Res Novae 2020 Print Magazine by Res Novae

MONTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL | JUNE 2020 | VOLUME V ISSUE I

NEWS Year in review: A timeline of events relating to climate change from the past year OPINION Why statements about a future of fire — or even no future at all — driven by climate change are neither accurate nor beneficial SCIENCE FICTION A couple uncovers the horrors of genetic engineering

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the true impact of brain impacts

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE: YEAR IN REVIEW

reaching out for the greater good

light at the end of the tunnel

plate half full

empathy, bias, privacy

the apocalypse is not coming

give sleep some credit

strain o157:h7

for more, visit

20 01

a journey through the digestive system

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the golden baby

mvresnovae. org

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Undoubtedly, the last few months have been unprecedented. During these socially distanced times, some may have found themselves becoming more reliant on technology to stay connected. Whether it’s logging on to Zoom for classes or talking to friends, or refreshing social media to stay updated with COVID-19 or the Black Lives Matter movement, increasingly, technology has seeped into daily life. During these times, when consuming news and social media, how can we strike a balance between staying informed to fuel activism versus “consumption of pain in the era of trauma porn” (as writer Chloé Meley puts it, in an article for the Incite Journal)? On page 7, in “The apocalypse is not coming,” staff writer Sophie Wang argues against the use of apocalyptic statements regarding climate change, which can incite eco-anxiety and fuel activism but perhaps also undercut the climate movement. On page 9, in “Global climate change: A year in review,” staff writer Marvin Wu breaks down major events related to global climate change from the past year. Though spreading awareness is crucial — and we’re likely well aware of climate change, whether we learned about it in freshman year biology or skim the news headlines every morning — awareness isn’t enough. Wu provides ways to take action in everyday life and mitigate climate change. However, our ever increasing consumption of media and frequent interactions with technology may start to pose ethical considerations. On page 17, in “Empathy, bias, privacy,” staff writer Ritu Atreyas examines the potential for artificial intelligence — though perhaps heralded as unbiased or objective machines — to be affected by human biases. On page 21, in “The golden baby,” section editor and staff writer Fiona Luo’s science fiction article follows a couple as they discover the horrors of genetic engineering. Yet, technology can still be leveraged for the better. On page 15, in “Reaching out for the greater good,” section editor and staff writer Riya Ranjan explores the outreach projects conducted by the MVHS Robotics team and their impact on campus and beyond. With the growing role of technology in our lives and the multitude of ways it can be used, the potential of technology and its long-term effects still remain to be seen.

Charlotte Chui, editor-in-chief

STAFF LIST Editor-in-chief: Charlotte Chui

section editors: Riya Ranjan Fiona Luo

staff writers: Ellie Chen Fiona Luo Gavin Hung Hiranya Sundar Jannah Sheriff Jennifer Zhao Malavika Eby Marvin Wu Nika Zamani Ritu Atreyas Riya Ranjan Seth Berger Shivani Madhan Shreya Mantripragada Sophia Wang

Visuals team: Fiona Luo Jannah Sheriff Jennifer Zhao Malavika Eby Sophia Wang

treasurer: Saumya Tawakley

Magazine design by Charlotte Chui and Marvin Wu Cover page by Fiona Luo

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?” RES NOVAE

the true impact of brain impacts How a deadly brain condition known as CTE may affect millions of student athletes across the U.S. BY riya ranjan

t is known to scientists as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but to athletes, it has become an enduring, interminable killer. This monster of a sickness quite literally destroys one’s brain from the inside out — growing and fermenting, accompanied by violent and suicidal tendencies that often lead to an array of repercussions. For many athletes, as their brains jostle within their skulls, this disease begins to eat away at every aspect of their cognition — and for some, proves to be fatal. Although discovered in 2002, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has only recently gained awareness as a disease that affects players of high impact sports all over the world. Stemming from subconcussive head impacts that occur frequently over time, CTE is almost impossible to detect before death; unlike a concussion, it may take years for CTE to become symptomatic, and it is almost impossible to concretely diagnose while a patient is alive. The disease itself originates from the formation of TAU proteins in the human brain after many repeated head injuries — essentially, pieces of the brain begin to atrophy as these proteins destroy critical brain tissue, leading to a variety of symptoms. Beginning with the frontal and temporal cortices, as well as the medial temporal lobe, as CTE continues to develop, pieces of the brain become distended and deformed, eventually causing permanent neurological damage. CTE IN ATHLETICS Since the discovery of CTE, more players in high risk sports like women’s soccer and American football have been diagnosed postmortem. In a 2017 study by Boston University, over 99% of NFL players tested posthumously (110 in 111) showed drastic signs of brain damage linked to CTE, and while a concrete diagnosis may not have been possible for these players while alive, symptoms of this disease impact the lives of athletes for years before death.

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Known to cause a wide range of neurological problems, from frequent headaches and a loss of concentration to suicidal tendencies and aggression, the symptoms of CTE can even lead to early onset dementia. In some players, symptoms can become severely violent and drastically impair even the most basic cognitive abilities, causing hostility towards loved ones and ultimately affecting many aspects of a patient’s life. Due to the nature of the disease, it is almost impossible to tell where it starts and what scientists can do to mitigate it — and, in a study conducted by Dr. Ann McKee of Boston University, it was found that CTE can present itself as early as high school athletics, as three in 14 studied high school brains were found to have signs of CTE. Although this possibility is fairly low, coaches and youth leagues are now looking to protect their athletes from head impacts in any way they can — including the athletic department at MVHS. MITIGATION AT MVHS While awareness about CTE has increased exponentially over the past decade, many athletes at MVHS still remain oblivious to this disease, unaware of the potentially devastating impact it could have as they continue their sporting careers. For those who play high risk sports, such as women’s soccer and co-ed football, only 25% of 16 surveyed athletes were familiar with CTE at all. However, despite low awareness among athletes, senior and

varsity girls’ soccer captain Jaimie Chan explains that both MVHS and club based youth soccer organizations have taken precautions to ensure that head injuries can be controlled and prevented. “At school, just at [MVHS], we have to wear protective head gear — like a padded headband [during games] — and just when the season starts we have concussion testing,” Chan said. “I know for soccer, using your head isn’t the main activity, but I definitely think that the coaches are trying their best to avoid any impact at all. Currently, up till age 12, you’re not even allowed to head the ball.” MVHS athletic director Nick

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Bonacorsi also discusses recent protective measures that MVHS has implemented in high impact sports, explaining that new technology has allowed MVHS to take more effective precautions in regards to head injuries. “Two or three years ago, we got Ridell football helmets with something called ‘insight technology’ — so every one of our football helmets has sensors across the cranium that are constantly reporting back to a small iPhone that [athletic trainer Javier Margarito], uses,” Bonacorsi said. “Those sensors and that technology that comes with it are tracking each player over the course of the season or their career, and logging impacts over a certain degree as determined by an NCAA algorithm.” Bonacorsi explains that the data can be used to monitor head impacts in practices and games, specifically to ensure that spikes in head trauma are investigated correctly and to confirm that coaches are adhering to safe guidelines. In fact, FUHSD recently implemented a mandatory training to help outline new guidelines for football coaches to minimize head impacts. “The district actually paid for all of our football coaches to be ‘HeadsUp’ trained, which is through USA football,” Bonacorsi said. “So they paid for this big training that teaches [the coaches] tackling techniques and ways to minimize putting your head in the wrong place.” Even with these measures, both Bonacorsi and Chan still agree that there is not enough awareness amongst high school athletes and families regarding CTE, and it may potentially have an impact going forward.

“I definitely think that, especially because people want to start their kids at really young ages playing a sport so that they can get better, it’s really important that they know the implications of what can happen,” Chan said. “Coaches should just be more aware of what they’re putting their players through. I know that people don’t want to cancel sports all together, but they should know that they have to have consistent protection to protect from diseases like this that are long term.”

measures are not the only change that could potentially affect how much CTE is able to impact the lives of athletes throughout the world, elucidating that the social aspect of sporting events could play a major role in injury prevention. “I think the social aspect is glorifying a sport — which I think is absolutely something that needs to be removed, because it’s very easy to [ignore repercussions] when there’s a lot of applause,” Mangat said. “I think the burden falls equally on the people who are MINIMIZING HEAD IMPACTS applauding, that, no, there’s no reason to GLOBALLY applaud being smacked on the head and Chan’s sentiment is one that is shared being knocked unconscious — there’s by scientists across the globe, as CTE is a nothing to applaud about that. So there are relatively new disease that remains fairly a lot of social aspects that can move this unacknowledged by along — it’s not just the general public, medical research, even by those it’s also being able potentially affected. to grasp the very Dr. Halinder fact that there are Singh Mangat, a other reasons the researcher from head sits on our the Weill Cornell shoulders.” Medical Center, M a n g a t ’ s explains that though viewpoint is breakthroughs in one that directly CTE research have critiques American proven valuable, sports culture — there is still a long a whirlwind of way to go in terms of tailgating and Super truly understanding Bowl parties that the nature of CTE complements a and its effects. three billion dollar “So, most senior Jaimie Chan football industry. NFL players have But is this change accelerometers in something that their helmets that measure acceleration can truly be effective at combating the and deceleration forces — but measuring deadly nature of certain sports? And, the forces in and of itself doesn’t mean will Americans work to make this change much until we know what the equivalent within society? of a force in terms of brain injury means,” Mangat said. “I think, in that aspect, we’re LOOKING AHEAD in very, very early stages to be able to While recent CTE breakthroughs determine: what does 2G of force mean have revealed issues that many work to for the head of an 11 year old? Or, is that address, even with the current status of different when it’s a 15 year old?” research, it becomes clear that a disease Mangat explains that as research like this may have implications far beyond regarding CTE continues and what we currently understand — or what new preventative technology many athletes are even aware of. With the is created, he hopes advanced implementation of protective measures protection such as more at MVHS and beyond, it becomes a hope effective helmets or padding that, one day, we may be able to effectively will become the norm for prevent this disease from impacting athletes sports like football or rugby any further. However, the discovery of this — similar to the way bicycle disease in and of itself seems to pull back helmets and skiing gear were the curtain to what other similar revelations normalized once introduced remain concealed, and what else we must years ago. However, Mangat learn to keep students and players safe, also describes that scientific secure and protected.

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STAGES OF CTE OUTLINED IN FOUR BASIC STAGES

STAGE ONE

STAGE two

The brain appears normal but p-tau is found in certain areas. Stage one is usually asymptomatic or has mild memory loss and depressive symptoms.

Microscopic abnormalities may appear, and patterns of spreading p-tau are visible. Symptoms include behavioral outbursts and severe depression.

STAGE three

STAGE four

Global brain weight loss occurs, with mild atrophy and ventricle dilation. Symptoms include cognitive deficits, like memory loss and executive dysfunction.

Dramatic brain weight reduction, profound atrophy and septal abnormalities occur. Symptoms include language deficits and profound cognitive defects.

cte awareness at mvhs ACCORDING TO A SURVEY OF 85 MVHS ATHLETES

88%

of surveyed athletes do not know what CTE is & are unaware of its effects

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of surveyed athletes have an accurate understanding of CTE & how it develops

of surveyed athletes indicated that CTE could affect them as high schoolers

light The science behind the art of photography

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BY JACOB VRABEL

e often think of our eyes as a pair of cameras. So why don’t they work like them? Ninetytwo million miles away, in the midst of boiling plasma, a photon shoots from the surface of the sun and careens toward Earth at 186,282 miles per hour. Eight minutes later, the photon slams into the atmosphere, plunges toward the surface, bounces off something and flies in another direction, slipping through a lens and colliding with a surface that triggers an electrical impulse, which is finally processed into an image. This is true for both eyeballs, shaped by evolution since the beginning of life, and cameras, carefully crafted down to the finest detail to turn light into pictures. But analyzing the ways they interpret and process light aren’t like comparing apples and oranges; they’re like comparing an apple to its own seed. Both hardcore photographers and casual selfie-hunters have run into a scenario where a picture turns out completely different to what they were expecting. A notable example is pictures of the moon. Contrary to click-seeking news articles, the moon will orbit the Earth for the foreseeable future. Since most people take the moon’s place in the sky for granted, when something happens to it, for example, a lunar eclipse, it adds to the excitement. Anticipation grows over social media, and photos appear of a huge moon over a city, the skyline silhouetted dramatically over it. However, when taking pictures through their phone cameras, they get something much different. There is a notable difference

in the size and quality of the moon in the pictures. One reason is perspective. An angle (when applied to a camera) determines the field of view, which is how much will fit into the picture. A narrow angle lens would show more detail in the picture. A regular phone lens usually has a wider field of view than the human eye, which is why far-off objects look blurry to the camera but not to your vision. Unlike cameras, humans can narrow their own field of view and focus on objects, something cameras have not managed to do yet. To phones, the object is just another bunch of pixels in a grid. Photographer Ross Taylor explained that while some photographers use phone cameras, many prefer special equipment. “Phone cameras are used by some,” Taylor said. “But I would say that the majority of people I know are using DSLRs [digital single lens reflex] or mirrorless cameras for most of their work.” A DSLR can have attachable lenses be added to it, allowing the field of view to be changed. Another important aspect is the distance between the camera and object. This can again be applied to pictures of the moon behind a city. There is a difference between zooming in with a camera and moving closer to an object. When you zoom in, it increases the relative size of both objects in the foreground and background. But when you move forward, only objects in the foreground seem to get bigger. This plays an important part in the first photograph of the moon. It was likely taken with a higher-performance camera from

far away from the city, where the moon stayed about the same size where the city got smaller in contrast. This combined with a narrow-angle lens allowed for a large picture of the moon where a phone camera would register only a speck. But what phone cameras may lack in certain areas, they make up for in others. Most people carry phones with them at all times, making photography more convenient and accessible, and options like bursts and photo editing can make photography easier for everyone. “The beauty of the digital camera is that you don’t have to wait for that one perfect shot because you can take so many of them,” Instagram photographer Troy Carpenter said. “Nowadays you can take 30 pictures of somebody jumping over something and then you can look later and find which one is the best.” MVHS photography teacher Brian Chow also spoke about the merits of phones. “Well, the thing about the phone cameras is that there are a lot of great opportunities with them,” Chow said. “I think it’s really helpful for people, especially if they are trying to capture a moment that they missed, that the phones can capture images for them.” With the recent release of the iPhone 11, Samsung Galaxy A20 and other triplecamera phones, as well as the growing presence of social media, picture-taking and photography is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. And while people may never find a perfect way to take photos, they will never stop trying. any way they can.

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THE APOCALYPSE IS NOT COMING

Why statements about a future of fire — or even no future at all — driven by climate change are neither accurate nor beneficial BY SOPHIE WANG “SHASTA COUNTY FIRE ACTIVITY (EILER FIRE)” BY CAL OES IS LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC 2.0

limate change — a controversial topic with a million dollar price tag. 97% of climate scientists agree that the recent surge in temperatures around the globe — about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit in the last century alone — are due not to natural fluctuations of heat but to excessive amounts of carbon released into the atmosphere. Antarctica lost about 127 billion tons of ice within the past 30 years; Greenland lost 286 billion tons. Arctic animals — polar bears, walruses, caribou — are starving; one in every four mammals is facing extinction; a record eight species of bird have disappeared this decade. Scientists term this phenomenon the sixth mass extinction. As the numbers come pouring in, some youth may struggle with feelings of worry, powerlessness or exhaustion with the future. Out of 164 MVHS students surveyed, 70.1% had experienced ecoanxiety. For example, at age 11, Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden and a favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize, fell into a bout of depression that she partially credited to learning about climate change. The rising numbers of youth who have turned to psychologists for mental help following their anxiety about climate

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change have led to a distinct name for this: eco-anxiety. In a climate related mental health press release from 2016, the American Psychological Association (APA) defined eco-anxiety as a constant worry or anxiety about the future, in the light of climate awareness. Feelings such as

fear, anger, powerlessness or exhaustion tend to surface, and some people are deeply affected by these feelings. Some psychologists consider these feelings associated with eco-anxiety incremental and sometimes invisible, but these feelings have the potential to be just as damaging

70.1 % of 164 surveyed MVHS students have experienced eco-anxiety* *feelings of worry, powerlessness or exhaustion regarding the future of climate change

as the more acute and aggressive impacts of climate change. WHAT ABOUT THE YOUTH? When Cupertino HS sophomore Sanat Singhal first heard about climate change, he was in denial. “At first, it didn’t seem like it could be possible,” Singhal said. C l i m a t e change was not as publicized as other global issues, so he had a hard time imagining that something like this could be happening. “As I read more and learnt more, there was no way to deny it,” Singhal said. He began experiencing ecoanxiety. For him, it’s a constant worry. MVHS alumna Tara Sreek rish na n, the policy and outreach director of Santa Clara County, agrees. She says that she often experiences feelings of hopelessness. “It’s a feeling of, ‘Oh, the problem’s gotten so bad, to the point of no return and my voice doesn’t even matter,’” Sreekrishnan said. She explains that the climate has gotten so bad that there is a consensus that the Earth will never be able to return to its original state. Sometimes, she feels as if there is no point in working towards a greener future. Sreekrishnan and Singhal are both youth environmental activists, part of the Cupertino Environmental Action Team, which pushes for climate friendly bills in Cupertino, and recently helped organize the San Jose Youth Climate Strike, on Sep. 20, 2019 at the San Jose City Hall. They agree that, to an extent, their anxiety fueled their activism. But is it worth it? Sreekrishnan thinks so. She believes that as long as that anxiety helps people become more green, it’s reasonable. Singhal, however, disagrees. “In a lot of cases, it can make people feel overwhelmed,” Singhal said.

Eco-anxiety isn’t healthy, especially for youth. Whether it is necessary in the face of such disaster is impossible to say. Whether miseducation plays a role in exacerbating it is an easier question to answer. WHAT SCIENTISTS ARE SAYING Eco-anxiety is a difficult beast to tackle because the more one researches climate change, the more facts appear that seem to corroborate and encourage anxiety for the future. The problem is that not all of those facts are accurate. For example, consider the 11 years claim, which is commonly read as “The human population will die in 2030 if they do not stop emitting carbons, cutting down trees and making waste.” This one is a favorite of more radical speakers, including several far left politicians. It makes a point. To the average student, however, this is a hard message to take, especially coming from such influential figures. The origin of this claim: an IPCC report released in 2018. Scientists set a goal of a maximum of 1.5 degrees C e l s i u s warming. They projected that in order to do so, emissions must fall by 45 percent by 2030, reaching net zero by about 2050. These are tall orders and though many climate scientists have acknowledged that these goals would require unprecedented levels of change, they are considered reachable.

“MVHS alumna Tara Sreekrishnan and Cupertino HS sophomore Sanat Singhal agree that, to an extent, their eco-anxiety fueled their activism. But is it worth it?”

To be sure, there is a certain urgency to the 11 years claim, a certain push and pull that the original report did not have. It’s easier to shrug off degrees of heat than death and easier to measure numbers dead than inches the water levels have risen. But is it worth it if it’s not accurate? Another one: a writer named Jonathan Franzen wrote an op-ed a few months ago in the New Yorker. In his op-ed, Franzen said that there was no way people could stop climate change; he advised the human population to begin investing in preparation for a destructive, toxic future. Any other path, he wrote, would be denial. Franzen’s methods and reasoning were controversial and many climate scientists and activists posted their own responses on social media, discrediting his claims. It is destructive, they said, to say things like this that are just blatantly false. Apocalyptic statements are never acceptable and when discussing climate change, already a topic that incites strife, they’re not worth it. “[They’re] just not true,” Singhal said. “[Claims like these] discredit the whole movement.” It’s easy for a high schooler to lose sight of the truth, especially when faced with death. Apocalyptic statements are flashy in a morbid way, but they distract the movement from the true, but quieter extinction. Even more importantly, they exacerbate eco-anxiety, debilitating students who should be going about their daily lives, and not even with accurate information. According to a survey of 164 MVHS students, 70.1% have experienced ecoanxiety. Activism is crucial in the future and outreach and education of the youth is even more so. But children are not being educated; they are being miseducated. Activism is so important in this struggle for the future of climate change, but false, faulty claims are not. If the movement is to be taken seriously, if it is to create change, bad, false science should not be a part of it.

“ Apocalyptic statements are flashy in a morbid way, but they distract the climate movement from the true, but quieter extinction.”

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GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE YEAR IN REVIEW BY MARVIN wu AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRES In the past year, one notable environmental catastrophe was the Australian bushfires that ignited in June 2019. Peaking in December 2019 through the new year, the fires were suspected to be a result of the fireprone nature of Australia’s landscapes. In fact, these fires are not a catastrophic disaster foreign to Australia’s history, but actually, a regular occurrence that the country has experienced several times in the last century, with prominent bushfires happening in 1926, 1939, 1967 and 1926. The intensity of these fires have all appeared to be largely due to climate trends in surrounding areas. It is climate change that has exacerbated the issue of these fires. Hotter temperatures and drier lands that resulted from droughts in addition to the already highly combustible native plants that reside on the Australian landscape (Geoscience

Australia, Australian Government). However, these are only factors of the fires’ intensities. These bushfires are always ignited somehow, and this time, was part of the fifty percent of fires which are ignited by natural lightning. As a result, the bushfires alone contributed to more than 400 million tons of carbon monoxide as of this January; due to the poor air quality and the smoke produced, hundreds of lives have been taken in addition to those taken in the fires. Furthermore, it is estimated that more than one billion animals were killed as a result of the fires, while some ecologists even fear that various endangered species were driven to extinction. Unfortunately, the destructive power of these fires will increase exponentially unless there is a turnaround in how countries properly tackle the worldwide predicament known as climate change.

GRETA THUNBERG ACTIVISM With the intensification of climate change, the impacts have continued to develop all around the world. Some include but are not limited to the overall warming of the atmosphere, water scarcity, intensification of natural disasters, flooding, droughts, as well as entire ecosystems being wiped out. Nations worldwide have said to commit themselves to comply with previously agreed upon Paris Climate Agreement to help the global effort to limit the increase of global temperatures by 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, including two of the largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the U.S. Since then, according to the Climate Action Tracker, China has had an estimated 2.3% increase in carbon dioxide emissions in 2018 and 4% in the first half of 2019, and the U.S. has announced to leave the Paris Climate Agreement. With little to no change being implemented by these governments to improve conditions, long-term effects of climate change have manifested a surge

of activism in citizens across the globe. In particular, an at-the-time 15-yearold Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, emerged in her home country, Sweden, in 2018, managed to impact the entire world with her actions. Thunberg’s main goal to achieve through her efforts is for governments worldwide to actively regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fulfilling each respective government’s promise made by entering the Paris Agreement. To achieve her ambitious goal, Thunberg actively started the school climate strike movement called Fridays for Future, where participating students would refuse to attend school on Fridays until change was presented. More recently, in Sept. 2019, Thunberg sailed from Europe to New York to attend the 2019 UN Climate Summit and spoke the words, “how dare you” to articulate the damage that climate change has done, as well as what damage climate change will continue to inflict upon our world without action.

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U.S. ON PARIS AGREEMENT Nearing the end of his term, former President Barack Obama committed the United States to a joint agreement with the U.N. — the Paris Climate Agreement. Resulting from the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the Paris Climate Accord outlines a plan to accelerate and intensify the actions needed to result in a low carbon future for our planet, with the main goal of limiting the temperature increase since pre-industrial levels to 1.5 degrees Celsius. After President Donald Trump entered office in 2017, he announced he would be withdrawing the country from the agreement and ceasing some of the efforts to better the world’s environmental hardships including replacing former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan to limit coal and gas-powered power plant emissions with weaker regulations and attempting to prevent emission limits made by California, which he then backed out of. With the exit formally taking place on Nov. 4, 2020, one day after the United States’ election day, whether or not the U.S. will exit the agreement will ultimately be based on the results of the election, as each Democratic candidate has already pledged to recommit the agreement if elected mainly due to the country coming in second for emitting the most greenhouse gases. If the exit does take effect, the U.S. would be the only country worldwide to back out of the accord.

“I believe that once we start behaving as if we were in an existential crisis, then we can avoid a climate and ecological breakdown. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We have to start today.” 17-year-old activist Greta Thunberg ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARVIN WU

Major events relating to climate change from the past year COVID-19 EFFECTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE On Jan. 30, 2020, an outbreak originating from Wuhan, China, later named COVID-19, was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO), forcing nations to undergo lockdown protocols and affecting the entire world in a matter of months. Global warming has its roots in the human industrialization of the planet and its contributing greenhouse gas emissions. However, due to COVID-19, countries enforce a wide variety of social distancing and lockdown protocols in attempts to mitigate transmission, leading to restricted movement, decreased transit

activity and less work among different industries. Due to the lesser demands of energy in travel and industry, predominantly from industries and corporation shutdowns, use of conventional energy sources including fossil fuels have decreased as well, contributing to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Although the pandemic has proven detrimental in social, economic and public health aspects, it has fostered a positive environmental impact on the world itself. In fact, according to official government figures and reported data, carbon emissions decreased by 25% in the first month of lockdown in China.

So what can you do? As an individual, you can make small changes in your daily life and take steps toward the betterment of the world’s climate.

1. Save electricity

Chances are, your electricity comes from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, ultimately contributing to the overall pollution of the Earth’s atmosphere. Steps you can take to reducing your carbon footprint include turning off lights and unplugging appliances that are not in use. Furthermore, you can also start by switching to more efficient lighting. By replacing incandescent bulbs with LED or compact fluorescent lighting (CFL), you can not only cut your household’s electricity bills but also save money buying fewer lightbulbs with the extra light exerted from LEDs and CFLs. Through solar and geothermal generators, you can save money while reducing your carbon footprint.

3. conserve resources Limit your showers to a maximum of 10 minutes each and try brushing your teeth with only one cup of water. Also, do you need to have the air conditioning on just so you can wear a hoodie indoors? By just raising your air-conditioning thermostat two degrees, you can save an estimated 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

2. Reduce Emissions ANd pollution Reducing emissions can come in the form of choosing a more fuel-efficient car or a more fuel-efficient method of transportation. When traveling short distances, consider walking or biking, and for longer distances, consider carpooling or taking public transportation. Another major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions is methane coming from livestock. Choosing to eat less red meats such as beef and lamb, will not only be a healthier choice, but also an eco-friendly one.

4. Be more eco-friendly Lastly, a lot can be done by changing small parts of your lifestyle. Reduce the use of plastic bags, paper and cans, and if necessary, recycle and reuse. By doing so, you can reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, which amount to large portions of toxins and methane emissions. Moreover, resources are not unlimited. By recycling, you save energy and prevent pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials.

Regardless of where you are from or how wealthy you are, climate change directly affects you. However, correspondingly, your actions influence climate change as well; it is just a matter of whether it is for the better or worse. RES NOVAE

ILLUSTRATION BY JANNAH SHERIFF

plate half full The practice of fasting’s modern renewal in a scientific light BY jannah sheriff

itting at his desk with a plate of food before him, biology teacher Pooya Hajjarian leans forward as he takes a bite out of an apple, holding string cheese in his other hand. This simple and healthy snacking is something Hajjarian does after every one of his 16-hour fasts, dispersed throughout the week. Hajjarian is a part of the recent wave of people starting a dieting program called intermittent fasting — abstaining from food for a set amount of time and repeatedly. Hajjarian began intermittently fasting after trying another method of restricting food intake — the keto diet. Through restriction of carbohydrates, keto diet pushes the body into ketosis, causing it to dip into its fat reserves for energy rather than carbs. With the hopes of building

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muscle mass and losing weight, Hajjarian good, [but] I learned that as good as it was, followed the guidelines of adjusting his diet it’s not sustainable for me. Some people so that he was eating roughly 75% lipids, can sustain it, but for me it just took the joy out of food, 20% proteins which helped and 5% me realize carbohydrates. that it was “The first good for me [diet] I tried to experiment was keto; that with it and I was intense saw a ton of b e c a u s e gains, but it’s it flipped not something ever ything that I want to upside down do.” from as far as biology teacher pooya Post his my diet goes,” attempt at Hajjarian said. hajjarian ma int a in ing “I’m so used to avoiding lipids and not eating a lot of them, a strict keto diet, Hajjarian spoke to a but in keto you eat lipids the most. It was nutritionist and developed a plan to

“You have to pay really close attention to how you’re feeling, what your body tells you. I’m still learning how to be in tune with my body.”

approach a different method of dieting: intermittent fasting. With the help of thorough online research and Youtube videos, he arrived at the schedule of fasting for 16 hours, around three times a week, skipping breakfast and eating later in the day. His fasting schedule is called 16:8; a program where food intake is held within the span of only eight hours each day, while fasting the other 16. It is often offered alongside other fasting options such as the Eat-Stop-Eat diet, which entails fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week. “I’m still going through changes,” Hajjarian said. “There are times where I get really hungry, but if I’m patient within 10 minutes the hunger goes away. I used to get super hungry and be like, ‘Oh my god, I have got to eat,’ [but] now I’m patient with it. You have to pay really close attention to how you’re feeling; what your body tells you. I’m still learning how to be in tune with my body. So when I get hungry, I’m like, ‘What does this mean? Can I be patient for 10 minutes, should I grab an apple?’ And that’s the thing; when you get hungry what you eat really matters.” After beginning his journey with intermittent fasting, Hajjarian noticed a reduced craving for unhealthy food and a generally greater ability to control his diet. His food intake shifted from one of impulsive eating to one regulated by the bounds of his fast. “I used to be somebody who would eat when I was bored,” Hajjarian said. “And so I switched from eating when I was bored to eating when I’m hungry. The stuff I’m eating now; I just had a boiled egg, I’m having an apple, I’m having cheese. And when students offer me things like Cheetos or chips, as much as that looks good, when I eat it, I don’t get the same enjoyment out of it now. So, it’s a lot easier for me to say no to bad foods.” Compared to his previous keto diet, Hajjarian described fasting as a far more sustainable solution for him that made dieting simpler and easier to maintain. Within just two months of trying his fasting schedule, he witnessed changes as measured by lab tests he got done. After going into fasting with an above average level of a specific liver enzyme, Hajjarian found through testing that the level had gone back to normal. In addition, his blood glucose, cholesterol, ADL and HDL levels had all been regulated to healthier levels. According to studies published in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, intermittent fasting may have benefits equal to or greater than simple calorie

reduction; these benefits include boosted “It’s like a teenager’s diet; [just] whatever. metabolism and cardiovascular health. What you eat when you fast, you need “Keto is more about quick weight something filling. [It] consists of chicken loss; intermittent fasting is more about soup with everything inside, mashed stabilizing your systems,” Hajjarian said. potatoes, salmon, pretty much anything “A lot of [intermittent fasting] is about that will keep you stuffed, carbs, protein, having a window where you eat, so it takes everything. It’s like the healthiest stuff a lot of discipline to not eat. With keto, it you’ll eat all year probably. And eat a lot was about being careful with what you of it, because that last meal, that’s it 25 eat. So, being super thoughtful about like hours, you also drink a lot of water.” what is it that I’m putting into my body Senior Zara Iqbal also fasts religiously whereas with intermittent fasting, I’m not during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, too worried about that — it’s more about a time when Muslims abstain from food or timing.” drink from sunrise to sunset every day for a Although intermittent fasting as a period of 29-30 days (one lunar month). She dietary approach to regulate one’s health sees fasting as an alternative that could be has only recently feasible to people been thrust into if they give it a the mainstream, chance. the practice has “Fasting does long existed have benefits,” within religious Iqbal said. communities “Because it is kind and cultures that of like a cleanse mark it as one of for a month, right? their core tenants. I think people Freshmen Yuval can definitely Waizer fasts for do it, but people the Jewish holidays are iffy about it Yom Kippur and because they can’t Rosh Hashanah, comprehend not not eating or eating for 16 hours biology teacher pooya drinking anything and especially for a period of 24 hajjarian because fasting is hours. He stresses unknown.” the difficulty of this sort of fasting if done Although relatively new to the sphere of often and the potential for harm if done to health dieting, and still unknown to many, the extreme. intermittent fasting is a legitimate health “Once a week, it can really harm you plan if done correctly and in moderation. in the sense that you’re going to lose your Though it may seem intimidating at its power,” Waizer said. “You’re going to get surface, fasting could be a plausible health really tired, really drowsy, [and] you can plan for those looking to increase their also get dizzy. I’ve been there. I think if health in a specific and determined way. you want to do it, it’s fine. I’m just saying “I experimented with intermittent you better be [in a very good position] to fasting, just to see what that was all do it.” about,” Hajjarian said. “And that was Hajjarian and Waizer both see changes actually really good. You know I went into in their food consumption prior to and it dreading it, I was like, ‘Oh my god, how post their fast. They encourage intake of am I going to do intermittent fasting. It’s so nutrient-rich foods, as well those with a low hard,’ but it actually ended up being fairly glycemic index, meaning the sugar from easy for me; that’s something that I still them is absorbed at a slower rate. Eating do. It’s not difficult, it’s totally doable, I’m with these guidelines ensures sustenance seeing results.” throughout the fast. Waizer experiences a similar adjustment to his own diet before fasts, eating foods that will allow him to continue functioning throughout his 24 hour abstinence from food. “So the normal diet is just a bunch of random stuff; sometimes you eat what your parents want you to eat, sometimes you eat what you want to eat,” Waizer said.

“Keto is more about quick weight loss; intermittent fasting is more about stabilizing your systems. A lot of [intermittent fasting] is about having a window where you eat, so it takes a lot of discipline to not eat.”

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ILLUSTRATION BY MALAVIKA EBY

give sleep some credit

Discussing the neurological necessity of sleep to learning and how best to eradicate cram culture and sleep deprivation amongst high schoolers BY malavika eby

leep. We all know it’s important. We all do it. According to Harvard Health, on average, we spend about a third of our lives sleeping. But in the case of adolescents, do we really? In between calculating our chances of getting into college and hopping off to extracurriculars and developing lifelong friendships and studying — for finals, for AP exams, for our SATs and ACTs — we also need to eat, sleep and breathe. Now which of these things can we cut into? Even if we skip meals or cut down on extracurriculars, the most we can gain is a couple of hours per day. But sleep? If we go from eight hours per night to three or four, that’s a good four to five hours extra we’re gaining per night, a mindset junior Neysa Singh has admitted to adopting herself.

PHYSIOLOGY

“When I finish homework from one or our doctors, and not just for a refreshing subject, there’s always more waiting to be day tomorrow, but for our brains and our bodily finished,” Singh f unctions. explains, “There According just doesn’t to Johns seem to be Hopkins’s enough time [in Center for the day] to get Ta l e n t e d everything done Youth AP plus get enough Ps ych ol o g y sleep.” professor Erik Sleep is Uliasz, sleep important, is essential but so is time, for reasons which we seem Junior mallika pallipuram from the to need more. regenerat ion But this is where the problem arises in our logic. We of body tissues to consolidation of memory need sleep, not just to appease our parents and learning. What Singh and other MVHS

“Cramming is simply a part of high school culture. It was something that came naturally when I just had a lot going on and didn’t really get the chance to space my learning apart.”

students may see as an unproductive eight hours wasted every time we get a good night’s sleep is actually a period of processing, regenerating and strengthening for our bodies and especially our brains. According to the Myers AP Psychology Text, our brains use sleep as time to strengthen n e u r a l p at hway s and process i n fo r m at io n which has been encoded throughout the day. Our brain function is especially s t r engt h en e d by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a stage primarily cha ra c t er i ze d by dreaming, body movement, and a speeding heart and breath rate. REM sleep is required for memory consolidation to take place, and increases in duration the longer a person sleeps. When we study by cramming, losing sleep to stay up the night or two before an exam, we’re allowing ourselves a mere three or four hours to process the abundance of information we’re stuffing into our brains, rather than the one or two weeks that would allow us to learn information, rather than temporarily memorize information. While high school especially emphasizes grades over learning, Uliasz warns against the perseverance of this mindset into later education like college and the workplace. He expresses that while students may grow up successfully cramming their way through quizzes and tests in lower grade levels, assessments like cumulative finals and AP exams reveal the weakness of rushed learning: none of the information stays for very long. Rather than relearning information in a frenzy before each assessment, pacing out study time has proven itself a much more efficient strategy than cram sessions, which Singh sees as a common practice at MVHS. Studying thirty minutes per day over a period of eight days works better than studying four hours once before the exam, proof that with the same duration of study time total, with greater intervals of sleep in between, learning functions more efficiently. Junior Mallika Pallipuram states that though she took a psychology

course last summer and learned the effects of sleep on learning, she has yet to apply these teachings to real-life. “Cramming is simply a part of highschool culture,” Pallipuram explains, “[and] it was something that came naturally when I just had a lot going on, and didn’t really get the chance to space my learning apart.” While the argument could be made that sleep education should occur in educational instit utions so that cram c u l t u r e and sleep deprivation can be brought down, both Pallipuram and Uliasz agree that while teenagers know sleep is important, they may not heed these lessons in their own lives. Uliasz particularly attributes this to the concept of belief perseverance, which causes people to reject notions that go against their current

“Brains use sleep as time to strengthen neural pathways and process information which has been encoded throughout the day. REM sleep is required for memory consolidation to take place and increases in duration the longer a person sleeps.”

beliefs — which in this case, is that sleep is unproductive time that could be utilized better by studying. In reference to the potential benefits of sleep education in lower grade levels so as to get ahead of the problem, Uliasz stated that middle-schoolers most definitely aren’t currently formally educated about important lifestyle lessons, such as the significance of sleep. While he expressed concerns that pre-teens may lack the maturity to gain the benefits of understanding the message, he concluded that there’s also likely no harm in tr ying. So, high-schoolers: we all know these lessons. “Sleep is important” is one of those parent lectures t hat we pra ct ica l ly have m em o ri ze d. Bu t let’s try to differentiate between k nowing and understanding the lesson, and recognize that we’re working against our own brains by depriving it of the fuel it needs to r un in the long-ter m. We may be thinking short-term because we want to succeed now, not later. But in due time, we’re all going to reach that “later,” and without the maturity to look ahead for ourselves, our engine might just stop running without its sustenance. So let’s give sleep some credit, and give it to the time of day (or night) it deserves.

ILLUSTRATION BY ELLA NICOLE

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PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION OF NEEL GRIDDALUR

MVRT conducts a workshop with one of their Taiwanese high school teams to demo a real-life robot.

REACHING OUT FOR THE GREATER GOOD An in-depth look at some of the outreach projects conducted by MVHS Robotics BY Riya ranjan

hile the MVHS Robotics team was initially founded to compete in the First Robotics Competition (FRC), the mission of the team has spread beyond just winning a robot-building challenge to impacting its surrounding community. Junior Harshitha Pandian, a third-year member of MVRT’s operations team, explains that they are currently participating in several local outreach projects, including some directly within MVHS. “Something that we do, actually, at school, is [outreach with] Ohana. Ohana is a special needs club, and what we do is, every other month we go once and we basically teach the kids STEM concepts,” Pandian said. “Last year, we did paper

TECHNOLOGY

airplanes, we did sound, we’ve done infraction of light; and it’s really cool, cause to them, these are all games, but they also get to learn from it.” In their collaboration with the Ohana club here on campus, MVRT is able to incorporate STEM curriculum and introduce science-related ideas to some of the underrepresented communities at MVHS. Additionally, the impact that these seemingly simple monthly science projects have on the club is incredible, as Ohana advisor Eli Yamauchi discusses just how inspirational the program has been. “I think it’s neat because it gives my Ohana kids a chance to see a different club, and do some hands on things with a purpose,” Yamauchi said. “So my kids may not have the courage to go to Robotics

Club, but when Robotics comes to them, it kind of opens that world up for them, so they can say, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ And so that’s what Ohana’s all about, it’s just opening up the campus so all the kids feel like they’re a part of the MVHS campus.” BEYOND MONTA VISTA Ohana is just one of the many programs that MVRT has implemented over the years; many of their programs have been initiated beyond the gates of MVHS as well. One of their ongoing projects involves local art academy Hongyun Art, through which they teach students how to create art projects through computer science using software systems. In fact, their projects with Hongyun even stretch to an international scale, as they plan on taking their project

ot.

MVRT hosts the 2018 annual Women in STEM Symposium at MVHS.

to Myanmar over the next year. Pandian shares that their project with Hongyun is not only to generate interest in STEM but also to bridge the gap between STEM and the arts. “We also do something with Hongyun Art, which is a local art school,” Pandian said. “It’s to teach Scratch and Python to create art, cause it’s more than just STEM — STEM should include art, too.” As their project with Hongyun continues to expand, MVRT has also started programs in other East Asian countries; specifically, helping start and provide the resources for an FRC team in Taiwan. “We work with an organization in Taiwan called World Journal Organization, and we basically helped them create a team [in Taiwan],” Pandian said. “So they came over here and we taught them the basics of how do you create a team, how do you start from the beginning, what do you teach your members, etc..” In fact, the specific Taiwanese team that MVRT helped found, Taipei 101, recently participated in the Hawaiian regional FRC competition and was able to come off the field with a winning record, a conclusion that MVRT hopes to see as they continue similar international projects.

for girls at our school — people at our school — but also the community to see that women can get into STEM,” Adira said. “We usually do once a year symposium, so we’re looking ADDRESSING THE GENDER GAP One of the most prevalent issues in to do more than STEM fields today remains to be the gender just one, and MVRT does a paper airplane experiment with Ohana, using gap between men and women. According maybe making it this to teach members about aerodynamics and physics. to the National Science Foundation, women like a conference just to make up only 28% of the STEM workforce style, in today’s economy: an issue recognized increase interest and impact.” that they have a community that they can and addressed by MVRT on the MVHS Hosted once a year by MVRT, the come to if they need any help or anything campus. One of their largest programs, symposium is a community-wide event held at all.” “sisters in STEM” or SiSTEM, is targeted at MVHS where women professionals in Both Pandian and Adira share this toward s STEM fields are sentiment, sharing that in the years to helping girls invited to share come, MVRT hopes to help other teams on the team their experiences implement similar programs in order to feel more and struggles. help increase female participation and comfortable Pandian explains retention throughout First as a whole, c o m i n g that, in creating which in turn translates into the workforce in and support for beyond high school. cont i nui ng female members work in on the team, LOOKING AHEAD science and they will In the coming years, MVRT plans to engineering. each have the undertake further projects to help create J u n i o r confidence and racial, ethnic and gender equality within Naimisha en cou ra gem ent STEM, including collaborations with Girl Adira, ar JUNIOR HARSHITHA PANDIAN to continue into Scouts of the USA and a four-year college t h i rd-ye a r STEM careers. in Mauritius. In starting, supporting and m em b er “[Our goal is] furthering each of their projects, MVRT of the MVRT operations team, discusses making sure that even later on in college, at continues to take steps towards creating how the team operates with and plans to least for girls, they have connections with inclusivity in STEM, something that expand this program over the next year. women in the field,” Pandian said. “We’re remains an arduous task for many, but is “So we do SiSTEM, which is basically ensuring that they have a good foundation slowly being accomplished by a group of like our annual women in stem symposium for STEM throughout their lives, and also high schoolers on a mission.

“We’re ensuring that [women in STEM] have a good foundation for STEM throughout their lives, and also that they have a community that they can come to if they need any help.”

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ILLUSTRATION BY FIONA LUO

EMPATHY, BIAS, PRIVACY

With AI becoming increasingly popular, companies explore solutions to concerns surrounding the use of AI BY RITU ATREYAS

ecently, with the COVID-19 pandemic, countries all over the world have entered the race to develop artificial intelligence, also known as AI. Countries are working on the development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, in order to combat the impacts of COVID-19. However, there are still ethical and practical concerns posed when it comes to

TECHNOLOGY

the development of AI. As more and more companies are looking to make use of their AI systems in the midst of the global pandemic, it is important to stay aware of such risks. With regards to the healthcare sector, AI has started to play a larger part in helping combat the negative impacts of COVID-19. For example, companies are using AI to prevent the spread of misinformation, provide reliable

information, transport materials, detect individuals with symptoms and expedite the drug development process. “AI has a lot of potential in the health sector and has a lot of potential with regards to protecting the environment, enhancing the safety and security of urban infrastructure,” Berkeley student Margaret Chapman said. “AI can improve our quality of life if we use it responsibly. It is definitely not going to go away.”

to higher error rates for minorities who are underrepresented. Junior Nishanth Arumugam, aware of the problem, believes that although these biases are unwanted, it is unfortunately inevitable. “The problem with any AI created by humans is that it will reflect based on its learning capabilities, the reality of the world and the biases that are built into any human being,” junior Nishanth Arumugam said. “While these biases are not wanted in the growth of a subject, the ‘fixing’ of the biases creates another question that is to what extent does guiding the BIASED ALGORITHMS knowledge of AI Companies who convert it from being have integrated AI have intelligent back to previously received robotic. We cannot backlash. For one, prevent biases when Microsoft’s AI Chatbot growth comes from started using racist a system with biases slurs within one day built in. That’s after learning from the the unfortunate environment it was inevitability of placed in. Amazon, on JUNIOR NISHANTH bias. With AI the other hand, had to being continuously ARUMUGAM terminate its use of AI in developed, I hiring and recruitment believe it’s up to as the algorithm used repeatedly preferred corporations to draw the line between male candidates — the system was trained intelligence and bias.” with data that came mostly from male candidates. WHAT’S THE SOLUTION? Another algorithm was particularly Chapman believes that with proper likely to falsely flag black defendants as action, we can mitigate bias. future criminals, wrongly labeling them “A solution to avoiding bias is having a in that manner at almost twice the rate as diverse set of participants,” Chapman said. white defendants. “We can try to reduce gender bias with Furthermore, white defendants were more women working on the algorithms. mislabeled as low risk more often than Same thing with gender bias.” black defendants. Facial recognition A diverse AI community would have the systems using AI are also able to detect proper equipment to review, identify and the gender of white men more accurately fix bias accordingly. than the gender of darker skinned men. Although only half of the businesses The gender bias is revealed once again across the United States and Europe with males more likely to encounter have policies and procedures in place to advertisements for high paying executive identify and address ethical considerations, positions than women are. companies have stepped up: Microsoft has The problem lies in the fact that AI taken initiative and set up ethical principles systems learn to make decisions based on revolving around fairness, reliability and training data that may include historical safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, and social inequities. transparency and accountability. Facebook Another source of bias is flawed data has invested 17.5 million dollars to the sampling.. Unrepresentative training Technical Institute of Munich to establish data is a result of certain groups being an Institute for Ethics in AI. Google AI has either under or overrepresented, leading published recommended AI practices, and HUMAN VALUES Although companies have developed AI with the ability to mimic human cognitive functions, there is still a lack of human qualities, such as empathy, instinct and wisdom, when it comes to decision making. That concern has led to nonprofits including the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, organized to ban fully autonomous weapons, due to concerns regarding robots lacking the human judgement necessary to evaluate the proportionality of a strike.

“The problem with any AI created by humans is that it will reflect based on its learning capabilities, the reality of the world and the biases that are built into any human being.”

IBM has released a comprehensive toolkit of metrics to check for unwanted bias in datasets. As we move into a new realm of healthcare, clinicians and software companies will have to prioritize the safeguarding of patient data to make sure confidentiality is maintained and data is not passed to third parties without patients’ consent. It is particularly important, now more than ever, to educate patients about AI, its advantages, limitations, applications, and protocols. From Google Assistance to autonomous vehicles to robots cleaning isolation wards, as Chapman believes, AI is not going to go away. Its importance is growing and in order to build systems that people can trust, AI applications and processes must take ethical principles into consideration.

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Strain O157:H7

How E. coli in salads has led to hemolytic uremic syndrome

N ATIO STR U L IL

ER NIF

O ZHA

E BY J

BY JENNIFER ZHAO

his time it begins in Salinas, Calif. The newest outbreak of Escherichia coli, known as E. coli, in romaine lettuce was announced on Fri., Nov. 22 by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Consumers know the drill: the CDC and FDA recommend tossing out all lettuce harvested from the Salinas region (as indicated by labels) and that consumers refrain from buying similarly labeled or unlabeled products. As of Dec. 2, the CDC reports that there have been 58 documented hospitalizations across 23 states. Of the infected patients, 10 have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which results in kidney failure and is potentially fatal. Whereas most strains of E. coli reside peacefully within human intestines, this is not the case with the particular strain of E. coli that contaminates romaine lettuce, enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC). The pathogen is appropriately referred to as ‘enterohemorrhagic’ for its ability to cause intestinal bleeding, which it does by producing severely damaging toxins. Thus, O157:H7 is also known as STEC for ‘Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.’ As STEC lives in the intestines of mammals, notably cattle, it is likely transmitted to our unassuming salads via contact with animal feces, followed by insufficient disinfection of the produce. STEC is virulent in humans, but other animals may be entirely unaffected. Concealed in a romaine lettuce salad, STEC infiltrates the digestive tract. Typically, pathogens from food don’t make it past the acidic environment of the stomach, where the pH is around 2. STEC,

BIOLOGY

however, is fairly acid-resistant. As a result, it is undeterred by the low pH environment of the stomach. It continues, uninhibited, along the digestive tract to the intestines. As the name suggests, STEC’s virulence is due to the potent Shiga-toxins it produces. STEC is known to produce both Shiga-toxin I and Shiga-toxin II. When these toxins enter host cells lining the intestines, they disable ribosomal RNA, inhibiting the cell’s ability to perform protein synthesis. The result of the tissue damage is severe cramping, diarrhea, both bloody and nonbloody, and, for an unfortunate 2 to 7%, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). HUS occurs when Shiga-toxins are absorbed from the intestines into the bloodstream through the same process by which nutrients from food are also absorbed into the bloodstream. As the toxins circulate throughout the body, they bind to the cells lining the blood vessels in organs such as the kidney or the brain. Damage to kidney blood vessels results in blood clotting and depletion of red blood cells, ultimately causing kidney failure. 5 to 10% of HUS cases prove fatal. Math and physics teacher Sushma Bana is no stranger to salads. She’s a vegetarian, she explains, and greens are a staple of her meals. She loves to mix in beans, fruits, nuts, you name it — oh, but no dressing. Most importantly, however, Bana makes it clear that it’s necessary to be cautious and informed when it comes to leafy greens. “You keep hearing, you know, sometimes it’s the spinach, then it’s the lettuce, then it’s something else,” Bana said. “There is nothing called being too careful.”

Although she has never been a victim of illness caused by STEC, she takes preventative measures while preparing her lettuce. Among her routine protocols are triple washing her salads, wiping down the bags the produce is sold in, and never storing lettuce for more than a week. “When the leaves start to wilt and […] sometimes they become a little […] slimy […] on top,” Bana said. “Yeah, so then that’s the time to throw it away.” Bana also cautioned against cross contamination while cooking, particularly for those who enjoy meat with their lettuce. “Sometimes people who eat meat, they have that cross contamination. […] You know, they’ll cook poultry or something, chicken, and […] they do not clean up their knives and other things. So there is that cross contamination.” To avoid cross-contamination, thoroughly washing counters, utensils, cutting boards, and, of course, hands is crucial, especially after handling raw meat. The same applies to other activities as well: always wash hands after petting animals or changing diapers. Once an outbreak is announced, Bana promptly tosses all at-risk produce. This is corroborated by CDC and FDA guidelines, whose current list of produce to toss out includes lettuce labeled with “grown in Salinas”, lettuce without an indicated growing region, and salads or wraps with unspecified varieties of lettuce. For now, while the CDC warning remains ongoing, it might be in the best interests of one’s kidneys to skip on that romaine lettuce salad.

MY journey through

the digestive system The digestive system through the point of view of fruit

itting next to a plum, a mango and a few peaches, I had no idea what was in store for me. I spent my days in a white bowl snuggled in between the mango and peaches. Occasionally, I would see one of the fruits disappear and never return. I was always curious about what happened to them, so I decided I would share my journey after leaving the white bowl. What I didn’t know, was that it would soon be my turn to experience what the fruits ahead of me had gone through. A hand lifted out of the bowl and held me in front of a large opening. I took a big breath and entered the opening, beginning my journey through the digestive system. I saw what was called “the mouth” for the first time. It was a dark, roomlike area with a large red snake, moving constantly and swishing around the area. Moving quickly and unpredictably, it was very difficult to stay clear of the tongue’s path, but that wasn’t the worst of it. 32 beaming white boulders crushed me into small, mashed up pieces. By that point, I was in a sea of wet saliva with an enzyme by the name of “amylase” which

BY nika zamani apparently helped me chemically digest. I didn’t understand what these terms meant or why the mouth was such a hectic place, but the next thing I knew, I was being pushed towards a demeaning black tunnel. Although it was not a very welcoming entrance to the digestive system, the next step would be much calmer. This was actually the most enjoyable part of my journey. The esophagus was a warm, moist area that I was in for a fairly long period of time. Peristalsis, repetitive sequences of muscle contractions, allowed me to relax and recover from the harsh slaughter before. Eventually, the process of peristalsis ushered me into the stomach through the esophageal sphincter. The stomach was a madhouse. Acids were coming at me left and right, and enzymes were making me weaker and weaker until I was fully liquid. The stomach was expanding and contracting, churning me round and round. I felt like I was burning and disintegrating into nothingness. At last I was pushed into the small intestine, through the pyloric sphincter. I was in the small intestine for the majority of my time. I was referred to as

chyme at this point, as I was made up of partially digested food, bolus, and other stomach juices, It was a pretty moist scene inside the intestine but it definitely making the absorption process of all my nutrients more bearable. 20 feet of small intestine provided me with a much needed break from the havoc before. I eventually made it into the large intestine, not knowing that my journey through the digestive system was coming to an end. This five foot path was very dry and uncomfortable. A relatively small amount of undigested food was left, painfully making its way through the intestine. All the remaining water was absorbed by the large intestine, and what was left of me was compacted into a dry mass of waste. At last, I exited the system through an opening and saw the outside world again. I was relieved to make it out of the human body, but the experience was exhilarating. I learned so much, and experienced so many fascinating things. My time in the white bowl had lead me to such an amazing journey that truly displayed the beauty of the human body. ILLUSTRATION BY JANNAH SHERIFF

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the golden baby “ICE AND LIGHT” BY JW OGDEN IS LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC 2.0

A couple uncovers the horrors of genetic engineering BY fiona luo PART 1 “It’s a dwarf!” exclaimed the doctor. She buries her face in her husband’s leathery arms, in skin which is worn and brown, like rolls of used cloth. When she sobs, she seemed to whiten at her edges — old and delicate, like an eggshell. He explains with great effort, “Lin and I … it’s been thirty years since our marriage, and we have been trying, yet no children have come to us. Now we are old —” Suddenly, Lin shrieks, “And I am old! And the only baby I have is this — this shriveled thing! Is it even a baby?” The doctor says feverishly, “It’s only a dwarf. It will grow. It will eat. And it will laugh, like all children —” Cheng interjects. “Doctor, will you fix it for us? We hear you have brought from town this new science. Editing the human genome itself!” The doctor paces restlessly. “It hasn’t been fully tested yet. It has

SCIENCE FICTION

never failed, but —” “Fix it! Fix it!” chants Lin. Relenting, the doctor brings out a human-sized capsule with matrices of buttons with different symbols; some have eyes, noses, lungs and hearts. Others are more difficult to decipher. He opens the machine and locks the shrunken baby inside. His fingers fly over a keyboard of A, C, G and T, pulling levers, pushing buttons and turning wheels. Finally, his hand hovers over a large, red button. Sweat flows down his forehead like tears. The doctor closes his eyes. Then he whirls around and bellows, “No. I cannot do it! I have brought back children who were almost on their graves! I have fixed children with no heart! No legs! No head! But look at your child! It is healthy!” Lin screams. Her face is all her mouth, contorted into an ‘o’ as she bounds toward the doctor with semi-simian coordination,

lunging towards the control panel. “No!” roars the doctor, stepping in front of the machine. Lin jumps into him, and he crashes into the panel. The beeping of hundreds of buttons fills the air. Then, Lin’s body strikes the large red button head-on, and an explosion rips through the air, tears through the home, seemingly ripping the fabric of reality itself as Lin’s vision bursts into a kaleidoscope of colorful, prismatic fragments. Then, smoke. A gray plane, everywhere. Blinded, Lin crawls along the floor of the home, like an infant, wailing. Her outstretched fingers find a fragment. Fragment. Some rubble. Fragment. Then, she touches something soft. It is tender, like healthy meat — so different from the withered baby she

held so recently. Lin is relieved. She can feel her heart exhale and dissolve, and her spirit floats in rejoice. She sighs and embraces her child, ecstatic, wrapping her arms around it. Immediately, Lin knows something is wrong. The baby is too soft, like putty. It feels wet. And where is its head? Where are its arms? Is it missing its limbs? She buckles with a profound sickness that twists and arrests her inside. Then there is a second flash and Lin sees the baby for what it is, in all its brilliant light! A shapeless mass — with indeterminate form — a massive glop of flesh and bone. It’s golden surface undulates, like billows of silk, dancing in its own radiance. Where its eyes should be are two cavernous depressions — yet it has very much of a mouth, which opens, closes, moans, warps, and stretches itself in grotesque fashions as if to announce to the world: I am very much alive! PART II “It’s always growing,” murmurs Lin. She rocks the baby agitatedly, peering down at its wobbling gold surface. Its clammy, wet mouth wraps around her skin as it breastfeeds, causing nauseating shivers to run through her body. Months ago, Lin and Cheng had decided to raise the child in seclusion. Yet at times, Lin felt overwhelming surges of disgust towards the shapeless mass, and suffered from intense, violent nightmares. One night, Lin woke up to see the golden mouth gaping unbelievably large above her head, and screeching, hurled it across the room. It hit the opposite wall and slid down, leaving behind a golden streak which Lin could never scour away. “Cheng! Cheng!” Lin abruptly screams. “Come see this! Look! Look at the baby!” Cheng rushes in, panicked. “What? Lin! What’s wrong?” “Just look!” They stare at the lump in tense anticipation. Lin clutches Cheng’s chest. Suddenly, they see its skin dance like ants. It’s golden membrane lurches about, and it swells in bursts — like bubbles popping beneath its surface — and it bulges spasmodically until it has nearly doubled in size. Then, the baby begins to cry. It’s hungry again. Lin collapses like a crushed eggshell. Then, with a wail, she flees the house, slamming the door with an echoing crash. The door creaks open. “Che-e-eng,” Lin hiccups. She staggers into the hall.

She hears a loud crash from the kitchen. Half-drunk, she hobbles inside. The cabinets are gaping open, and shattered porcelain litters the kitchen floor, glittering eerily. Dented pots and pans are strewn over the counter in disarray. The milky light of the open refrigerator illuminates a hazy form. There is a white burst of light as lightning tears through the seams of the night, and Lin can see the monstrous golden mass clearly, hunched over the contents of the refrigerator — except now the lump is enormous, towering well over Lin and the cabinets, and leaving yellow stains on the ceiling as it moves. Lin recoils in terror. She is about to cry out when Cheng enters the room. “Oh thank god you’re here Cheng,” she sobs and clings to him. “I’m so afraid. Look at the baby, it’s so big — but Cheng, are you alright? Why are you so — soft —” Lin presses herself into Cheng’s chest and it gives way, moving with her. “Cheng?” she whispers. She lifts her hand from his body, revealing a handshaped depression which slowly rises. In astonishment, she pushes her finger into his chest again, creating another deep cavity. Lin raises her eyes to meet his for the first time, and shudders at the sight she sees. The right side of Cheng’s face is deformed. Its edges have melted away, leaving behind a smooth parody of the features which used to exist. His body is similarly dissolved — all that remains is a gelatinous glob, a perverse caricature of Cheng’s former figure. And the thing which used to be Lin’s husband appears to shine with a glossy luster. It shimmers like a precious gem, like — Lin realizes in horror — the golden baby. Lin falls to the floor. Her thoughts swim around hysterically. First the baby, now Cheng. First the baby. Golden. Cheng. Golden. Golden. Black. Lin passes into darkness as she

flickers and fades away. PART III The house is silent. Lin is gone. Cheng is gone. Only the golden glob remains, more massive than before. The hands on the kitchen clock spin ceaselessly. The windows rapidly swing between bright and dark. Potted plants wither, and the home decays. The golden mass stops eating and growing, yet its surface continues to undulate endlessly, as if always declaring its vitality. It presses itself against the kitchen window, where its two eye-like depressions gaze forever outside at the changing seasons. Some days, golden droplets ooze out of its eyes and pool on porcelain-covered floor in rivulets. Around the time when the first snow begins to fall, the blob begins to shrink. It ebbs until it can no longer peer over the windowsill. As it contracts, its golden hue begins to pale. The once moist and cold membrane dries up. And its surface ripples less and less frequently, until it becomes completely still. It becomes less formless as it shrinks, too. Edges emerge, shapes are defined, and a blurry silhouette emerges. The doctor knocks on the door. He is visiting a very important customer, whose child is nothing short of remarkable, the byproduct of modern technology. The door opens by itself, creaking like a wail, and revealing a dim interior. “Hello?” shouts the doctor. He stumbles inside tentatively. As he shuffles forward, his foot strikes a porcelain fragment. Fragment. Some rubble. Fragment. Then, he touches something soft. It is a baby! It is sleeping soundly on the kitchen floor. Its skin is rosy and clean, and the doctor observes its cherry cheeks blush as if from some happy dream. The baby opens its eyes slowly, and upon seeing the doctor, begins to cry.

“Then there is a second flash and Lin sees the baby for what it is, in all its brilliant light! A shapeless mass — with indeterminate form — a massive glop of flesh and bone.”

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