Res Novae 2023 Print Magazine

RES NOVAE

ILLUSTRATION|DANAYANG

13 A NEW ERA: CHAT GPT

How worried should we be about Chat GPT?

IN THIS MAGAZINE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Divya Venkataraman

LEAD EDITOR

Aashi Venkat

SECTION EDITORS

Avani Durve

Angela Zhang

Lavina Lei

VISUALS LEAD

Angela Zhang

Cover by Dana Yang

STAFF WRITERS

Advaith Anand

Varchas Athreya

Ranvir Bhasin

Sara Chhabra

Sophia D’Sa

Preetal Deshpande

Aaryan Doshi

Nicola SamarahHaghighi Hiba

Ridwan Khan

Vivian Liu

Owen Lu

Siya MahathiNavalgundkar Rajkumar

Keshav NirbhayRastogi Saluja

Dahlia ArshiyaSchilling

MeghanaSenSomu

Irene Tian

Eshika Tiwari

Sonia Verma

Daniel Wu

Dana MeganYangYang

Stephanie Zhang

Amy DorothyZhengZheng

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?”

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Res Novae Readers,

As the 2022-2023 year comes to an end, I am proud to present the 2023 print magazine — one that a team of 25 writers and designers worked hard to create. Our 2023 print cycle takes a look at how the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math are embracing growth as the world slowly finishes recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. New advancements are being made every day — constantly challenging the uncertain and shining light on new steps the MVHS community can take to finish our return to normal.

The field of science is constantly developing, with new experiments being tested to find treatments for diseases or even resurrect extinct animals. On page 15, writer Sophia D’sa details how Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in Austin, Texas, is attempting to bring the extinct dodo bird back to life through new innovations in genetic engineering. D’sa’s story not only touches on how such advancements can pave the way for future scientific developments, but how the ethics behind such advancements can affect the progress.

On page 13, writer Aaryan Doshi explores yet another advancement that has taken the post-pandemic world by storm: Chat GPT. Students from all across the world, including MVHS, are in awe of Chat GPT’s capabilities in mimicking human speech patterns. Doshi’s mock interview with Chat GPT itself shows us how although the tool should be used with caution, this new technological advancement can change the way artificial intelligence can read and understand human language.

We see the issue of global warming everyday, recently even more so with the MVHS community undergoing varying and irregular weather patterns on a weekly basis. Writer Dana Yang discusses the recently-approved Willow Project on page 3, an oil drilling project in Alaska. As climate change continues to ravage our environment, Yang’s story explores one of many advancements we

are taking to actively tackle the problem at its heart — reminding us of the new engineering advancements that have the power to make the world a better and cleaner place.

As we live through the quantum age of education, writer Advaith Anand highlights how new advancements in quantum computing have the power to tackle complex problems at breakneck speeds on page 5 — revolutionizing education and unlocking a new era of discovery through mathematics and technology. Anand believes that this advancement can pave the way and empower future generations through bettered education and resources.

As you read, I hope that each of these stories not only show you the steps we as a community at MVHS and the world are taking post-pandemic to better our futures, but inspire you to embrace growth. And although there is so much more to be done, with some of these developments not having reached their full potential yet, I am excited to see what the future holds as new advancements lead us into a world where the impossible becomes possible.

Signing off for one last time,

Divya Venkataram Editor-in-Chief

EXAMINING THE WILLOW PROJECT

BY DANA YANG

Looking into what the Willow Project means for us and our environment

On March 13, the Biden administration approved the Willow Project, a massive oil drilling venture in Alaska. The $8 billion project allows the company ConocoPhillips to drill for oil in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which is the largest undisturbed public land in the nation. According to ConocoPhillips, the project would produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak.

Although the project’s scope has been narrowed from five oil-drilling sites to three, the Willow Project still has severe environmental implications. If carried through, the project would release up to 287 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over its 30-year lifetime. For reference, this is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from 36 million homes’

energy use for a year, 32 billion gallons of gasoline consumed or more than 70 coal fired power plants operating a year — not a small amount by any means. APES teacher Lora Lerner agrees that the project would inevitably worsen climate change.

“[The project] spews out some greenhouse gases directly, but then it is also contributing additional oil supply, which of course is going to get used in greenhouse gases,” Lerner said. “So you’d have this short term and then the longer term contribution to climate change.”

The Arctic, once the world’s “carbon sink,” is now warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world. The Arctic is one of Earth’s cooling mechanisms due to its “albedo effect”: a white, reflective layer of sea ice on the

Arctic Ocean reducing the absorption of incoming solar radiation. However, as global warming accelerates, the sea ice melts, causing solar radiation to be absorbed by the darker surface underneath the ice. A positive feedback loop thus occurs, where global warming melts the sea ice, and the absorption of solar radiation further contributes to global warming, causing even more ice loss.

Animal Protection Society officer

Anchita Dash emphasizes that the loss of sea ice has a large impact on the animals in Alaska.

“There are a lot of animals in Alaska that depend on sea ice, especially polar bears,” Dash said. “And they are already endangered in Alaska. And I think by doing [the Willow Project], you’re putting them at risk even more.”

PHOTO FROM ALAN WILSON UNDER CC BY-SA 3.0

The melting of sea ice also produces algae blooms, which are overgrowths of algae in water. Algae blooms deplete dissolved oxygen in the water through their respiratory processes, effectively causing fish to suffocate or face other forms of damage.

“The fish population would, of course, dwindle,” Dash said. “Polar bears, which are on top of the food chain and feed on these fishes, eventually will also die because they have nothing else to eat.”

Apart from harming animals, the melting ice is also uncovering permafrost, which is ground made of soil, rocks, and ice that has been frozen year-round. As the permafrost rapidly melts, trapped carbon and water from dead organisms is released into the atmosphere. The Arctic’s permafrost contains an estimated 50% of the world’s carbon. Besides increasing global warming, permafrost thaw also destabilizes infrastructure, harms ecosystems and impacts accessibility to food.

The oil drilling and alteration of the land surface caused by the Willow Project would only exacerbate the Arctic’s fragile environment.

The village of Nuisqut, which is already impacted by oil activity, is located about 30 miles away from the project. The construction of the wells, roads, and hundreds of miles of pipelines necessary for the Willow Project would cause insurmountable damage to the vibrant environ-

ment and wildlife, tainting the homes of thousands of bird species and already-threatened animals.

Residents of Nuisqut voice their disapproval, as many rely on subsistence hunting of migratory herds of caribou for their primary diet and are already negatively impacted by oil activity.

“We have experienced rising health issues, and the dismantling of traditional practices and food sources because of oil extraction and industrialization on the Arctic Slope,” executive director of the organization Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic Siqiñiq Maupin said in a statement to Trustees for Alaska.

oil and gas projects sanctioned from 2022 to 2025 could produce 70 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is more than 30 times the United States’ total carbon dioxide emissions in 2021.

Proponents of the Willow Project state that the project would decrease reliance on foreign oil and would generate large sums of revenue for federal, state, and local governments, ultimately benefiting the economy.

SIQIÑIQ MAUPIN

However, we should be less concerned over quickearned money and focus on the multitude of ways climate change will irreversibly affect, and has already affected, our own lives and the lives of other species on the planet.

In terms of its contribution to climate change, the Willow Project isn’t the only one of its kind — each new extraction project stretches the environment an inch closer to its limits.

“The Willow Project is kind of a drop in the bucket of a much, much larger problem,” Lerner said. “If we didn’t do this project, does that take away the problem? No.”

As the demand for fossil fuels persists, oil and gas companies have become more and more unwilling to turn away from the monopoly they have over the economy.

According to an analysis by the advocacy group Oil Change International,

Instead of relying on fossil fuels that are wrecking the climate and slowly bringing the Earth to its breaking point, we need to invest in clean, renewable energy sources that would drastically reduce carbon emissions. Only then can we look comfortably towards the future and rest assured that following generations are left with a liveable planet.

“We have experienced rising health issues, and the dismantling of traditional practices and food sources because of oil extraction and industrialization on the Arctic Slope.”

“There are a lot of animals in Alaska that depend on sea ice, especially polar bears. And they are already endangered in Alaska.”

SENIOR ANCHITA DASH

Quantum Computing: The Future is Here, But Are We Ready?

BY ADVAITH ANAND

Imagine a futuristic casino where you’re challenged to a coin-flipping game against an extraordinary opponent: a quantum computer. In this high-stakes match, the quantum computer boasts an unbeatable advantage, thanks to its ability to exist in multiple states simultaneously. As the coin soars through the air, the machine effortlessly taps into the mysterious realm of quantum superposition, predicting the outcome with eerie accuracy every single time. This perplexing game serves as a vivid introduction to the astonishing potential of quantum computing. Are we prepared to embrace the profound impact of this groundbreaking technology on our lives and education? Join in on an exploration of the ideas and apprehensions of the upcoming leaders, as the critical

function of quantum computing in molding the future is scrutinized.

Quantum computing, a field of computer science that leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, has the potential to revolutionize the world as we know it. Unlike classical computers, which use bits to represent data as zeros and ones, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in multiple states simultaneously. This phenomenon, called superposition, allows quantum computers to process vast amounts of information in parallel, making them exponentially more powerful than classical computers.

To gain insight into how quantum computing may impact future generations

and its place in education, two MVHS students, Vaikunth Vasu and Yash Guruprakash, and the AP Physics teacher, Jim Birdsong, shared their opinions and concerns about this cutting-edge technology.

Vasu, who admitted he had only recently heard of quantum computing, was captivated by the potential applications of the technology.

“I wanted to be an officer in order to guide people the same way that the upperclassmen guided me when I was an underclassman,” Garg said. “[I also wanted to] just contribute to the club as much as I could.”

“Quantum computing seems like something straight out of a sci-fi movie,” Vasu said. “If it can empower us to tackle previously unsolvable problems like climate change or develop new medical treatments, it could truly change the world.”

Guruprakash shared Vasu’s enthusiasm but also expressed concern about the potential consequences of unchecked

Amidst a quantum computing revolution, future impacts are explored through interviews with students and a teacher, discussing its role in education.

“Quantum computing seems like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.”

Vaikunth Vasu

IMAGE | ADVAITH ANAND

advancements.

“While the possibilities of quantum computing are thrilling, I can’t help but feel apprehensive about its potential misuse,” Guruprakash said. “Without proper regulation, we could face a whole new level of cybersecurity threats, an uncontrolled arms race, or even more pervasive surveillance.”

Despite these concerns, it is important to acknowledge the transformative potential of quantum computing across various industries. Quantum computers hold the potential to revolutionize various industries with their unparalleled processing power. In the pharmaceutical and medical fields, quantum computing could enable the rapid discovery of new drugs and personalized treatments, as well as the analysis of complex biological systems, accelerating breakthroughs in healthcare. In the realm of cryptography, quantum computers can crack encryption codes thought to be unbreakable by classical

computers, necessitating the development of new quantum-resistant encryption methods to protect sensitive information.

In finance, quantum computing can optimize trading strategies, manage risk, and enhance portfolio management by processing vast amounts of data in realtime. Climate science stands to benefit from quantum computing’s ability to simulate intricate environmental systems and predict the impact of human activities on our planet, aiding in the development of effective strategies to combat climate change. Furthermore, quantum computers can facilitate advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, empowering algorithms to tackle complex problems and improve decision-making processes across various domains. As quantum computing technology continues to develop, the potential applications are vast, promising to reshape numerous aspects of our lives and society.

AP Physics teacher Jim Birdsong discussed the possibility of incorporating quantum mechanics or computing into Monta Vista’s curriculum or establishing a club focused on the subject. He highlighted the challenges of teaching quantum computing to high school students due to the level of mathematical understanding required.

“Quantum physics demands a level of math not typically covered in high school courses and requires students to have a deep understanding of

mathematical concepts,” Birdsong said. “This level is very hard for current high school students to achieve.”

Nevertheless, he believes that with the appropriate approach and resources, it is feasible to introduce the fundamentals of quantum computing to students, even if they have yet to develop advanced mathematical skills.

While the educational system needs to adapt to accommodate quantum computing, several resources are already available to help teachers and students explore the subject. Online platforms like YouTube offer video series that explain quantum mechanics in an easily digestible manner, while organizations like IBM provide interactive quantum computing tools to help users gain hands-on experience. In addition, many universities and research institutions are already working on quantum computing projects, offering students the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research. These experiences can help students develop valuable skills and connections, setting them up for future success in the rapidly evolving field of quantum technology. IBM also offers free access to quantum computers, allowing anyone to try out this groundbreaking technology. Despite the complexity of quantum computing, it is essential to incorporate it into our educational systems. By fostering a deeper understanding of this groundbreaking technology, we can empower future generations to harness its potential for the betterment of society. The insights provided by Vasu, Guruprakash and Mr. Birdsong serve as a valuable reminder that the key to unlocking the full potential of quantum computing lies not just in the technology itself, but in our ability to educate and inspire the minds of tomorrow. As we look to the myriad applications of quantum computing—from revolutionizing healthcare and climate science to transforming finance and artificial intelligence—it becomes clear that equipping the next generation with the knowledge and skills to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape will be essential for shaping a brighter, more innovative future.

“Without proper regulation, we could face a whole new level of cybersecurity threats, an uncontrolled arms race, or even more pervasive.”

Yash Guruprakash

IMAGE | ADVAITH ANAND

THE THREAT OF TRAIN DERAILMENTS

BY MEGAN YANG

Exploring the environmental and human impact of two recent train derailments

In the United States, there are approximately 1,000 train derailments a year.

In the past few months, two such incidents have occurred—one in Minnesota and another in Ohio. These incidents highlight the potential danger of transporting hazardous materials by rail and the importance of taking necessary precautions to minimize environmental damage.

Joyce Li, a freshman at MVHS, states that these derailments contain chemicals that are detrimental to the environment. She also says that some of these chemicals don’t immediately break down and remain in the environment for some time.

“I would imagine that these derailments would negatively impact the environment very much.” Li said. “These chemicals would kill the surrounding wildlife and damage from chemicals is very hard to recover from. The long-term effects are there, I mean, chemicals don’t disappear overnight or even over years, the areas will remain hazard-

ous and high winds might even stir up the chemicals and release them into the atmosphere, where it has the potential to spread.”

The more recent derailment of the two, which took place in Raymond, Minnesota occurred on March 30. The incident led to a massive fire that caused the evacuation of around 800 residents living in the city. Twenty-two cars were ethanol, and four ended up catching on fire. The EPA immediately responded to the incident and arranged an emergency response team to assist local authorities in managing the situation.

This derailment involved ethanol, which is highly flammable, and this led to a massive fire. Freshman Tashvi Bansal stated that this would lead to air pollution in the surrounding area.

“The derailment of trains can cause dangerous fires to spark up,” Bansal said. “This endangers the lives of those citizens who live near the derailments since the air quality can become hazardous. Combustion of

any sort releases carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, as well as carbon monoxide, which can be lethal depending on the dosage.”

Despite the flammability of ethanol, the chemical itself can get broken down relatively easily by natural processes. Science teacher Kyle Jones says that ethanol itself doesn’t pose a significant impact on the environment.

“Ethanol is just alcohol,” Jones said. “People consume ethanol whenever they drink alcoholic beverages. It can be a problem if you have a lot of alcohol in the soil as it may kill the soil microbes, but ethanol is water soluble and will dilute very quickly. Any alcohol is not a very big concern because it can get broken down by the natural environment.”

The substances that were in the Ohio train derailment, however, had a more severe effect on the surrounding environment. This incident happened on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment, in which 38 out of 150 cars derailed, occurred near a

residential area, and the resulting fire forced the evacuation of around 1,500 to 2,000 residents. The train was carrying chemicals that included vinyl chloride, which, unlike ethanol, is a persistent organic pollutant (POPs). Jones states that POPs can be detrimental to the environment and organisms.

“We should be concerned about persistent organic pollutants when it comes to soil and water,” Jones said. “Their structure is such that they tend to persist and last a long time, and the environment can’t do a very good job of clearing it out naturally. POPs tend to build up and can lead to biomagnification, which is the process where these pollutants get more and more concentrated in organisms as they go up the food chain, so it can have effects on top level consumers in an ecosystem.”

Along with being a persistent organic pollutant, Jones says that vinyl chloride is a carcinogenic compound. This poses a risk to both humans and organisms in the surrounding area of the derailment.

“If vinyl chloride is exposed to humans or animals,” Jones said. “It can increase the risk of cancer as it is a carcinogenic compound. What this means is that it is likely

to cause mutations inside of a cell, which would affect the DNA of an organism. This could potentially turn a cell that has enough mutations of the right type into a cancerous cell that will divide uncontrollably, resulting in the development of a tumor, and affecting the health of an organism.”

The incident did indeed have such effects. The spillage from the Ohio derailment led to water contamination, which affected both the environment and local residents. Additionally, residents of the surrounding affected city experienced symptoms such as headaches, which were believed to be a result of the chemicals released from the derailment.

Despite the differences between the Minnesota and Ohio train derailments, they both highlight the importance of taking necessary precautions when transporting hazardous materials by rail. Train derailments can cause catastrophic environmental damage, and it is crucial to take every possible measure to prevent them from happening. Additionally, these incidents highlight the need for better emergency response plans in case of such disasters. The EPA and other government agencies play a crucial role in managing and containing the environ-

mental impact of such incidents. Bansal says that enforcing routine maintenance can help minimize such incidents from occurring.

“To prevent these incidents from happening in the future,” Bansal said. “We should maintain proper inspection of both the trains and the tracks and have better restrictions on factors such as the train’s speed or signaling systems. Additionally, we should try and update our technology and infrastructure for trains.”

Li shares a similar sentiment, stating that prioritizing safety through implementing such measures is ultimately one of the most effective ways that derailments can either be avoided, or that the consequences won’t be as extreme.

“I think the best way to prevent these accidents from ever happening again,” Li said. “Is number one, and most importantly, a good driver that knows what they’re doing and are quick on their feet. Also, very strict safety and preventative measures should be implemented. Only through such actions can it be ensured that derailments won’t be as detrimental.”

FLOOD OF BENEFITS

BY OWEN LU

Thirty-one atmospheric rivers hit California between October 2022 and March 2023, leading to mass flooding, high winds, and forced evacuations that left the state in disrepair. Many counties experienced widespread power outages, school closures, and highway shutdowns due to the dangerous weather conditions.

Some structural flood mitigation mechanisms include levees, floodwalls, and dams. Levees are often naturallyformed walls that are parallel to a river or a waterway to prevent water from spilling onto land. Levees can be reinforced by adding additional materials to stabilize the wall. In contrast, floodwalls are generally made entirely from steel or concrete but serve a similar purpose as levees. Finally, dams prevent flooding by holding and releasing water in a controlled fashion.

MVHS AP Environmental Science teacher Kyle Jones explains that a dam essentially acts as a “buffer” that can regulate water flow.

“During high rain or high precipitation when flooding may occur due to a lot of runoff, you can essentially regulate that [with a dam],” Jones said. “You can

close a dam so that it would back the water up rather than allowing it to flow downstream unimpeded, which can protect communities downstream of the dam from being inundated with that water.”

There are many types of dams, including perforated dams, which are built solely for flood control: such dams usually don’t store water unless water levels rise above a certain level, like in a flood. These dams maintain natural flow for the most part but also provide flood control in times of need.

Besides flood control, dams are also integral to our water supply, energy production via hydropower, and irrigation.

“[Dams] act as a stable supply of drinking water,” Jones said. “Obviously, you have to treat the water at a water treatment plant before it’s delivered to houses, but it can provide a stable source of water.”

Jones also highlights another indirect benefit of dams: tourism and recreation. Reservoirs, which are the lakes trapped behind dams, often include activities such as swimming and fishing that attract tourists. For instance, Lake Mead, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam in Colorado, generated around 336 million dollars in

benefits during 2018 through its National Recreation Area.

However, many dams in the US were built a long time ago: the average age of all the dams in California is over 70 years, and over time, dams may lose their ability to withstand earthquakes and floods. The potential impacts of broken dams are devastating: in March, a levee breach led to flooding in Monterey County and displaced thousands of residents from their homes. Although officials were able to control the flow of water by reinforcing the levee with boulders, families still had to wait weeks before they could move back. Because of this instability, states are tearing down or looking to renovate these dams to ensure that they continue functioning properly and safely.

The potential consequences of a dam failure are catastrophic, making it important for age-old dams to meet modern safety standards. For example, the 1889 Johnstown flood, which serves as one of the worst floods in the US to this day, was initiated after the failure of the South Fork Dam, causing over 2000 deaths.

Dam retrofits are even present in the

ILLUSTRATION | MIKAYLAH DU

Examining the role of dams in society and the steps that are being taken to retrofit age-old dams.

Bay Area. For instance, the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit is aiming to improve the reliability and safety of the Anderson Dam, which is a soil-based embankment dam with a clay core. Although modern embankment dams are capable of withstanding earthquakes, Kurt McMullin, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at San Jose State University, explains that the Anderson Dam was built in 1950 when scientists did not know nearly as much as they know today about earthquakes.

“[When Anderson Dam was built], San Jose was a small city. Now it’s over a million people – the potential catastrophe that could occur if a dam like that would collapse is devastating,” McMullin said. “And of course, we didn’t realize where fault lines were and how powerful earthquakes could be. ”

As an example, recently in 2016, researchers discovered a new seismic fault line near Anderson Dam. This discovery along with a 2011 study of the Anderson Dam that proclaimed that the dam might significantly weaken during an earthquake contributed to the retrofit efforts. Elizabeth Sanchez, an assistant engineer working on the Anderson Dam Tunnel Project, echoes McMullin’s sentiments about the technological advancements that have been made since the initial construction of the dam.

“Back in the 1950s, there wasn’t as much engineering technology, specifically in civil engineering,” Sanchez said. “And now, knowing the things that we know about the site and the geological investigations that we’ve done, there’s just a more modern way of doing this type of construction and building this type of dam [to make it seismically safe].”

The Anderson Dam retrofit comes in two stages: the first stage, which is projected to finish by the end of 2024, involves creating a tunnel through the embankment of the dam that can provide large releases of water when the retrofit begins.

“In order to retrofit, we’re going to

completely bring [the dam] down,” Sanchez said. “Since we have all that water built up behind [the dam], in order for us to lower it at the rate that we need, we need to create this tunnel. In that tunnel, we’re going to have a very large, low level pipeline to be able to help with releases of water, not only for the construction, but also if there was an earthquake that was to hit in this time period.”

The second stage involves the actual retrofitting of the dam and is projected for completion in 2032. Although the exact details of the retrofit are still under design, Sanchez explains that the general plan is to first bring the original embankment down before rebuilding the dam with additional stability measures and technologies that can hold the soil in place. Because the project is estimated to take around ten years to complete, communities around the Anderson Dam will have to rely on other sources of water.

“The district actually has ten reservoirs,” Sanchez said. “And so with Anderson Dam fully at deadpool, we are utilizing other reservoirs for water supply and also importing water from other areas to be able to supplement for our Santa Clara County.”

Other types of dams, like concrete dams, are also vulnerable to seismic activity. McMullin explains that an earthquake shakes the ground at a certain frequency, and if the structure of a dam makes it so that the dam as a whole shakes at a similar frequency, resonance would cause the vibrations to amplify. However, McMullin also notes that these effects can be reduced by attaching ribs to the back of the dam to keep the dam from vibrating or by changing the frequency at which the dam vibrates.

Increasing seismic resistance serves as one portion of retrofitting projects, but dams are also being retrofitted in other ways. For instance, many projects are retrofitting dams to produce hydropower, which is a form of renewable energy in which moving water can create electricity.

To produce hydropower, moving water powers an electric generator by providing the energy to spin the turbine. However, not all areas have access to hydropower because the water needs to have enough energy to power the plant at a profit – in fact, out of over 90000 dams in the US, only around 2300 of them currently produce hydropower.

“Building a dam is very expensive, so if you’re going to build it with the purpose of getting energy out of it, you need to make sure that the energy you’re getting in return is going to make up for all the money, time and labor you spent building the dam,” Jones said.

Even though the amount of dams producing hydropower in the US is relatively small, their contribution to the electrical grid is certainly not negligible. Hydropower currently produces around 6.3% of the total electricity in the US, and in a few states like Washington, hydropower accounts for a significant portion of their electricity. For example, in 2020, hydropower alone produced nearly 66% of Washington’s electricity. China’s Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, is capable of producing 22,500 megawatts of power compared to the 6,800 megawatts that its US counterpart produces. In fact, hydropower accounts for around sixteen percent of China’s electricity.

“Dams provide massive amounts of power for the world,” Jones said. “If we turned off all the dams, we’d be in big trouble in terms of electricity.”

Thus, retrofitting dams to create electricity in areas that allow for hydropower generation could potentially provide significant amounts of energy that can be used to power homes and businesses. These retrofits would also help us move toward more renewable energy sources and shift away from fossil fuels.

Beyond hydropower, dams play important roles ranging from flood control to recreation in our society. However, at the same time, many dams are growing older, leading to safety concerns around factors like the seismic stability of these structures. As a result, it’s becoming increasingly important to renovate age-old dams so that they can still function properly and safely.

“Dams provide massive amounts of power for the world.”

SCIENCE TEACHER KYLE JONES

NEUROSCIENCE CLUB: INTO THE UNKNOWN

BY SIYA NAVALGUNDKAR

The history and role of Neuroscience Club at MVHS as it delves into the unknown of our nervous systems

Neuroscience is an intriguing and dynamic field of study that aims to uncover the mysteries of our nervous systems: our brains, networks, and inner souls. It has led to numerous breakthroughs in fundamental aspects of cognition and human behavior. It holds promise for curing even the most devastating diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. With new technologies constantly emerging, there is always a way to learn more about the brain. And even better, we have a neuroscience club right here on campus to discuss exciting explorations and the ever-present neuro news going around in the science world.

The club was established about 10 years ago,

and senior Raaga Karumanchi is currently its president, having been in the club for all four years of her high school career.

“Throughout the years, we’ve focused on different aspects of neuroscience,” Karumanchi said. “Especially with the COVID-19

pandemic, there was a really big transition we went through. During lockdown, [neuroscience] club was online so we had to shift gears and do more online activities.”

Senior Preetal Deshpande, another officer, shares some of Karumanchi’s thoughts. She says that their club allows members to get a real idea of

“We teach people about the different parts of the brain, while also allowing them to get a taste of real intersections between sciences.”

SENIOR RAAGA KARUMANCHI

PHOTO | SIYA NAVALGUNDKAR

what being a med student would look like. With in-person participation, she feels the club has bounced back.

“We also go over case studies of past patients and let our members discover what it's like to pursue a healthcare career.”

Deshpande said. “Last year was kind of the first year we were able to do in-person activities again and get time in the lab.”

A major highlight of the year was the club’s sheep brain dissection. A couple of weeks ago, members took a look into a sheep’s brain and did a firsthand lab experiment. Club member freshman Sara Zhao shed some light on her experience.

“It was very hands-on and really fun because you don’t see a sheep brain every day,” Zhao explained. “It was cool to see different parts of the brain and get a close-up of what dissection is.”

Deshpande goes on to explain her interest in the dissection as well. She adds that the dissection allowed surgeons to get hands-on experience in lab work.

Deshpande said. “It was about two weeks long, and we wanted to take the time for people to see the specific parts of the brain.”

Another highlight was the speaker event Neuro Club had. They invited Stanford professor and Autism expert Lynn Koegel, who developed a widely-used autism therapy: pivotal response treatment. It is based on the idea that targeting certain areas of a child’s behavior with intensive treatment can reduce autism symptoms. Currently, they are targeting children ages 3-10, but want to explore outside of their focus group. She came in and gave

a talk about her clinical trials with autism patients and what progress she’s made in the last few years.

According to Karumanchi, she is planning to major in neuroscience heading into college.

“What sparked my interest was [the] sheep brain dissection because [it] stood out to me when I initially joined the club,” Karumanchi said. “I had a couple of friends who were interested in neuroscience, and I ended up getting involved in the club myself.”

Senior Sivani Gangaram is the Activities Manager of the club, and she has some opinions on what to improve for the club’s future.

“When I first became an officer, I wanted to make the club more interactive,” Gangaram said. “It wasn’t very engaging, with lecture after lecture, so when I became

the Activities Manager, I want to spread my knowledge and enthusiasm in a passionate and meaningful way. I hope that the future officers will continue the same and keep the club a fun forum for students to explore their interests.”

Most of us, in the tech-infused generation, are not aware of just how much the brain is affected by the world we interact with.

“The brain control every single aspect of our bodies. Whether it be depression, anxiety, or even sleep, the brain gets altered with different mechanisms and responses coming into the picture.” Karumanchi said. “Because neuroscience is not just the study of the brain—it’s where the unknown is uncovered.”

“The dissection was the application of what we learned in the first semester, so it was a great way to see everything come full circle.

SENIOR PREETAL DESHPANDE

PHOTO | MV NEUROSCIENCE

A NEW ERA: CHAT GPT

BY AARYAN DOSHI

How

The date was Nov. 30, 2022 and much of the world was absolutely stunned. The company Open AI had just released a chatbot known as Chat GPT.

But this wasn’t just a chatbot; this was the chatbot.

No one had ever witnessed anything like it before. Here was a platform that generated perfectly written essays, debugged code with utmost precision, and carried out humanlike conversations with incredible accuracy. Naturally, such technology drew both criticism and praise from researchers, teachers, and students alike. Many fear the exposure of such technology to children, citing it as a major inhibition to their development of writing and communication skills

According to Stephen Marche of the Atlantic, the creation of such an advanced writing system takes away from the individuality that is often elicited from human writing. Now, he says “that entire tradition is about to be disrupted from the ground up.” Students from all ages have utilized the platform to complete homework, write essays, and receive answers to their questions immediately. In some areas, the issue has become so serious that many districts have taken it upon themselves to restrict the website on school computers.

But does this really help? Will students inevitably find out about it anyways?

Princeton University graduate student, Edward Tian, believes he has found a way to combat the harmful effects that Chat GPT poses. His platform, known as Chat GPT Zero, uses an AI algorithm to determine whether text has been GPT generated or student generated. The app has gained popularity over the last month with Tian receiving comments from people all over the world regarding his new app.

Many from the technology sector see Chat GPT as an asset to ease the boring parts of their jobs, allowing them to focus on the more stimulating aspects. To understand these benefits more clearly, I decided to interview MVHS alum ‘21 Ria Doshi, who is currently pursuing a computer science degree. On a daily basis, she utilizes the platform to write short, uninteresting pieces of code, removing the

monotony in her research.

“I know that many are quick to criticize Chat GPT for disrupting education, but I don’t think people recognize the way in which it can revolutionize societies of the future,” Doshi said.

“As a researcher, we spend hours searching for details to improve or debug code. Chat GPT is like communicating with another person to solve a problem, with more minds contributing, a solution is reached faster. While people’s concerns about Chat GPT are justified, it is nowhere close to writing like humans yet, with a monotonic style that is easy to distinguish,” she said.

It is quite clear that Chat GPT has both positive and negative effects on our daily lives. Out of curiosity, I thought it would be interesting to interview Chat GPT itself … Let’s see what AI thinks about AI!

RN: Do you pose a threat to education for

worried should we be about Chat GPT?

“I don’t think people recognize the way in which Chat GPT revolutionize societies of the future.”

MVHS ALUM ‘21

RIA DOSHI

PHOTO BY TUMISU UNDER CC0

humans?

Chat GPT: “As a language model, I am not capable of posing any kind of threat. I am a tool that can assist with various tasks, including education. However, it is important to note that the use and implementation of AI in education should be carefully considered and evaluated to ensure that it is beneficial and does not negatively impact the learning experience of humans.”

RN: Should you be allowed in schools?

Chat GPT: “It is ultimately up to the discretion of schools and educators to decide whether or not to use ChatGPT or any other AI-based tools in their classrooms. However, it is important to consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of using such technology in education.

ChatGPT and other language models can be useful for providing personalized feedback to students, generating practice exercises, and assisting with research and writing tasks. However, it is important to consider the potential for bias in the model’s responses, as well as the need for students to develop critical thinking and problemsolving skills that may not be fully supported by an AI tool. Ultimately, it is important for educators to be aware of the limitations of AI and to use it as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional teaching methods.”

RN: How can you be of use in the technology sector?

Chat GPT: “ChatGPT and other language models like it can be used in a variety of ways in the technology space, some examples are:

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU): ChatGPT can be used to improve the accuracy and efficiency of NLP and NLU tasks, such as text summarization, sentiment analysis, and question answering.

Text generation: ChatGPT can be used to generate creative writing, product descriptions, or even scripts for movies and TV shows.

Dialogue systems: ChatGPT can be used to build conversational agents, such as chatbots, that can interact with users in a natural and human-like way.

Language Translation: GPT-based models can be used to generate high-quality translations of text from one language to another.

Automated content creation: GPT-based models can be used to generate various types of content like articles, product descriptions, and more, which can save time and resources for companies and businesses.

Research and Development: GPTbased models can be used in research and development to generate new ideas, hypotheses, and experiments.”

However, it’s important to note that AI-based tools like ChatGPT should be used as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, human intelligence and creativity.

Well, you heard it from the master itself! Even Chat GPT believes that it should be used with caution. However, it is also important to utilize the technology effectively so that humans can focus on tasks that require higher levels of intelligence.

Automated content creation: GPT-based models can be used to generate various types of content like articles, product descriptions, and more, which can save time and resources for companies and businesses.

Research and Development: GPT-

based models can be used in research and development to generate new ideas, hypotheses, and experiments.”

However, it’s important to note that AIbased tools like ChatGPT should be used as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, human intelligence and creativity.

CHAT GPT

Well, you heard it from the master itself! Even Chat GPT believes that it should be used with caution. However, it is also important to utilize the technology effectively so that humans can focus on tasks that require higher levels of intelligence.

“It is important to consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of using such technology in education.”

PHOTO BY PETE LINFORTH UNDER CC0

DEAD AS A DODO... FOR NOW

BY SOPHIA D'SA

Can one company bring back dodos from extinction?

On Tuesday, January 31, 2023, biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences announced that it will begin efforts to “de-extinct” the dodo. Though the flightless birds went extinct in the late 1600s, the company hopes to genetically engineer their closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon, into “a functional proxy” of the dodo, then restore it to its native island of Mauritius. The project announcement sparked excitement among some, while others questioned its viability, ethicality and whether it is an appropriate use of resources.

In terms of viability, an article by the MIT Technology Review noted that Colossal is still developing the necessary genetic editing technology, and it is “hard to predict” the number of genetic changes required to change a Nicobar pigeon into a dodo. Their method is also being called into question —

according to the Smithsonian Magazine, the company’s plan is to edit germ cells from a pigeon egg and then implant them back into the egg to grow, a process that has only ever been successfully done with chicken eggs. However, the team has already sequenced the dodo genome from museum remains, so the current focus is on the editing technology.

If a dodo or similar bird is created, a new issue arises: how it will behave. As paleogenomics researcher Mikkel Sindig put it, there is simply no way to “teach the dodo how to be a dodo.” Science teacher Jaime Vazquez says that despite this, the new dodo could still develop its own new social behaviors.

“When you think about behaviors, and behavioral neuroscience, there is a strong component that is social and cultural,” Vazquez said. “With that said, there's also a genetic component, so there will already be some

kind of foundational elements there that the species will use as a canvas for their life.” If those first few birds survive, they will become the template for future generations, a framework upon which natural selection can act without the new species going extinct.

Supporting such a new endeavor requires quite a lot of money — in fact, Colossal has raised a total of $225 million in funding so far. To sophomore Kaia Yuan, that money could be better spent elsewhere.

“I think if something is dead, we shouldn't try and resurrect it,” Yuan said. “Let's just try to prevent other animals from going extinct too. Funnel the money towards things that are actually, in my opinion, important.”

In a CNN interview, Shapiro said that the technologies Colossal will develop over the course of this project can be repurposed to edit the genomes of other birds, hopefully engineering resilience to disease and even climate change. Lerner partially agrees with this, stating that while there is demand for genetic editing technology, Colossal’s claims may not be practical.

“I don't think there is anything wrong with continuing to understand science and genetics, so that maybe we can use some of those technologies to help biodiversity or humanity in some way or another,” Lerner said. “There's going to be a lot of ways in which that's going to be important in the future. The ability for us to create crops that could survive in a drier environment [will be] really critical to our survival. [But] I wasn't convinced by some of the things they were talking

about, like modifying existing animals.”

Assuming that the project is ultimately completed, its ethics are still a point of controversy. According to Lerner, this is a prime example of humans meddling with the environment, perhaps even worse than killing off the species in the first place.

“I’m not even sure I find the whole thing to be ethical,” Lerner said. “It’s a living organism, and I think we should have some respect for that. What kind of life is it going to have?”

A potential solution, according to Vazquez, is to ensure proper regulations and follow-ups on the project. To him, this means making sure that the right people have power over the project and that the dodos are surveilled appropriately to keep them safe.

“The science is only part of the actual effort,” Vazquez said. “If you’re trying to do any form of restoration of any kind, you have to pair science with policy.”

While bringing back the dodo will certainly be challenging for Colossal, both technologically and ethically, the project could have some benefits for general conservation efforts. Lerner stated that the novelty of the project may result in greater attention and support from the public.

“Sometimes science progresses because people think something’s cool,” Lerner said. “A positive thing that could

come out of [bringing back the dodo] is if it gets people excited and maybe gets resources put in a direction that could help.”

Nevertheless, she cautions that conservation “isn’t really about an individual or species.” Conserving entire ecosystems is more difficult but also more effective than targeting individual species like Colossal is trying to, whether or not they repurpose their technologies.

Evidently, the potential benefits of Colossal Biosciences’ project to de-extinct the dodo are currently overshadowed by the challenges in development as well as other types of conservation that may warrant more attention. Genetically engineered dodos will most likely not be the key to restoring and conserving ecosystems, and yet not all hope is lost.

“It is important to remember that a future still exists if we’re willing to fight for it,” Vazquez said. “It’s important to maintain hope and optimism, because we need something to just keep going.”

ILLUSTRATION | SOPHIA YAN

THE COMFORT OF HOME

BY DOROTHY ZHENG

When familial love transcends life and death

On a sunny, peaceful day in the comfort of his home, Caelus lies on his deathbed.

He comes to this realization abruptly, his heart sinking as he notices his heart slowing and his breath becoming increasingly labored.

He comes to terms with his condition pretty quickly. Caelus was not unfamiliar with grief in the slightest. He’s grieved for many others—certainly grieving for oneself was not any different?

His twin sister squeezes his hand lightly, bringing him back to reality.

Celine’s eyes sparkle with unshed tears, the usual air of serenity around her nowhere to be seen.

“Caelus, you have to hang in there, alright?”

He smiles but doesn’t respond, his eyes slowly drooping. Celine seems to notice this as well, her eyes gradually widening.

A smile is the last thing he leaves for her.

Celine wakes up the next morning feeling as if the previous day’s events

were just a fever dream. Her head throbs painfully, supporting this idea, but the drying tear tracks on her cheeks pull her back to reality.

“He’s gone,” she mutters. “He’s really gone.”

She scrambles out of her bed and rushes into her brother’s room, desperate for some sort of concrete answer. She really hopes he is still there, like it was all just a horrible, horrible nightmare.

She’s met with an empty, soulless room. Celine’s heart drops. She moves to sit on the floor, practically collapsing, shaking from her sobs. She hugs her knees tightly, curling into herself.

While she could’ve easily been delirious, she feels a soft touch on her shoulder. It feels like a light breeze, but she appreciates the comfort nonetheless.

Caelus observes his sister’s state, and the pain he feels for her is harder to bear than the pain of death itself.

He floats down and pats her on her

shoulder in the same way he used to. Celine shifts slightly at the motion.

She felt it? he wonders. It must be a mere coincidence.

After Caelus’ eyes closed for the last time, he was left in absolute darkness. Throughout his life, he has always believed that this would happen after death, but it felt worse when it is his new reality.

Just as he was getting comfortable, Caelus is transported back into the familiar atmosphere of his home. He looks down, and in horror, the absence of his body makes him realize that he is a ghost.

A sob in the distance cuts off his train of thought.

Caelus finds his sister in disarray, hunched over on the floor.

“Denial,” echoes an otherworldly voice.

Celine stands up, roughly wiping away the tears on her cheeks. She mutters something intelligible as she leaves for her room, closing the door.

His sister comes out a few moments later, clutching a ripped t-shirt that Caelus

recognizes as his own. In her other hand, she holds her mom’s old sewing kit.

“Victims will often busy themselves with mindless tasks in the denial stage. It keeps their minds.”

Caelus watches as Celine’s hands shakily thread a string through a needle. She begins to sew the garment, slower than she once had but managing nonetheless.

The needle suddenly slips from her grasp, the sharp point grazing her hand.

“Anger,” the voice continues.

She studies the light scrape the needle had made on her hands. She drops the shirt in haste.

“Victims experiencing the anger stage are often irritable. Their actions are both unpredictable and violent.”

Celine paces around the room, gnawing on her thumbnail.

Her gaze returns to the garment thrown haphazardly on the couch, and the angry facade that she put up shows its cracks. She rushes back to her original place, clutching the shirt once again, flipping it over, and studying the place where she started her stitches.

Caelus can hear the noise of the shirt ripping even further. Celine stares at the disarray of fabric in her hands.

“Bargaining.”

She tries to fit the fabric back together, but it seems her efforts are futile. The seams of the garment fall apart at the touch, the shrill noise echoing through the empty house.

“Victims often feel guilty or shameful during the bargaining stage. They tend to think back to the past and question their decisions.”

Celine studies the destroyed design. “It’s my fault,” she whispers. “I’ve lost him.”

Caelus reaches out for his sister, but he misses her by an inch as she stands up hastily, retreating to her room. Caelus follows her as if he was being controlled by a supernatural force, watching as she tucks herself back into her bed.

“Depression.”

He listens as his sister sniffles as she sobs, the sound muffled by the covers. She tosses and turns, seemingly unable to rest.

“Aside from crying and signs of despair, victims will often have trouble sleeping or eating during the depression stage.”

He watches helplessly as she cries, not knowing how he could give her any assistance.

Time passes and Celine falls into a light slumber, but the voice does not return.

“Depression,” the voice suddenly says, repeating itself.

Celine sits up suddenly as if she was startled by something.

“Aside from crying and signs of despair, victims will often have trouble sleeping or eating during the depression stage.”

Why is she still in this stage? Caelus thinks.

“She hasn’t progressed yet,” the voice replies.

Days go by. Celine doesn’t leave the house and remains in her bed, only getting up for the bare necessities.

What can I do to help her?

The voice doesn’t reply.

In this form, he finds that he can only slightly manipulate wind. Nonetheless, she is sound asleep, so he chooses to clean up her room, blowing papers and trash away.

At the disturbance, Celine wakes up. She slowly wipes the tears from her face and climbs out of bed.

Caelus follows her to the restroom, where she stares at her reflection in the mirror.

In the past few weeks, he notices that his sister starts to cry whenever she sees herself. This time, she doesn’t. He grows more hopeful at her reaction.

As Celine makes some food for herself, Caelus waves over a paper crane that he made for her a few weeks ago. She smiles at the sight, picking the item up and studying it for a while.

A few days later, when she leaves

the house for the first time, a flower miraculously lands at her feet.

With little actions like these, Caelus slowly guides his sister to acceptance. He can’t do much in this form, but it seems to be enough.

As the days go by, the absence of the voice becomes glaringly obvious. It was as if the voice was the only thing holding Celine back, keeping her in the endless cycle of grief, like a pesky gnat that was constantly buzzing in her ear, affirming her insecurities and worries.

The voice disappears, and Celine realizes that she can decide when she will proceed to acceptance, when she can let Caelus go. As her life begins to return to normalcy, he starts to play less of a part in her day.

The voice never returns. Soon after, Caelus doesn’t either.

On a sunny, peaceful day in the comfort of her home, Celine is able to move on.

“She begins to sew the garment, slower than she once had but managing nonetheless.”

ABSENT

BY VIVIAN LIU

Exploring side effects of anti-anxiety medications

It’s been a month since I started taking benzodiazepines. I still remember the day I got my prescription for the new anti-anxiety medication that had been recently released. It had been advertised so widely that I urged my parents to let me try it the day it came out.

“It’s supposed to be very effective, especially for people around your age. One pill is enough to relieve your stress for at least a couple of days,” the psychiatrist had said.

It was hard to get used to at first. I wasn’t familiar with feeling so numb. But I got used to it eventually. And besides, it really calmed me down. I didn’t feel the dark, looming social anxiety that plagued me every day at school for the past few years of my life since I’d started taking it.

“Hey, Brent! I heard you’re free this weekend!”

The voice of my best friend, Jason, distantly registers in my head as I sit up from my comfortable position hunched over at my desk. The teacher’s lecture is so monotone that I can’t be bothered to even pretend to be paying attention. But I should at least pretend to pay attention if it’s my friend I guess.

“Yeah, I probably will be,” I say.

“Wanna hang out?” He says.

“Uhh, sorry, but nah. We always end up doing the same stuff anyway, it’s boring.”

“Aww, no fair. You think everything is boring these days,” he replies, dejected.

“What, really? You’re just saying that,” I respond, indignant. I didn’t think I was being that unreasonable. “I just need some time to myself.”

“Okay, dude. I swear you have no energy these days.”

“Maybe it’s cause track season started,” I mumble, feeling suddenly defensive. He’s just messing with me. I’m not actually any different, am I?

It’s a few months later and I’m at my brother’s wedding. Everyone’s smiling and chattering away, but I really can’t be bothered. They’re all laughing at some joke

my brother made about being surprised that he had managed to get married this quickly. I’m not laughing. The joke’s dumb anyway.

Distantly, I wonder if I’m missing something. Some part of me is just not there lately. Maybe Jason was right.

At some point my brother comes over to talk to me, wishing me good luck with school and teasing me about when I’m planning to find someone to get with. I plaster on a smile, but it feels unconvincing and my cheeks hurt from faking a smile all day long.

I wonder what the old me would have done. I’m sure that he would’ve been practically terrified with all the people here, and he definitely would’ve been constantly concerned with whether he was making a good impression on all of my brother’s friends and how to draw as little attention as possible. But his smile would’ve been genuine. Or at least I’d like to believe that because I knew for sure that mine wasn’t. What was with me? I felt totally numb.

And then I realize that it’s not just a part of me that’s missing. I felt like my personality was being slowly drained away, every day that I took those pills.

After that, I began to be afraid that people would see through my facade and recognize how emotionless I was becoming. I didn’t want to be this way anymore.

The next time I visited my psychiatrist, I told him that I wanted to switch medications, or at least stop taking this one. It’s ironic: in the past, I probably would’ve been too afraid of confrontation to even bring it up, especially after my parents had already paid so much for it.

I was surprised when the psychiatrist didn’t argue.

“It’s not for everyone, I suppose. You can’t know for certain just from a few clinical trials what effect a new medication will have on an individual level,” he said.

“Well, still, if you want to resolve your anxiety, other than switching medications, there are some other options to try. For example, I have some other patients who’ve

tried cognitive behavioral therapy, and other than that exercising more often and meditating may help with your anxiety.

On the car ride home, when my parents asked me if I felt okay, I gave them the first genuine smile I’d given anyone in over a year.

“Yeah.”

“Distantly, I wonder if I’m missing something. Some part of me is just not there lately. ”

LIGHT DARK

BY AMY ZHENG

If there are an infinite number of stars in the sky, why is the night sky always so dark?

IThe girl was alone. She placed her hand on the icy handle and stepped outside as she had always done. Craning her neck, the girl looked up at the night sky. It was dark. Or rather, darker than before. Was it always this dark? Or was it just the smog? Either way, there was no light. None at all. The girl went back inside.

As per Sir Issac Newton’s assumptions, the universe is infinite, static, and uniform. And it is precisely because the universe is infinite that there are an infinite number of stars. It is from these assumptions that Olbers’ Paradox arises. Given that there are an infinite number of stars, there should be a star that follows every line of sight—so then why is the night sky still dark?

The girl was left once again in her house. She was left once again in her thoughts, her mind swimming with a strange murkiness that appeared every day. Her house was also the cage of her mind as she had concluded. And also the cage of her being

as her mind had concluded. Her house was the place where the girl would shed the character she had created for herself. The symbol of clarity, intelligence, and wits—as her classmates knew it—was gone almost as quickly as it had been put up.

The girl slumped down against the couch. In the pure darkness of night, she was surrounded by sounds: the rhythmic chirping of crickets, the monotonic ticking of the clock…all mingled into a cacophony of noise she was far too used to. Tick, tock.

The girl began to let her mind wander. She thought about one idea that had always been on her mind. How could she possibly let others acknowledge her worth, her purpose, of her life on this Earth? Her perfect facade of achievement seemed to have started to minimally crack these days with every heavy step she took. Her pretend world of fulfillment that others seemed to see was gone.

So she began to ponder, to contemplate,

to think about how to answer this question—she had no other choice. And then she, or perhaps it was her mind, eventually came to the conclusion that she would have no other choice but to patch herself up and continue holding on to the mask she had so carefully put up, even if it were merely by a single thread.

II

Another day was over. The sun had set so the girl went outside, as she had always done. Craning her neck, the girl looked up at the night sky. It was dark. The girl went back insi—light! A faint light from a dull flashlight was shining from across the street. When she squinted, she could barely see the figure of a boy.

Are you looking for the stars too? The voice that belonged to the boy called out. Startled, she hurried back inside, but not before giving a curt nod of acknowledgment, despite knowing that the boy couldn’t see her. It was quite strange.

PHOTO BY LIJA AHANA UNDER CC BY 2.0

Although she had been consistently going outside, she had never seen the boy before. But it seemed almost like a solace. One of the first interactions she had in a while where she did not have to put up her facade. She did not need to be perfect. They were just two people looking for stars that never appeared.

Many explanations have been proposed as a response to Olbers’ Paradox. The “red shift” is among them. It is a theorem that brings up how the wavelength of light produced by the star increases and stretches, especially as faster speeds move the star further away from the planet. This decrease in frequency then causes light to enter the infrared region, one that is no longer visible to the eye. But this also indicates that billions of years ago, when stars would have been a lot closer to the Earth, this light emitted from the stars would have been visible to the human eye.

That night as she sat against the couch, she began, once again, to ruminate. But the girl had a different question that night, one that she only dared to dream of. The mere seven-word sentence the boy had said to her just hours ago lent itself to become the spark of this foreign idea. Is it possible for someone to understand me? Is it possible for me to see a star?

III

The girl stepped outside once again. No stars tonight, it seems, a familiar voice called out.

From that day one, the boy would be sitting on his front porch gazing at the dark sky every night. When he heard the door open, he would turn on his flashlight almost as a way of letting the girl know she was not the only one who hopelessly hunted for any signs of light in the sky.

Day after day, or rather, night after night, went by just like this.

It’s dark out here tonight.

Where are the stars?

I really want to wish upon a shooting star.

The girl would never reply, but she would gradually stay outside for longer periods of time amidst futile attempts to hunt for stars. She got used to looking for the dull light from the flashlight as soon as she stepped outside.

It was just the chirping of crickets and the occasional wind of the car that went by that created a symphony for her. It was peaceful. It was the only time where her facade went down and the only time when she truly seemed to have answers to her questions.

It was night again. The girl went out and saw the familiar light of flashli—no—this wasn’t a dull light. It didn’t come from across the street. She looked up. There it was. A small, small, star, but it seemed to emit such a strong light! The girl, in a flurry

of emotions, turned her attention away from the star and tried to search for the familiar dull light of hope from the boy’s flashlight. But it wasn’t there. She ran across the street to share the news—but the boy wasn’t there.

Day after day, night after night went by, and the tiny star continued to shine bright in the sky. But the boy was never there.

Cheseaux, Halley, Herschel, and so many more, have put forth their own arguments to explain Olbers’ Paradox. These include the division of space into “spherical concentric shells”, the analysis of energy density on the surface of a star, and the possibility of starlight absorbed by the interstellar medium…but maybe the explanation could be much more simple.

The solution to this paradox could simply remain in the fact that the lifespan of stars is cut far too short for light to have reached this planet.

Strangely though, the girl had conjured up a presence similar to his with aid from the tiny star. She felt reassured that the star would stay within her without needing to go outside anymore. Without needing to stay slumped down beside the couch, wondering about questions she never had the answer to. She was enough.

But maybe the explanation could be much more simple.

PHOTO BY MORGAN MAXWELL UNDER CC BY 2.0

EXCERPT BY ROBERT H. VAN HORN UNDER CC BY NC-SA 4.0

LOST IN CHROME

Examining the importance of community in humanity

BY MAHATHI RAJKUMAR

Bedazzling light surrounded her as she looked up at the sky.

The blackness dissipated. Opening her eyes, Lyra fell into shock. She wasn’t in her bedroom, with the transparent white curtains that let in the sun and viridian vines that wrapped around her bed frame. Instead, Lyra found herself on a white bed in a chrome room. There was a window, but there was no radiant sky looking back at her. All she saw was a desolate darkness.

She closed her eyes and thought of what happened right before this. She couldn’t remember. Only small glimpses of weeks past remained in her memory. She stood up,walked to the door and left the room.

She was shocked at what she saw. The strange place seemed to be endlessly large, with large pools, spacious kitchens

and living spaces. The place seemed to have everything a person could want. But something was missing. Perhaps, the chrome walls. Or maybe, another human beside her, to share emotions and feelings. Days passed and soon grew to weeks. A sense of dread slowly grew upon her, as it had been a long time since she came to the spaceship, but still had no idea why she was there. As she moved through the days, Lyra felt increasingly dejected. She missed home: the warmth of the sun hitting her face, and the moments she had shared with others. She had never felt grateful for the sun and the people before it was all gone. Though she was surrounded by books, a gym, a pool, and a movie room, nothing could replace that void. Often, she didn’t have the motivation to leave her bed; instead, she lay there in the warmth of the comforter and remembered all the warm moments that

she had shared until she fell back into the darkness of sleep. She woke up on tearsoaked pillows.

She often pondered upon why she was there. Why she was chosen to lose all that she loved. Why she couldn’t feel the warmth of life anymore. Maybe if she had done something different, maybe if she was kind to one more person. But there wasn’t any reason, really. It just had to be her.

As more time passed, years, then decades, Lyra still felt as lost as ever. Her emotions slowly drained away. All she felt was the suffocating monotony that finally matched her chrome surroundings. She didn’t feel happy after mastering her macaron recipe. She didn’t feel sad when she dropped the book she was reading into the pool. She was the void that surrounded her and kept her trapped. There was no return to the place she once called home, and she knew that.

Eventually she settled into a routine. And slowly, Lyra forgot who she was: where she came from, what she felt, what she could feel. She lost all aspects of her identity. She lost herself. She could do everything she used to. Yet she wasn’t human. Not anymore.

PHOTO BY SKYSEEKER UNDER CC BY 2.0

There was a window, but there was no radiant sky. All she saw was a desolate darkness.

BY AASHI VENKAT

The night you were born, stars hung over the night sky, embedding diamonds into its black velvet. As my eyes lingered out into the darkness, focusing on the nothingness rather than your face staring up at me, all I felt was joy. Had I known how you would have turned out, maybe I could have changed something that night.

Five years later, you’re still unable to sing your alphabets. Instead, you look up at me, curiosity flooding your emerald green eyes and tears hanging onto the sides for dear life. Tears hanging on, sparkling like diamonds, as I shout at you.

“She’ll learn eventually,” I tell myself, forcing myself to believe this is true. You will learn. Eventually. And learn you did. By seven you had nailed it. But by seven, others were reading and writing, manipulating the 26 characters of the alphabet to create the word world they lived in. Whereas you, you were sitting alone on the slides, notepad in your hand. Your sketches looked more like scribbles; each line was hard and seemingly unintentional, whereas the final result seemed vague and uncertain.

You started writing too, writing your first essay at the ripe age of 19. By this point, others were writing research papers. Others were discovering new innovations, creating things once unheard of. Others were earning patents and winning prestigious awards. You were in your room, putting pencil to paper, drafting an argumentative essay comparing cats to dogs.

The summer sun beat hot on your face, dripping pearly drops down your forehead until they made their mark on your paper. You were on paragraph three of five, twirling the wooden pencil around your

As I sat in the waiting room, legs pacing and heart racing, I searched up what they were doing to you. I knew they’d be putting a synthetic chip in your head, and that it’d somehow make you come out of the procedure a smarter person. Something with the frontal lobe or temporal cortex. I mean, the terms were complicated. And I couldn’t comprehend the procedures. So all I could do was pray that you’d come out alive.

An hour later, I was called in to see you. At first I was guilty — there you were, lying down with bandages around your head and a glassy look in your eyes. It took you a few weeks to completely recover, at which point you spoke to everyone but me.

ILLUSTRATION|AASHIVENKAT

had to buy three new bookshelves to store them all. All I could feel for you was fiery pride, rushing through my veins and forcing me to fall in love for the first time with the beautiful academic machine I had created 17 years ago.

Yet the scribbles had stopped, and your silly drawings quickly ceased to exist altogether, making your peers angry and your dad sob. You had left your world of, in my opinion, delusion and you had entered the word world alongside everyone else — you left everything worthless behind, now having the skill set and the ability to accomplish greatness. Though somehow, strangely, I was the only one satisfied. By making you succeed, I seemingly was the only one who won.

So be it if my momentous inhumanity ruined the relationship we had!

Examining the consequences of humanity’s obsession with being the best

I MISS THE

BY DIVYA VENKATARAMAN

Catherine opens her eyes to a dull, gray sky. A baby shrieks somewhere above her. The once pristine ocean is now a murky green — each current a new, tortured face screaming in silence. The sunset glow is left unseen, replaced by a thick, black and unnerving veil that disgusts Catherine.

Catherine is cold.

“I miss the flowers, the beautiful flowers,” rasps Catherine. “The sweet scent that would bathe me in warmth is gone — it’s all gone.” She holds back her tears; she must

baby’s shrieks come to a halt. The curious baby gazes down from his place in the only tree left. The baby sees Catherine’s strife — sees it as an opportunity to fulfill his plan, to do what made him come to this wretched area in the first place.

“The ocean was as clear as a crystal, the corals shining through and coloring the water like stained glass. Similar colors were reflected in the pretty sky, a bewitching rainbow seen by these very eyes. The trees and hills, flourishing and lively, decorated with assortments of fruits like you would

beautiful, colorful flowers — fulfilling my Enamored by her words and

Catherine laughs and opens her palm — the baby perches on her

continues her song; the

beautiful, they were pretty. You could hear the ocean’s melodies and the plant’s songs. There were plains littered with flowers — poppies, marigolds, tulips, alliums and dandelions. Now, all we have is this single rose.”

Catherine’s eyelids droop and she slowly closes her eyes.

The baby grins.

The baby strides over to the single rose. He slowly takes his hands and tears a limb off of the rose to drink the Ambrosia hidden within. The slight rip can be heard in the night, soon accompanied by a hysterical shriek from the overjoyed baby. His body starts to glow in the darkness of the night — lit by the Ambrosia’s power.

Catherine begins to wake.

The ecstatic baby urgently tears more and more limbs of the rose. The fallen limbs of the rose give the delicious and powerful Ambrosia — the drink of the gods that turns the drinker immortal. The nectar’s glow glints in the night, sparkling in the dark. The baby shrieks once again while frantically slurping the Ambrosia.

The final, fallen rose limb brings Catherine out of her drugged daze. She opens her eyes and is met with a single

ILLUSTRATIONS | DIVYA VENKATARAMAN

A story depicting the corruption of greed and materialistic desires through a single rose

plant — her rose — with only one lone limb attached to the stem.

fright. What does the baby think he is doing?

you were different!”

hurriedly tears

once more and Catherine tries to stop him — but not before the baby’s hand brutally tears the last limb of the rose plant, not before the rose plant wilts.

frail mother collapses.

Catherine stops and stares at the baby; she notices the Ambrosia glowing inside his stomach and she — she finally can think enough to understand. After all, it has happened before, has it not? The greed for immortality from the younger generation.

for my mother, my weak mother. Oh, what are we going to do now?”

In a matter of a few seconds, Catherine can no longer sense her mother’s heartbeat — and she finally lets herself cry heavy tears. Oblivious to her pain, the baby begins to dig his nails into Catherine’s skin as she sobs in pain and grief — blinded by his greed. His claws rip at her flesh, skin tearing and blood flowing from the scratches.

The baby reaches Catherine’s heart and is gleefully surprised.

Catherine’s heart is a bouquet of flowers! The baby makes a big, euphoric and inhumane sound. Catherine cowers. The baby flings himself closer to Catherine’s body and begins digging into her flesh, shrieking in glee. Desperate to collect all the flowers, the baby scratches and scratches at her body — all while staring at the wailing, bloody Catherine and her dead mother with pride and ego displayed all over his face. Catherine wails in agony.

“What are you thinking? Oh, humanity’s materialistic desires will be the death of

The baby jumps at her, clawing through her flesh. There, he finally collects the last, ironically placed, rose in the center of Catherine’s black — dirtier than ever before — with ripples of agony and fear permanently stained on the surface. The air is filled with even more black — both smoke and shadows filling any space.

Catherine and her mother are nowhere to be found. Instead, a baby takes their place — covered in blood and wilted flowers — only a single rose left untouched. The baby grows old as time

He realizes his mistake — far too late.

the baby will steal his flowers and grow old, only then understanding the horror of greed. He knows the cycle will continue.

And so, he sings the song he once heard Catherine sing, paying homage to his regrets and society’s downfall.

“I miss the flowers.”

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