OCULUSSJ
#1 By Jiwon Lee Hugh Kang Joshua Nam Eric Yoon
FOCUS ARTICLE
BLACK HOLES -the Astronomical Anomalies by Jiwon Lee
Black holes are astronomical anomalies; just hearing their name invokes the image of a dark, seemingly timeless void — yet black holes are one of the brightest objects in the universe. Starting from Albert Einstein’s prediction of their existence in 1916 to the recent excitement following a successful attempt by astronomers to photograph a black hole, many have been possessed by the urge to know more about these peculiar creations. So, what exactly are black holes and why are they so special?
The first image of a black hole, shown above, was taken by a group of astronomers in April of 2019. The bright substance in the image is the dust and gas surrounding the black hole. The black hole itself is invisible; it is through analyzing the surroundings of the black hole that we are informed of its existence. The photograph was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, a global network of radio telescopes situated in various international stations across Earth. (Source: EHT Collaboration) Essentially, a black hole is a massive star that has run out of fuel. Stars, despite being able to exist for up to a couple billion years, have a point in time when the amount of hydrogen it contains is inadequate at powering the star’s sheer mass. At this stage, the star expands to become a red giant, and stays this way
for up to a billion years until its helium core eventually buckles under the weight of the entity and fizzles out. The red giant, now stretched out to its maximum size, promptly blows up into large chunks known as planetary nebulae, which are then sucked in by the substantial gravitational force of the center of the gaseous being. If the remnants of the star have enough collective mass, they fuse together to become a black hole; alternatively, the red giant could explode into a red supergiant, or cave into itself to become a white dwarf — a very small, dense star — surrounded by thick clouds of planetary nebulae. Our galaxy’s Sun, for example, is destined to become a white dwarf. In the case of larger stars, such as V616 Monocerotis, the former scenario proves to be the most applicable for their future state. V616 Mon., best known as the closest black hole to our solar system, is located approximately 3000 light years away and has a mass of between 9 to 13 times that of the Sun. Despite being unable to actually see black holes, scientists were able to gauge the approximate location and size of this black hole through observing the behavior of its cosmic neighbor, a star with about half the mass of the Sun. In fact, this method proves effective for most analyses of black holes; the rough whereabouts of black holes can be estimated through evaluating its effects on the trajectories of nearby planets and stars. There are three major types of black holes: supermassive black holes, intermediate black holes, and stellar black holes. Stellar black holes, as hinted at by their name, form when a large star dies out and leaves an opening with adequate conditions for a black hole to form. Supermassive black holes form the center of most galaxies in the Universe, and with the closest one being more than 27,000 light-years away, they pose no significant threat to our planetary system. Intermediate black holes, which are classified as having a mass greater than those of stellar black holes but less than supermassive black holes, are a complication in the field of black hole-sorting, so much that the scientific community had a field day when the first intermediate black hole was discovered in 2004. At this point, the question may arise; why are we so invested in learning about black holes when they are literally invisible to the human eye and are too far away to have much of an impact on our planet? The answer lies in the fact that black holes defy the laws of physics as we know it. In our carefully constructed universe, the behaviors of all substances are governed by a series of defined laws. These regulations, however, go flying out the window when they collide with black holes. In a situation where everything and anything nearby is sucked into a massive hole of light without any indication that they are every released, black holes act as a violent cannonball into a relatively calm surface of scientific logic. Approximately a century ago, Albert Einstein proposed the theory of general relativity, along with which he theorized that strong gravitational forces could influence the course of light. Black holes are existing proof of this hypothesis, but their gravitational fields are able to do so much more than warping light, an impressive feat in itself; they can warp the very essence of space and time.
All objects have their own gravitational fields, which means that no matter what size it is, the object affects the trajectory and positions of neighboring substances. However, this gravitational force is usually negligible; yet, in the case of large stars, this gravitational force has some importance in magnitude, and is able to have an effect on other, smaller stars around it. This is the reason why our planet orbits the Sun. While the gravitational effect that a large star has on proximate matter is impressive, the comparative gravitational force of a black hole is so immense that it warps the very essence of space and time, resulting in the extensive bending of dimensions as shown above. (Source: Julian Baum/SPL)
So, what exactly happens to objects that are absorbed by black holes? Interstellar director Christopher Nolan seems to think that we end up at the back of a bookshelf. The truth is, we don’t know for sure. The only clear understanding we have about this phenomenon is that space and time cease to exist in the depths of black hole — but what happens to us then? Tentatively assuming that the subject of this experiment has yet to be squashed into a nice serving of cosmic mashed potato, we can only imagine the peculiar fate of a person unfortunate enough to meet such an end. Now, theorizing that observing this occurrence would be possible, what would you see? BBC reporter Amanda Gefter envisions that an onlooker will experience a phenomenon called spaghettification. This quite appropriately-named, rather unpleasant happening involves the body of the subject, which had previously been accelerating toward the black hole at a rapid pace, slowing down and stretching out to wrap itself around the horizontal boundary of the black hole. As the expanded body of the person nears the black hole, the heat and radiative energy being emitted by the black hole's center cause the spaghettified substance to slowly disintegrate into flakes of ash.
While this traumatizing visualization is gruesomely fascinating in itself, the same happening as seen through the subject’s eyes seems even more intriguing. In the hapless event that the black hole happens to be a stellar black hole, the last moments of said subject — for convenience’s sake, let us call him Bob — would be spent experiencing the agony that comes with being warped into the shape of an elongated, flimsy piece of spaghetti noodle. But granted that the black hole is of a sufficient size, Bob would not feel the spaghettification that an observer would see his body go through; instead, he would feel a weightless sensation, in which he would experience freedom from all gravitational forces. In the somewhat ironic situation of being sucked in by the universe’s strongest gravitational field without being able to feel any of its effects, Bob would continue his journey toward the black hole’s center — an infinitely curved concentration of gravitational forces that would render space and time meaningless — until, upon reaching that point, the existence of Bob as we know it would cease to exist. This dramatic finale would definitely be a memorable way to end your life — or maybe the scientific logic we have used to reach this conclusion is faulty -just like many physics laws were proven to be when they first collided with the formidable existence of black holes - and the black hole would transfer Bob somewhere entirely new and outside the boundaries of our imagination. Either way, it is without doubt that the topic of black holes is a mysteriously alluring one; more than half a century has passed since American astronomer John Wheeler first coined the term “black hole” to describe these astronomical entities, yet remarkably restricted progress has been made in understanding just how they work and why they work in the ways they do. And despite the nearest ones being a good few thousand light years away, scientists have continued to be enticed by these black holes. Although understanding the true, unadulterated experience of being pulled into a black hole may only be achieved by actually undergoing the phenomenon, perhaps through the extensive research being conducted on black holes, we could one day perceive the truth as of what exactly happens when Bob — or any other substance in the universe, for that matter — meets the peculiar fate of falling into the depths of one.
Bibliography
Cain, F. (2016, March 18). Where is the Closest Black Hole? Retrieved from https://www.universetoday.com/127942/closest-black-hole/
Devlin, H. (2019, April 10). Black hole picture captured for first time in space breakthrough. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/10/black-hole-picturecaptured-for-first-ti me-in-space-breakthrough Gefter, A. (2015, May 25). The strange fate of a person falling into a black hole. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150525-a-black-hole-would-clone-you Parks, J. (2019, July 12). What are intermediate-mass black holes? Retrieved from http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/07/what-are-intermediate-mass-black-holes
A Human's Best Friend by Hugh Kang
Dogs have become an integral part of many peoples’ lives; it is impossible to go outside and not see people walking their dogs. Even on the Internet, we can watch millions of cute videos of dogs. How have dogs, a species that shares little anatomical similarities to humans, become their companions? Interest in the subject of dog cognition can be tracked all the way back to the studies of Charles Darwin. In his third treatise, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animal, Darwin was able to discern the different expressions of emotions in dogs. In spite of these studies, dogs have always been considered an artificial species due to their domestication throughout history. Dog domestication began around 12,000-14,000 years ago (Vila et al., 1997). They have always occupied an anthropogenic niche. However, they can even be distinguished among other domesticated animals: dogs have the abilities to hunt our prey, help herd our livestock, protect our homes, and most importantly, be our close companions. Recently, there has been a wave of interest in the study of canine cognition about the level in which human cues can control the behavior of dogs (Haire, Brown, Williamson & Tomasello, 2002). There has been a notable pattern in the behavior of dogs in response to human cues: it has been shown that a human pointing overpowers the dog’s natural preference. For example, a study conducted by Pongracz, Hegedus, Sanjurjo, Kovari, and Miklosi found that dogs would constantly pick a bowl with a carrot over a bowl that contains a sausage in the case that a human would physically point towards the bowl with the carrot. In another experiment, researchers conducted a delayed response test in order to show the effects that humans have on dog behavior. To begin with, they showed the dogs the location of food. Then, while the dogs were unaware, the food was taken away and hidden. As expected, the researchers noticed that, while the dogs were looking for the food, they naturally searched the place where the food was last seen. However, in the case that humans would point to a location different from the one where the food was last seen, the dogs would expectedly search the place where the humans indicated before the location where they last saw the food. Although these experiments did show some cases where the dogs did not follow the popular behavior, these studies can conclude that physical
communication by humans have strong control over dog behavior, even to the point where it overpowers the dogs’ propensities. How about the memory of these dogs? Do these dogs remember the faces of humans? Many animal cognition scientists have wondered how a nonverbal animal was able to retain information about a stimulus that is rather complex. To begin with, Pattison, Lause, and Zentall wanted to answer questions about whether dogs were able to detect changes in a certain stimulus. They called it “the case of magic bones.” The experiment first consisted of the dogs being allowed to observe a bone. Then, the size and color of the bone was altered. The researchers noted that the dogs looked at the bones that were transformed for a longer duration than the duration they looked at a bone that was unchanged. They concluded that the dogs were able to remember and notice the physical characteristics of the bone (including the size and color). In another experiment, Huber, Racca, Scaf, Viranyi, and Range tested the memory of dogs for a more complex stimulus, the face of humans. Initially, the faces of humans were shown. Afterward, only certain facial features of faces were shown to the dogs. Despite only seeing certain features, the dogs were able to differentiate between the faces and identify the humans. These experiments demonstrate the dogs’ ability to remember complex stimuli, which comes in very handy in their relationships with humans.
Also, another phenomenon that many researchers have pondered about in the dog’s incredible ability to comprehend our language. What allows these dogs to understand us whenever we command them to sit? In a study conducted by Pilley and Reid (2011), they trained a border collie, named Chaser. They trained Chaser to differentiate among the given names for over a thousand different objects. Surprisingly, over the long duration of the experiment, Chaser was able to learn the names of the different objects. In a similar manner, Macpherson and Roberts wanted to study the dog's ability to use an approximate number system (ANS). Prior to the experiment, the exact counting of objects based on number symbols, or ANS, was considered to be reserved for only humans and non-human primates. This idea seemed consistent when the study showed that the dogs failed to discriminate between small and large quantities of items when the items were shown in a sequential manner. However, when the different numbers of objects were shown sequentially, a rough collie showed a clear ability to discriminate. It’s ability to discriminate the objects was even consistent with Weber’s Law, which says that the noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus amount. Thus, these studies show that dogs have very similar cognitive abilities to those of humans, not only linguistically, but also numerically.
John W. Pilley, a professor emeritus of psychology at Wofford College, used different objects in order to teach Chaser over 1,000 words via Pilley Bianchi
As you can see, their incredible abilities to recognize our gestures, remember our faces and understand our language has allowed them to be the “man’s best friend” that we know and love today. Considering the cognitive abilities that dogs have shown, some researchers have even concluded that dogs have a level of sentience equal to that of a human child. It’s truly amazing how these four-legged creatures can have such an intimate connection with the human species. In spite of these findings, animal abuse remains an issue throughout the world. Puppy mills, which are commercial dog breeding facilities that often have inhumane conditions, continue to thrive worldwide. The dog meat trade also continues to flourish, especially in Asian
countries. In addition, physical abuse towards these dogs continues to be an issue. Next time you see your pet dog, make sure to show it love. We need to remember that these dogs are just another one of us.
Works Cited Macpherson, K., & Roberts, W. A. (2013). Exploring the canine mind: Studies of dog cognition. Learning and Motivation, 44(4), 205-206. doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2013.04.006
Fowler, H. (n.d.). Animal cruelty facts and stats. Retrieved August 7, 2019, from https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/animal-cruelty-facts-and-stats
Berns, G. (2013, October 05). Dogs Are People, Too. Retrieved August 7, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html?searchR esultPosition=4
A group of E.Coli, a common gut bacteria (Getty Images)
Gut bacteria affects drug responses by Joshua Nam
A 100 trillion bacteria, consisting of more than 1000 species, reside within your guts. While the presence of a 100 trillion bacteria inside you may sound somewhat unsettling, it should be known that they play a very important role within your body. These bacteria play a crucial part in the digestion of various substances that our body alone cannot digest - such as the dietary
fibers you see within various plant foods. In addition they take part in the synthesis of vitamins and many more essential materials. In other words, they are important partners that our body can’t live without.
Well, it turns out that they do more than just helping our bodies’ digest and acquire materials, Gut bacteria have also shown to determine how our body reacts to certain drugs. Researchers Michael Zimmerman, Maria Kogadeeva, Rebekka Wegmann and Andrew L. Goodman of Yale University have found out that the genetic composition of an individual’s microbiota within their digestive tract/guts plays a major role in how people’s bodies respond to various medications.
Every person possesses a different microbiome within their guts - that is, everyone possesses a unique variety and ratio of different types of gut bacteria. While person 1 might possess a large number of bacteria A in their intestines, person 2 might have much more bacteria B in comparison less bacteria A. Depending on the gut ecosystem, a human’s guts can foster growth for certain groups of bacteria also called an enterotype, which specialize in carrying out different processes and breaking down different materials - for example, members of the enterotype Prevotella are known to metabolize carbohydrates whereas those of the enterotype Bacteroides specialize in breaking down proteins and amino acids. The enterotypes of an individual is most likely dictated by long term diet behavior. The primary consumption of a particular substance may foster the growth of a certain enterotype; e.g. consuming a lot of carbohydrates would likely mean prevotella would become the dominant enterotype.
The researchers collected chemical evidence on how different types of gut bacteria affect the usage of medications. They did this by collecting 76 different species of bacteria to represent the human microbiome, and exposed them to various drug solutions made of 271 oral drugs within test tubes. After incubating the bacteria for 12 hours, the researchers found out that up to 176 out of the 271 drug solutions had been altered by at least one species of bacteria. The bacteria had metabolized the drug solution, reducing the concentration level of the drug within the test tubes. Each bacterial species was shown to have affected from 11 to 95 drugs. These alterations would come in 3 types; the activation of the drug, inactivation of the drug, and even toxification. Muscle pain reducers like sulfasalazine were often seen being activated further by the bacteria, whereas the antiviral drug brivudine was shown to take part in the production of harmful substances.
The numerous different interactions between various drugs and bacteria represented on a diagram. The hexagons in the middle represent the drug substrates, the rectangles the enzymes produced by the bacteria, and the circles the products formed by the interaction. The red lines represent what is naturally produced. (M. Zimmermann et al. Mapping human microbiome drug metabolism by gut bacteria and their genes. Nature. Published online June 3, 2019. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1291-3)
Next, the researchers collected samples of feces from 28 participants and once again tested the interactions between the microbiota within the samples and various drugs. Results showed a variety of interactions between drugs and microbiotas once again.
The researchers moved on studying which portions of the bacterial DNA were creating such interactions. They achieved this by taking portions from the DNA of the bacterial strains being tested and then inserting them into the genome of E. Coli cells. From this they were able to identify the DNA segments modifying the drugs, and take a closer look at how they cause the modifications.
The significance of this research lies in the detailing of a new factor when producing and administering new drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have to consider the various different microbiomes present in each individual. No two are the same, and thus they must attempt to spend more time finding a solution that is mostly effective for a large range of people or alternatively try to classify their drugs for multiple specific cases. Although it may sound less cost efficient for companies to invest in drugs that would only be consumed by few, both strategies have shown to reap comparable amount of revenue, as those with special, rare cases are
willing to pay more to fix their conditions. It may sound unfair for those that may have to pay more due to their unique situation, but then again it is by no means a reason to not take such medications and “endure the pain,” which may be dangerous. Doctors must consider the microbiota of their patients before issuing them certain medications in order to make sure that there will be no side effects that come from interactions between the gut bacteria of their patients and the drugs. By taking samples of their patients’ feces, they will analyze and predict the possible reactions. Either way, careful research into the presence of gut bacterial like that done by the scientists at Yale will act as a guide for pharmaceutical companies and others in the medical field in the usage of medicines, and help in the provision of many more effective drugs for each individual in the future. It’s also safe to assume that you will need to hand out a sample of your feces more often whenever you need to take medications, whether or not you like it. After all, it is for the better.
Works Cited
Temming, M. (2019, July 9). Gut bacteria may change the way many drugs work in the body. Retrieved from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gut-bacteria-may-change-way-manydrugs-work-bo dy
Zimmermann, M., Zimmermann-Kogadeeva, M., Wegmann, R., & Goodman, A. L. (2019). Mapping human microbiome drug metabolism by gut bacteria and their genes. Nature, 570 (7762), 462–467. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1291-3
Early-Onset Alzheimer’s – An Analysis by Eric Yoon
Early-Onset Alzheimer’s. The inexplicable feeling that your mind is missing something; something that guides your reality. It’s not that you’re a senior and simply suffering from old age- you’ve just turned 34, being the breadwinner to uphold a new family. Memory is supposed to deteriorate when you’re old, and yet you keep forgetting your keys. Keep yelling at your spouse for having said something they claim to have never said. Blanking on your children's name. This is Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease: non-curable, progressive, and fatal to life. Early-Onset Alzheimer’s, as fitting with its name, is a subset of Alzheimer’s disease that strikes those younger than 65. The five percent of Alzheimer’s patients that have it constitutes over 200,000 people, and they suffer from sustained memory loss and deteriorating cognitive function. A single cause of the disease is unknown, though a combination of genetic and environmental factors have been shown to give rise to the formation of Alzheimers. To be specific, Alzheimer’s disease destroys neurons and their connections in parts of the brain involved in memory, including the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. It later affects areas in the cerebral cortex responsible for language, reasoning, and social behavior. Over time, the disease affects all parts of the brain. The differences between Early-Onset Alzheimer’s and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s, though few, are important to note: for one, many cases of the early-onset form are caused by mutations in chromosomes 1, 14, or 21 of a person’s DNA. This leads to defects within proteins that are responsible for the breakdown of amyloid precursor protein (APP), allowing amyloid plaques to form and block communication between neurons. This is one of the defining characteristics of Alzheimer’s, and is shared among both forms; in Late-Onset Alzheimer’s, however, the formation of amyloid plaques is less clear due to latent activation in mutated genes. The LateOnset type’s development is thus chalked to a mixture of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. In both types of Alzheimer’s, amyloid plaques form between neurons and eventually kill the cells, leading to reduced brain function. Researchers have not found a specific gene that directly causes the late-onset form of the disease. However, one genetic risk factor—having one form of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene on chromosome 19—does increase a person's risk. APOE ε4 is the version of the gene that does increase risk for Alzheimer's and is also associated with an earlier age of disease onset; other forms of APOE play a neutral or even a beneficial role in delaying the start of Alzheimer's.
Another hallmark of Alzheimer’s are the emergence of neurofibrillary tangles, disrupting synaptic communication between neurons. These form from the dysfunction of tau, a protein responsible for the support of microtubules within the neurons to transport nutrients. For Alzheimer’s, tau fails to bind with the microtubules and instead binds to other tau, creating tangles that block the transport system and result in microtubule collapse, impeding upon normal function of the neurons. On a macro scale, this leads to many symptoms of brain degradation like, as neurologist Adnan A. Awada reports, “memory loss, disorientation, language difficulties, visuospatial problems, apraxia… mood swings, delusions, hallucinations, [and] misbehavior.” It is key to note that there are differences between the symptoms of Early and Late Onset Alzheimer’s; in the same article, Awada states that “in the study of Toyota et al.,[1] behavioral and psychological symptoms were relatively fewer in EOAD than in LOAD, while there were no differences in cognitive functions or dementia severity between two groups. In the largest and most recent study from Korea,[4] apathy was more common in EOAD patients, while delusions were more prevalent in LOAD patients.” What can be taken away from this? Like its parent disease, Early-onset Alzheimer’s is terrible and costly for anyone that develops it. It does not affect those under 30 years old (so teenagers are safe), but it still leaves individuals with a full life ahead of them with less time to indulge in their futures, even in comparison to normal Alzheimer’s. The characteristic difficulty in remembering events that just happened as well as the accompanying mood and personality changes grind not just on the person with Alzheimer’s but on friends and family as well. When I researched the disease, I found myself thinking about how I take my life for granted and what it comes with. Perhaps this line of thought is pretentious, and is not exclusive to only Early-Onset Alzheimer’s, but the inevitable nature of the disease and how it slowly affects those who have it make it the quintessential topic to consider this. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to remember their best friend’s interests, what one does for work, and their own family members. Early-onset Alzheimer’s shows us that we don’t have the luxury of waiting later to do the things we want to do, and we can’t take for granted a wistful safety. Most of all, it shows that we can fight. Those with early-onset Alzheimer’s still battle to have a normal life with a career and family they support. If anything, that’s the reason for why this battle is worth continuing to the end.
Works Cited Awada A. A. (2015). Early and late-onset Alzheimer's disease: What are the differences?. Journal of neurosciences in rural practice, 6(3), 455–456. doi:10.4103/0976-3147.154581 National Institute on Aging. (2015, August 30). Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-disease-genetics-fact-sheet National Institute on Aging. (2017, May 16). What Happens to the Brain in Alzheimer's Disease? Retrieved from https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-happens-brain-alzheimers-disease Stone, J. (2019). Younger-Onset Alzheimer's. Retrieved from https://www.alz.org/help-support/ihave-alz/younger-onset Wegerer, J. (2019, June 26). 10 Early Signs of Alzheimer's You May Have Missed. Retrieved from https://www.alzheimers.net/2014-07-16/10-early-alzheimers-warning-signs/