterial activity, which led to a whole host of new antibiotics, such as streptomycin, aminoglycosides, tetracycline and the like. Penicillin clearly led the way in that development” [4].

Antibiotics have played a weighty role in history and in all people's lives. They have altered the world by changing the field of medicine. Beginning in Ancient Egypt and realizing their full potential in the 21st century, the trail of antibiotics has left a clear and distinctive mark on all people, from scientists to everyday human beings. Anything can lead to an invention that has the ability to change everyone’s lives, but who knew that a cluster of mold had the ability to lead to this great change?

24

CITATIONSS

Resisting Antimicrobial Resistance by Marie Jung [1] Frieden, Dr. Tom, and The Opinion Expressed This Article Are Solely Those of Dr. Tom Frieden. "CDC Director: A Disease Outbreak Anywhere Is a Risk Everywhere."CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. [2] Moalem, Sharon, and Jonathan Prince. Survival of the Sickest: A Medical MaverickDiscovers Why We Need Disease. New York: William Morrow, 2007. [3] "Antimicrobial Resistance."

WHO. WHO, n.d. Web. [4] Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the US." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. Fished Away by Christina Cheng [1] "Overfishing." Environmental Science: In Context. Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 652654. In Context Series. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. [2] Palliser, Janna. "Not So Many Fish In The Sea." Science Scope 36.5 (2013): 10. Science Reference Center. Web. [3] Roberts, Callum. "The Sorrow Beneath The Sea." Newsweek 159.21 (n.d.): 26. Science Reference Center. Web.

Quantum Teleportation by Daniel Zhang [1] "Quantum Teleportation." Quantum Teleportation. The International Business Machines Corporation, n.d. Web. [2] "A World First!

Success at Complete Quantum Teleportation." AkihabaraNews. DigInfo, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. [3] Boyle, Rebecca. "FYI: How Quantum Teleportation Can Bring Us Secure Communications." Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation, 06 Sept. 2012. Web.

Hyperloop by Nicholas Villalobos [1] Howell, Elizabeth. "What Is Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, And Why Is It Important?" UniverseToday.com. Universe Today, 13 Aug. 2013.

Web. [2] Musk, Elon. "Hyperloop Alpha." SpaceX.com. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, 12 Aug. 2013. Web. [3] LeSage, Jon. "Ex-SpaceX Director Ready to Help Crowdfund Elon Musk's Hyperloop." AutoblogGreen.com. America Online, 29 Sept. 2013. Web. [4] Knowles, David. "Top U.S. Engineers Join Crowdfunding Effort to Help Turn Elon Musk's 'Hyperloop' from Dream into Reality."

NYDailyNews.cpm. New York Daily News, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. Water Underneath by Jeena Lee [1] Neuman, Scott. "Discovery Of Massive Aquifers Could Be Game Changer For Kenya." NPR. NPR, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. [2] "Aquifers."

And Groundwater, from USGS Water-Science School. N.p., 22 July 2013. Web. [3] Kaiser, Tiffany. "Massive Basin Aquifer Found in Kenya; Can Provide Fresh Water for Up to 70 Years." Daily Tech. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. [4] UNESCOPRESS. "Strategic Groundwater Reserves Found in Northern Kenya | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization." Strategic Groundwater Reserves Found in Northern Kenya | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. [5] "Kenya Aquifers Discovered in Dry Turkana Region." BBC News. BBC, 11 Sept. 2013. Web.

Echolocation and You by Benjamin Li [1] Lewis, Tanya. "Humans Can Learn to Echolocate." LiveScience.com. Live Science, 27 Aug. 2013. Web. [2] Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversitaet Muenchen (LMU). "Echolocation for humans: Playing it by ear." ScienceDaily, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. [3] Finkel, Michael.

"Men's Journal Magazine - Men's Style, Travel, Fitness and Gear." Men's Journal Magazine - Men's Style, Travel, Fitness and Gear. Men's Journal, Mar. 2011. Web. Welcome to Deep Space by April Shewry [1] Gebhardt, Christ. "Into the Unknown: Voyager 1 Begins Interstellar Space Adventure."NASASpaceFlight.com. N.p., 14 Sept. 2013.

Web. [2] Zirin, Harold. "Heliopause (astronomy)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. [3] NASA, and Space.com Staff. "5 Facts About NASA's Far-Flung Voyager Spacecraft."Space.com. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web.

A Futile Effort: Water is Not Enough by Michael Jung [1] Elliot, Danielle. "Water Discovered in Mars Surface Layer." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. [2] Chandorkar, Medha.

"8 Reasons to Not Apply to MarsOne's Mars Colonization Program."PolicyMic. N.p., n.d. Web. [3] Walker, Rovert. "Ten Reasons NOT To Live On Mars - Great Place To Explore." Ten Reasons NOT To Live On Mars - Great Place To Explore. N.p., 14 Aug. 2013. Web. The Feasible Dream by Austin Shih [1] “NASA Rover Finds Old Streambed on Martian Surface.” Webster, Guy. Dwayne, Brown. NASA, 27 Sep. 2012. Web. [2] “Water discovered in Martian Soil.” Landau, Elizabeth. CNN, 7 Oct. 2013. Web. [3] Mars Quick Facts. Mars Exploration Program. NASA, n.d. Web. [4] “Factoids and Frequently Asked Questions.” Overpopulation.org, Oct. 2013. Web. [5] Mars Exploration Program. NASA, n.d. Web. [6] “Farming for a Future.” Helney, Anna. NASA, 27 Aug. 2004. Web. [7] “International Team Explores Gardening in Space.” University of Arizona, 27 Jan. 2012. Web. Cleanup, Cleanup, Everybody, Everywhere by Raymond Deng [1] Slat, Boyan. "The Ocean Cleanup - Boyan Slat." The Ocean Cleanup. Boyan Slat, n.d. Web. [2] Slat, Boyan. "How the Oceans Can Clean Themselves: Boyan Slat at TEDxDelft." YouTube. YouTube, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. On the Origin of Dreams by Alan Tang [1] Healy, Melissa. “Dreams: Full of Meaning or a Reflex of the Brain?” Science Now. The LA Times. September 12, 2013. Web.

Flight by Tristan Reinecke [1] Rudwick, Martin J.S. (1985). The Meaning of Fossils (2nd ed.). The University of Chicago Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-226-73103-0. [2] Martin, Anthony J. (2006). Introduction to the Study of Dinosaurs. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-3413-5. [3] Baalke, Ron (199410-13). "Edward Cope's Skull". lepomis.psych.upenn.edu mailing list.

Retrieved 2008-08-15. [4] Naish, Darren (2012). Planet Dinosaur : The Next Generation of Killer Dinosaurs. Firefly Books. p. 186.

ISBN 978-1-77085-049-1. [5] Jingmai O'Connor, Zhonghe Zhou, and Xing Xu (2011). "Additional specimen of Microraptor provides unique evidence of dinosaurs preying on birds". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108 (49): 19662–19665. [6] "Dinosaur Wind Tunnel Test Provides New Insight Into the Evolution of Bird Flight." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. How Smart Are They? by Daniel Khasanov [1] Chatham, Chris. "10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers." Science Blogs. N.p., 27 Mar. 2007. Web. [2] Clark, Adam. "One of the World's Best A.I. Computers Is as Smart as a Four Year Old." Gizmodo. N.p., 15 July 2013. Web. [3] "Math Explains History: Simulation Accurately Captures the Evolution of Ancient Complex Societies." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 Sept. 2013. Web. [4] Poeter, Daemon. "Qualcomm Demos Brain-Inspired Zeroth Chips." PC MAG. N.p., 14 Oct. 2013. Web. Plant Power by Sukruth Kadaba [1] What Plants Talk About. Dir. Nora Young. Public Broadcasting Service, 2013. Film. [2] Smithsonian Channel. "Amazing Plants."

Amazing Plants. Smithsonian Networks. SMIT, 15 May 2013. Television.

The Discovery of Antibiotics by Jenny Lee [1] Torok, Simon. "Howard Florey - Maker of the Miracle Mould." ABC Science. N.p., n.d. Web. [2] Barbara, Mason, and John S. Mailer, Jr. "Penicillin: Medicine's Wartime Wonder Drug and Its Production at Peoria, Illinois." Penicillin: Medicine's Wartime Wonder Drug and Its Production at Peoria, Illinois. Illinois Periodicals Online, n.d. Web. [3] Tolley, Jenny. "Pros and Cons of Antibiotics." Helium.com.

Helium, 27 Feb. 2008. Web. [4] Eickhoff, Theodore C. "Penicillin: An Accidental Discovery Changed the Course of Medicine." Healio. com. Healio, Aug. 2008. Web.

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