Vol. V Issue No. 1

DickinsonScienceMagazine

November 2018 -Vol. 5 Issue No. 1

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CONTENTS 30 November 2018 - Volume 5, Issue #1

Editor’s Choice 5

Retroviruses and Drug Addiction: An Unforeseen Connection

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Virtual Reality Meets Dentistry

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Science News

Opinion

Technology 34

The Road to Self-Driving Cars Is Far More Dangerous Than the Destination

To Fly or Not to Fly: Delivery Drones

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Saving Green by Being Green- Reducing One’s Carbon Footprint by Replacing Incandecent Bulbs with LEDs

Changing Practices and Lives through Sustainability Education

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A New Power Grid

The Future Of 3D Printing in Medicine

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Edge for DC

Is ACTN3 a “Gene for Speed?”

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“Do Metaphors Matter?”

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Trio of Laser Physicists Win Nobel Prize

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The Scutoid: A Geometrical Solution to an Organic Problem

Stigmas, Obesity, and Cancer

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The Alzheimer’s Germ?

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Circadian Arrhythmia

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Adopt-a-Bee

Current Event Blurbs Priestley Award Dickinson Solar Farm

Research 20

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Toxic Driveways?

A Consumer’s Guide to Understanding Your Options When Sealing Your Driveway Empowering our neurons: metabolites and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease Overcoming Chemotherapy Resistance with Nanoparticles Evaluating the Effectiveness of a γ-Valerolactone Biomass Pretreatment

Health and Wellness

Entertainment 44

Kerbal Space Program: Failure is an Option

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Arrival: Speaking to the Stars

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Under the Microscope: A look at scientist and theologian Joseph Priestley Crossword Puzzle

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Letter from the Editor Dear readers, The theme of this semester’s issue of Dickinson Science Magazine is alternative energy. As Dickinson imprints upon us the importance of sustainability, this topic is relevant not only to our campus, but the world around us.

As a new solar farm was recently installed at the College Farm, and also considering the applications of Priestley Award winner Dr. Angela Belcher to energy storage, the events covered in this issue are especially relevant. As students at Dickinson, we understand the importance of applying scientific innovation to sustainability efforts.

This summer, I was lucky enough to experience firsthand the ways in which work in the lab can apply to alternative energy solutions. I spent my summer working in the Ding lab with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research

Center. The GLBRC is one of several government-funded research centers across the country dedicated to developing sustainable biofuels. I was able to constantly make connections between the science I’ve learned at Dickinson and the world of bioenergy. Considering my eye-opening experience doing bioenergy research, coupled with the aforementioned events on campus, I decided that alternative energy was the perfect theme for this issue.

As usual, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the magazine this semester, as well as our wonderful readers. It means so much to have a dedicated, passionate team working on the magazine. I’m incredibly proud of how well this issue turned out, and I’m especially excited for you to read it!

--Alexis Scott ‘19

DSM

Dickinson Science Magazine Editor-in-Chief Alexis Scott ’19 Managing Editor Jacqueline Hwang ’19 Executive Layout Editor Alice Kuklina ‘20 News Editor Yuna Lee ‘21 Features Editor Savannah Woods ’21 Research Editor Leah Wachsmuth ’19 Science & Technology Editor Anna Peterson ’19 Science & Entertainment Editor Tom Wegman ’19 Opinion Editor Abigail Brickler ‘21 Health & Wellness Editor Jacqueline Hwang ’19 Photographers Alexis Scott ‘19 Executive Copy Editor Allison Curley ‘19 Copy Editors Jordan Cox ‘21 Marissa Ruschil ‘19 Ariana Patterson ‘22

Event Coordinator Janice Wiss Faculty Advisor Missy Niblock Email: scinews@dickinson.edu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DsonScienceMagazine/ Issuu: http://issuu.com/dickinsonsciencemagazine

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Editor’s Choice

Retroviruses and Drug Addiction: An Unforeseen Connection Amanda Meinschein ‘19

Drug addiction is a topic that dominates the current headlines and conversation in America. Given the magnitude of today’s addiction problem, would you be concerned if I told you that your ancestors may have been infected by a germ that makes you more susceptible to addiction? Seem crazy enough yet?

In 2018, researchers from Greece and England conducted an experiment on a retrovirus that has been sticking around with humans for ages and seems to be more prevalent in individuals with addiction issues. Specifically, the virus the team was looking for was HK2 or HERV-K HML-2 [1]. But what actually is a retrovirus?

A retrovirus starts its journey by infecting a host. Once that host is infected, it needs to continue its life cycle by integrating itself in its host genome or DNA. Once in the genome, the retrovirus will attempt to mutate the DNA. Fortunately for all of us, the majority of these mutations are detected so there is no need to panic the next time your nose starts to run. However, if the virus is placed next to an important gene in the genome, it can sometimes modify that gene and cause problems.

Scienctist are unsure, but there is some ev-

idence that these transformations may cause evolution and could even be linked to cancer [1].

The HK2 virus integrates itself with exons 17 and 18 of the gene, RASGRF2. This gene is used in signaling pathways and is expressed in T cells, the heart, and the brain. When this gene is turned off, many problems can occur.

When RASGRF2 was turned off it causes the body to stop producing a genetic variation which was shown in a previous study to control addiction. Since RASGRF2 is expressed in the same places at HK2, the researchers initially hypothesized that if proviral HK2 changed RASGRF2 in humans than it would be found in individuals with strong addictive behaviors such as intravenous drug usage [1].

The initial study consisted of 202 people, 102 of which used drugs intravenously and 100 who used drugs through other methods.

The researchers found that the HK2 retrovirus was present in 14 intravenous drug users and 6 non intravenous drug users. This suggested a twofold higher frequency in populations with long term addictive behavior. After finding this, the researchers wanted to see if this result occurred in different populations. They tested people who had been infected with Hepatitis C through bleeding disorders. To ensure the population was consistent, the researchers matched the ages, gender, and ethnicity of the people who used drugs intravenously from the previous study. When the results came in, 34 out of 100 people who used drugs intravenously were found to be 3.5 times more likely to have the association with RASGRF2. With these initial results, the researchers delved deeper into the

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Editor’s Choice cause and conducted two more experiments.

After assuming the relationship between RASGRF2 and addiction was casual, the team wanted to find out what was changing the transcription of RASGRF2. To do this they used the “Buzz” experiment popular in gene therapy today, CRISPR, the new gene editing mechanism. They placed another type of gene next to RASGRF2 to see if it would change its transcription and after a while it did! This means that the gene RASGRF2 is susceptible to being modified by closely located genes and causes this link to drug addiction. Now the researchers were faced with a question, how does the HK2 virus actually

modify the gene? Further tests were performed to show that the transcription of HK2 still occurs even though it is considered broken and shouldn’t be transcribed. This is because the HK2 virus acts as a promoter, which directs the cell to transcribe it [1].

Based on all of these tests, the researchers were able to conclude that the HK2 antisense genes that are created by retroviruses can modify human transcription of genes!

Sadly, they were also able to link its presence with usage of intravenous drugs. The researchers hope to conduct future experiments that might determine how to remove the HK2 virus to possibly help people who abuse intravenous drugs.

“...the researchers were able to conclude that the HK2 antisense genes that are created by retroviruses can modify human transcription of genes!”

1. Karamitros, T, et al. “Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K HML-2 Integration within RASGRF2 Is Associated with Intravenous Drug Abuse and Modulates Transcription in a Cell-Line Model.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 9 Oct. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30249655.

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Editor’s Choice

Virtual Reality Meets Dentistry Yuna Lee ‘21 Puts on a virtual reality headset to get ready.

This is not about a get together with friends. Instead, students in dental schools use virtual reality devices to get a close-up view of teeth. Recently, technology has become a mainstream for other education, is entering the dental field to aid students visualize details of teeth and its partial relationships. Using virtual reality devices, students will be able to zoom through mouth and get a 3D view. Students who attend University of California-San Francisco’s School of dentistry will get a chance to experience this technology as a part of their curriculum. With the virtual reality device, students will apt to have a tooth right in front of them, and see it in ways that can’t be conveyed through a traditional 2D image.

A traditional access for dental students to learn about oral cavity before dealing real patients was to examine through a mundane 2D textbook. Recently, digital tools in learning environment have allowed more flexibility for students. First year students in UCSF use 3D Tooth Atlas 8 by eHuman Inc. to experience the flexibility. Kevin Montgomery, the CEO of eHuman Inc. says, “this is cutting-edge Silicon Valley technology applied in dentistry to make a big clinical impact, and it allows us to see tooth anatomy like no human ever has been able to do before.” On the website of eHuman Inc., 3D Tooth Atlas 8 is introduced as an interactive dental education software that includes: interactive dental anatomy course, tooth morphology with over 500 models, synopsis of human dentition, additional specialized resources for Endodontics, Periodontics, Skull osteology, and Dental license clinical experience. Montgomery

asserts that, “one of the goals of the Tooth Atlas is to empower students to learn from the spectrum of patients who have ever walked into a clinic.” Tooth Atlas 8 has 550 models of teeth that dentists have collected from their own patients over decades, which includes pretty much every anatomical variation, pathology and unusual cases.

The virtual technology tool allows students to rotate a tooth image, and strip away outer layers to precisely visualize all of the underlying structure. Nejleh Abed,an assistant clinical professor of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences in UCSF attests that “understanding the nuances of tooth shape are critical to dental procedures that students will be learning.” Using the virtual tool will not be hard to use for dental students. Students will simply have to download the main software on their devices,and will slip their devices into a cardboard glass to view collectively the same 3-D space in virtual reality. A student attested that, the virtual reality component helps students more actively engage in learning atmosphere. Although Tooth Atlas 8 is a perfect tool for students to increase self-engagement, it still needs to be examined if the learning process through the virtual reality tool will lead students to achieve a higher score than previous classes on the national dental board exam.

Receiving a high score on the dental board exam includes a high score on the section about oral physiology, anatomy, and clinical situations. Using the virtual reality simulation tools, students will be able to

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Editor’s Choice improve in hand-eye coordination, and allow for smooth transition to the clinical settings from dental graduate school. Apart from 3D Tooth Atlas 8, dental schools have been bringing realistic mannequins along with dental models regarding operatory simulation. The simulation models allow students to work on their hand-eye coordination. New technologies included haptic: sense of touch, and virtual lab environments. To maximize training and minimize risk, recently in Japan, a robot patient capable of performing real life simulations, such as coughing, shaking neck, tongue thrusting and salivary secretion was practiced to enhance the development of skills of medical emergencies.

The academic staff of Griffith University-Dental and Oral Health in Austria assessed the 3D-VR technology, and has said that “ the dental trainer could not totally replace traditional pre-clinical training methods but could be used as a valuable supplementary tool for student’s self-evaluation. In dental education, during simulation laboratory procedures, the student requires constant feedback on their work to move to the next procedure.” With the virtual reality technology, students will learn faster, practise more procedures, as well as learning preclinical experiences.

Currently, 3D Tooth Atlas 8 is not the only option of dental virtual simulators. The major players in the market are Dentsim, Simodont, and IDEA. Dentsim comprises of a phantom head, a set of dental instruments, infrared sensors, overhead infrared camera with a monitor, and two computers.

The infrared sensors on the machine scans the patient’s mouth. This software is programmed to evaluate the student’s work on critical errors. The ability to mimic a real life situation will reduce the training cost. IDEA: Individual Dental Education Assistant, provides a 3D animated image on the screen that allows the student to practice with tools while providing an instant critical feedback. The stimulator mea-

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sures and records the task time, percentage of desired materials removed, and after reflecting on the level of accuracy, the stimulator will display a score on the screen. Simodont dental trainer, is a haptic 3D virtual reality stimulator that includes modules for manual dexterity, cariology, crown and bridges exercise, clinical cases, and a full oral stimulation experience.

Simodont trainer also provides the student an instant feedback, as well as allowing them to enhance short term manual dexterity.

Virtual reality in the dental field are valuable educational tool for both students and instructor. The use of this recent technology will not only reduce the financial aspect , but give students an active environment for learning.

Especially in fields related to health, pre clinical practices are important before meeting patients. Therefore the rapid advances in both hardware and software should further allow for a better experience in education.Since the virtual reality tool has reached the dental field, it’s the matter of time for it to show impact on other fields regarding health.

1. Baker, Mitzi. “With Virtual Reality, Dentistry Students Zoom Through 3-D Teeth.” UC San Francisco, 27 Sept. 2018, www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/09/411716/ virtual-reality-dentistry-students-curriculum.

JCNDE.org: National Board Dental Examination Part I 2. Elby, Roy, et al. “The Need for Virtual Reality Simulators in Dental Education: A Review.” The Saudi Dental Journal, Elsevier, 6 Mar. 2017, reader. elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S1013905217300135?token=8834027D144ECEE1BD0F5AC5AB88F517E91CEB631279159F21E0E2137737086CE2E17EA7B127F1C92B8C3EB90A84BEE1.

Science News How Mentoring Gave Me an EDGE Sarah Bryant, Visiting Professor of Mathematics There is no one distinct moment when I knew I wanted to be a mathematician. But there was a moment when I felt it was really possible. It was July 2002, as I wrapped up my four-week summer experience with the EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) Program. I had already graduated summa cum laude from Berea College. I had already been accepted into graduate school at Purdue University with a full fellowship. But it was at the end of the four-week experience of EDGE that I really felt my dream was in reach. I had formed a bond with the women in the program that gave me the strength to face the unknowns of graduate school. All these years later, I can say that EDGE is a huge part of why I completed my PhD, and I why I feel a strong calling to support students who are reaching for their wildest dreams.

The EDGE Program was founded in 1998 by Professors Sylvia Bozeman of Spelman College and Rhonda Hughes of Bryn Mawr College. Though the directors have changed over time, the purpose of the EDGE Program remains to increase the number of women and minority students who successfully complete graduate programs in the mathematical sciences. Since 1998, more than 250 women from 160 undergraduate institutions have participated in EDGE. To date, more than 90 have earned PhDs in

Mathematics, with many still in graduate schools across the country finishing their programs. The EDGE program was named “A Program That Makes a Difference� by the American Mathematical Society. This summer, the founders and directors traveled to Washington, DC to be honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

The success of EDGE is in the power to provide an intensive math experience that builds community, which is far more important than any problem set or lecture. This pays off, as many participants continue to be engaged as mentors, instructors, speakers, and even directors. In fact, I have returned to EDGE most years since 2002. I was a peer mentor in 2005 and 2006 and instructor in 2012, 2015, and 2018.

I have also been a guest speaker a number of times, primarily on the topics of mentorship and networking.

Reconnecting with the women of EDGE helps bolster my

energy and my confidence, just like it did so many years ago.

When I talk with STEM majors here at Dickinson, I know that most of them will not be attending EDGE. But I encourage them to build their own support structures upon leaving Dickinson, because when you are faced with challenge, these are essential. Some people will claim that mathematics and science are perfectly unbiased because of their emphasis on knowledge and truth. But the reality is that these fields are populated with people, not theorems. We know that barriers exist in recruiting and retaining talented people in STEM when they feel unwelcome or are stereotyped as not belonging. So many years ago, I found a supportive community that taught me that I do belong and I can make it. To all Dickinsonians chasing their dreams here and beyond, I encourage you to do the same.

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News

Trio of Laser Physicists Win Nobel Prize Alexis Scott ‘19 Illustration by Niklas Elmehed

A trio of revolutionary laser physicists comprised this year’s recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics. The award was bestowed to Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou for their work on the amplification of laser beams, as well as Arthur Ashkin for his invention of optical tweezers. This year’s prize was especially significant, as Donna Strickland is the first woman to win the prize in 55 years [1].

Since the invention of the laser in 1960, the maximum intensity of lasers continued to rise. In the 1980s, however, these advances began to plateau. It wasn’t until Dr. Mourou and Dr. Strickland’s discovery of the chirped-pulse amplification technique that the advancement of laser intensity began to pick up its former pace. Still, as lasers become more intense, they may actually be damaging to their equipment. Dr. Mourou and Dr. Strickland solved this problem by prolonging the duration of the laser. Therefore, the total amount of energy is the same throughout the duration of the laser emission, allowing the beam to be safely amplified [1].

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Dr. Ashkin’s most famous work is the optical tweezers, a laser-driven device that allows for the manipulation of “particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers” [2]. This work was influential across disciplines, as, in 1987, optical tweezers were used to grab living bacteria without injury to the cells.

Ashkin’s discoveries took place at Bell Labs, in which the fundamentals of communication are studied in order to generate new technologies [2].

The Nobel Prize in Physics represents the most prestigious award in the field. These discoveries in laser physics have a multitude of applications. Laser eye surgery, machining, microscopy, and particle accelerators are just a few examples of the utilization of laser technology.

Bibliography 1. “The Nobel Prize for Physics Goes for the Invention of Better Lasers.”

The Economist, The Economist 2. “Arthur Ashkin Wins 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics.” Arthur Ashkin Wins 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics - Bell Labs, 2 Oct. 2018, www.bell-labs.com/var/articles/arthur-ashkin-nobel-prize/.

News

The Scutoid: A Geometrical Solution to an Organic Problem Savannah Woods ‘21 On the path to analyzing the energy efficiency of epithelial cells, cell biologists stumbled across a three-dimensional object that their current knowledge of geometry could not explain. As any respectable scientific team would do, they widened their approach to an interdisciplinary one and the mathematicians came to the rescue.

Epithelial cells comprise the outer surface of tissue systems such as skin or intestinal linings, and previously they were assumed to be in the shape of prisms or frustums. A prism refers to a three-dimensional object with at least two pairs of parallel faces, connected by parallel edges, while a frustum describes a pyramid with the end cut off and replaced with a face. Modeling the growth of epithelial tissues with the prism and frustums shapes could not provide the full picture, in both geometric objects, the sides are strictly planar which would not allow for the most efficient use of energy by the growing tissue. So, biologists used the Voronoi tessellation, an algorithmic way for describing the natural radially growth from a given seed, to hypothesize a new basic epithelial cell [1]. What the Voronoi diagrams helped them discover is a “new” shape called the scutoid, named for its resemblance to the scutellum of

a beetle. It is a 3D object that combines features of both a prism and an anti-prism. Having 5 vertices on one of its parallel faces and 6 on the other, it created a Y-shaped forking along one of the edges. This explains the topological transition that occurs in cylindrical tissues along the apico-basal axes, something that was would not have been observed in the prism or frustum designs. The scutoid proves the perfect geometrical solution to the packing of epithelial cells in morphogenesis. The scutoid cells have a great sense of flexibility when growing as they uniquely have two parallel faces but also curves side; they can function as convex or concave. The curves in the side are from natures natural proclivity to follow geodesic trajectories which makes this scutoid shape particularly fit to be a solution, as the curvature gives rise to concavity and efficiently in packing epithelial cells on a curved surface [1].

After the biologists proposed a new shape for cells, they turned to the mathematicians to confirm the plausibility, who in turn asked the computer scientists for complete model which was then verified to be stable by the physicists in one astounding feat of interdisciplinary communication. After the scutoid was verified as the ideal candidate, the biologists went looking for

physical proof of their new shapes existence [1]. In typical research biologist fashion, they turned the beloved Drosophila and found the scutoid in its digestive epithelial cells. This discovery had now come full circle.

The future of medicine rests in the hands of mathematical modeling like this: the scutoid will have very tangible effects on the world of organ printing. In order to print organs that behave like natural ones, it is of critical importance to most accurate model.

This is another beautiful example of the collision between the mathematics of natural growth and growth itself. Welcome to the world of geometry, scutoid.

1. Gómez-Gálvez, Pedro, et al. “Scutoids Are a Geometrical Solution to Three-Dimensional Packing of Epithelia.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 27 July 2018, www.nature. com/articles/s41467-018-05376-1.

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News

Adopt-a-Bee Adopt-a-Bee

s?

Emma Weaver ‘19

Adopt-a-Bee, the Hive’s newest outreach project, has think downtown Carlisle is the best place for a bee. Best, taken bee-loving campus members by swarm. Launched Greeny” in Spring of 2018 by the Center for Sustainability EducaDickinson Hive bees were marked with special tion, the project works with students who are interested bee-marking markers (often used for marking queen in the Hive, pollinator health, and beekeeping. The Sus- bees) at a Hive Open House when they were born. As tainability Learning Coordinator, Cody Rosenbarker, of early October 2018, there are over 270 participants says of the program “People generally don’t know where signed up. The success of the program is perhaps due in to start to get involved with the bees. This program part to its uniqueness- who has ever had the opportunity deepens understanding and heightens interest all with to receive punny weekly updates from a bee? zero risk of getting stung!” Here’s a sample update from People often wonder about the name “Adopt-aGrass of a Spring Meadow Green Bee: Bee.” The two most common questions are “do I have to “Good news! Our queen has hatched, had a pay for it?” and “do I get to take it home?” Since the ansuccessful mating flight, and has begun ‘ovipositing’ (laying eggs)! She’s still The success of the program is perhaps due in learning how to oviposit correctly, so there are some cells with two eggs part to its uniqueness- who has ever had the opin them. Us workers will just eat one of the eggs! There is one thing, portunity to receive punny weekly updates from a when I was walking around the bee? hive, I came across four queen cells with a BUNCH of eggs in them. Nobody seems to know who laid them, and the queen is worried swer to both of those is “no,” the program name is transithat we’re trying to supercede (overthrow) her. So, may- tioning to Bee.F.F. The name more closely resembles the be our hive and queen aren’t as healthy as they seem? experience for participants, where their Bee friend forThe queen cells mean we are possibly getting ready to ever lets them know about her life, her fears, her hopes, swarm, so the process starts when a new queen comes her ability to make honey and discuss the magic that is out, over half of the hive would leave with the old queen. sonication- Just like all of your BFFs, right?

They would find a spot on a building, tree, or sometimes To gain a Bee.F.F. visit dickinson.edu/mybee. To learn car, to create a mass with the queen in the center, to pro- more about the Hive at Dickinson visit dickinson.edu/ tect her. Then, something amazing happens–we engage thehive. in a kind of democratic debate! Scout bees would go out and identify new home sites. Scouts try to recruit others to go look at it, and a site that suits our needs the best would get the most vigorous ‘waggle dance’ advertising where it is. Then, we move to the new site. But, I don’t

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News

Is ACTN3 the “Gene for Speed?”

Tiffany Frey, Professor of Biology

Athletic ability is a complex trait with both genetic and environmental contributions, but how much does any one factor contribute to athletic performance? Classes in the Biology Department at Dickinson College are investigating the answer to this question by examining the contribution of the α-Actinin-3 (ACTN3) gene, which has been called the “gene for speed” by the popular press, to athletic performance in the Dickinson College student population.

Skeletal muscle fibers can be characterized as fast twitch or slow twitch. Fast twitch fibers are better at generating rapid, forceful contractions. However, these fibers burn out quickly because they rely primarily on anaerobic metabolism, which does not produce large amounts of the energy source adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Slow twitch fibers are more geared toward oxidative metabolism, which generates a larger amount of ATP making these fibers more resistant to burn out and able to perform over longer periods of time. The ACTN3 protein is expressed only in fast twitch muscle fibers and contributes to the structural and metabolic

properties of these fibers. Interestingly, about 16% of the population has a genetic variant that makes them completely deficient for ACTN3 protein [1].

This deficiency does not cause disease, but has been correlated with athletic performance. Strikingly, it has been reported that 0% of Olympic level sprinters are ACTN3 deficient1. On the other hand, there is an over-representation of ACTN3 deficiency in professional endurance athletes [1] indicating that while the presence of ACTN3 protein may be necessary for elite sprint performance, its absence may improve endurance capability.

Since most studies related to ACTN3 have been done with professional athletes, it is unclear how much this gene contributes to athletic performance in other populations. In order to address this question, Dickinson College students have determined their ACTN3 genotype and examined correlations of genotype with participation in sprint or endurance sports as well as measures of muscle function including jump height, grip strength, and maximal oxygen usage (VO2max).

Over 4 years, we have collected data on 177 students and have not found any statistically significant correlations between ACTN3 genotype and athletic performance in our student population. These results indicate that, while ACTN3 genotype may have an impact at the elite level, it is likely to contribute a very small amount (if at all) to the performance of high school or college athletes. Maybe ACTN3 is not THE gene for speed after all.

1. Berman, Y. and North, K. (2010) A Gene for Speed: The Emerging Role of α-Actinin-3 in Muscle Metabolism. Physiology 25: 250-259.

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News

“Internet of Animals” Underway

Martin Wikelski, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany recently set in motion ICARUS, a project that uses satellites to track animal movements from space. Current GPS and radio tracking methods rely on technology too large and cumbersome to place on any animals smaller than 100 grams, which includes 75% of all bird and mammal species.

Using tiny solar-powered tags that can both transmit and receive data, ICARUS aims to give scientists an unprecedented view into the behaviors of animals. The project’s tracking data could be used to better understand migratory patterns, track disease outbreaks, aid in conservation, and even provide local weather information in areas where there is poor coverage, like oceans or remote rainforests. Wikelski hopes to get more satellites rigged with antennas for ICARUS in the next 10 years and is aggressively trying to gain traction for the project.

Embryo Editing

Save the Beer!

A panel of Japan’s health and science ministries have drafted guidelines that will allow the gene editing of human embryos. Editing of embryos for reproduction (for example, for “designer babies”) would be restricted, but apparently this restriction would not actually be legally binding. The intended purpose of the draft is to further human genetic research, especially in the area of development and genetic diseases. The public will be able to read and comment on the draft starting next month, and it likely will not be put into practice until the first half of 2019.

Everyone(of legal drinking age)’s favorite beverage is about to get more expensive. Climate change economist Dabo Guan and his colleagues used models and simulations to examine erratic drought and heat wave potentialities throughout the world up until 2099. Depending on how optimistic the future looks, these weather changes could lead to a reduction in barley yields by anywhere from 3 to 17%. Crop yields actually increased in some places by up to 90%, but the overall effect was still quite negative. Best case for the model? Beer consumption is reduced 4%, and price is increased 15%.

Things could be much worse, though, with many countries seeing several-fold increases in beer prices.

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News

World News Alex Myers ‘19

Another Google Search Engine?

It’s an exciting time for the open data movement. Google recently announced a new search engine for databases. Called Google Dataset Search, it helps “scientists, data journalists, data geeks, or anyone else” to find open data scattered across the web. Unlike a normal engine that searches for keywords in the content of webpages, Dataset Search finds databases and files based on how their owners themselves have classified them.

Did you know?

DMT (N, N-Dimethyltryptamine) is a molecule that is said to be found in a human body that causes the hallucinations and was said to be responsible for “near-death” hallucinations that many have interpreted as encounter with mythical creatures (or even God)?

Want to submit a fun fact? Email kuklinaa@dickinson.edu

References: Cyranoski, David. “Japan Set to Allow Gene Editing in Human Embryos.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 3 Oct. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06847-7.

Curry, Andrew. “The Internet of Animals That Could Help to Save Vanishing Wildlife.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 16 Oct. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07036-2.

Warren, Matthew. “Climate Change Is about to Make Your Beer More Expensive.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 15 Oct. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07015-7.

Rehm, Jeremy. “World’s First Animal Was a Pancake-Shaped Prehistoric Ocean Dweller.”

Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 20 Sept. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/ d41586-018-06767-6.

Castelvecchi, Davide. “Google Unveils Search Engine for Open Data.”

Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 5 Sept. 2018, www.nature.com/ articles/d41586-018-06201-x.

Primordial Pancakes

Biochemical analysis of round, rippled-looking fossil imprints have determined that their owners are the moist ancient animal species yet discovered on Earth. Coincidentally named Dickinsonia, these pancake-like creatures dwelled on the ocean floor 558 million years ago. Originally discovered in the late 1940s, some extremely well-preserved specimens still had fat molecules called sterols embedded in their fossils. It is through analysis of these sterols that this discovery was made. While scientists suspect there are many animals even older than Dickinsonia, it remains the oldest species with actual fossil evidence – for now.

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Features

Priestley Award Bryant Caballero ‘21

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For 66 years, Dickinson College has presented the Joseph Priestly Award to an outstanding scientist whose achievements have contributed to the wellbeing of humanity. This year recipient has done that and much more. Now the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Angela Belcher has found much success in her research. In her lecture “Giving New Life to Materials for Energy, the Environment, and Medicine” she explains her focus on genetically modifying and employing M13 bacteriophages to tackle world issues surrounding healthcare, energy, and environmental remediation. However, Belcher’s expertise is much more sophisticated and understated than that.

Part of her success comes from her remarkable talent to take two unrelated disciplines and merge them seamlessly to problem solve. For example, she has taken the underlying concepts of virology and genetics to create what she calls ‘infinity scarves’ that absorb and neutralize industrial toxins and even chemical warfare agents.

These textiles would protect civilian populations in war zones in a manner that is both portable and effective. She has taken this same technology and transplanted it into the world of electronics to produced viruses that can construct powerful new batteries, clean hydrogen fuels and even record-breaking solar cells. To widely spread her ideas, Belcher used this knowledge to then found two companies, Cambrios Advanced Materials and Siluria Technologies. As she mentioned in her lecture, there has never been a better time to be a scientist. Her diverse background has given her the professional adroitness to effectively expand her leadership and commitment to solving global concerns. Undoubtedly, she continuous to inspire students to seek creativity, entrepreneurship, open-mindedness, and drive for life-long learning to prepare for a world that demands just that.

More than anything, Dr. Angela Belcher has advanced our understanding of what it means to lead a life of professional success and effective citizenship.

A Sampling of Belcher’s Work:

A Viral Cure for Cancer?

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Belcher has been engineering viruses to attach to cancer cells for visibility under scanning, more precise than the MRI, PET, CT, etc. as they look at cell density rather than Maddy Zegeer ‘21 composition.

• “First the virus is put into a solution containing nanotubes so they attach to each other. Then this combined virus-nanotube payload is injected into the body. There it will attach to cancerous cells and avoid healthy ones because they don’t produce the target proteins. As for the nanotubes, they will fluoresce when hit by infrared light, so when an infrared camera takes a picture • Belcher’s viral engineering could guide the evolu- of the tissue, the glow of the nanotubes marks the locations of the tumors.” [2]. tion of viruses to manipulate individual atoms in • Her work provides invaluable hope beneficial ways. for the treatment of ovarian cancers.

Are Viruses the new Nanotech of our Dreams?

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Viral DNA could be created to control specifically which proteins the virus produces.

“She’s used biological processes to build more than 150 different materials”, have the possibility of being much improved because of the atomic • Belcher’s most innovative works involves using viruses manipulation nature of the disguised as tiny wires, propagating electric charge virus. [1] through a semi-conductor iron phosphate; the viruses Her special virus can even be form the nanowire as they are coated in cobalt oxide coated in atomic layers of conand gold. ductive materials [1].

Could this Battery Get you Sick?

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1. Savage, Neil. “From Building Batteries to Combating Cancer: How Angela Belcher Puts Viruses to Work.” CEN RSS, American Chemical Society, 12 Mar. 2018, cen.acs.org/ articles/96/i11/From-building-batterries-to-combating-cancer-How-Angela-Belcher-puts-viruses-to-work.html.

2. Ready, Tinker. “Angela Belcher Commands a Virus to Hunt a Deadly Cancer.” Medium.com, Medium, 14 June 2018, medium.com/neodotlife/angela-belcher-engineered-virus-ovarian-cancer-6c84ae919f4.

3. Trafton, Anne. “New Virus-Built Battery Could Power Cars, Electronic Devices.” MIT News, 2 Apr. 2009, news.mit. edu/2009/virus-battery-0402.

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It might produce batteries that match the energy density of those created by traditional means.

They can be manufactured below room temperature and potentially without organic solvents, which are typically expensive and flammable.

The latest prototype has at least 100 charge cycles, should be able to go much longer with more research/ experimenting.

Belcher’s team plans to improve on this design, using “materials with higher voltage and capacitance, such as manganese phosphate and nickel phosphate”[3].

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Dickinson Solar Farm Chan Young Cho ‘21 Humans are creating a gross excess amount of carbon emissions and it is having a catastrophic and potentially irreversible effect on our global environment. A very large amount of these greenhouse gases is emitted in the combustion of fossil fuels and in the creation of electricity and energy. In good news, Dickinson College was recently named one of the most sustainable schools in the U.S.. Luckily, our energetic and motivated faculty have access to one of the best parts of the country for alternative energy sources. The College previously had purchased its energy from private companies that use renewable energy, something that is made possible through PA Power Switch. Now, in addition to the ecologically responsible power supplier, Dickinson is now also creating a significant portion of its own energy. Sustainability projects have outgrown the size of just the campus and have expanded to the college farm with the large composting facility and solar farm.

At the dickinson college farm, 12 acres of solar panels were recently installed. That is 12,456 photovoltaic panels from Tesla to supply at least 30% of the power required to keep the students happy and healthy.

Combined, the panels have an estimated power output of 5,200,000 kwh (Moore 2018). For maintenance

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purposes, Dickinson has signed a contract with Tesla to ensure proper functioning for 25 years. While solar panels are an incredible addition to any sustainable campus, the maintenance can be difficult and expensive. Because of the large surface area and fragile nature of the photovoltaics, the panels are at constant risk of damage from the elements. Even simple storms can render entire portions of panels useless. Another issue with long term installation of solar panels is keeping the flora and fauna from covering the surfaces. As far as leaf litter and general debris is concerned, most of that will need to be swept away manually, and for the natural growth of local grasses, we do not have to worry about them covering the panels because the domestic sheep of the Farm will be set up to graze beneath the solar panels; this is a truly beautiful example of harmony. Even when taking material costs and production cost into consideration, this is still a big step towards 2020 carbon net neutrality.

In 2008, the college set a plan into action. It was decided that by 2020, the goal should be to reduce emissions by 25%, by 2025 50% reduction, and by 2030 75% reduction. Carbon neutrality is the aim to not participate in the pollution of our atmosphere with carbon dioxide emissions. The goal is to exist as an academic haven

on this planet without contributing unnecessarily to global warming. One way the Dickinson administration wants to do this is by purchasing carbon offsets which account for 75% of the College’s emissions. Also, the administration can continue to purchase renewable energy credits to offset the carbon footprint of electricity which accounts for most of the college’s footprint. It does raise the ethical question of how much trust should be placed in the private companies that say their energy is completely renewable and ethically sourced. Through the privatization of utility providers under state law, an increased competition has arisen, which is incredibly beneficial for the prices of energy.

Unfortunately, it also creates incentive for companies to mince words in order to gain business revenue. Ethically, it must be considered whether the responsibility should come from the producer or the consumer. How far reaching should our sustainability goals be?

As of 2008 when the climate action plan was set into place, the majority (61.7%) of the College’s carbon dioxide emissions came from privately purchased energy. Now, with the solar farm, that percentage can be greatly reduced as it will not be necessary to purchase as much outside energy. The plan is to reduce offsets whenever and wherever possible. Some say the offsets are nothing more than emotional crutches, and that the cost of purchase should be spent directly toward on-campus sustainability projects.

On campus, there is an entire center dedicated to this cause. The Center for Sustainability Education works to educate students and local community members about conservation, efficiency, and renewable en-

ergy. The solar farm is an amazing example of clean energy; however it does not help much in the way of efficacy. Due to physical limitations, not engineering issues, solar panels can only ever be a maximum 33.7% efficient. Photovoltaic panels work by taking advantage of a physical phenomenon known as semi-conductance, an engineering trick developed by physicists William Shockley and Hans Queisser, however the maximum theoretical efficiency is limited strictly and nonnegotiably by the second law of thermodynamics. Currently, the most advanced cells commercially available operate about 24% (Understanding Solar, 2016). A more efficient form of renewable energy that the college could invest in is wind energy which has a maximum potential of 70% efficiency. The solar farm also does not help with conservation, which refers to the reduced use of natural resources which can only be achieved through community education.

The panels themselves that are a part of Dickinson’s latest renewable energy project were developed and purchased by Tesla. This eccentric company has established a large factory in Buffalo, NY where it will become the largest producer of photovoltaic modules in North America once it becomes fully operational. In the case of finding the optimal balance between reduction of carbon emissions and doing work; one should follow the mantra “work smart, not hard.” More planning and increasing efficiency of our society would lead to sustainable low pollution, but simply employing more man power will not do. That is why what Dickinson has done with the solar farm is an amazing example of a step in the right direction.

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Research

Toxic Driveways?

A Consumer’s Guide to Understanding Your Options When Sealing Your Driveway

Amy Witter, Professor of Chemistry

We live in a chemical world. Chemicals are in our water bottles, in our furniture, and in our clothing. They are in the foods we eat, the fuel we use to power our cars, and the products we use to wash our hair and our dishes. While it is comforting to believe that we know something about the safety of common use chemicals, approximately 75% of commercial products in use have no safety testing done on them by any government agency. The situation improved in 2016 when President Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, the first overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 40 years. Recently, however, the EPA in the Trump administration has slowed to a halt any gains made since the “new TSCA” law was passed. Consumers are left to read product labels and try to make educated guesses without much guidance,

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which brings me to the subject of driveways.

Sealcoat is a commercial coating product applied to parking lots and driveways to “beautify and protect” the underlying asphalt; it can be thought of as paint for your driveway. Anyone who has walked on a pitch-black parking lot or smelled the odor of moth balls in the air during the warm summer months has likely been exposed to sealcoat. In Pennsylvania, sealcoat is applied during the warm summer months between Memorial Day into October, because the weather must be warm without the threat of rain so the polymerization process is successful. Imagine if you threw a gallon of water against a freshly painted wall of your house. Besides leaving a mess in its wake, some of the chemicals would run off in the water layer.

Now imagine where those chemicals go if this happened to your sealcoated driveway after a summer

Research rainstorm.

Sealcoat is composed of 15-35% coaltar pitch, a coal-based product (and a known human carcinogen), or asphalt-based sealcoat, a petroleum-based product. Asphalt-based sealcoat can be further subdivided into petroleum asphalt (considered unclassifiable in terms of human carcinogenicity), or steamcracked petroleum residues (considered a probable human carcinogen). Steam-cracked petroleum residue-based sealcoat is a product that came onto the market in 2015 as an “environmentally friendly” coal-tar replacement chemical, although data are lacking for this petroleum fraction. Steam-cracked petroleum residues were used primarily in marine fuels until the petroleum market experienced a surplus, which necessitated that new markets were created for this material.

Coal-tar sealcoat contains on average 50,000 mg L-1 of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of which many are known carcinogens. High-resolution mass spectrometry has

shown that coal tar contains thousands of PAHs in addition to smaller amounts of oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur heterocycles (known human mutagens). In contrast, petroleum asphalt sealcoat contains on average 50 mg L-1 PAHs. Preliminary work measuring steamcracked petroleum residues suggest PAH concentrations that are halfway between coal-tar and petroleum-asphalt concentrations. What does all this mean for the homeowner trying to make a decision about which product to use to coat their driveway? Like all consumer choices in this chemical world, our decisions have consequences for the environment, and ultimately, for human health. To minimize risk from PAH exposure, petroleum-asphalt sealcoat makes the most sense from an environmental and human health perspective. To ensure that you are getting petroleum asphalt, however, make sure that the manufacturers safety data sheet (MSDS) reads “petroleum asphalt.”

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Research

Empowering our neurons: metabolites and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease Ashley Tucewicz ‘19

Neurons are a critical component of our bodies that allow us to function as we do.

One task that they carry out is repairing genetic and cellular damage, as neurons in the brain do not readily regenerate. ATP and NAD+ are two energy substrates critical for powering all of these jobs. However, NAD+ pools tend to decrease as we age, increasing the risk of neuronal dysfunction and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the National Institute on Aging at NIH this past summer, I explored how neuronal metabolism could be targeted to combat neurodegeneration.

I performed my research under the guidance of Dr. Yujun Hou and Dr. Vilhelm Bohr, who have discovered that NAD+ supplementation attenuates key features of AD pathology in mouse models. NAD+ modulates neuronal health by maintaining a balance between mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy. It also serves as a co-factor for the sirtuin protein family, which is involved in activating metabolic enzymes, eliminating reactive oxygen species, and base-excision repair of DNA. These are all processes that can delay aging and neurodegeneration. In fact, several studies claim that NAD+ and sirtuins are the key mediators of longevity. Nonetheless, the molecular pathway underlying this metabolite’s ability

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to rescue pathology in AD mice is unknown.

Thus, my research focused on determining the mechanism by which NAD+ supplementation ameliorated neuroinflammation in the AD mouse brain in a previous study.

”Neuronal metabolism could be targeted to combat neurodegeneration” I first undertook an extensive literature search to hypothesize a possible molecular pathway. Sirtuin 1, an NAD+-dependent

deacetylase, inactivates a subunit of NF-kB, a protein complex involved in multiple cell signaling pathways.

NF-kB drives expression of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which promotes the secretion of cytokines and inflammatory proteins. A frequent hallmark of AD is chronic inflammation of neurons and microglia, cells that compose the innate immune system of the brain. This reduces their ability to degrade neurotoxic protein aggregates such as amyloid plaques which further contribute to neuroinflammation, creating a vicious cycle.

Dr. Hou treated APP/PS1 (an AD mouse model with extensive amyloid plaques and cognitive impairment) and wild-type mice with either nicotinamide riboside (NR; an NAD+ precursor) or vehicle in their drinking water. They were treated for three months until 12 months of age, when their brains were extracted for the analysis with biochemical assays.

Using various antibodies for proteins involved in NLRP3 assembly and signaling, I found that NLRP3 expression in addition to that of its activators and effectors is increased in APP mice relative to wild-type, and normalized in the NR-treated group. We also looked at the expression of proteins involved with microglial ac-

Research tivation, the results of which were inconclusive.

I used immunofluorescence microscopy, a technique that uses antibodies conjugated to fluorophores, enabling the visualization of specific proteins within tissue. I stained for components of the NLRP3 inflammasome and markers of microglial activation within the hippocampus. Coinciding with the Western blot results, APP mice that received NR treatment had lower levels of inflammasomal activation than the untreated group. Puzzlingly, immunofluorescence for microglial activation was inconclusive as well. In the future, Dr. Hou intends to perform RT-qPCR to quantify levels of expression at the genetic level.

This research experience exposed me to not only a bounty of fascinating techniques, but also to the undiluted passion of the scientist. Furthermore, the implications of this research on designing new targeted therapies for Alzheimer’s are immeasurable. The key to battling a disease that threatens the identity of humanity itself may rest within a single molecule. In my future career, I wish to employ the skills and knowledge that I have learned in pursuit of harnessing that key.

The key to battling a disease that threatens the identity of humanity itself may rest within a single molecule.

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Research

Overcoming Chemotherapy Resistance with Nanoparticles Jacqueline Hwang ‘19

Traditional cancer treatments usually consist of an invasive combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. While this course of treatment can be effective, there are two major concerns with chemotherapy. First, patients often suffer from adverse symptoms as the drugs target and destroy both healthy and cancerous rapidly-dividing cells all over the body. Second, despite several rounds of chemotherapy, aggressive cancers can still develop multidrug resistance (MDR), rendering the treatment ineffective and the prognosis poor.

In fact, MDR accounts for more than 90% of treatment failures leading to death in patients with metastatic breast cancer [3]. The development of MDR in cancer is linked to high expressions of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter pumps, which recognize chemotherapeutic agents and drive them out of the cell as a defense mechanism [1, 2].

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So how can nanoparticles be used to address these issues? By labeling nanoparticles with antibodies, proteins, and oligonucleotides specific to cancer cells, the particles are engineered to solely target tumor cells and better equipped to evade recognition and expulsion by ABC pumps [2]. As nanoparticles are introduced into the bloodstream, they navigate to the characteristic “leaky� vasculature of tumor cells and enter the cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis. Once inside, the nanoparticles fuse with lysosomes that degrade the particles and release the drugs [2]. To give a simple analogy, nanoparticles are like mini Trojan horses that deceive ABC pumps and successfully unleash the drugs once inside cancerous territory.

Due to the significant expression of the cell surface receptor Fn14 in many cancers, my lab hypothesized that using Fn14-targeted nanopar-

ticles will provide more specific and effective drug delivery [1]. Fn14, or fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14, is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family and has been linked to roles in signaling, proliferation, and inflammation [1]. For this experiment, the ovarian cancer cell line, HeyA8, was cultured. The parental cell line was used as a standard control while an additional line (referred to as HeyA8-MDR) was engineered to overexpress ABC pumps. Fn14 expression was confirmed via Western blot. The nanoparticles were synthesized using a polyethylene glycol polymer that encased the chemotherapy drug, Paclitaxel (PTX). MTT cell viability assays were performed to compare the effects of four different treatments: 1) free-drug PTX, 2) Abraxane (ABX, an FDA-approved non-targeted albumin coated nanoparticle), 3) Fn14-targeted particles coated with

Bar-Zeev et.al. (2017) Drug Resistance Updates

Research

ITEM-4, the monoclonal antibody to Fn14 and 4) non-targeted particles coated with the antibody IgG. Figure 2 compares the cell viability of both the non-resistant parental HeyA8 cells and the resistant HeyA8-MDR cells at varying concentrations of PTX. In the A panel, all four treatment groups were effective in killing the non-resistant cells at high concentrations, as expected. In the B panel, results showed a significant decrease in HeyA8-MDR viability when nanoparticles were used compared to the free-drug treatment group. However, there were no significant differences within the respective nanoparticle treatments, as both the targeted and non-targeted particles managed to kill around 70% of the cells (Figure 2). This observation may be due to the responsiveness of the specific cell line

and ABC pump used.

In summary, this experiment showed that delivering chemotherapy to drug resistant cancer cells in the form of nanoparticles was more effective than the free-drug method, or what would be equivalent to IV injection/oral pill in humans. Future studies will repeat the experimental process using different drug resistant cancer cell lines, different polymer coatings for the nanoparticle exterior, and different concentrations of the chemotherapy drugs to further the development of targeted nanotherapy. This research was supported by the Nathan Schnaper Internship Program, the Translational Therapeutics Research Group, and the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.

References: Winkles, Jeffrey A. “The TWEAK–Fn14 Cytokine– receptor Axis: Discovery, Biology and Therapeutic Targeting.”

Nature reviews. Drug discovery, (2008).

2.

Bar-Zeev, Maya., Livney, Yoav D., Assaraf, Yehuda G. “Targeted nanomedicine for cancer therapeutics: Towards precision medicine overcoming drug resistance.” Drug Resistance Updates, (2017).

3.

Yardley, Denise A. “Drug Resistance and the Role of Combination Chemotherapy in Improving Patient Outcomes,” International Journal of Breast Cancer, (2013).

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Research

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a γ-Valerolactone Biomass Pretreatment Alexis Scott ‘19

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Research Lignocellulosic biofuels present a promising alternative for petroleum. The production of bio-ethanol involves the fermentation of cellulose, the structural component of plant cell walls, by microbial agents. This summer, I worked in the Ding Lab with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), which focuses on optimizing the sustainability of lignocellulosic biofuels. To achieve a sustainable model, multiple product streams stemming from various components of biomass must be harnessed. The primary constituents of the plant cell wall are hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. Cellulose is valuable in producing bio-ethanol.

Upon the removal of lignin and hemicellulose, cellulose becomes accessible to enzymes that break it down, allowing for its use in lignocellulosic biofuel production. Upon removal, lignin may be used in separate product streams, such as the manufacturing of plastics and carbon foam.

Gamma-valerolactone (GVL), a biomass-derived solvent, may beused to pretreat biomass to facilitate the fractionation of biomass into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin fractions (pictured).

I spent my summer working in the Ding lab at Michigan State University, where we studied the effects of a GVL pretreatment on P39 poplar at 120C, 140C, and 150C using various microscopy techniques.

The process of GVL pretreatment yields a solid fraction, which, to produce biofuels, should ideally contain mostly cellulose, and a hydrolysate, which should contain lignin.

Firstly, GFP labeled carbohydrate biding modules (CBMs) were used to assess cellulose accessibility. As GVL is used to solubilize hemicellulose and lignin, the binding of CBMs to free cellulose was

thought to allow the visualization of lignin removal. However, the quantification of GFP fluorescence using ImageJ proved to be difficult. In this technique, however, differences in tissues between temperatures were able to be easily visualized.

Secondly, stimulated Raman spectroscopy (SRS) was used to generate Raman peaks corresponding to lignin and cellulose in both

the solid fraction and hydrolysate at each temperature. By comparing the relative areas of these peaks, a lignin:cellulose ratio of each fraction was obtained. According to these ratios, at 120C, lignin is removed faster relative to cellulose.

At higher temperatures, both lignin and saccharides are removed in higher amounts. This is significant because it indicates that, by 30 minutes of treatment, more lignin has been removed at higher temperatures.

Finally, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to generate topographical images of the biomass surface to visualize the effect of GVL on cell wall architecture. This technique uses a silicon probe that tracks the biomass surface. AFM imaging revealed that cellulose fibers were the most exposed in 150C pretreated samples. This result corroborated previous data by showing that, after 30 minutes of pretreatment, a higher temperature yields the most lignin/hemicellulose removal.

This project provided a starting point for visualizing the effects of GVL pretreatment in poplar. Future directions may include studying the effects of pretreatment at both varying temperatures and treatment durations. Generating sustainable biomass pretreatments may help bioenergy in becoming a more serious alternative to petroleum by reducing both cost and environmental impact.

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Technology

The Future Of 3D Printing in Medicine Austin Culp ‘21

With all the advancements in biotechnology in recent years, it can be hard to imagine what is next on the horizon for the industry. University of Utah researcher Robert Bowles is pioneering the way for one of the newest and most revolutionary processes in this industry-- 3-D printed tissue and organs. Using a modified 3-D printer and stem cells collected from fat tissue, Bowles has been able to complete very basic prints of organic tissue. Although these structures are not as complex as organs that could be put in to use, his process paves the way to creating custom organs on demand for patients in need all over the globe. Supporting Bowles’s work is the Utah biomedical firm Carterra, which supplied him with the 3-D printer that made it possible to print the tissue structures. The 3-D printer itself includes a specialized head which allows for the researchers to organize the stem cells before printing them on to the hydrogel medium [1].

This new advancement in biotechnology, more specifically the science known as “regenerative medicine,” is just one of many that is revolutionizing the field and taking part in the field’s rapid growth. The ability to replace tissue on a patient to patient basis, instead of waiting for donors or using surgery that takes from elsewhere on the body, has the potential to not only make surgery less intrusive and recovery less intensive, but to save lives as well.

Alongside these benefits sit the ethical dilemmas of this process. A few questions must be raised for the future, for example: how will the implementation of these newly printed organs be tested?

Will stem cells be accessible at times of need for use in these 3-D printings or will we have to resort to sources other than fat? Testing of these newly printed organs can only truly be done on living organisms, so as to study not only if they work but also how they interact with the human body. Is it ethical to put a person’s life at risk to test t his revolutionary new technology? If stem cells were taken from somewhere other than fat cells, contrary to the ethical beliefs of the organ recipient, does it violate the patients’ rights? Every large step forward comes with its hurdles to overcome. If Bowles’s research is the next thing on the horizon, only time will tell if it will come with the acceptance of the world it hopes to better.

1. Raymond, A. (2018). U. tissue engineering research paving way to ‘printable’ human organs. Deseret News Utah. Retrieved October 10, 2018, from https://www.deseretnews.com/ article/900036298/u-tissue-engineering-research-paving-way-to-printable-human-organs.html.

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To Fly or Not to Fly: Delivery Drones

Technology

Kyra Samony ‘21

During most of the twentieth century, science fiction depicted the future as a world of machines.

Technology was completely integrated into human life. The 1960s brought us The Jetsons, a cartoon that presents an idea of the future that wouldn’t be complete without robots, hovercars, and space travel, to name a few. The concept of drones delivering your online purchases right to your door doesn’t seem completely ludicrous in a Jetsons-esque future.

Following the recent United Nations’ climate change report, which stated the environment will be experiencing catastrophic changes as early as the year 2040, large companies, as well as citizens, should be doing as much as they can to combat this issue. Amazon, along with other large companies such as UPS, and Google are beginning to explore the use of delivery drones.

Research into drone usage supports the claim that utilizing drones in the freight industry would have positive effects on the environment. Imagine receiving a gift on your doorstep by drone, while simultaneously participating in the gift of a healthier environment.

A study published by Nature Communications examined the use of drones and their impact on the environment. “Results suggest that, if carefully deployed, drone-based delivery could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy use in the freight sector. To realize the environmental benefits of drone delivery, regulators and firms should focus on minimizing extra warehousing

and limiting the size of drones” [1].

The study discusses that if companies really desired to slow the effects of climate change on the environment, they would have to limit the pollution caused by the warehouse of the delivery drones. The study notes that: “Although drones consume less energy per package-km than delivery trucks, the additional warehouse energy required, and the longer distances traveled by drones

drones. Eric Mack, a contributor to Forbes Magazine, writes that “the study also acknowledges that energy use and pollution reductions could actually go up with drone delivery under certain scenarios, like if such a service requires much more warehousing space than anticipated or if trucks and other ground vehicles continue to become more efficient” [2].

As more research is done on delivery drones and their environmental impact, there are also the ethical dilemmas of drones to consider. Amazon recently patented technology for a delivery drone that can react to humans. Hamza Shaban, writing for the Washington Post, explains the premise behind this drone: “Depending on a person’s gestures — a welcoming thumbs up, shouting or frantic arm waving — the drone can adjust its behavior… The machine could release the package it’s carrying, alter its flight path to avoid crashing, ask humans a question or abort the delivery, the patent says” [3]. Drone technology is advancing rapidly and a drone that communicates with per package greatly increase the human beings is possible in the near future. life-cycle impacts. Still, in most cases examined, the impacts of package 1. Stolaroff, J. K., Samaras, C., O’Neill, E. R., Lubers, A., Mitchell, A. S., & Ceperley, D. (2018, February 13). Enerdelivery by small drone are lower gy use and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of drones than ground-based delivery” [1]. To for commercial package delivery. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017summarize, delivery drones could 02411-5 have a significant impact on the en- 2. Mack, E. (2018, February 13). How Delivery Drones vironment by helping to reduce the Can Help Save The World. Retrieved October 10, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2018/02/13/ pollution caused by merchandise delivery-drones-amazon-energy-efficient-reduce-climate-change-pollution/#44e3b2da6a87 transportation.

The study does not fail to note there 3. Shaban, H. (2018, March 22). Amazon is issued patent for drones that can react to screaming voices, flailing could also be negative impacts with delivery arms. Retrieved October 10, 2018, from https://www. the implementation of delivery washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/22/

“Delivery drones could have a significant impact on the environment by helping to reduce the pollution caused by merchandise transportation”

amazon-issued-patent-for-delivery-drones-that-can-react-to-screaming-flailing-arms/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4d713da6f3d9

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Technology

Saving Green by Being GreenReducing One’s Carbon Footprint by Replacing Incandescent Bulbs with LEDs. Hans Pfister, Professor of Physics

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Technology

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Global climate change is here. We see the signs efficient and cost-effective means to be ready to extract some of the excess CO2 from the atmosphere. of global climate change clearly in stronger, more frequent, and more catastrophic weather events, for examOne of the simplest and most immediate ways ple, thirteen 500-year storms that happen in a decade, to increase our energy efficiency is to replace the very inefficient incandescent light bulbs by suand record fire events in the western US. We also see the signs in more subtle per-efficient LED bulbs. While incandescent bulbs produce light with an effiways, for example, in increased bark ciency of only about 10%, LEDs beetle infestations, more wide“One of the simplest produce light with an efficiency spread diseases, receding glaciers, and most immedian alarming extinction rate, lakes of 90%. Indeed, over the past 45 ate ways to increase that have drastically shrunk in years the light output of a diode our energy effisize or disappeared entirely. But has increased by over five million most importantly, the evidence times.

It is this drastic increase ciency is to replace in energy efficiency that allows for the rise of the average global the very inefficient us today to illuminate our houses temperature is anchored in indisincandescent light putable and abundant temperaand buildings in a way that not only bulbs by super-effiture data. drastically reduces our carbon footcient LED bulbs” To pass the planet on to fuprint but also saves hundreds of dollars ture generations in a way similar to the in the process. This is ‘illuminated’ quickly way we inherited the planet, we must by the following example. act swiftly, decisively, unabashedly, and Let’s assume we replace one incandessimultaneously along three distinct veccent 100W light bulb with an LED. To get the tors. (1) We have to transition to renewsame illumination, we will need an LED that able energy sources, such as wind, solar, consumes 15W. Depending on the manufacand geothermal. (2) We have to increase our turer this 15W LED will last anywhere between energy efficiencies, i.e. use the energy available 10,000 and 20,000 hours. Let’s use the average. to us in a more efficient manner so that we need less en- Over the course of the 15,000h, the LED will consume ergy to accomplish the task. And (3), as we have already a total of 225,000 Watthours (Wh) or 225kWh. At the ignored some early warning signs, we also have to find present electricity cost in PA of about 12cents per kWh, 32

Technology this amounts to $27.00. If we include the cost of the bulb ($0.33/bulb ), we end up with $27.33 [1, 2].

To achieve the same illumination with old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, we need 100W for 15,000 hours, i.e., 1.5 MWh. Again, at a cost of 12 cents/kWh, this amounts to $180.00. As incandescent bulbs are engineered to last only about 1000 h, we need to buy 15 bulbs and replace them 15 times to achieve our 15,000 hours of illumination, adding $3.75 to our cost. The grand total for the incandescent illumination is $183.75. Thus the replacement of just one incandescent 100W bulb by an equally bright LED leads to a savings of over $150.

While this is a welcomed savings, this isn’t even the best part: Every kWh produced by a coalfired power plant is associated with the release of about 2lb of CO2 into the atmosphere. A gas-fired power plant can produce a kWh by releasing only about 1lb of CO2. On average, present electricity

sources emit 1.22lbs of CO2 per kWh. In the example above the LED requires 225kWh, the incandescent bulbs require 1,500kWh of electrical energy, a difference of 1,275kWh. Thus, the total savings of CO2 emission amounts to 1550lbs, which is just 150lbs shy of the curb weight of my first VW beetle.

This is a considerable amount of CO2 — an amount that does not have to be emitted if just one person replaces just one 100W incandescent light bulb by one LED bulb.

Incidentally, over the course of the Spring Semester 2017, the students of Prof. Pfister’s Phys-114 class “The Physics of Global Climate Change and Renewable Energies” gave away over 330 LEDs to members of the Carlisle community. The weight of the total CO2 emission saving added up to the weight of 300 VW beetles. When lined up bumper to bumper this line of VW beetles would stretch from the Carlisle Square to the Pizza Grille restaurant.

A Frequently Asked Question: I bought an LED but my incandescent light bulb is still working, when should I switch to the LED? Let me answer this question with another question: Imagine you just bought that beautiful Volkswagen GTI, but the Conestoga Wagon in your shed is still working. Will you keep using the Conestoga Wagon until it breaks before you enjoy your GTI? As far as the light bulb is concerned, I would say exchange your last-century incandescent bulb with your 21st-century LED bulb the moment you would like to be green and save money!

• • •

LED = Light Emitting Diode; CFL = Compact Fluorescent Light The Dollar Store sells a 3-pack of LEDs for, yes, $1.00!

1. How We Calculate. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://carbonfund.org/ how-we-calculate/ 2. U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq. php?id=74&t=11 3333

Technology

The Road to Self-Driving Cars Is Far More Dangerous Than the Destination Joseph Detrano ‘19

America has been toying around with the concept of self-driving cars for some time now but has yet to make a strong commitment one way or another.

And while the limits of technology may very much be a large factor in limiting the speed of their development, I would pin a large portion of the slow adoption/ progress on the media. It seems like every time a robot-controlled car so much as dents a window, it is all over every news media site the world over.

Repeated media coverage of these events has resulted in a more negative public opinion on self-driving cars than there would be otherwise, even in situations where it was not the fault of the self-driven car. On August 31, for example, an Apple self-driving car was being road tested when it was

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rear-ended while waiting at a busy intersection. Despite the collision being almost entirely at fault of the other vehicle, most headlines hid that fact. The reasoning is clear: people are more likely to react, and more likely to click, if they think they will be reading about a self-driving car hitting someone, but this still results in negative stigmatization of self-driving vehicles.

Negative stigmatization of self-driving vehicles means Americans will spend longer times with semi-automated cars, which are actually much, much worse than their automated counterparts could ever hope to be. When I say semi-automated, I am talking about vehicles such as the Tesla models, which incorporate an autonomous mode that highly encourages a human driver to stay on standby in case something goes awry. Simply put, Tesla manufacturers acknowledge that their systems are not yet ready to facilitate fully-automatic driving, and understand that the automation will get things wrong from time to time.

Not too much of a problem if people just pay attention, right?

Right, but they will not. They totally will not. They will find themselves suffering from an effect known as “passive fa-

tigue,” which can be incurred by operating a vehicle that requires drivers to watch for hazards but does not require them to frequently use the vehicle’s controls.

This effect can greatly reduce driver awareness, and may even put them to sleep.

Long story short, slowing the advancement of self-driving cars by blowing up every automated crash into media headlines will result in people spending more time on these unreliable automation systems that are not meant to be treated as full-auto modes–but because people are people, they will do that anyway. If the world would stop flipping out over self-driving cars for a few years, maybe we can actually get somewhere.

And I guarantee you that a real, fully-automated car would cause way fewer yearly accidents than most humans I know.

Opinion

Changing Practices and Lives through Sustainability Education

Opinion

Lindsey Lyons, Assistant Director, Center for Sustainability Education Dickinson was named the No. 1 baccalaureate institution for sustainability performance by the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for 2018. Dickinson earned this, and other distinctions, because of our work to infuse sustainability into academics, campus and community engagement, operations, and planning and administration.

We do sustainability differently than other colleges and universities. We come to the work of sustainability with civic purpose and a conviction that a useful education should serve the common good. We draw on our strength in global education, immersing students in the study of sustainability from multiple perspectives, places, cultures, and disciplines. We provide high-impact, experiential, hands-on learning that changes practices and lives.

I am most impressed with the drive and curiosity our students and employees have to improve the human condition equitably in this and future generations, while conserving environmental systems necessary to support healthy and vibrant societies. A recent Dickinson survey indicated that 77% of students and 94% of employees take pride in Dickinson’s commitment to sustainability! Forty percent of students reported that sustainability was an important factor in deciding to attend Dickinson [1].

However, our work is just beginning. I firmly believe that we need to continue to innovate, create, and strive to connect our work on campus into the communities where we live, work, and study, now and forever. We need to change behaviors that have a negative impact on the planet and its people and work to create systems of positive change.

Crossword puzzle solutions:

(The Sustainability Knowledge, Practice and Beliefs Survey was administered by the Center for Center for Sustainability Education in April 2018. They were sent to random samples of 1,000 students and 500 employees at Dickinson. 195 students and 128 employees responded for response rates of 19.5% and 25.6% respectively.)

1. Dickinson College Center for Sustainability Education. (2018).

The Sustainability Knowledge, Practice and Beliefs Survey [Survey]. Available from Dickinson College Center for Sustainability Education

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Opinion

A New Power Grid Vu Pham, ‘21

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I remember the excitement when hearing that Dickinson College would dedicate 12 acres of Dickinson Park to Tesla’s solar panels [1].

Fortunately, this solar trend is happening everywhere, and it is a big step towards sustainability. However, one problem arises when solar energy, or any kind of renewable energy, is used more widely: the (nearly) unreliable and unpredictable nature of renewable power production.

According to the famous “duck curve” from CAISO, solar energy peaks during mid-day and drops to zero at sunset, which has already shown that we cannot rely on it all the time [2].

To make matters worse, this power production can be heavily affected by weather, geography (there are places where sunlight is very little and vice versa), seasons, etc. Wind energy also faces these challenges. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s monthly net generation for wind chart shows that, annually, there is usually a peak in March and a dip in August.

Spatially speaking, wind is even more unpredictable than sunlight.

How do we solve this problem? We definitely do not want to extensively apply a model into the real world without adequate and careful research because it can either produce energy inefficiently or actually damage the environment, like the case of hydropower dams.

Instead of relying on just one energy source, why not diversify the power grid? For example, during summer, while wind energy production dips, solar energy production peaks. Making a symbiotic relationship between these two sources can make our lives a bit easier. Like a human body or a biosphere, a lot of things need to work together to sustain life, and our power grid should not be an exception.

1. Moore, T. (2018, Feb 21). Tesla Solar Panels to Supply 25% of Dickinson College Electricity.

2. California ISO. (2016). Fast facts. Retrieved from https://www.caiso.com/Documents/FlexibleResourcesHelpRenewables_ FastFacts.pdf

Health and Wellness

“Do Metaphors Matter?”

Amy McKiernan, Professor of Philosophy

In Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag writes, “Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.

Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place,’’ (1978, 3). In my recent article, “Do Metaphors Matter?

Fibromyalgia and Women’s Embodiment” featured in the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (2018), I argue that women who experience chronic pain may find themselves in the following double bind. On the one hand, they may feel the need to describe their pain as extreme weakness or violence to convince health care providers and loved ones of the severity of it, but having to describe themselves repeatedly in these ways may be internalized and lead to a diminished sense of agency, especially in a culture that already systematically denigrates the strength and credibility of women.

Imagine, for example, how a woman who experiences chronic pain may describe this pain to others.

She may say that she feels like she is “bruised all over,” or like she “has been stabbed” or “beaten up.” In a 2018 commercial encouraging women to speak up about pain that may result from endometriosis, a patient is urged to say that the pain is like “stabbing knives” and something “hammering at my uterus” (AbbVie).

This language is, no doubt, effective and patient advocacy is vital in health care settings. Yet, I wonder, what impact might the use of violent metaphors to describe chronic pain have on women who already experience threats of violence in their everyday lives? Does describing chronic pain using violent metaphors impact how women think of their strength or self-confidence? In other words, what if “the kingdom of the well” and “the kingdom of the sick” are patriarchal kingdoms?

I raise these questions in much more detail in my recent article. It is difficult to imagine communicating pain without the use of metaphors, especially violent metaphors. As patients, we want to be heard and taken seriously. As family members and friends, we want our loved ones to understand our experiences of pain. I am interested in exploring the intersection of experiences of chronic pain and oppression because of the repetition involved in describing chronic pain using violent metaphors. I welcome discussion with members of our community.

References McKiernan, Amy. “Do Metaphors Matter? Fibromyalgia and Women’s Embodiment.” IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (2018) Vol. 11, No. 2. 112- Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1978.

AbbVie TV Commercial, “Endometriosis.” https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wHe1/abbvie-endometriosis.

2018.

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Wellness

Less than a century ago, a particular group of people were presumed to be peculiar, weak, lazy, and amoral—they were cancer patients [1]. While stigmas associated with a cancer diagnosis still exist, today informed people understand that getting cancer is not a question of character, but the consequence of genetic mutation obtained through “bad” luck (errors in DNA replication), “bad” genes (inherited genetic risk factors), and less frequently “bad” choices (ex. smoking) [2]. Concluding that someone has cancer because they are immoral or weak is simply untrue. However, the fact remains that people with cancer have a disease that is often life threatening, and this is not diminished by uninformed judgements about why they are sick. I believe there is an informative parallel with the current stigmatization of obesity and the health consequences of the global obesity epidemic [3]. The changing views toward cancer patients have occurred in large part due to increased knowledge of the causes of cancer. Applying the same rigor of understanding to obesity may help ease some of the stigmas facing this group while addressing the well-established health consequences.

The causes of obesity are diverse and complex, ranging from the genes in our genome to the microbes in our gut, as well as reasons yet to be discovered. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than one-third of U.S. adults have obesity, and that obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke,

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Wellness

Stigmas, Obesity, and Cancer Michael Roberts,

Professor of Biology

type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death [4]. Arguments over the definition of “obesity” distract from the reality that being significantly overweight negatively impacts one’s health, and disputing this fact by pointing out that not all people who meet the medical definition of obesity develop type 2 diabetes or die from heart disease, is comparable to claiming that cigarette smoking is not harmful because not all smokers develop lung cancer (an argument made by the Tobacco Industry in the 1970’s) [1].

At the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, I attended a session titled, “The Paradox Toolbox: Developing a Better Understanding of Associations between Obesity and Cancer–and What to Do about It? ”.

This session included talks by five prominent cancer researchers from three different countries who presented scientific evidence addressing the conclusion that “excess body weight is associated with the primary risk of 13 distinct cancers and is generally considered a poor prognostic indicator for patients diagnosed with a variety of malignancies,” [5]. The “Obesity Paradox” in cancer refers to the observation that for some cancers, excess body weight appears to confer an overall survival benefit. This has

been reported for the cancer my lab studies, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [6]. Researchers are now challenging this paradox by questioning the methodologies used in these studies and offering the simple explanation that patients presenting with excess body weight at diagnosis may have earlier stage or less aggressive cancers than underweight patients–early detection and less aggressive forms of a cancer almost always predict higher survival [7].

The best way to dispel obesity stigmas is to acknowledge that obesity is a complex health problem with multiple causes and variable consequences, some of which are serious, even life threatening, and to educate people on these facts while offering means of intervention. Obesity is a risk factor for cancer and other serious health problems that cannot be ignored even though causality is not yet fully understood.

1. Mukherjee, S. (2010). The Emperor of all Maladies. Scribner, New York, NY. 2. Tomasetti, C. and Vogelstein, B. (2015). Science, Vol. 347, Issue 6217, pp.

78-81.

3. James, W. (2009). International Journal of Obesity, Vol. 32, pp. S120–S126.

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/ index.html 5. Annual Meeting of the AACR. (2018). http://www.abstractsonline.com/ pp8/#!/4562/session/163 6. Brunner, AM. (2013). Am J Hematol. Vol. 88:642–6.

7. Lennon, H. (2016). Current Oncology Reports. Vol. 18, pp. 56-66.

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Wellness

The Alzheimer’s Germ?

Leah Hotaling ‘19

Every 65 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). AD is typically characterized by progressive memory loss, following behavioral disturbances and severe impairment of daily activities (Alonso, 2018). With 5.7 million Americans currently living with the disease, a cure is much anticipated by patients, their families, and researchers across the country. Over the past several years, mounting evidence has suggested that AD can be caused by microbial infections. This surprising notion has subsequently led researchers towards the search for specific viruses and bacteria. Yet, little consideration was given to fungi as a contributing factor of the disease. However, a thought provoking article was recently published by Alonso et al. (2018), suggesting that disseminated fungal infections actually do contribute to causing AD. Postmortem pathological examination of the brain tissue of AD patients typically show extracellular deposits of amyloid-ß (Aß) plaques, neuronal loss, and neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. However, Alonso et al.

(2018) continued to question the presence of systemic inflammation in AD patients.

In the present study, the researchers used immunohistochemistry to analyze samples from the frontal lobes of AD patients to determine the specific mycobiome within the patient’s central nervous system. The fungal genera of Alternaria, Botrytis, Candida, and Malassezia were more prevalent in the frontal lobe tissue of patients with AD (Alonso, 2018). The results suggest that infections can intensify throughout a lifetime without those individuals showing symptoms if it remains below a certain threshold.

Interestingly enough, the balance of natural mycobiota can be affected by diet, exercise, lifestyle, and weakened immune systems, ultimately contributing to the increase of fungal growth and progression of AD symptoms (Alonso, 2018).

Several mouse studies have indicated that administration of high doses of antibiotics significantly reduces the amyloid-ß (Aß) peptides in the brain (Wood, 2017).

(Reminder that the build up of those plaques are strong indicators of AD!) Although these findings are interesting, antibiotics should not be considered as “treatment” for AD. Instead, future research is necessary to further understand the relationship between fungal and bacteria growth in AD patients, which could be used to guide antimicrobial therapy treatment research.

1. Alonso, R., Pisa, D., Fernandez-Fernandez, A. M., & Carrasco, L. (2018). Infection of Fungi and Bac teria in Brain Tissue From Elderly Persons and Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 10.

2. Facts and Figures. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures 3. Wood, M. (2017). Antibiotics weaken signs of Alzheimer’s in mice after just one week. Retrieved from https:// www.uchicagomedicine.org/neurosciences-articles/antibiotics-weaken-signs-of-alzheimers-disease-in-mice-after-just-one-week-of-treatment

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Wellness

Circadian Arrhythmia: How Your iPhone Can Shift Your Internal Clock By: Sydney Gilkey ‘21

It is well documented that college students are significantly sleep-deprived, and our campus is no exception. For a majority of students here at Dickinson, including myself, feelings of daytime fatigue due to inadequate sleep are not unfamiliar. However, it is speculated that more students are lacking in sleep in recent years than ever before. Jean Twenge discussed an upward trend in sleep deprivation in teenagers, reporting a 57% increase from 1991 to 2015 [1].

This recent sharp upswing in numbers of sleepy adolescents occurred alongside the emergence of smartphones, and it is possible that this is no coincidence. The correlation could be due to the

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widespread habit of many smartphone users to scroll through social media or check messages before bedtime. This seemingly innocent practice could be harmfully altering sleeping patterns. It is about the relationship between your brain and light, and the bright screen of your smartphone may be a detrimental disruption to this connection.

Light plays an integral role in regulating our circadian rhythms of sleeping and waking.

By gathering information about the intensity of light in the environment via special ganglionic cells in the retina, the brain can roughly gauge the time of day in order to time its daily inter-

Wellness

nal rhythms. This schedule is maintained by a part of the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) [2]. The SCN regulates our sleeping schedule by changing activity in other areas of the brain, including the pineal gland, to make us drowsier or more alert according to the amount of light absorbed in the retina. At night, when environmental light is low, the SCN induces the pineal gland to release melatonin, a hormone that initiates and maintains sleep [3]. As a result, your brain ensures that you are drowsy around bedtime and alert during the day. However, a simple nighttime scroll through social media could unbalance this fragile rhythm. This is because the retinal light sensor cells are particularly sensitive to short-wavelength (blue) light, and the artificial light from our phones and laptops is highly saturated with this type of light [4].

When exposed to your phone screen at any time of the day, the retinal cells relay to the suprachiasmatic nucleus that average amount of light in the environment is high, and the SCN continues to behave as though it were daytime, even if the screen exposure occurs at night. Looking at a phone screen

1.

Twenge, Jean M. “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic. Sept. 2017. Web. 13 Oct. 2018. <https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/> 2.

Kalat, James W. Biological Psychology 12th Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2015. Print.

3.

Simonneaux, Valerie, and Christophe Ribelayga. “Generation of the Melatonin Endocrine Message in Mammals: a Review of the Complex Regulation of Melatonin Synthesis by Norepinephrine, Peptides, and Other Pineal Transmitters.”

Pharmacological Reviews 55.2 (2003): 325-395. Web. 13 Oct. 2018.

4.

Schmerler, Jessica. “Why Is Blue Light Before Bedtime Bad for Sleep?”

Scientific American. 1 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2018.

before bed causes an overall shift of the circadian rhythm, delaying the onset of typical nighttime behaviors of the body, including melatonin release by the pineal gland (“Blue light has a dark side”). The result is trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and subsequent fatigue the following day.

Lack of sleep can have detrimental consequences to physical and mental health, especially for students. One study reported a correlation between poor sleep and daytime fatigue and inability to concentrate [5].

Depression and anxiety are linked to lack of sleep, as are diabetes, cardiovascular issues, susceptibility to illness, and compromised thinking and reasoning [1, 6]. There may also be a link between nighttime phone use and lack of REM sleep [4], a stage of sleep associated with memory consolidation and learning [7]. Simply avoiding bright screens before bedtime could avert these consequences and lead to better sleep and improved overall alertness and health.

5.

Alapin, Iris, Catherine S. Fichten, Eva Libman, Laura Creti, Sally Bailes, and John Wright. “How Is Good and Poor Sleep in Older Adults and College Students Related to Daytime Sleepiness, Fatigue, and Ability to Concentrate?” Journal of Psychosomatic Research 49(2000): 381-390. Web. 13 Oct. 2018.

6.

“Blue Light Has a Dark Side.” Harvard Health Publishing. May 2012.

Web. 13 Oct. 2018. <https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-lighthas-a-dark-side>.

7.

Boyce, Richard, Sylvain Williams, and Antoine Adamantidis. “REM Sleep and Memory.” Current Opinion in Neurobiology 44(2017): 167-177. Web. 13 Oct. 2018.

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Entertainment

Kerbal Kerbal Space Program: Failure is anan Option Option Aidan Pidgeon ‘20

The stakes of real-life spaceflight are overwhelmingly high. The failure of a few components out of the millions that comprise a launch vehicle could lead to the loss of a multi-million dollar communications satellite, an interplanetary probe, or cargo delivery to the International Space Station.

The imperative for every part of a rocket to function perfectly is even greater when the payload is a crewed vehicle and human lives are at stake. Just recently, the failure of a coupling mechanism on a Soyuz rocket carrying astronauts to the Space Station on October 11, 2018 caused a total abort of the mission.

The pressure to succeed in Kerbal Space Program (KSP), a game by developer Squad, is far lower than in real life. KSP tasks its players with building and flying the rockets and planes of its eponymous organization, run by a lovable, green-skinned, and daredevilish species known as Kerbals. While the game employs some creative license to simplify elements of rocket propulsion engineering and aerodynamics, it is by-and-large an excellent simulator of the real-life physics of spaceflight.

One of the first challenges a player encounters is, unsurprisingly, to put one of its Kerbal-nauts into orbit around their home planet, Kerbin. Kerbin’s radius is only one-tenth of Earth’s, making it far easier to achieve orbit. In spite of this, many players, myself included, find their attempts at making orbit failing time and again.

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Here is a list of reasons why my attempts at orbiting a Kerbal (and returning them home safely) failed the first time I played the game: •Aerodynamic instability •Oscillation caused by fins added to fix aero dynamic instability •Pitched over too early •Pitched over too late •Pitched over too quickly •Thrust too low •Thrust too high •Inefficient propellant consumption •Not enough propellant •First stage crashed into second stage •Burned up on atmospheric re-entry •Capsule survived re-entry, but parachute overheated •Not enough parachutes Eventually, though, I managed the task, and started to gain an intuition for things. Fire a thruster in your direction of travel and you will raise the altitude of the opposite side of your orbit. Make sure to launch to another planet at the right time, or you will miss it entirely. Always perform inclination changes at low orbital speed, otherwise you will waste fuel. Through all of the failures, I came out learning something about what would have been an incredibly complicated topic had I been absorbing it all in a course on classical mechanics. Failure sometimes is not an option, but more often than not, it is an excellent learning tool.

Entertainment

Arrival: Speaking to the Stars Lena Friedman ‘19

In a world where most new science fiction movies are loud, explosive, and full of battles, it is refreshing to find one that focuses on communication, science, and peaceful first contact. While I do enjoy action movies, I find myself returning again and again to stories that make me think, which introduce me to new ideas and philosophies. One of the best movies of this type released in recent years is Arrival (2016), which stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner as linguist Louise Banks and mathematician Ian Donnelly as they attempt to establish communication with heptapods, an alien race that has landed on Earth. This movie, which is based on the short story The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, is an incredible example of a non-linear story, based in science but carried by a deeply emotional current and critically acclaimed acting.

Most truly speculative science fiction stems from actual scientific ideas that inspire authors–looking only at small collection of movies, you can see this in the incredible number of films reliant on atomic energy in the mid 20th century, Gattaca as genetic research progressed in the 90s, and more recently Interstellar, lauded for its careful

use of physics, in 2014. Among this subgenre of more intellectually inspired sci-fi movies, what makes Arrival (and Ted Chiang’s original story) truly unique is the unusual branch of science that inspired it: linguistic theory.

Arrival makes direct reference

to a specific part of this field: the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. This hypothesis states that a language determines, or at the very least strongly influences, the thoughts and decisions of the speaker.

Becoming fully immersed in a new (or alien) language like Amy Adams’ character does in the film, therefore, could change the way the brain works and processes information. We see

this in the way the characters change during the story, but the film also calls attention to other details that inform our view of society today: the conflation of tool and weapon in English, the difficulty of translating “war” between language, and whether a fundamental inability to communicate among ourselves could one day prevent us from communicating with alien others.

Having read The Story of Your Life previously, I was unsure when Arrival was first announced as to how such a complex story, which relies heavily on written cues to foreshadow major events, could be effectively translated to the screen. I should not have worried–even though I knew most of the plot twists going in, I still found myself rapt with attention, drawn in by the music, visuals, and expert storytelling. I strongly recommend this movie, especially to those who enjoy intellectual science fiction, emotionally carried plots, or incredibly conceived alien species, and can allow stories to reveal secrets as they see fit. After all, to the heptapods, all experience is about the journey, and Arrival is certainly one that is worth the time.

5/5 stars

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Under the Microscope:

A look at scientist and theologian Joseph Priestley Savannah Woods â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;21

Joseph Priestley was born in 1733 near Leeds, England as the oldest son of a cloth-dresser. His mother died when he was young, and as a result he was raised by his aunt, who was a dissident to the Church of England, strongly influencing Priestley, who would remain a dissident his entire life, and eventually leading to his emigration to the fledgling U.S.. While he was still living in England, he occupied himself with a variety of interests, chiefly science and theology. Priestley was an ordained minister and gave sermons for most of his life, as well as having his own congregations several times.

While he was working for the Earl of Shelburne from 1772-1780 he discovered oxygen, the most famous of his discoveries, as well as 7 other gasses and began developing the idea of photosynthesis.

As time went on, Priestleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s views on religion became more liberal, and his open and vocal support for both the American and French revolutions made him unpopular with royalists and authorities. As a result, his home and lab in Birmingham were burned in 1791 and he had to move his family to London, where they stayed for several years. Ultimately, London also proved too dangerous, so in 1794 Priestley and his wife followed two of his sons to Pennsylvania, where he would live for the rest of his life.

Priestley first lived in Philadelphia, where he became good friends with Thomas Jefferson, and was offered the chair of Chemistry at the new University of Pennsylvania. He turned down the offer because of his dislike for the city.

Priestley moved to Northumberland, PA, where he would spend the rest of his life. Soon after Priestley and his family settled, his youngest son passed away, and a year later, his wife also died. Priestley would live for ten more years in Northumberland, founding the Unitarian Church in the United States and continuing with his love of experimenting, although all of his most notable accomplishments were made when he lived and worked in England. After his death in 1804, Dickinson College aquired most of the lab equipment from his home in Northumberland and since 1952 has awarded the Priestley Award in his honor to scientists distinguished for their notable discoveries and contributions to mankind.

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