sparks Summer 2012 || Vol 1 || Issue 1
about us From the editors: Welcome to the first issue of Sparks. Science and technology are everywhere in our daily life. From the simplest items we consume such as toothpaste and breakfast cereal, to complex systems we use such as the phone, the internet and the medicine, all these are the products and results of modern science and technology. Whilst science, being an exciting, captivating area of study, has always been a strong field of interest for many of us, we recognize that not all people feel the same way. It is our hope that more and more students would become interested in science and, indeed, take science and technology as their lifetime endeavor. And that’s why we founded our PSAT (Promoting Science And Technology) club to produce this magazine. By highlighting and showcasing the wonders of science, we hope to allow our peers to see science the same way we do. We see this magazine as a means to explore the intricate and fascinating elements of the world. Our school Westview has a very strong science program, particularly with regards to the Advanced Placement courses. And we would love to see more students take advantage of those classes. This magazine was written for everyone, not only those who enjoy science but also those who have yet to discover how great it truly is. We have a collection of different articles in order to appeal to the interests of everyone. We wish to be the spark that lights the flame of interest and participation in science. We recognize that we produced and published this towards the end of the school year, but we assure you that we’ll be here in the fall with another issue. Also, we hope to invite guest speakers to present to students on a more personal level. Finally, we’d like to thank all the contributors who wrote articles and allowed this magazine to come to life. Without you, there would be no us. Also, thanks to Ms. Weltsch for being our advisor and supporting us. And many thanks to you, the reader, for opening this magazine. We look forward to hearing the comments and suggestions from you. Sincerely yours, Suyang Kevin Wang and Victor Han Founders
Staff List: Editors-in-chief/Designers Suyang Kevin Wang Victor Han
Article Editor Ada Ng Staff Writers Alvin Ho Sanket Padmanabhan Joseph Tsang Visual Artist Esther Wang Cover art courtesy of abstractwallpapers.biz
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contents the table of
summer 2012 || volume 1 || issue 1 Features 4 The DNA Dilemma By: Kevin Wang A summary of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA and the scandal behind it 6 Waves of the Future By: Sanket Padmanabhan Discover how teleportation could work… and how it’s likely to appear in the near future 9 How to Travel at 4000 MPH By: Joseph Tsang A glimpse into the future of transportation 10 A Life of Biochemistry By: Alvin Ho An exclusive interview with a biochemist 12 The Sky’s Blue Hue Answers to the ageless question: “Why is the sky blue?”
By: Victor Han
14 A World Surrounded by Water By: Alvin Ho A dive into the depths of the mysterious marine world and all its wonders 16 Stem Cells Revealed By: Victor Han Do stem cells hold the secret to future of medicine and healthcare?
Extras 8 Question: What is “it”? 17 Scientific Sketches
By: Esther Wang
Contact Us: Looking to give feedback, contribute articles, or advertise? Please email us at westviewsparks@gmail.com Thank you!
Image courtesy of Rick Gomes on Flickr
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The
DNA Dilemma
Almost everyone has heard of the vital substance known
as DNA, the blueprint of life. But just a century ago, it was a mysterious and relatively unexplored branch of science. Enormous progress was made throughout the 20th century on the functionality and form of DNA, including James Watson and Francis Crick's Nobel Prize winning discovery of its double-helix structure. While Watson and Crick are the most famous DNA detectives, a third person and her crucial contribution - "Photo 51" - allowed the doublehelix structure to be properly understood. She was Rosalind Franklin and her remarkable X-ray image of DNA, "Photo 51," was both a scientific breakthrough and a great wrongdoing.
Born in 1920 in London, Rosalind Franklin came from a wealthy family of English Jews. As a child, she excelled academically and eventually entered Cambridge University to study physics and chemistry. At Cambridge, Franklin was introduced to X-ray crystallography, an imaging technique that she would later use to capture Photo 51. After earning her Ph. D, Franklin spent four years in a lab at Paris and then moved back to England in 1951, to the famous King's College laboratory. It was at this facility that Franklin performed her X-ray crystallography experiments on DNA in an attempt to understand its structure. Franklin was not the easiest person to get along with; she was aggressive, passionate, and somewhat parochial. Her fierce personality led to conflicts with coworkers and earned her the sarcastic nickname "Rosy." 4 || sparks
By: Kevin Wang
As Rosalind worked at King's College, an ambitious young scientist from America named James Watson arrived in England to work in the Cavendish research lab. Watson's partner was Francis Crick, another crystallographer. Both men were interested in the structure of DNA, and so they began to focus on model-building as their approach. But the model was far from perfect. When Watson and Crick presented their first model to a scientific audience, Franklin pointed out some clear mistakes in their interpretation and left them embarrassed.
“Franklin herself was never fully aware of how extensively her data had been used by Watson and Crick� Despite the initial setback, Watson and Crick continued their research. Watson even began attending Franklin's lectures on her research. But it is their relationship with another scientist, Maurice Wilkins, which became the greatest source of controversy. Wilkins was another researcher at King's College, but he grew very angry with Franklin's attitude and subsequently began meeting with his old friend Francis Crick. Watson saw and seized the opportunity and began questioning Wilkins about the data that Rosalind was collecting. It was never clear how much information Wilkins passed to Watson and Crick during their talks.
In May 1952, Franklin developed the finest and clearest image of DNA of her time. Through the use of X-ray crystallography and complex calculations by hand, she produced an "X" shaped photo of DNA form B; her notes reflect a clear understanding of how the X-shape picture suggests the structure of a double helix, but Franklin was more interested in the DNA form A. The image, labeled "Photo 51", was placed aside by Franklin for future use. Meanwhile, Franklin's experience at King's College became unbearable and she began making arrangements to transfer away after the end of 1952. Another contender entered the race to discover the structure of DNA; Peter Pauling, an American and son of the Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, arrived to work at Cavendish. Pauling used the same model-structure approach as Watson and Crick, creating a sense of urgency in Watson's mind. Desperate to uncover the structure of DNA before Pauling, Watson went to Franklin and asked her to pool her data with him and Crick. However, Watson's pleas suggested to Franklin that she was confused and incompetent and caused her to ignore Watson. Nevertheless, Franklin's data, including the crucial Photo 51, was passed to Watson through the hands of Wilkins. After seeing the photograph, Watson and Crick recreated their model of a double helix with strands of DNA aligned in opposite directions. At the same time, they hypothesized (correctly) that the DNA-bases Adenine and Thymine, and Cytosine and Guanine pair up together in the double-helix. Watson and Crick quickly published their work in the Nature science journal. Also published in the issue were Wilkin's article on DNA and an article on the research Franklin performed at King's College.
However, all of the articles failed to portray how essential Franklin's data was to the findings of Watson and Crick.
Franklin herself was never fully aware of how extensively her data had been used by Watson and Crick; she had already moved to another lab and began a new set of experiments on viruses. Three years later, in 1956, Franklin discovered she had cancer. The cancer was most likely caused by her extensive research with Xrays, and she died two years later on April 16th, 1958. Then in 1962, Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA and the molecular structure of nucleic acids. Soon afterwards, Watson published a best-selling book, The Double Helix, which chronicled his personal experience on the discovery of DNA structure. In the novel, Watson portrayed Franklin at her worst: unattractive, incompetent, and even violent. Though many of Watson's colleagues, including Crick and Wilkins, opposed the portrayal of Franklin as unfair, Watson refused to change it. He also mentioned how he took Franklin's data without her knowledge. As the Nobel Prize was not, and still is not, awarded posthumously, it is unclear whether or not Franklin would've been awarded the Prize for her work. But it is clear that Watson, Crick and Wilkins took Franklin's data and used it without giving her proper credit, which she most rightfully deserves. -- Adapted from the NOVA episode Secret of Photo 51
How to Extract Your Own DNA Materials: •Water •Clear Dish Soup •Table Salt •Food Coloring •Isopropyl alcohol (70%)
(above) Photo 51 - This crucial image of an X pattern allowed Watson and Crick to correctly postulate the double-helix structure of DNA
Steps: 1. Mix 500 mL of water with 1 tablespoon of salt. 2. Stir until dissolved. Transfer 3 tablespoons of salt water into another cup. 3. Gargle salt water for 1 minute (this removes cheek cells). 4. Spit water back into cup. 5. Gently stir the salt water with one drop of soap while avoiding bubbles (the soap will break cell membranes and release DNA). 6. In another cup, mix 100 mL of isopropyl alcohol with 3 drops of food coloring . 7. Gently pour the alcohol so that it forms a layer (2 cm) on top of the salt water cup (tilting may be necessary). 8. Wait a few minutes. White clumps and strings will form. Congratulations! That’s your DNA! Now go make clones of yourself.
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-- from NOVA
Image courtesy of imedia51 on Flickr
Waves of
By: Sanket Padmanabhan
Teleportation is one of the coolest parts of science fiction. From Star
the Future
How Teleportation Can Help You
Trek to Doctor Who, teleportation is one of the few staples of futuristic technology, alongside laser cannons and warp drive, and it’s no wonder. Don’t you wish that teleportation was possible? The world would totally change if people could instantly be somewhere else in the blink of an eye. Cars, planes, trucks, and ships would all become obsolete, since we could just teleport ourselves wherever we need to go. No more waiting for Amazon’s 4-5 business days either, because all goods would instantly ship (cutting shipment costs to boot). Space travel would be easy, and it would be no time at all till people were colonizing the moon or even Mars. We could teleport information too, meaning 100% secure communication and a universe-wide free internet connection.
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You may be derisively scoffing at me right now. “Come on,” you might be thinking. “Sure, teleportation is cool, but it’s impossible, right?” Surprisingly enough, teleportation doesn’t break any fundamental rules of physics and is, in fact, being practiced today on a very small scale. That’s not to say of course that there aren’t problems with teleportation. Teleportation would require one to scan an object, obtain every iota of information about that object, and then send that data (without losing any of it) to a different area at which point it must be reconstructed perfectly. But sadly, because of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle, which states that you cannot know the precise location and velocity of an electron, it’s impossible to gain enough information about an object to create a truly exact replica. The act of scanning itself changes the electron, which seems like it spells the end for teleportation. In fact, when critics of Star Trek talked about the impossibility of teleportation, the producers introduced “Heisenberg Compensators”. But if Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle is true, how could teleportation ever come into being? Although teleportation is totally against the laws of Newtonian physics, it is possible through Schrödinger’s Quantum physics. You may have heard of Schrödinger through his thought experiment, "Schrödinger’s Cat." In the experiment, a cat is put into a closed box with a vial of poison, a radioactive source, and a Geiger counter. If the Geiger counter detects radiation, it will release the poison and kill the cat. Thus the cat could be killed at any time. Schrödinger postulated that, after a while, the cat is both dead and alive, though if you try to observe it in some way, it will have to choose one. Nice
Theoretical Teleportation
guy. This same Schrödinger was teaching a class about the wave nature of electrons when one student asked what the differential equation modeling an electron’s wave was. Challenge accepted. Schrödinger, who had no idea what the answer could be quickly took a one week vacation to one of his girlfriend’s summer houses. When he came back, he had created Schrödinger’s equation. This equation told the quantum state of an object by a function of time. It is one of the most complicated concepts of modern physics and there are full classes in top universities about deciphering it. But this wave function allows for some peculiar happenstances to occur. If you’ve had physics, you might have heard of Quantum tunneling. One of the things that are allowed by Schrödinger’s equation is that there is a slight probability that, when smash your hand on the table, your hand will tunnel through the table, leaving both the table and you completely whole. There is even a probability that you will go to sleep on Earth and wake up on some distant planet. These probabilities are based on size of the object, but the chance that this would happen to a human is so small that if you keep hitting the table once a second, every second from the beginning of the universe to the end of the universe, it would only happen once. But technically, these quantum fluctuations make a form of teleportation without any machinery. In fact, in A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, the author created a unique machine called the Infinite Probability Drive, which changes the odds of any quantum fluctuation at will. So if you want to teleport to Pandora, you just set the probability that you would teleport there normally to 100 and you’d suddenly appear on Pandora. Although we obviously can’t magically change the probabilities of events, there is something else allowed for in quantum physics that might give us the teleportation we’ve been searching for.
1. Y and Z are preentangled
2. Y scans X
Key: X
Y
Z
3. Disruption
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5. Z is the same as X
The answer comes with a relatively newly discovered phenomenon called quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement is a state that subatomic particles can achieve when they have the exact same quantum state. If one of them is spinning in a positive direction then it can be instantly ascertained that the other is spinning in a negative direction, even universes apart. They are perfectly anti-correlated. To give an easier example, lets say that you are watching a sunrise. If you watch the sun rising from the East you know, faster than the speed of light, that there is no sun rising from the West as well. So in this way, information can move instantaneously, a sort of teleportation. But what is the use of the information that we can transmit through this method? Absolutely none. It really is useless information, but it forms the basis for what we call Quantum teleportation. The process is simple. Let’s say that you want to teleport information from atom X to atom Z. First, take a separate atom Y which is entangled with atom Z. Atom X comes in contact with atom Y, it scans Y and information from X is transferred to Y. This means that atoms X and Y are now entangled. Since Y was already entangled to Z, Z is now identical to X. So maybe not simple, but you understand the gist of it, I hope. This process has already been used to teleport a gas of cesium atoms over half a yard. The problem is that, when trying to teleport more than a few atoms of a substance at a time, the atoms start to lose their cohesion. This makes the concept of human teleportation incredibly difficult. So although there is technically nothing stopping teleportation from becoming a commonplace form of transportation, its not going to be possible for a long time.
But quantum teleportation could still be used in today’s society, through quantum computing. Regular digital computers function based on a binary system. Strings of 0s and 1s called "bits" basically tell the computer what to do. But things get weird when we delve into the netherworld of the quantum. Quantum computing
Real human teleportation probably won’t happen in our lifetime, but the affects of quantum teleportation definitely will. The nearinstantaneous transport of information will shape our lives for many generations to come. And who knows, maybe we’ll be able to say “Beam me up, Scotty” soon too. Sources: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/10033100 0235.htm
Image courtesy of Oberazzi on Flickr
WHAT IS “IT”?
Astronomers do IT all night. Chemists do IT by bonding. Newton did IT with force. Eighteenth century physicists did IT with rigid bodies. Pascal did IT under pressure. Hooke did IT using springs. Coulomb got all charged up about IT. Hertz did IT frequently. For Franklin, IT was an electrifying experience. Edison claims to have invented IT. When Richter did IT, the Earth shook. For Darwin, IT was natural.
Freud did IT in his sleep. Mendel studied the consequences of IT. When Wegener did IT, continents moved. Heisenberg was never sure whether he even did IT. Bohr did IT in an excited state. Pauli did IT but excluded his friends. Hubble did IT in the dark. Cosmologists do IT in a big bang. Wigner did IT in a group. Astrophysicists do IT with young starlets. Planetary scientists do IT with Uranus. Electron microscopists do IT 100,000 times. Answer: It is science, of course.
Q
uses a "qubit", which could be any number between 0 and 1. It works like quantum state of Schrödinger’s cat which we discussed earlier. There is an equal probability that it is dead or alive, so to figure out its actual state you have to add the wave functions of both probabilities, coming up with something in between. Like the dead/alive duality of the cat, all atoms have a duality in spin. An atom could be spinning in either a positive or a negative direction and, quantumly speaking, they’re all spinning both positively and negatively. Complicated quantum calculations can be found, then, by measuring the differences of the flips and spins of the wave functions of many atoms. And to gain the information of these atoms without changing their conformation and ruining the whole system, would require a form of quantum teleportation. As of now, it takes the world’s largest super quantum computer, the Jülich JUGENE computer with 300,000 processors and a computing power of 1015 floating point operations per second, to factor 15707 into 113 x 139. This doesn’t seem particularly impressive, seeing as your computer has to do more intense calculations on a daily basis. However, quantum computing is a fast growing field, and it may soon be needed to compete with the speedy progress that the rest of the computing industry is undergoing. There is only so much that you fit on a silicon chip and that limit will be reached in our lifetime. Once it is, computer technology will hit a road block unless a new race of computers rises.
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How to Travel at 4000 MPH Using Magnets
By: Joseph Tsang
New York to Beijing in 2 Hours?
The idea seems implausible, but some theorize that with the help
of superconducting magnetic levitation, it is possible to create a mode of transportation which is silent, cheaper than planes, trains, or cars and faster than jets: Evacuated Tube Transport. Even now magnetic levitation (or maglev for short) technology is already being used. China, Germany, and Japan have developed commercial maglev trains which can travel at speeds up to 361 mph. So what exactly is superconducting magnetic levitation? Here’s a breakdown: -- Superconductor: An electrical conductor that allows electricity to flow without resistance after the conductor is cooled below a certain temperature. -- Meissner Effect: After a superconductor is cooled, it will repel magnetic fields. So if a magnet is brought close to a superconductor, the superconductor will move away. -- Flux Trapping Effect: If a magnet is held close to a superconductor, the magnetic field from the magnet will pass through the superconductor in small quantities called flux tubes. Wherever the flux tubes penetrate the superconductor, the property of “superconductivity” is lost. This means that parts of the conductor are no longer under the Meissner Effect (it won’t repel magnetic fields) and will thus be attracted by the magnet. The other parts of the conductor repel the magnet because they
still have the superconductive property of the Meissner Effect. The combination of repulsion and attraction cause magnetic
levitation and suspension. With the help of magnetic levitation, vehicles could be suspended, guided, and propelled by magnets. Suspension allows a vehicle to move smoothly and quietly. Compared to normal mechanical vehicles, maglev transport would require less maintenance and would be able to travel at speeds impractical for mechanical transport because of the wear and tear caused by friction. At the same time, the passenger would sit quite comfortably in the tubes. This is just a brief look at the inner mechanism of the proposed Evacuated Tube Transport system, which would supposedly be able to take passengers from New York to Beijing in only two hours by accelerating to speeds around 4,000 mph. Sources: http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-york-to-beijing-in-twohours-without-leaving-the-ground http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psivid/2011/10/19/quantum-levitation-where-sciencevideos-dont-get-any-cooler/
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Q: What do you do at your Job?
Q: Name some of the instruments you use in the laboratory.
Q: What is the process for getting a new drug onto the market?
Q: What is the ratio of your time working at a desk versus laboratory work?
A: “I work as a biochemist at a pharmaceutical company. The major part of my work is in vitro[1] assay[2] development for drug screening.”
A: “Barracuda, which is a machine that can test single cell membrane potential[3] in high-throughput screen[4] mode. Each time, the machine can test 384 sets of cells in a single run; comparatively, the traditional manual patch can handle only one cell at a time. Another instrument that we use is Tetra, which is a machine that is used in the fluorescence assay in order to test ion flux[5] in the cell when treated with a specific stimulator. To do liquid transfer, we use the Bravo, which is a robot that can handle 384 wells of liquid transfer.”
A: “You first have to identify the target. Next you have to develop an assay method to screen a huge compound library. Through the screen, you identify several appropriate tool compounds among the hit compounds and manipulate those compounds to the point that is good enough for a drug development. Once a compound is found valuable during in vitro and in vivo[6] tests, the compound will be sent to preclinical trials followed by clinical trials. If the compound passes clinical trials, it will be sent to the FDA for approval. If FDA approves, the company will start manufacturing and marketing the drugs.”
A: “Half-half.”
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A Life of Interviewed by
Q: What are the safety requirements when you work in the laboratory?
Q: What research are you currently working on?
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
Notes
A: “We need to wear lab coats, gloves, and goggles, if no glasses. Other requirements state that we have to wear closed toed shoes and pants. Furthermore, we always use fume hoods to handle organic solvents, always check radioactive levels with Geiger Counters (a radioactive counter) etc.”
A: We are trying to find drugs that will help patients with Neuron Disorder Diseases.”
A: “Like any other job it has its highs and lows. At times it’s hard work, but it’s worth it knowing that what you’re doing helps make many people’s lives easier or even saves some people’s lives.”
*The interviewee wished to be kept anonymous [1]Conducted
outside a living organism [2]A procedure
that quantitatively or qualitatively measures the presence or activity of a target [3]The difference
in charge between the inside of the membrane and the outside [4]A method of
experimentation usually used in the discovery of drugs [5]The rate of flow
of ions across a given surface [6]Conducted
inside a living organism
Biochemistry Alvin Ho*
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By: Victor Han
Image courtesy of Andres Rueda on Flickr
There is that one lifelong question that marks the innocence of
our childhoods: why is the sky blue? Many have wondered about this perplexing phenomenon but few have ascertained a valid answer. In the olden days, your mama or papa may have just told you that the sky was just made that way. In your eternal trust in the godliness of your parents’ knowledge you may have fooled yourself into accepting that explanation; however, deep down you knew that there was more. There is a fulfilling reason why the sky is blue. Honestly, in these days in the month of April in the supposedly sunny San Diego, the sky is more grey than blue. Even now the sky is grey, but by grey I mean “grey-t” of course. When the sky does reveal its luminous blue glow, however, it is better than good. Nay, it is even better than great. The unbounded blue expanse smiles down upon the earth’s inhabitants with a revitalizing hope, a hope that lifts the spirits of the depressed without the scalding side effects of the scorching sun. With this recollection of the almost holy quality of a blue sky, I feel that I must rescind a previous statement. A grey sky is far from being great. It pales in comparison to the magnificent grandeur of that which has for so long been the symbol of everlasting hope.
While I would be glad to continue to elaborate on the splendor of a blue sky, I believe it is about time I delivered what I had implicitly promised earlier today. I shall inform you of why the sky is blue. This act pains me, however. With gain in knowledge there is also loss. If it has not yet already been dispelled, that innocent admiration of the everyday miracles in nature may be wisped away upon the advent of newly found information. If you care for your childhood wonders, I advise you not to read on. The sky’s blue appearance is a somewhat complex phenomenon. As you may already know, white light from the sun is a mixture of all the colors from the visible spectrum. It contains all of the ROYGBV colors and can be separated using a prism. Why then is the sky usually only perceived as being blue? Many assume that the particles in the atmosphere just reflect blue light and absorb all others. This conclusion, however, is degrading of the magnificent scope of our atmosphere. Surely all the tiny little particles that make up the cornucopia of gasses cannot all just reflect blue and only blue. The true answer lies in the Tyndall Effect.
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In 1859 John Tyndall discovered that when white light passes through a medium with suspended small particles, light with shorter wavelengths is scattered more than light with longer wavelengths, with violet having the shortest wavelength and red having the longest wavelength. All the other colors fit in between these two in the order of ROYGBV. While this is called the Tyndall Effect, there is a quantitative way to express light scattering as well. Rayleigh in 1871 discovered that when the particles are much smaller than the wavelength of light that hits them, the intensity of the scattered light is inversely proportional to the wavelength of the light to the fourth power.
There is, however, some violet light. This violet light stimulates both the blue cone and the red cone. As a result, the red cone and the green cone are both stimulated equally and the blue cone is stimulated abundantly. The final conclusion of these stimulations is that perfect blue hue that the sky imbues. It’s a wonder that the red and green cones are stimulated so equally when looking at the sky. Whether it is due to the evolution of human sight or just plain old chance, our perception of the sky’s blueness is a true marvel.
Originally, in Tyndall and Rayleigh’s time, it was thought that the sky’s blue hue was due to the scattering of blue light from water vapor and dust. This, however, is not the case. If it were the case, dusty and humid days would have a drastic color distinction as compared to regular days. Alas, our sky is not as variable as that. It is instead the nitrogen and oxygen molecules that contribute to the color in the sky. This conclusion was proven by Einstein in 1911.
If you have been paying close attention to this explanation of the sky’s color, you must surely have at least one thought nagging at your mind. If not, then the sky must surely be feeling blue as well as looking it. If the Tyndall Effect states that shorter wavelengths of light are scattered more than longer wavelengths of light, what happened to violet light? Violet light should be scattered even more than blue light is. There are several reasons for the sky’s blueness: more violet light is absorbed by the atmosphere than other colors of light, human eyes are not very sensitive to violet light, and human vision is very strange. It just so happens that we perceive the sky to be that perfect blue. This perception results from the mechanics of the eye. There are three types of cones in the human eye: red cones, green cones, and blue cones. As their names suggest, red cones respond to wavelengths around red light, green cones respond to wavelengths around green light, and blue cones respond to wavelengths around blue light. One would think that an increase in the intensity of scattered light with a decrease in wavelength would stimulate the red cone less than the green cone and the green cone less than the blue cone. This would produce a greenish-blue color to our eyes.
Maybe that answer that you have believed in all your life is partially true. Your eyes are just made that way. Sources: http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blu e_sky.html http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climateweather/atmospheric/sky.htm http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html http://blue-f0x.deviantart.com/art/Eye-Drawing-Contest-Entry123964658
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By: Alvin Ho Image courtesy of Patrick Smith on Flickr
The terrestrial terrain has been studied carefully for a long time and the creatures that inhabit it are well known to man. However, the aquatic terrain is not nearly as well known. Only 5% of all the oceans that cover this planet have been explored, leaving the 95% unexplored parts to the human imagination. Although many people think Marine Biology is not a very diverse subject, it actually covers a vast number of other biological studies, including, but not limited to, oceanography, cell biology, zoology, ecology, molecular biology and marine conservation biology. In order to better understand marine biology, let us explore the aquatic world, as well as the origins of this fascinating science.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was considered the father of marine biology because he was the first man to accurately distinguish between different aquatic species, including crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks and fish. However, the true studies of modern marine biology began with a ship captain, Captain James Cook (17281729), who explored various unchartered waters and recorded his observations. Cook circumnavigated the world twice in his lifetime and kept track of various animals that were unknown to humans at the time. Following Cook was the famous biologist, Charles Darwin (1809-1882). Although Darwin is mostly known for his theory of evolution, he has contributed quite a lot to the study of marine biology. During his voyage on the HMS Beagle, he collected and studied various different marine organisms. It was due to his interest in geology that led him to investigate coral reefs and how they were created.
Following Darwin’s voyage, Sir Charles Wyville Thomson led a 3 year voyage on the HMS Challenger. Thomson’s voyage is generally considered the birth of oceanography, as he collected data of specimens which spanned 50 volumes of books. During this voyage, Thomson was able to disprove Forbe’s theory that marine life couldn’t exist below 550 meters.
“there are over 25,000 recorded species of fish and there are still many thousands more that have not yet been uncovered” Because the bounds of marine biology are endless, we will look at a few individual topics under the marine biology branch in order to obtain a better understanding of the subject. We will begin our journey with the study of microorganisms, or microbiology. Microorganisms, also known as microbes, are single-celled organisms or less complex multi-cellular organisms (ex. Algae, Bacteria, Fungi, and Protozoa). The study of these is one of the most important aspects of marine biology because these microorganisms are what make up the base of the food chain (along with some aquatic plants) in most aquatic environments. Primary production is the first level of the food chain and this process
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microorganisms. Microorganisms also consist of 98% of the ocean’s biomass, and are therefore an integral part of the marine community. Most microorganisms will live close to the surface of the water because many, like algae, need sunlight for photosynthesis. Without understanding microorganisms, there is no way of understanding the interactions of the marine community.
“The marine environment will continue to baffle mankind for many years to come” Another form of marine biology is environmental marine biology. Environmental marine biology basically checks for the health of a marine environment to see if the water quality is capable of sufficiently sustaining life. Checking the health of the coastal environment is especially important, due to all the coastal industrialization going on. Scientists involved in environmental biology will check the coastal waters to see if it is healthy enough for people to be near it and to make sure that the marine life there is healthy. These environmental marine biologists don’t only study the surface of the ocean; they are also responsible for checking on the Benthic Zone (deepest part of the ocean) and are trained to predict how erosion of the bottom will affect the environment as well as the marine life. You might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned fish (the second most abundant marine organism) yet. The study of fish, Ichthyology, includes studies of bony fishes, cartilaginous fishes, jawless fishes, sharks, skates and rays. The scientists involved in this field study the classification, morphology, evolution, behavior, diversity, and ecology of both saltwater and freshwater fish. As of right now there are over 25,000 recorded species of fish and there are still many thousands more that have not yet been uncovered. Finally, there is marine ethology. Marine ethology is the study of marine animal behavior. Scientists who study marine ethology want to be able to understand the organisms that share this planet with us. The study of marine ethology also enables scientists to better understand how to help a particular species if it’s becoming endangered. Most of the marine animal behavior is studied in a natural environment in order to better understand how these animals live under normal conditions. Although mankind is making rapid process in aquatic discoveries, there is much remaining that has yet to be uncovered. The journey that was started by Captain James Cook has yet to be finished. The marine environment will continue to baffle mankind for many years to come. Sources: http://marinebio.org/oceans/marine-biology.asp http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212089/micr.htm http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/
Image courtesy of Cliff Barnes on Flickr
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Stem Cells
Revealed
By: Victor Han
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adult stem cells, and thus they are more easily used and researched. Adult stem cells, however, also have an advantage: they have the potential to be less likely rejected by a patient. Adult stem cells can possibly be taken from a patient and then transplanted back to the same patient after forced cell differentiation. This may reduce the immune system rejection rate and is a process that embryonic stem cells are incapable of doing. With their ability to regenerate and differentiate into other cell types, stem cells show potential for the treatment of a variety of illnesses. As research of stem cells progresses, scientists hope to make the illnesses of the present into things of the past. By studying how stem cells transform into other cells, scientists learn what goes wrong when a normal, harmless cell turns evil and becomes cancerous. Once this is discovered, scientists can develop a way to prevent cells from going to the dark side. Not only can stem cells enhance our understanding of life’s complicated processes, but they also have the potential to be used in medical therapies. Doctors hope that one day stem cells can help people in need of new cells. They hope that one day stem cells can create the organs needed for victims of diseases such as liver disease, heart disease, diabetes, and many more. Sources: http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/ http://www.allaboutpopularissues.org/history-of-stem-cellresearch-faq.htm
Art by Esther Wang
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