Ingenium Summer 2022

Editor’s note

Ingenium started as an idea. An idea to pursue science beyond the syllabus, to stretch oneself beyond the confines of the GCSE and A-Level specification. When Yash created this magazine it was the first step in inspiring students at Trinity to start looking outwards and to showcase their efforts in doing this.

Our team of writers and editors have gone above and beyond what is expected of them as students; their willingness to learn more and give back to the school is inspiring and I hope that through this edition you recognise this and are willing to do the same.

Ingenium hopes to enrich your minds with the beauty of science across all fields, whether it is biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, or psychology, they all are integral for our understanding of the universe, and without them, this planet would be an empty void

Science is the study of truth, the engine driving humanity forward and as the next generation, it is vital that we push ourselves beyond the boundaries of school syllabi.

We take on the responsibility to further our knowledge of our mysterious universe, to help the world become a better place, through all subjects we study.

Our teachers lay the foundation for this but it is our duty to execute and endeavour further.

Stepping up to this challenge begins with simply being passionate about these subjects, and to discover these passions you have to seek them, Ingenium provides an avenue for this seek, introducing you to questions and topics like Joining Forces, Why Chameleons Change Colour? And all science beyond the syllabi.

I hope you enjoy this edition of Ingenium and as a great man named Yash Shetty once said: keep asking questions. Keep learning.

“A student is not a container you have to fill, but a torch you have to light up.” -

Albert Einstein

14 Why weight loss

is so hard

17 Pluto: Icy Wasteland

or A Geological Marvel?

After research into what Pluto is really like, we begin to see that it is much more than the tiny, barren, ‘wannabe planet’ we make it out to be.

20 Joining Forces

Perceptrons are mathematical models that aim to recreate the neuron by generating inputs and outputs. However, these can only be utilised to solve one type of situation, in order to expand this we must combine perceptrons.

24 breaking the c-f bond

The discoveries this year, which show a new method of reducing perfluoroalkyl substance and polyfluoroalkyl substance pollution in water.

27 The ghost in the machine: Explaining conciousness

The only thing we can be certain of in this world is our conciousness. But what is conciousness?

32 volcanism on mars

Mars is home to some of the biggest volcanos in the solar system, how do we know that these are volcanoes? How are they formed? And why are they so much bigger than Earth’s?

36 The elephant in the room: solving the climate crisis

The effects of the climate crisis are extremely dire, the best way to solve it? Cutting down on global consumption of animal products.

41 How chameleons change colour

The truth behind this fascinating ability of these reptiles, there is more to it then we believe.

47

news features

Quantum Boomerang Effect Detected For the First Time

Recently, Physicists confirmed a phenomenon known as the Quantum Boomerang Effect. A recent experiment showcases particles in a certain material can return to their approximate starting points after being nudged.(1) This occurs if the particles are in a material with lots of disorder and disruption with misaligned atoms or atoms sprinkled in the structure randomly.

In 1958, physicist Phillip Anderson realised an effect on electrons called localisation that occurs when the material has disorder such as missing or misaligned atoms.(1) Localisation is the effect in which electrons get stuck in place and they cannot travel far from their starting point. As the electrons cannot conduct electricity, the material that may be a metal is turned into an insulator. This is necessary for the boomerang effect.

Physicist David Weld of the University of California, Santa Barbara led his colleagues to demonstrate this effect using ultracold lithium atoms (instead of the electrons). (1) Rather than

looking for atoms to return to their original position, the team looked at a comparable situation with momentum. The atoms were initially stationary but were hit with lasers to give them momentum, after this they returned, on average, to their original positions forming the boomerang effect. (1)

This is due to quantum physics. From wave-particle duality we can understand that quantum particles tend to act as waves. Once the laser hits the atoms, the waves combine to force a trajectory towards the original position of the particle. This effect only occurs in certain conditions, including the regularity of the laser beams, when it was altered the effect was broken.(2)

Although this has not been delved upon further than this research team it holds promise for the development of our knowledge of the quantum world.

References

1. Conover E. The quantum ‘boomerang’ effect has been seen for the first time [Internet]. Science News. 2022 [cited 2022 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantumboomerang-effect-seen-first-time

2. Quantum Boomerang Effect Observed Experimentally For First Time | IFLScience [Internet]. [cited 2022 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.iflscience.com/physics/quantum-boomerang-effect-observed-experimentally-for-first-time/?fr=operanews

The facility in which the effect was detected. Cited from: Conover E. The quantum ‘boomerang’ effect has been seen for the first time [Internet]. Science News. 2022 [cited 2022 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.sciencenews.org/ article/quantum-boomerang-effect-seen-first-time

One step closer to Nuclear Fusion on Earth

Nuclear Fusion on earth will be revolutionary, in that it will provide an everlasting supply of low carbon, low-radiation energy. The Joint European Torus in Oxfordshire, UK has taken the first major leap towards developing nuclear fusion on earth. On 9th February 2022, they announced that 59 megajoules of energy was produced in five seconds, over double of what they had achieved in 1997.(1) While this still pales in comparison to the nuclear fusion within a star, it holds promise for a design that does indeed withstand a great amount of energy and to do so in a much larger facility would be a phenomenal step in the strides to produce nuclear fusion.(1)

This facility is the ITER, in southern France, supported and financed by governments globally, it is expected

to be able to prove that nuclear fusion can act as a reliable source of energy in the second half of the century, no greenhouse gases would be produced and there would minimal amounts of radioactive waste. (1) Although JET couldn’t run any longer than 5 seconds as the copper electromagnets overheated, in ITER internally cooled superconducting magnets are to be used. (1) Fusion works through heating hydrogen atoms causing nuclei to fuse together and due to the instability of the new nuclei, a helium nucleus, a neutron, and tons of energy is released.

This reaction so far can only occur in stars, due to the immense pressure within a star and the temperature of the core. The pressure on earth is not large enough to allow nuclear fusion to occur and for it work, the temperature must be much greater than that of the core of a star, over 100 million degrees Celsius.(1) As no material can withstand contact with such immense temperatures, scientists at fusion laboratories utilise plasma, superheated matter,(2) and place it a circular magnetic field, and this allows extremely high temperatures to be produced, and perhaps one day allowing nuclear fusion. However, the utilisation of nuclear fusion for a source of energy, commercially is still many decades away. Achieving it will still likely take 10-20 years as ITER will only start its experiments on nuclear fusion in 2025, and for it to be fully commercialised it will take many, many years. Thus, we cannot rely on these developments to reach net zero by

2050. As said by Jon Amos fusion ‘is a solution to power society in the second half of this century.’(1)

References

1.Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy. BBC News [Internet]. 2022 Feb 9 [cited 2022 Feb 19]; Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60312633

2. What is Plasma? | MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center [Internet]. [cited 2022 Feb 19]. Available from: https://www. psfc.mit.edu/vision/what_is_plasma

An image of the reactor at JET. Cited from Kirk B. UK Scientists Make Huge Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Tech, Here’s Why it’s Historic [Internet]. autoevolution. 2022 [cited 2022 Feb 20]. Available from: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/uk-scientists-make-huge-breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion-tech-here-s-why-it-s-historic-182036.html

chimpanzees seen using insects to heal wounds

In Loango National Park, Gabon, a community of chimpanzees were seen using insects to treat their open wounds(1). Over a 15-month period, scientists conducted research at the Loango National Park, in which they observed 76 different open wounds on 22 chimpanzees. Within the investigation, chimpanzees were seen applying insect to the wounds in 19 different events(2). The insects were immobilised with their mouth and was placed in the wound. The research began due to an observation by Alessandra Mascaro.

A chimpanzee named Sia with an open wound on his foot was treated by her mother Suzee(2). The encounter was recorded on video and Mascarro said in a statement “… you can see that Suzee is first looking at the foot of her son and then it’s as if she is thinking, ‘What could I do?’ and then she looks up sees the insect and catches it for her son.’ (2)

Although animals have been seen using plants to treat their wounds, in which they ingest or apply it,

notably elephants, bears, otters and parrots have been seen doing so.(2) This was so revolutionary for our knowledge of animals due to firstly, the use of insects. Most often in these cases of self-medication in animals, plants have been used, for example orangutans were observed using the plant Dracaena cantleyi. (2) Although the researchers are unable to identify the insect being used and the medicinal effects it has, this is notable as chimpanzees have recognised its effectiveness in treating their wounds.

Secondly, the application of the medicine to another animal is unusual. We often think of animals to only care for their survival however, this demonstrates otherwise. This is known as pro-social behaviour, in which they act in order to help others as well as themselves. (2)

The demonstration of this behaviour allows us to begin to realise the similarities between the human specie with chimpanzees. Jane Goodall highlights that, chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans(3). They also have very similar structure brains to humans and have engaged

in human -like behaviour using tools, sharing emotions, and even engaging in conflict,most notably the Gombe Chimpanzee War.(2) This research reflects on how little we know about these creatures, our similarities and excites for the future in which we further delve into these fascinating animals.

References

1. #author.fullName}. Chimpanzees spotted apparently using insects to treat their wounds [Internet]. New Scientist. [cited 2022 Feb 19]. Available from: https://www. newscientist.com/article/2307387-chimpanzees-spotted-apparently-using-insects-to-treat-their-wounds/

2. Chimpanzees use insects to treat wounds, help each other - study - The Jerusalem Post [Internet]. [cited 2022 Feb 19]. Available from: https://www.jpost.com/science/article-695932

3. 10 Ways Chimps and Humans are the Same [Internet]. [cited 2022 Feb 19]. Available from: https://janegoodall. ca/our-stories/10-ways/

why weight loss is so hard

By Anshvardhan Shetty

Losing weight may appear straightforward but in reality, it is rather challenging. Many who attempt to lose weight are unsuccessful or gain their weight back. It’s not just the late-night pizza and the lack of exercise that prevents weight loss though - in fact, our bodies actively fight back against weight loss. Analysing how our bodies react to shedding fat can explain why so many people struggle. All over our body we have a connective tissue that consists of lipid-rich cells (adipocytes) that stores energy, known scientifically as adipose tissue but more commonly recognized as body fat (2).

Your body can use this energy-rich substance to fuel your cells; it acts as reinforcement if your body requires extra energy or needs to carry out metabolic reactions. A popular strategy for weight loss is to try and force your body to burn this fat for energy, reasoning that once your weight-loss goal is achieved you can revert to your original lifestyle. However, your body is resistant to losing its extra energy supply. When you restrict your diet by cutting calories it has negative side effects that make it harder to lose weight. Leptin, a hormone produced by your adipocytes, alters your food intake and your energy expenditure in order to maintain your current conditions (3). The larger your fat cells are, i.e., the more body fat you have, the more leptin is produced and losing weight causes your leptin levels to drop. (1)

Your hormone secretion is controlled by the hypothalamus located at the rear of the brain (4). A lack of leptin is interpreted as starvation, so the hypothalamus signals the body

to restrict the amount of energy burned and to eat more to rebuild the energy reserves. Your organs also notify the brain of starvation: the stomach alerts the brain that it is not being filled by increasing the levels of ghrelin, causing you to have a larger appetite and overeat. Ghrelin is a hormone created by enteroendocrine cells which are found in the alimentary canal, they produce and release hormones to regulate how hungry you feel. (5) Simultaneously, your pancreas secretes less insulin, which regulates your blood sugar levels causing high blood glucose levels, and less amylin, which signals fullness therefore causing you to carry on eating. This hormonal change increases your appetite, your cravings, and

the pleasure you receive after submitting to these cravings. (1) Your body also becomes more energy efficient since it tries to limit the energy used and relies more heavily on glucose solely from foods instead of from a mix of glucose and body fat for energy (1). This results in a lower resting metabolic rate (a measure of the number of calories burned at rest), as well as a decrease in fat loss.

What’s worst is that even after you stop restricting yourself your hormonal starvation signal continues, which is why most weight losses aren’t sustainable. Your brain still thinks you are starving even if you gain your weight back. Generally, we believe that the smaller you are the less fuel you need, but it also depends upon your past and whether you’ve been heavier or thinner before. In 2016, the televised weight loss competition “The Biggest Loser” studied 14 contestants and their weight loss journeys. After 30 weeks, the participants lost a mean of 58kg as well as seeing their resting metabolic rates decreased by approximately 610kcal/day. over the course of the competition. However, in the years after, they gained back an average of 41 kg but without their metabolic rates increasing, leaving them burning 500 kcal less per day than they should be at their final weights. (1)

The next time they attempt weight loss they will be restricted further and further. Those who have lost weight previously are at a disadvantage to those who have never been heavier or lighter since these people are maintaining a constant weight and will therefore eat less overall (comparative to body mass). But for those that have lost weight before, consuming a regular intake of food would ultimately increase their mass because of the discussed roles of leptin, the hypothalamus, ghrelin etc.

However, losing weight gradually at a safe rate of 0.5-1 kg each week deceives our body into thinking we’re eating normally (6). Phillip Stanforth, a professor of exercise science at the University of Texas, states, “That typically means you’re losing a few pounds a week. And that tends to be a lot more sustainable than losing a whole bunch at once.” Moreover, Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Donald D. Hensrud writes, “The concern with fast weight loss is that it usually takes extraordinary efforts in diet and exercise — efforts that could be unhealthy and that you probably can’t maintain as permanent lifestyle changes.” (7) In conclusion, your body doesn’t like too much change at once. A gradual decrease in weight is more beneficial for you both mentally and

physically – the solution is sustainability.

References

1. SciShow (Director). (2019). The Real Reason It’s So Hard to Lose Weight [Motion Picture].

2. Adipose tissue. (2018, Febuary). Retrieved from You and Your Hormones: https://www.yourhormones.info/glands/ adipose-tissue/

3. Leptin. (2018, March). Retrieved from You and your Hormones: https://www.yourhormones.info/hormones/leptin/ 4. Boeree, D. C. (2002, 2009). The Emotional Nervous System. Retrieved from The Limbic System: http://webspace. ship.edu/cgboer/limbicsystem.html

5. Metab, M. (2015, June). Ghrelin. Retrieved from US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4443295/ 6. (2019, November 29). Start the NHS weight loss plan. Retrieved from NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/ healthy-weight/start-the-nhs-weight-loss-plan/

7. Brodwin, E. (2016, Jan 6). How many pounds should I lose each week? Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www. businessinsider.com/how-many-pounds-should-i-lose-each-week2016-1?r=US&IR=T

Pluto : Icy Wasteland or Geological Marvel?

By Simeon Wren

Pluto has long been thought of as a tiny, barren dwarf-planet, almost 5 billion kilometres from Earth (Redd, 2016) with no real significance or interesting features. Since it was so far from Earth, before 2015 the only images of Pluto were no more than 10 grey and white pixels. However, all that changed after the New Horizons mission. For the first time, high-definition photographs of Pluto were taken, and they revealed some fascinating mysteries and many new details which completely contradicted previous beliefs. Some of the discoveries may even point towards the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.

When the images were analysed, numerous unusual features were found which raised many questions.

A particularly large area of icy plains was found to be craterless (Duncan, 2020), a stark difference to the rest of Pluto’s surface. Scientists knew it was highly unlikely that this area did not receive any meteorite or asteroid impacts because there was no logical reason for it. Therefore, they compared Pluto to Earth. The Earth does not have many craters for two different reasons: one is that lots of geological activity on Earth. The tectonic plates shift, and rock sinks down into Earth’s mantle and melts. Any craters or other landforms in the rock eventually sink and melt and then molten rock rises to form new, craterless land. This was far more likely since Pluto doesn’t have an atmosphere, and there was other evidence to back it up.

Fig. 1&2: The patterns of the plains on Pluto (left). The shapes are very large (the features in the top left corner are mountains) and the boundaries between them are very strong and defined (Radford, 2016). The shapes on Pluto are very similar to those in stratocumulus clouds (right) caused by convection currents. (Lipke, 2017)

Simeon Wren Pluto: Icy Wasteland or Geological Marvel

Simeon Wren Pluto: Icy Wasteland or Geological Marvel

Upon closer inspection of these plains, a regular pattern was found across the surface (Fig. 1). Despite being in a completely different environment and in a completely different location, these shapes on Pluto’s surface were very similar to stratocumulus clouds on Earth. Stratocumulus clouds are created by convection currents: warm air, which can be very humid, rises and cools, causing the water in the air to condense. This forms clouds broken up into specific shapes much like the ones created by the plains on Pluto. Convection currents are also found inside the Earth, with rock melting nearer the centre and then cooling and condensing at the crust again. These relatively regular shapes on Pluto’s surface suggest that there are geological processes occurring underneath the surface (Duncan, 2020).

Another interesting landform found in the mountainous regions of Pluto further supports the idea of geological processes occurring beneath the surface (Duncan, 2020). One mountain around 5km tall has a large pit inside it, which is also around 5km deep. By using measurements taken by a spectrograph on board the New Horizons spacecraft, scientists found out that the mountain was in fact made of water ice. The surface of the mountain looked exactly like cooled lava-flows

on Earth, as if water were erupting from the centre and cooling to orm ice. This was an incredibly exciting prospect because it meant that there was the possibility of a liquid water ocean below Pluto’s surface.

However, the water would freeze and turn to ice as soon as it reaches the bottom of the pit. So, on Pluto where ice is like rock, how could ice flow like lava? This question baffled scientists since unlike many of the other problems there was no natural example on Earth which they could compare it to. Eventually though, they found the answer. Much of Pluto’s surface is red in colour, a colouring caused partly by ammonia (Duncan, 2020). When ammonia is added to water and the water freezes, the water molecules are physically blocked so they cannot become a rigid shape like usual. Instead of being solid ice it is a slush which can flow just like lava. Therefore, an ice volcano would be a solution to this puzzle which makes sense. However, geological processes need heat and so does maintaining a liquid water ocean beneath the surface. On Earth, most of the required heat comes from radioactive elements underground, but because Pluto is much smaller than Earth scientists thought that there would not be enough elements in it to heat the dwarf-planet. They concluded that

there had to be something trapping the heat from escaping. They eventually discovered that because snow and ice have a crystalline structure gas can get trapped inside it (Fig. 3). When this happens, the substance is called gas hydrate snow (Duncan, 2020) (Tenenbaum, 2012). Gas hydrate snow is found in the Arctic regions on Earth which have very similar conditions to those on Pluto, and it has very little thermal conductivity and therefore acts as an insulator. It traps the heat inside Pluto, allowing a liquid water ocean to exist. There could even be enough heat to drive the geological processes believed to occur in the craterless plains on Pluto.

exciting new research for astrobiologists. From research on Earth, we know that all lifeforms likely need liquid water to exist (Duncan, 2020), so when searching for extra-terrestrial life the first sign scientists look for is liquid water. Now that we know Pluto has a liquid water ocean beneath the surface, it could open many new doors in the hunt for life beyond our planet.

References

Duncan, A. (Director). (2020). Pluto: Back From the Dead [Motion Picture].

Lipke, K. (2017, July 1st). Stratocumulus Clouds: Lesson for Kids. Moore, J. M. (2016). The Geology of Pluto and Charon Through the Eyes of New Horizons. Science.

Radford, T. (2016). Pluto’s Perplexing Polygonal Patterns Caused By Convection, Scientists Suggest. The Guardian. Redd, N. T. (2016). How Far Away is Pluto? Space. Stern, S. A. (2015). The Pluto System: Initial Results From its Exploration by New Horizons. Science. Tenenbaum, D. J. (2012). Melting Methane: New Thermometer for Ancient Ocean? The Why Files.

Fig. 3: A diagram showing gas hydrate snow. In the centre is the gas, in this case methane, which is trapped inside the structure of the ice/snow. Interestingly, gas hydrate ice and snow can be lit on fire because the gas inside burns. (Tenenbaum, 2012)

The high likelihood of a liquid water ocean existing beneath the surface of Pluto also provides

JOIning Forces

By George Ogden

Alone, a perceptron acts as a unit. It is a mathematical model that aims to recreate a neuron by taking in inputs and generating an output between 0 and 1 by multiplying each input by a corresponding weight, adding a bias and then mapping the output through a sigmoid function. In many cases, however, there is strength in numbers. On its own, it can only solve linearly separable problems (Limitations and Cautions, 2005).

value, until it becomes a ‘classic car’ and it rises in price.

The image shows an example of linearly separability. Cited from: Linear separability | Machine LearningQuickReference[Internet].[cited2022 Feb 16].Available from: https://subscription. packtpub.com/book/big_data_and_business_intelligence/9781788830577/2/ch02lvl1sec26/linear-separability

While this works for many problems, for example, the more bedrooms a house has, the higher its value or the more profit a company makes, the more likely it is their stock price will rise, there are a lot of non-linearly separable problems. The older a banana is, the better it tastes, until a certain age, when it becomes less edible and the older a car is, the lower its

The image shows an example of Non-linearly separability. Cited from: Linear separability | Machine LearningQuickReference[Internet].[cited2022 Feb 16].Available from: https://subscription. packtpub.com/book/big_data_and_business_intelligence/9781788830577/2/ch02lvl1sec26/linear-separability

However, this problem can be overcome by combining perceptrons to create a network that can solve more complicated problems. The organisational system of most neural networks (Brunton, 2019) is a layer-by-layer approach. The first layer is the input layer, which receives the absolute input, for example, the pixel values of an image. From there, the outputs of this layer become the inputs of the next layer and then these outputs become the inputs of the next layer. The action of each layer is sequential, so the layers always occur in a certain order and (most of the time) cannot be skipped. A value is output(ted) once the input has propagated

An image showcasing how a neural network works. Cited: What are Neural Networks? [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2022 Feb 16]. Available from: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/neural-networks

through all of the hidden layers to reach the output layer.

Just as there does not have to be a single input, there can also be multiple outputs – one famous example of this is software that recognises handwritten digits, where the ten outputs of the final layer represent the probability of it being each digit (Sanderson, 2017).

This image depicts how a handwritten letter, after being passed through a neural network outputs the probabilities of it being each number. Cited from: Awesome ML Frameworks and MNIST Classification [Internet]. [cited 2022 Feb 16]. Available from: https://kaggle.com/arunkumarramanan/awesome-ml-frameworks-and-mnist-classification

In a few ways, this mirrors the brain. In the brain, the output of one neuron becomes the input of the next through synapses and there is some idea of connection. Additionally, the output of a single perceptron is meant to act like a model of a neuron, in that is preserves key features, such as the fact its outputs are based on its inputs and the output is between 0 and 1 (Brain Neurons & Synapses, 2019). However, one key difference is the relative sizes between artificial neural networks and the brain. One of the largest neural networks of its time, which won ImageNet, an annual artificial intelligence competition to classify images, persisted of 650,000 neurons, which appears a large number until comparing it with the 86 billion neurons in the brain. However, where the brain

can do many jobs well, ImageNet only had one task – classifying 1.2 million pre-defined images into 1000 categories. And despite the fact it was 84.7% accurate, this is far better than the second-place entry which was 73.8% accurate (Krizhevsky, 2010).

The connection between perceptrons is best visualised as a line, where the weight of each line represents the strength of the connection between each unit. Where a stronger connection would suggest a higher dependence between the input and output, this is true due to the underlying mathematics. If the value of the input changes slightly and the weight is a large value, there will be a large change in a perceptron’s output, whereas if the weight is a small value, there will be a smaller change. This will then affect the input of the next layer, and then the following layer, and so on, eventually affecting the final output.

less dependent on the input. For example, the speed of a car is not affected by its colour, so there would be a negligible weight if this were turned into a neural network, whereas the speed that the wheels are turning would require a larger weight.

To formalise the mathematics, the equation of a perceptron is an excellent starting point.

where the output of each perceptron is the sum of all of the weights multiplied by all of the inputs, in turn, added to a bias and then mapped through the sigmoid function, as the network is still made out of perceptrons, all that is needed is to change what some of the variables represent. There are still inputs and outputs of each layer and the equation remains the same, however, the values in the equation change. In the new case, it helps to rewrite the first equation in its more condensed form: which expresses the same idea – but the sigma highlights the sum without of each product without using ellipses. The modified equation becomes:

On the other hand, a weaker connection, hence a smaller weight,

The appearance of subscripts and superscripts is not due to this suddenly becoming a polynomial, but to identify each perceptron. The superscripts identify the layer that the perceptron

is in, the j subscript represents the position in the layer that the perceptron is and the i subscript represents the corresponding weight of a perceptron from the ith perceptron in the previous layer. The equation states that the output of the jth perceptron in the Lth layer is equal to its bias, plus the sum of all of its weights multiplied by the outputs of each of the previous layer, mapped through a sigmoid function (Shiffman, 2018).

This strange-looking equation can be used to approximate any function or task, but only when the task is written mathematically, for example, a letter may be represented by a numerical value, for example, a=1, b=2 … Using this system, the word “the” becomes 20,8,5, which could be added together to give 33 or multiplied to give 800 – operations that we cannot do with the word “the”. Due to this property, neural networks can be defined as “Universal Function Approximators”, which means that the values of the perceptrons can be altered to give an approximate value for any function, whether that be image classification or adding two numbers. However, as it is just an approximator. It may calculate, for example, 1+1 = 1.9, which may seem useless but in another case, it may class an image of

a car to be 90% an image of a car and 10% an image of a grill, which is extremely useful, as no function can be defined (currently) that states definitely what an image is (Elfouly, 2019). The real problem, however, lies behind what the values of the weights and biases should be so that the approximation is

References

Alex Krizhevsky, I. S. (2010). ImageNet Classification with Deep Convolutional. Toronto.

Brain Neurons & Synapses. (2019, September 27). Retrieved from The Human Memory: https://human-memory.net/brain-neurons-synapses/ Brunton, S. (2019, June 5). Neural Networks Architecture. Neural Network Architectures. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=oJNHXPs0XDk

Elfouly, S. (2019, August 4). Neural Networks as universal function approximators. Retrieved from Medium: https://towardsdatascience.com/neural-networks-as-universal-function-approximators-11eda72fa30e

Limitations and Cautions. (2005). Retrieved from Neural Network Toolbox: http://matlab.izmiran.ru/help/toolbox/nnet/percep11. html

Sanderson, G. (2017, October 5). But what is a Neural Network? | Deep learning, chapter 1. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk&list=PLZHQObOWTQDNU6R1_67000Dx_ZCJB-3pi

Shiffman, D. (2018, January 18). 10.12: Neural Networks: Feedforward Algorithm Part 1 - The Nature of Code. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWK7yW8oS0I&t=1s

as good as possible.

Breaking the C-F Bond: Solving the PFAS Water Pollution Issues

By Aman De Silva

PFASs (perfluoroalkyl substances and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are man-made molecules, which were used in many consumer products such as non-stick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain resistant fabrics and carpets and some cosmetics since the 1940s. Due to their overuse, the chemicals now populate water systems and drinking water in America, the UK and many other developed nations which have produced these chemicals in the past. The molecules contain many Carbon-Fluorine (C-F) bonds; a bond which is recognised as one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. Consequently, the strong molecules are incredibly hard to break down and do not biodegrade, therefore polluting water for prolonged periods of time.

Due to the abundance of the strong molecules, they have been found to bioaccumulate in many species, including humans. They are toxic, and laboratory experiments in 2018 showed PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), the most abundant and most studied PFASs, can cause

negative and harmful immunological, liver, kidney and reproductive effects on animals. In some rare cases with low PFAS concentration in the water, the purification process can use processes which do not break apart the PFAS molecules, and instead use filtration membranes. However, in the case of high concentrations of PFAS such as carbon/resin regeneration waste, a chemical process must be used to degrade the large molecules, making new processes such as these have immense implications for water purification technology.

C-F bonds are extremely strong, and can have an average bond disassociation energy (BDE) of 544kJ/mol, meaning a large amount of energy is required to break down the bond. For comparison, the C-C bond in Ethane has a BDE of 369kJ/mol, and the C-H bond in methane has a BDE of 431kJ/mol. Breaking a C-F bond is vital in the degradation of PFASs, as should we attempt to break the C-C bonds in the carbon chain, a series of shorter fluorocarbons will be produces, which are also pollutants and very hard to get rid of. Another feature of the C-F bond which makes it so strong is that the difference in the electronegativity (ΔAEN - the tendency of an atom to attract a shared pair of electrons towards itself.) of Carbon and Fluorine is 1.5. This means C-F is classified as a very polar covalent bond, as 0.5< Difference in Electronegativities <1.6. Although not as strong as an ionic bond, the partial, attractive charges of the atoms explain why this is such a strong bond, and why it is so hard to break.

On March 11th 2020, Engineers at UC Riverside published their findings on PFAS degradation using computer modelling. They ran simulations on both PFOS and PFOA, finding that the molecules

instantly lost the Fluorine atoms in the presence of excess electrons. They theorised a treatment scenario, where the electrons could be ultraviolet-generated electrons, They theorised a treatment scenario, where the electrons could be ultraviolet-generated electrons, provided by subjecting metal to ultraviolet radiation and harnessing the photoelectric effect to isolate electrons in solution (eaq-s). The photoelectric effect is where light is shined on the surface if a metal, and as a result, electrons are ejected from the surface. This computer modelling research linked to similar work done a year earlier, but with a real scenario and tangible reactants. The aim was to defluorinate the compounds using two mechanisms, a chain shortening reaction to create more manageable organic molecules, and a Hydrogen/ Fluorine Exchange, where the compound is reduced by the UV generated electrons.

In the H/F exchange (Reaction A), Fluorine atoms are replaced with hydrogen, in the reaction: CnF2n+1-COO- + H+ + 2e-->

CnF2nH-COO-+ FThe initial reaction, which shortens the molecules into more manageable substances (Decarboxylation triggered HF elimination – Reaction B), removes the negatively charged carboxylate functional group (COO-), to then add a hydroxyl ion (OH) from a water molecule. Then, a hydrogen fluoride is eliminated from the molecule. After this, the newly formed acyl fluoride (CFO) molecule is hydrolysed (broken apart using water), and one of the products is another hydrogen fluoride molecule. This leads to a new final molecule, of the same homogenous series, but with the carbon chain length being one shorter. The final products are a series of defluorinated short chain carboxylate ions, and carbon dioxide, which are less toxic. These molecules are safer as their half-lives inside animals can be twice as short, meaning they have far less potential to bioaccumulate and harm those who consume them. They can also be more easily removed from water by

more common water treatment processes such as sorption.

Currently, the science and resources being invested into removing PFAS from water is immense, and the new technologies and mechanisms being designed are impressive and solve an issue that affects all of us. PFAS are found in tap water, ground water, and the seas in and around the UK, and studies in America have shown 98% of people have PFASs in their blood, most commonly perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. These toxic chemicals affect all of us, and put our health at risk. This new method of reducing PFASs in water supplies with UV generated electrons has worldwide implications for water purification.

References

ATSDR – CDC. (April 25th 2019). Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Your Health. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: Atlanta, GA. Retrieved 30/05/2020 from https://www.atsdr. cdc.gov/pfas/pfas-exposure.html

Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry - Properties of Atoms, Radicals, And Bonds. (1999). TABLE 4.11 Bond Dissociation Energies. McGraw-Hill Education: New York City, NY. Michael J. Bentel, Yaochun Yu, Lihua Xu, Zhong Li, Bryan M. Wong, Yujie Men, and Jinyong Liu. (March 15th 2019). Defluorination of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) with Hydrated Electrons: Structural Dependence and Implications to PFAS Remediation and Management. Environ. Sci. Technol. : Washington, D.C. Retrieved from https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b06648# Sharma S. R. K. C. Yamijala, Ravindra Shinde and Bryan M. Wong. (January 21st 2020). Real-time degradation dynamics of hydrated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the presence of excess electrons. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. – Royal Society of Chemistry: London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 27/05/2020 from https://pubs. rsc.org/en/content/pdf/article/2020/cp/c9cp06797c University of California - Riverside. (March 11th 2020). Pollution: A possible end to ‘forever’ chemicals: Excess electrons could help break the strong chemical bonds in products that contaminate water supplies. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 27, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2020/03/200311123318.htm

the ghost in the machine: Explaining Conciousness

By Joe Greenway

René Descartes famously declared in the 17th century that the only thing we can be certain of, is our own existence as a thinking entity: ‘I think therefore I am’ – cogito ergo sum (Descartes, 1641). While the external and physical world around you could well be an illusion, Descartes concludes that you can know for sure of the existence of your thinking mind – your consciousness, because after all, here you are thinking about it.

If you didn’t exist as a conscious, thinking being, then you wouldn’t be able to be here thinking about it – thus the presence of your thoughts about the matter alone,

prove your existence. But what actually is consciousness? Generally, most consider consciousness to be this sense of awareness of one’s environment and experiences. That’s more of a descriptive question – the harder question is how do we explain it? The philosopher David Chalmers divided this into two categories: what he called the ‘easy problem’ of consciousness, and then, the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness.

For Chalmers, the easy problem is explaining cognitive functions - and how they arise from physical processes in the brain. In contrast, the hard problem is accounting for why these functions are accompanied by

Joe Greenway The Ghost in the Machine: Explaining Conciousness

Joe Greenway The Ghost in the Machine: Explaining Conciousness

conscious experience. This includes explaining what philosophers call ‘qualia’ – the properties of experience, such as the redness of a strawberry or the perception of the taste of wine. In terms of sight and colour, for example, the easy problem would be explaining how our visual systems interpret different wavelengths, but the hard problem would be showing how this function can give rise to the sensation of colour. While Chalmers recognizes that many of the easy problems of consciousness may be actually quite difficult and require much arduous work, they are ‘easy’ in comparison to the hard problem of consciousness, as the methodology is already there. The hard problem however, is as elusive and problematic as ever.

The first way to perhaps deal with the ‘hard problem’ and explain the existence of consciousness, would be the perspective of dualism (Descartes, 1641). Although this viewpoint has lost much support in modern time, it’s interesting in its contrast to empirical approaches, and I already mentioned on of its primary advocates earlier: Descartes. Dualism essentially proposes that we are composed of two separate entities: the mind, and the body.

The mind is immaterial, and conducts mental events, while the body consists of material substances and conducts physical events.

The yin and yang was a popular depiction of dualism from Ancient Chinese Philos ophy.

For many religions, like Christianity, the existence of an immaterial mind suggests a way to demonstrate their belief in an immortal soul within us. This then raises several difficult questions about the survival of consciousness after death, mainly, does the immaterial mind decay with the material body, or does it continue to exist? But those are problems for another time. Descartes furthers this standard dualism, with his own version: Cartesian dualism. While his scepticism led him to doubt the existence of the physical world

(including his body), his famous maxim ‘I think therefore I am’, meant he could be sure of the existence of his mind – his ‘cogito’. Thus if he is able to be sure of the existence of his mental representation – his mind – but doubtful of his physical representation –his body – then the two must be separate. Nevertheless, Descartes understood there were connections between mental events, and physical ones, and so, for quite sensible neurophysiological reasons, he concluded that the pineal gland – a structure lying centrally within the brain – would be the place where messages were conducted from the physical body to the mind.

like events in the physical world, involving interactions with atoms, electrical fields, forces etc., whereas events in the ghostly part, the mind, are completely different. Despite this there is always a close relationship between the mind (‘the ghost’) and the body (‘the machine’).

Descartes’ view is neatly summed up by Gilbert Ryle in his book The Concept of Mind, as holding that the human being is a ‘ghost in the machine’ (Ryle, 1941). Events in the machine, the physical body, are

Many however, particularly with the emergence of modern science, oppose the theory of dualism, as it delves rather unnaturally into the mystical (Graziano, 2019), and does not fit at all well with empirical science. Most scientists therefore prefer to take a much more materialistic viewpoint (the theory that the only thing that exists is matter) to explain consciousness. They argue that consciousness is an emergent property of the brain, and that once we fully understand the intricate workings of neuronal activity, consciousness will be laid bare. As for the so-called ‘qualia’ –the properties of experiences – well, scientists don’t tend to like that idea either. As Patricia Churchland at the University of California argues: “ ‘Qualia’ is a term of art, introduced by philosophers who want to make questions about the nature of consciousness only answerable by spooky, non-biological accounts.” Some take it even further, attacking the idea of consciousness itself (Ananthaswamy, 2016):

Joe Greenway The Ghost in the Machine: Explaining Conciousness

“Consciousness is a user illusion designed by evolution to make life easier for the brain that must guide a body through a perilous life,” says the philosopher, Daniel Dennett. For example, when we see things as a particular colour, the real world isn’t like that, but our visual systems ‘colour-code’ the world around us, to simplify it.

However, this still doesn’t explain how consciousness emerges from the brain – illusion or not (Du Sautoy, 2016). One attempt at researching consciousness has been to look for signatures of it in brain activity. Various brain areas have shown to be active when we are conscious of something, and quiet when we are not. For example, research conducted by the French National Institute of Head and Medical Research, in Gif sur Yvette, identified regions such as the frontal and parietal lobes to be particularly active when we are conscious.

Similarly, Bernard Baars of the Neuroscience Institute of California theorised that non-conscious experiences are processed in specialised local regions such as the visual cortex - we only become conscious of this activity when the network of neurons called ‘the global workspace’ receives the information.

An image showcasing the ‘global workspace’. Cited: fpsyg-04-00200-g001.jpg (686×588) [Internet]. [cited 2022 Feb 16]. Available from: https://www. frontiersin.org/files/Articles/40168/fpsyg-04-00200HTML/image_m/fpsyg-04-00200-g001.jpg

Another idea is to observe the brain when consciousness is absent or reduced, such as when the person is in a vegetative state. Brain scans have shown that people in this condition usually have damage to the thalamus – a relay centre located in the centre of the brain, as well as damage to the connections between the thalamus and the prefrontal cortex – a region at the front of the brain, responsible for high-level complex thought. Additionally, scanning of the brain while a person loses consciousness under general anaesthesia, has again shown a notable reduction in the activity of the lateral prefrontal cortex. Other experiments of this type have also identified the posterior parietal cortex – another region of the brain heavily involved in complex thought – as crucial to consciousness.

Joe Greenway The Ghost in the Machine: Explaining Conciousness

These three brain areas – the thalamus, the lateral prefrontal cortex, and the posterior parietal cortex, all share an important feature in humans: they have more connections to each other and everywhere else in the brain, than any other regions. This makes them very well placed to receive, combine and analyse information from other parts of the brain, and neuroscientists believe that it is this bringing together and processing of information that is the distinctive feature of consciousness. Hence some might consider these regions to be almost ‘seats’ of consciousness.

Unfortunately, while these kinds of investigations have been invaluable for narrowing down the search for the parts of the brain involved in consciousness, they don’t do much to explain consciousness itself, but rather the ability to report about consciousness. We are still left with the ever-perplexing problem of ‘qualia’ and the experience of consciousness, for example, what happens in the brain when we see the colour red. As the psychologist Bruce Hood put it: “Even if you measure brainwaves, you can never know exactly what experience they represent.” Similarly, the philosopher Thomas Nagel asked the question ‘What is it like to be

a bat?’ (Nagel, 1989) Your response might be to imagine flying around in the dark, seeing the world in the echoes of high-frequency sound. However, this would only give you the impression of what it would be like if you were a bat. Nagel here is emphasising that there is no way of knowing what it is like for a bat to feel like a bat- to truly know what the existence of a bat is like. Furthermore, Nagel argues that even if you knew every detail of the physical workings of a bat’s brain, you would still not know what it is actually like to be a bat. That is the conundrum of consciousness, a quite ‘hard’ problem indeed. While much progress has been made in the ‘search’ for consciousness and scientific attempts to explain it, and it may well be truly uncovered with future scientific research, consciousness remains, in the words of the Stuart Sutherland, ‘a fascinating but elusive phenomenon.’

References:

•(Descartes, 1641), Date: 1641

Retrieved from: Meditations [book]

Author: René Descartes •(Ryle, 1941), Date: 1941

Retrieved from: The Concept of Mind [book]

Author: Gilbert Ryle •(Graziano, 2019), Date: 2019

Retrieved from: NewScientist (https://www.newscientist.com/article/ mg24332480-000-true-nature-of-consciousness-solving-the-biggest-mystery-of-your-mind/) [online]

Author: Michael Graziano •(Ananthaswamy, 2016), Date: 2016

Retrieved from: NewScientist (https://www.newscientist.com/article/ mg23130890-300-metaphysics-special-what-is-consciousness/) [online]

Author: Anil Ananthaswamy •(Du Sautoy, 2016), Date: 2016

Retrieved from: What We Cannot Know [book]

Author: Marcus Du Sautoy •(Nagel, 1989), Date: 1989

Retrieved from: What Is It Like to Be a Bat? [book]

Author: Thomas Nagel

Volcanism on Mars

By Finlay Evans

Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system, with a radius of 3,390 kilometres; 53% of Earth’s (Howell, 2014). It is commonly known as the Red Planet, due to its distinctive red colour, caused by the high quantity of iron oxide on its surface (Wolchover, 2012). Mars is home to some of the solar system’s largest volcanoes. One of these is Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system at almost 22 kilometres tall, and the second largest known mountain in the solar system (European Space Agency, 2004). But how do we know that they are volcanoes, and why are they bigger than Earth’s?

Olympus Mons has a footprint roughly the size of Poland and was discovered in 1879 by Virginio Schiaparelli. He named it ‘Nix Olympica’, meaning ‘Olympic Snow’ (Sookdeo, 2001), having deduced that it was a large mountain as it was visible even during dust storms. However, he incorrectly assumed that the lighter patches were

Olympus Mons dwarfs Earth’s Mountains

By Resident Mario - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33594059 snow (Krystek, 2014). Mars’volcanoes share a similar formation to those on Earth, but this is not sufficient proof that they formed in the same way. The first chemical evidence for Mars’ volcanism was in the Tissint meteorite (Starr, 2020), which formed on Mars and fell to Earth on July 18th, 2011 (Ibhi, Nachit, & Abia, 2013). Researchers found a type of crystal called olivine in the meteorite. This must have formed in the magma beneath Mars’ lithosphere, the hard outer layer of a terrestrial planet (National Geographic Society, n.d.), and eventually been forced to the surface, causing the temperature to decrease and therefore the crystals to grow. This olivine had irregular bands of phosphorus within it. This is called solute trapping, which occurs when the crystals grow faster than the phosphorus (or any solute) can diffuse out of them, trapping it inside (Starr, 2020). The solute trapping shows that the crystals were growing quickly, so they must have been cooling quickly. Therefore, the crystals

Evans Volcanism on Mars

must have been ascending to the surface rapidly, in a magma plume, showing that volcanism existed on Mars at the time of Tissint’s formation, about 580 million years ago

craters to estimate how long ago a landform was created (Britt, 2004). A separate study done seven years later suggested that they were made within the last 10 million years (Hauber, Brož, Jagert, Jodłowski, & Platz, 2011). Therefore, both studies agree that there is a possibility that Mars is still slightly volcanically active (Hauber, Brož, Jagert, Jodłowski, & Platz, 2011).

of phosphorus, meaning solute trapping has occurred (Taylor, 2012).

But is Mars still volcanically active now? Humans have never recorded a volcanic eruption on Mars, and most scientists previously believed that we never would (Hauber, Brož, Jagert, Jodłowski, & Platz, 2011). However, our estimates for when Mars became inactive have become increasingly more recent, and it is feasible that it could still be active now (Hauber, Brož, Jagert, Jodłowski, & Platz, 2011). The Mars Express orbiter, sent by the European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency (NASA, n.d.), took several images which provided new evidence. An analysis done in 2004 concluded that these images showed lava flows made two million years ago, using data such as the number of impact

Volcanoes on Mars are generally bigger than volcanoes on Earth (UniverSavvy, n.d.). One reason for this is that Mars has a lower gravity, at about 38% of Earth’s (Williams, 2015). Therefore, there is less gravitational pull on Mars’ volcanoes, causing them to compress less (UniverSavvy, n.d.). In fact, Olympus Mons is so big that it would collapse under its own weight if it was on Earth (Starobin & McClare, 2004). The lower gravity also means that bigger volcanoes can keep erupting. When magma goes up inside the volcano, gravity pulls it downwards. Bigger volcanoes require the magma to rise further before the eruption, so it gets increasingly hindered by gravity. On Mars, taller volcanoes can keep erupting and growing for longer, because the weaker gravity allows magma to reach greater heights (CoconutScienceLab, 2018).

Finlay

There are two main ways that volcanoes can form. One way is that they can form at cracks in a planet’s lithosphere, known as tectonic plate boundaries (Alden, 2021). The plates formed by the cracks are called tectonic plates. Magma can rise through the cracks in the lithosphere from within the planet and cause volcanic eruptions (British Geological Survey, n.d.). The lava ejected from the eruptions then cools to form the shape of a volcano (British Geological Survey, n.d.). This may happen repeatedly, so the volcano grows over time.

Another way a volcano can form is above a hotspot underneath the lithosphere. A hotspot is a stationary area where magma gathers at extremely high temperatures, which can force magma upwards, through a tectonic plate. The lava from this eruption will cool around the centre, forming the volcano (Gutierrez, 2020). Most scientists currently believe that Mars does not have tectonic plates (although some evidence suggests otherwise - see “Further Reading” for details); the lithosphere is all in one piece, meaning that it only has the second type of volcano – formed at hotspots. Mars’ lithosphere does not move in relation to the hotspots, so they remain in the same place under the lithosphere for an extremely long time (Coffey, 2008). Therefore, the

Earth gets volcanic chains due to the movement of tectonic plates, whereas on Mars all the lava dries in the same place, making the mountain much bigger (CoconutScienceLab, 2018).

hotspot keeps adding to the same volcano for a much longer time than on Earth, so the volcano grows much taller. On Earth, the tectonic plates move slowly away from the hotspot, and the hotspot continues forming new volcanoes in a line. An example of this is the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands formed in a row (CoconutScienceLab, 2018)

Map of the Hawaiian Islands, showing how they have formed in a row due to the movement of tectonic plates over a hotspot (Anderson, 2016). There is a lot of debate over whether Mars’ volcanoes are still active, and the subject requires more research. NASA’s recently launched rover, Perseverance (launched on July 30th, 2020) aims to explore the planet’s geology further,

alongside its search for signs of Martian life (Johnson, Hautaluoma, & Agle, 2020) and may provide further insight to the planet’s volcanic history, improving our knowledge of Mars’ past.

Further Reading

To read more about the debate over whether Mars has or once had plate tectonics, please follow this link: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/lithosphere/article/4/4/286/145626/Structural-analysis-of-the-Valles-Marineris-fault (Yin, 2012)

References

Alden, A. (2021, February 16). Everything You Need to Know About the Lithosphere. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from ThoughtCo.: https://www.thoughtco.com/lithosphere-in-a-nutshell-1441105 Anderson, D. (2016, October 30). The Speckled Hatchback. Retrieved July 2020, 27, from Blogger: http://thespeckledhatchback. blogspot.com/2016/10/post-80-my-thoughts-on-hawaii-joining.html

British Geological Survey. (n.d.). How volcanoes form. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from British Geological Survey: https://www. bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/earth-hazards/volcanoes/how-volcanoes-form-2/ Britt, R. R. (2004, December 22). (P. S. Mars Volcanoes Possibly Still Active, Ed.) Retrieved July 31, 2020, from Space.com: https://www. space.com/198-mars-volcanoes-possibly-active-pictures-show.html CoconutScienceLab. (2018, August 29). Why Are Martian Volcanoes So Big? Retrieved July 26, 2020, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuibA3ZpLYg Coffey, J. (2008, June 4). Volcanoes on Mars. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from Universe Today: https:// www.universetoday.com/14837/volcanoes-on-mars/ European Space Agency. (2004, February 1). Olympous Mons - the caldera in closeup. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from The European Space Agency: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Olympus_Mons_-_the_caldera_in_close-up Gutierrez, J. J. (2020, January 20). How Does a Volcano Form? Retrieved July 25, 2020, from Owlcation: https://owlcation.com/stem/How-Does-aVolcano-Form Hauber, E., Brož, P., Jagert, F., Jodłowski, P., & Platz, T. (2011, May 17). Very recent and wide‐spread basaltic volcanism on

Mars. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from AGU: https://agupubs. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2011GL047310Howell, E. (2014, April 21). The Planets in Our Solar System in Order of Size. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from Universe Today: https://www. universetoday.com/36649/planets-in-order-of-size/ Ibhi, A., Nachit, H., & Abia, E. H. (2013). Tissint Meteorite: New Mars Meteorite fall in Morocco. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from CiteSeerX: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.702.3049&rep=rep1&type=pdf n Johnson, A., Hautaluoma, G., & Agle, D. C. (2020, July 31). NASA, ULA Launch Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission to Red Planet. (S. Potter, Editor) Retrieved July 31, 2020, from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-ula-launch-mars2020-perseverance-rover-mission-to-red-planet Krystek, L. (2014). Olympus Mons: The Mega-Volcano. Retrieved July 29, 2020, from Seven Wonders of the Solar System: http:// www.unmuseum.org/7wonders/olympus_mons.htm NASA. (n.d.). Mars Express (ESA). Retrieved July 31, 2020, from NASA Science: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/ express/ National Geographic Society. (n.d.). Lithosphere. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from National Geographic Society: https://www. nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/lithosphere/ Sookdeo, K. (2001). Altitude of the Highest Point on Mars. Retrieved July 29, 2020, from The Physics Factbook: https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/KevinSookdeo.shtml

Starobin, M., & McClare, M. (2004, April 22). Sibling Rivalry: A Mars/Earth Comparison. Retrieved July 25, 2020, from NASA. gov: https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/Sibling_Rivalry.html

Starr, M. (2020, May 12). An Ancient Meteorite Is The First Chemical Evidence of Volcanic Convection on Mars . Retrieved July 30, 2020, from Meteoritics & Planetary Science: https:// www.msn.com/en-au/news/science/an-ancient-meteorite-is-the-first-chemical-evidence-of-volcanic-convection-on-mars/ ar-BB13Wu0i

Taylor, J. (2012, January 12). Tissint. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/48082563@ N08/6688597931

UniverSavvy. (n.d.). 17 Epic Facts About Olympus Mons: A Large Shield Volcano on Mars. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from UniverSavvy: https://universavvy.com/olympus-mons-volcano-on-mars-facts Williams, M. (2015, December 5). Mars Compared to Earth. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from Universe Today: https://www. universetoday.com/22603/mars-compared-to-earth/ Wolchover, N. (2012, August 8). Why Is Mars Red? Retrieved July 22, 2020, from Space.com: https://www.space.com/16999-marsred-planet.html

Yin, A. (2012, August 1). Structural analysis of the Valles Marineris fault zone: Possible evidence for large-scale strike-slip faulting on Mars . Retrieved July 28, 2020, from GeoScienceWorld: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/lithosphere/ article/4/4/286/145626/Structural-analysis-of-the-Valles-Marineris-fault

The Elephant in the ROom: SOlving the CLimate Crisis

By Varun Ravikumar

The human race is beginning to realise the dire con- sequences of our industrialisation: with the pollution of the ozone layer by greenhouse gases, we can expect rising sea-levels, extreme weather, the extinction of wildlife and even higher death rates among humans. The United Nations [1] compels us to act before it is too late. It is estimated that we have until 2030 to prevent a global warming of a further 1.5 degrees C. However, national governments are mostly refusing to make the necessary commitments. This article will discuss how a reduction in meat consumption is by far the most significant, most immediate way to reduce your household’s greenhouse emissions, more so than other difficult lifestyle choices, such as recycling or public transport usage. There are three main greenhouse gases involved in the process of animal husbandry. Let us consider them in turn.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Animal agriculture’s most important contribution to carbon emissions is as a result of the excessive

for at least 18% of the world’s greenhouse emissions, more than the com- bined exhaust from all transportation (13%) [2].

1:

deforestation of land to create space for grazing livestock, and to grow their high-energy feed. It is estimated that 45% of the world’s arable land is used for beef production [3], and with a growing population that is consuming more meat, even more space must be required. Hence, cattle rearing was responsible for 71% of the total deforestation in South America be- tween 1990 and 2005 [4]. It is estimated that an acre of rainforest is cleared every second.

Plants (trees, by virtue of their size, to a much greater extent) are responsible for the maintenance of the carbon cycle - the naturally occurring balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide. A large

Figure

Animal agriculture is responsible

Varun Ravikumar The Elephant in the Room: Solving the Climate Crisis

proportion of the carbon dioxide emitted by respiring and decompos- ing animals is used during the photosynthesis of plants, which in turn produce more oxygen. And so, the removal of these trees furthers the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ozone layer.

produce up to 28kg.

In contrast, tofu, peas, nuts, and soy milk produce almost negligible volumes of CO2 (all less than 5kg per 100g of protein). They are also far more space- efficient; a plant-based world would require up to 3.1 bil lion hectares (76%) less farmland.

With all this space, we could plant significantly more trees, which would help restore the natural balance of the carbon cycle.

Methane (CH4)

Figure 2: The annual flux of carbon dioxide between the Earth’s structures; the numbers represent the gigatons transferred.

Carbon dioxide is also released on an industry-level by the packaging, processing and transportation of slaughtered goods, in addition to the combustion of fossil fuels that power factory farms. These processes emit around 150 million tonnes of CO2 worldwide [2]. Hence, we arrive at the following figures in [5] (conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford), that the production of a mere 100g of beef can produce up to 30kg of CO2, 1 litre of of cow’s milk can produce up to 5kg and 100g of lamb or mutton can

Ruminant livestock (most notably of which are cattle) have a symbiotic relationship with microbes that live in their

stomachs, known as methanogens. This means that in return for optimal living conditions, methanogens digest plant material ingested by the livestock in a process known as enteric fermentation, which produces the greenhouse gas methane as a by- product. This gas is released into the atmosphere whenever a cow belches or passes gas, and in a world with over 1.5 billion cows [6], this is incredibly problematic: cows emit over 150 billion gallons of methane globally in just one day [7].

Methane, also, is 25-100 times more destructive and has 86 times more global warming potential than CO2 in a 20-year time frame [8] (animal

Varun Ravikumar The Elephant in the Room: Solving the Climate Crisis

agriculture is responsible for 37% [2] of methane emissions annually). This means that by reducing (or removing entirely) our consumption of most red meat or dairy, we would see a series of positive results.

livestock themselves are used instead of synthetic fertilisers, which only furthers the rate of denitrification: every minute, 7 million imperial pounds of excrement are produced by livestock in the United States [10].

Figure 3: A molecule of methane.

Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

The worst offender as far as greenhouse gases produced by animal husbandry are concerned is nitrous oxide: livestock are responsible for 65% of all human- related emissions of the gas [2], and it has 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, remaining in the atmosphere for up to 150 years. Nitrous Oxide is produced primarily by the interaction between denitrifying bacteria in soil and nitrogen-based fertilisers. These bacteria reduce nitrates in the fertiliser, releasing nitrogen gases into the atmosphere. In the case of animal farming, a lot of land is required to feed livestock; for example, cows consume over 130 billion imperial pounds of food daily [9], which explains the high incidence of fertilisers. Sometimes the nitrate-rich waste of the

All in all, it is estimated that animal husbandry con- tributes to around 18% of global greenhouse emissions [2], more than even the combined exhaust from all transportation (currently around 13% by the same source). Some estimates, however, are less conservative, suggesting up to 51% [11]. Yet even beyond cli- mate change, animal agriculture is equally damaging to the world’s natural habitats: the 2014 documentary Cowspiracy claims that animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction and habitat destruction. What of the fact that we are growing enough food for 10 billion people [12]? What if all this excess grain could feed the starving and impoverished?

Any thinking person would now wonder why, in a society increasingly aware of the climate crisis, this issue is never discussed enough; why is it that we are always given advice about climate change that is incomplete? The simple answer is the greed of the over $1tn dollar industry, which,

for example, spends over $100mn lobbying the US Congress [13], has killed more than 1000 land activists in Brazil over the last 20 years [14] and recently pressured the United Nations to remove a tweet denouncing animal agriculture [15]. However, with the increase of high-quality academia about the issue, such as [5], the issue is finally coming to light.

How can you act?

Hopefully you can now see the unsustainability of animal agriculture; to continue these practices would be akin to shooting our species (and all other earth- lings) in the foot. On the other hand, depending on where you live, [5] asserts that a plant-based diet can reduce your food greenhouse emissions by up to 73%. You can make a difference that is so much more significant than by, say, simply taking the bus or train to school. Therefore it is imperative now that you consider making the switch, or at least cutting down your household’s consumption of meat. At Trinity we should introduce a ‘Meat-Free Monday’ or begin to provide more appealing vegetarian and vegan options at the Boys’ Restaurant.Experts from the British Dietetic Association have confirmed that planned vegan diets can support healthy, energetic lifestyles [16]. There are increasing

numbers of vegan athletes: Lewis Hamilton (a Formula One driver), Scott Jurek (an ultra-marathon runner), Carl Lewis (the legendary Olympic gold-medal winner), and many more. There are increasing innovations in food science which produce meat alternatives delivering similar tastes but are more eco-friendly; a notable example is Beyond Meat, which claims to require 99% less water, 93% less land and emits 90% fewer greenhouse gases [17]. Unfortunately, the decarbonisation of Britain will require two decades (the current goal is 2050) of effort and strong political will but switching to a plant-based diet requires mere hours of research. No longer do we need the fervour of radical protesters to participate in climate activism; a difference can be made from merely our plates.

References/Further Reading

[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ [Accessed on 2 August 2020]

[2] Steinfeld, H., Gerber, P., Wassenaar, T., Castel, V., Rosales, M., de Haan, C. (2006). ‘Livestock’s long shadow: environmental issues and options.’ Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. [Available at http://www.fao. org/3/ A0701E/a0701e.pdf]

[3] Thorton, P., et al. (2011). ‘Livestock and climate change’. Livestock xchange, International Livestock Research Institute.

[4] De Sy, V., Herold, M., et al. (2015). ‘Land use pat- terns and related carbon losses following deforestation in South America’. Environmental Research Letters, 10 (12). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/124004

[5] Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2019). ‘Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and con- sumers’. Science, 360 (6392), pp. 987-992. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0216

[8] Shindell, D. T., et al. (2009). ‘Improved Attri- bution of Climate Forcing to Emissions’. Science, 326 (5953), pp. 716-18. DOI: 10.1126/science. 1174760

[9] DiCaprio, L. (Producer), & Anderson, K. (Di- rector). (2014). ‘Cowspiracy’ [Motion Picture]. United States: A.U.M. Films.

[10] https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/ nrcs/detail/ null/?cid=nrcs143_014211 [Ac- cessed on 2 August 2020].

[11] Goodland, R., & Anhang, J. (2009). ‘Livestock and climate change: what if the key actors in climate change [12]

https://www.commondreams. org/views/2012/05/08/ we-already-grow-enough-food-10-billion-people-and-s [13] https://www.ewg.org/research/ lobbying-anti-labeling-groups-tops-100m [Accessed 2 August 2020] [14] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/ apr/08/ brazilian-murder-dorothy-stang [Accessed 2 August 2020] [15] https://www.abc.net.au/radio/ programs/nt-country-

how chameleons change colour

By Daniel Todd

Chameleons are perhaps the most intriguing reptiles on the planet. Living in warmer habitats ranging from rainforest to desert conditions, all different species can be found in Africa, Madagascar, southern Europe, and across southern Asia as far as Sri Lanka, while also being introduced to Hawaii, California, and Florida. Often kept as household pets, they arguably have the most interesting physical characteristics, distinguished by their zygodactylous feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, suited for climbing

trees, and their very long rapidly extrudable, are highly modified to their hunting methods. Not forgetting, however, their swaying gait which camouflages them as a leaf blowing in the wind when walking along a branch, and crests or horns on their brow and snout, as well as a prehensile tail, adapted for grasping branches. Nonetheless, their most mystical trick of all – their disappearing act of changing appearanceremains the most impressive of these little magicians’ abilities, and so it is the secret that will be revealed in this article.

A popular belief is that chameleons change colours to disguise themselves, to blend in with their surrounding environment in order to hide from predators. However, chameleons are very fast - many can run up to 21 miles per hour - and can avoid most predators quite easily. Camouflage is therefore a minor reason why most chameleons change their colour.

Since chameleons are ectothermic and thus cannot generate their own body heat, changing the colour of their skin is a way to maintain a favourable body temperature. Chameleons use the fact that darker colours absorb the sun’s heat better while lighter colours reflect the sun’s heat better to their advantage, in how they may become darker to absorb more heat or turn paler to reflect the sun’s heat.

Chameleons will also use bold colour changes to communicate with other chameleons. Males become bright to signal their dominance to other chameleons and turn dark in aggressive encounters. Females can also let males know if they are willing to mate by changing the colour of their skin. Some even speculate that chameleons made this adaptation over time as they became more popular house-hold pets as a way of communicating their moods and feelings more effectively to their owners.

For many years, scientists have believed that chameleons have many layers of skin, each containing specialised cells called chromatophores, except the outermost layer, which is transparent. There are different types chromatophores in each layer with different names, as they contain sacks of different kinds of pigments, with the deepest layer containing melanophore cells, filled with brown melanin, the same pigment responsible for the variety of shades present in human skin. Other layers above the melanophore layer include the layer of iridophore cells containing blue pigment, the layer of xanthophore cells containing yellow pigment, and the layer of erythrophore cells containing red pigment.

When a chameleon experiences changes in body temperature or mood, its nervous system tells specific chromatophores to expand or contract, thus changing the colour of the cell. Through varying the activity of the different layers of chromatophores, the chameleon can produce a whole variety of colours and patterns. For instance, an excited chameleon might turn red by fully expanding all of its red erythrophores, blocking out the other colours beneath them. A calm chameleon, on the other hand, might turn green by contracting its red erythrophores and allowing some

Daniel Todd How Chameleons Change Colour

of the reflected light from his blue iridophores to mix with his layer of somewhat contracted yellow xanthophores (Mary Bates, 2014).

However, recent research has revealed that, although this theory has some truth, it may not tell the whole story as to how chameleons change their colour. Research conducted in 2014 revealed that pigment movement only represents part of the mechanism chameleons use in performing this spectacle!

There are cells, which contain pigment and reflect light, that are made up of hundreds of thousands of guanine crystals. Chameleons can relax or excite their skin, causing these special crystals to move and change structure. Researchers found that this enables these cells to reflect different wavelengths of light to create the variety of tones we see.

To investigate how the reptiles change colour, a study was done on a type of lizard from Madagascar called ‘Furcifer pardalis’, more simply known as panther chameleons, investigating the colour changing of five males, four females and four juveniles. The scientists found that the chameleons had two superposed thick layers of blue iridophore cells. The iridophore cells contain nanocrystals of different sizes, shapes, and organisations,

which are key to the chameleons’ dramatic colour shifts.

The chameleons can change the structural arrangement of the upper cell layer by relaxing or exciting the skin, which leads to a change in colour: “when the skin is in the relaxed state, the nanocrystals in the iridophore cells are very close to each other — hence, the cells specifically reflect short wavelengths, such as blue,” says Milinkovitch, a professor of genetics and evolution at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. The yellow from the xanthophores, plus the blue light reflected from the iridophores, results in the colour green, which chameleons appear to be when calm. This is shown in the picture below – you can see how, when the nanocrystals are close together, all the colours in the spectrum are absorbed except for blue, which is reflected, and passes through the yellow xanthophore cells to create a green colour.

Daniel Todd How Chameleons

The results showed that the nanocrystals were closer together when the chameleon was calm, giving it its green colour, and further apart when it was excited or angry, giving it more yellow, orange, and red colours. This can be seen below:

On the other hand, when the skin becomes excited, the distance between neighbouring nanocrystals increases, and the iridophore cells containing these nanocrystals selectively reflect longer wavelengths, such as yellow, orange or red. In the picture below, you can see how, when the nanocrystals are much further apart, all the colours in the spectrum are absorbed except for red, which is reflected, and passes through the yellow xanthophores to create a similar yellow, orange or red colour (Laura Geggel, 2015; Michelle Konstantinovsky, 2019).

Finally, the researchers tested this theory even further by physically putting pressure on the skin of one of their chameleons, which is shown below:

To prove this new explanation of how chameleons changed colour, they tested their theory by looking at the nanocrystals in a male while it is calm, and then also when it is excited or angry.

Once the pressure was released, the skin had turned blue where it had been put under pressure:

After a few seconds, the skin returned to a green colour as before. These results showed that, by putting pressure on the skin, the nanocrystals are forced closer together, which makes the skin reflect even shorter wavelengths such as purple, creating a blue colour as it passes through the yellow xanthophores. As the pressure is released, the nanocrystals can spread out and expand again, which makes it reflect the slightly longer wavelength of blue light, creating a green colour as it passes through the yellow xanthophores. By replicating what would happen naturally (as a response to temperature, or as a way of showing mood), the researchers managed to prove this theory by instead putting force on the surface of the chameleon’s skin.

However, the researchers also discovered that only adult male chameleons change colour, especially when they see a rival male chameleon they want to chase away, or a

female to attract. Females and young chameleons are dull-coloured and have a very reduced upper layer of iridophore cells, the researchers found. Furthermore, they found a deeper and thicker layer of skin cells that reflect a large amount of near-infrared sunlight. While these cells do not appear to change colour, it is possible that they help the chameleons reflect heat and stay cool, the researchers said (Derek Muller, 2015).

This topic has become especially important in recent years, as a similar mechanism that chameleons use to change colour has been used on a material that changes colour when flexed. In previous attempts to create a material that could change colour, materials were designed to select particular wavelengths of light by using narrow slits, but this approach made the colours dim. Instead, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, etched ridges onto the surface of a layer of silicon 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. Depending on the spacing between the ridges, the silicon, which reflected up to 83 percent of the incoming light, displayed brilliant green, yellow, orange, or red. The scientists then embedded a 1-centimeter square of etched silicon into flexible silicone and were able to obtain a range of colours by stretching the material.

Daniel Todd How Chameleons Change Colour

This method is very similar to the method chameleons use: the material changes colour as the distance between the ridges is altered, making the material reflect shorter or longer wavelengths, in the same way that chameleons can alter the spacing of the nanocrystals in their skin, making the cells reflect shorter or longer wavelengths as well. Possible applications for this material include outdoor display technology and camouflage, among other things. “This is the first time anybody has made a flexible chameleon-like skin that can change colour simply by flexing it,” said Connie Chang-Hasnain in a paper published in Optica, The Optical Society’s (OSA) high-impact journal, in March 2015 (Jenny Rood, 2015). However, this chameleon-skin mechanism has also found applications in a laser able to change colours, which could ‘provide advances in responsive optical displays, wearable photonic devices, and ultra-sensitive strain sensors’ (Danqing Wang, Teri W. Odom, 2018). It is quite amazing to think that chameleons can achieve this naturally while scientists are still struggle to replicate it synthetically.

In conclusion, different sources seem to suggest that chameleons are able to pull off such a mesmerising spectacle in different ways. Some say they use the first theory of the

specialised pigment-filled or contract to produce different hues, while others say they use the second theory of the nanocrystals which spread out or clump together to reflect different wavelengths and colours. The most popular theory currently, however, is that the nanocrystals reflect specific wavelengths of light, as explained in the second theory, which can be adapted as the light passes through the skin containing pigments, as described in the first theory, although the actual contraction and relaxation of the chromatophores containing these pigments in the first theory may not be as accurate as previously thought.

References:

•Chameleons. (Last edited 2020, June 15/Accessed on 2020, July 3). Chameleons. [online] Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Chameleon

•Bates M. (2014, November 4). How Do Chameleons Change Colors? [online] WIRED. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2014/04/ how-do-chameleons-change-colors/#:~:text=Since%20chameleons%20can’t%20generate,maintain%20a%20favorable%20body%20 temperature.&text=The%20outermost%20layer%20of%20the,contain%20specialized%20cells%20called%20chromatophores.

•“Why Do Chameleons Change Their Colors?” (Accessed 2020, July 1). Why Do Chameleons Change Their Colors? [online] Wonderopolis. Retrieved from https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-dochameleons-change-their-colors

•Geggel L. (2015, March 10) Chameleons’ Color-Changing Secret Revealed. [online] Live Science. Retrieved from https://www.livescience. com/50096-chameleons-color-change.html

•Konstantinovsy M. (2019, June 21) How Chameleons Change Color and Why They Do It. [online] How Stuff Works. Retrieved from https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/chameleons-change-colors.htm

•Muller D, Hat D. (2015, March 11). How Do Chameleons Change Color? [online] Veritasium. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SQggDnScsvI&t=1s

•Rood J. (2015, March 16). Chameleon Skin Mimic. [online] The Scientist. Retrieved from https://www.the-scientist.com/the-nutshell/ chameleon-skin-mimic-35779

•Wang D., Odom T. (2018, September 17). The chameleon and the crystal maze. [online] Laboratory news. Retrieved from https:// www.labnews.co.uk/article/2025064/the_chameleon_and_the_crystal_maze#:~:text=In%20nature%2C%20chameleons%20can%20 easily,that%20seen%20in%20chameleon%20skin.

•Arnold C. (2019, September 11). New ‘smart’ skin changes color using a trick learned from chameleons. [online] National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/ chameleon-inspired-smart-skin-changes-color

•All pictures were retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SQggDnScsvI&t=1s. Muller D, Hat D. (2015, March 11). How Do Chameleons Change Color? [online] Veritasium.

acknowledgements

Ingenium only came together due to the driven, hardworking students that contributed to this. Each writer put their best effort in researching endlessly on their respective topics, to allow you all to expand your knowledge of science. They have honed their skills massively and the future of Ingenium seems extremely exciting with the prowess of our writers. Senior students including: George Ogden, Varun Ravikumar, Joe Greenway, Sam Greenway, Henry Bishop, Jack Byatt, Ben De Sousa, Joshua Todd, Surya Vijayanand, Aman De Silva and Yashvardhan Shetty have been an inspiration to the younger years through their contributions to Ingenium, (in particular George, Varun, Yash, Joe and Aman who have also contributed to this edition) over the years and we hope to carry on their legacy. The renewed board including: Jared Thompson, Franco Hillier, Daniel Todd, Adhiraiyan Sasikumar, Finlay Evans, Simeon Wren, Taisei Masumoto and Matthew Johnsen have proven to be extremely capable scientists and without them this edition of Ingenium would not be possible, whether it was reviewing an article or writing one, these students have all massively contributed to Ingenium. The future of Ingenium holds an abundance of potential. This goes without saying, but this all began because of the vision of a student: Yashvardhan Shetty, he has truly been inspiring to all of us and we thank him for creating Ingenium, providing opportunities to students to go beyond.

Finally, we show our gratitude to the school for funding this project and to Benchmark Reprographics for printing this.