Fall 2015

TRIPLE

HELIX

ANTIBIOTICS

MARS

sterilizing food is affecting consumers page 10

the journey to another planet page 7

TELEPORTATION the future of transportation is not too far away page 18

neurons to

NETWORKS how neurology and computer science are influencing AI and prosthetics pages 12 and 15

letter from the president

triple helix fall 2015

HELLO. W

elcome to the first issue of Berkeley’s Science in Society Journal in a few years! The Triple Helix chapter at Berkeley was reactivated this fall, and we could not be more excited to introduce you to our organization.

I stumbled across the Triple Helix in June of 2015 and was immediately impressed with this international organization; undergraduate students from around the world were researching topics that they were passionate about and discussing important issues in the world of science. I was disappointed to learn that UC Berkeley no longer had a chapter and reached out to the executive board of the organization to see if there was a project I could collaborate on. Turns out The Triple Helix missed UC Berkeley, too.

After a few months of communication and planning in the summer of 2015, a few inspired officers and I set out to reestablish The Triple Helix at Berkeley.

I was surprised at how quickly everything fell into place after our organization’s first info-session this September.

Everyone interested in joining the organization hit the ground running—in just one semester our writers, editors, designers and marketing team came together to complete this publication. Our journal includes a broad spectrum of topics and discussions that our writers have been inspired by. We hope it inspires you too!

Thank you for supporting The Triple Helix at Berkeley.

Enjoy the read!

rebecca ocher president CHAPTERS

Aristotle Univ.

Arizona State Brown Carnegie Mellon Cornell

2

Dartmouth Emory GWU Georgetown Georgia Tech

Harker Harvard Johns Hopkins McGill Univ.

Northwestern

Calgary Cambridge Berkeley UC San Diego UChicago

Edinburgh Glasgow WashU Wayne State Yale

contents

4

LOST IN TRANSLATION

new media outlets are leading to misreported science

7

COLONIZING MARS

how ethics affect the journey to another planet

10 12

STERILIZING FOOD

why antibiotic resistance is a concern for American consumers

NEURONS TO NODES

neural networks continue to advance artificial intelligence

26

15

18 20 24

INNERVATION INNOVATION

researchers face the task of connecting algorithms and neurons

TELEPORTATION

scientists are getting closer to making teleportation a reality

WHEN “THE TALK” ISN’T ENOUGH

America needs to improve sex education ABORTION: PAST TO PRESENT

how abortion has evolved throughout history

APPLE WATCH: BABY EDITION

why children will be Apple users before they are even born

ABOUT Our publication, Science in Society, is comprised of the work completed by students from The Triple Helix at Berkeley. The Triple Helix at Berkeley is a chapter of an undergraduate organization focused on the promotion of interdisciplinary discussion of current scientific topics. At an international level, students from over twenty-five universities around the world collaborate to analyze and discuss socially relevant issues in today’s scientific community. After a hiatus of several of years, The Triple Helix has returned to Berkeley, and our chapter is looking forward to growing in the coming years. Our organization hopes to inspire scientific curiosity and informed discussion on topics affecting society today. If you have any questions or comments about The Triple Helix at Berkeley, please contact thetriplehelix.berkeley@gmail.com.

STAFF

president

rebecca ocher editor-in-chief

merrill weber chief graphic design

goldia kiteck secretary

jonathan lee vp recruitment

rebecca harpster

vp programming

shannon lee vp marketing

laura jetter editors

hannah tivang megan lee catriona lewis allison mccormack

marketing team

laura jetter anastasiia zhelokhovtseva patrick lee corway chao sharfa prasad roshni pankhaniya design team

goldia kiteck jessica zhuge

writers

rebecca harpster jonathan lee catriona lewis corway chao madison smith sara lopez sharfa prasad rachael klaiss kate carlsen rebecca ocher

THE TRIPLE HELIX FALL 2015

3

TRANS

communication

lostin

new media outlets are leading to misreported science by patrick lee

The adage “Don’t believe everything on TV” cannot ring truer today, with information more and more accessible thanks to the expansion of the media beyond the television set. Media consumers will intuitively exercise a healthy dose of skepticism when confronting a variety of news topics like politics or viral cultural trends, but what about recent scientific developments?

[1] It is deceptively easy to neglect to adequately scrutinize reports of scientific findings in popular media when reporters and writers evoke the authoritative declaration, “scientists say…” As the predominantly layman and sensationalist media is faced with reporting the growingly complex field of information that is science news, scientific accuracy can be lost in translation from research paper to article. The results are misinformed readers and potentially dangerous consequences in academic credibility and public health.

The issue of misreporting scientific findings caught my attention when I learned about a clinical trial by research director Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D. from the Institute of Diet and Health that concluded the consumption of chocolate daily in one’s diet would “accelerate weight loss...improve cholesterol, and overall well-being.” [2,3] The study conducted in Germany garnered significant coverage across various newspapers, magazines, Dr. Andrew Wakefield publishes a fraudulent study that reports a connection between MMR vaccine autism in children. Vaccination rates in Europe fall, creating a public health crisis due to measles outbreaks.

February 1998

4

and talk shows on TV, expanding across Europe to the United States and Australia. The problem?

The entire study was actually a social experiment that revealed the media’s carelessness when it comes to fact checking, even in reporting scientific findings.

So many red flags about the study’s credibility were overlooked that the success of Bohannon’s sting operation is nothing short of alarming. A Google search of “Johannes Bohannon” would reveal no citations to his name, as it is the pen name of John Bohannon, a molecular biologist who led the study. The Institute of Diet and Health is but a website he created [3]. The clinical trial itself consisted of a small sample size of merely fifteen participants and drew baseless conclusions about causality from p-hacking, false positives, confounding variables, and various biases. The study was published as “Chocolate with High Cocoa Content as a Weight-Loss Accelerator” without peer review in the International Archives in Medicine [2].

The press release was designed to draw the media’s attention, with “a sexy lede, a clear nut graf, some punchy quotes, and a kicker… [accompanied by] some promotional video clips…[featuring] a rap about chocolate and weight loss.” [4] Bohannon explained in his

January 2010

After over a decade of investigation and controversy, Wakefield is charged by the British General Medical Council for academic dishonesty and abuse of developmentally challenged children.

The Lancelet retracts Wakefield’s research paper. Wakefield is stripped of his medical license and can no longer practice.

Spring 2010

March 2011

too irresistibly shocking to delay publication.

The consequences of this irresponsibility remain, as the media have done little to properly inform the public and instead continue to reignite the confusion, if not perpetuating the myth, by periodically reporting new studies claiming to demonstrate a connection between vaccines and autism. For example, in 2015 CNN covered a new study that questionably concluded that African children are more susceptible the media have to developing autism, as well as indicating done little to that there is an actual properly inform scientific debate over the issue [6]. Due to the public and a persistent fear of instead continue developing mental illnesses as a result of to reignite the vaccination, there are confusion children and seniors unvaccinated and therefore at risk of catching easily preventable diseases and becoming public health hazards.

There are many other notable incidents in which the media misrepresented scientific research. A 2011 article by The Telegraph titled “Study Finds Wind Farms Cause Stranding of Whales” cited a research paper “Whales Respond

“

Results from a poorly constructed scientific study concludes that dietary supplements raise mortality risk. Public confidence in scientific accuracy and well-established dietary recommendations is shaken.

Researchers at University of St. Andrews publishes “Beaked Whales Respond to Simulated and Actual Navy Sonar.” The Telegraph erroneously reports that according to the published study, offshore wind farms can cause whales to be stranded on beaches.

N

October 2011

“

blog, “the key is to exploit journalists’ incredible laziness [3]. If you lay out the information just right, you can shape the story that emerges in the media almost like you were writing those stories yourself...many reporters just copied and pasted our text.” [3] Not surprisingly, the media response was almost immediate. Bohannon’s paper was covered on various media outlets, including the front page of Bild, one of the most widely circulated tabloids in the world. Journalists and reporters rarely interviewed Bohannon, and when they did, it was invariably about his recommendations in dieting in light of his discovery [3]. Media coverage rarely featured outside sources, indicating that expert opinions were not consulted to critique the findings [3].

Another analogous experiment, albeit with malicious intent, is perhaps one of the most famous hoaxes in scientific research: the fraudulent study led by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that reported a correlation between vaccinations and autism in children [5]. Within a few months, his findings were dismissed, the paper was retracted, and Wakefield was stripped of his medical license.

Even a cursory reading of Wakefield’s research would have revealed the flaws in his methodology and conclusions, but it was too late by the time the study reached the press. The findings were

O I

L AT

Early 2015

“Chocolate with High Cocoa Content as a Weight-loss Accelerator” by John Bohannon is published in the International Archives in Medicine.

5

communication to Navy Sonar” that never even mentioned wind power [7,8]. Also in 2011 was a media scare in which TIME, CNN, MSNBC and others reported that taking vitamin supplements were fatal, based off the findings of an ad hoc survey study [9,10].

Of course, it would be unreasonable to blame the media for every instance of misrepresenting scientific publications; scholarly journals are also guilty in that they allowed fraudulent studies to be published in the first place. But the media’s failure to truthfully inform the public not only harms the credibility of media outlets, but also that of the scientific community. A survey in 2009 by the Pew Research Center revealed that “significantly fewer Americans volunteer scientific advances as one of the country’s most important achievements than did so a decade ago…[indicating] lower confidence in America’s scientific prowess” and that most scientists believe “the public’s lack of scientific knowledge” and “sloppy news coverage” are some of the greatest challenges for science

[11]. That the achievements of today’s rapidly expanding, robust scientific community could be rendered less impactful in society due to an issue of trust by the public would be simply tragic.

So what can one do to reduce the risk of being misinformed by unscrupulous media outlets or scientific publications? Fortunately, helpful advice can be found in many resources [12-15]. One should be aware that “most scientific research is incremental” a gradual process in which findings are incremental and rarely major breakthroughs, and that “an association between two events is not the same as a cause and effect.” [13] One should also be wary of the media itself due to its inclination for sensationalism and that many journalists aim for “interesting, informative, and entertaining coverage of science...not educating the public or proselytizing on behalf of science.”

[14] Sources cited should be evaluated as well; names of unreliable, predatory science journals can be found in the regularly updated Bealle’s List [15].

references

1. Brewer P, Ley B. Whose Science Do You Believe? Explaining Trust

al. Beaked Whales Respond to Simulated and Actual Navy Sonar.

in Sources of Scientific Information About the Environment. Science

PLoS ONE. 2011;6(3):e17009.

Communication. 2012;35(1):115-137.

9. Adams M. Media hoax exposed: Recent attack on vitamins a

2. Bohannon J. Chocolate with high cocoa content as a weight-loss

fabricated scare campaign [Internet]. NaturalNews. 2011 [cited

accelerator. International Archives of Medicine. 2015;8(55):1-8.

16 November 2015]. Available from: http://www.naturalnews.

3. Bohannon J. I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps

com/033883_vitamins_mortality_risk.html#

Weight Loss. Here’s How. [Internet]. io9. 2015 [cited 16 November

10. Mursu J. Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older

2015]. Available from: http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-

Women. Arch Intern Med. 2011;171(18):1625.

chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800

11. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Public

4. Fernbacher C. International Press Release: Slim by Chocolate

Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media [Internet]. 2009

[Internet]. Institute of Diet and Health. 2015 [cited 16 November

[cited 16 November 2015]. Available from: http://www.people-press.

2015].

org/2009/07/09/public-praises-science-scientists-fault-public-

Available

from:

http://instituteofdiet.com/2015/03/29/

international-press-release-slim-by-chocolate/

media/

5. Wakefield A, Murch S, Anthony A, Linnell J, Casson D, Malik M

12. Thompson W. Health Reporting in the Media: What to Believe?

et al. RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific

[Internet]. Iffgd.org. 2009 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from:

colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet.

http://www.iffgd.org/site/manage-your-health/tips-daily-living/

1998;351(9103):637-641.

health-media

6. Goldschmidt D. Autism and vaccine study results questioned

13. Angell M, Kassirer J. Clinical Research -- What Should the Public

[Internet]. CNN. 2014 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from:

Believe?. New England Journal of Medicine. 1994;331(3):189-190.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/27/health/irpt-cdc-autism-vaccine-

14. Hansen A. Journalistic practices and science reporting in the

study/

British press. Public Understanding of Science. 1994;3(2):111-134.

7. Johnson S. Wind farms blamed for stranding of whales [Internet].

15. Bealle J. List of Publishers - Potential, possible, or probable

The Telegraph. 2011 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from:

predatory scholarly open-access publishers [Internet]. Scholarly

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/15/wind-farms-

Open Access. 2015 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from: http://

blamed-for-stranding-of-whales/

scholarlyoa.com/publishers/

8. Tyack P, Zimmer W, Moretti D, Southall B, Claridge D, Durban J et

6

colonizing

MARS the second space race by sara lopez

I

n October 2015, 20th Century Fox released The Martian, a science fiction film based on the 2011 novel by Andy Weir. The film follows astronaut Matt Damon as a dust storm leaves him stranded on Mars, struggling to survive and colonize The Red Planet. Critics largely commended the film for its scientific accuracy, and it is worthwhile to note that it is one of the only films to ever be promoted by NASA. The film quickly rose to the top of the box office, coming in second behind Gravity as the most successful October release of all time. Space exploration has always been a captivating subject, and many films like The Martian, Gravity, and Interstellar have capitalized on this subject with the same resounding theme: if humans want to survive as a species, we should plan to colonize other Earth-like planets.

Humans have not landed on another body in the solar system since the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. This extraordinary spaceflight and engineering feat fulfilled John F. Kennedy’s national challenge to land a

man on the surface of the Moon by the end of the decade. Our generation’s challenge, colonizing Mars, is another giant leap for mankind. Like Earth, Mars is a terrestrial planet in the “goldilocks” zone of the Sun, the region around a star in which the surface temperature of a planet is just right for water to be in its liquid form. Should there exist liquid water, it is possible that life may arise in its most primitive form. Outside of astrobiological research, establishing a settlement on Mars would also broaden our understanding of long-term isolated space travel.

Man’s journey to Mars is an idea promoted by many acclaimed astrophysicists and world leaders, including Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Elon Musk. During a speech celebrating NASA’s 50th anniversary, Professor Hawking said, “If the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before.” [1] Both NASA and the private sector, including SpaceX and Mars One, are

7

technology

EARTH to MARS TIMELINE

The beginning of Mars One mission plan: budgets, timelines and goals were discussed.

2016

2022 2020

2013 Astronaut selection begins: the initial selection program is comprised of an online application, a personal video and an in-person interview.

TV show that will document the astronaut’s journey to Mars for all of Earth to see. This mission was received with immense criticism from scientists all over the world.

MIT’s “An Independent Assessment of the Technical Feasibility of the Mars One Mission Plan” thoroughly explains many challenges the Mars

Each departure [to “Mars] will carry four crew members, and the volunteers will never return to Earth – regardless of the success of the mission.

One Team has not yet addressed.

Most notable are the dangerous rise in oxygen levels in the atmosphere from the cultivation of crops, the technology that still needs to be engineered in order to give rise to water on the Martian surface, and the overall expenses due to frequent

An operational outpost: the rover will have completed the outpost in preparation for human arrival.

2025 2024

A communication satellite will be launched into orbit around Mars and allow for future 24/7 communications between Earth and Mars. A demonstration mission will provide important information to confirm the presence of necessities that humans will need on Mars.

making strides in pioneering this mission with the same end goal in mind, to see humans on Mars by the end of the century. Although human colonization in space is merely a theme in science fiction today, technology is currently being developed to make this a reality.

NASA, for example, has plans for a series of missions that land humans on Mars by the 2030s, with rovers preparing the settlement in the years leading up to the Orion spacecraft landing [2]. With limited funding, however, the future of space exploration will likely be in the hands of private companies. Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Designer of SpaceX, hopes to use the Falcon Heavy Launch rockets to send humans in flyby of Mars by 2020 and achieve human landing by 2026.

In fact, Musk’s personal goal is for SpaceX to land a million people in the next several hundred years [3].

The most optimistic plans of all, however, are those boasted by Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit organization that aims to have a permanent human settlement by 2027. Cofounder and CEO Bas Lansdorp will rely on private investments as well as revenue from the reality

8

A rover will be launched to travel across the terrain on Mars and collect data in order to determine the ideal location for human settlement.

“

2011

Selected astronauts will begin their training and continue until their launch.

The most important part of their training is improving their ability to withstand long durations of time in a remote location.

Cargo deployment begins. Shipments of food and other supplies will land on Mars.

2026 The first crew of people to land on Mars will leave Earth.

SOURCE: MARS ONE

re-supply missions to the colony [4].

MIT’s research group concluded that although the Mars One mission plan is not impossible, there are too many uncertainties to set a deadline for the first crew departure in 2024.

Moreover, the mission plan also launched a conversation in regards to the ethical implications of sending humans on a one-way trip to Mars.

Each departure will carry four crew members, and the volunteers will never return to Earth regardless of the success of the mission. To address their critics, Mars One added a “Health and Ethics” tab to their Frequently Asked Questions page, defending their plan with the following response: It bears mentioning that thousands of Europeans agreed to do just that – they took all they owned and moved to Australia, for example.

That agreement did not come with a return ticket. The boat went back, but that did not mean they could afford to go with it. Maybe they could buy another ticket after saving up for a few years – just like our astronauts could build a rocket after some time [5].

It is true that colonizing Mars would undoubtedly rush in a wave of

public interest in space exploration similar to that caused by the Age of Discovery here on Earth, but it only takes a brief moment to see how this analogy fails. In an interview with Business Insider, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson jokingly mentioned that, unlike early European colonists, astronauts on Mars cannot take off their spacesuits, enjoy the fresh air, and soak in the sunlight [6]. Instead, they will endure bitterly cold nights, a barren landscape with unforgiving dust storms, and a distance of 141 million miles from their loved ones.

As an astrophysics undergraduate myself, what I believe to be most interesting is whether it is ethical to colonize other bodies in space at all. Have we not depleted our own planet of its natural resources? Is our only hope for survival to colonize other planets? Were humans ever meant to go beyond the scope of our pale blue dot? In looking for answers, I spoke with a few individuals from Berkeley’s own scientific community, including Planetarium Director at the Lawrence Hall of Science Jeffrey Nee, physicist and lecturer Lukman Winoto, and astrophysics graduate

student Max Genecov. Here are their thoughts on Mars: JEFFREY NEE: Exploration and settlement of space is not only to ensure the survival of ours and other species, but it’s also a galvanizing and unifying endeavor. It requires cooperation and innovation on a grand scale, and the settlement of space is many times more so. In the very long term, the Sun will run out of fuel and supposedly engulf the entire Earth in 5 billion years’ time, so unless we start travelling between alternate dimensions, space is still the only way to avoid that.

DR. LUKMAN WINOTO: In our generation, for the first time in human history, we are seeing a drastic slowing down, if not a complete halt, of the exploration of space.

Mars can be our stepping stone into the solar system and beyond. Who knows what the exploration of space will bring to our understanding of ourselves and the universe. Since we can remember over thousands of years, the call of the hidden always goes side-by-side with the call of the unknown horizon.

MAX GENECOV: Unless we

start treating ourselves as parts of the planet that we’re on, we’ll just be parasites, hopping from planet to planet, contorting those planets into our image. Colonizing Mars will be exploitative of the planet unless we can find out a new way to expand and prosper that hasn’t been seen in the history of colonialism.

We need to see the Earth as what it really is in order to start treating it right, meaning a planet in space, full of different species and biomes and ethos. We need to see all other planets as the same and seeing our culture and the physical universe as the pillars holding up the grounding of our being. Then we can move beyond our scope. As Buckminster Fuller noted, we are already astronauts on Spaceship Earth anyway.

Perhaps colonizing Mars is a chance for humans as a species to work together towards a common goal. By pushing the boundaries of human exploration, this is our chance to see ourselves not as people of different races, religions, genders, and identities, but as one group: Earthlings.

references

[1] Shiga, David. Stephen Hawking calls for Moon and Mars

years-ahead-of-nasa

colonies [Internet]. New Scientist. 2015 [cited 15 November

[4] Do, Sydney, Koki Ho, Samuel Steven Schreiner, Andrew

2015]. Available from: https://www.newscientist.com/article/

Charles Owens, and Olivier L. de Weck. “An Independent

dn13748-stephen-hawking-calls-for-moon-and-mars-colonies/

Assessment of the Technical Feasibility of the Mars One

[2] NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space

Mission Plan.” 65th International Astronautical Congress,

Exploration [Internet]. 1st ed. Washington, DC: National

Toronto, Canada, September 29-October 3, 2014.

Aeronautics and Space Exploration; 2015 [cited 15 November

[5] Mars One. Is this ethical? - Health and Ethics - Mars One

2015]. Available from: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/

[Internet]. 2015 [cited 15 November 2015]. Available from: http://

atoms/files/journey-to-mars-next-steps-20151008_508.pdf

www.mars-one.com/faq/health-and-ethics/is-this-ethical

[3] Anthony, Sebastian. SpaceX says it will put humans on

[6] Dickerson, Kelly. Here’s what Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks of

Mars by 2026, almost 10 years ahead of NASA | ExtremeTech

the Mars One mission [Internet]. Business Insider. 2015 [cited 15

[Internet]. ExtremeTech. 2015 [cited 15 November 2015].

November 2015]. Available from: http://www.businessinsider.

Available from: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184640-

com/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-mars-one-2015-3

spacex-says-it-will-put-humans-on-mars-by-2026-almost-10-

9

FOOD sterilizing

medical

why antibiotic resistance is a concern for American consumers by madison smith

W

ith every advertisement, the well-known fast food chain Subway makes the catchy claim that their customers will only ever “Eat Fresh,” implying that their foundational principle is to have the healthiest and best tasting ingredients.

In addition, their website’s About Us page details how they are committed to being as environmentally and socially responsible as possible. However, in the past few years, Subway has had to make some major changes to their food sourcing and manufacturing in order to maintain this image of fresh, healthy food. In April 2014, they eliminated azodicarbonamide, a chemical used in yoga mats and the rubber soles of shoes, from their bread. As of October 20, 2015, they have finally committed to phasing out meat raised with antibiotics.

Food blogger and activist, Vani Hari, or the Food Babe, largely influenced these changes simply by starting petitions asking Subway to ban these ingredients in its products.

Subway’s use of antibiotics, which was stopped with a petition totaling over 36,000 signatures, was particularly vital to Hari. She states, “The misuse of antibiotics and irresponsible practices in raising conventional farm animals is contaminating the environment that we all live in with superbugs that are resistant to modern-day antibiotic medical treatment” [6].

10

The issue of antibiotics in the food we eat is clearly very urgent, but why? These superbugs Hari refers to are a product of the phenomenon called antibiotic resistance, or antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

When people think of antibiotics, they think of prescription pills in an orange bottle they take when they have a UTI, strep throat, or other illnesses. What many don’t realize is that 80% of all antibiotics sold in the US actually go to the meat farmers [7]. Farmers give antibiotics to their livestock in order to keep them from being sick in unhealthy environments, and to increase their growth; this allows them to produce more meat for less expense [7].

While the discovery of antibiotics was revolutionary for the medical field, their overuse is having an increasingly adverse effect on the human population’s antimicrobial resistance.

The prevalence of antibiotics is causing infectious bacteria to become more resistant.

The antibiotics in animals kill off the weak strains of bacteria, leaving the stronger forms to multiply and grow, raising the strength of the general bacterial population [7]. For example, the discovery of penicillin was groundbreaking in 1928, but by 1940, a penicillinase, a bacteria “capable of inactivating the drug” was also discovered [5].

By the time penicillin was widely used as treatment, there were a

number of resistant strains of bacteria. so much so that penicillin subsequently had to be chemically modified in order to remain effective [5].

Bacteria becomes resistant predominantly through reproduction and horizontal gene transfer.

When bacteria divide and multiply, they create exact copies of themselves, with the potential to make an entire colony of resistant strains from a single bacterium. Horizontal gene transfer is, unfortunately, a much more effective way of creating resistant bacteria, and was the predominant mechanism in the spread of many superbugs, including the infamous E. coli.

Through horizontal gene transfer, also known as conjugation, one bacterium can transfer part or all of its genome to a neighboring bacterium. This both increases the number of resistant bacteria that will reproduce and eliminates the less threatening nonresistant strains. Furthermore, this allows bacteria to gain resistance genes to many different drugs, creating multi-drug resistant strains, the superbugs.

Originally, antibiotics were used to advance animal growth, in both weight and rate. Now, only 18% of antibiotic use is attributed to growth promotion, with the

remaining 82% being used for disease control [3]. The livestock need this disease control because many are raised in unhealthy environments where without antibiotics, animal sickness is common. As stated by W. P. Blount, “the greatest risks from disease occur when large numbers of stock are housed on one site,” which is a frequent practice in intensive livestock farming [2].

Because of this, farmers put antibiotics directly into animals’ food to increase their health and enable efficient mass farming [2].

When large food companies source their meat from farms that use antibiotics on their livestock, the antibiotic resistant forms of bacteria are spread to consumers across the nation. Even vegans and vegetarians are affected by nontherapeutic use of antibiotics.

Even if vegetarian eaters are not infected with superbugs directly from antibiotic-raised meat, the mere existence of superbugs creates the chance for anyone to become infected. This increases the AMR of the general human population; as a result, when a person is infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria the medication will be minimally effective or rendered not effective at all.

Because of this, some experts anticipate a “post-antibiotic era” if

the the overuse of antibiotics does not change. Should this happen, antibiotic use will be lessened significantly in areas from treating common illnesses to recovery from surgeries, making these treatments and procedures more dangerous and prolonged. Essentially, the remarkable impact of the discovery of antibiotics will be eradicated.

Many suggest discontinuing the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics, such as the European Union did in the 1990s with their ban on the use of certain antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock farming. Within 5 years, this led to decreased antibiotic resistance in their population [1].

The problem of antibiotic resistance is rampant in America, and many experts agree that action is needed soon. Thankfully, change is beginning to take place in the US, as seen in decisions like that of Subway, to eradicate meat sourced from farms that employ nontherapeutic antibiotics, and in the activism of many health bloggers such as the Food Babe, Vani Hari. With more and more petitions directing food companies and businesses, a nationwide, grassroots change can allow human AMR to decrease and keep our medicines as useful as they were when they were discovered.

references [1] Phillips I. Withdrawal of growth-promoting antibiotics in

[5] Davies J, Davies D. Origins and Evolution of Antibiotic

Europe and its effects in relation to human health. International

Resistance. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews.

Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. 2007;30(2):101-107.

2010;74(3):417-433.

[2] Blount W. Intensive livestock farming. London: Heinemann

[6] Hari V. This Is Disturbing, Whether You Eat Fast Food Or Not.

Medical; 1968.

[Internet]. Food Babe. 2015 [cited 15 November 2015]. Available

[3] Cromwell G. WHY AND HOW ANTIBIOTICS ARE USED IN

from: http://foodbabe.com/2015/10/14/fast-food/#more-22789

SWINE PRODUCTION. Animal Biotechnology. 2002;13(1):7-27.

[7] Nrdc.org. Antibiotic Resistance | NRDC [Internet]. 2015 [cited

[4] Littmann J, Viens A. The Ethical Significance of Antimicrobial

15 November 2015]. Available from: http://www.nrdc.org/food/

Resistance. Public Health Ethics. 2015;:phv025.

saving-antibiotics.asp

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technology

neurons

NODES

O

neural networks continue to advance artificial intelligence by jonathan lee

ne of the old folkloric stories in Computer Science comes out of MIT. According to one wellknown story, in 1966, Marvin Minsky at MIT asked his undergraduate student Gerald Jay Sussman to “spend the summer linking a camera to a computer and getting the computer to describe what it saw” [1].

The anecdote allegorizes an enduring problem in artificial intelligence. Even young children with little experience in the world can look at a scene and tell you what’s happening. So it shouldn’t be so hard for a computer, right? Nearly fifty years have passed since Minsky issued Sussman’s assignment and our collective solutions have only scratched the surface [2,3]. One promising solution has garnered significant popularity in both academia and the press: artificial neural networks, a machine learning model initially inspired by neural connections in the human brain.

The concept, however, is not a new one.

In the 1950s Frank Rosenblatt of Cornell University, proposed a model of a perceptron, the most basic building block of neural networks. The Rosenblatt perceptron consists of a single node (once referred to as a neuron) that takes inputs as feature patterns and categorizes the feature patterns into classes [4]. While

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TO

many computer scientists today often seek to dissociate neural networks from their biological analogy, this early perceptron was often compared to characteristics of human neurons. The feature pattern parallels weighted synaptic inputs and the output of the perceptron mimics a firing or inactive neuron. The weighted pattern that the perceptron receives can be succinctly written as the summation of weighted inputs with an additional bias, which acts as an external offset [5].

The weights and biases are adjusted until the perceptron exhibits the expected behavior. Another important characteristic of the node is the activation function, which processes the weighted pattern input before outputting it. The choice of activation function often depends on the task at hand, but well-chosen functions make an enormous difference in a neural network’s success.

A canonical example of a perceptron task is the binary OR function. Suppose there is a perceptron that takes two binary inputs and a single binary output that classifies input patterns as one and zero only. If the input pattern consists of at least one value of one, then perceptron should output one. In all other cases, it should output zero.

A function as basic as this is not so interesting.

Unfortunately, the single perceptron is limited to simple discriminator tasks such as this. Suppose the perceptron should model an XOR function, which is similar to OR but outputs one only when the two inputs are different. Surprisingly, this behavior is actually impossible to model with a single node. Shortcomings related to the perceptron’s lack of complexity became the target of Marvin Minsky’s criticism of neural networks, an attack that stunted research and funding for years.

Despite the hindrance, some researchers stayed in the field and explored ways to improve the perceptron [6].

As it turns out, perceptrons can be stitched together to form a neural network that is appropriate for more complex tasks.

In fact, these multilayer networks have been labeled “universal approximators.” Traditionally these nodes would be organized in directed layers that would form a “feed-forward” graph of processing nodes [5].

The challenge then became finding the weights and biases that would appropriately model complex tasks. Initially Rosenblatt found weights by trial and error, but that method proved impractical for the large number of weights and biases in a network of nodes. In the 1970s the first backpropagation algorithm emerged, which generalized the well known gradient descent algorithm for use with multiple layers. In the new algorithm, the negative

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of the partial derivative with respect to each weight is calculated, denoting the direction in which the corresponding weight should be adjusted to minimize the error between the ideal behavior and the actual behavior. Eventually as the error is minimized, the network begins the exhibit the ideal behavior [7]. An interesting aspect of neural networks is that once the network is trained and the weights and biases are optimized, the model is still very much a black box. They may work well in practice, but it’s often difficult to understand why. The Google Research Blog addresses this issue in their post “Inceptionism” [8].

How have neural networks helped us solve Minsky’s “getting a computer to describe what it saw” problem?

The underlying challenge is image classification.

Early techniques involved detecting edges in the image and recognizing a shape of some object.

But oftentimes, there may be variations in viewpoint, scale, background and many other aspects. It would be nearly impossible to account for all these variations in an explicit rule-based algorithm. The alternative is a “data-drive approach.” And that is where neural networks come in. The idea is to feed a neural network thousands of images labeled with the names of the objects they represent such as “cat” or “car.”

By applying backpropagation, the network can learn the unstructured data and the associated categories. It can subsequently label images it’s never seen before all on its own as it learns to classify them [9].

the idea is to feed a neural network thousands of images labeled with the names of the objects they represent

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technology

In the last few years, neural networks popularity in society. Some researchers such have proved to be incredibly successful as Yann LeCun feel that in particular the mystery of these brain-like for image classification and other computer vision tasks. algorithms have inflated the These basic principles of hype around the topic [12]. neural networks serve as the success of Neural networks are not the the foundation for systems universal answer to artificial like Facebook’s facial neural networks intelligence. In fact, they are recognition and YouTube’s not even the universal answer in image to various machine learning video recommendations [10]. classification is problems in industry. But the Even research in robotics of neural networks and computer vision have unprecedented success been heavily impacted by in image classification is unprecedented and, while neural networks with object the technology is far from recognition [11-12].

A mix of success, potential, and mystery complete, we can expect huge leaps in have caused neural networks to attain wide computer vision applications.

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references [1] Szeliski R. Computer vision. London: Springer; 2011.

into Neural Networks [Internet]. Google Research Blog. 2015.

[2] Karpathy A. The state of Computer Vision and AI: we are really,

Available from: http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2015/06/in-

really far away. [Internet]. Andrej Karpathy blog. 2012. Available

ceptionism-going-deeper-into-neural.html

from: http://The state of Computer Vision and AI: we are really,

[9] Karpathy A. Image Classification [Internet]. CS231n Convolu-

really far away.

tional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition. 2015. Available

[3] Li F. How we’re teaching computers to understand pictures.

from: http://cs231n.github.io/

Presentation presented at TED; 2015.

[10] Geier B. This Is Google’s Plan to Save YouTube. Time [Inter-

[4] Andina D, Pham D. Computational intelligence for engineering

net]. 2015; Available from: http://time.com/3882422/google-you-

and manufacturing. Dordrecht: Springer; 2007.

tube/

[5] Haykin S. Neural networks and learning machines. New York:

[11] Harris M. New Pedestrian Detector from Google Could

Prentice Hall/Pearson; 2009.

Make Self-Driving Cars Cheaper [Internet]. IEEE Spectrum.

[6] Kelemen J. From Artificial Neural Networks to Emotion Ma-

2015. Available from: http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/

chines with Marvin Minsky [Internet]. 1st ed. Acta Polytechnica

transportation/self-driving/new-pedestrian-detector-from-goo-

Hungarica; 2004. Available from: http://uni-obuda.hu/journal/

gle-could-make-selfdriving-cars-cheaper

Kelemen_12.pdf

[12] Gomes L. Facebook AI Director Yann LeCun on His Quest to

[7] Smith B. Neural Network Enhancement of Closed-Loop Con-

Unleash Deep Learning and Make Machines Smarter [Internet].

trollers for Ill-Modeled Systems with Unknown Nonlinearities

IEEE Spectrum. 2015. Available from: http://spectrum.ieee.org/

[Ph.D]. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; 1997.

automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/facebook-ai-director-

[8] Mordvintsev A, Olah C, Tyka M. Inceptionism: Going Deeper

yann-lecun-on-deep-learning

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innervation

innovation es Baugh, suffering from the loss of both his arms at the shoulder, uses his mouth for most tasks now from cooking to opening the door to his car.

Since an accident when he was a teenager, Mr. Baugh hasn’t had many options for prosthetic arms. Most are specified for one or two tasks and require external controllers limiting their aid to one arm amputees [1]. But hope for Les Baugh and thousands of others lies in new innervating surgery technology and the development of the Modular Prosthetic Limb under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics

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Johns Hopkins APL seeks to aid amputee rehabilitation and fully restore arm function with mind controlled prosthetics.

Laboratory.

Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program integrates research investigating neural maps that

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articulating full biologic motion in the fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder through 26 different joints [3, 4].

To complement this fuller range of

Engineers are incorporating joint control loop algorithms that will help the prosthetic mimic joint stiffness.

control motor movements and sensory feedback, development of reinnervation in amputee patients, neural recording technology, neural decoding models, arm movement models, and the development of prosthetic limbs with increased lifelike movements and dexterity to create advanced, neurally controlled prosthetics.

In short, Johns Hopkins APL seeks to aid amputee rehabilitation and fully restore arm function with mind controlled prosthetics [2].

The beginning of Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) development sought to create a system with enhanced degrees of freedom, surpassing passive prosthetics and even prosthetics with simple openand-close and up-and-down motions.

MPL features seventeen different degrees of freedom (the human limb has 27 degrees of freedom)

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L

researchers face the task of connecting algorithms and neurons by catriona lewis

motion, engineers at the Applied Physics Lab are incorporating joint control loop algorithms that will help the prosthetic mimic joint stiffness, and muscle and tendon interactions during normal movement. Under an array of algorithms setup to simulate normal muscle, tendon, and joint movement, the prosthetic metal gears moves and reacts to external force and torque like flesh and bone [5].

Less advanced prosthetics required the user to move the arm/ hand into position, or had a simple appendage such as a hook or pincher controlled by cables or some external electronic controller, such as a smartphone, to perform a small subset of basic movements [4]. MPL goes beyond external control, linking the prosthetic to patient thoughts using human-machine interface. Broadly speaking this interface senses control

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medical signals - muscle contractions, brain waves, or peripheral nerve implant signals - and utilize an algorithm to decode motor intent to transform the control signal into electrical motor movement within the prosthetic [5].

This interface varies among patients based on the available existing mechanisms.

Patients with below the elbow amputations can utilize electrodes that process, decode, and transmit muscle contractions in the upper arm to control a lower arm prosthetic [5].

Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and decoding programs can be used to transduce thoughts (neural activity in the motor cortex) to simple motor movements. However, EEG is limited in the subtlety of neural activity it can recover as it sums electric field signals over a relatively large patch of cortex tissue, providing a small number of possible task commands [5].

MPL can take advantage of implaned microelectrodes in the motor cortex, and muscle contraction signals from reinnervated peripheral tissue. Implanted microelectrodes sense neural firings within the motor cortex. These firings, depending on location and the pattern of firing,

can be related to movement velocity by a computer model [6]. These microelectrodes are a way to recreate the neural connection between the brain’s motor control center and the nerves controlling muscles in the arm.

But the one way neuron to muscle control severely limits the range of movements and tasks that can be performed. Without a sensory feedback system, arm movement cannot be modulated based on interactions with the external environment. Think about all the ways you adjust movement once you know how heavy something is or how you react to the texture of a surface. Developments in targeted reinnervation surgeries hope to reestablish this two way neural circuit utilizing free nerve endings in amputee patients. The surgery relocates residual sensorimotor nerves that previously innervated the missing limb to peripheral muscles such has the chest or on the remaining limb. These new innervated muscles can amplify any

motor command signals from a specific part of the brain. These motor signals then can be recorded by electromyography to control the prosthetic. Or, these new neural networks can relay sensory information from prosthetic to the brain via the new innervated muscle [7]. The surgery makes it possible to connect, say, the part of the motor cortex that would control your index finger to the electronics that control the index finger of the prosthetic via a small patch of muscle tissue on your chest. Taking advantage of the plasticity of the brain, the new rewiring can take only months.

Reinnervation effectively restores the original cortical representation of the missing limb in the brain and this restoration can be utilized for rehabilitation, neuralprosthetic control, and the creation of sensory feedback circuits [7].

This final prototype of the Modular Prosthetic Limb, successfully demonstrated to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in December 2009, offers 22 degrees of motion, The Proto 1 limb system includes a natural-looking artificial covering including independent movement of each finger, in a package developed using photographs of the patient’s native limb taken before that weighs about nine pounds (the weight of a natural limb). the accident. Source: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Source: DARPA/JHUAPL/HDT Engineering Services

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task relies on numerous force control feedback circuits. Controlling just how the pen is grasped requires feedback inputs and algorithms that compare the force exerted by different fingers to achieve a desired grasp force that would be enough to lift or move the pen. The lab is still developing these computer models that will control the various aspects

electrical signals that control specific movements of the motors within the prosthetic. This requires extensive training. Patients must coordinate their thought commands with the computer algorithms of the desired movements.

These prosthetics aren’t available commercially yet, so patients like Mr. Baugh can only test and train these prototype developments in the laboratory. There are also still many hurdles to overcome before patients can receive direct microelectrode implants in the brain to control prosthetics, limiting these test prototypes to patients with enough free nerve endings to perform the innervation surgery. But patients like Mr. Baugh are hopeful. He has already started training his mind to think about how we will control this new prosthetic, imagining every aspect of movement required for individual tasks - from the position of each joint to rotational movements to timing coordination.

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Les Baugh underwent this reinnervation surgery about a year ago. The reestablishment of the sensory feedback circuit allowed Mr. Baugh to test prosthetic limb proptypes outfitted with over one hundred sensors measuring force, vibration, fine point contact, temperature, joint angle, velocity, and torque [4]. Commanding the

Patients must coordinate their thought commands with the computer algorithms of the desired movements.

prosthetic like his real limbs Mr. Baugh not only achieved simple grasp tasks in mounth but also could interact with his environment through the relay of sensory information through stimulated vibrations on a specific patches of chest muscle. The prosthetic is also outfitted with hundreds of force sensors especially important for fine motor movement and dexterity, such as writing tasks. A simple writing

of writing simultaneously from the the angle and pressure of the pen to the paper, the position in space of the pen and trajectory of movement requires to produce certain letters [2].

With the creation of any human/neural-machine interface, recording of activity must be carried out in order to create an algorithm that can sufficiently decode these signals (neural or muscular) into

references

[1] Cott E. Prosthetic Limbs, Controlled by Thought. The New

730-741.

York Times 2015 May 21; Sect. B1.

[5] Bridges MM, Para MP, Mashner MJ. Control System Archi-

[2] McGee TG, Para MP, Katyal KD, Johnannes MS. Demon-

tecture for the Modular Prosthetic Limb. Johns Hopkins APL

stration of Force Feedback Control on the Modular Prosthetic

Technical Digest. 2011 30(3): 217-222.

Limb. IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and

[6] Collinder JL, Wodlinger B, Downey JE, Wang W, Tyler-Ka-

Cybernetics 2014 Oct. 5-8.

bara EC, Weber DJ, McMorland AJ, Velliste M, Boninger ML,

[3] Tenore FV, Vogelstein RJ. Revolutionizing Prosthetics: De-

Schwartz AB. High-performance neuroprosthetic control by

vices for Neural Integration. Johns Hopkins APL Technical Di-

an individual with tetraplegia. Lancet. 2013 381: 557-564.

gest. 2011 30(3): 230-239.

[7] Chen A, Yao J, Kuiken T, Dewald JPA. Cortical motor activity

[4] Lee B, Attenello FJ, Liu CY, McLoughlin MP, Apuzzo MLJ.

and reorganization following upper-limb amputation and sub-

Recapitulating Flesh with Silicon and Steel: Advancements in

sequent targeted reinnervation. NeuroImage: Clinical. 2013 3:

Upper Extremity Robotic Prosthetics. Frontiers 2014 81(5):

498-506.

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scientists are getting closer to making teleportation a reality by rachael klaiss

I

t seems that science has not been of environmental dimensions that users able to keep up with how advanced do not even notice it [1]. These include we expected modern transportation climate change, air quality, noise, water to be. However, with the advancement of quality, soil quality, biodiversity and land modern physics, what we have discarded take. as impossible might actually start to seem, Dr. Rodrigue’s report states “The at least theoretically, possible again. The activities of the transport industry release concept of teleportation seems almost several million tons of gases each year magical - disappearing from one place to into the atmosphere.” These gaseous reappear in another. But why did science emissions affect the long term carbon fiction even imagine teleportation in the cycle, deplete the ozone layer, and lead to first place? In addition to the convenience poor air quality that can be damaging to of instantaneous travel, teleportation human health. would alleviate the nuisances of loud Estimated Air Pollutants Emitted by noises and pollution. So far, basic quantum Highway Transportation in the United mechanics can explain the theoretical States, 1970-2008[2] possibility of teleportation. As quantum The effect on the climate and mechanics becomes more complicated, the environment by transportation is an possibility of teleportation becomes more Environmental Externality, meaning the realistic. Up until very negative consequences recently, teleportation were unintentional, was a very high but nonetheless no impossibility. However, 18 billion barrels responsibility is taken research conducted by those causing them. of oil a day used In this case, those at Delft University of Technology in the negative by cars would be causing the Netherlands and consequences are the completely published in October wide range of consumers can lead us to bigger and corporations that answers to the question contribute to the use of future transportation. and production of all Teleportation is a transportation. widely discussed and imagined form of Now imagine that these gas transportation solely for convenience. emissions, the noise, water pollution Exasperated commuters stuck in traffic, weren’t there anymore. The environmental on packed subways, and waiting for implications of teleportation would be delayed flights have at some point huge. It would make future environmental thought: “if only I could teleport and not conferences unnecessary. In the United have to deal with this.” But how much States alone, 18 billion barrels of oil a do we think about the very real and large day used by cars would be completely environmental impact of transportation? unnecessary. This makes teleportation To environmentalists, this could make the seem significantly more desireable. idea of teleportation even more desireable.

The quantum mechanical principle of According to a study done by Dr. Jean- probability wave functions is the basis of Paul Rodrigue of Hofstra University, theoretical teleportation. The foundations transportation impacts such a large range of quantum mechanics attempt to explain

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TELEPORTATION FUTURE TRANSPORTATION

technology

unnecessary.

Estimated Air Pollutants Emitted by Highway Transportation 200,000 Particulate (PM-10)

180,000

VOC

160,000

thousand tons

NOx

140,000

CO

source: bts

120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000

C. Technically, A and C were never entangled. The information that was passed includes all of the properties of atom A. Now, C has that information, and is now identical to atom A. The information in A was destroyed so now there is only C with this information. Therefore, we can say that the information was teleported from atom A to atom C. Scientists have been attempting to prove teleportation is possible for a long time. One critic of this was the famous Albert Einstein, who was even skeptical of quantum mechanics itself. He derided the idea that information could travel faster than light as “spooky action at a distance”. As of 2007, when Physics of the Impossible was published, experiments continued to show that we could transport information through objects, but nothing to

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how electrons travel in a wave like pattern around the nucleus of an atom, and therefore exhibiting wavelike properties. Since all matter is made up of atoms, quantum mechanics argues that everything exhibits wave-like properties. The famous Schrodinger equation introduces the symbol into physics. represents not a specific physical quantity, but the probability that a particle will end up in an area of defined space. This probability is a wave function due to the wave nature of atoms and particles. Michio Kaku, in his book Physics of the Impossible, describes how if we could assign wave functions to a person or object, there is a very very small probability that the person or object could end up in another location (such as another country or even planet) than its current one, if the limits over all space included the entire universe [3]. Hence begins a fundamental understanding of how teleportation could be a physical reality.

Teleportation becomes more of a reality and less of a theoretical possibility when we look at the concept of quantum entanglement.

This phenomena was explored in 1993 by scientists at IBM. There are 2 atoms, labeled A and C, and we want to teleport information from A to C. There must be introduced a third atom, B, that is entangled with C at the beginning of the experiment. A becomes entangled with B, passing its information to B, which passes the information to

show that objects separated by a large distance could exhibit the same behavior. This changed in October, when Delft University published results of real “spooky action at a distance” [4]. It showed the entanglement and the transfer of information despite the distance between the atoms. The experiment places two diamonds 1.3 kilometers apart with traps for electrons. These electrons carry the information that is measured to see if they can communicate identical information.

They were able to measure the properties of the electrons to be identical although there had been no conventional way for this information to have been exchanged. With the discovery of “spooky action” actually being possible, we are one step closer to teleportation of objects and maybe even humans.

references

[1] Rodrigue D. The Environmental Impacts of Transportation

com/news/1084335_how-much-oil-does-america-use-check-

[Internet]. People.hofstra.edu. 2015 [cited 16 November 2015].

out-this-infographic

Available

[3] Kaku M. Physics of the impossible. New York: Doubleday;

from:

https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/

ch8en/conc8en/ch8c1en.html

2008.

[2] Ingram A. How Much Oil Does America Use? Check Out

[4] Markoff J. Sorry, Einstein. Quantum Study Suggests

This Infographic [Internet]. Green Car Reports. 2015 [cited 16

“Spooky Action” Is Real. Science. The New York Times.

November 2015]. Available from: http://www.greencarreports.

2015;526(7575):682-686.

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Access to reproductive rights improves women’s ability to acheive an education, a career and independence.

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how abortion has evolved throughout history by rebecca harpster

Throughout history, humans have been practicing various forms of contraception.

Having agency over one’s childbearing is necessary for women to achieve social and political equality. In this vein, women have been taking abortifacients and receiving physical abortions throughout all of American history. However, antiabortion sentiments didn’t begin to rise until the 19th century. Campaigns by doctors to de-legitimize midwives and a patriarchal pressure to take away agency from women led to overall societal push to make abortion illegal and reprehensible.

PRE-COLONIZATION

This begins with indigenous American societies: abstinence was the most common form of contraception and was heavily encouraged by society.

In Northern tribes, men and women actually were forced to live separately for 9 months out of the year. This led to less births and those that did occurred during the months with most food and resources available. Abstinence was woven into society’s threads in other ways as well; it was used as a healing method for illnesses and during mourning. This could have been to further prevent unwanted births that society could not sustain. Those that did receive abortions were usually unmarried women. Abstinence reduced the need for abortions but, when they did occur, it wasn’t taboo or particularly shameful. Many tribes believe that a child’s soul doesn’t incarnate into the body until after the birth and, therefore, aborting a fetus was not offensive. As a result, women frequently used abortion as a form of birth control in their first trimester.

Methods were not surgical or intrusive, and instead relied on a wide variety of pharmacological plants including horehound, silk tassel bush, and mistletoe. Other means involved hitting or compressing the stomach, lifting heavy weights, and jumping off high places.

These depended on both the time period, the culture, and the current fads.

European colonization changed views about contraception and had huge effects on native societies. When arriving in America, Europeans reported high rates of infanticide and abortions - but this might have been exaggerated. Not only did Europeans purposely try to paint indigenous people in a negative light, but natives might have been pressured into these practices due to degradation of native society, rampant disease, and reduction of resources. Colonization and Westernization also interfered with native coming of age ceremonies, where young women learned about all aspects of womanhood, including contraception.

Today, women living on reservations have some of the most limited access to women’s health centers and reproductive rights in the country. The huge dearth of resources on reservations is an alarming trend and contributes to the overall health issues present in these areas. Access to reproductive rights improves women’s ability to achieve an education, a career, and independence.

POST-COLONIZATION

These attitudes towards abortion persisted throughout the history of the European colonization of North America. Before the colonies became the United States, slaves were practicing

abortion using cottonwood. In addition, colonial women also used a wide variety of plants to induce abortions, and many women had to so frequently.

In post-colonial America, abortion was still common and a part of life. Similar to modern times, abortion services were sought out mostly by “married, white, nativeborn Protestant women of the upper and middle class” who simply did not want more children. Abortion clinics were common; in fact in the mid-1800s New York City had over 200, and other urban areas had many as well. These abortions were performed both pharmacologically and through surgical measures.

REGULATION BEGINS

Eventually, a rise in contraceptive technologies such as condoms and sponges reduced the need for abortions, but they were still relatively common. Anti-abortion legislation and sentiment began in 1821, when Connecticut was the first state to ban abortion after “quickening” - usually after the 4th month - claiming that it was

dangerous. However, laws banning abortion did not stop women from having them necessarily, instead they were forced to seek them out through more dangerous measures.

However, abortion through the first trimester was legal in most states for the years to come. In 1857 the American Medical Association became strictly anti-abortion. This push was used to delegitimize and drive midwives out of medicine, further taking power away from women. This sentiment began ins to spread, and in 1868 the Catholic Church condemned all abortions, when previously they had been acceptable before 30 days. The first legal decision on the federal level was the Comstock Law of 1873, which banned access to information on and criminalized birth control and abortion, unless two physicians agreed that it was necessary to save the life of the mother. While abortion was illegal in the 1900s in order to protect the health of the mother from “dangerous” procedures, women were forced into much more unsafe situations. Women used knitting needles, hairpins, 1973 Roe v. Wade caused a sharp increase in the U.S. abortion rate

1973-2014 over 57 million legal abortions were performed in the U.S.

74% of women say having a baby would interfere with work, school, or other responsibilities

scissors, and button hooks to induce miscarriages and end their pregnancies. This often caused serious injuries, infertility, and death. These illegal abortions were wide-spread: in Chicago 10,000 were performed annually.

Those who sought these responses came from all walks of life, and up to 20% of working-class women had had an abortion.

During the Great Depression, economic pressures drove even more women to seek out abortions.

Abortions were increasing every year, and demand was so large that many physicians specialized in it.

There were many underground clinics in New York City and on the West Coast. These women were often religious, married, already had children, and simply couldn’t afford to have more. Underground clinics were not available to everyone, but some progressive women leaders spread information about doit-yourself practices.

However, abortions continued to be expensive, difficult to obtain, and dangerous.

1971 the year after decriminalization of abortion, the maternal-mortality rate in New York State dropped 45 percent

1973-2014 over 57 million legal abortions were performed in the U.S.

the U.S. abortion rate peaked in the 1980s, but has steadily decreased as legislation continues to restrict abortions

73% of women say they cannot afford to have a baby

SOURCES: NRLC, The Atlantic, Guttmacher Institute

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In the mid-1900s, a new way to perform abortions was spreading through Europe. This vacuum aspiration-style procedure was deemed much safer. At this time, abortion sentiments were beginning to change. In 1967 abortion was illegal in 49 states and Washington DC, but President Kennedy called for the repeal of these laws. In 1969, the California Supreme Court decided that women had a right to choose an abortion, starting a chain reaction. In 1970, Hawaii and New York repeal their criminal abortion laws. 1971 was arguably the most important year in abortion legislation. The Comstock Law was

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advancements. Today, abortion is one of the safest medical procedures.

This is important considering almost half of US pregnancies are unintended and 40% of those are aborted. In the first trimester (before 63 days) women can have a medical abortion which involves taking two pills: one, mifepristone, is taken in a clinical setting and stops the growth of the fetus, the second, misoprostol, is taken at home, 6 to 72 hours later, and facilitates the expulsion of the pregnancy. These drugs have some side effects such as nausea and bleeding, but they are easily treated and overall the procedure is extremely safe and over 97% effective.

The most common technique used in the second trimester is

States that legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade saw lowered crime rates before the rest of the country.

repealed, meaning that abortion was available under certain conditions in 14 states and fully in 4 states. In this year, Roe v. Wade was presented to the Supreme Court.

Historically, in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, American women were allowed to terminate pregnancies due to their right to privacy. This changed the landscape of women’s health, and studies have shown the impacts have been incredibly beneficial to societal and public health.

The landmark study “Legalized Abortion and Crime” made the bold claim that the sharp decrease in crime beginning in the

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early 1990’s in America was due to Roe v. Wade. According to the authors, John Donohue of Stanford and Steven Levitt of the University of Chicago, the children who were not born as a result of the legalization of abortion were more likely to have grown up in poverty and with single and uneducated parents. These risk factors are known to lead to crime. In fact, states that legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade saw lowered crime rates before the rest of the country; further supporting this hypothesis. The authors also contend that these effects would be even more pronounced had the Hyde Amendment not passed in 1976, which banned the use of federal funds for abortion.

Roe v. Wade also had a large effect on the demographics of those seeking abortions. Access to legal abortions increased, and price fell as well. More non-white, unmarried, and older women began seeking abortions and were able to do so in their home state without having to travel long distances. Abortions became much safer as well, and the number of women hospitalized from abortion complications and the number of deaths from abortion both decreased.

SAFETY INCREASES

The safety of abortions has been increasing over time due not only to their legality but also to medical

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REGULATION DECREASES

vacuum aspiration. This procedure, performed after 10 weeks, is called Electric Vacuum Aspiration and involves a vacuum suction. With the introduction of this method, surgical abortion has also become one of the safest medical procedures, with few side effects and very low mortality.

In many states abortion in the third trimester, called “late-term abortion”, is illegal. However, there are several methods available. One is called an “induction abortion” and, like the name suggests, involves inducing the delivery of a fetus. The other is a surgical procedure called “dilation and extraction”.

Since Roe v. Wade, this issue has continued to be heavily contested.

The National Science Foundation Authorization Act in 1974 banned federally-funded research using fetal tissue, and the Hyde Amendment of 1976 banned the use of any federal funds for abortion. States, especially conservative ones, have attempted to pass many laws restricting abortion. However, on a federal level the Supreme Court has reaffirmed a woman’s right to an abortion many times. Unfortunately, in the 1990’s waves of violence were committed against women seeking abortions and abortion providers. Although abortion has been legalized federally, conservative states are doing all they can to fight against it.

In fact, 87% of counties do not have an abortion provider.

Recently, debate over Planned Parenthood and women’s right to an abortion has been increasing. Candidates participating in the presidential race have been debating women’s right to abortion while abortion has been part of America since before Europeans colonization. Making abortion illegal hurts our society’s health. Further, it disproportionately hurts poor women and women of color, who don’t have the same access to resources. Abortion has been a part of this country’s history, and will most likely remain a part of this country’s future. What politicians have the power over, however, is the legality of the procedure. Hopefully, it is only a matter of time before politicians realize that providing women with the access to legally separate sex from childbearing fundamentally benefits society.

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Abortion has been a part of this country’s history, and will most likely remain a part of this country’s future.

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CONTINUING CONTROVERSY

references [1] What-when-how.com. Native Americans of California (birth

theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/05/abortion-in-american-

control) [Internet]. 2015 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from:

history/376851/

http://what-when-how.com/birth-control/native-americans-of-

[7] Contributors. History of Abortion in the U.S. [Internet]. Our Bodies

california-birth-control/

Ourselves. 2015 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from: http://

[2] Cheung I. 10 Ancient Methods of Birth Control [Internet]. Listverse.

www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/u-s-abortion-history/

2010 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from: http://listverse.

[8] Barro R. Does Abortion Lower the Crime Rate?. Business Week

com/2010/11/14/10-ancient-methods-of-birth-control/

[Internet]. 1999 [cited 16 November 2015];:30. Available from: http://

[3] Indioheathen. Traditional Indigenous American Values: Abortion

scholar.harvard.edu/barro/files/99_0927_crimerate_bw.pdf

[Internet]. Indioheathen.blogspot.com. 2006 [cited 16 November

[9] Cates, Jr. W, Grimes D, Shulz K. The Public Health Impact of Legal

2015]. Available from: http://indioheathen.blogspot.com/2006/03/

Abortion: 30 Years Later [Internet]. Guttmacher.org. 2003 [cited 16

abortion.html

November 2015]. Available from: https://www.guttmacher.org/

[4] Rose C. Native History: Roe v. Wade Passes, But Indigenous

pubs/journals/3502503.html

Women Lack Access [Internet]. Indian Country Today Media

[10] Swica Y. Modern Methods of Abortion. NEJM Journal Watch

Network.com. 2015 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from:

[Internet]. 2009 [cited 16 November 2015];2009. Available from:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/22/native-

http://www.jwatch.org/wh200906040000001/2009/06/04/

history-roe-v-wade-passes-indigenous-women-lack-access-153192

modern-methods-abortion

[5] Choice 4. Timeline [Internet]. 4000 Years for Choice. 2015 [cited 16

[11] American Pregnancy Association. Abortion Procedures

November 2015]. Available from: http://www.4000yearsforchoice.

[Internet]. 2015 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from: http://

com/pages/timeline

americanpregnancy.org/unplanned-pregnancy/abor tion-

[6] Pollitt K. Abortion in American History [Internet]. The Atlantic.

procedures/

1997 [cited 16 November 2015]. Available from: http://www.

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education

“THE TALK”

when

A

isn’t enough America needs to improve sex education by sharfa prasad

s California mandates sexual education across the state, it is surprising how long it took for this to happen in California and has yet to happen across the nation.

Today’s children are raised in a societal environment highly centered on sexual imagery, which is displayed through mediums that range from television commercials to video games to magazines they pass by in grocery stores with their parents. These subtle hints of sexuality are everywhere in their lives from an early age, yet sexual education is not mandated across the United States. As children grow into teenagers and adults, they are often misled or uninformed about their own bodies, causing serious health risks and concerns. The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health has expressed: Adolescents ages 15-24 account for nearly half of the 20 million new cases of STI’s each

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year. Today, four in 10 sexually active teen girls have had an STD that can cause infertility and even death. Also, though rates of HIV are very low among adolescents, males make up more than three-quarters of HIV diagnoses among 13- to 19-year-olds.

These statistics are very telling of the poor quality or lack thereof of sexual health education the United States has in place for its citizens.

The Netherlands has a sexual health education system in place that seems to be more successful in comparison to the United States. They teach children about their bodies and health as early as kindergarten, so they have very well informed young citizens and can avoid preventable mishaps such as STIs or teen pregnancy.

A recurring misconception about sexual health is that it is all about intercourse and teaching our children about it will encourage them to have sexual relations with one another.

In the

Netherlands, a comprehensive sexual education is put into place; it is not all about intercourse. Teachers talk with their students about the different types of feelings and love they have for different people in their lives such as families to friends. These discussions put forth a foundation for healthy individuals to flourish. PBS Newshour discloses: On average, teens in the Netherlands do not have sex at an earlier age than those in other European countries or in the United States. Researchers found that among 12 to 25 year olds in the Netherlands, most say they had “wanted and fun” first sexual experiences.

By comparison, 66 percent of sexually active American teens surveyed said they wished that they had waited longer to have sex for the first time. When they do have sex, a Rutgers WPF study found that nine out of ten Dutch adolescents used contraceptives the first time, and World Health Organization

lowest teen pregnancy rate in 2012, has a comprehensive sexual education system in place, which include the topics of abstinence, condoms, and contraception. The correlation between teen pregnancy and lack of sex education, yet the country considered to be one

“

Adolescents account for nearly half of the 20 million new cases of STIs each year

“

data shows that Dutch teens are among the top users of the birth control pill. According to the World Bank, the teen pregnancy rate in the Netherlands is one of the lowest in the world, five times lower than the U.S. By taking theses matters into their own hands, the Dutch government has found a way to bypass the United States government in minimizing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. It seems our nation is not tackling this matter in the best way it can, or at all for that matter. The United States has no uniform sexual health education requirement across the states, allowing individual states to have their own rules and regulation about the matter.

In 2012, Mississippi had the highest rate of teen birth with 55 births per 1,000 girls.

Mississippi does not require sex education in school; however, if an instructor chooses to teach sexual health in class, they are only allowed to teach abstinence.

New Mexico, which had the

of the leaders of the world does nothing to address the issue.

The rape rates of the United States and the Netherlands differ drastically. According to Nationmaster, the U.S. has a rape rate that is 3 times more than the Netherlands. Could it be the mediocre sexual health education we receive in the

United States is not preparing us to live in a society where we do not harm others sexually? The National Conference of State Legislature reports 22 states and the District of Columbia out of 50 states require public schools to include sexual education in their curriculum. 20 of those states require both sex education and HIV education.

Only 19 of these states require sex education to be “medically, factually or technically accurate.” It is evident the sexual education in the U.S. is lacking to say the least.

However; we do not have the worst sexual health education in the world. Countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan have no integrated sexaul health programs. This is not to say there is not a serious problem with our sexual health education system. Our nation has the ability to reduce the number of teen pregnancies and STIs among our youth if we simply began to educate them.

references [1] Office of Adolescent Health. The Office of Adolescent Health,

[3] PBS NewsHour. The case for starting sex education in

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [Internet]. 2015

kindergarten [Internet]. 2015 [cited 18 October 2015]. Available

[cited 18 October 2015]. Available from: http://www.hhs.gov/

from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/spring-fever/

ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/stds.

[4] Nationmaster.com. Netherlands vs United States: Crime

html

Facts and Stats [Internet]. 2015 [cited 18 October 2015].

[2] EdSource. Sex ed to become mandatory in grades 7-12 in

Available

California [Internet]. 2015 [cited 18 October 2015]. Available

compare/Netherlands/United-States/Crime

from:

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/

from: http://edsource.org/2015/sex-ed-to-become-mandatory-

[5] Image:

in-grades-7-12-in-california/88248

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technology

APPLE WATCH: BABY EDITION

A

why children will be Apple users before they are even born by rebecca ocher

n increase in the number of highrisk pregnancies occurring in the United States has been a growing concern for years [1]. These pregnancies are deemed high risk because mothers and fetuses are at higher risk of adverse outcomes such as pre-term labor and miscarriage. There are a variety of health factors that can result in a pregnancy being considered high risk; diabetes, high blood pressure and a pregnancy over the age of 35, just to name a few [2]. According to the Centers for Disease Control, severe maternal complications, known as severe maternal morbidity (SMM), affect more than 50,000 women in the US annually [3]. Recent trends indicate that this number has only been growing in recent years. As the US is experiencing a diabetes epidemic and more women are starting to have children later in life, it is no surprise that there are now more high-risk pregnancies in the United States than in any previous era of modern obstetric care.

Despite these troubling statistics, proper care may prevent many of the adverse risks associated with high-risk pregnancies.

Maternal-fetal specialists are physicians that specialize in helping women through high-risk pregnancies, and monitor patients through additional screening measures such as specialized ultrasounds [4]. A common

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test provided to most expecting mothers is known as the nonstress test, which tracks fetal heart rate [5]. This non-invasive test is important in monitoring how the fetus’s heart responds to certain movements and can make several indications about the fetus’s health. This test is normally performed at 26 weeks in the pregnancy, and occurs subsequently in pregnancies that are considered high-risk [5]. The nonstress test is normally administered by a healthcare professional in a hospital or clinic [6]. These nonstress tests are, ironically, often very stressful because they can take a rather long time; healthcare providers need to ensure they can differentiate between the maternal and fetal heartbeats. As such, many mothers with high-risk pregnancies get very anxious during the test, and any additional stress puts the pregnancy at further risk.

Some of Apple’s newest services may offer comfort to all expecting mothers, especially those with high-risk pregnancies.

Apple recently introduced Airstrip, a fetal monitoring mobile application that gathers all of the information a nonstress test can through a non-invasive device, the Sense4Baby Monitor [6]. Initially this device will be used in clinics, hospitals and ambulances, but there are future plans to expand this technology to at-home monitoring [6]. This new technology is

designed to work with Apple Watch, which helps differentiate maternal and fetal heart rate. The Apple Watch can provide quick and accurate information to patients, and even transfer medical information to healthcare providers [7]. Further, Airstrip can be used during labor to monitor fetal health and even contraction timing.

This technology is already being used by doctors and offers HIPPA-certified cloud storage, ensuring patient privacy [8].

While this new technology offers many benefits to millions of pregnant women in the US each year, its introduction raises questions about equal access to a standard level of healthcare. Apple products are popular throughout the country but the Apple Watch is an expensive health accessory, current models costing over $500 [9]. Not all Americans can afford access to this technology, creating a potential disparity in healthcare options. Should Airstrip technology and the Sense4Baby Monitor be incorporated into standard obstetric care if there is a subset of patients that cannot

“

afford this at-home monitoring service?

Further, if this technology becomes widely used as an at-home service, do all users have the background to properly interpret the results?

The potential danger of self diagnosis has been a growing concern since services like Google and WebMD provide any internet user with access to diagnostic information [10]. Selfdiagnosis often leads to unnecessary patient panic, as many do not necessarily have the medical background to interpret their symptoms.

Without proper medical training, it is possible to misinterpret the data that could be presented on a nonstress test.

In a population where any level of extra stress presents a significant health threat, this technology may require additional monitoring. Through this new technology, Apple has made a great stride for improving maternal care in America, but it is up to healthcare providers and their patients to work out the optimal use of this new technology.

...a[n] application that gathers all of the information that a nonstress test can – through a non-invasive device

“

references [1] Marchione M. A troubling trend of high-risk

[Internet]. 2016 [cited 8 January 2016].

pregnancies in the U.S. [Internet]. latimes. 2011 [cited

[6] Airstrip.com. Airstrip acquires Sense4Baby |

8 January 2016].

AirStrip [Internet]. 2016 [cited 8 January 2016].

[2] WebMD. High-Risk Pregnancy-Overview [Internet].

[7] Walker A. [Internet]. Gizmodo.com. 2016 [cited 8

2016 [cited 8 January 2016].

January 2016].

[3] Cdc.gov. Pregnancy Complications | Pregnancy

[8] Electronic Component News. Here’s How Apple

| Maternal and Infant Health | CDC [Internet]. 2016

Will Track Your Unborn Child [Internet]. 2015 [cited 8

[cited 8 January 2016].

January 2016].

[4] Mayoclinic.org. High-risk pregnancy: Know what to

[9] Apple. Apple Watch [Internet]. 2016 [cited 8

expect - Mayo Clinic [Internet]. 2016 [cited 8 January

January 2016].

2016].

[10] Pillay S. The Dangers of Self Diagnosis [Internet].

[5] Mayoclinic.org. Nonstress test - Mayo Clinic

Psychology Today. 2016 [cited 8 January 2016].

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