Catalyst

June 18

Spring Edition

Catalyst Understanding Exo-Planets Pg. 34

The New Frontier of De-Extinction Pg. 42

Let the Living Walk Again Pg. 56

Stepping into Gravity Waves Pg. 61

Synthetic Sequencing Pg. 21

Table of Contents Physics Gravitational Astronomy Graham’s Number Drake’s Equation

10 14 15

Astronomy Plentiful Planets Our Universe Neutron Stars Space Exploration

19 20 22 26

Biology The New Frontier of De-Extenction 30 Poaching 34 Synthetic Sequencing 36

Techonology Biofuels 49 Giving the Living a Walking Chance 50 ss

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Letters From

Fernando Vargas is a freshman at LASA. He is interested in understanding the universe, especially neutron stars. His hobbies include playing violin, reading, and procrastinating.

He was the photo editor for this magazine. His feature is about neutron stars, and he is excited to share his knowledge on the universe in this magazine.

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The Editors

Tess Frazer is a freshman at LASA and spends her days running track, playing soccer, practicing violin, and doing lots of homework. Tess has always been interested in science, and loves to look up at the stars and contemplate existence. She has always found the unity and connections of our world very interesting, and feels like science is the key to unlocking the these connections and paving future. She was the copy and text editor for Catalyst. Tess has a great interest in the fields of astrophysics and biomedical engineering, and is excited to be able to write about them in this magazine.

Violet is also a freshman at LASA. In her free time (which isn’t much), she listens to music, watches TV shows, or plays video games. Sometimes, when she feels like it, Violet draws.

She also plays lacrosse for part of the year. Violet’s favorite subject overall is science, but depending on what the unit is about, her favorite class may fluctuate. Violet has always been interested in biology, specifically animal biology. Violet is also very interested in prehistoric life, and is excited to be able to write about it, in the form of deextinction, in this magazine.

Kyle is a freshman at LASA who spends long hours staring at illuminated boxes that tell him stuff. When he is not looking at the magic light-box, he stares at paper, and gazes at dice, telling his players that they are fighting a hydra-dragongoddess-thing. Kyle has taken an interest in fencing, bagpipes, archery, listening to Irish and instrumental music, thrill seeking, jumping off of high places, climbing, hiking, and shooting people with paintballs.

Being proud of being a jack of many trades, he also writes, makes models, works on some limited art forms (mostly with resin), and does some chemistry

Paul is, surprise surprise, a freshman a LASA. He spends his free time practicing karate and learning math. His academic interests include philosophy, politics, the aforementioned math (especially calculus), and physics of all kinds. Other interests includes both video and board games, as well as the design of both, and role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. His favorite parts of designing this magazine include learning more about physics, fact checking the articles, and working with photos in photoshop. He also has a hobby of referring to himself in the third person, as he is doing as he writes this bio.

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Foreward

The wonders of modern science should not be lost on us - in the last few centuries, less than .1% of the time we humans have been on earth, we’ve discovered new theories that entirely change our perception of the world around us - from the big bang, to cell theory, to germ theory. We’ve discovered the basic structure of the atom, quantum physics, nuclear energy, we’ve classified four fundamental forces, we’ve landed on the moon, we’ve nearly doubled our life expectancy, and so much more. All of these things are made possible by maintaining both a curiosity in the universe and a healthy skepticism that allows us to effectively determine which theories are best.

Through the scientific method, humans are finally able to reliably test and prove many natural phenomenon we now know, for example, that bloodletting is not an effective medical option.

The flexibility of science has proved itself through these methods, we have learned about things from incredibly small particles that make us up to mind-bendingly large astronomical phenomenon.

We’ve learned about things as far away as black holes and neutron stars to things as immediate as our planet and our atmosphere. This magazine has been made in hopes to demonstrate just how much science can push the limits of what we know - from manufacturing proteins using yeast to de-extinction to exosuits, Catalyst is just a peek into the wonderful and exciting world of modern science.

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Modern

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Physics

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Gravitational Astronomy The detection of gravity waves and how it was used

By Paul Schulze

On August 27, 2017, astronomers received data that allowed them to locate a pair of neutron stars that had previously been orbiting each other. This data came in the form of gravity waves; tiny distortions in the fabric of space-time that caused the area around instruments to temporarily compress and stretch.

The project that detected these gravity waves was Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory project (LIGO). LIGO was first conceived in the 1980s, but it just managed to detect gravity waves in 2015.

The production of gravity waves happens because of the nature of gravity. “Gravity is really just the bending of space,” Mike Durrett, a retired physical scientist, said.

Gravity waves are specifically produced when massive objects move, especially when they orbit around each other. If these two objects are moving rapidly, then they rapidly change the gravitational fields around them. “This change propagates outwards in a wave in the same way an electromagnetic wave propagates off from some source, or even simpler drop a pebble in

Byron Zollars sits in his office at Nanohmics.

These waves are produced when most things move, but they are so weak that they’re undetectable. As such, the primary sources for detectable gravity waves are black holes that are orbiting each other.

In these black hole binaries, as the black holes orbit around each other, they lose energy, causing them to fall in closer to each other. When they fall in closer, they spin around each other faster, which then causes them to lose energy at a faster rate, which then causes them to fall in faster. This causes the black holes

“This change propagates outwards in a wave in the same way an electromagnetic wave propagates off from some source, or even simpler drop a pebble in a pond and the waves propagate out.” a pond the waves propagate out,” Richard Matzner, a professor of physics at the University of Texas, said.

This propagating change causes space itself to distort, stretching and contracting in perpendicular directions.

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to orbit faster and faster, producing a stronger and stronger signal. The downside to this is that soon after the signal gets very strong, the black holes collide into one unmoving black hole (which, of course, doesn’t produce gravity waves).

Gravity waves cause minute distortions in space-time; the fabric of space literally compresses and stretches in perpendicular directions. Sensing distortions of that nature requires an instrument called and interferometer. An interferometer uses a beam-splitting mirror to send a laser down two different legs. A mirror at the ends of each of the legs reflects the laser back to the center of the device to be recombined.

The LIGO interferometer is set up so that if the laser travels an equal distance down and back each leg, the waves will cancel each other out. If a gravity wave comes by and makes the space down one leg slightly longer than the other, then the waves of the laser will not line up, and the beams will recombine and the laser will shine through the beam-splitting mirror. The interferometer has a photodetector placed so that it can “see” if the beam shines.

When the gravity waves from a black hole binary reachEarth, they only causedistortions smaller than 1 percent of the width of a proton. “The wave length difference at the detector only needs to be the wave length

Richard Matzner sits in his office at the University of Texas.

divided by two in order to change from a light fringe to a dark fringe. But what LIGO does is it sends the light back and forth along the leg many many times, so in effect that amplifies the change in the path that the light takes by however many times it gets folded,” said Byron Zollars, chief scientist at Nanohmics.

This technique of effectively amplifying the change, as well as

Two black holes orbit one another. (Photo by NASA/CXC/A.Hobart, courtesy of the Wikimedia foundation.)

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One potential noise source that could have affected data

by LIGO is the laser. “Any device that emits radiation also has fluctuations in that radiation,” Zollars said “So typically, these lasers are locked to an external cavity or an external frequency so that their wavelength is super super precise.” LIGO also has to worry about material

will sometimes go by the observatory, and seismic activity could be picked up by the interferometer. “You can detect this motion, and then you feed that to a process reverses the sense and cancels it out,” Matzner said. The mirrors in LIGO sit on hydraulic platforms, and the observatory uses an accelerometer to measure any motion of the Earth and cancel it out.

“Any device that emits radiation also has fluctuations in that radiation, so typically, these lasers are locked to an external cavity or an external frequency so that their wavelength is super super precise.” creep in the mirror. Material creep happens because forces trapped in the material act on the glass over time, which causes small movements in the material.

LIGO had to be careful to use materials that minimize this creep.

One of LIGO’s main strategy for being able to tell noise from a signal is to use two different detectors. “If you have just random noise in each detector, if you look at the two streams, they don’t correlate. If you took the difference or the sum it would be just more random” LIGO has to worry about external noises as well. Trains Matzner said. If the data was actually a signal, however,

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The lab at Nanohmics in Austin.

Virgo is an interferometer near Pisa, Italy. (Photo courtesy of the Wikimedia Foundation.)

one could see that the two detectors correlate at a certain point. “LIGO was designed from the start to have two sites. One of them is in Hanford, Washington, and the other is in Livingston, Louisiana,” Matzner said.

The signals that astronomers get from LIGO can be used for more purposes than just confirming the existence of gravity waves. When two detectors both detect the same gravity wave, they detect it at slightly different times, as the wave travels at the speed of light. Since they know the speed of the wave astronomers can use the difference in time to calculate at what angle the gravity wave is coming in from. However, only the angle can be calculated, which means that the source could be said to be on a sort of “circle” of potential positions that are at the same relative angle.

However, when LIGO detected a gravity wave on Aug. 27, 2017, there was another gravity wave observatory in Europe, Virgo, which had recently become active.

This allowed astronomers to calculate three separate angles between each possible pairing of detectors, so they could draw 3 circles. “They did this thing of drawing circles in the sky and they told optical astronomers and expert astronomers what they found and said, look there and an X-ray flash was seen from there,” Matzner said. “This is what the payoff is, that’s why a lot, so much effort was put into building this. Because it wasn’t just to detect gravitational waves, it was to do astronomy.”

“This is what the payoff is, that’s why a lot, so much effort was put into building this.

Beacuase it wasn’t just to detect gravitational waves, it was to do astronomy.”

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Graham’s Number Graham’s number was calculated by Dr. Graham in order to provide an upper limit on a problem relating to dicoloring the edges of cubes with more than three dimensions. It was, for a time, the largest number calculated for a paper.

By Paul Schulze

Arrow Notation: Multiplication is repeated addition

3 X 4 = 3+3+3+3 = 12 4 Threes 3

(AKA Exponentiation) is repeated Multiplication is repeated

(AKA repeated exponentiation)

3

4 = 3X3X3X3 = 81

4 = 3 3 3 3 = 37625597500000 3

is repeated

4=3 3 3 3

Now we define a function G(n) such that...

G(1) = 3

3=3

3

3

Now, we calculate G(1) and put that many arrows between two 3s to get G(2)

G(2) = 3 (G(1) arrows) 3

...

G(3) = 3 (G(2) arrows) 3

Then, we calculate G(2) and put that many arrows between two 3s to get G(3) This pattern continues on until G(64), Graham’s number

G(64) = Graham’s Number Things G(64) is greater than...

Things G(64) is less than...

G(64) >

G(64) <

in observable universe 10

G(64) > 10(10 ) (googolplex)

G(64) < Tree(3)

Fun facts for math nerds

G(64) 3 14 Catalyst Spring

G(64)

7 (mod 10)

Sources: • “Graham’s number is too big for me to tell you how big it is,” Scientific American Blogs • “Graham’s number,” Wolfram Mathworld • “Too big to write but not too big for Graham,” Plus Maths

The Drake Equation

By Paul Schulze

The Drake Equation is an equation used to estimate the number of technologicaqlly advanced civilizations in the milky way bradcasting signals right now. These figures are hotly debated, and we’re uncertain about all of them.

N = R*

fp

ne

fe

fi

fc

L

1/100

1,152,000

Pessimist

Optimist

R*

Rate of star formation (per year)

5

10

fp

Fraction of stars with planetary systems

.5%

10%

ne

Inhabitable planets per star system

1/2

2

fe

Fraction of inhabitable planets that get life

1/5

4/5

fi

Fraction of planets with life that get intellegent life

3%

80%

fc

Fraction of planets with life that get intellegent life

1/3

9/10

L

Length of time those civilizations broadcast in years

400

1,000,000

N

Number of technologically advanced civilizations broadcasting currently

Estimates:

Sources: • “The Drake Equation”, SETI Institute • “Are we alone in the universe?” exoplanets.nasa.gov • “Lecture 20”, https://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/teaching/astr380f09/

Modern

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The Future of Space

Astronomy

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Our Universe The Big Bang

Photo courtesy f NASA

Here Here Now Now Beyond Beyond

- The bang is the theory of how - The bigbig bang is the theory of how universe began. thethe universe began. is theororized everything - It -isIttheororized thatthat everything started ashot a hot dense mass started as a dense mass thatthat then erupted universe. then erupted intointo ourour universe.

- There many theories of the - There areare many theories of the bang, some even believe bigbig bang, some even believe thatthat it it is cyclic. is cyclic.

- Our universe came from - Our universe came from thethe bigbig bang, is now rapidly expandbang, andand is now rapidly expanding.ing.

- We looking to explore - We areare looking to explore ourour world, time, reality, which world, time, andand reality, which cancan begin to understand in our begin to understand in our universe. universe.

Dark Now matter is another theorists have three mysteries, and we are more main theories that explain this certain of what it is not than mysterious expansion. It is possible what it is. It makes up 27% of the In that it is a product of one of Einstein’s universe, and lies in the depths of 1889, Edwin theory of cosmological constant gravity. space and time. As the Universe Hubble discovered that Others believe that there is a kind of expands, as does the dark energy. our universe is expanding. energy-fluid that occupies space. There are Many scientist and organizations are Gravity as a whole bands our also scientists who are beginning to question donating time and energy into universe together, so why is it Einstein’s laws of gravity. The correct exploring these mysteries that expanding? The answer to this explanation is still unknown, but the solution lie beneath our universe lies in some of the greatest has a name, dark energy. Roughly 68% of and existence. mysteries in our universe, the universe is dark energy. Einstein was dark energy and Now the first to theorize that the matter. theorists have three emptiness of space is not There main theories that explain this actually nothing. are theories that say mysterious expansion. It is possible that the universe may be that it is a product of one of Einstein’s expanding only to contract again. theory of cosmological constant gravity.

The truth is that scientists do not really Others believe that there is a kind of know or understand the phenomenon energy-fluid that occupies space. There are also occurring. Some scientist believe that the big scientists who are beginning to question bang is cyclic, and driven by the expansion and collapse of our universe, but others believe that Einstein’s laws of gravity. The correct the universe will never stop expanding, and will explanation is still unknown, but the solution eventually fizzle out. New research is showing has a name, dark energy. Roughly 68% of that our universe’s expansion is accelerating, the universe is dark energy. Einstein was this shows that gravity is not playing a the first to theorize that the role in slowing the expansion as emptiness of space is not everyone thought it would. actually nothing.

Expansion

Shape

Photo courtesy ofof the Wikimdia Foundation

Our universe is all that we know. It is our home, as well as the home of billions of galaxies, stars, nebulae, and even many forms of life.

- Einsteinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theorized that universe is a threesphere.

- Everything is surrounded by everything else and everything is surrounded by itself.

- It is not infinite, but finite, infinity is just a theory.

- Time differs in different areas of the universe.

- The whole universe is made up of a feild, and all of reality is just a feild in which things interact.

Inside Stars

Galaxies

Stars are the basic Galaxies are cosmic building blocks of collections of celestial galaxies, and represent bodies. There are the basis of astronomy. billions of galaxies in Stars are essential to our observable life, and universe as we universe. Galaxies are know it. Their life classified by shape and cycles tell the stories of size, and help us to our universe. When we understand the nature use telescopes to look of our universe and at old stars, we can reality. look back into the past at the early universe. Sources:

Nebulae

Nebulae are the nurseries of stars.

Inside of them lie gas, and dust that expand light years across. They are the remnants of past stars, as well as the creaters of new.

They last millions of years, and are crutial to the function of our universe.

Planets

Planets are celestial bodies moving in an elliptical orbit around around a star. Planets orbit around stars, and they are the keys to life. Every planet is different. They vary in climate, matter, and state. Planets lay at the forefront of discovery and the hunt for extra terrestrial lfife.

- (The New Universe) National Geographic - (Dark energy, Dark Matter) NASA - (NASA Astrophysics) NASA - (Origins of the Universe) National Geographic - Reality Is Not What it Seems the Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli

Neutron Stars

By Fernando Vargas

H

ave you ever wondered what happens to a star when it

dies? Some of them have a sort of after life which is to become a neutron star. A neutron star is a celestial object that is compacted but dense. They are composed of mostly neutrons with a small proportion of electrons and protons. They also often have strong magnetic fields.The average diameter of a this star is 12.4 miles but the mass of it is approximately 1.3-2.5 of our sun. The magnetic field is 1 Trillion Gauss which is a lot because the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s magnetic field is only .5 Gauss. A neutron star is a end stage for some stars which is amazing to along with the process it goes to get there.

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Nebula

This is the birthplace of stars which is made up of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases.

In order for a star to form the light atoms have to be compressed in order to allow the nuclei can undergo fusion. After that there is a star.Towards the end, the star will use up all the nitrogen in its core and it will move to the next stage.

Main Sequence Star

Massive stars will be in the main sequence for about 20 million years, and an average star like our sun will be in this stage for about 10 billion years. In this phase the star is fusing hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms in its core. About 90 percent of stars are in this phase, as this is the phase where stars spend most of their time. When the core runs out of hydrogen the star goes to the next stage.

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Red Supergiant

These stars are a several thousand times bigger than our sun , but they have very low temperatures. They are also often very old. There is not a lot of things that are intresting about them.

Supernova

A supernova is the explosion of a red supergiant. The star explodes because “iron can only absorb energy, not emit it. The iron core absorbs energy from the star, reducing the pressure and leading the iron core to collapse rapidly, in about one second” Craig Wheeler,profecer at Univercity of Texas said. After the supernova it releases neutrinos. The light and heat is so intense that it could cut straight through the earth. According to Wheeler After this event, “If stars are too massive, we are not quite sure how massive, but perhaps greater than about 30 times the mass of the Sun, they can produce black holes rather than neutron stars.”

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Neutron Star

Becoming a neutron star is one of the two final stages that a massive star can go. In this stage the star is small and compacted. “Many neutron stars emit radio and gamma-ray radiation from their magnetic fields as they rotate around. This gives flashes of radiation every time the rotation points the source at Earth , Wheeler said “Neutron stars are very complex and there are a lot of things that are misunderstood.¨The major thing scientists do not understand about neutron stars is how the neutrons, protons, and electrons are arranged. They can make complex structures, somewhat like crystals. We also do not understand as accurately as we would like how much mass can be piled on a neutron star before it will be crushed to become a black hole,” Once a star becomes a neutron star, it will always be a neutron star. The only change that will happen is that it will slow down its rotation and get cooler in temperature. Scientists “found out dramatically when gravitational waves from a neutron star merger arrived at the Earth from 100 million light years away last August 8. This was the first such event since the Nobel-Prize winning first detection of gravitational radiation in September of 2015. In this case, the gravitational waves were followed 1.7 seconds later by a burst of gamma-ray radiation and then optical radiation the peaked and fell off a few days later. This radiation suggested,as had been guessed it would, that the collision produced very heavy elements like gold and uranium,”Cragie said.

Studying these celestial objects can help because, “Once we have a measure of the mass and radius, we can tie those results directly into the nuclear physics of what goes on when you compress so much mass into such a small volume,” said Goddard’s Zaven Arzoumanian. If neutron stars are measured in mass you can find the fine line bettween the mass that a star has to be to become a blackhole.

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Space Exploration

by Fernando Vargas

Monkey in Space In 1949 June 4 Albert II was the first monkey in space at 83 miles whiich is consedered teh begging of space but sadly he died on impact because of faliure of his parashuite

First humans on the Moon On July 20, 1961 on the mission Apolo 11 Niel A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin were the first people to malk on the moon. To get there they used the space shuttle Saturn V.

Cars in Space In 2018 space x sent a tesla to spacxe wich eventualy is going to reach mars.

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First Flight In 1947 the UNited States sent fruit flies That were lasunched i a Nazi V-2 Rocket. The Rocket made it 68 miles int he sky

Fisrt human in space Finally after sending animals to space for years on April 12, 1961 a Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the fist human in space. He went into orbit in a Vostok 3KA-3

w

Creation of ISS The second peice of the ISS was sent on November 20, 1998 it conected to Zyrya. It was the first of three things to connect to Zyra. This peice was from Russia.

Future of Space Travel In 2020 they are planing to send a spceship mars to try and inhabit mars.

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Modern

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Biology

American mastodon skeleton, 1917. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

The New Frontier De - Extinction of

Death is a fascinating part of life. In the history of the world, humanity has both feared and revered death, and it shows up as an important aspect in many cultures and religions. Humans have always been searching for a way to beat death, but to no avail. However, a process called de-extinction could

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soon pave the way for defeating human — and animal — mortality.

De-extinction is the process of reviving extinct creatures. This idea may seem far off, but with new technological advancements being made seemingly every day, deextinction may not be as far off as one might think. At the moment, it

is not the science world’s greatest priority, but it has always existed as an ambition. However, with the current decline of the planet’s health, this idea could possibly pick up in the near future. De-extinction seems great at first glance, but there are several major drawbacks that should be heavily considered before any action is taken to bring

a species back to life. It is also not nearly as easy as popular culture makes it out to be.

Despite this, the world seemingly laughs in the face of impossible things, as solutions to problems are being created every day all around the world. It may be quite a while, but de-extinction still may be possible one day.

De-extinction cannot be done with the flip of a switch. It is very complicated and involves many factors that must be right for deextinction to be successful. One of the main problems with deextinction is the genetic aspect of it. Currently, the field of genetics is not advanced enough to do something as complex as bringing an extinct species back to life.

Jeff Barrick, an evolutionary biologist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, suggests one method that might be used in the future for deextinction: moving small pieces of DNA from the extinct species into a living, closely related animal over several generations, such as moving mammoth DNA into an elephant. However, issues still arise with this method. “That’s going to take a really long time and in the end it’s going to be really unclear whether we’ve actually de-extincted it or made something that’s kind of a hybrid, or something that’s new,” Barrick said. It would be very difficult to revive a true specimen of an extinct species because the DNA found in fossils and other evidence of the organism is most often damaged and the genome is incomplete.

Inadequate DNA samples aren’t the only problem with deextinction. Anna K. Behrensmeyer, a paleontologist and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the

Anna K. Behrensmeyer’s team excavating vertebrate fossils in Northern Arizona, 2012.

Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

“I think that it’s going to be a very long time before, and maybe never, that we can actually bring them back to life because it really isn’t enough to just bring one individual back to life.”

Anna K. Behrensmeyer working in the field in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, 2015. Courtesy of Anna K. Behrensmeyer.

Smithsonian, said “I think that it’s going to be a very long time before, and maybe never, that we can actually bring them back to life because it really isn’t enough to just bring one individual back to life.” For a species to thrive, it needs to be able to survive on its own and reproduce in order to carry on the species. If an organism was brought back, there would be no point to bringing it

Jeff Barrick in his lab at the University of Texas at Austin, 2016. Courtesy of Jeff Barrick.

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Melissa Kemp excavating a cave on the Caribbean island of Marie-Galante. Courtesy of Melissa Kemp.

again when the specimen dies.

There are also major environmental factors involved in de-extinction.

“I think that might be possible, but if you’re going to recreate the species and bring the species back to life, then you have to take into consideration all the things that would allow that kind of animal to live again,” Behrensmeyer said.

The organism is not immune to the environment and the environment is not immune to it. For many now-extinct species, the world has changed immensely since they were alive.

Ideally, the de-extincted animal would be reintroduced into the natural environment, but this will not be possible in every case, as reintroduction will cause problems for both the organism and the other organisms already occupying the environment. “De-extincting a species is almost like — it’s not that different, probably — than moving a species from, say, Asia to the U.S., sometimes. They can become invasive, they can unbalance native ecosystems, you know, it starts eating something,

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something else goes extinct,” Barrick said. The new organism will not fit into its environment immediately, or possibly ever, especially if it is prehistoric.

There are no exceptions for a de-extincted organism. They are still organisms, and any organism introduced into an unfamiliar environment will cause problems, sometimes bigger ones than imagined.

life ends up stranded in the jungle, chances are they will not make it out alive. Animals and other organisms are not robots; they cannot survive in any environment or any place.

There are clear biological restraints concerning de-extinction. But scientists are still mixed on whether de-extinction is worth any money or time. Kemp doesn’t think deextinction is worth money or time.

Animals are not emotionless, “We are currently experiencing a massive loss of biodiversity in the either. Melissa Kemp, a paleobiologist and soon-to-be world, all while we are still trying to determine exactly how much Department of Integrative Biology assistant professor at the Univeristy biodiversity our planet holds,” she of Texas at Austin, said, “Many of said. “The resources one would spend on de-extinction projects these species are not adapted to today’s environment and it would are better allocated to work on be detrimental to their well-being.” conservation strategies for extant, For many extinct species, the world threatened species and biodiversity has changed significantly since the discovery.” The earth’s biodiversity species was alive. An unfamiliar will never be able to be restored environment would not only stress with de-extinction because the the organism out, but would also process is not possible yet and also lower its chance of surviving and would likely take a large amount of therefore carrying on the species by time and resources. a large amount. A desert-dwelling When compared to the dying creature would be completely environment of Earth, de-extinction out of its element if moved to a seems out of the question. marshlands environment. This is However, Barrick believes that deparalleled in humans; If a person who has lived in the city their whole extinction could have many other

benefits rather than just the end result. One of the most important parts of the space race was the technology that got developed, he said. As he points out, much of the technology that is commonplace today was developed for and because of the space program.

Going to the moon is astounding, but arguably the best part was the technological advancements that came out of it.

De-extinction isn’t all bad, though; it could potentially have many benefits, such as the aforementioned technological aspects. Putting an organism back into a damaged ecosystem could restore the ecosystem back to its former, thriving state. “There are some ecosystems that have lost ecological function due to extinction, and bringing an extinct species back could help restore the ecosystem to a more balanced state,” Kemp said. The extinct organism, if reintroduced, could occupy the niche it did before its extinction, and the ecosystem could become more stable.

The ability to bring back extinct creatures would also do wonders for many scientific fields. “Being able to study things when they’re alive is a lot better and easier to learn a lot more about them,” Barrick said. Having more examples of extinct species would allow scientists to study them and to figure out how they evolved and how they ended up the way they did, he said. There is no better way to learn about something than to witness it firsthand, and being able to witness an extinct species alive would teach scientists so

“We are currently experiencing a massive loss of biodiversity in the world, all while we are still trying to determine exactly how much biodiversity our planet holds.”

much about the species that was previously unknown or that scientists had only scratched the surface of.

De-extinction captures the imagination of adults and children alike. This is fueled by pop culture in some ways, with immensely popular franchises like “Jurassic Park” making people wish they could see real dinosaurs, despite the possible consequences. The novelty of seeing an extinct animal alive would get anyone’s heart racing. As Behrensmeyer puts it, “It would be fascinating and wonderful to be able to see some of these creatures again.”

De-extinction may not be the most reasonable or practical scientific goal. However, humanity always has and always will be ambitious.

Humans will always try to achieve the unachievable and make the impossible possible. De-extinction might just be one of those highly ambitious goals. However, this field of science is fairly new. Only time will tell what happens next in the new frontier of de-extinction.

The dinosaur known as “Diplodocus longus” in the “Extinct Monsters Hall” in the Smithsonian. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

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POACHING Why Should We Care?

Poaching negatively affects many animals around the world.

Traditional Medicine The use of animal parts in traditional medicine is a major factor in the decline of many animal populations. The black market for animal parts is mostly in Asia but still exists on other continents and countries, even those with harsher laws towards illegal animal part trade. In recent years, there has been a myth in Vietnam that rhino horn can cure cancer. This has caused poaching to spike and the price of rhino horn to rival gold. However, scientists have been working to create synthetic materials to be used in traditional medicine as replacements for actual animal parts.

Why Should We Care?

Current Efforts

Many communities, especially in developing countries, depend greatly on the local wildlife and plants.

Poaching takes the animals and the important resources they provide away from the communities. Poaching also unbalances ecosystems just like overfishing does. Sometimes, non-target animals are caught in the crossfire and killed accidentally by traps. Overall, poaching hurts our planet and us, too.

Luckily, there are many conservation organizations working to protect these animals and trying to work out a solution that keeps the animals safe and restores their depleted populations. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is one of these organizations. The DSWT hand-raises orphaned baby elephants and rhinos and integrates them back into the wild.

The Trust has successfully done this with over 150 elephants to date.

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African Elephant • Hunted and killed for ivory tusks

Vulnerable

• Tusks hacked off the elephants’ faces and elephants left to die

pop. 415,000

• If the elephant is a nursing mother, the babies are often left to die • Ivory trade is illegal in many countries but it is still largely trafficked

Bengal Tiger

Endangered

• International tiger trade banned in 1993 • Despite this, demand has increased greatly since

pop. 2500+

• Parts used in traditional medicine • Seen as status symbol in some places

Asiatic Black Bear

Vulnerable

• Threatened by habitat loss and poaching

pop. 40,00050,000

• Poached for bear bile, a digestive fluid stored in the gallbladder and produced by the liver • Bile used in traditional medicine • Bears often kept in farms to harvest their bile

White Rhinoceros

Near Threatened

• Hunting of white rhinos was unregulated during colonial period, which contributed to their decline

pop. 19,60021,000

• Hunted today for their horns • Horns made of keratin and used in traditional medicine

Critically Endangered

Chinese Pangolin

pop. very small

Sources: Sources:Wildlife Trust, WWF, CNN, David Sheldrick WWF, CNN, David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, PoachingFacts.com, SaveTheRhino.org, PoachingFacts.com, SaveTheRhino.org, IUCN Red List IUCN Red List

• Critically endangered due to high levels of poaching • Poached for scales and meat • One of the most trafficked animals in the world

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Synthetic Sequencing Ph

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The Future of Synthetic Biology

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here is a world where the silk people wear is made not by worms, but by humans. Where one can go out into the rainforest, find a molecule in a rare plant and turn it into a highly accessible medicine; a world where scientists can use enzymes to cut DNA to prevent cancer. This is the emerging future of synthetic biology.

Science is changing the ways of the world, and synthetic biology is leading the way. Synthetic biology is the construction and design of new biological substances and things based on the structures and materials from previously existing entities. In the near future, the ways in which humans produce things will be forever changed.

In labs in northern California, scientists are harnessing the power of molecules, DNA, enzymes, and genes to produce new synthetic materials such as silk and medicine out of yeast.

Synthetic biology is at the forefront of modern biology and is recreating the world we know, and gives us the ability to recreate nature in a cheaper, elevated and environmentally friendly way. With the technology of DNA splicing, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and enzyme transformation, we are able to understand the biological

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functions of the world around us while recreating them in life changing ways.

Synthetic biology has the potential to go into the rainforest, find a rare plant with cancer solving properties, and harness its molecules, DNA and enzymes to bring this medicine into the hands of those who need it.

Some scientists believe that biology is going to be the way that the world runs in the future and the more we can learn now, the more we can unlock and create in the future.

“In the future, I think many things are going to be manufactured using biology, specifically for bio-manufacturing, it’s just the way things are getting made in the future and as we get better and better at engineering microbes to produce things, the types of things we can make is just going to continue expanding,” said Dr. Isis Trenchard, scientist and co-founder of Antheia Biology, a company working to use yeast to synthetically create plantbased medicines.

“In the future, I think many things are going to be manufactured using biology, specifically for bio-manufacturing, it’s just the way things are getting made in the future and as we get better and better at engineering microbes to produce things, the types of things we can make is just going to continue expanding,”

The field of modern science is rapidly changing and shifting as new technologies and techniques develop. CRISPR is one of new biggest excitements of the world of biomedical engineering today. CRISPR has allowed for much of the science that is shifting production and is used in the DNA copying processes of synthetic bioengineering.

CRISPR is a restriction enzyme, a protein that cuts DNA at a specific sequence.

The revolutionary aspect of CRISPR is that it cuts DNA in a programmable way. Instead of being limited by what sequences restriction enzymes can cut, scientists can program CRISPR to cut specific sequences. This technology has the potential to cut cancer, disease, and mutations out of DNA, possibly saving lives. There is a long way to go before this is possible, but that is what makes the future so exciting.

DNA is what makes all of this science possibly, and it is the key to synthetic biology. By taking the DNA from one species, and translating it to another, scientists are able to create new and more efficient ways of production. “Of course there’s a lot of subtle differences, and you kind of have to take into consideration certain ways that different species use it (DNA). But the information encoded in DNA basically can be read by any other species,” Trenchard said.

Biomimicry is mimicking natural systems to solve problems in the world around us, and it is an important principle of synthetic biology.

“Evolution has selected for and has optimized for a lot of situations that are counter intuitive, or might be very intuitive but are otherwise difficult for us

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to manufacture using industrial manufacturing processes, and there was a lot of things you can learn when you go to nature.

Now, the field of biomedical engineering got started when people started observing more complex phenomena, I think more complex than utilities, like how do a certain fish swim so fast? How do Cheetahs sprint so quickly?

What is the design of their legs or the shape of their legs?” Dr. David Breslauer, a co-founder of and the chief scientist at Bolt Threads, said.

Now, the field of biomedical engineering got started when people started observing more complex phenomena, I think more complex than utilities, like how do a certain fish swim so fast?

How do Cheetahs sprint so quickly? What is the design of their legs or the shape of their legs?”

Biomimicry is a principle of the future that can help us understand the ways that things work. As we begin to understand the world around us, we can understand why evolution has done something, and translate it into their work, then they can begin to manufacture things in ways that are more efficient and evolutionary.

At the forefront of the field of synthetic biology are many startup companies, such as Bolt Threads and Antheia, who are using these techniques to synthetically produce items that we use in everyday life.

They are using the technologies of biomimicry to reinvent materials that we know in an environmentally-friendly and more efficient way.

Antheia is a company that is using yeast to make medicines and hopefully shift the ways of opium production. Antheia is currently working on manufacturing opioid painkillers and in the future hopes to be able to translate this

Dr. Dave Taylor explains the cass 9 CRISPR system at the taylor labs at UT in February of 2018.

The ways that things in the world are made is very wasteful and innefficient. When Opioids are made today, the plants have to be grown, then shipped, and then purified. Antheia has found a way to minimize the waste and make the process more efficient. “What we can do is instead of having all of that process, just imagine a brewery, one building, there’s these giant vats. We basically can grow our yeast in a similar way to how people brew beer, and it’s a tight controls facility and at the end you get your drug molecule about. We’re transforming how medicines are produced.” explained Trenchard.

“We’re transforming how medicines are produced.”

Machine from Dr. Dave Taylor’s labs at UT Austin. in February of 2018.

A view into the Taylor Labs at UT.

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technology to making medicines out of other rare plants. They are driving a push forward in the field and are breaking boundaries of production and science.

Photos by Tess Frazer

Their vision is going to make it possible to spread medicine around the world and allow for people with less privilege and ability to get access to powerful medicines.

Antheia was created by a team of four women scientists, who wanted to change the medicine industry by making plant-based medicines using yeast. The science used harnesses molecules and translates them to create proteins in a new base of production, in this case yeast.

Their dream is to one day be able to find rare plants with medicinal values and turn them into a widespread life saving medicine.

Antheia’s technology has the power to do this, and with some refinement, it may be able to cure some diseases and even cancers.

“Imagine there’s a wild orchid in the Amazon jungle and it makes a really great molecule for treating cancers. You’re never going to be able to grow enough of that plant to extract that molecule to treat everybody who needs

that medicine. There’s kind of geopolitical factors around harvesting them too. What we can do is we can look in the plant and see how the plant makes that molecule and understand all the steps that it takes and then transfer that into yeast.

The way molecules are made in a plant [or] in any organism is

“What we can do is we can look in the plant and see how the plant makes that molecule and understand all the steps that it takes and then transfer that into yeast.” there a series of enzymatic steps and each enzyme modify some molecule in one little way. We can take the gene for those enzymes out of plant and put them into yeast and make the same exact molecule.” Trenchard said.

The key to the success of these companies is the yeast, and the ways that it allows them to create.

“Using yeast, is you’re not limited by how the plant does it. So we are inspired by how the plant does it, but then we can improve upon it because there’s any DNA in the world that’s accessible we can look at it and try to find better versions of the enzymes or whatever we need,” Trenchard said. This technology and innovation of using yeast, CRISPR, and enzymes is what has created the ability to use and translate DNA between beings, allowing for endless possibilities of medicine, science and production.

There are many benefits from looking at the ways that plants create [enzymes and molecules], and allow for us to use their biology to create in a more efficient way.

“Plants are really good at getting to the end product of their pathway.

So in the case of opium poppy, it’s morphine, but if you want to make other drug molecules that are derived from that, there’s all these really intense chemical processes

Dr. Dave Taylor looks down a miscroscope.

Photo by Alexis Sanford.

Dr. Dave shows around the lab.

Taylor Photo by Tess Frazer

Materials and tools from the Taylor Labs.

Photo by Tess Frazer.

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you have to do to transform the molecule and we can actually do all of those in yeast using enzymes. So in terms of environmental friendliness for the chemical part we were definitely better, but also we can reduce [the amount of land used].” said Trenchard.

One of the greatest benefits of what Antheia is doing lies in the charity and benefits that it gives: “I know one of the advantages of our technology is that we can make things a lot cheaper, and because of that we care about increasing accessibility to medicine. We don’t know exactly all the details of how we’re going to do that, but I know we’re going to be working very hard to figure out how to get medicines to everybody who needs them fine.

That is where Antheia is going. So first we have to be successful and then we’re going to help everyone that we can” Trenchard said.

Looking forward, Antheia is looking for the next step in their business. “We’re searching for

the next set of molecules, to treat different types of diseases. Right now we’re looking at molecules that already have markets, so they’re, they’re molecules that people are already using as medicine. In the future, I think what gets us most excited is using our technology to discover new medicines,” said Trenchard. Antheia has a vision of possibility, and hopes to make medicines accessible and powerful for everyone.

“I know one of the advantages of our technology is that we can make things a lot cheaper, and because of that we care about increasing accessibility to medicine.”

Bolt Threads another company that is changing the productions of the future. It was one of the first companies to break through the borders and define the field of modern synthetic biology.

A vat of yeast, being used to make silk at Bolt Thread’s labs in Northern Calfiornia. Photo Courtesy of Bolt Threads.

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Their team has learned how to create spider silk by harnessing the power of molecules, DNA, and enzymes from spiders to recreate it using yeast. “Over time we started learning more and more about the textile industry where silk is already used, silkworm silk, even though it doesn’t have the properties of spider silk. We decided that we could make some very, we can have some very positive impacts on the textile industry and the more we dug, the more we found out about the environmental issues, the recyclability issues, ocean, microplastics, all the, all the problems that sort of plague humanity on a global scale as an outcome of the textile industry,” said Dr. David Breslauer, chief scientist and co-founder of the company.

The interesting thing about this is the environmental benefits that come from their process, “Our process is inherently vegan and there’s a huge appeal for just not having to grow up livestock or

A peak into the fermentation process with a vat of yeast.

Photo courtesy of Antheia.

Scientist from Bolt Threads looks at a vat of yeast that is being used to produce silk.

kill insects in order to make, make material. So, there’s an interesting vegan pull there too,” Breslauer said.

“Our process is inherently vegan and there’s a huge appeal for just not having to grow up livestock or kill insects in order to make, make material.”

Because there is no way to make silk other than silk worms and spiders, this technology is revolutionizing the textile and apparel scene. “We are very focused on how we believe we use bio material to touch consumer’s lives. So we focus right now on, on textiles and apparel, which already in every aspect of your life you interact with, whether it be your clothes or your car, the seats in your car or the carpet on the floor or your drapes, all these things are textiles and how we can make these

things better and less costly on the environment. Going beyond that, we think a lot about how we can use natural materials to make any number of consumer goods,” Breslauer said.

The science behind what they are doing is changing the way scientists think about the world, and due to DNA’s transitive property there is a lot to discover.

“So the science becomes taking a sequence from nature and tuning it to give you the product properties you want. We put it in yeast, which is a micro organism that’s very mutable to scale that will then produce the protein, we brew it up kinda like the way you make beer, and then we purify the silk and extruded into fibers,” Breslauer said.

Their exact process lies in DNA translation and copying, “We designed the protein, it’s a bunch of letters that represents chemical codes. We synthesize the DNA that encodes that protein, we put that DNA in yeast and then the start making that protein, we just

grow up a lot of yeast” Breslauer said.

The scientists leading these companies are pushing the world to think bigger and create what was once thought impossible.

These companies have faced many setbacks and challenges, which are pushing them even furthur to change the future.

Through their history, they have faced many obstacles, but these hurdles have made what they are doing all the more powerful. “One of the biggest obstacles was, at the end of 2014, beginning of 2015 when we were starting the company. We decided to start it before we had really finished the whole pathway in yeast and one of the critical steps in order to make this a good business is we have to be able to make everything from sugar, the least sugar and get our drug molecules out at the end of it.

And in order for our company to be well positioned in the field and in this industry, we had to be first to demonstrate,” Trenchard said.

A sceientist mixes materials in a lab in California. Photo courtesy of Bolt Threads.

Test tubes at Antheia’s labs In CouthIn California. Photo courtesy of Antheia

This a peetree disk at Antheia’s labs. Photo courtesy of Antheia.

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The key to overcoming their main obstacle laid in their perseverance and determination. “We didn’t shy away. It would have been really easy to get super discouraged and like, you know, we were extremely tough, but we did it.

We rose to the occasion, but I still can’t believe that actually happened. So many things had to go right, for us to achieve that.

And somehow he managed to do it,” Trenchard said.

For Bolt Threads, the main issue was the speed of science meshing with the speed of the world. “The biggest obstacle in the beginning was, or has always been demonstrating enough progress to continue to maintain the confidence of investors in a way that they will keep supporting us. That’s not to say it was something we couldn’t do. It’s just very, science is slow and investors always have certain timelines,” Breslauer said.

These scientists’ greatest moments remind us of what is possible.

“I was leaving my comfort zone to go do something really exciting, and I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was going to turn out the way that it has. I just felt so much optimism and excitement for whatever was coming,” Trenchard said.

Although the work that they are doing is changing the world, they have a very different perspective.

“Honestly, you never feel like you are because every day we’re just here working to get better and keeping this dream, but I honestly think we’re never going to feel satisfied and feel like when you’re asking me what was the best moment, I can’t really say because it’s all just working super hard and I think that’s just going to continue.

So, I don’t think I’ll ever be at a point where I feel like, oh yeah, I’m changing the world,” Trenchard said.

The most inspiring and incredible moments can come from the hardest times, and perseverance is the key to creating something truly incredible. “One of the singular,

“One of the singular, most impactful moments for me was when we first got a stream of fibers coming off the spin line, and you could see them separate and they looked like real silk fibers.” so impactful was because we were having so many problems and we’re beating our heads up against the wall and we couldn’t figure out what was going to make it work. Then all of a sudden, one day it worked.I was just a relief of like is this actually going to go somewhere. Can we make this work? That was, the moment of like, ok, we can make this happen.

We’ve always told ourselves if

Synthetically produced spider silk is being spun onto a stool. Photo courtesy of Bolt Threads.

Thread that was made by Bolt Threads synthetically made silk is displayed on a table.

Phtoto courtesy of Bolt Threads

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most impactful moments for me was when we first got a stream of fibers coming off the spin line, and you could see them separate and they looked like real silk fibers, and the reason that was

Scientists work in Bolt Thread’s labs in Northern California. Photo courtesy of Bolt Threads.

spiders and can silkworms can do it, then it is possible in some capacity. We just have to figure out how to do it ourselves. So that was a moment where it’s like, ok, this is going to work for us,” Breslauer said.

The field is rapidly evolving and shifting and is becoming more and more competitive, these scientists gave some advice for people wanting to get into the field.

“Changing the world is never being satisfied with where you are, and what’s happening,” Trenchard said.

“People are going to be like if a lot of work to take on interns or take on new students or get help. But if you’re, if you’re the type of person who’s like, look, I taught myself all of this and I can solve these problems and I think I can make a way for myself if you just allow me into your lab,

people are really open minded and feel like, ok, well if you’re not a lot of maintenance then great, go for it. I think that that is a piece of advice I got in high school. One teacher said, you know, employers are looking for people that can solve problems themselves.” Breslauer said.

The key to stepping up into this highly competitive occupation is asking questions and getting involved. “Get your hands dirty I think is what I am trying to say, and explore a little. I mean, and then just approach whatever question you can with curiosity and seek out whatever answers you can just start building out your knowledge base and your capacity to an ask and answer questions,” Breslauer said.

The best thing that can be done is meeting people and putting yourself out there. “You can learn a lot that way, but meeting people and talking to people and getting their perspectives on things. I feel as though I hadn’t ever gone wrong by spending time talking

to people and being again, being really proactive,” Trenchard said.

“Get your hands dirty I think is what I am trying to say, and explore a little. I mean, and then just approach whatever question you can with curiosity and seek out whatever answers you can just start building out your knowledge base and your capacity to an ask and answer questions.”

The field of science can be very frustrating, and many people have spent years on research or data collection that has lead nowhere.

“You can get discouraged when things go wrong, but you can’t stop.

You just have to push through, you have to persevere. I think that’s true in life, not everything will be perfect,” Trenchard said.

A dress designed by Stella McCartney made by Bolt Threads Bioengineered Spider Silk. Photo courtesy of Bolt Threads.

A spider weaves its web of silk. Photo courtesy of Bolt Threads.

A tie made by Bolt Threads synthetic Spider Silk. Photo courtesy of Bolt Threads.

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“Just be proactive and always say yes because you never know what opportunities are gonna come your way when you meet different people and talk to different people” Trenchard said.

“Just be proactive and always say yes because you never know what opportunities are gonna come your way when you meet different people and talk to different people”

These scientists and companies are changing the world, and will continue to push the boundaries for the future. Before we know it, everything we use will be produced in a lab, so the real stories lie in what it means to be changing the world with science.

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With the technology available, the options for the future are unfathomable. Maybe there will be a new Darwin-like expedition to look for the best molecules in the world. This is the future, a more sustainable means of production. We can use science to change the ways of the world. The possibilities are endless, and these are these are some of the thoughts that these scientists have about the future of the field.

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Although much forward progress has been made, there are still some questions and problems that lie ahead of this field.

“I think the two problems, the field still have is the questions of what should people be making that is valuable to pursue?

Meaning there’s a lot of molecules and nature, that would be great.

You can find a biological way to make them, but does anybody want them?

Is there any

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utility for them? Is there any money to be made at the end of the day? Because it’s really easy to find a lot of random things and make them, but it’s hard to build up a business and create a value proposition and raise the money for it if the material doesn’t have any utility, so trying to identify that utility is really a challenge,” Breslauer said.

“I liked to imagine a future, we’re quite literally out there looking for the latest and greatest materials, then seeing what nature has to offer us. Almost bringing back to Darwin exploration, exploration ship, but in the interest of identifying cool material science and shepherding that through” Breslauer said.

The future of science is unwinding as we begin to better understand our world, and with it we can unlock the sequences to create our future.

“I like to imagine a future, we’re quite literally out there looking for the latest and greatest materials, then seeing what nature has to offer us.”

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Modern

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Technology

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The fine motor control needed for writing are lost in the aftermath of a stroke. Mastro

Giving the living a walking chance The Rise of the Robots

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By: Kyle Read

Unable to feel their legs, a paralyzed patient will likely be confined to a wheelchair, or their bed, for the rest of their life. Likeways, a stroke patient will spend long hours in rehabilitation. However, this might not always be the case. Iron Man suit may not be as far off away as we think.

The field of robotics is developing.

Scientists are working on what is known as an “exoskeleton” or an “exosuit,” which is a robotic covering for various parts of the body that assists human movement. The terms are used interchangeably, but exosuit generally refers to a robot without solid bars, and exoskeleton refers to robots with solid “bones.”

Some are developed for the military in order to augment the user’s strength, and others are developed for commercial use, rehabilitating people who have lost the ability to move their body.

Exosuits come in two types, powered and unpowered, and three flavors: Soft, hard, and hard shell. Soft exosuits do not have bones, and often look like tights with strings and some motors attached. They are very mobile, and the most agile, but can be rough on the user’s body.

Hard exosuits have a skeletal frame and are jointed at a few points. They

A woman testing the “Harmony” Exosuit.

Photo Credit: Renue Labs

are strong, useful, and very easy on the user. Hard exosuits are also the only type of exosuit that can be unpowered. Hard shell exosuits are completely sealed, allowing them to maintain a steady pressure inside.

Even simple things like using an iron can become prohibititorily difficult after suffering a stroke, and can be made easier with robotics. Photo Credit Renue Labs.

As a result, they will be used almost exclusively for space or deep sea missions.

Each type of exosuit has its own purpose. “For the military, I think the soft exosuit is the way to go, the reason for that the being that they have to be very agile so you can’t just stick large heavy body metal objects all around them very easily,” said Kevin Warburton, an exosuit worker at Reneu Labs, which designs rehabilitory exosuits.

Warburton works on the Exosuit “Harmony,” which rehabilitates the shoulder and arm of stroke patients.

The U.S. military desires to have a working exosuit to provide its soldiers with both protection and superior endurance. Naturally, having joints that allow movement in a single direction would not be very useful in a job where mobility is highly valued, ruling out both hard and hard shell exosuits. That leaves soft exosuits. In addition to mobility benefits, soft exosuit have some other advantages; soft exosuits would allout the military to use much of the same equipment that they already have, and soft exosuits have relatively low maintenance costs.

Furthermore, with a soft exosuit, the

soldier is not significantly hindered if the suit goes down. Warburton thinks that the military is interested in soft exosuits, and as a result, they’ll be the first ones to become prevalent.

However, he also suspects that hard exosuits will still be around and used for their properties.

The Maestro robotic hand, and part of its powersupply and control module. Photo credit Renue Labs

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While the hard exosuit is not the best choice for mobility, it has many other perks that put it in a favored position for rehabilitation efforts. Paria

“Doctors actually think that it’s really helpful to keep the arm in motion just to help those motor connections regain themselves” Esmatloo, a scientist who works on a rehabilitatory robotic hand by Renue Labs called Maestro, says that with biorobotics we can build a rehabilitation device that can deliver therapy exercises and help healthy and affected people learn to do novel tasks.

An example is the Harmony Upper Body Exoskeleton, a rehabilitation robot that works on repairing the

An early version of the Maestro. It illustrates how the contact point of hard exosuits work Photo Credit Renue Labs

nerve connection in the arm and shoulder. It uses seven actuators to provide 80 percent of the normal range of human motions, Warburton says. In addition, it can function with pre-recorded motions, even in a patient who is unable to move.

“Doctors actually think that it’s really helpful to keep the arm in motion just to help those motor connections regain themselves” Warburton says.

Another Example is Maestro.

Maestro is a powered hard exosuit that fits over the hand and rehabilitates the fine motor control

of the user. However, it is not just for rehabilitation. Maestro is also undergoing development as a way of virtual interaction, or interaction with virtual reality objects. This has the potential to be used for recreational purposes, if slightly modified Likewise, exosuits that assist in walking might also find a place in recreational use. With the mechanical assistance and greater carrying capacity offered by exosuits, many hikers and backpackers might obtain lower body exosuits. Naturally, exosuits won’t fill every corner of recreation, but they will almost certainly be present in many forms of entertainment and games For example, a youtube channel, The Hacksmith, created a Hydraulic exoskeleton for the entertainment of his viewers. While it is very strong, and moderately fast, it is also very bulky. This makes it an unreasonable choice for most sports that would use one. But for a cosplay opportunity, it is a fantastic use of time and money.

However, not all exosuits are powered. For example, Ford and Lowes have both piloted tests for unpowered exosuits for various tasks, and lowering the risk of injury in their workers. While these are not as impressive as endeavors such as The Hacksmith’s exoskeleton, they are certainly not to be disregarded.

An anonomous model using the the Harmoney Exoskeleton.Photo Credit Renue Labs

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This illustrates the wide range of exosuits and robotics. Where exactly

The Hacksmith wearing his exoskeloton. Photo Credit: The Hacksmith

exoskeletal robotics will be seen is unknown. Right now scientists are only just entering the field of exoskeletal robotics. Evan Ogden, another Harmony scientist, described entering the field of biorobotics as “trying to put a chip in the game, but you don’t really know quite where the game’s going yet.”

And there’s more in the pipeline.

Warburton pointed out that when it comes to robotics, “we really don’t see it in our everyday lives, like robots aren’t all over the place, like when you walk around outside or walk around buildings. If you jump 20 years ahead we’re definitely going to see some form of robotics everywhere.”Much of the early development of exosuits or robots will be things that are relatively

simple, such as automated food servers, or things like the present day ROOMBA floor cleaner.

Warburton said that this is normal, and related the developments of robotics as a field to the development of cars, saying, “We’ll probably develop things that are a little more complicated, have a little bit of extra features, but it’s similar to cars: when we developed the first car, it was really simple and we added a whole bunch of features to it, and now they’re really glamorous.”

Warburton followed up by saying, “You shouldn’t downplay any robotic things, though.”

The field is rapidly developing, and it is unknown where robotics will end up in the future. Some products offer us a view through a keyhole into what modern robotics will lead to, and as more products are being tested and developed, the keyhole will open wider, and reveal the future of robotics in society.

Another look at harmony. The many joints it has are clearly shown. Photo Credit Renue Labs

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