Volume 6 | Issue 1 | February 2016

science magazine

CA TA LY ST

VOL 6 | ISS 1 | FEB 2016

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT STAFF LIST (1-2) The National Park Service: 100 Years in the Making

Hunter Katz (3-4)

STEM in History: Why Alchemy is a Science Anthony Kang (5)

Just Hold On, We are Going to Chipotle Kevin Ding (6)

table of contents

A Cure to Cancer?

Vivian Shing (7)

The Human Body’s Soap Opera Keshav Tadimeti (8-10)

Sleep Deprivation Taraneh Barjesteh (11-12)

COSMOS: A Rewarding College Experience Taylor Albizati (13)

The Dark Side of the Sun Christina Zhang (14-18)

Cells’ Best Friends Zlata Bobyr (19-20)

Letter from the President

CCA—

Welcome back to the first issue of the year! The entire Catalyst team has worked extremely hard to produce an engaging magazine for readers like you.

In Catalyst’s fifth year running as CCA’s science magazine, in this issue, we celebrate the past, savor the present, and look towards the future. Delving backwards in time, you’ll find articles stemming to the ancient roots of scientific study, as well as commemorating the history of the National Park Service and its recent 100th anniversary milestone.

Familiar and current topics are also included in this issue.

Ever wondered what is actually in your delicious Chipotle burrito? Want to find out about a rewarding summer enrichment program? Or perhaps, most relatable of all, how is sleep deprivation affecting your daily life, and how can you overcome it?

With our busy schedules filled with tests and schoolwork, it is sometimes difficult to see studying as anything but tedious. Reconnect with the joy of learning through articles that humanize and enliven the stories of organ systems and cells.

Finally, learn about the future of our world in hot-topic research areas such as alternative energy and cancer treatment, fields that our generation will no doubt pursue and advance.

I’d like to thank the Catalyst team for all their efforts and hard work, as well as our advisor, Mr. Gaughen, and our generous sponsors. A huge thank you also goes to you, reader. Our magazine would not be possible without any of the support that we’ve received from all of you.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at ccacatalyst@gmail.com. Also, check us out on our website http://catalystmag.weebly.com/ to see some past issues, and like us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/catalystsciencemagazine to stay updated!

Enjoy!

Marissa Wu President of Catalyst Science Magazine

DLG Images

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Staff List PRESIDENT Marissa Wu VICE PRESIDENT Kathie Jiang SUPERVISOR Michael Gaughen DIRECTORS OF BUSINESS / TREASURERS Erica Guo Julie Tran DIRECTOR OF LAYOUT Vivian Shing LAYOUT CONSULTANT Zilu Pan DIRECTORS OF EDITING Anthony Kang (Executive Editor) Maggie Chen & Julie Vaughn (Supervising Editors) LAYOUT TEAM Emily Bi Emma Boyles Isabella Gavreau Anjali Gopinathan Samruddhi Hande Kathie Jiang Bryan Kaleta Harmonie Lau Rich Murphy Kara Nepomuceno Aida Razivilar Vivian Shing Heezy Suh Jacqueline Tong Julie Tran Marissa Wu Crystal Yang

EDITING TEAM Taraneh Barjesteh Emily Bi Emma Boyles Julia Dou Amanda Harmon Samruddhi Hande Nikky Mendoza Evan Kanetis Anthony Kang Sarika Karra Hunter Katz Allison Liu Rich Murphy Kara Nepomuceno Judy Qin Ethan Ragins Jessica Shen Vivian Shing Jacqueline Tong Julie Tran Crystal Yang Ashley Zhang Cecilia Zhang Christina Zhang Michelle Zhang Natalia Zorilla ISSUE AUTHORS Taylor Albizati Taraneh Barjesteh Zlata Bobyr Kevin Ding Anthony Kang Hunter Katz Vivian Shing Keshav Tadimeti Christina Zhang SPONSORS CCA Yearbook Hamilton College Counseling High Bluff Academy

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The National Park Service: 100 Years in The Making

Hunter Katz

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n August 26th, 2016 the National Park Service will turn 100. This is a huge milestone not just for the National Parks but for the general public as well. The National Parks Service has been crucial not only to our national parks but has also been instrumental in creating a legacy in conservation, a healthier environment, and a booming economy. From conservation to legislation, let’s take a look at the history of the National Parks.

In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established by Congress, becoming the first of many National Parks. 44 years later, on August 26th, 1916, the National Park system was created under the Organic Act of 1916. The act declared, “The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations hereinafter specified by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”(nps.gov). Since 1916, over 400 National Parks have been protected by the National Park service. Throughout through the years, the National Park Service has also advocated for comprehensive solutions to expand conservation in open space areas such as The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of the 1960s and the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act of 1980, which doubled the areas of land conserved under the National Park Service. “During the 1930s, the Park Service became involved with areas intended primarily for mass recreation, including parkways and waterways. Since 1933, other parks and monuments have been placed under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, including National Seashores, National Recreation Areas, and National Lakeshores,” says u-s-history.com. Our nation has massively benefited from the conservation policies of the National Park Service.

ment, and technology to prevent, avoid, or mitigate impacts that would compromise the integrity of park resources. Responsible stewardship requires that park managers demonstrate environmental leadership by implementing sustainable practices in all aspects of management, and the active communication of these practices-along with the reasoning behind them-to park employees, contractors, visitors, partners, and other stakeholders,” the National Park Service website states. The National Park Service offers Pollution Prevention programs along with specific plans to increase solar energy facilities and restriction of uranium mining in the parks. The National Parks Service also has provided to be economically responsible and competitive over the years. In 2014 an estimated over 100,000,000 people had attended a national park.

The National Park Service also has 2015 budget of around 3 billion dollars with its biggest parks attracting more than 100,000 people per year.

Our nation has massively benefited from the conservation policies of the National Park Service.

We as citizens of this exceptional nation have a responsibility to be stewards to protect our National Resources for future generations. Science has always been our compass to finding solutions to solve environmental distresses. We can look back at those past 100 years in glory of what the National Park Service has done for our environment. As Ronald Reagan said, “If we’ve learned any lessons during the past few decades, perhaps the most important is that preservation of our environment is not a partisan challenge; it’s common sense. Our physical health, our social happiness, and our economic well-being will be sustained only by all of us working in partnership as thoughtful, effective stewards of our natural resources.” Happy 100th Birthday to The National Park Service, and here’s to 100 more.

Not only have our National Parks provided a pristine conservation legacy dating back from the time of prominent conservation leader President Theodore Roosevelt, it has also created a healthier environment and a booming economy. The National Park Service operates under an Environmental Management System, which frequently reports data in environmental testing. “The NPS functions in a complex global environment unforeseen by the framers of the 1916 NPS Organic Act. NPS managers today must demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the interdependency of the ecosystems, resources, biodiversity, and aspects of human culture entrusted to our stewardship in order to better preserve, conserve, and protect them for future generations. NPS stewardship requires that we employ the most effective concepts, techniques, equip-

Flickr by Diana Robinson

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STEM in History: Why Alchemy is a Science

by Anthony Kang

K

ing Midas probably wore out the bottom of his casket from rolling over in his grave so many times as future alchemists tried clumsily to synthesize gold from base metals. Alchemy is more often acknowledged as a wistful dream than an actual science; people today look back and smirk at the futile attempts to create one element directly from a multitude of others.

But on a basic level, perhaps there was something alchemists were doing correctly. For one, alchemy was one of the pioneering methods for discovering new substances through the rationale of the traditional scientific method. If mixing substance A with substance B formed substance C, then what would happen if this new substance C were to be mixed with a different substance D? Subsequently what would result from the mixing of substance D with a different concentration of substance B? The questions posed by these alchemists were insatiable, always leading from one inquiry to another hypothesis, and the possibilities were endless.

The search for the perfect recipe for gold was fruitless in the sense that alchemists failed to realize the futility of forming elemental gold from an amalgamation of other elements, yet it still bore fruit through the discovery of different compounds and substances that could be used by future civilizations.

But alchemists furthered the use of more than just a preliminary model of the scientific method through their experimentations. A fundamental aspect of science lies in the practice of recording data and protocols for future reference and further testing. It is to the surprise of few, therefore, that we currently have access to the recipes, developed so passionately by these aspiring and ambitious alchemists, that future generations like us can use to resynthesize their novel serums and chemicals. For example, with a sheep’s stomach of dragon’s blood and the pine resin extracted from the best tree in the forest, one can create a strong acrylic-like coating for metal tools and other appliances to prevent rusting. Clearly simple enough by today’s standards.

As it is, alchemy was not the rather fantasized and dabbled wizardry we credit it to be; alchemists were the first users of intellectual property protections in an era where patent laws were about as real as dragon’s blood was. Much like how today’s innovations are markedly protected by mystery protocols and trade secrets to keep outside parties at a distance, in the days when no legislation ensuring protective royalties to the inventor existed, alchemists needed a way to record the components of their more useful concoctions without losing a monopoly over said innovations. Hence aspiring goldbenders began to use derivatives of fine medieval fairy tales to veil their chemical ingredients under the aliases of suspiciously impossible to obtain and fictitious substances.

Revisiting our predecessors’ love for draconian fluids, through lingual studies of the evolution of chemical terminologies and historical botany, Princeton University scientists have identified various of these cryptic nomenclatures; “dragon’s blood” refers to mercury sulfide, most likely due to the viscous red pigment it forms when mixed with various tree resins.

“Cold dragon” refers to saltpeter potassium nitrate used in fertilizers and gunpowder. “Lighting the black dragon” equates to lighting fine lead powder which could be lit with even a slight spark.

government has additionally restricted access to certain materials due to toxicity levels and radioactivity, further contributing to the difficulty of accessing certain ingredients. Even the simplest components, like onions, garlic, and other plants and herbs can be severely skewed by the varying agricultural and farming conditions between a millenia ago and today. For example, making a common mid-16th-century paint binder from eggs can pose some interesting considerations. “Do we need to breed chickens with a diet consistent with 1552?” asks Leslie Carlyle, a material science researcher at New University of Lisbon. “You can see how this could quickly spin out of control.”

We have a long way to go before we fully understand the experiments and reasoning of scientists many centuries long past. When scientists from the University of Nottingham ventured into testing an antiquated eye salve that, according to its 1000 year-old description in the ancient Bald’s Leechbook, was claimed to have been able to treat various infections, there was much incredulity towards the overwhelmingly elevated efficacy of the salve on MRSA bacterial infections both in vitro and in mice studies.

Which raises the question: How did our predecessors come across such a miraculous concoction?

“We

have a long way to go before we fully understand the experiments and reasoning of scientists many centuries long past.”

Moving even further back to Rome, there is evidence from the Roman Empire in the form of the Lycurgus Cup that suggests that the Romans understood nanotechnology and optical properties. Engineers at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign have found that, Romans had ground up silver and gold into flakes on the order of 50 nanometers in diameters, which were mixed into glass to allow the new substance to refract light in various wavelengths, therefore allowing the goblet to change color as it was filled with fluid. The fact that the Romans had used exact precious metal ratios indicates that their experience within that field transcended the level of academia we associated with them previously.

Today we wonder how the Romans discovered nanoparticle optics or how the Anglo-Saxons developed such a highly effective treatment for bacterial infections. The answer perhaps lies in things unheard of in our bustling society today: a surplus of time and lower government restraints (or lack thereof). Trials and trials of experimentation, unregulated testing on mammalian subjects, and a dire need for such remedies and substances have shown to be luxuries that academia do not have access to regularly.

Alchemy, along with these past discoveries, may have been related to science influenced by unrealistic motives and amalgamated with misguided superstition, but in the process of seeking the Midas touch, what began as a facet of supposed wizardry burgeoned into the roots of classical chemistry and material science, alongside some of the first formal implementations of a rigorous scientific method for inquiry and of intellectual property seen today.

But a lot of the recipes are difficult to recreate, even with these ingredients nomenclature in mind. For one, safety regulations today tend to prevent scientists from setting up their own mini firestorms in their labs. The

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Flickr: Thierry Ehremann

Just Hold on, We Are Going to Chipotle

By Kevin Ding

It’s 11 o’clock and your homies start messaging you about where you want to go off campus. You’ve already been to Panda Express, McDonald’s, and Subway this week and want something new. Justin suggests Board and Brew. Too far. Alex suggests Panera. You kick him out of the group chat.

Max suggests Chipotle. Your friends all reply with the same ‘raised hand’ emoji. As soon as second period ends, you rush to Max’s Honda Odyssey and you and your friends are off to Chipotle. But you are not alone. Several other underclassmen are behind you, planning to go to Chipotle as well. Once you’re there, you open the restaurant door like a sheriff in a western cowboy movie entering a saloon to look for his suspect. You walk up to the counter and order your Chicken Burrito with extra everything. The Chipotle employee struggles to wrap the burrito, but gets the job done. The Cashier rings up your order. “Your total is 7.99. Would you like a drink? ” You say it’s fine and ask for a water cup but fill it with Dr.Pepper anyway. You and your homies leave the scene and get back to CCA at 11:30. Finally you can start biting into your 3-pound behemoth burrito. However, as you eat more of your burrito, you begin to wonder, “What the hell am I actually eating?”

Chipotle has been one of the most respected Mexican restaurants for many years. It seems as if nobody can get enough of the chain’s burritos and burrito bowls. But where exactly does the food come from? Chipotle has gradually started to open up about the sources of its food. In recent years, Chipotle has claimed to have made switches to serving naturally raised chicken, pork, and beef, as well as dairy products with no rBGH. It has also begun starting new campaigns like “The Local Food Initiative” and “Food With Integrity”.

chicken, water, chipotle chile, rice bran oil, cumin, garlic, locally-raised and organic oregano, black pepper and kosher salt to make their famous chicken. Chipotle claims that the chicken is raised without antibiotics or any additional additives. Yet, while Chipotle states that everything listed above holds true, other sources state otherwise. Humanecertified.org has claimed that in 2013, approximately 88 million pounds of chicken were raised with “growth hormones, sub-therapeutic antibiotics, and in conditions generally not considered humane”.

“Food With Integrity”

Perhaps Chipotle’s most popular meat of choice is its chicken. According to Chipotle’s Ingredient list, the restaurants use reasonably-raised

While you may be thinking that “LOL, chicken wasn’t really my style anyways,” be warned that multiple past reports have stated that Chipotle has not always been completely honest with its food.

Chipotle has not been completely clear about the exact sources of its ingredients in the past. Additionally, Chipotle does not cook all of their meat in its restaurants, instead buying it cooked from an outside company -- the same company that makes McDonald’s infamous Big Macs. Moreover, several reports indicate that many of Chipotle’s ingredients include GMOs and trans fats. Hence, some of the information available about Chipotle may be too good to be true after all.

Although, Chipotle still has many flaws with their ingredients, the chain is continuously trying to improve their health standards. The franchise is still setting the bar high for various other fast food restaurants to use higher quality ingredients in their food. In fact, recently Chipotle had released a statement saying that its restaurants will get rid of GMOs in their ingredients. Regardless of whether or not they actually change their ingredients, CCA students most likely won’t stop going there anytime soon.

Wikipedia, Sarah Meyer Walsh

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A Cure to Cancer?

by Vivian Shing

R

ecently, creatures deemed to be repulsive have been discovered to hold the key to maintaining human health: the household fly, immune to certain malicious pathogens, has similar genes to a human being, making it revolutionary in research aimed at finding treatments for to numerous diseases. Likewise, the wasp, commonly known for its painful stings, has been found to be more beneficial than its reputation suggests. Researcher João Ruggiero Neto and his team in São Paulo State University in Brazil have found that the venom of a certain species of wasp can kill cancer cells while leaving healthy ones untouched.

cules are instead found in the outer membrane of a cancerous cell, exposed to its surroundings.

By creating simulations of normal and abnormal cell membranes, the researchers observed that MP1 had an affinity for binding to and attacking PS and PE. This disruption quickly caused many holes to form in the cancerous cell membrane, which left its phospholipids unprotected, allowing RNA and other proteins to leave the cell. The escape of such important molecules would eventually destroy the cell, leading to its death. Neto’s research is revolutionary to cancer treatment, which is Caused by uncontrolled cell “Researcher João Ruggiero Neto and his team in currently not very adept in its replication, cancer is a ruthless São Paulo State University in Brazil have found ability to differentiate between illness that caused 8.2 million harmful and healthy cells. that the venom of a certain species of wasp can kill Widespread cellular destrucdeaths worldwide in 2012 and will affect approximately cancer cells while leaving healthy ones untouched.” tion of no specificity leaves 39.6% of individuals at some patients with nasty side effects period in their lifetimes. A notoriously vicious organism, the wasp such as nausea, hair loss, fatigue, and susceptibility to infections. has instead proven to be a possible cure for this terrible affliction.

More importantly, it does not guarantee full recovery.

The Polybia paulista, native to Brazil, produces a toxin called MP1 (Polybia-MP1) in order to protect itself from predators. Through The Brazilian scientists plan to conti nue their research by altering studies in mice, Netos and his colleagues have found that MP1 the toxin’s amino acid sequence in order to further examine its primarily damages the lipids of the membranes of only cancerous abilities in selectivity and to refine them. If determined as safe, cells. This selectivity can be explained by the difference in the MP1 can be used as cancer treatmet in the future, brightening the structures of healthy and cancerous cell membranes. In a regular pathway for a myriad of cancer patients. cell, specific phospholipids in the membrane, phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), are contained within the inner membrane, facing the cytosol of the cell. Those same mole-

Flickr: NIH Image Gallery, and others

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Flickr: Andrew Mason; Wikimedia: User Qwerter

by Keshav Tadimeti

The Human Body’s

Soap Opera R

ecently, I had the unique privilege of coming to a most uncanny realization, which I happened to express in the most unusual of ways: “I am a soapbox.”

Keshav Tadimeti 11:54 AM, b .March 13, 2015

Of course, such a statement out of context seems most absurd and bizarre, and you can only imagine the confusion I undergo every time I come across this quotation of mine. To date, I am not entirely sure what the context of such a profound statement was, but let us consider for a moment that perhaps the statement is standalone in nature. In other words, what if I really did mean to describe myself as a soapbox? Odd, at the very least, and something that would most definitely raise some, if not several, eyebrows.

Despite these responses, there is in fact some merit to my statement.

Yes, you heard me: I truly am a soapbox. And so are you.

Shall we find out how? We shall.

Before you get any weird ideas, let’s first touch on a fundamental idea in biochemistry: polarity. Polarity is essentially the characteristic of having electric poles—positive and negative ends—and resides in the idea of certain elements being more electronegative than others, electronegativity being the measure of an element’s tendency to attract a pair of electrons in a chemical bond. The presence of an electronegative element in a bond creates dipoles, or the presence of both positive and negative poles in a single molecule, and these further bring about polarity. For example, take a water molecule. Water, or dihydrogen monoxide, consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen atom via covalent bonds, or bonds that

involve the sharing of electron pairs between atoms. However, the sharing of the electrons is unequal.

If you refer to Figure 1, which shows a diagram of two water molecules, you can make out the red oxygen atoms labeled with the Greek symbol delta and a negative sign, denoting the oxygen atom’s partial negative charge. Conversely, if you look at the hydrogen atoms, they Figure 1 have deltas and positive signs, showing that they have partial positive charges. These partial charges come from the electronegativity of the oxygen atom, wherein the oxygen atom is attracted to the electrons in the covalent bond in a manner greater than that of the hydrogen atoms, thus leading to the unequal sharing of electrons and the creation of a dipole. This dipole gives the water molecule electric poles, making it polar. And this polar characteristic gives it the ability to bond with other water molecules through weak bonding -- hydrogen bonding in this case -- which is also shown in the diagram. Recall that the hydrogen atoms in the former water molecule have slight positive charges; this characteristic allows them to form weak bonds with the slightly negative oxygen atoms of nearby water molecules.

In fact, these weak bonds can form between different polar molecules, like water and alcohol (the latter of which, due to the presence of the –OH group, is slightly polar). Thus, polar substances can dissolve in other polar

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substances. In addition, the presence of weak bonds between the molecules of polar substances gives polar liquids the characteristic of having high surface tension, or the tendency of liquid particles to stick to one another often in the form of droplets, which decrease the surface area of the substance.

On the flip side, substances that do not have very electronegative elements are often classified as nonpolar. Makes sense: no dipole and no charge— hence, nonpolar. And just as polar substances can dissolve other polar substances, nonpolar substances dissolve in other nonpolar substances.

Examples of such nonpolar substances are oils, gasoline, and toluene.

As you might expect, polar substances do not, however, dissolve in nonpolar ones, and vice versa. And that’s pretty intuitive if you consider it: something with electric poles won’t be attracted to something without any poles. Hence, when oil and water are mixed, the oil settles on top, forming a blurry film on the water’s upper layer. And this enables people to literally set oil-infested water on fire.

Now, you may be asking yourself what all this biochemistry has to do with soap. Good question, though the answer isn’t something you haven’t seen before. Think about a dishwashing incident from some point in your life (whether or not you were the one washing the dishes). There must have been some point when you ate something containing some sort of oil or fat, and when you or that significant other went to wash the dishes, simply pouring water over the fat didn’t clean off the grease on the dishware; in other words, the grease was sticking to the dishware. Assuming that the grease was removed and not left to plague the rest of your eating experiences, what was done to clean it off? Obviously, you didn’t waste multiple gallons of water cleaning that one dish because let’s face it, a) you didn’t have the patience to waste that much time, and b) if you did, your water bill would have been so exorbitant that you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

So, what happened?

Soap. That’s what happened.

Ah, now you’re catching on. That’s right: you used some of that dishwashing soap, scrubbed it over the greasy area, added some water, and voila! The grease was gone! (This is all considering that the dishwashing soap that was used wasn’t counterfeit.) But how exactly was that possible? What in the soap got the grease off? To answer that, we need to see what soap really is.

Soaps fall under the larger umbrella group of compounds known as surfactants. Surfactants are substances that consist of a hydrophilic (“water loving”) head and a hydrophobic (“water fearing”) tail. The hydrophilic head is often an anionic, or negatively charged, compound, such as a carboxylate (–CO2—) or sulfite (–SO3—) group, and the hydrophobic tail is often composed of groups such as alkyl chains (–CH–CH3–CH3). This chemical duality allows for surfactants to interact with polar and nonpolar substances in a unique way: polar substances aggregate and move towards the hydrophilic head, whereas nonpolar substances move toward the hydrophobic tail. On that same note, polar substances are repelled by the hydrophobic tail and the nonpolar molecules in the hydrophilic head. Now, you might ask how exactly this helps us answer our initial question. Surprisingly enough, the answer lies in this duality. Think of surfactants as the ‘middle-man’, the intermediary that can bridge the gap between polar and nonpolar substances. Now, recall that nonpolar substances are repelled from polar ones, but that polar substances aren’t repelled by each other. What if the nonpolar substance were to become polar?

Ah, now you see where we’re going. If nonpolar substances somehow become polar, they could dissolve in polar substances. And surfactants facilitate this pseudo-transformation. Surfactants, by binding to the surface of nonpolar particles with their hydrophobic tails, essentially coat the nonpolar substances in a manner such that their hydrophilic heads stick out.

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And since the hydrophilic heads are attracted to the polar substance that the nonpolar particles are in, the nonpolar particles essentially mix with the rest of the solution.

So, returning to our greasy dish, we now see how adding soap allowed for the grease to mix with the water, inadvertently allowing you to clean your dish. By following this example, it’s easy to see why soap is so prevalent in our lives. Beyond dishwashing, soap helps us clean off the oils secreted by the skin’s sebaceous glands and wash off the grime that accumulates in these oils—another way of describing a ‘body wash’.

Okay, that’s cool and all, but at the end of the day, that’s not the question we want to answer. We want to find out how accurate I am in saying “I am a soapbox.” Well, my friend, you already know the answer. We all house soaps—surfactants, to be more accurate—in our bodies, and this inevitably makes us all ‘soap boxes’. Okay, okay, I agree that that was a bad joke, but I’m not kidding. We really do have soaps in our bodies. In fact, these very soaps are keeping you alive at this moment…Okay, that was a little absolute.

But really, you’ll suffocate without that soap. Even more, you won’t be able to eat pizza or any other greasy food without it. Your very existence would be in peril without soaps, and to see why, let’s take a look at how these soaps clean up such messes in your body:

Respiration

As you probably know, the lungs play a major role in respiration, acting as the central hub for external respiration, or gas exchange between red blood cells and alveoli. That’s elementary, but in order to understand where and how surfactants play a role in respiration, we need to take a more inspired glance at the anatomy of the lungs and the alveoli that facilitate gas exchange: Figure 2 As the sites of gas exchange, alveoli have walls that are only a few cells thick.

Their shape primarily comes from simple squamous epithelium, a type of single-layered epithelial tissue thin enough to facilitate diffusion, osmosis, and filtration, and hence this tissue wall acts as the permeable barrier that allows for the exchange of gases, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, with the blood. These tissue cells are referred to as Type I cells specifically in the lungs. One thing to note is that while the term ‘gas exchange’ is used to describe the exchange of gases between the deoxygenated blood and alveoli, oxygen and carbon dioxide are not transported as gases in the blood, but rather as parts of protein complexes, such as hemoglobin, or as dissolved ions amongst blood cells. Hence, in order to facilitate the diffusion of gases into the blood, alveoli are coated with water. Recalling the earlier discussion about polarity, it’s easy to see that while water acts as a medium for gas exchange, its high surface tension can inhibit that same diffusive process by preventing alveoli from expanding—alveolar expansion being a key component of respiratory inspiration—and by forming a tight net around the alveoli, preventing gases from moving in or out.

And this is where the Type II cells, better known as surfactant cells, play a key role. As you can probably guess from the name, these cells release pulmonary surfactant, a goopy biological soap that in essence reduces the surface tension that these water molecules create using water’s polarity.

And by reducing this surface tension by moderating the polarity of the water molecules, it frees up the alveoli for gas exchange. In this context, it

immediately becomes apparent how important the secretion of pulmonary surfactant is, and you needn’t venture too far to find a medical example exemplifying this importance: you need only rewind some fourteen to eighteen years back when you were just born. Babies do not breathe when in their mother’s wombs, as their lungs only begin to function towards the end of the pregnancy period, and their characteristic wailing when they come out of the womb is a sign not only that they are breathing, but also that the pulmonary surfactant is being secreted appropriately. Often times, infants born prematurely are placed in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), where oxygen masks are placed on them in order to help them breathe, as their Type II cells do not yet secrete surfactant. Diseases affecting surfactant release can be fatal and it’s humbling to see how we can easily overlook the soap that’s keeping us from reaching our expiration dates.

and form units known as micelles. These micelles, thanks to the hydrophilic head exposure, can thus enter the bloodstream, wherein they release the monoglyceride and fatty acid elements of the lipids into the cells to be taken up by the endoplasmic reticuli for cellular usage.

“We all house soaps—surfactants, to be more accurate—in our bodies, and this inevitably makes us all ‘soap boxes’.“

Digestion

While not as dire and essential as those in the lungs, surfactants in the digestive system play a major role in nutrient absorption. In fact, one can argue that the surfactant in the digestive system is more important than the pulmonary variant because it allows for the consumption of everything that contains fat—in other words, everything sold at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

If you recall the four biochemical macromolecules, fats fall under the lipids group and can be seen as essential for sustenance, maybe even for sumptuousness. However, it may not be obvious that lipids are not easily reabsorbed in the small intestine. While the four macromolecules are broken down by digestive enzymes such as pancreatic amylase, pepsin, nuclease, and pancreatic lipase (some of which are released into the stomach, others into the duodenum of the small intestine), all but lipids are easily taken up by the microvilli of the small intestine walls. Transport of nutrients in the body occurs via a liquid medium and through cells; hence, substances that do not dissolve well in water and/or cannot be taken up by cells, such as lipids, have difficulty being taken up by microvilli, which have capillary beds that serve to act as gateways into the bloodstream. This obviously poses a dilemma.

Through this description, it’s easy to see importance of bile in lipid reabsorption. Without bile, lipids would simply be excreted, the nutrients not taken up by cells, and this could possibly have an effect not only on cell functionality, but also in the small intestine, wherein digestive enzymes meant to break down lipids may cause the damaging of walls that are part of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, it becomes clear how patients who undergo cholecystectomy, or surgical removal of the gallbladder for purposes such as gallbladder stones, infections, etc., are often told to decrease, if not entirely remove, any fat from their diets because of the lack of bile to act as a surfactant.

Conclusion

After an almost long-winded explanation and series of analogies, it becomes clear how we can think of our bodies as organic soapboxes. And while it may simply seem informative and stimulating to find out that your very life hangs on the function of something that is so similar to such a commonplace thing as soap, there are some deeper implications. I’m just musing here, but an example is that perhaps, we could better reduce our water contamination by creating soaps that are based off the organic and renewable ones present in us. Or, perhaps we could emulate the soaps in our body in order to improve the quality of life for those who lack them. Only time will tell. Nonetheless, it’s quite interesting to see how our bodies are chemical workshops with a plethora of information for us to uncover and utilize.

Further, I just find it funny that we’re all walking and talking soapboxes.

Figure 3

However, we can always bank on our soapy friends to clean up the mess.

This time, the surfactant is known as a little something we like to call bile.

Besides the implications of mood swings and personality flaws that people of 15th century England hypothesized regarding this substance, bile acts as the surfactant that facilitates the reabsorption of lipids in the digestive tract.

It is secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, a small organ located in the inferior region of the liver. Chemoreceptors in the lumen of the duodenum are stimulated by the presence of fatty acids, the building blocks of lipids, and trigger the release of bile. Bile particles encircle the lipid particles, the bile molecules’ hydrophilic heads acting as the coated surfaces,

Wikicommons: Kevin Song

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Flickr James Blann, Ashley Rose, Ashley Van Haeften

Sleep Deprivation

By Taraneh Barjesteh

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early every high school student has experienced the effects of sleep-deprivation. It’s no wonder: a survey done by the National Sleep Foundation found that only 15% of high school students get at least eight hours of sleep! Irregular sleep patterns and lack of sleep can affect your abilities to concentrate and learn in school, as well as increase the risk of getting into a car accident—staying awake for twenty-four hours can be considered the mental equivalent of a blood alcohol concentration of .10%, according to the National Institute of Justice. Consequences such as depression, obesity, caffeine dependency, and irritability can strain relationships with family and friends. Although it is well known that it’s important to get a solid night’s sleep in order to be successful in school and sports and maintain optimal health, many individuals are unaware that sleep-deprivation can significantly impact health in a decade or two, or even five. That’s right, a lack of sleep during adolescence leads to an increase in risk for osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s in adulthood.

Sleep deprivation can lead to serious issues in the skeletal system. A Chinese study in 2011 by Fu et al. found that women who slept five to six hours a night had a significantly lower

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bone mass density than women who got more than seven hours.

This condition, caused by frequent sleep loss during youth, led to osteoporosis by the time the women were 45. In addition, a study led by Dr. Carol Everson at the Medical College of Wisconsin found that rats that experienced sleep-deprivation in young adulthood had slower bone cell metabolisms with stops in bone formation and strengthening. Moreover, fat in red bone marrow was reduced and red blood cell production increased, which indicated differences in flexibility between healthy bone marrow and sleep-deprived bone marrow. According to Dr. Everson, sleep deprivation during the teen years may “…include poor repair of micro damage from activities of daily living, introduction of osteoporotic processes and changes to progenitor cells that may affect [bone] disease predisposition and disease resistance…and an inability to repair bone damage as we age.”

Insufficient sleep or poor quality of sleep may also lead to an increased risk of cancer. A study in the International Journal of Cancer compared women who did shift work at night to those who worked during the day. The study found that women who worked during the night got fewer hours of sleep in addition to getting poorer quality sleep. As a result, these women had

disruptions in their circadian rhythms, which led to a disruption in melatonin. Melatonin is a key hormonal regulator of many bodily functions. They also learned that the women who got less than five hours of sleep (mainly the night shift working group) had a 30% increase in their likelihood of getting breast cancer. Another study done by different researchers at the Sleep Foundation showed a similar increase in the likelihood of men contracting prostate cancer. Additionally, researchers from the Spanish Sleep Network discovered that victims of sleep apnea (a sleeping disorder that causes snoring, disrupted sleep, and pauses in breathing) had a 65% greater risk of developing any kind of cancer. While the ties between sleep apnea and cancer were not as strong as those between sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease, there may be sufficient evidence to believe that inadequate and poor sleep contribute to the likelihood of developing cancer.

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65% greater risk of developing cancer

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Sleep affects our brains for in a long-term. A study done by Dr. Maiken Nedergaard and her colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center suggests that cerebrospinal fluid drains waste products from the brain in a system that they dubbed the ‘glyphic system.’ This system is necessary for removing the toxin beta-amyloid from the brain. However, Nedergaard (2013) discovered that the glyphic system only “drains the brain” during times of unconscious sleep. High levels of this toxin have been found in Alzheimer’s patients, so one might infer that less sleep can lead to an increase in a likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s in the future as well as short-term memory loss due to toxin buildup.

So how can you get more sleep, and furthermore, how can you get better quality sleep? While you can’t necessarily change your school’s start time or your homework load, there are a few ways that you can go to bed earlier and get better quality sleep.

First of all, it is important to eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise during the day, as physically active and well-nourished people fall asleep faster. Turning the computer and TV off half an hour to an hour before bed and maintaining a regular nighttime routine (for example, doing your offline homework last and taking a warm bath or stretching before bed) is proven to help induce sleep. For those of you taking academic classes with

a high workload, it is important to remember not to procrastinate and use pockets of time, such as when you are in the car on the way home from school, to get homework done. It is also critical to remember that even though it may seem tempting to pull an all-nighter the day before a big test or project is due, lack of sleep will greatly diminish the retainment of information that you stayed up so late studying. Finally, try not to rely on your morning Starbucks run as a crutch for late nights! While small doses of caffeine aren’t necessarily bad for you, becoming dependent on caffeine in the mornings can mask more serious health issues and disrupt your body’s natural rhythm.

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COSMOS: A Rewarding Experience For High Schoolers

By Taylor Albizati

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or most students interested in STEM, finding an immersive summer program that’s both fun and challenging can be difficult. But one UC program is becoming increasingly popular for high school students in California: COSMOS. What makes COSMOS special is that it offers an intense STEM curriculum balanced with an on-campus college experience to create a “summer school” that’s both enjoyable and impressive on college applications.

COSMOS, which stands for the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, offers a wealth of options for students interested in furthering their knowledge of math and science topics -- from astronomy to cell biology to robotics to number theory -- at four different UC campuses: Santa Cruz, Davis, San Diego, and Irvine. Established in 1998, COSMOS has worked to engage STEM-interested students in an intensive, college-like experience while creating a fun environment for academics. Students are split into groups called “Clusters,” each Cluster consisting of 20-30 students interested in a specific area of study with classes led by two college professors every weekday. But the average day at COSMOS doesn’t end after classes do; the program requires students to live on campus for the full four-week duration to truly get a feel for college life. Everyone eats in the cafeteria, participates in nightly activities arranged by residential advisors (ranging from giant games of Twister to egg drop competitions), and builds fast bonds with everyone else; as the weeks go on, the students in each Cluster and within the program become less like classmates and more like family.

For a student like me, terrified of being away from the comfort of my family and friends for more than a week, let alone months at a time for college, COSMOS served as a stepping stone between high school and college. After attending COSMOS at UC Santa Cruz this past summer, I now know what it’s like to live with a roommate, eat in a cafeteria, attend college lectures, and be away from home for an extended

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period of time. An eight hour drive away from home, I was forced to make friends very quickly with people I had never met before. Although this seemed scary at first and the possibility of not being able to make friends was always tugging at the back of my mind, everyone else was in the same situation, just as desperate to make friends as I was.

The bonds that formed almost immediately because of this were deep as we all had to rely on each other, instead of our friends and families at home, for support. Twenty-person group chats and Skype calls have become the norm for my Cluster-mates and me as we try to remain as close as we were those four weeks at Santa Cruz.

Some of the best parts of COSMOS were that every student truly appreciated its learning environment and was genuinely interested in STEM studies. Because the application process is selective and rigorous, requiring in-depth explanations of your Cluster choice, why you want to attend, and teacher recommendations, only the most dedicated students are accepted. This benefitted us not only in class, but also when we worked on our final projects as well. Each Cluster completes a final project in small groups accompanied by a presentation for their teachers and fellow students, and working in a group with dedicated and invested students is always a plus. Since COSMOS does not give tests or grades, the normal pressure to get an “A” is alleviated, and students can focus more on learning for enjoyment rather than for an exam.

The application window for the summer of 2016 opens this January. For more information, visit https://cosmos-ucop. ucdavis.edu/.

Flickr: Brian Fries

Image credits: @Flickr

the

Dark Side of the

SUN Christina Zhang

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Nearly everyone knowsthat burning fossil fuels for energy isn’t beneficial to the environment, and by extension to our own health. Burning coal releases soot and other particles that pollute in the atmosphere, leading to a whole host of respiratory diseases; petroleum (crude oil) spills in the ocean and disrupts huge ecosystems.

Even cleaner burning fuels such as natural gases release carbon into the air, trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. Not to mention, these fossil fuels are nonrenewable - meaning that there’s a finite amount of them in the Earth. Eventually, we will drill so deep for oil that the cost of drilling will be more than the worth of the oil. Yet the entire modern industrialized world runs on these remnants of the distant past. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2014 the United States consumed 19.05 million barrels of oil per day, used mostly to fuel transportation and produce plastics. The EIA estimates that we probably have enough oil to last for the next 25 years at least, but after that it’s a gamble on whether or not we can drill to new reserves in time. Clearly, the world needs to make the shift onto renewable energy, and quickly.

But this essay is not about fossil fuels. It’s about solar energy - the energy that nearly all species on Earth rely on, the free shower of power that falls upon us every day, the energy that is limitless in abundance and free for the taking. Excluding the passive solar heating that takes place in the form of warm afternoon sunlight filtering through a window, solar energy is mostly captured for human use through the use of solar cells. A solar or photovoltaic cell is a complex in which light is absorbed and energy is transferred to the electrons of a semiconductor, which separates the charges and thus creates voltage and electricity. Surely, anyone who doubts this panacea to our energy afflictions must not care about the environment. Solar energy is clean and free, and it’s simply there for the taking.

But is it really?

In actuality, solar power has several cons that go unmentioned when it is lauded by environmentalists and compared to the atrocity of fossil fuels. A hindrance that clouds the bright future of solar energy is - well, clouds.

Solar energy provides for a mere 0.4% of the electricity of the United States, mostly because it’s rather 15

unreliable. Photovoltaic cells are adept at capturing energy of the sun, but they cannot store the energy for very long at all. Thus, if a large manufacturing company were to adopt solar energy, it would suffer losses of revenue with each rainy afternoon, not to mention the hours of darkness each night. The solar energy could be supplemented by other forms of nonrenewable energy, but this solution would only return to fossil fuels. Solar cells are perfect for pocket calculators, and are gaining increasing currency in homes, yet extending the reach of solar power to make up a significant portion of our nationwide energy economy is a daunting task.

So then the question becomes: how can we better store this energy from the sun?

Today, scientists worldwide are working to replicate what plants have been doing for millions of years. They have created solar cells for commercial use, most of which have about 10% efficiency. The best solar cells scientists have created can attain 40% efficiency, but are is attained in a laboratory and unreasonably priced for pragmatic use. Even with massive government subsidies, Energy Informative estimates that for a typical home, setting up and maintaining a solar system can cost nearly $20,000.

And if solar cells are costly, then batteries are exorbitant.

The ability to store large amounts of solar energy in an easily accessible form would be a remarkable boon.

Moreover, there isn’t a recycling market in place for PV (photovoltaic) systems as of now. Dustin Mulvaney, scientific advisor to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, says that recycling is particularly important in this industry, “It would be difficult to find a PV module that does not use at least one rare or precious metal… because they all have at least silver, tellurium, or indium.” Because there aren’t enough defunct solar panels to make recycling them economically attractive just yet, these recoverable metals will be lost due to lack of recycling. This lack of recycling also contributes to the high cost of solar cells that makes them difficult to use ubiquitously.

Does solar power really deserve to be called “renewable” if its materials are not?

two of the most inimical greenhouse gases, with effects thousands of times greater than those of carbon dioxide.

And while sunlight itself does not produce significant pollution of its own (besides small amounts of tropospheric ozone), the manufacture of these batteries and cells definitely does. Thin-film solar cells, for example, utilize materials whose names are unheard of to the general public. Copper indium gallium selenide. Cadmium telluride.

These inventions certainly are amazing, but those materials are highly expensive and involve rare elements and minerals.

Tellurium is one of the rarest solid elements in the Earth’s crust, with an abundance of about 1 µg/kg. These materials must be extracted from deep inside the Earth, and involve destructive forms of mining such as strip mining and mountaintop removal, both as violent as they sound.

Mountaintop removal involves using dynamite to blow up a mountain, often polluting nearby streams with noxious chemicals and contaminating our drinkable groundwater in the process. Thermal pollution can also reduce the level of dissolved oxygen in the water, kill fishes, and disrupt ecosystems. Thus, by using renewable solar energy, our attempts to lessen our impact on some parts of the environment lead to drastic damages elsewhere.

Of course, all this is not to say that solar energy isn’t a beneficial form of technology. It is more environmentally friendly than non-renewable energy, and even other forms of renewable energy in many ways. So why point out all the limits of a relatively good energy source? It isn’t to be cynical, nor to nitpick for faults in each technology - rather, it is to better understand the strengths and the shortcomings of solar power.

In fact, the environment is so interconnected that any decision we choose to make is a tradeoff. There-

Often in the discussion of the amazing environmentally-friendly solar cell, these less than friendly effects go forgotten and unmentioned.

dealing with our environmental problems isn’t about finding the perfect solution, but instead about acknowledging the pros and cons to everything, findfore,

ing ways to mitigate the inimical effects, and developing new strategies to further the benefits. Because the enAlthough crystalline silicon, another main component of vironment is so complex, there are so many spaces and solar cells, is abundant in the crust, it too contributes to fields in which we can do so. We can look for new ways pollution and global warming. Says Northwestern’s You, to screen particulate pollutants from factory smoke“silicon-based solar cell requires a lot of energy input in stacks. We can design cars to run more efficiently on its manufacturing process.” It is coal burning that powers gasoline. We can create cheaper solar cells. We can make manufacture of these cells. Not only that, but the manulaws that mandate land restoration after strip mining for facturing process produces nitrogen trifluoride and sulfur coal or metals. There exists a multitude of possible steps hexafluoride, to be taken that will lessen our impact, little by little.

Flickr: Mariusz Kluzniak 16

We can, for one example, look for better ways to store energy from the sun. Plants engage in the crucial process of photosynthesis. Greatly simplified, photosynthesis captures sunlight’s energy to synthesize necessary sugars for growth. More specifically, in the light dependent reactions of photosynthesis, water is split in photosystem II into hydrogen and oxygen. Could we also emulate this hydrolysis, in a form of “artificial photosynthesis”? Instead of using batteries, the sun’s energy could be harnessed and used to split water and make hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen burns cleanly and is non-toxic, making it a rarity among fuels.

It is abundant - hydrogen fuel can be derived from ocean water that is otherwise too salty to be of much use. And it is efficient.

Research is being done to discover more about the possibilities of a process that can split water with light. Here is an intersection of multiple disciplines - photochemistry, chemistry, physics, materials chemistry, nanotechnology, biology, and environmental science. The current methods of artificial photosynthesis use photoelectrochemical cells to convert sunlight into electricity, and use electricity to split water and obtain hydrogen. However, this is also inefficient because the extra step in conversion leads to a loss in energy. Photocatalytic water splitting is the idea that solar energy can be directly used to split water.

Theoretically, this would only require photons, water, and some catalysts. Catalysts that have already been tested include bismuth, NaTaO3, La, K3Ta3B2O12, and CoO. However, in order to shuffle electrons in a way that captures energy and provides an active redox site, a large quantity of exotic materials are needed. The amount of rare material needed is even greater than that of solar cells. Additionally, it is extremely difficult to discover possible photocatalysts. Even the best ones tested have often decayed, required co-catalysts, or catalyzed side reactions.

This research is not circumscribed in any way to the field of chemistry only. Recently, researchers at MIT have combined nanotechnology and electrotrophic organisms to take advantage of solar energy in a novel way. Rather than imitate the light-dependent component of photosynthesis, the researchers seek to take advantage of the carbon-compound building light-independent reactions.

When measured by weight, hydrogen fuel provides three times the amount of energy the same weight of natural gas would provide. In fact, hydrogen fuel is so powerful it is used by NASA to launch rockets. From an economic perspective, use of hydrogen fuel could alleviate dependency on foreign countries for oil. If hydrogen fuel is really that amazing, then there must be a reason we aren’t using hydrogen fuel cells in every vehicle. Drawbacks include its light weight, making it difficult to transport, and its high flammability. Beyond that, the main reason hydrogen fuel isn’t gaining currency is the inefficiency of conventional hydrogen production methods, like electrolysis (done by running a galvanic cell backwards), where the input of electrical energy required is greater than the electrical energy yield from burning the hydrogen. Thus, although Instead of attempting to store the sun’s energy in a solar the hydrogen fuel economy is fascinating to imagine, for cell, semiconducting nanowires capture energy from now it cannot be made into a reality. sunlight and pass electrons to electrotrophic bacteria (bacteria that can utilize electrons for growth).

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These bacteria can turn carbon dioxide into useful chemical building blocks that are passed onto E. coli, which can be genetically engineered to make a wide range of products. This method has already made butanol and pharmaceutical precursors. Although these procedures won’t be used to make large amounts of fuel, this method may open doors to make small amounts of valuable compounds instead.

As we have seen, solar power is nowhere near perfect. Like any other energy source, it has its own set of environmental strengths and shortcomings. But with continued research, greater understanding, and cross-disciplinary innovation, we can continue to open up new possibilities and pave a brighter path for the future of alternative energy.

Flickr: Berkeley Labs, germanborrillo

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Cells’ Best Friends Zlata Bobyr

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ells make great friends, help our bodies function at the best level, and carry out essential life processes. Though cells depend on water, fruits, vegetables, minerals, and vitamins to function properly, they share a particularly special bond with probiotics.

Probiotics are healthy living bacterial cultures found in fermented milk products such as yogurt, kefir, cheese, and quark. When these probiotic bacteria and yeast break down the carbohydrates from simple milk products into acids, the process of fermentation has occurred.

For example, when milk transforms into lactic acid, its taste is altered, and is easily absorbed and digested. As seen here, the process of fermentation breaks up the complex carbohydrates into something simple and nutritious.

Scientific studies have proven that probiotic cultures benefit the cells in the gut, stomach, liver, bladder, and colon. Probiotics have easement properties for lactose intolerance, diarrhea, poisoning, and allergic symptoms. In addition, they strengthen the immune system and reduce the risk of yeast infections and colon, liver, or bladder cancers.

Similarly, these healthy bugs are known to decrease cell damage. After digestion, these beneficial bacteria settle in the large bowel or colon and perform cleansing, absorbing, and restoring functions that are vital toward keeping a healthy environment in the

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Similarly, these healthy bugs are known to decrease cell damage. After digestion, these beneficial bacteria settle in the large bowel or colon and perform cleansing, absorbing, and restoring functions that are vital toward keeping a healthy environment in the body.

One capsule of supplemental probiotics includes 10 to 15 billion healthy bacteria, while one cup of kefir contains 5 trillion. Supplemental forms of probiotics are not the best choices as they are is not natural, harder to absorb due to packaging processes, and much pricier than naturally fermented products. The best probiotic filled body. liquid and food sources can be made at home at a low price and a superior quality.

One capsule of supplemental probiotics includes 10 to 15 billion healthy bacteria, while one cup of kefir contains 5 trillion.

You can make your own probiotic either nonfat milk and store bought Supplemental forms of probiotics aredrink not theby bestpurchasing choices as they are is2% not or natural, harder kefir in itsdue “plain” form. processes, As an incredibly nourishing product, kefir is extremely beneficial for to absorb to packaging and much pricier than naturally fermented prodintestinal and gut health.

Alongside the multitude of healthy bacteria, kefir is rich in ucts. The best probiotic filled liquid and food sources can be made at home at a nutrients such as calcium, low price and a superior quality. protein, phosphorus, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and mag-

nesium.

You can make your own probiotic drink by purchasing either 2% or nonfat storethe bought kefir milk, in its add 1 cup of the kefir

After fillingmilk a jarandwith regular “plain” an incredibly to theform. milk,Asthen leave thenourishing mixtureproduct, overnight at room temperakefir is extremely beneficial for intestinal andamount of kefir will ture. After 10 to 16 hours, the small gut health. Alongside the multitude of have turned the milk into lactic acid full of probiotics. healthy bacteria, kefir is rich in nutrients The milk has now turned into a larger amount of kefir, such as calcium, protein, phosphowhich should be stored or refrigerated. To keep the rus, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and process going for a consistent amount of fresh magnesium.

kefir, add approximately 1 cup of the home-made kefir to fresh Even the small amounts of After filling a jarmilk. with the these lively cultures have regular milk, add 1 cup of the the ability to override a large quantity of milk, kefir to the milk, then leave altering it into a much healthier substance. the mixture overnight at room

temperature. After 10 to 16 hours, theIfsmall of

you amount are looking for a place to start a kefir will have turned the milk fulfilling, wholesome diet, drinking kefir is the into lactic acid full of probifirst step. Probiotics are not only helpful toward otics. The milk ahas now turned maintaining healthy body, but are also coninto a larger amount of kefir, venient and delicious. Make sure to try them for which should be stored or refrigyourself! erated. To keep the process going for a consistent amount of fresh kefir, add approximately 1 cup of the homemade kefir to fresh milk. Even the small amounts of these lively cultures have the ability to override a large quantity of milk, altering it into a much healthier substance.

If you are looking for a place to start a fulfilling, wholesome diet, drinking kefir is the first step. Probiotics are not only helpful toward maintaining a healthy body, but are also convenient and delicious. Make sure to try them for yourself !

Flickr: Andrew Magill

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about.

MISSION

To cultivate a continual passion for the sciences among both students and the general community.

YEARS EST.

2010-present

WHO ARE WE?

Catalyst Science Magazine is a completely student-run high school science magazine. We publish semiannual issues, showcasing a broad range of articles which include original research articles, review articles, and editorials.

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

Students currently in grades 9 through 12 are invited to submit science articles - original research, review, or opinion editorials. Students can also draw, design, and work with professional computer software to create the final layout presented here.

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