Technograph Fall 2019

VOLUME 135: FALL 2019

Babies can comprehend leadership by 17 months

PAGES 8,9

Invasive species pose threat to existing life

PAGES 4,5

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TECHNOSTAFF Technograph editor Ava Traverso Assistant Technograph editor Natalie Stanowski Editor-in-Chief Kelly Johnson Managing editors Pari Apostolakos Tyler Panlillio Kenyon Edmond Designer editors Cassidy Brandt Brian Nguyen Copy chief Hannah Preston Assistant copy chief Rachael King Writers Aristides Theodoropoulus Bella Keys Sonal Singh Co-publishers Kit Donahue Melissa Pasco Contact (217) 337-8345 technograph@dailyillini.com Technograph 1001 S. Wright Street Champaign, IL 61820 AN ILLINI MEDIA PUBLICATION © 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS Invasive species pose threat to existing life PAGE 4-5

Fettuccine-like rocks indicate life on Mars PAGE 6-7

Babies can comprehend leadership by 17 months PAGE 8-9

Exploring link between exercise, cognition PAGE 10-11

Grad student analyzes effect of nutrition on brain PAGE 12-13

Optimistic attitudes may increase quality of sleep PAGE 14-15

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Invasive species pose threat to existing life BELLA KEYS | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER

E

vil comes in all forms, and invasive plants happen to be a special type. They have racked up quite a list of offenses against the environment, killing all kinds of species. It’s time these plants got what’s coming to them; it’s time they’re brought to trial.

The charges against invasive plant species include endangerment of native plants and animals as well as the decrease in the quality of the environment. Fortunately, not all foreign plants are invasive, but unfortunately, they become invasive when they begin to negatively affect the ecosystem.

When these plants were introduced to the environment, it was not known they would lead to such problems. Instead, these plants were brought here for the things they do. There are many different examples of invasive plant species, but a few — kudzu, garlic mustard and maple trees — were brought into the U.S. intentionally for human uses.

Kudzu came to the U.S. from Japan, and it is a mossy green groundcover that sprawls over the landscape covering everything, including trees.

Joseph Edwards, graduate student in Integrative Biology, said the original reason kudzu came to the United States was to be used as a “groundcover that can be used for forage.”

Kudzu is one of the few plants you can eat all the way down to its roots and will still grow back. As an added plus, these shrubs grow quickly, so you would never run out of grazing land for your cattle. To make the deal even sweeter, these plants prevent erosion of the land. Therefore, bringing kudzu over initially seemed like a no-brainer, though it later turned out to be a nightmare.

The havoc kudzu caused is too great to be ignored, as the plant grew tremendously in an incredibly short amount of time. By covering all

of the land and trees, kudzu deprived nearby plants of their much needed space and sunshine. Consequently, many plants died, and in turn, many animals either perished or had to leave the area due to food shortages. It is impossible to make a case in favor of kudzu, as the consequences vastly outweigh any benefit the plant may bring.

This next plant is one named exactly after its taste: garlic mustard. That’s correct, this plant smells and tastes very much like the garlic mustard seasoning. The people who brought garlic mustard into U.S. territory were only thinking about “how they like the leaves, the taste” and that it “reproduces really quickly,” resident expert Edwards said. In addition to this, garlic mustard stays green even in winter. Who hasn’t wanted a green lawn in the dead of winter?

However, those who brought it over did not understand the tragedy this plant would leave in its wake. This plant grows insatiably, covering the understory of forests until there is nothing left to see but garlic mustard sprouting from the ground. After it has successfully covered the land, the plants that lie beneath it begin to wilt and die. The ripple effects of this can be seen all across the forest. Once the plants underneath the garlic mustard begin to die from lack of sunlight and nutrients, other residents of the forest die off as well.

This damage spreads all the way from the microscopic soil fungi and continues on to disrupt the lives of some salamanders, mollusks and butterflies. In these ways, garlic mustard is harmful to the environment and should be contained for the survival of native species.

Our final plant on the stand is one that many people will know, as these plants are the very common maple trees. Maple trees have stunning large leaves that turn lovely shades of red and

5 orange in the fall. One at a time, these trees take root in oak forests and begin to grow until their leaf covers block the sun out.

The problem in this case is not that the maple trees grow too fast, but rather they grow too tall. Maples grow dozens of feet taller than oak trees, and once they reach full height, they shade the entire forest. By creating this shade, these trees effectively wipe out quite a few oaks, as well as other forest residents. Thus, having a maple tree cover the forest ground is very different than having an oak do this.

This difference comes in because of the types of shade these trees offer. “In a pristine oak forest, it’s very open, the canopy isn’t closed and there is lots of light,” Edwards said.

On the other hand, maple forests’ canopies are closed, which means less light is able to get through. After the light is removed from the understory, many of the plants and animals there have to relocate to new homes, as their old forest is no longer habitable. At the end of the day, maple trees cause the destruction of many species and need to be controlled.

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While there are undeniable positives to these plants, the benefits are deeply overshadowed by the negatives in all cases. Among these negative effects are the risk of jeopardizing animal and plant lives and imposing ruinous impacts on the environment, both of which require a solution that controls plant growth.

There are other places in the world where these species can thrive and become an asset to neighboring flora and fauna, but the United States is not one of them.

Bella is a junior in LAS. ikeys@readtechno.com

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Fettuccine-like rocks indicate life on Mars NATALIE STANOWSKI | ASSISSTANT TECHNOGRAPH EDITOR

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NASA-funded study, led by University geology professor Bruce Fouke, has determined a certain type of pasta-resembling rock could be indicative of past life on the red planet.

These fettuccine-like rocks are a subset of travertine, a type of banded sedimentary rock that is made up of calcium carbonate. Their fibrous appearance is a testament to how they were formed; the rocks are a result of the tendency of sulfurihydrogenibium yellowstonense -- or sulfuri bacteria -- to form in long threads. The bacteria bind together to form cables around which calcium carbonate crystallizes. This effect is what creates the rock’s pasta-like appearance.

Since the rocks formed around sulfuri bacteria are very unique in appearance, when even compared to other types of travertine rock, rovers on Mars could easily identify them on the Martian surface. If the fettuccine-like rocks were to be found on the surface of Mars, it would be evidence for life to have existed on the planet. To confirm that sulfuri could have survived on the alien landscape, the team studied the metabolic needs of the bacterium.

“Instead of breathing oxygen like we do, they actually like to breathe sulfur in the form of sulfide,” Fouke said. “It’s quite resourceful. It has multiple metabolisms, and what I mean by that is that we as humans ... need to eat organic matter that was previously formed by plants or animals ... that’s the only way we operate.

But it’s not uncommon for some of these sulfuri filaments to be able to do upwards of five, six or seven metabolisms. It can go all the way from ancient forms of rudimentary photosynthesis all the way to being like us, eating Snickers and breaking it down with oxygen.”

Because of the bacteria’s versatility as being both an autotroph and heterotroph, as well as

its ability to tolerate ultraviolet light and low oxygen levels, the research team concluded that sulfuri would have had the proper conditions to exist on the Martian surface. Paired with the fact that the rocks formed by sulfuri have a distinctive appearance resembling pasta, these rock formations would be an easy way to detect the presence of microbial life on other planets.

“When we go to another planet and look for life, we want to be able to collect just the right rocks, and that’s not an easy task because there are all kinds of rocks on Mars and other places,” Fouke said. “But if you tell the rover and search with it to find these kinds of sinuously shaped travertines ... that allows us to then have a very specific search of what to come home with.”

To study the sulfuri formations, the research team traveled to the Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park, where they collected samples of the rock.

“The results that we’re getting from Yellowstone have allowed us to understand how similar types of processes, not in hot water, but other environments, operate throughout the planet,” Fouke said. “So we use Yellowstone as a natural laboratory to understand how life has evolved, how life first emerged, how life makes a living and also life’s interaction with minerals.

Here it’s calcium carbonate, and we have our bones, which are very similar to that. So we do our laboratory work in Yellowstone and then we apply the results directly to other systems.”

The team’s research findings on the sulfuri travertine rocks are currently in use by NASA to search for similar rocks on Mars. But the findings haven’t only been used to search for life in space; the specific form of calcium carbonate called aragonite found in the sulfuri travertines is the same mineral used by corals to grow

7 their skeletons in warm and shallow tropical seas. The research done at the Mammoth Hot Springs has also, therefore, led to new information about corals and how they will be affected by the rise in ocean temperature due to global warming.

“It’s extremely cross-disciplinary work,” said Fouke. “I’m a geologist, and also now a professor in microbiology and work in the genomics institute. (The University of) Illinois is very unique in having the capacity and the interest in having very strong cross-disciplinary research going on. It’s a very unique and important part of our campus.”

Fouke also mentioned his optimism for the future of how prevalent cross-disciplinary research will become.

“That’s what’s so exciting about your generation and future generations, is that everything is connected,” Fouke said.

Professor Fouke himself is a testament to this, having worked not only with travertines and coral reefs, but also researching the formation

of kidney stones in humans. He also studied the timing and hydrology of the last flow of water in the aqueducts of ancient Rome. The variety of Fouke’s work goes to show that all the disciplines of science are intertwined with one another; researching calcium carbonate in hot springs can both help us understand the structure of coral reefs as well as to search for life in the universe.

As the divide between disciplines grows fainter, it’s certain that many of today’s findings will allow for applications across several fields, even those at first glance seem far removed from the others.

Natalie is a junior in LAS. nms6@readtechno.com

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Babies can comprehend leadership by 17 months AVA TRAVERSO | TECHNOGRAPH EDITOR

A

facet of our society that has been around as long as recorded history can document is the organization of hierarchical systems.

Where did this organization first begin? Was it learned, or is it hardwired into human DNA? A stepping-stone to the answer of these questions may be found in younger generations, more specifically, babies. According to a study that recently took place at the University psychology department, babies are able to expect authority figures to right wrongs and take the lead by as young as 17 months. I spoke with the two minds behind this finding to get a better look into what the study entailed and what it could mean for the future of child psychology.

With the study piloted by alumni distinguished professor Renée Baillargeon, who has over 30 years of experience working with the University psychology department, and Dr. Maayan Stavans, a former University graduate student who worked in Baillargeon’s lab, there was a potent amount of expertise behind the experiments. The way the experiment was conducted was adorable and fun through the use of bright colors, stuffed animals and puppet shows. Stavans handcrafted the costumes used to distinguish the regular bears from the leaders.

“Together with (Baillargeon), we designed exactly the scenarios,” Stavans said. “I built all the bears … Each hat took me an hour to prepare.” The way they distinguished the ‘leader’ bear from the regular bears was with one of two routes. One of them was giving the leader a larger coat, and the other one was having the leader give orders while the other bears follow them. The babies were able to understand both of the bear types were leaders, even though there were two separate indicators.

Currently working on post-doctoral research in Budapest, Hungary, Stavans developed her original

interest in psychology during her undergraduate years.

“In Israel, we have to do military service after high school, so I was part of a hierarchical system. I found it very interesting, how the hierarchical social system really determines the behaviors of individuals within it, so that was my personal inclination.”

This inclination eventually would end up leading her to work with the likes of Baillargeon at the University during her graduate studies.

The thinking behind this study came from years of advancement within child psychological research.

Baillargeon shined some light on the matter through her experience.

“So, then the field moved on again and said, ‘OK, what happens when you’re not just focusing on one agent … but you’re looking at two or three or four agents who interact with each other? Do they have any ideas on how they should act towards each other? Do they have a sense of fairness, a sense of in-group support?’”

Baillargeon said. “This is the new frontier of early cognition research. It’s early morality.”

This interest in the infant sense of morality is a pillar into the reasoning behind their study on authority and leaders. It was also a thought process that allowed them to do work into how much babies can understand at such a young age, which turned out to be quite a lot. This study is just one of the many projects that they are working on at the lab.

A large part of the finding was in relation to a discovery that has long been known in the psychology community, which is the fact that babies -- as well as adults -- typically stare longer when situations do not go according to their expectations.

“We relied on looking times, not facial reactions,” Stavans said. “It’s hard to tell from a baby’s face what

9 they might be thinking … they might not be very good at expressing everything. Like when a baby is crying, they could be upset or sad, but they could also be hungry …

The reasoning behind this is that babies, just like adults, will look longer at events they find unexpected or inconsistent with how they think events should unfold.”

Through the method of measuring the looking times of the babies as the plays unfolded, they were able to form a correlation between authority and infant understanding.

They also had an experimental model where one of the bears did not want his piece of candy, so the other bear took both pieces. The leader did not intervene in this scenario, and this also had telling results.

“We were able to say with a certain degree of confidence that this is what they might be expecting when the leader intervenes to rectify a transgression, they look longer than when the leader does not intervene and ignores what had occurred,” Stavans said.

This is a monumental difference within itself, showing that not only can babies expect their leaders to rectify injustices, but also, they can tell when a leader is being overbearing towards their followers, as shown with that specific experimental run. They had an understanding because one of the bears said no, it was okay for the other bear to take both.

Baillargeon also made a point to thank those who helped her make these findings in the first place.

“Our moms, they are so important,” Baillargeon said.

“We have a booth set up at things like The Farmer’s Market or stuff like that, and we try to encourage moms to take part in our studies. We would not be able to do the work we do without our parental community, so we are very grateful for them.”

Because their work relies largely on volunteers, they are always looking for parents and children to aid them with their research.

The study has a definite influence on how the future of psychology could progress. With a stronger foundation of how humans communicate and understand the society and world around them during their adolescence, we can better understand how we grow and change with cultural influences over time. The work these psychologists are doing is helping us understand how we came to be, both in our minds and in our world.

Ava is a Junior in ACES. avat2@readtechno.com

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Technology explores reciprocal link between exercise, cognition

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ARISTIDES THEODOROPOULOS | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER

he department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University is currently studying the connections between the brain and the body.

Specifically, Dr. Sean Mullen and his team are at the forefront of this research, with funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The overarching goal Mullen and his team are striving for is an understanding of “the mechanisms of the reciprocal relationship between exercise and cognitive functioning,” said Adam Taggart, a doctoral student currently working with Mullen.

One of the studies is named BRAIN, which is a pilot study that has investigated the effects of a multi-modal aerobic exercise and cognitive training regimen.

The study included a group of adults experiencing post-concussive symptoms. Mullen and his team agree that with brain injuries, symptoms can typically persist

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for months. It has been thought resting the mind should be the answer to brain injury, however, recent evidence suggests taking a more physical approach rather than a mostly mental one.

The BRAIN study thus incorporates both a focus on the mind and body, which has demonstrated “some advantages over aerobic exercise alone,” Taggart said.

Another study conducted by Mullen and his team focuses on breast cancer survivors who are frequently affected by chronic, cancer-related fatigue. Unlike the BRAIN study, RACER was designed to test what the outcomes would be if mindful relaxation techniques, delivered via an app and cycling, together.

Similarly, RACER has produced results that lead researchers to believe there are advantages to the coupling of mind and body regimens. Although both of these studies were dissertation studies, Mullen and his

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11 colleagues believe “the results certainly warrant further investigation,” Taggart said.

What can current exercise enthusiasts do to optimize the quality of their work-outs? Mullen and his colleagues agree many tend to fall into ruts with the progress of their exercise.

It’s important for those who routinely go to the gym to the type of exercises performed, so boredom and a lack of motivation do not set in. Not only are physical improvements a desire for people, but so are the cognitive benefits. Mullen’s team is continuously investigating the relationships between mental and physical states.

A unique aspect of this laboratory is the team’s curiosity to understand what types of technologies should be a part of the exercise and how it can be a factor in affecting specific areas of cognition. One of the ETC lab’s goals is to create new technologies to assess cognitive and motor skills, Taggart said, and to be able to train these skills.

Prototypes have been developed by the ETC lab in order to assess and train agility. The lab has compared these prototypes to the video game Dance Dance Revolution but on a more complex scale. Assessments via iPad of cognitive functioning and Unity 3D-powered

exercise games) are also types of technology that the lab is incorporating to better understand the inner and outer workings of the body and mind as well as their connection.

Taggart said Dr. Mullen and his entire ETC laboratory “aim to advance science and practice” by developing and testing their own technology. Validating consumer-grade apps and wearables is yet another goal of the ETC team. Apple watches, Fitbits, and other health applications have become a part of many people’s daily lives as wellness practices continue to become more advanced.

The Exercise, Technology & Cognition laboratory at the University appears to be working hard to provide our society with information on the human body and mind. Ultimately, the quality of our lives can depend and be drastically improved by the work of such research.

Ari is a senior in LAS apt2@readtechno.com

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Graduate student analyzes effect of nutrition on brain function

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AVA TRAVERSO | TECHNOGRAPH EDITOR

hen the word ‘research’ comes to mind, one may think of lab coats, microscopes and complex science experiments. Overall, the general feeling surrounding research can come off as unattainable and as a difficult community to break into. In the changing world we live in, the exploration of science has become much more complex and diverse. The lives of grad students involved in research are extremely multi-faceted, with many different aspects besides their labs making up their lives. Some students have jobs outside of their research, are advisers for clubs or work for the University outside of their work. One route some female grad students may take is being a sorority house director. I spoke to one of these students, Shelby Keye, to get an inside look into what her life on campus consists of.

Her academics: She is currently studying as a first-year doctoral student within the major of Kinesiology here at the University. Her specific focus is within body composition and neuroscience. For her undergraduate studies, she went to Virginia Tech for Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise and was a cheerleader there for two years. For her graduate degree, she studied Exercise Science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Her current study: She focuses on fat content, muscle content and bone density. She told me her work takes a broader look at the science of body composition, but other scientists take a more in-depth look at the specifics of it. She is studying how nutrition can affect brain function. Because she was hired by a professor here on campus, this gave her the opportunity to take classes in order to work toward her doctoral degree. The current project she is involved in is working with old studies of the body composition of children to review the data for connections.

Her lab specifically looks into how exercise and nutrition affect body composition and brain function.

She told me the lab has members

from multiple departments, in areas such as nutritional science, neuroscience and kinesiology. They all work together on the same projects looking to find how different factors such as exercise, physical activity and nutrition, shape the way our body composition forms and our cognitive functions.

What she wants to end up doing: She wants to keep studying how different types of exercise and physical activity can affect motor functions, as well as cognitive functions. She said doctoral students generally start working on their own projects a little later into their student careers, so she is currently working on the project of her professor’s lab.

Outside of the lab: She currently works as house director for Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority’s chapter here on campus. While she was not involved with Greek life during her undergraduate studies, she said she really enjoys living with the girls. While the juggling of a busy job, research and classes may seem daunting, Keye handles the workload with grace. She stated the job was really great for a graduate student schedule. Allowing her to work in the lab during the day, and only really come home and keep an eye on things at night, she said the position gives her a great balance between her work and her academics.

Shelby is just one of the many students who show research does not have a mold and should be an option made available to students who desire to be involved. It goes to show no one person fits a scientist stereotype, and the diversity of the members within the research field has helped improve our findings and our scientific work as a society. No matter what your background, extracurriculars or interests may be, there is an opportunity out there if you put in the work to look for it.

Ava is a junior in ACES. avat2@readtechno.com

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Optimistic attitudes may increase quality of sleep

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SONAL SINGH | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER

leep plays an integral role in every part of our lives. We spend a third of our lives asleep, and during that process some of our body’s most important processes take place. It is common knowledge we need at least seven hours of sleep to function properly. However, according to a report by the CDC in 2011, close to 35.3% of American adults do not get enough sleep on a regular basis.

The first research study examining sleep was published by French scientist Henri Pieron in 1913.

Since then, there has been constant research concerning the different factors affecting the quality and duration of people’s sleep. Recently, Rosalba Hernandez, University professor in social work, led a study with a team of researchers on the subject.

Their findings were published in a paper titled “The Association of Optimism with Sleep Duration and Quality”.

The primary aim of the study was to examine if optimism is related to, or associated with, sleep in any way.

“I study things like optimism and happiness,” Hernandez said. “A lot of my research focuses on the benefits of what we call psychological well-being. The reason I wanted to do the study is saying maybe if optimism is associated with sleep, that could potentially be a mechanism through which it is

impacting health.”

This study used the Life Orientation Test-Revised

by C.S. Carver, professor at the University of Miami, to measure levels of optimism in their participants. The test consists of six statements such as “in uncertain times, I usually expect the best,” and each participant had to rank the statement on a scale of how much they agree or disagree with it.

In the end, each participant would receive a score out of a total of 30 points. In essence, the higher the score is, the more optimistic a person has been determined to be.

“We found that with each standard deviation higher, higher scores of optimism were associated with the participants saying their sleep quality was better,” Hernandez said. “We found these results both longitudinally and cross-sectionally.”

The study spanned across a 5-year period. The results found if participants had high levels of optimism at the beginning, they also often reported good sleep quality consistently throughout the study.

“We found a significant association for the selfreported sleep quality but when it came to the objective sleep markers we didn’t find the same relationship,” Hernandez said. “Future studies should be done to see why that discrepancy is there.”

Although participants reported higher sleep quality, the objective measures suggested there was not a significant correlation.

Additionally, when they decided to also study the effect of optimism on the duration of self-reported sleep, participants would get asked about how much sleep they thought they got and based on that data, there was no association between levels of optimism and duration of sleep.

“Is it possible that people’s emotions are just

15 painting or coloring the way that they view their sleep, and are they being more optimistic when they are reporting their sleep?” Hernandez said.

“Another thing that we need to consider is the directionality. The idea that sleeping better could be the reason people are more optimistic, it could be a dual mechanism.”

The researchers believe there are many ways in which participants’ optimism could have affected their sleep quality. One way was due to participants being more optimistic, they were able to work through their issues better. This meant they were less worried when they were sleeping, which led to a better quality of sleep.

There were many factors taken into consideration when this study was conducted, such as other variables that might also affect sleep. The team working on this study tried to adjust for other variables which might affect the quality of sleep such as physical activity.

“It is possible that behavioral factors play a role above and beyond optimism,” Hernandez said.

“We are actually conducting studies currently, where we have a curriculum to increase people’s

psychological well-being and their optimism. It’s possible that optimism impacts sleep and sleep impacts health, which means there is something that can potentially be done upstream with emotional well-being.”

Hernandez talks about how it is possible to become more optimistic with time if people decide to put in an effort. They are currently looking into the applications of people taking on a more optimistic mentality and whether or not it can affect the quality of their sleep.

Although there are still many factors to consider when it comes to this study, the results of the examination of the relationship between levels of optimism and quality of sleep will help fuel further studies regarding the matter. This study adds another factor to the long list of existing criteria which we know affect sleep. These findings can also give people an easy and accessible way to improve their sleep and overall health.

Sonal is a sophomore in Business. tssingh2@readtechno.com

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