Science in Society Review Winter 2020 Edition

Winter 2020 | University of Chicago

A Production of The Triple Helix

The Science in Society Review

design

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TRIPLE HELIX CHAPTERS North America Chapters Arizona State University Brown University Carnegie Mellon University Cornell University Georgia Institute of Technology George Washington University Georgetown University The Harker School Harvard University Johns Hopkins University The Ohio State University University of California, Berkeley University of California, Davis University of California, San Diego University of Chicago Yale University Europe Chapters Cambridge University Aristotle University Asia Chapter National University of Singapore Australia Chapter University of Melbourne

TABLE OF CONTENTS Designing Computer science logic Jack shapiro....................................................................................6

creativity in mathematics: designing proofs maggie bader..................................................................................10

smart is sexy: designing better sex ed in chicago ellie L. frank..................................................................................16

quantum computing: form as function as form rory frydman.................................................................................21 janet davison rowley: pioneering cancer genetics through experimental design

ayushi hegde..................................................................................26

green urban design mallory moore..............................................................................32 see the rainbow, feel the rainbow: the subconscious effects of color

jessica markman............................................................................37 natural defenses: monitoring mosquito populations with biocontrol

allison gentry...............................................................................42

the search for the "blackest black" wonyoung jang..............................................................................46

smart clothing: a privacy nightmare or the next big thing? tanya cukierman...........................................................................52 agricultural genetic modification: misconceptions and untapped benefits

alena sprietzer..............................................................................57

About the Triple Helix Dear Reader, It is with great excitement that we bring to you the 2020 Winter Issue of The Science in Society Review. A new year has introduced new directions to consider in some of the most pressing scientific issues and newest innovations on the rise in society. Here at The Triple Helix, we understand the need to investigate these questions in an integrative manner.

In this vein, our writers, aided by a strong support system of undergraduate editors and the executive board team, strive to incorporate the perspectives of multiple fields in their articles. We at The Triple Helix at UChicago continue to proudly uphold our mission of exploring the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences and how they shape our world through the work we present to you.

We are honored to encourage our future leaders in their rigorous exploration of the key challenges in society today. It is our hope that the articles presented herein will stimulate and challenge you to join our dialogue.

And so, I leave you with this: How do you see science in society?

Edward Zhou President, The Triple Helix UChicago uchicago.president@thetriplehelix.org

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Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Message from the Editors Dear Reader, When we chose the topic of design for this issue, we hoped to showcase the often-overlooked creativity that weaves its way through the sciences. From the artfulness of a well-constructed mathematical proof, to the nuances of designing a scientific experiment, this issue is rife with stories about how design drives scientific inquiry.

In their articles, our writers ultimately showcased how the artistry of scientists goes hand in hand with the artistry of nature itself. Articles about quantum computer design and genetic modification show that, in order to manipulate nature, scientists must bend to nature's intricate laws. When writing about experimental design, our writer Ayushi Hegde noted that “we can see a broad problem becoming narrower when we start to impose our own limits.” Similarly, the structures inherent in nature help us to parse up problems and thus to ask better questions, rendering the scientific process more elegant and fruitful.

We hope that these articles reframe the narrative of science, painting the anatomy of nature not as a limit to innovation, but as a guiding light on the path of scientific inquiry. In your coursework and beyond, we challenge you to think of the ways that you can derive inspiration from nature and simultaneously interweave creativity with your scientific practice.

Sincerely, Elizabeth Crowdus and Caroline Kim Editors-in-Chief, The Science in Society Review uchicago.print@thetriplehelix.org

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designing computer science logic T jack shapiro is a fourth year at the University of Chicago, majoring in classics and writing his thesis on intertextual allusions between the Aeneid and the Argonautika. Jack is a general officer of the UChicago Classics Society and a frequent participant in Theater24. In his free time, Jack enjoys writing, playing IM sports, and finding more rarely spoken languages to learn.

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he origin stories of inventions have a way of becoming mythical.

They become tales of lone geniuses tinkering away in garages, or of eureka moments based on the research of others.

Such stories follow a script: one insight leads to another in a predictable sequence that leads to something brand new. This clean structure is completely false. In reality, innovation and progress are messy.

Nothing better illustrates this fact than when Claude Shannon, one of the founding fathers of computer design, turned a set of millenia-old philosophy insights into the basis of computer science.

The set of millenia-old philosophy that Shannon leveraged was created by Aristotle, a famous philosopher who lived in Athens during the middle of the fourth century BCE. Aristotle’s writings touched on a variety of topics, including politics, early taxonomy, and theology.3 Computer science depends on a different one of Aristotle’s insights, though: his invention © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claude Shannon, one of the founding fathers of computer design, turned a set of millenia-old philosophy insights into the basis of computer science. of formal logic.1 In his system, nothing was valid unless it could be proven by a syllogism--a formal demonstration of the logical relationship of two or more premises and one or more inferences.

If a statement could be backed up by syllogisms--if you could go through and demonstrate every step in reasoning and prove it valid--the statement would be true. If it could not, Aristotle argued you should reject it as false.3 A famous example of an Aristotelian syllogism is “Socrates is a man. All men are mortal. Therefore Socrates is mortal.” The major insight of this thinking was that the truth value of statements did not depend on the nouns. “Socrates is a man, all men are mortal, therefore Socrates is mortal,” is exactly as valid as “pineapple is a fruit, all fruits are plants, therefore pineapple is a plant.”

Any two valid knowns and any valid predicate will work because the nouns are not doing the logical work; “is,” “all” and “therefore” are doing the logical work.1

logic that aimed “to break logic down into its smallest possible compounds.”4 Every implicit step in reasoning would become explicit, identifiable, and provable.

Flawless arguments would be built, and every aspect of Aristotelian philosophy would depend on them. In the early sixth century CE, already almost a thousand years after Aristotle, a Roman named Boethius translated the works of various Greek philosophers into Latin out of fear that future generations would not otherwise be able to read them. He did not choose Aristotle’s politics or physics or metaphysics. He chose the Organon, the books in which Aristotle outlined his logical method, illustrating how key this system was to Aristotle’s philosophy.4 Aristotelian thought was by far the least popular of the ancient schools, such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Plato’s Academics. The ancients disliked Aristotle’s logical system because the requisite proofs seemed so trivial, and insistence on them in all arguments seemed pedantic; using “provable by syllogism” as an exclusive truth criterion requires a tedious proof of every statement. It was not until the theologians of

To learn more about Aristotelian logic, I interviewed Professor Ada Palmer, who primarily studies the Renaissance and the history of ideas. Dr. Palmer describes Aristotle’s system of syllogisms as “digitized logic,” a

A young Claude Shannon. Credit: marconisociety.org

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Dr. Palmer describes Aristotle's system of syllogisms as "digitized logic," a logic that aimed "to break logic down into its smallest possible compounds."4 the Middle Ages began reading Aristotle that he found an eager audience. These theologians were eager to speak about God with the utmost precision, for, to these scholars, erroneous statements about God were heresy, no matter how minor. Therefore, a meticulous, even pedantic, method had immense appeal, and once this level of commitment to certainty entered European philosophy, it was hard to eliminate it. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Anselm, and even later thinkers like Descartes all went back to the thought of Aristotle in their quest to find a perfect logic.4 Hundreds of years later, in the early 1930s, a graduate student at MIT named Claude Shannon enrolled in an undergraduate class in philosophy to study this very history of logic.1 At the same time, his advisor had finished working on a new calculating machine, which was no mean feat. Every computer at the time had to be built with all output states in mind so that their circuits could correspond to these output states.1 Think of an old fashioned telephone switchboard. To connect two landlines, both need to have their own circuits in the board. The operator connects them. Early computers had the same properties; if a computer was intended to add numbers, it was built explicitly and exclusively to do so. Building a machine that could solve differential equations 8

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required starting over and designing a new set of circuits from scratch. Shannon’s advisor had recommended that Shannon try to find a set of best practices that could give future designers a starting point.1 Such a discovery would be a huge improvement for computing and would be a great master’s thesis.

Shannon delivered that and more. His revolutionary graduate paper showed that the logic he had learned in philosophy class could be physically encoded onto a circuit system. “The statement is true” could correspond to “the circuit is closed,” while “the statement is false” could correspond to “the circuit is open.”

Parallel circuits could be considered a form of multiplication; circuits in series could be considered a form of addition.

Any computer could now add numbers, just by having two or more circuits in sequence. Every attempt to test if a statement was true or false now had a standard output.2 By the end of his paper, Shannon had proven that not only were there a set of best practices for circuit design, but that there was an underlying theory. No longer did

Bust of Aristotle. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

designers need to anticipate all possible uses at the stage of design; they could be given instructions afterwards on how to use their hardware.1, 2 Computers would no longer be spoken of in terms of purpose, but of power. To this very day, every computer is built according to the guidelines of this theory.1 Ultimately, Shannon’s revolutionary insight flowed from being one of the few people with a leg in both the field of logic and the emerging field of computer science.

Shannon’s journey to the discovery of theoretical computer science illustrates a fundamental truth of scientific breakthroughs and knowledge production.

Human invention and innovation do

Computers would no longer be spoken of in terms of purpose, but of power. not move in a straight line or even a predictable curve; discoveries do not build on each other in a strict narrative.

The radical insight of 2500 years ago was the foundation of a great leap for humankind a hundred years ago. Maybe another theory contained within the pages of this journal is actually just stating the obvious—or maybe it will change the lives of your great-great-grandchildren.

Maybe you simply have not seen the way it will change your life yet.

References Dixon, Chris. (2017) How Aristotle Created the Computer. The Atlantic. https://www. theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/03/aristotle-computer/518697/ 2 Shannon, Claude. (1938) A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

3 Aristotle’s Organon, as found in The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. McKeon, Richard (2001).

Modern Library Classics.

4 Palmer, Ada. Interviewed Spring 2019, at the University of Chicago.

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Creativity in Mathematics: Designing Proofs T

he beauty of mathematics arises

Maggie Bader is a fourth year at the University of Chicago, double-majoring in Math and Comparative Human Development. Her academic interests include adolescent development, secondary math teaching & learning, and the sociocultural forces that shape and relate these phenomena to one another. Outside of class, Maggie is a 3rd grade classroom aide, tutors 8th grade and 10th grade math, and sings with the acapella group The Ransom Notes. In her free time, she loves running along the lake (when it isn't frozen), exploring Chicago neighborhoods, and shamelessly singing along to old Disney Channel musicals.

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from the objectivity of calculation—or so it goes among students and teachers nationwide.

Unlike writing-based assessments and art projects, math problems have one correct answer. However, math is not only computation. In fact, a great deal of subjectivity and creativity goes into the process of scribbling one’s answer on a calculus exam. Even if there is only one answer, there are countless routes by which to get to it. Any one of these routes is an example of a mathematical proof: the process of turning a hypothesis into a proven fact.

Proofs form the basic building blocks for the field of mathematics, and the act of constructing them is a wildly creative endeavor. Just as no two designers would design the exact same product when given identical prompts, not every mathematician comes up with the same proof for the same statement.

Proofs are, in truth, acts of design, requiring subjectivity, individuality, and creativity.

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Right triangle diagram. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

To demonstrate how proof-writing reflects the process of design, it is first necessary to define the design process. There are a variety of definitions that exist, yet most conceptions of design reflect these basic steps: (1) a problem to solve, (2) a blueprint that provides the general form and mechanisms, (3) the production of an actual product from the blueprint, and (4) consideration of aesthetic presentation. Mathematical proofs reflect each of these steps in their own ways.

Consider the first of the four steps: a problem to solve. When designing a physical product like a chair, one must find a way to support a human body when in a sitting position.

When writing a proof, one must show a specific statement is true. For example, one might want to prove the

Proofs form the basic building blocks for the field of mathematics, and the act of constructing them is a wildly creative endeavor. Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pythagorean Theorem: the sides of a right triangle (a and b in the diagram), when squared, sum to the square of the hypotenuse (c). Two different proofs for the Pythagorean Theorem are shown in Appendix A. These proofs are distinct from one another in several ways, yet they both address the same problem: proving that the Pythagorean Theorem is true for any right triangle.

With Step 1 in place, the designer moves to Step 2: developing a blueprint of the product. The chair designer considers the materials and tools available to them, applying any relevant knowledge of established scientific laws (such as those related to basic engineering) to ensure the chair will function properly. Similarly, a mathematical proof depends on existing mathematical knowledge and the tools of sound logic. Proof #1 cites basic properties of triangles and angles, as well as established formulas such as the area of a triangle. It relies upon logical tools and calculations like equivalence, squaring, and adding. While Proof #2 relies on fewer geometry concepts than Proof #1, it THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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Just as a chair would fall apart if built with fabric instead of wood, a brilliant idea for a mathematical proof may be lost if not presented correctly. incorporates more algebraic tools, including the ability to write proportions as quotients, the knowledge that multiplying common denominators maintains equality, and the concepts of commutativity and distributivity.

With a blueprint complete, the design enters Step 3: forming a physical product. For a product to work correctly, it must be constructed with the right materials. A chair needs to be made of something sturdy, like wood or metal, rather than fabric; otherwise, it literally falls apart.

Similarly, the two proofs in this article rely upon structural components to keep their argument intact.

Grammar is one such component.

Words like “therefore” and “except” communicate certain logical steps in the argument. Symbolic systems (like “(x,y)” and “dx”) and symbols of operations (like “/” and “=”) communicate the way the ideas are combined and transformed. These symbols, like the material that turns a prototype into a product, take the logical puzzle inside the mathematician’s brain and transform it into a communicable proof. Just as a chair would fall apart if built with fabric instead of wood, a brilliant idea for a mathematical proof may be lost if not presented correctly.

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The fourth step in the process is the designer’s subjective, aesthetic choices. Even if a product successfully solves the problem it was designed to address, it may fail to garner attention if it does not appear stylish or attractive. As such, designers must consider the aesthetic presentation of their overall product. In doing so, designers may develop a certain style over time: with enough experience, one can learn to recognize a Frank Lloyd Wright house, a Hemingway novel, or a Mozart concerto. For similar reasons, math teachers can often pick up a nameless homework assignment and guess its author. One might communicate in sentence form rather than algebraic notation (for example, writing “therefore their squares sum to 0” versus “ -> a2 + b2 = 0”). One might present the proof as a series of bullet points, while another uses a paragraph style. One might use visual diagrams instead of describing ideas in words and abstract symbols alone. Using full sentences may make a proof read like a flowing narrative, while symbols and shorthand allow for a quicker read. Using visuals may

Math may be a universal language, but languages still contain countless ways to say the same thing. help explain a concept more clearly, but at the cost of conciseness. Each aesthetic choice has its benefits and its drawbacks, and it is up to each designer to weigh the options and pick which styles they prefer. Math may be a universal language, but languages © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

still contain countless ways to say the same thing.

After a design is complete, another step remains: public response and evaluation. Many designs do not gain any popularity at all; others do well for a time but eventually are forgotten. Yet periodically a design emerges that is innovative, inspiring new ideas and designs after decades, even centuries. This idea of innovation is just as relevant to mathematics. The innovative nature of a proof helps determine if it will appear in textbooks and classrooms around the world.

Some designs are innovative because they solve a problem that previously had no solution. For example, in 1947, designer Fredric Arnold developed a portable, lightweight folding chair for outdoor use; decades later, outdoor folding chairs are manufactured

and purchased worldwide. Another way a design can be innovative is not by solving a new problem, but by finding an improved solution for an old problem. Folding chairs today are generally constructed with more durable mechanisms or lightweight materials than Arnold’s initial design.

Innovation occurs when one solves a new problem or improves upon a previous solution, opening new avenues for future designs.

Innovation is similarly found in mathematics; Fermat’s Last Theorem, for example, was a seemingly simple conjecture written in 1637, stating that if the variables a, b, and c in the equation “an + bn = cn” are all integers, then n cannot be greater than 2. However, no one was able to prove this statement until 1995. In the meantime, other proofs emerged for

Arnold's Folding Chair Patent (1956) Credit: Google Patents

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ery and innovation in mathematics will emerge.

Modern Aluminum Folding Chair. Credit: Broadsheet

limited versions of the conjecture, such as showing it to be true for specific values of n. After 1995, these proofs became redundant. However, they remained significant not for what they proved, but for how they proved it.

In these early efforts to prove Fermat’s conjecture, mathematicians had developed new techniques and mathematical concepts as tools to use in their proofs; as it turns out, these developments proved to be useful for a variety of other mathematical pursuits. For instance, the field of algebraic number theory was largely produced by these new methods.

Today, the opportunities for innovative proofs in math are advancing with the help of computers; some computer programs have found entirely new ways to prove long-established mathematical facts.1 In examining the methods in these computers’ proofs, perhaps new opportunities for discov14

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Mathematical design, unlike other types of design, works uniquely in the realm of abstract concepts. As such, sometimes the practical applications of a mathematical statement are mysterious when one is attempting to prove it. For instance, the applications of Fermat’s Theorem at present include topics in physics and code breaking,2 but in the seventeenth century the conjecture existed mostly as a fancy of number theory. How, then, do mathematicians know which proofs are worth designing? One potential answer lies in the collaborative nature of mathematics. Mathematicians simultaneously attend to personal projects while studying the designs of their peers and predecessors. In providing feedback and gleaning insights from others’ problem-solving strategies and techniques, this constant back-and-forth encourages continual conversation about what mathematicians are proving and why they are proving it.

Without the creative possibility inherent in proofs, mathematics is a set of disparate facts with often-uncertain applicability, deployed by individuals working in isolation from the ideas around them. By attending to proofs, examining the techniques and admiring the creativity within their design, mathematics shifts from a set of stagnant concepts into a dynamic network spread across centuries and continents, full of expanding applicability and discovery.

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Appendix A Proof #1:

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Proof #2:

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

"The new line that has been added divides the triangle into two smaller right triangles.

Because it is perpendicular to the hypotenuse, we can see that the right angle of the larger triangle is split into its corresponding angles. As a result, the two smaller triangles are congruent with the larger triangle by the ASA criterion.

Therefore the ratios between corresponding pairs of sides are equal, so we can write: a/(c1+c2) = c1/a. So a2 = c1(c1+c2).

b/(c1+c2) = c2/b. So b2 = c2(c1+c2).

Therefore a2 + b2 = c1(c1+c2) + c2(c1+c2) = (c1+c2)(c1+c2) = c*c = c2.”

References Chou, S-C; Gao, X-S; Zhang, J-Z. (1994). Machine Proofs in Geometry. Series on Applied Mathematics, 6. https://doi.org/10.1142/2196 1

Nishino, H. (1994). Supersymmetry Breakings and Fermat’s Last Theorem. University of Maryland at College Park. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217732395000168 2

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smart is sexy: designing better sex ed in chicago M

y first time walking into a

ElliE L. Frank is a fourth year at the University of Chicago. She enjoys brevity.

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Southside Chicago Public School classroom, I was at most five years older than the students I had come to teach. I went in not as a classroom aid or a supplementary teacher, but as the lead educator representing the group Peer Health Exchange (PHE) to talk about a highly-politicized and incredibly important topic: sexual health.

PHE is a nonprofit that trains college students to be health educators in high school classrooms throughout major cities nationwide. We aim to provide comprehensive health education—sexual, mental, and emotional—to high school students and to empower young people to make informed health decisions.

During the first lesson that I taught with PHE, one thing kept running through my mind: who let me, a college student, teach such fundamentally important information after only twenty-some hours of preparation? The Chicago Public School (CPS) system’s reliance © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Number of teen births in Chicago (mothers aged 15-19) per 1000 lives birth 2013-2017 Credit: Chicago Health Atlas

on college students to come into their classrooms and teach health education speaks volumes about the state of sex education in this city, especially because PHE members lack the necessary pedagogical understanding and experience that professional sexual health educators should possess.

Still, PHE provides a necessary service to the young people of Chicago.

Comprehensive, medically accurate sex education produces demonstrably positive results. Students who take comprehensve sex ed are more likely to use condoms and less likely to have unprotected sex, lowering the rate of STI/STDs among teens.1 Meanwhile, abstinence-only sex education does not effectively prevent teen pregnancy and does not provide young people with the tools or information they need to make informed decisions about © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

their health.2 The US has a significantly higher rate of teen pregnancy compared to other highly developed countries and the primary cause seems to be the lack of comprehensive sex ed available to American children and teens.2 Chicago laudably does not have an abstinence-only approach. Instead, CPS policy calls for both comprehensive sex and health education. The official manual states that Chicago students should have “knowledge and skills related to human development, relationships, decision-making, abstinence, medically recommended contraception and disease prevention” from their health education.3 These topics are absolutely crucial for young people. CPS dictates that health education on human development should start in kindergarten THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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The official manual states that Chicago students should have “knowledge and skills related to human development, relationships, decision-making, abstinence, medically recommended contraception and disease prevention” from their health education.3 and continue until twelfth grade, with each class introducing and reinforcing “developmentally-appropriate” health topics.3 On paper, CPS legislation champions comprehensive health education, but implementation is another story.

Chicago’s teen birth rate is still higher than the national average at 21.5 births for every 1000 women aged 15 -19.4 Schools often lack funding for the required programs, especially the schools on the South Side which primarily serve students of color. Teen pregnancy rates in Chicago are higher in areas where CPS schools have less funding.4 For example, Englewood has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Chicago, almost double the citywide average.4 I have personally taught health education in Englewood at TEAM Englewood Community Academy, but the school closed in 2018. Since 2001, sixteen schools in the neighborhood have closed.5 In order for students to be taught health education they need to be able to go to school. Shuttering local schools 18

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puts even more barriers in the way of young people pursuing education in general, let alone comprehensive health education. Every student has the right to basic information about their health, but well-written policy means nothing when implementation is nearly impossible.

Besides funding, health education in Chicago has another dire shortcoming: commitment and dedication. Schools treat health class as a free period. I have been in classrooms before with three students—the other 25 were on a field trip. In other situations, the class was double booked with gym, so the students had gym instead of health. CPS does not have the time, money, and effort needed to provide all students in Chicago with proper sex education, especially in schools that are already underfunded and overcrowded.

In order to mitigate this gap, Chicago Public Schools need more resources dedicated to sex education and broader health education. Charlie Rollason, a 2019 co-coordinator of the University of Chicago’s chapter of PHE, has

Chicago Public Schools need more resources dedicated to sex education and broader health education. suggested the possibility of national financial incentives. Health education policies are within the purview of state legislatures and county school boards, like the designation of a legal drinking age within a state. The © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

projected costs of the social programs the United States citizens born to those teen mothers are entitled to— implementing comprehensive general and sexual health programs nationwide may in fact save governments money in the long term.2

Credit: Chicago Teachers Union

federal government cannot determine the drinking age for every state, but in 1984 Congress passed legislation that took away 10% of a state’s federal funding for the highway system if the state did not raise the legal drinking age to twenty-one.6 Similar legislation offering both funding incentives and actual funds to school districts could help the federal government implement comprehensive and effective sexual health education. The costs of such programs may initially seem immense, but considering that teen births cost taxpayers an estimated $9.1 billion in 2004—not including the © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chicago students should have the same amount of time allocated to their health classes as they do to their English or science classes, starting in kindergarten and continuing to twelfth grade. Some of the students I teach learn about topics such as birth control or consent for the first time in my class, and I usually only have a fifty-minute period to touch on the surface of this vital information. Continuous health education should be a staple of school life. Chicago students deserve years of health education to prepare them for life instead of ten fifty-minute periods taught by college students. Programs should include year-long arcs on consent, gender-identity, sexuality, birth control, relationships, and more. The imporTHE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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Continuous health education should be a staple of school life. tance of sex education goes beyond lowering rates of STIs/STDs and teen pregnancy. Teaching students about consent, gender identity, sexuality, and more supports womens’ health, queer health, and in the end everyone’s health.

My dream curriculum for Chicago’s sex ed, and for America’s sex ed, would tell students that sex is not immoral, bad, scary, or dangerous. Of course abstinence should stay a valid and accepted choice for the young people in this city, but becoming sexually active should be a valid choice as well. Let us acknowledge that many teenagers are sexually active and stop shaming them for it. Instead, we should give them the information and resources to make safe, informed, consensual decisions.

In writing this article, I do not seek to disparage PHE. We teach important

knowledge and skills to the young people in Chicago. I have had some amazing experiences teaching with PHE and I know I have made a difference. That being said, I do not believe that we provide the best possible sex ed. Consistent teachers whose professional focus is health education and who teach contuinuous, comprehensive sex education would be the most beneficial for the students.

My experiences in the classroom have reiterated to me the importance of health education for young people.

One conversation in particular sticks in my mind: a student mentioned their belief that cling wrap was an effective alternative to condoms. I immediately shut down this contraceptive misconception and went on to field other questions about “alternatives” to condoms such as plastic baggies, grocery bags, and trash bags. I almost cried when one student suggested aluminum foil. To me this demonstrates why we need sex ed in Chicago and in America--no one should graduate highschool thinking tin foil is an acceptable alternative to a condom.

References Center for Disease Control. (2010). Effective HIV and STD Prevention Programs for Youth: A Summary of Scientific Evidence. National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. 2. https://www.cdc.gov/ healthyyouth/sexualbehaviors/pdf/effective_hiv.pdf 1

Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: why we need comprehensive sex education in the U.S. PloS one. 1-29. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3194801/#!po=70.6897 2

Chicago Public Schools. (2013). Sexual Health Education. Chicago Public Schools Policy Manual.1-3. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3194801/#!po=70.6897 3

Chicago Department of Public Health (2013-2017). Teen Birth Rate. Chicago Health Atlas. https://www.chicagohealthatlas.org/indicators/teen-birth-rate 4

Kunichoff, Y. (2019). With Opening of New $85 Million Englewood High School, Hope Amid Decades of Disappointment. Chalkbeat. https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/chicago/2019/09/01/with-opening-of-new-85-millionenglewood-high-school-hope-amid-decades-of-disappointment/ 5

The 98th United States Congress. (1984). H.R.4892 - Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. https://www. congress.gov/bill/98th-congress/house-bill/4892 6

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quantum computing: form as function as form N

Rory Frydman Rory Frydman is a fourth year mathematics major with an interest in quantum physics.

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

ow, function often follows form.

Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of fancy, new-fangled computers and mobile devices which, in pursuit of the impossibly slick and sleek form factors demanded by product designers and marketing agents, lack many of the most useful features. Gone are the days when it was a selling point to have many USB ports on the side of your computer, or an HDMI connection readily available, or a button on your phone. No, all of this must be thrown aside for the perfect form. Form dominates function.

And yet, there is one emerging technology that so emphasizes function that it somehow loops around the form-function spectrum back to the realm of form—the quantum computer. There is no time more apt than the present for discussing quantum computers: Google’s quantum team released a paper in October of 2019 that claims quantum supremacy, a milestone in the development of quantum technology. Quantum supremacy THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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So, the special and possibly unique aspect of the quantum computer is that not only is form tied so strongly to function, but also that this tie between form and function—between aesthetics and engineering—is innate and unbreakable. is the all-desirable goal of proving that a quantum computer can do some task—just one—better than a classical computer. According to Google’s paper, their Sycamore quantum computer performed a task in hours which would have taken a normal computer days, if not years.1 The task, as summarized by a quantum computing expert at a competing company, was to simulate a quantum circuit. While a quantum computer simulating a quantum computer may sound trite—almost tautological—and certainly unfairly advantageous to the quantum computer, this milestone is anything but. A discussion of why it is not trivial would be lengthy and would not add much to conversation about the aesthetics of quantum computing, so it will be omitted.

Furthermore, there is no task more herculean than providing an accurate and intuitive description of the workings of a quantum computer. There are countless decent articles online or elsewhere, but none ever capture the full complexity of theories and mechanisms of quantum computing.

Instead, for a discussion of the beauty of quantum computers’ construction, let a few key functional details suffice.

There are multiple design “genres” 22

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for quantum computers, from the topological qubit to the ion trap qubit. Google’s Sycamore quantum chip, as well as many of its competitors, utilizes a schema of quantum computing which is referred to as “superconducting circuit quantum computing.” Essentially, superconducting qubits rely upon quirky circuit elements called Josephson junctions that, when refrigerated to mere fractions of a millikelvin above absolute zero, allow for anharmonicities in the resonance of circuits. In utilizing these anharmonicities, physicists and computer scientists can use microwave signals to selectively “turn on” certain states (think the 0s and 1s of the bits on your classical computer).1 If you get nothing else from that other than quantum computers are fancy, really, really cold resonators, that will serve you just fine. Now, to the aesthetics.

You may hear in any myriad academic courses that the course material is “beautiful,” “elegant,” or “magical.”

But, with no ill will towards those descriptions, the beauty, elegance or magic is often beyond grasp or comprehension. While a proof in mathematics might be elegant and well-presented, it is rarely, if ever, truly beautiful, especially to the untrained eye. More often than not, it appears merely a garbled mess of symbols and arrows, more a corrupted electronic version of Homer’s Odyssey than Bierstadt’s Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A math proof’s beauty, simply, is not readily accessible. Likewise, an article or poster from a physics research project may be well visualized and easily understood, but it is an artificial beauty, created separately from the data itself—not intrinsic to the work. So, the special and possibly unique aspect of the quantum computer is that not only is form tied so strongly to function, © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

but also that this tie between form and function—between aesthetics and engineering—is innate and unbreakable.

To even begin to operate something approximating a superconducting circuit quantum computer, the surrounding environment must be at temperatures approaching absolute zero. Simply popping the computer in a freezer, or even dunking it in liquid nitrogen, will not suffice. A highly specialized piece of equipment called a dilution refrigerator must be used.

Dilution refrigerators are like Russian dolls. The outer “shell” is a normal compression-based refrigerator, the same type of system that powers your home’s refrigerator, albeit on a larger scale. Within two or three intermediary shells, the temperature is low enough to utilize the final shell, the smallest of the Russian dolls—the actual dilution stage, in which two different isotopes of Helium are diluted and distilled from each other, providing the last little cooling power necessary

Dilution refrigerator. Credit: fastcompany.com

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

[B]eauty simultaneously artificial yet immensely natural. to operate the computer. In words, the process may sound interesting, but there is much more beauty to be seen in the structure.2

Perhaps the dilution refrigerator is not the most sleek construction, but its structure is organized and elegant (as it must be), and the “shells” are so intuitive, flow so well together, that the refrigerator itself seems almost an example of structural expressionism (which, by another name, High Tech architecture, seems plainly apt).3 And just as the writer of this article is no quantum engineer, he is also no architect or art critic. Nevertheless, it is beautiful in a structuralist sort of way. And that beauty continues down to even the most fundamental level.

At the bottom of the dilution refrigerator is the chip mount. An example is shown below from one of Google’s major competitors, Rigetti Computing. Every element on that mount serves a purpose—whether bringing in a signal, thermally isolating the disc from the environs, electrically grounding circuit elements, or providing structural support. As a device created to be a proof of concept, it is, at its very core, the most functional construction that could be built. And yet, it is still somehow beautiful, with an appreciable form.

Perhaps again harking to the styles of structural expressionism, it seems still industrial, technical, but with the fine filigree of mounts and inputs, of structural inserts and THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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burnished metal, the chip takes on the appearance of a finely decorated pastry or a well-appointed art deco art piece.

This beauty continues down to the most fundamental part of the computer—the chip. Quantum computing chips are particularly difficult

Chip mount art deco art piece. Credit: extremetech. com

Stylized quantum chip.

Schematized layout of quantum chips. Credit: Rigetti.com

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to visualize both for technical reasons—the size of circuit elements is beyond humans’ optic abilities—and legal reasons—concerns of patent infringement and otherwise. A rather zoomed-out and stylized image of a quantum chip is shown below. Apart from the pareidolic interpretation of the chip set as a face, the actual individual chips (those twelve central squares) are something more like a textile, something that seems to have, beyond functional design, an aesthetic one as well. Yet, especially at this point in the development of quantum computing, the only goal for the designers of these chips is pure functionality. The form, unintentionally but inextricably, follows the function. Every element in these circuits is just so—concerns of signalling and readout, cross-talk between qubits, and isolation are among the functional concerns with which these quantum engineers concern themselves.4 Even the schematized layout of the chips (the two octagons connected by a square) is geometrically functional, allowing dense tiling on a plane surface while preserving independence between qubits and also allowing efficient readout. These chips are not determined by some human’s aesthetic sense of form, but nature’s functional rules of the fundamental forms. It is a beauty simultaneously artificial yet immensely natural.

Not a beauty created out of academic regulation like mathematical proofs, or concerns for interpretability and future grant funding like physics research. Yes, the aesthetics of quantum engineering are much unlike those of other disciplines—much more akin to the works of Bierstadt and Vermeer than Riemann and Millikan.

But rather unlike the artists, this is a beauty borne out of necessity, a true synthesis between function and form.

Function demands form. © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

References Aaronson, Scott. (2019). Why Google’s Quantum Supremacy Milestone Matters. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/opinion/google-quantum-computer-sycamore.html 2 Captain, Sean. (2018). Quantum computing is almost ready for business, startup says.

Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90232670/quantum-computing-is-almostready-for-business-startup-says 3 Mako, Vladimir. (2014). Architecture and Ideology.

4 Caldwell, Shane et al. (2018). Parametrically activated entangling gates using transmon qubits Phys. Rev. Applied 10, 034050.

1

Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Janet Davison Rowley: Pioneering Cancer Genetics Through Experimental Design Ayushi Hegde is a second-year at the University of Chicago. She is currently working towards a double major in French and Biology, a choice influenced by her passion for languages, literature and research. Outside of SISR, Ayushi is a member of SASA and Chicago Raas, a competitive team on campus that practices traditional dance from the Indian state Gujarat.

She also works closely with Student Health and Counseling as a member of The Body Positive, a group that aims to promote positive body image, awareness of eating disorders and inclusivity on campus. In her free time, she loves to pet dogs, eat desserts and go on long runs.

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I

magine that you’re building a house.

​ ou’ve scoped out the perfect loY cation. The weather is dependable, the schools are good, and the neighbors seem nice enough. You don’t know what the final product will look like, but—if your builder is willing to consider your Pinterest board—you have an idea. Most importantly, you know what your house should be able to do: protect you from the elements and provide a place to cook, sleep, and entertain. Your requirements are nonnegotiable, although you’re not sure how they’ll look in practice. ​ here to start? There are different W ways to approach the problem. Some of your requirements are more specific than others, but none are definitive.

Say you weren’t familiar with kitchens.

You might choose to build a firepit, a solution that, however unconven-

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

tional, would serve your needs well enough. Likewise, you could take a similar approach when deciding how to supply your house with water by opting for a well instead of plumbing.

You might even build the whole house like this, treating each component like its own challenge. The problem is that we don’t build houses like this. While firepits and wells may seem attractive on their own, our intuition tells us that

[T]he Philadelphia chromosome is a genomic anomaly that had been described but not explained before Rowley’s time. they wouldn’t work well together—at the very least, not without a kitchen or pipes to share the responsibility. Not only would our patchwork solution be incredibly inefficient, but there are other factors to consider: the cost, the tools needed to build a firepit or dig a well, the kinds of challenges that might arise. What will our final product will look like, if it will work at all? ​In other words, our approach should reflect the results we want to see.

Large-scale problems like building a house require large-scale, coordinated solutions. At the same time, they force us to consider every aspect of the question—to make our needs clear and challenge our instincts while thinking critically about our expectations. This works as well in science as it does in everyday contexts. Consider Dr. Janet D. Rowley, former Professor

of Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, who pioneered our understanding of cancer in terms of genetics.3 Rowley is perhaps best known for her characterization of the Philadelphia chromosome in 1973. First identified in patients suffering from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the Philadelphia chromosome is a genomic anomaly that had been described but not explained before Rowley’s time. Her finding—that the severely stunted chromosome was the result of genetic material being cut and pasted between chromosomes 9 and 22—was groundbreaking because it established a link between the genome and hereditary cancers like CML. Its implications are no less important today than they were in the 1970s. The story behind it is just as interesting.

Rowley’s discovery d i d not come from nowhere, despite the limitations of her

Janet Davison Rowley. Credit: Changing the Face of Medicine

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Credit: Cell 2014

Rowley with a karyotype containing the Philadelphia chromosome. Her characterization of the anomaly in 1973 completely revolutionized our understanding of cancer, establishing it as a genetic disease for the first time.

time. Scientists in the 1960s were poorly equipped to identify specific chromosomes; unable to distinguish the Philadelphia chromosome by anything other than its diminutive size, they knew too little about it to even begin to understand its significance.

The resulting uncertainty meant that Rowley’s success depended on her asking the right questions. Rowley had had experience studying chromosomal anomalies, the first major finding of her career being a genetic discovery associated with a cancer similar to CML.4 In the Philadelphia chromosome, she saw the opportunity to apply a familiar explanation from her past work and leapt at it. In order to understand what the Philadelphia chromosome did, she first asked why 28

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it was so short and where its missing piece had gone. These were specific, related problems that, like building a house, required coordination and critical thinking. Rowley needed to trace the chromosome’s origin definitively, producing an experimental result without room for uncertainty. What would distinguish Rowley from her predecessors turned out to be her approach. While Rowley did not pioneer the banding techniques that led her to her discovery, she was the first to recognize their relevance to the problem. Years later, she would modestly refer to her approach to the problem as a “skill,” the ability to perfect a technique that could be applied to important scientific questions. Uniquely suited for © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Credit: National Cancer Institute 2007

A schematic showing the formation of the Philadelphia chromosome. Portions of chromosomes 9 and 22 break off, trading places in a rearrangement process known as translocation. The resulting chromosome 22 is much shorter than normal and contains a modified sequence associated with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

visualizing, identifying and mapping chromosomes, banding gave Rowley the unquestionable result that would forever change the face of cancer medicine. By the late 1980s, Rowley had used the same approach to identify an additional 20 abnormalities linked to myeloid disease.5 In other words, this was how Rowley built her first house: by asking questions that others had never thought to consider and searching for answers in places where

Rowley needed to trace the chromosome’s origin definitively, producing an experimental result without room for uncertainty. Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

others had never thought to look.

Her findings led her to ask another, more general question: why did translocation, the cutting-and-pasting that she had observed between chromosomes 9 and 22, occur so predictably in the same part of the genome? This required a different approach than earlier; in terms of choosing the right tools, Rowley needed to propose and test a hypothesis in order to see definitive results. She predicted that a specific gene interaction was responsible, implicating points on the chromosomes that could be targeted with cloning. Not only did her explanation turn out to be correct, it had been specifically chosen and tested based on tools that were already available and familiar to Rowley—unlike 20 THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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years earlier, when the challenge had been applying the right tool to make an open-ended question more narrow.

In that sense, Rowley’s discovery of the interaction that had formed the Philadelphia chromosome revealed a unique scientific intuition: given what was known about a problem, she had to decide whether its solution would require asking new questions, finding new tools, or proposing new answers.

The result was a pattern of asking,

[W]e can see a broad problem becoming narrower when we start to impose our own limits. equipping, and testing that would shape the remainder of Rowley’s career—an infinity of possibilities, all the result of a single finding.

Just as science requires the same kind of thinking that we use to build a house, we can translate Rowley’s success to common problems. While her later discoveries were the result of asking questions with testable answers, her initial finding—that the Philadelphia chromosome contained a translocation at all—began with a broader goal. The same pattern of refinement appears in our earlier example. For someone building a house, we can see a broad problem becoming narrower when we start to impose our own limits. Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with using a firepit to cook; only when we consider the cost and labor involved does it no longer seem worth it. Balancing the results we want with other 30

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considerations—purposely making our search narrower at the risk of running into a dead end—often leads us to a working solution. The result is a kind of experimentation made cleaner by specificity and arbitrariness.

Rowley recognized this; in developing a testable hypothesis early on, she chose to take a risk informed partly by scientific context and partly by a willingness to put faith in an explanation that could have easily failed.

If anything, Rowley’s faith in the unknown made her story all the more extraordinary. It served as a mark of skill and intuition, leading her to a result that would totally revolutionize our understanding of cancer.

While the direct implications of Rowley’s work have proven incredibly important, they can also reshape our understanding of science as a whole.

We have good reason to view research in hard, fast, definitive terms: after all, these are the qualities that make up a good experimental result. On the other hand, Rowley’s success in spite of the limitations of her time can be taken to mean that science isn’t nearly as ‘objective’ as we think it is. That isn’t to say that science is inaccurate or untruthful, only that it has a human element—in Rowley’s case, a human element with a knack for educated guesswork and a keen awareness of the tools available to her. In that case, our understanding of the world is as much shaped by individuals, each with a different approach to thinking and questioning, as it is by truth. The result is a field that lies somewhere between pure fact and pure art—if nothing else, proof that creativity will always have a place in the human endeavor.

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

References (2007). Retrieved from CDR533336-571.jpg 1

https://www.cancer.gov/images/cdr/live/

(2014). Retrieved from https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0092-8674(14)00067-1 Definition of Philadelphia Chromosome. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2019, from https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/ def/philadelphia-chromosome.

2

Janet Rowley, cancer genetics pioneer, 1925-2013. (2013, December 17).

Retrieved from https://news.uchicago.edu/story/janet-rowley-cancer-genetics-pioneer-1925-2013.

3

Olopade, O. I. (2014). Janet Davison Rowley 1925–2013. Cell, 156(3), 390–391. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.01.015 4

Rowley, J. D. (1990). The Philadelphia chromosome translocation a paradigm for understanding leukemia. Cancer, 65(10), 2178–2184. doi: 10.1002/10970142(19900515)65:10<2178::aid-cncr2820651004>3.0.co;2-# 5

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Green urban design M

aybe you take walks in the

Mallory moore is a second year at the University of Chicago, majoring in History and minoring in English/Creative Writing. On campus, Mallory is a board member of Lean On Me and an Events Ambassador at the Institute of Politics, in addition to writing for SISR. In her free time, Mallory enjoys reading, taking long walks along the lake, and going out for brunch (objectively the best meal of the day).

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park and instantly feel relaxed and rejuvenated. Maybe you moved to Chicago and were surprised by how much the city’s density and interminably grey skies impacted your emotions. Whether you realize it or not, you have experienced firsthand the impact of built and natural environments on your psyche. Urban design and, more specifically, access to urban green spaces matter. Urban green spaces shape community interactions at large, but they also affect how individuals experience emotions while moving around an urban landscape.

In 2017, a team of researchers at the University of Malaya in Malaysia collaborated to clearly define the terminology of urban green spaces, previously a gap in urban scholarship. They defined urban open green space as “an urban area with a semi-natural ecosystem”.6 More simply, “urban green spaces are all types of public or private open spaces in urban areas which are completely or mostly covered with vegetation”.6 While composed of natural phenomena, UGSs are intentionally cultivated by humans to © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Credit: moss-design.com

offer an intersection between city and nature. They are aesthetic, accessible to the general public, and designed for recreational purposes.

“Urban green space,” as it exists today, is a diverse and encompassing term.

The term includes everything from a neighborhood park bench and a community garden to “sewage lagoons that provide rest stops for migrating waterfowl”.6 And its expansive meaning has influenced disciplines such as public policy, urban planning and psychology to pay particular attention to USGs, particularly because there is a robust and growing body of research proclaiming their health benefits.

The physical health benefits of having access to nature are well documented.

Childhood access to green spaces is associated with improved immune system functionality because children © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

are exposed to potential allergens and bacteria early in life, so they better develop tolerances.2 In fact, “living in residential areas with more street trees was shown to be associated with lower asthma prevalence,”2 this demonstrates how UGSs help prevent chronic health conditions.

In addition to preventative benefits, UGSs can improve physical health by

Childhood access to green spaces is associated with improved immune system functionality because children are exposed to potential allergens and bacteria early in life, so they better develop tolerances.2 THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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encouraging and facilitating healthy lifestyles. Having access to parks, for example, provides motivation for people to exercise more because parks offer a peaceful, safe, and less crowded environment than say, a noisy gym.

In addition to the increased physical activity prompted by UGSs, there is mounting evidence that exercise in natural spaces is actually better for people than comparable physical activity in a built environment.

Green spaces reduce depression, anxiety, and stress.

One study found, “walking in a park had a stronger effect on reducing diastolic blood pressure than similar amount of walking along a busy urban street, suggesting a potential biological mechanism of long-term clinical benefits.”2 While scientists are uncertain of the exact mechanisms at play, it is clear that the natural world affects the chemistry of our bodies in real, measurable ways that are distinct from built environments.

It is important to consider the impact of urban green spaces on the mind, as well. According to a European study, “walking in natural environments produces 34

stronger short-term cognitive benefits than walking in the residential urban environment.”2

One reason for this is that green spaces have been shown to reduce cortisol levels. The body releases cortisol, a hormone, when a stimulus triggers the fight or flight stress response. Thus, a lasting reduction in cortisol is a good measure of a reduction in chronic stress. Green spaces reduce depression, anxiety, and stress. These effects have been observed in numerous countries, and studies suggest that the benefits of green space are “independent of cultural and climatic contexts.”2 The successful replication of these findings across different places implies that the observed mental health benefits cannot be explained by culture or different natural environments and strengthens the causal relationship between access to green space in general and positive mental health.

However, most studies maintain only “short-term restorative benefits of one-off nature experiences,”2 highlighting the need for repeated exposure to nature in order for humans

Megacity 2050: Future Green City illustration. Credit: RobHunt.com

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© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

to reap long-term benefits of UGSs in reducing stress.

This detail is particularly important given the inequity in access to residential urban green space in the United States. A study of 10 urbanized areas in the U.S., including Chicago, found a “strong association between income and higher education and urban vegetation,”4 thus confirming that “environmental amenities are inequitably low in communities with lower social and economic power.”5 Already disadvantaged groups, who often experience chronic stress and other health issues as a result,1 are thus deprived of the natural resources which can help mitigate these problems. In fact, inequitable access to green space may play a role in creating health disparities among the wealthy and poor in the first place.2 Hence, these studies further underscore the crucial role of USGs. Increased access to urban green space benefits not only an individual’s mental health but also the well-being of communities by increasing social connectivity among members. By providing a shared space to interact, “public urban green space has been shown to facilitate social networking and promote social inclusion in children and adolescents.”2 Public green spaces encourage a sense of community and cohesion, which in turn might ultimately help to reduce crime rates and loneliness.

To effectively foster a true sense of community, the type of green space to which one has access matters. A recent study of Chicago found, “park spaces show a more positive impact on health and well-being than the overall © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Increased access to urban green space benefits not only an individual’s mental health but also the well-being of communities by increasing social connectivity among members. neighborhood vegetation level.”3 By taking this factor into account, urban planners can make more effective use of existing green spaces.

Nevertheless, even small changes can have an impact. After controlling for socio-economic and other demographic factors, a study by the University of Chicago’s Environmental Neuroscience Lab found that “having 10 more trees in a city block, on average, improves health perception in ways comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000.”4 This finding suggests that the simple act of planting trees could reduce health inequities.

While the measure of “health perception” has limitations because it does not give us biological markers of improved health, it nonetheless demonstrates that those with access to green space had a more positive outlook on their personal health, which is significant.

Ultimately, green spaces of any type offer unique health benefits, which cannot be provided solely by built urban spaces. As a result, urban green spaces have a real and tangible effect on both individuals and communities.

They can and should be mobilized by urban designers as a tool for improving social cohesion and happiness, and combating inequity.

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References Algren, Holst Maria; Ekholm, Ola; Nielsen, Line; Ersboll Kjaer, Annette; Bak Kronborg, Carsten; Andersen Tanggaard, Pernille. (2018). Associations between perceived stress, socioeconomic status, and health-risk behaviour in deprived neighbourhoods in Denmark: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health.

1

Braubach, Matthias; Egorov, Andrey; Mudu, Pierpaolo; Wolf, Tanja; Ward Thompson, Catharine; Martuzzi, Marco. (2017). Effects of Urban Green Space on Environmental Health, Equity and Resilience. Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Areas, (pages 187-205).

2

Fan, Yingling; Das, Kirti; Chen, Qian. (2011). Neighborhood green, social support, physical activity, and stress: Assessing the cumulative impact. Health and Place, (pages 1202-1211).

3

Kardan, Omid; Gozdyra, Peter; Misic, Bratislav; Moola, Faisal; Palmer, Lyle; Paus, Tomáš; Berman, Marc. (2015). Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center. Scientific Reports.

4

Nesbitta, Lorien; Meitnera, Michael; Girling, Cynthia; R.J., Sheppard, Stephen; Lua, Yuhao.

(2019). Who has access to urban vegetation? A spatial analysis of distributional green equity in 10 US cities. Landscape and Urban Planning, (pages 51-79).

5

Rakhshandehroo, Medhi; Mohd Yusof Mohd, Johari; & Sahrakar, Afshin. (2017). Terminology of Urban Open and Green Spaces. 11th ASEAN Postgraduate Seminar.

6

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see the rainbow, feel the rainbow: the subconscious effects of color A jessica

n emerald ocean stretches

markman Jessica Markman is a first year student at the University of Chicago, considering a double-major in Neuroscience and English Literature. Specifically, she is passionate about studying mental illnesses and is excited by the prospect of becoming involved in such a complex and crucial field. On campus, Jessica is a member of the RBIM's Performance Company dance group, the Supplies for Dreams field trip team, and the SISR writing staff. Aside from academics, Jessica enjoys creative writing, dancing, and working with kids.

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

across the distance as far as your eyes can see. You dip your toes into the cool, crystal water to create a series of ripples. Then you release your shoulders and tilt your head back so that the sky completely fills your vision, blocking out the rest of the world. If you feel a sense of tranquility and relief after reading this passage, then you’re not alone. This scene is riddled with images that evoke thoughts of the colors blue and green, which are found to induce a sense of well-being among adolescents. This idea—the connection between color and one’s mental and physical state—is far from new. Rather, color theory first developed thousands of years ago with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. These civilizations used color in the forms of minerals, stones, crystals, salves, and dyes in order to heal various physical and mental illnesses. The exact color of a patient’s treatment was based off their THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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physical discolorations. For example, red was used to move blood, blue or white was used to reduce patients’ temperatures, and yellow was used to reduce inflammation and pain.3

The perception and interpretation of a color also depends on a series of individualized environmental and societal factors.

Color therapy continued to grow for the following hundreds of years, and the next major milestone was achieved during the Middle Ages.

This time period is known for alchemy, mysticism, and magic, all of which created an extremely conducive environment for the development of color as a tool for healing. One of the greatest healers of the Renaissance era, Paracelsus, focused primarily on color when developing different elixirs, charms, talismans, herbs, and minerals, believing that certain colors have distinct purposes and abilities.

Next, Europe shifted into the Enlightenment era. The new wave of ideas suppressed all thoughts relating to magic, including color therapy, in favor of science and rationalism. But in the late 1800s, color therapy slowly began to resurge—first in Europe and then in the United States. By the mid1900s, the field was booming. In 1947, Max Luscher, a Swiss psychotherapist, pioneered his own Color Theory and Test based on observations and experimentation, which soon became the foundation of color theory. His theory connects particular colors to 38

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feelings, which arise due to physiological responses. Luscher speculated that these responses stem from the hunting and gathering period of human history. Hunting and gathering were daytime activities that occured in the light and required energy, thus resulting in the formation of an intrinsic connection between yellow and increased metabolic rates. Additionally, the night time has always been associated with sleep, creating the connection between dark blue and slower metabolic rates. While this hunter-gatherer theory is yet to be proven, scientists have indeed found that yellow increases blood pressure while blue lowers it. By the 1960s, scientists collectively began studying color therapy once again, this time rooting their ideas in biology and chemistry.3 Today, our knowledge of color therapy is still quite limited and relatively new.

Understanding each color’s effect on the brain first requires an understanding of how humans perceive color. Each color is associated with light waves of different frequencies, which are absorbed by the eyes and then converted into electrical impulses by the brain.

The impulses then spark the brain’s hypothalamus gland, which is responsible for regulating body temperature, blood pressure, and respiration, as well as stimulating the pituitary and pineal glands, which secrete hormones to regulate

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

the body’s internal conditions. These processes are a part of the body’s autonomic nervous system, which means that they are not controlled by conscious thought.2 Therefore, viewing a color may trigger both mental and physiological reactions without our conscious knowledge. However, these subconscious biological responses are not identical for everyone. The perception and interpretation of a color also depends on a series of individualized environmental and societal factors.

For example, geographical location, culture, and age all may influence one’s innate preferences towards a certain color, thereby affecting their reaction. The color itself is therefore not an inherent emotional trigger.

Rather, it is the combination of the color with its culturally-associated meaning that prompts varying biological responses.4

So far, most of the research on color therapy has been completed in Western societies; thus, our knowledge of each color’s effects is tied to individuals within Western culture.

Several groups of Western individuals have been examined, spanning all age ranges, genders, and health levels.

Many of these experiments focused on physiological reactions and resulted in similar findings, indicating that each color corresponds to specific effects.

Colors with shorter wavelengths, such as blue and green, are shown to have a calming effect, inducing a

Living in a world that explodes color. Credit: Greg Rakozy

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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research was based on a popular prison study, which was a real-world situation that later prompted scientific examination. The prison had painted each of its four wings a different color and randomly assigned prisoners to each.

The staff eventually Breathing in the cool colors to evoke tranquility. Credit: popsugar.co.uk found that the besense of tranquility by lowering blood haviors among the prisoners in each pressure, pulse, and respiration rates. wing varied greatly, with those in the Black also prompts these responses. red and yellow wings being more inFurther, blue in particular has been clined to violence than those in the shown to increase feelings of safety, blue and green wings. Further, Tofle creativity, and the desire for trying et al. studied additional, more subtle new activities. Colors with longer factors that may influence color perwavelengths, such as yellow, red, ception.4 He found that some colors or orange, are shown to have the may induce a sense of spaciousness or opposite effect - they create a sense confinement. However, these effects of alertness and increased attention are dependent on not just a color’s due to rises in blood pressure, pulse, hue, but also the contrast between and respiration rates.3 These same col- colors and their relative brightness ors have also been shown to increase or darkness. He also found that while arousal, anxiety, and caution, and even color may indeed influence an individaffect cognition, improving vigilance ual’s reaction to their surroundings, and memory as well as heightening other environmental factors may play perception.2 Pink has been proven a larger role—including noise level, to induce tranquility and decrease aggression amongst women.3 White is universally disliked amongst children.1 Interestingly, just the name of a [W]e can learn to use color color alone has been shown to produce to our advantage. many of these effects.1 Some experiments have studied the real world application of color therapy in very specific situations. For instance, Lubos studied the effects of pink and blue among nursing students and found that both colors help reduce their stress level.3 Part of his 40

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temperature, cleanliness, and smell.

Additionally, the purpose of one’s environment (a hospital room versus a bedroom) and their role in the situation (a hospital patient versus the surgeon) can have a substantial influence. © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Some studies have even looked at the use of color in more serious medical settings, such as those involving individuals with critical illnesses. For example, Lubos examined photodynamic therapy, a relatively new form of cancer treatment.3 This technique uses intravenously injected photosensitive chemicals that accumulate in and self-identify cancer cells under ultraviolet light. The chemicals are activated by red light, which prompts them to exclusively target and destroy the cancer cells. The red light is uniquely capable of penetrating deeper tissues due to its longer wavelength. This technique has been reported to successfully treat more than 3000 people with a variety of malignant tumors. Another key use of color therapy involves dementia patients. Bosch et al. found that adults in long-term dementia care rely on color to help locate their room.1 Additionally, blue walls are shown to aid individuals with dementia due to the color’s intrinsic calming effect.

The Free Library reported another important use of color therapy - as a treatment method of depression disorder and SAD (seasonal affective disorder).2 Since SAD is thought to be caused by reduced exposure to light

and color, the article proposes that an increase in color exposure may lessen SAD’s effects and improve overall mood and wellbeing.

Now, whenever you see the black, star-studded sky before falling asleep or watch the sapphire waves break in Lake Michigan before beginning exams, it’ll be no wonder why you instantly feel blanketed by a sense of calmness. Thus, we can learn to use color to our advantage. This strategy can be as simple as seeing the color red before an invigorating work-out or the color pink before a relaxing reading session. Professors or administrations can choose to fill classrooms with the color yellow in order to increase attention, while students can decide to fill their dorms with the color green to create a more positive environment. The possibilities are endless. Therefore, color theory truly does have important, far-reaching applications across a wide variety of populations and environments. It grants us the ultimate power, enabling us to manipulate our surroundings so that we can gain control of our subconscious. After all, colors are everywhere, constantly filling our lives with great emotion and vibrancy.

References Bosch, S.J., Edelstein, E., Cama, R., Malkin, J. (2012). The Application of Color in Healthcare Settings.

8-67. https://www.ads.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Application-of-Colour-in-Healthcare-Settings. pdf 1

Color me creative: how color affect the brain; Lightwave frequencies associated with different colors can cause changes in mood, attention, and more.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Dec 16 2019 from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Color+me+creative%3a+how+color+affect+the+brain%3b+Lightwave+frequencies...-a0217186107 2

Lubos, L. C. (2008). The Role of Colors in Stress Reduction. Liceo Journal of Higher Education Research.

5(2), 95-103. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314578015_The_Role_of_Colors_in_Stress_Reduction 3

Tofle, R.B., Schwarz, B., Yoon, S.Y., Max-Royale, A. (2004). Color in Healthcare Environments. 4-11.

4

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natural defenses: monitoring mosquito populations with biocontrol

Y

ou canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t avoid swatting away

allison gentry is a second year at the University of Chicago, currently on the pre-med track and majoring in English. On campus, alongside writing for SISR, Allison sings with the University Women's Chorus, is involved with Southside Scribblers, and is an editor for PULSE, the on-campus pre-med publication. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the city, visiting as many museums as she can, and finding the best spots to eat around Chicago.

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pesky mosquitoes during the hot and muggy days of August in Houston: in the rainy season, stagnant water provides a perfect breeding ground for these blood-sucking pests.

Without access to proper medication or city-wide protection programs like pesticide spraying, the health of the population of a mosquito-infested city may be at risk. However, in cities like Houston, researchers are working to find a more sustainable solution to control these deadly insects. In particular, researchers are using biocontrol, a century-old practice, to control pests by the introduction of a natural enemy or predator.

No animal on earth is nearly as deadly as the mosquito. Mosquitoes act as vectors for many deadly tropical viral diseases.4 Female Asian Tiger, Southern House, and Yellow Fever mosquitoes are often carriers of Zika virus, West Nile virus, Chikungunya, and dengue fever, since females that need protein-rich Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

blood transfer these diseases to human hosts (Packard, 2019). The presence of these diseases varies from region to region, and the mortality rates in each region are significantly affected by access to proper preventative measures and medicine. In 2017, malaria alone was the cause of nearly 435,000 deaths worldwide.3 These health concerns will only increase over time, since the effects of climate change are leading to significant changes in the population distribution of these disease-carrying pests in various parts of the globe.2 Biocontrol groups around the world are researching methods to diminish mosquito populations, especially in more humid or marshy areas. Anita Schiller, Director of the Biocontrol Mosquito Initiative in Harris County in Houston, Texas, is developing an innovative and eco-friendly way to control the population of mosquitoes in Harris County using a natural predator of mosquitoes: Toxorhynchites

rutilus, commonly known as the mosquito assassin.4 Schiller plans to release a batch of mosquito assassins each month at the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and monitor the numbers of both mosquitoes and mosquito assassins in the closed environment.

Mosquito assassins look physically similar to their deadlier counterparts; however, the distinct differences make them a species of interest to biocontrol researchers. One such difference is that adult mosquito assassins have a proboscis, which is incapable of biting.

Instead of feeding on blood, they drink plant nectar and serve as pollinators.

They lay their eggs in stagnant water, and once they hatch, the larvae feed on other eggs or larvaeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially those of regular mosquitoes. It is this protein-rich diet early on in life that allows these insects to subsist on nectar rather than on blood when they develop into adults.3

Toxorhynchites rutilus. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The possibility for a natural defense against rising mosquito populations would also ease many public concerns over the dangers of mosquitoes and help address problems with current global preventative measures.

When introducing mosquito assassins into an environment, the researchers have noted that the mosquito population decreases significantly.

Additionally, since the mosquito assassins are native to Texas, the introduction of higher numbers of these assassins will not harm other populations present in the study or, eventually, in external environments.3 The possibility for a natural defense against rising mosquito populations would also ease many public concerns over the dangers of mosquitoes and help address problems with current global preventative measures.

A reduction in the mosquito population would help tackle many global health concerns, such as the ability to lower the amount of pesticides being pumped into the atmosphere, especially during the summer months.

Previous attempts in other locations to introduce mosquito assassins resulted in lowering mosquito populations by 98%, whereas pesticides only reduced the mosquito population by 29%.1 As a city with a high risk of flooding, Houston has extremely high numbers of mosquitoes due to the presence of stagnant water, which serves as a 44

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breeding ground in which mosquito eggs are laid. Therefore, the possibility of biocontrol methods would be extremely beneficial for the city.

Maintaining the natural balance is one of the major challenges of biocontrol research, as an introduced species can interfere with the established ecosystem. There are many infamous examples of failed biocontrol, and many times non-native species have later been proven to be invasive. For example, in 1935, non-native cane toads were introduced to Australia in order to control cane beetle populations. Since there were no natural predators for the toads themselves, the toad population soon spiraled out of control, and they are still a common pest in Australia.5 However, in the case of the Harris County research group, it is important to remember that the Asian Tiger mosquito is the “cane toad” of the situation, since they are the invasive species, whereas the

The biocontrol studies at the Houston Museum of Natural Science demonstrate the possibility of using nature’s designs to our advantage, and may provide the opportunity to address major health concerns worldwide. mosquito assassin is a native species found in various parts of Texas.

While this infamous example may seem discouraging, with proper preparation and study, biocontrol © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

methods have also proved beneficial. For example, in the 1940’s, researchers in California searched for a solution to the growing presence of the invasive Klamath weed, which proved toxic when ingested by livestock. Scientists sourced two types of beetles from Australia which were natural predators of the weed, and, after extensive testing to ensure they did not have any adverse effects on the growth of other plants in the area, were released and successfully lowered the presence of the weed in areas around the United States. In the following years, California reportedly saved around $3,500,000 per year due

to this biocontrol program.5

The biocontrol studies at the Houston Museum of Natural Science demonstrate the possibility of using nature’s designs to our advantage, and may provide the opportunity to address major health concerns worldwide.

With the proper research and consideration, biocontrol methods can continue to develop and evolve into systems which are in place globally, and in the case of mosquito assassins, may lead to a reduction in viral diseases like malaria, helping solve one of the major health crises of the modern century.

References Wells, C. (2019). Fighting Nature with Nature: Using Mosquito Assassins to Make Summer Safer. Houston Museum of Natural Science: Beyond Bones. https://blog.hmns.org/2019/05/ fighting-nature-with-nature-using-mosquito-assassins-to-make-summer-safer/ 1

Elflein, J. (2019). Mosquito-borne diseases in the U.S. - Statistics & Facts. Statista. https:// www.statista.com/topics/4264/mosquito-borne-diseases-in-the-us/#targetText=Mosquito%2Dborne%20diseases%20include%20the,%2C%20yellow%20fever%2C%20and%20more.

2

Green, J. (2019). The Nature of An Assassin: Harnessing Deadly Killers to Fight Pests. Houston

3

Museum of Natural Science: Beyond Bones. https://blog.hmns.org/2019/08/the-nature-ofan-assassin-harnessing-deadly-killers-to-fight-pests/ Schiller, A.; Allen, M.; Coffey, J.; Fike, A.; Carballo, F. (2019). Updated Methods for the Production of Toxorhynchites rutilus septentrionalis (Diptera, Culicidae) for Use as Biocontrol Agent Against Container Breeding Pest Mosquitoes in Harris County, Texas. Journal of Insect Science. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6407668/ 4

Shelton, A.; Eccelston, J. (1996). Successes in Biological Control. Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. https://biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/success.php 5

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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the search for the "blackest black" I

December 2016, sculptor Anish Kapoor—of Cloud Gate, or Chicago’s “Bean,” fame—scandalized the art world by posting an Instagram picture of his middle finger dipped in pink paint. He was furious because he had been banned from using this particular shade of pink by another contemporary artist, Stuart Semple, as retaliation against Kapoor for buying exclusive rights to use a special black paint. To some people, this seemed like much ado about nothing. Why so publicly and dramatically feud over black paint? This paint, though, was not just any black paint—it was Vantablack, which was, at the time, the darkest substance created by humanity.15

To understand why Vantablack was so valuable and had such a high profile, we must first understand what made this “blackest black” so desirable by examining the work of physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. In an 1860 paper, Kirchhoff formulated his law of thermal radiation, n

wonyoung jang is a second-year student double-majoring in English Language & Literature and Gender & Sexuality Studies. Although most of his academic interests––which are admittedly amorphous––lie in modernist literature, pedagogy, and feminist and queer theory, he is casually interested (read: is too lazy to pursue them in earnest) in many disparate topics, from music theory to quantum physics.

Outside of class, Wonyoung can be found singing with his a cappella group The Ransom Notes, teaching in Chicago schools, and participating in quizbowl. He also enjoys cooking, listening to country music, and running along the lake as the sun rises.

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© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

which stated that, for any surface at a namic equilibrium to be maintained.12 given temperature and wavelength, This solution is predicated on a theoa surface’s ability to release energy as retical concept Kirchhoff introduces thermal radiation—or its emissivity— in his paper—the concept of “bodies” and a surface’s ability to take in energy that “completely absorb all incident as thermal radiation—or its absorp- rays,” which are vital because the systivity—must be equal.4 This law was tems Kirchhoff describes must emit particularly valuable in reconciling a and absorb energy in a specific way peculiarity found in the Second Law in order to reach thermodynamic of Thermodynamics, which states that equilibrium. These ideal bodies were entropy cannot decrease. Kirchhoff termed blackbodies.12 Through Kirchhad posed a paradox that seems to hoff’s law of thermal radiation, we violate the Second Law: given a cold can thus conclude that blackbodies system with high emissivity and a hot in thermal equilibrium, in perfectly system with low emissivity, the system absorbing energy, must also perfectly with higher emissivity would need emit energy. Hence, the concept of to transfer its energy to the system blackbody radiation.13 with lower emissivity, but heat—and entropy—cannot, according to the Sec- Drawing from Kirchhoff’s work, scienond Law, spontaneously flow from tists have long entertained the many a colder system to a hotter system. practical applications of blackbodies.

Kirchhoff then proposed a solution in Their ability to perfectly absorb energy which the two bodies would both emit would allow them to be used in solar and absorb energy between each other: energy collectors and infrared thermal the hot system would be emitting heat detectors, and their ability to perfectly to the cold system per the Second Law, and the cold system would be absorbing this heat, but the hot s y s t e m would also be absorbing the same amount of heat it is emitting to the cold system, allowing for thermodyBlackbody radiation spectra. Credit: Wikimedia Commons © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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[S]cientists have long entertained the many practical applications of blackbodies. emit energy would broaden horizons for sustainable infrared heating mechanisms and heat liberation.14 Although perfect blackbodies as idealized by Kirchhoff do not exist—at least, not in a capacity that has been realized and harnessed by humanity—scientists have, due to the captivating prospect of expanding horizons in technological design, doggedly pursued efforts to closely approximate blackbodies in hopes of reaping even just some of the potential spoils.

To this end, in 2003, scientists at the U.K’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) made a major breakthrough in the search for the “blackest black” by chemically etching a nickel-phosphorus alloy to create what they termed “super-black,” a coating that absorbs about 99.6% of visible light at normal incidence.11 While ultra-black substances had been used before in attempts to approximate the properties of a blackbody in scientific design, the discovery of super-black was not only one of the first significant and successful innovations in the public eye, but it was also, at the time, appreciably closer to the properties of a blackbody than its predecessors; super-black was thus intended for use in “low reflectance coatings in optical instruments and sensors” in order to “improve the absorbance of thermal detectors.”3 Concurrently with the increased scientific interest in 48

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super-black and developing similar pseudo-blackbody emulators, there was also considerable interest in taking super-black and using it in artistic design—NPL had confirmed in an interview, for example, that many artists had expressed enthusiasm for utilizing the material in their works.9 In a way, the creation of super-black was the genesis of concerted modern efforts to work towards harnessing blackbody technology and allowed for the widespread societal propagation of this alluring idea of the “blackest black.”

Shortly after super-black burst onto the scene, other researchers began to pursue similar projects in earnest, and, in 2006, NPL carried out early development of a black coating made of carbon nanotubes.17 This technology would then be expanded upon by

[T]he creation of super-black was the genesis of concerted modern efforts to work towards harnessing blackbody technology and allowed for the widespread societal propagation of this alluring idea of the “blackest black.”

Surrey NanoSystems in 2014 to yield Vantablack, which boasted a much higher ability to absorb energy than super-black, absorbing a whopping 99.96% of visible light.16 The mechanism by which Vantablack superseded © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

super-black lies in the carbon nanotubes that comprise it—microscopic tubes of carbon are grown on a surface, and when photons, the quanta of light, travel towards the surface, they travel down the carbon nanotubes and are effectively trapped inside.8 In contrast to super-black, which merely etched an alloy in order to assist in the absorption of photons, Vantablack and its nanotubes manage the process of trapping light on a wider scale, allowing it to be used more prolifically in design applications.

Predictably, Vantablack took the world by storm. Scientists raved about its unparalleled ability to meticulously calibrate cameras, thermal imaging devices, and telescopes,10 and the defense sector even conducted research into using Vantablack to aid in the production of stealth aircraft;2 the possibilities for scientific design seemed endless. However, the aspect of Vantablack that perhaps captivated the public more was its potential for artistic design, and, once Surrey NanoSystems developed a spray-

Vantablack. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

[M]icroscopic tubes of carbon are grown on a surface, and when photons, the quanta of light, travel towards the surface, they travel down the carbon nanotubes and are effectively trapped inside. on Vantablack paint in 2016, artists were scrambling to use this enigmatic and exotic color in their work, and customers were asking for their cars and gambling die to be covered in the new “blackest black."6 Even as recently as 2019, BMW unveiled a Vantablack-colored car.5 Of the artists who lined up first at Surrey NanoSystems’ door to gain the opportunity to use Vantablack in art, the only one who succeeded was Anish Kapoor.

Kapoor and Surrey NanoSystems, after much discussion, eventually reached a deal that allowed Kapoor to buy exclusive rights to use Surrey NanoSystems’ spray-on Vantablack paint in his art. This exchange provoked an intense fury in the contemporary art community, particularly with Stuart Semple, who had begrudgingly once remarked that Vantablack is his favorite color, in spite of his inability to use it. To cheekily counter Kapoor’s deal, Semple created his “pinkest THE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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pink” to rival the “blackest black” and banned Kapoor from buying it, which lead to Kapoor’s infamous and vulgar Instagram post. As this feud transpired, Vantablack transcended super-black in another way: Vantablack was no longer just another advancement in scientific design and blackbody technology––it was now also a widespread cultural phenomenon. The search for the “blackest black” had left the realm of scientific esotericism and crystallized into a fascinating concept that burrowed its way into artistic design and public intrigue in a way that similar technologies had not done before. This shift was particularly noticeable when, in 2017, Surrey NanoSystems debuted an improved Vantablack with demonstration videos—which would later go viral—that showed entire sculptures appearing to flatten after the application of Vantablack.1 The draw of Vantablack no longer lay in the hands of scientists—it lay in the hands of ordinary people.

The search for the “blackest black” has since continued and superseded Vantablack, but the perception of this endeavor has shifted due to Vantablack’s pervasive cultural presence.

Before the Vantablack art controversy, the purpose of developing new darker substances was primarily for applications in scientific design—the artistic applications of super-black were only vaguely entertained, and even Vantablack had been created for technological purposes. Now, each advancement is touted for its use in blackbody technology as well as its use in non-technological settings, showing how scientific design in many ways 50

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The search for the “blackest black” had left the realm of scientific esotericism and crystallized into a fascinating concept that burrowed its way into artistic design and public intrigue. has grown to dovetail with artistic design. Recently, in September 2019, a yet-unnamed material was unveiled at a New York Stock Exchange art exhibit

by MIT scientists; this new material has far surpassed Vantablack’s capabilities, absorbing approximately 99.995% of visible light. At this exhibit, the material was revealed as part of an exhibit created in part by MIT artist-in-residence Diemut Strebe in which it was used to coat a diamond.7 While the scientists did elucidate the broadened scientific applications of this particular material, the focus of the ceremony and publicity was on the diamond art exhibit, not the science—perhaps indicative of a recent subversion of cultural zeitgeist regarding these sorts of scientific endeavors.

And so the search for a real blackbody continues, but now on an almost fundamentally different course than the one it had set out on—a course that allows for artistic design to intermingle with scientific design; a course that allows for greater accessibility to the public eye and intrigue; a course that, perhaps, will broaden the horizons for innovation in not just blackbody technology, but in other areas of life concurrently. © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

References Ainley, N. (2017). The “World’s Blackest Black” Creators Came Out with an Even Blacker Black. Vice.

1

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nzg9xw/worlds-blackest-black-vantablack-2

Anthony, S. (2014). It’s like staring ‘into a black hole’: World’s darkest material will be used to make very

2

stealthy aircraft, better telescopes. Extremetech. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/186229-its-likestaring-into-a-black-hole-worlds-darkest-material-will-be-used-to-make-very-stealthy-aircraft-better-telescopes

Brown, R. (2002). The physical and chemical properties of electroless nickel–phosphorus alloys and low

3

reflectance nickel–phosphorus black surfaces. Journal of Materials Chemistry. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/ content/articlelanding/2002/jm/b204483h/unauth#!divAbstract

Chandrasekhar, S. (1960). Radiative Transfer. New York, NY: Dover Publications.

4

Dorian, D. (2019). BMW X6 Gets a Blackest of Black Treatment with Paint That Eats Light. Car and Driver.

5

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a28845406/bmw-x6-vantablack/

Evans, L. (2016). What Ever Happened to the Blackest Black?. The Outline. https://theoutline.com/post/285/

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what-ever-happened-to-the-blackest-black

Ferreira, B. (2019). This Is the Blackest Black Ever Created. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kx-

7

aky/this-material-is-blacker-than-anything-even-vantablack

GDN. (2014). Vantablack, the world’s darkest material, is unveiled by UK firm. South China Morning Post.

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https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1554903/vantablack-worlds-darkest-material-unveiled-uk-firm Hamer, M. (2003). Mini craters key to ‘blackest ever black.’ New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/

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article/dn3356-mini-craters-key-to-blackest-ever-black/

Johnston, I. (2014). Blackest is the new black: Scientists develop a material so dark that you can’t see it…

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Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/blackest-is-the-new-black-scientists-havedeveloped-a-material-so-dark-that-you-cant-see-it-9602504.html 11

Kheir, N. (2003). How black is ‘super black’?. EurekAlert!. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas-

es/2003-05/npl-hbi052803.php

Kirchhoff, G. (1860). On the Relation between the Radiating and Absorbing Power of different Bodies for

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Light and Heat. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. Page Numbers 1-21. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786446008642901 Massoud, M. (2005). Engineering Thermofluids. New York, NY: Springer.

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Mizuno, K. (2009). A black body absorber from vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes. Pro-

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ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. https://www.pnas.org/ content/106/15/6044

O’Connor, R. (2016). Anish Kapoor gets his hands on ‘pinkest pink’ after being banned from use by

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its creator. Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/anish-kapoorpinkest-pink-blackest-black-paint-war-a7497751.html

Surrey NanoSystems. (2014). British breakthrough in world’s darkest material launched at Farnborough

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International. Surrey NanoSystems. https://www.surreynanosystems.com/news-media/news/sensitive-electro-optical-imaging-and-target-acquisition-systems-launch-at-farnborough-international-air-show

Theocharous, E. (2006). Evaluation of a pyroelectric detector with a carbon multiwalled nanotube black

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coating in the infrared. Applied Optics. https://www.osapublishing.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-45-6-1093

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smart clothing: a privacy nightmare or the next big thing?

S

elf regulating jackets that adjust

Tanya Cukierman is a first year at the University of Chicago, who hopes to be a math and computer science double major. She is French, and has lived in England, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. She loves theatre, chocolate, reading, philosophy and of course, maths.

their temperature to keep you warm. Sports bras that measure your heart rate as you run. Shoes that order pizza for you. These are all examples of smart clothing--wearable items whose abilities go beyond those of normal clothing. Smart clothes are next in a long line of Smart tech products.

The term Smart tech comes from the acronym ‘Self Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology',1 and refers to inanimate objects that are able to collect and provide useful feedback and insights about their surroundings. For example, smart Apple watches can not only tell time, but also show texts, measure steps taken, and transfer calls. So, after we have turned mundane watches, refrigerators and lightbulbs into smart devices, what is the next frontier of Smart tech?

In the mid 1990’s, a group of researchers from MIT discovered the current vision of the future of Smart tech.2 Relying on

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© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

electronic fibers and microprocessors,3 they began work on smart clothing.

As a result, the clothes we wear can now perform functions we had previously associated with phones or advanced technology. These clothes are integrating themselves into almost every discipline. There are smart work clothes that exchange digital business cards during important meetings,4 and smart activewear that record and give feedback on fitness activities.3 These clothes also have the potential to revolutionize the medical industry.

A recurring obstacle in medicine is the need to constantly monitor healing patients.6 The days and weeks during which patients recover after treatment are not only extremely inconvenient for them, but costly for the hospital in terms of space and resources. Despite this, hospitals cannot let the patients go home, as their recovery must be monitored. This is where smart clothing becomes useful. Instead of sitting in a hospital bed having

their blood pressure monitored for weeks, the hospitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clients could simply put on a shirt that monitors their health for them, and would only need to come back to the hospital if a problem is detected. Smart clothing, if utilized correctly, could significantly increase the efficiency of hospitals.

Moreover, medical monitoring embedded in clothes would not only be useful for patients exiting hospitals, but also for those with chronic illnesses that need frequent checkups. Every day, 230 Americans with diabetes go through an amputation.3 This is because diabetes can often lead to peripheral heart disease (PAD) which causes blood vessels to narrow, limiting blood flow to the feet and legs. If this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t detected early, patients might even have to amputate a limb. The consequences are dire. Siren Care, a group that works to alleviate diabetes-related amputations, has developed a smart sock to prevent the conditions that lead to amputations.8 The sock can detect a rise in temperature (a telltale

Medical smart textile. Credit: virtualnewsusa.com

Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Credit: investors.com

sign of reduced blood flow) in the six locations most commonly associated with PAD. The data is sent to the client’s phone, where any worrisome changes can be pointed out, and they are notified to meet with a doctor.

These socks are a surprisingly practical option. Their battery life lasts up to 2 months even when used daily, and the cost for customers is only $30 a month.

Apart from people with chronic diseases, the elderly are also a potential clientele for smart clothing. As health deteriorates with old age, many elderly individuals require near constant assistance and monitoring. More than 8 out of 10 seniors have more than one chronic illness,6 and end up needing to either move in with relatives or into care homes. Smart clothes could begin to replace this full time monitoring.

For example, a Canadian company has developed a sensor that can be woven into jackets and vibrates when the wearer approaches an object, enabling the visually impaired to walk independently more easily.7 However, although the elderly may profit from wearing smart clothing, it could be quite difficult for them to use (or want to use) such technology. Unless it is 54

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made very simple, such smart clothing may not reach its target market, especially given the elevated prices of many of these designs. Moreover, many seniors may not be able to invest in smart clothing to tackle all of their chronic illnesses, as this would result in a very costly wardrobe. If smart clothing companies are hoping to become the main way seniors take care of their health, they will have to become cheaper, more multipurpose, and user friendly.

The smart clothing industry seems like a potential goldmine. However, like in many technological advances, there are ethical considerations that must be taken into consideration—the main one being the question of data protection. We already live in a world where our search history, purchases and private communications can be shared and used without our consent.

Here, we are looking at something much bigger. The inner workings of our body will be converted into 1’s and 0’s, and it is not certain whether we will have control over where

The inner workings of our body will be converted into 1’s and 0’s, and it is not certain whether we will have control over where that information goes. that information goes. It caused a big enough scandal when we discovered that information from online quizzes was being shared by Facebook © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

As the technology becomes more refined and less experimental, companies may be more willing to invest in smart clothing, making them cheaper and more available to people of all backgrounds. to Cambridge Analytica ––imagine what would happen if our body’s data leaked. There would certainly be a movement against all Smart tech.

For example, information collected from smart clothing could be sold to insurance companies, who could then use it to refuse to cover potential patients. The smart clothes could pick up pre-existing conditions that clients did not know about, or could analyze clients' usage to refuse reimbursement.

If a client failed to wear her smart shirt that monitored her heartbeat for an evening, and then had a heart attack, the insurance company could claim that as the reason. This could lead to smart clothing and insurance companies profiting off vulnerable patients, especially seniors that are their main targets. It could also lead to neuro-marketing, a growing field that uses signals sent out by our bodies to target personalised products to consumers. An important step in ensuring that smart clothing progresses in an ethically sound direction should be to ensure data privacy at all levels.

It is essential to implement ethical standards now, while the sector is still developing. © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Another issue is how smart clothing may widen the gap between the wealthy and the middle and lower classes. Smart clothing can be expensive, as it requires advanced technology and constant upkeep. It is very likely that only the wealthy would be able to afford such a luxurious product.

This may widen health gaps between income classes. While poorer families will struggle with medical issues, richer families with access to these technological shortcuts will be able to advance even further. As a result, the wealth gap might even increase.

These potential drawbacks do not outweigh the benefits that will be reaped from smart clothing. Incidents like Cambridge Analytica taught us that we can’t rely on companies that manage big data to protect that data.

This means that with the advancement of Smart clothing, a third party should

An important step in ensuring that smart clothing progresses in an ethically sound direction should be to ensure data privacy at all levels. be responsible for data privacy, and laws and rules should be implemented to protect users. As the technology becomes more refined and less experimental, companies may be more willing to invest in smart clothing, making them cheaper and more available to people of all backgrounds.

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allowing poorer patients to have access. Overall, we should deal with these issues for the future potential of a healthier population. Smart clothing may be dangerous, but technological development is inevitable. The human race is not one to ignore opportunities for advancement--if there is a way to be healthier, we will very likely seize it.

The best thing we can do is to regulate the growing Smart industry so that it maintains ethical imperatives with strict boundaries. If we can keep the dangers in check, then smart clothing could truly revolutionize the way we treat medical patients and improve the living standards for the whole population.

References SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology) Definition. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2019, from https://techterms.com/definition/smart 2 Pentland, A. (1998). Smart rooms, smart clothes. Proceedings. Fourteenth International Conference on Pattern Recognition (Cat. No.98EX170), 2, 949–953 vol.2. https://doi.org/10.1109/ ICPR.1998.711845 3 Chen, M., Ma, Y., Song, J., Lai, C.-F., & Hu, B. (2016). Smart Clothing: Connecting Human with Clouds and Big Data for Sustainable Health Monitoring. Mobile Networks and Applications, 21(5), 825–845. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-016-0745-1 4 Devindra. (n.d.). Samsung’s weird wearables include a smart suit and solar purse. Retrieved November 22, 2019, from Engadget website: https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/10/samsung-smart-wearables/ 5 Increasing Awareness This National Diabetes Month Can Save Limbs and Lives. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2019, from https://www.ajmc.com/contributor/foluso-fakorede/2018/11/ increasing-awareness-this-national-diabetes-month-can-save-limbs-and-lives 6 Facts About Healthy Aging. (2015, June 3). Retrieved November 22, 2019, from NCOA website: https://www.ncoa.org/news/resources-for-reporters/get-the-facts/healthy-aging-facts/ 7 Petsiuk, A. L., & Pearce, J. M. (2019). Low-Cost Open Source Ultrasound-Sensing Based Navigational Support for the Visually Impaired. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 19(17). https:// doi.org/10.3390/s19173783 8 Technology – Siren. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2019, from https://siren.care/technology 1

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© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

agricultural genetic modification: misconceptions and untapped benefits T Alena

he food of the future is here:

Sprietzer

is a first year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. She plans on majoring in Biology (with a specialization in Ecology and Evolution) or in Environmental and Urban Studies. She is interested in agriculture, poetry, and sustainable architecture. Alena loves rollerblading, writing, cooking, horse-riding, language-learning, and imagining all of the gigantic cats she will never own. © 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

mass-produced, great-tasting, and available to all. But be cautious, because this food is not healthy—it will harm your children by changing their DNA—and this food is not environmentally friendly—it will turn our agriculture into a soil-depleting monoculture machine. Or at least, this may be what you’ve gathered from the media flurry and the vast number of articles criticizing the use of genetic engineering in food production.

Genes control everything that makes a tomato into a tomato, a mouse into a mouse, and a human into a human.

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The genetic manipulation of plants is as old as the practice of agriculture itself. color hair to have. Once a living thing is created, genes maintain their form and function. Because genes have such great influence over our bodies, it is no wonder that the concept of genetic manipulation has caused such a panic.

From articles titled “GMO Foods are Killing Us”, to billboards with “Keep GMOs out of your genes” on the side of the highway, most of the exposure we have to GMOs is negative.

Because the genes of genetically engineered plants have been mutated, some worry that consuming the unnatural DNA may result in mutations within the body. This is certainly not the case. The DNA from whatever food you eat, genetically modified or not, is digested by enzymes once it reaches the stomach.5 Digestion completely breaks down the DNA from the food you eat. After the DNA is broken up, your body cannot tell whether you ate a strawberry genetically modified for better color or a 100% organic strawberry.

All of the genetically modified products currently on the market have gone through extensive health and safety testing. For example, if the introduction of a pest-resistance gene to a tomato is being considered, the FDA performs tests to ensure that those who are not allergic to a tomato will not have an allergic reaction to this new tomato.9 Additionally, there 58

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are no known health risks associated with the consumption of genetically modified crops; the consumption of genetically modified crops hasn’t been linked to increased DNA mutation, fertility problems, or problems with organ function.7 The genetic manipulation of plants is as old as the practice of agriculture itself. The process of simple selection, or only planting seeds from the most desirable crops, is the most basic form of genetic manipulation. Soon after practicing simple selection, farmers began crossing. In crossing, two plants with desirable characteristics are interbred by transferring the pollen from one plant's stamen to another plant's stigma. This cross pollination can create hybrids possessing two desirable

Teosinte to maize. Credit: PLOS Biology

© 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

characteristics or, sometimes, a new strain of crop. Maize, for example, was domesticated from teosinte, a Mexican wild grass, over 8,700 years ago using only these simple genetic manipulation techniques.3 Due to rapid technological advancements, modern genetic engineering methods vary greatly. Modern methods include embryonic rescue, somatic hybridization, somaclonal variation, mutation breeding, and cell selection.1 In general, the first step of genetically modifying a crop is selecting a beneficial trait. Then, the specific gene coding for this trait is determined through a series of trial-and-error experiments. Once located, this gene can simply be cut from the genome and inserted into the seeds of a plant.

Finally, the resulting plant from the modified embryo will express the desired trait.8 Since this trait is now embedded in its genome, the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offspring will also have this trait. This means that the actual insertion of the gene only needs to be done once in order to produce many offspring with the desired modification.

The reasons for genetically engineering our crops are nearly as varied as the modern methods we use. For example, genetically engineered crops can increase crop yield and produce a vegetable with greater hardiness and better taste. Tastier vegetables incentivize vegetable consumption, and because an increased vegetable intake is linked to the prevention of some types of cancer and a lower risk of heart attack and stroke, genetically engineering crops can thus improve public health.10 If these same Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

vegetables have maximum nutrient content, public health is improved even further. Additionally, a crop with increased hardiness or yield is more plentiful and able to grow in a greater variety of environments. This hardiness is especially useful as we experience more extreme weather due to climate change. If food can grow in more environments, then more food can be produced, even in areas where agriculture was previously inefficient.

Human health is positively impacted

[T]he actual insertion of the gene only needs to be done once in order to produce many offspring with the desired modification.

by GMOs in another way as well: through genetically modification, medicine production can be more ethical and more efficient. Insulin, a protein hormone required for those with high blood sugar or diabetes, was historically harvested from pigs.6 Now, with genetic engineering, a transgenic bacteria can be created by inserting the DNA coding for the human insulin protein hormone into a bacterial genome. These transgenic bacteria are able to produce large quantities of insulin for human useâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;without harming pigs.

The benefits of GMOs extend to the environmental sphere as well. Plants can be genetically engineered to carry natural pest- and weed-resistance, which reduces the need for pestiTHE TRIPLE HELIX Winter 2020

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[C]onsider purchasing a genetically modified product and supporting environmental and public health-friendly produce. pests, but also protects other insect that likely could have been harmed by previous pesticides, demonstrating that genetically modified foods carry widespread benefits.

Treating crops with pesticides. Credit: inspirationsandexplorations.com

cides and herbicides, and therefore reduces the harmful chemical runoff and the increased rates of cancer caused by traditional pesticides and herbicides.4 The plants can even be engineered to target specific pests, while allowing other insects to live.

For instance, plants have been genetically engineered to produce a toxin which will explode the stomachs of locusts, a harmful pest, but not those of endangered bees and butterflies.2 This kind of specific selection not only increases food yield by eliminating

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The dream of nutritious and plentiful food production and agricultural efficiency is being realized thanks to modern gene-editing technology.

Despite the benefits of genetically modified crops, fear of unsubstantiated adverse effects have stalled the embracement of GMOs. All genetically modified products must have a label indicating soâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;despite the lack of conclusive, replicable evidence.

The presence of the label is proof of the stigma associating GMOs with adverse health effects. But currently, there are no known health risks associated with GMOs, but many public health and environmental benefits. So next time youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at the grocery store, consider purchasing a genetically modified product and supporting environmental and public health-friendly produce.

Š 2020, The Triple Helix, Inc. All rights reserved.

References National Research Council (US) Committee on Identifying and Assessing Unintended Effects of Genetically Engineered Foods on Human Health. (2004). “Methods and Mechanisms for Genetic Manipulation of Plants, Animals, and Microorganisms”. National Academies Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215771/ 2 Krupke, Christian. (2016). “Beetles, Butterflies, Bees and More: The Relationship Between Bugs and GMOs”. Purdue University. https://ag.purdue.edu/GMOs/Pages/GMOsandInsects.aspx 3 Braun, David Max. (2009). “Corn Domesticated From Mexican Wild Grass 8.700 Years Ago”.

National Geographic Society Newsroom. https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2009/03/23/ corn-domesticated-from-mexican-wild-grass-8700-years-ago/ 4 Kellogg, Robert L. et al. (2000). “Environmental Indicators of Pesticide Leaching and Runoff From Farm Fields. United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/ wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/technical/?cid=nrcs143_014053 5 Liu, Yu et al. (2015). Digestion of Nucleic Acid Starts in the Stomach. Macmillan Publishers Limited. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500949/ 6 Making Medicines. (2019). The Tech Interactive, Stanford University. https://genetics.thetech. org/about-genetics/making-medicines 7 Norris, Megan L. (2015). Will GMOs Hurt My Body? The Public’s Concerns and How Scientists Have Addressed Them. Harvard University. http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/ will-gmos-hurt-my-body/ 8 Powell, Chelsea. (2015). How to Make a GMO. Harvard University. http://sitn.hms.harvard. edu/flash/2015/how-to-make-a-gmo/ 9 U.S. Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops. (2011). Case Studies in Agricultural Security.

Federation of American Scientists. https://fas.org/biosecurity/education/dualuse-agriculture/2.-agricultural-biotechnology/us-regulation-of-genetically-engineered-crops.html 10 Harvard University School of Public Health. (2019). “Vegetables and Fruits”. Harvard University School of Public Health. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-youeat/vegetables-and-fruits/ 1

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The Triple Helix International Leadership

The Triple Helix, Inc. is an undergraduate, student-run organization dedicated to the promotion of interdisciplinary discussion. We encourage critical analysis of legally and socially important issues in science and promote the exchange of ideas. Our flagship publication, the Science in Society Review, and our online blog, The Triple Helix Online, provide research-based perspectives on pertinent scientific issues facing society today.

Our students at twenty chapters at some of the most renowned universities in the world form a diverse, intellectual, and global society. We aim to inspire scientific curiosity and discovery, encouraging undergraduates to explore interdisciplinary careers that push traditional professional boundaries. In doing so, we hope to create global citizen scientists. www.thetriplehelix.uchicago.edu

MEET THE STAFF SCIENCE IN SOCIETY REVIEW EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Elizabeth Crowdus Caroline Kim MANAGING EDITORS Sydney Jenkins Charlotte Soehner Abby Weymouth ASSOCIATE EDITORS Katherine Boggs Josie Brown Rose Leah Cytryn Avital Fogel Airi Kogishi Nick Ornstein Nicholas Peno Arushi Rana Jake Scott Narisa Trabosh Emma Yan Sophie Yang Victor Hou Yuan Yang WRITERS Maggie Bader Tanya Cukierman Ellie L. Frank Rory Frydman Allison Gentry Ayushi Hegde Wonyoung Jang Jessica Markman Mallory Moore Jack Shapiro Alena Sprietzer

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