Res Novae 2021 April Newsletter

RES NOVAE MONTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL | APRIL 2021 | VOLUME VI ISSUE III

05 BIOLOGY Debunking the conspiracy theory of SARS-Cov-2 being a bioweapon and discussing its xenophobic consequences

april newsletter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RES NOVAE STAFF PSYCHOLOGY

THE ROLE PLAYED

BY BIASED MEDIA

BY MIKA KATO & AASHI VENKAT

Biased, or untrue, media plays a huge role in the believability and spread of conspiracy theories

2020-2021 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Riya Ranjan LEAD EDITOR Fiona Luo

SECTION EDITORS Ritu Atreyas Malavika Eby VISUALS LEADS Fiona Luo Jannah Sheriff Jennifer Zhao DESIGN LEAD Marvin Wu VISUALS TEAM Piyush Shanbhag Divya Venkataraman Angela Zhang TREASURER Nika Zamani

BIOLOGY

BEHIND THE HATE: COVIDBIOWEAPON THEORY

BY DIVYA VENKATARAMAN & ANGELA ZHANG

Debunking the conspiracy theory of SARSCov-2 being a bioweapon and discussing its xenophobic consequences

STAFF WRITERS Ananya Dua, Avani Durve, Eric Feng, Mika Kato, Aishwarya Manoj, Shreya Mantripragada, Shalini Rao, Arnav Rathee, Angelina Alex Roopa, Piyush Shanbhag, Anika Sharma, Samhita Srivatsan, Divya Venkataraman, Angela Zhang ADVISER Kyle Jones Cover and Page Design by Marvin Wu

ABOUT US

Res Novae is Monta Vista’s student run STEM publication. Every month, we publish news, opinion, and science fiction articles on mvresnovae.org. We answer questions ranging from “How have MVHS students contributed to cancer research?” to “Can intelligent robots cook my dinner for me?”

U

ARVIN W

TION | M ILLUSTRA

THE ROLE PLAYED

BY BIASED MEDIA

Biased, or untrue, media plays a huge role in the believability and spread of conspiracy theories

R

BY MIKA KATO & AASHI VENKAT

egardless of how scarily believable they are, conspiracies can spread like wildfire. Whether it be through social media platforms—such as YouTube, Instagram and Twitter — or news domains — such as FOX, CNN and Daily Mail — conspiracy theories have always found ways to circulate the media and be believed by some.

What is it that makes these theories

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spread so rapidly?

“There’s research that supports the fact that misinformation spreads,” journalism teacher Julia Satterthwaite said. “And it’s crazy because it’s insidious, [and] you don’t really know how it happens.

For example, QAnon. How did that happen?”

QAnon is a cult-like conspiracy based on the idea that Democratic

leaders are satanists. Believers of this conspiracy also believe that Donald Trump ran for president under order of the military in 2016, and that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

A conspiracy like this was able to spread like wildfire through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which is a main reason why there still are people who believe in QAnon today, despite the fact that

the conspiracy behind QAnon has been proven false.

Conspiracy theories, such as QAnon, are sometimes so absurd that they’re spread solely because of their unbelievability. Infotainment, a form of media that oftentimes is meant to be more entertaining than accurate, can spread up to 70% faster compared to honest journalism.

“Shane Dawson does conspiracy theories on celebrities, and people believe them,” El Estoque co-editor in chief Ayah Ali-Ahmad said. “Recently, it was talked about that [Helen Keller] was not deaf and not [blind] when, [in reality], she was. What perpetuated that was an antisocialist movement back in the early 1900s that painted her as [a fraud].”

In May 2020, there was a TikTok trend that started spreading the conspiracy theory that Helen Keller wasn’t real. The theory itself started off with just one video, but proceeded to spread until it got to the point where millions of people knew about this conspiracy. Despite the fact that the theory itself is blatantly false, many people on the app were genuinely questioning its accuracy and some individuals believed the theory as a whole.

Social media plays a huge role in determining how quickly conspiracies spread, due to how social media provides users with a platform that they can abuse to spread false information.

“I think that people in the media that are famous [and] have a big platform, they can influence more people,” freshman Nathan Diaz said.

“Trump, for example, saying what he said about COVID, not to wear masks, influenced millions of people.”

COVID-19 conspiracy theories have been spread almost everywhere in a fairly short amount of time, due to the relevancy of these theories during the global pandemic. Social media users start reposting and sharing conspiracies, and people oftentimes only check mainstream (and often biased) media outlets to confirm or deny the accuracy of the conspiracy itself.

It comes as no surprise as they are just doing what is easy: searching it up but only looking at the first article.

“We need every student in America to learn media literacy so that they

know how to evaluate a source for adds fuel to the fire. For starters, whether or not it’s [contributing to] the Illusory Truth Effect makes bias,” Satterthwaite said. “And bias people more likely to believe false isn’t necessarily bad, it’s inescapable.” information, playing a crucial role in Bias is everywhere, however, it’s the spread of misinformation.

“If we are exposed to the same important to consider a variety of sources. Using logic and reasoning, information multiple times we the reader can form their conclusion become more likely to believe it is and stop the spread of false true, even if those exposures do not information. However, if readers come with any form of evidence, don’t consult a variety of sources, and even if it seems to contradict conspiracies inevitably continue to other things that we know,” said Dr. Benjamin C Storm, Associate spread and be believed by readers.

Why do these readers believe these Professor and Cognitive Area Head conspiracy theories? Although it’s of University of California, Santa often complex, there are three main Cruz. “When people are constantly reasons why conspiracy theories exposing themselves to information become solidified: uncertainty, sense on social media and the internet, of control and self-image. Jade they may do so in a way that leads Wu, a clinical health psychologist, them to become susceptible to proposes that “There are gaps in our conspiracy theories because over understanding of how injustices and time that information starts to look disasters come about. For all of us, more and more likely to be true, even there are days when nothing seems though it isn’t.”

The societal understanding of to make sense. When a conspiracy theory pops up, [it often] claims news also influences how much believe in conspiracy to make sense of the insensible.” people When an unexplainable event theories. “Because commonly held becomes explainable with the help standards for understanding news is declining, making of a conspiracy it increasingly more theory, people feel in control of “Recently, it was talked difficult to determine credibility of their lives. When about that [Helen the information, the internet the situation is threatening, Keller] was not deaf has become particularly a theory that and not [blind] when, vulnerable to the spread of disinformation,” hypothesizes a plausible reason [in reality], she was. concludes Forbes writer gives people a What perpetuated that Rebecca Heilweil in How Internet Conspiracy heightened sense was an antisocialist Theories Go Viral – And of security.

C o n s p i r a c y movement back in the Get People To Believe Them, Too. She also says, theories also theories give individuals early 1900s that painted “Conspiracy are born from growing a sense of her as [a fraud].” suspicion that institutions community by SENIOR AYAH like the government and bringing together those who share ALI-AHMAD the mainstream media cannot be trusted.” the same beliefs.

Conspiracy theories and other When conspiracy theorists are in a community of like-minded people, wild ideologies are abundant on there is the feeling of being the the internet; to say the least, they’re “holder of privileged knowledge.” Not everywhere. It’s inevitable that in only does coming up with a reason every article lies bias, but looking at behind an otherwise unexplainable multiple articles can help reduce situation satisfy the instinctual the level of bias or inaccurate feeling to explain everything, but it information consumed. Only by also provides people with a sense of doing so can people formulate an control over their lives and allows for opinion that is completely theirs, them to join an exclusive community instead of believing a theory that isn’t inherently true. that helps boost their self-esteem.

It’s safe to say that the media RES NOVAE

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ILLUSTRATION | DIVYA VENKATARAMAN

BEHIND THE HATE: COVID-BIOWEAPON THEORY Debunking the conspiracy theory of SARS-Cov-2 being a bioweapon and discussing its xenophobic consequences

BY DIVYA VENKATARAMAN & ANGELA ZHANG

O

n March 16th, a mass shooting took place at several spas in Atlanta Georgia. As six of the eight victims were Asian women, this tragic event is a clear reflection of the anti-Asian sentiment that plagues the United States. Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a 150% increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). This growing racism

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demonstrates the xenophobic impact of the coronavirus’s Chinese origins, which has also contributed to the rise of many conspiracy theories. Among these, one of the most prominent theories is that the coronavirus was engineered by scientists as a biological weapon According to the WHO, bioweapons are “microorganisms like virus, bacteria, fungi, or other toxins that are produced and released

deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants.”

Besides the racism that fuels it, there are many other factors that have caused the covid-beoweapon theory, including international relations and the scientific uncertainty surrounding covid’s origins. Thus, in order to thoroughly discuss the theory’s validity, the different perspectives and arguments that relate it must be examined.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE CONSPIRACY THEORY Although people may believe that the question of SARS-Cov-2’s origins has been long resolved, scientists are still investigating the unanswered questions that remain. Most recently in February of 2021, a team of experts from the World Health Organization visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Kyle Jones, a biology teacher at MVHS, agrees that further investigation is necessary.

“It’s not conclusive, because we still need to do more research,” Jones said. “Like we haven’t gotten to the bottom of it, we actually don’t know exactly where it came from. So there’s still a lot of [uncertainty], the World Health Organization is still doing an investigation.”

In May 2020, a group of four Chinese virologists released a paper classifying SARS-Cov-2 as “an unrestricted bioweapon,” resulting in the very pandemic that has impacted all our lives, also considered “unrestricted biowarfare.” Scientists claimed to have used in-depth analyses of the available data and literature to prove that SARS-Cov-2 was engineered in a lab, rather than created naturally.

To begin with, scientists accused others from labs all around the world of creating fake SARS-Cov-2 genetic sequences from bats and other animals, and uploading these fake sequences into GenBank, a genetic data bank. They claim that this is in order to mask the true origins of SARS-Cov-2, something that could be clarified by the “real” genetic sequences of SARS-Cov-2, rather than the animal-based ones. If this claim were to be true, most research on SARS-Cov-2, including its origins, would be falsified due to the use of inaccurate and frauded genetic sequences, the first piece of evidence in these scientists’ claim.

Additionally, they claim that the SARS-Cov-2 we know didn’t originate from the original bat coronavirus, RaTG13, as proven in “A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin,” one of the most cited SARS-Cov-2 articles. This theory would prove that SARS-Cov-2 is naturally-occuring.

Instead, the scientists say that similarities were found not between

SARS-Cov-2 and RaTG13, but Because cases of SARs-CoV-2 rather two other bat coronaviruses, first appeared in China, it comes as ZC45 and ZXC21. These were both no surprise that some of the most discovered and characterized by prominent bioweapon conspiracy military research laboratories under theories are centered around China. the control of the CCP government, Dr. Jaime Sepulveda, executive furthering their claim that SARS- director of UCSF Institute for Global Cov-2 was also engineered in one of Health Sciences and head of these research laboratories. In fact, UCSF’s Epidemiology department, they found the RaTG13 connection believes that there were many to be suspicious on a few other factors contributing to the rise of the accounts as well, claiming that the coronavirus-bioweapon theory. actual sequencing of the protein is “I think it has a combination of outdated, and has been put off for factors. One is sheer ignorance. far too long.

Ignorance is a melting pot for all However, these four scientists kinds of crazy ideas,” Dr. Sepulveda are not the only one who claim said. that SARS-Cov-2 could have been MVHS sophomore Angelica Wang engineered in a lab. In fact, Nikolai shared that her mother, after being Petrovsky, a professor at Flinders exposed to similar forms of media, University and founder and chairman was swayed to believe conspiracy of Vaxine, devoted to developing theories. immunizations for infectious “My own mom is a complete diseases, made an interesting conspiracy theorist about this,” Wang revelation after his team ran said. “she was saying that it was a computer modeling bioweapon from studies of the viral China [related to sequence, the first “[My own mom] was the] Communist step needed in party. She’ll find order to produce a saying that it was a [posts] on Twitter vaccine. bioweapon from China and the sources are Petrovsky and really questionable.” his team found [related to the] Communist The Wuhan out that the spike party. She’ll find [posts] on Institute of Virology, proteins decorating after being SARS-Cov-2 were Twitter and the sources speculated of having bound more tightly with the are really questionable.” relations to their human cell Chinese bioweapon receptor, a protein SOPHOMORE research program, called ACE2, than global ANGELICA WANG attracted the target receptors attention, especially on any other species evaluated. due to its location at the heart of the Ultimately, this meant that SARS- initial outbreak. Former virologist Li Cov-2 had adapted very well to Meng Yan has made strong claims its human host, something that is on coronavirus’ militarized origins in highly unusual for a newly emerging relation to the WIV. According to Yan, pathogen, causing speculation of SARs-CoV-2 was developed as “a SARS-Cov-2 being man-made to laboratory product created by using attack humans at a higher rate than bat coronaviruses ZC45 and/or ZXC21 it would if naturally-occuring. as a template and/or backbone.” She Both these studies among many goes even further to accuse scientists more ultimately highlight the genetic around the globe of planting fake sequences and physiology of the genetic sequences to hide its true virus, pointing towards SARS-Cov-2 origins. originating from a laboratory setting.

Meanwhile, Chinese citizens and But this brings up the question: government officials have claimed Why would scientists engineer a that SARS-Cov-2 was transmitted bioweapon like SARS-Cov-2 to by the United States government terrorize the human race? because of their biological warfare conspiracy against China. The claim THE POLITICS BEHIND THE is based on xenophobia between CONSPIRACY THEORY China and the United States, stating RES NOVAE

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that “since the early nineteenth time again that SARS-Cov-2 is not century, China has been humiliated engineered in any lab, whether by Western powers through located in China or in the United their imperialist and colonizing States, and is naturally-occuring endeavours.” They claim that the instead. timing of the pandemic and the many “We’ll probably never be 100% conflicts between the two countries, certain, virologist Dr Megan Steain, including the China–US trade war, is lecturer in infectious diseases & too much of a coincidence to not be immunology at the University of something more.

Sydney, tells MedicalRepublic. “But Although these theories have I’d say we’re pretty confident – 95-tobeen made widely popular by the 98% confident – that this is naturally media, the lack of evidence behind occurring.” the accusations has led the scientific In fact, researchers have disproven community to ultimately disregard these conspiracy theorists’ original these claims. However, many still claim that the SARS-Cov-2 genetic do believe these theories despite its sequences are faked since the lack of scientific evidence, and Dr. genome has been sequenced by Sepulveda shares a possible reason various labs all over the world. for why.

Because of the many scientists “Already, the US and China are working to sequence SARS-Cov-2 in a very difficult trade relation in a individually, there is no chance of very difficult military tension,” Dr. faking the results collectively, proving Sepulveda said. “And if you add the data to be accurate. the maternal blaming, and the Additionally, researchers have also conspiracy theory, it doesn’t help disputed any and all claims against anyone… [instead, it makes them the correlation between SARS-Cov-2 more] skeptical.” and the RaTG13 virus in bats. Because Mr. Jones agrees, adding that the RaTG13 virus has been proven to the political implications of this exist in nature, according to the most conspiracy theory can be detrimental recent genetic sequence, SARSto society.

Cov-2 must have similarly occurred “A n y t i m e naturally. you politicize Last but definitely not s o m e t h i n g “Anytime you politicize least, scientists have also scientific at its something scientific at managed to disprove the heart, you ruin evidence suggesting that the scientific its heart, you ruin the SARS-Cov-2 must have process, and scientific process, and been engineered in a lab you make by acknowledging that getting to the you make getting to the a human cell receptor, actual truth actual truth very difficult. ACE2, found on SARSvery difficult,” Cov-2, is highly unusual Jones said. Now the repercussions to exist in a naturally“Now the for attempting to get to occuring virus. Although repercussions it may seem unusual for for attempting the truth are societal, a naturally-occuring virus to get to the [and] you get labeled as to have such a receptor, truth are mutations are a very societal, [and] one thing or another.” common occurrence you get labeled in naturally-occurring BIOLOGY TEACHER viruses. This could easily as one thing or KYLE JONES be one of those cases. another.”

Scientists have managed DEBUNKING THE CONSPIRACY to prove that computer modeling THEORY systems would never suggest to Although many believe this use the sequence that SARS-CoV-2 conspiracy theory from a political actually uses, since no system to this standpoint, more and more scientific day is so technologically advanced evidence points towards this that it can predict that SARS-CoV-2 conspiracy theory being completely would bind to these human receptors false. It has been proven time and as well as it actually does.

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Given all the evidence contradicting the theory, most scientists do not believe the conspiracy of SARSCov-2 being a bioweapon. In fact, more studies have gone as far to say that SARS-Cov-2 does not have any telltale signs of being engineered in a lab at all, with random errors and mutations being a frequent occurrence as the virus replicates. Yet even with all this evidence against the conspiracy, many still are coaxed into believing it, especially with all the intelligent and articulate propaganda crafted for that exact purpose. Hence, it becomes even more important for us to fight against these conspiracy theories, and Dr. Sepulveda shares the same sentiments.

“It’s unfortunate that these conspiracy theories are fomented, and being amplified,” Dr. Sepulveda said. “[All because of] population groups that have little or no education.”

AAPI XENOPHOBIA When analyzing the coronavirus bioweapon theory, it is extremely important to recognize the clear discrimination and xenophobia that is both a cause and consequence of the theory. Although some of the scientific and political speculations surrounding covid’s militaristic origins may not have necessarily stemmed from racism, there is no doubt that many of these conspiracy theories have taken a xenophobic turn.

To some, the bioweapon theory seems to directly blame the Chinese government for the spread of SARSCov-2, even though there were many factors outside of just one country that led to the catastrophic pandemic. However, this mindset has easily led to the targeting of the Asian population, which was brought to light by current events.

Additionally, Dr. Sepulveda cited politics as one of the key causes of the spread in coronavirus conspiracy theories and anti-Asian hate.

“There is also an element of political blame,” Dr. Sepulveda said.

“Remember, [Trump] was blaming China calling the coronavirus, the China virus.”

According to ABC News, a study conducted at UCSF drew empiric parallels between Trump’s remarks

and the rise in hate crimes. “The study indicated a difference in antiAsian sentiment when using neutral hashtags such as #COVID-19 versus racist hashtags like #Chinesevirus — 20% of the hashtags associated with #COVID-19 demonstrated antiAsian sentiment, compared to 50% of hashtags with #Chinesevirus.”

In order to combat decades of systemic oppression against the AAPI community, xenophobic conspiracy theories must be debunked through increased education and collaboration. As MVHS has a large Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population, it is especially important for each person to be mindful of such theories to stop the spread of false and hateful information.

LOOKING FORWARD On the other hand, preventing the formation of hateful conspiracy

theories is a challenging task that may never be truly accomplished.

In line with this, Wang believes that conspiracy theories may be somewhat inevitable.

“It’s kind of hard [to solve] because people who believe all this can’t really [break out of their mindset],” Wang said. “There’s nothing that can change [my mom’s] mind at this point.”

However, there are still steps people can take to stop the spread of false rumors. The first solution that Mr. Jones brought up was to increase open-mindedness within ourselves and others.

“And that’s a part of human nature that I think is fixable,” Jones said. “If people are aware of it, more open to learning more, and not so obsessed [with] something that they actually really haven’t done a lot of research on, [we can have more honest conversations].”

As a leader in public health, Dr. Sepulveda also provided valuable insight on solutions to stop the rampant spread of conspiracy theories.

“You can only combat misinformation with good information,” Dr. Sepulveda said. “It is not through confrontation, it has to do with persuasion…. Don’t take an attitude of superiority.”

Looking forward, the community as a whole must strive to promote the truth to prevent conspiracy theories such as the coronavirus-bioweapon one from blowing up. Only then will the world truly be able to focus on stopping hate against others and promoting true scientific discovery.

15 DATA RETRIEVED FROM DATA.CITYOFNEWYORK.US 14 13 12

ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES REPORTED PER MONTH IN NEW YORK CITY (2010-20) Fifteen reported anti-Asian hate crimes were reported in March 2020 6 America. Fifteen more were following the surge in COVID-19 cases in recorded in the remaining months of 2020.

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