The Scientific Marksman | 2022

the

scientific marksman volume x: our floating rock

Opening Our Floating Rock

The Scientific Marksman Volume 10 2021-2022 St. Mark’s School of Texas 10600 Preston Road Dallas, TX 75230 214.346.8000

The Scientific Marksman

volume x:

our floating rock

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Opening Editors’ Note

from the editors

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ot too long ago, we only understood the Earth as just a floating rock. That’d still be the case today if it weren’t for the daring individuals throughout history who approached this unknown world with an open mind and an insatiable curiosity. These scientific pioneers set the foundation what would become humanity’s greatest endeavor: the infinite quest of understanding our universe and making the world into our floating rock.

Even through hundreds of thousands of years of innovation, we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what there is to discover — which is not to be discouraging. In our modern world, science isn’t restricted to the greatest scholars or the wealthiest researchers, making it possible for anyone and everyone to contribute their ideas.

From on-campus activities to current discoveries to prospective innovations, this edition of the Scientific Marksman highlights the cumulative and collaborative nature of modern science — and the potential for the smallest seeds of innovation to grow into unimaginable contributions to humankind.

Without further ado, we are honored to present the 10th edition of the Scientific Marksman.

Co-Editors in Chief Jonathan Yin ‘22, Jeremy Yu ‘22

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Opening Dedication

dedication

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mr. carron dedicatee:

Science requires leadership in order to progress. Having served as the Science Department Chair since 2013, Mr. Fletch Carron has played an instrumental role in moving St. Mark’s science forward.

Moreover, he has graciously stepped up as a faculty sponsor for the magazine this year.

Without his continued dedication and steady support, this magazine would not be possible.

For that reason, this year’s edition of the Scientific Marksman is dedicated to him.

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Opening Table of Contents

table of contents

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SECTION I on campus

SECTION II the world around us

SECTION III what’s next?

Headache of an Issue

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Exploring the Body Our New Science Teachers Q&A: Jeffrey Chen Flattening the Curve Behind the Hacking Perspective: Anthony Wang Building Something from Nothing The Science of Sound Diving Deep into STEM

12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs Unraveling Biotech The Shrinking Himalayan Glaciers The Future: Stem Cells Epigenetics & Epistasis Mental Health and COVID-19

32 34 36 38 40 42

Transportation as a Service A Giant Leap for Mankind?

A Gold Mine in Another World Humanity’s Next Home?

Artifical Intelligence Into the Metaverse The Future of Energy

46 48 50 52 54 56 58

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Section I: On Campus Divider

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SECTION I on campus Headache of an Issue Exploring the Body Our New Science Teachers Q&A: Jeffrey Chen Flattening the Curve Behind the Hacking Perspective: Anthony Wang Building Something from Nothing The Science of Sound Diving Deep into STEM

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28

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Section I: On Campus Concussions

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ur brains are a core part of being a student, especially at St. Mark’s, and mitigating concussions carries great importance for our athletes. So, how well — or how badly — has the school been doing with concussions?

Generally speaking, middle schoolers tend to get concussions the most. From 2009-2017, St. Mark’s students in the sixth through eighth grades dealt with more than 38 average yearly concussions per grade, whereas the Upper School had a lower figure of 27 average yearly concussions per grade. Dr. Shane Caswell, professor at the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University thinks that the reason for this phenomenon may lie in the boys themselves.

“The higher rates of concussion observed in middle school may in part be due to the unique and highly variable neuro-biopsychosocial characteristics of these rapidly developing children,” Caswell said.

Younger kids’ less developed nerve fibers and neck muscles — coupled with the antics that take place during their daily activities — put them

at increased risk. In fact, most on-campus concussions for middle schoolers do not come from athletics but rather from non-sport activities, with 47 concussions from 2009 to 2017.

In terms of St. Mark’s sports, football contains the highest number of concussions, with 27 concussions in Upper School football from 2009 to 2017. This trend may be tied to the sheer number of participants in the sport, as smaller sports like Upper School wrestling dealt with 11 concussions in that same time period. Nevertheless, according to a 2006 study by the NCAA, about one of every 2100 highschool football players experience a concussion, compared to the one of every 4000 for all of highschool boys athletics.

During 2017-2020, St. Mark’s faced a significant decrease in concussions on campus, especially in Middle School.

e h c a d a e h of an issue

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Before the 2018-19 school year, the school have also created new rules to mitigate averaged about seven concussions per year concussions in youth athletes. All in all, in middle school non-athletic on-campus these new societal focuses and national activities, whereas in the three years after, standards all contributed to a big decrease St. Mark’s averaged about two per year. in concussions, especially felt on the St. Head of Athletic Training, Matt Hjertstedt, Mark’s campus. described the school’s response as Although increases in consisting of two main objectives: regulations have taken place, awareness and supervision.

Hjertstedt believes that “In sixth grade, we do concussion prevention still has a concussion education as part long way to go. of the health curriculum, so we “As an athletic trainer, I am talked about causes, signs, and in a unique spot in that I get to symptoms,” Hjertstedt said. see kids first through twelfth,” In this curriculum, students Dr. Shane Caswell Hjertstedt. “All of the state laws George Mason University learned about the mechanism and requirements are all about of injury, which includes the physiology high school sports, but… [Middle School] behind head impact and the effects it is where the majority of the concussions are causes in glucose level, and preventative occurring.” measures, covering the importance of neck Younger athletes may sustain impact strength and helmets. The adults are also to the head and not receive proper medical made aware of activities that may be high attention because a school may lack the risk. staff or resources or may simply not be “Middle school recess is the highest required to do so by district regulation. incidence of concussions, so the Middle St. Mark’s is lucky to have experts like School Office increased their level of Hjertstedt always ready and eager to help coverage for Middle School recess on the our student-athletes. teachers,” Hjertstedt said.

“A lot of schools do not have athletic On a broader scale, a national cultural trainers out on their sideline,” said shift also helped the decline of concussions. Hjertstedt.

Programs like the Center for Disease Especially since younger athletes are Control’s Heads Up, which strives “to more prone and likely to face adverse help protect people of all ages, especially effects after a concussion, state regulations children and teens, from concussions must start to enforce regulations for junior and other serious brain injuries and their varsity, middle school, and other less wellpotentially devastating effects,” were part known sports. of a nationwide movement to increase Work remains to be done to further awareness and preventative measures to protect student-atheletes’ brains. However, concussions in youth sports. thanks to increased supervision, safer For instance, USA Football sports precautions, and proper athletic implemented new guidelines for tackling: training protocols, concussions have seen a Instead of a focus on hard-hits to the chest, significant decline, especially at St. Mark’s. players are now encouraged to tackle with a shoulder-style wrap-up, which protects the brain.

This change is especially beneficial for the younger players, as Texas football previously only focused on varsity highschool, which often led to reduced athletic supervision in junior varsity and middle school sports. Other sports, such as wrestling, have begun to implement similar shifts toward concussion prevention.

“If a referee thinks somebody might have a concussion, they have a special timeout for them so an extra athletic STORY Akash Raghunathan trainer or physician has to come over and GRAPHIC Will Spencer evaluate [the player],” Hjertstedt said.

PHOTO Sal Hussain Soccer, lacrosse, and USA Cheer

HEADSTRONG Lacrosse players and other athletes wear helmets in an attempt to mitigate head injuries, but sports helmets are far more effective at preventing blunt force injuries than they are at preventing concussions.

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Section I: On Campus Anatomy

STATE OF THE ART Junior Silas Hosler shows off one of his club’s very own anatomical mannequins.

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exploring the body Each year, ambitious students open a slew of clubs. This year, however, students flocked to one organization in particular: The Anatomy Club. We sat down with the club’s founder, Silas Hosler, to ask him some questions.

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n the 2021-22 school year, the St. Mark’s Club Fair returned after a year hiatus.

The restrictions COVID-19 imposed on the school didn’t allow a full-fledged fair in the 2020-2021 school year. With the return of the club fair, many familiar clubs presented their establishments, but many students birthed new clubs.

In fact, the school had over 50 club applications and, for the first time, had to selectively cut and accept certain clubs.

Club founders and leaders had to present their club to Mr. Leneau in the upper school office for official approval. Mr. Leneau considered various elements in club selection, such as purpose and activities.

One such example is the Anatomy Club, founded by Silas Hosler ‘23, Branden Song ‘23, and Svanik Jaikumar ‘23.

Anatomy, put simply, is the study of body structures and their functions. It is a broad branch of biology that deals with not only human anatomy but also that of other types of animals and plants.

Anatomy also explores how different structures have evolved and how organisms adapt to their changing environments, establishing connections between different animals through their shared features due to their common environment. For example, animals in cold climates might generally have thick fur or blubber to counter the environment’s temperature.

After earning official approval to have a table at the club fair, Hosler, Song, and Jaikumar took creative measures to attract upper school St. Mark’s students.

Traditionally, club-founders put together tri-fold posters or demonstrations of their club activities. Silas opted to take a simple and unique approach.

“We advertised using a picture of Megan Fox,” said Hosler. “This advertisement attracted over 40 members.”

Using a photo of Megan Fox’s face pasted onto a skeleton, Silas deemed this method a successful way to attract the attention of upper school boys.

Hosler, Song, and Jaikumar spent lots of time contemplating before deciding to start the Anatomy Club to address a need they noticed in the community.

“I noticed a decline in STEM recently,” Jaikumar said. “There was a deficit of biology-based clubs at St. Mark’s.”

The Anatomy Club at St. Mark’s is one of the few clubs that focuses explicitly on learning about a topic in biology.

“I wanted to teach about bodily functions and inspire a passion for anatomy,” Hosler said.

While the biology course at St. Mark’s covers anatomy, the Anatomy Club offers a more relaxed, relatable setting to study how human structures function.

In their first meeting, Hosler presented a brief presentation about the anatomy of the sweat glands in the human body. In his presentation, he included diagrams and bullet points. But to spice it up, he added funny photos of people sweating. At the conclusion of his slide show, Silas showed an entertaining video about certain products that can be used to prevent the adverse effects of sweating.

While he had his audience laughing, Hosler ensured that he covered the pros and cons of using such products and what to look out for. It of course helps that Hosler provides personal anecdotes and gets his audience to interact by asking questions. Hosler finds that the laid-back approach of learning about the human body and connecting it to modern and personal issues makes for students to naturally be interested in learning more about anatomy.

Silas seemed satisfied with the turn out at his first meeting, with an attendance

of about fifteen students. The Anatomy Club has hardly scratched the surface of the many bodily structures and functions, so they have plenty of topics to further explore. Hosler, however, wants to go beyond the classroom.

“It could be a possibility that we invite Megan Fox,” he said.

A visit from Megan Fox would certainly attract many members of St. Mark’s upper school, regardless of what she has planned.

The new Anatomy Club has found its place in the St. Mark’s community. It fills a void that previously existed and serves as a great place for curious students to broaden their horizons. Many St. Mark’s students say they want to focus their career around the medical field, and the Anatomy Club is one example of an opportunity they have on campus to get ahead in their desired field.

The Anatomy Club is yet another example of how St. Mark’s students with interest in STEM and science go above and beyond to learn more about their passion and share that passion with others in the community.

STORY Aditya Goel PHOTO Neil Song

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Section I: On Campus New Faces RELATIVITY Scribbling on the board, Irons launches into a lecture about time dilation

our new science teachers Entering the 2021-2022 school year, the St. Mark’s science department hired two new science teachers. In order to get to know them better, we asked our new educators a few questions.

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rior to the beginning of the 20212022 school year, two new science teachers were recruited to fill vacant positions. Wesley Irons and Jonathan Moody, who teach physics and chemistry, respectively, are known around campus for their brilliant teaching abilities and engaging coursework. In order to get to know our new teachers better, we conducted interviews with each of them.

We hope that the St. Mark’s community has made them feel welcome and look forward to the successful years ahead.

What has been your favorite teaching experience so far?

Wesley Irons: My favorite teaching experience so far was a surprise to me. My students in AP Physics C wanted to do a camping trip, so I reluctantly agreed to do a trip to the McDonald Observatory and camp at Fort Davis State Park. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I really got to know those students better.

Jonathan Moody: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both the challenging laboratory activities as well as the high level of questioning that my students typically exhibit.

What has been the greatest challenge you’ve faced so far?

WI: I am someone who likes to stay busy and have a few things going on at once. I have often taught 3 or 4 courses simultaneously, but last year I taught 5 courses, which admittedly might have been a bit much.

JM: Getting used to the class schedule has been a little challenging, as I had the same block schedule rotation for the first 15 years of my teaching career.

What are some ways you assess students’ progress outside of assessments?

WI: I suppose I am essentially always quizzing, just without a grade. For example, I often ask tricky multiple-choice questions in class designed for students to fall into well-known traps. These work as informal assessments as well as memorable learning experiences.

JM: Laboratory reports, as well as daily checkups based on question and answers sessions we have as a class, can help assess student understanding and mastery.

What do you look forward to most at the beginning of every school day?

WI: My cup of coffee.

JM: After my morning run, I look forward to walking across the quad to the science building — grabbing a soda or two along the way — seeing the younger students enthusiastically playing, and starting my chemistry classes by pushing P — positivity, that is!

What educational background has led you to St. Mark’s?

WI: I majored in physics at the University of Texas at Austin and was in a PhD program at Johns Hopkins University interested in theoretical cosmology. I got a bit burned out from research and decided a career doing research was not for me and left to start teaching.

JM: I received a BS in biochemistry from Texas A&M and a PhD in molecular biophysics from UT Southwestern Medical Center.

And what made you choose St. Mark’s for a career?

WI: When I started teaching, I looked into private schools, because I was concerned about not getting to teach the courses I wanted to teach at a public school. In my search, I became aware of the reputation of St. Mark’s. When I started looking for a new job last year, I saw St. Mark’s was hiring. I already knew of its academically rigorous and stimulating environment, and upon learning of its incredible science facilities and science faculty, the decision was easy.

JM: After teaching for 15 years at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, I was looking for a new challenge, and to be surrounded by the experienced and highly qualified colleagues that I have in both the science department as well as across campus, coupled with the amazing facilities and enthusiastic community, it was a wonderful new environment to join.

Do you sponsor any clubs related to the field you teach?

WI: I sponsor a 7th-grade physics club, which is quite fascinating.

JM: I coach middle school cross country and middle school track and field, and enjoy helping out with the Wilderness Program as often as possible.

How do you keep your students engaged throughout class?

WI: I try to make everything connect into a nice narrative and I would hope that as we learn new things, it is as exciting to the students as it is to me. In the event that things are slowing down or getting a bit boring, I like to go on tangents and talk about where a particular topic can go if we allow it to get more advanced.

JM: I try — sometimes I am successful — to keep the atmosphere positive, encourage my students to take small risks by asking questions and exposing their ignorance, and inject humor — mostly science or dad jokes — into daily activities.

EQUILIBRIUM Dr. Moody teaches his 10th-grade chemistry class.

INTERVIEW Vardhan Agnihotri, Sohum Sukhatankar PHOTOS Neil Song

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Section I: On Campus COVID-19 Solutions

COVID-19 q+a: jeffrey chen

and artificial intelligence CHANGE OF PACE While working with technology, it is important to take frequent breaks to prevent eye strain. Whiteboards are a popular option to switch up the workflow.

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COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly throughout the globe with no signs of slowing down. However, with more and more technologies being developed to fight the seemingly endless battle against the virus, the tides look to be changing in the world’s favor. Over the summer, Senior Jeffrey Chen developed his own personal project. Here, he offers some insight into his experience.

What was your project like?

Jeffrey Chen: I worked on developing a computer science framework that predicts COVID-19 spread using artificial intelligence, and constructed digital maps that illustrated outbreak areas of the disease so communities and governments could plan ahead.

How did you come up with this idea?

JC: During the pandemic, I noticed that the lack of essential medical supplies such as masks, gloves, and other forms of personal protective equipment (PPE) was overwhelming healthcare workers as they worked to treat patients.

I set out to use my knowledge in artificial intelligence to create a computer science application that predicted the spread of the disease. The predictions I provided allowed healthcare organizations to proactively distribute constrained medical resources to best meet doctors’ needs.

Did you have any previous experience?

JC: I developed a passion in computer science in middle school and attended a couple of coding camps over the summer to learn more about programming. In sophomore year, I took the AP Computer Science A class at St. Mark’s with Mr. Tholking, which helped me master the fundamentals of Java. I also learned many important skills such as how to troubleshoot errors. In junior year, I jumped into the world of machine learning and took many online courses, where I learned how to build different artificial intelligence models to analyze various diverse types of data sets.

So how exactly does your project work?

JC: To collect data, I used different mobile apps to collect data about

HARD AT WORK Typing at his laptop, Senior Jeffrey Chen develops a new algorithm to target the spread of COVID-19. Unlike most other research fields, computer science does not require a lab — just a laptop — making the field much more accessible to aspiring students.

COVID-19 spread. A single app gathers data from limited sources, such as a particular group, so it fails to provide accurate predictions. So, using multiple applications to collaboratively collect data made my dataset more robust and representative. After hundreds of hours, I finally developed a successful application that could map COVID-19 cases in different geographic areas and predict the spread of the virus.

What were the biggest challenges?

JC: In my project, I made sure to protect the user’s privacy, since sensitive health and location information was being collected. To do so, I developed algorithms to encrypt user information.

I also designed a unique algorithm that uses statistical techniques to ensure accurate predictions for rural areas, where data is typically less representative.

And what have you learned?

JC: I’ve cultivated a passion for making a difference in the world by developing new technologies to cure diseases and improve human health. These experiences taught me that I could tear down scientific barriers and create innovative solutions to challenging problems by putting my thoughts into action.

What advice would you give to aspiring students who want to conduct research in STEM? JC: Don’t be afraid of failure. It is just a part of the scientific process. It takes time to find the right solution required to solve a complex issue. Don’t be afraid to take risks. I would also encourage them to be prepared to adapt. Life can be unpredictable and sometimes new obstacles will arise in the path. In these situations, don’t give up. Instead, keep your mind open and experiment with various methods and approaches.

INTERVIEW Benjamin Chen PHOTOS Neil Song

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Section I: On Campus St. Mark’s Mask Mandate

flattenning the curve

After going mask-optional after Thanksgiving break this year, St. Mark’s saw a surge in COVID-19 cases. Was this new mandate the right decision?

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n March 11th of 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Ever since then, countries have gone into lockdown, businesses have enforced restrictions, and schools have implemented mandates for their faculty and students. Among these mandates were mask mandates, as well as social distancing.

St. Mark’s was once home to a plethora of rules regulating the daily lives of students both on and off campus. Going into the second year of the pandemic, many of the original mandates enforced on the grounds of St. Mark’s have been lifted, allowing for a slow recovery to an atmosphere akin to that prior to the pandemic. Even as the communities around St. Mark’s slowly returned to their normal state,

and the strict restrictions affecting the lives of many faculty, parents, and students were lifted one by one, many members within the community still shared concerns about easing out of pandemic regulations.

According to nurse Julie Doerge, although St. Mark’s experienced a sudden increase in cases in January, the number of active cases within the St. Mark’s community then went on a steady decline over the next few weeks.

“I don’t believe the sudden spike had anything to do with the mask mandate being lifted,” Doerge said. “It’s really just Omicron. When you look at the cases, the cases went up after the holiday. We know what people did during the holiday, like traveling, and that contributed to the cases.”

Doerge provided a timeline of cases over this time. During the week of January 14th, the St. Mark’s community had 68 active cases. That number dropped to 48 just one week later and continued to decrease, with 31 cases the following week and no new surges in transmission after that.

“The number of cases were rising in the city,” Doerge said. “But now [by February] it is in a decline.”

With the continued and steady decrease in cases ever since the peak in January, it is unclear if there will ever be an instance where we return to mandating

Weekly St. Mark’s COVID Cases from 8/23/21 to 2/18/22 80

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rates, but we’re way past that now.”

So what happens if someone in the family gets covid?

“We know the attack rate inside the house is 50%. There are many cases when kids come to school, their families get covid, but the kids don’t get covid,” Doerge said. “It’s also different for each individual case and their living situations. In addition, I think that kids are coming to school who know they may have it but are still coming to school. That’s why we need a reset. If we see now that the virus is going to be a winter virus, we are going to need to adjust.

The only problem is that even if we want to convince people to readjust by staying on top of their vaccinations, I don’t think we’re going to convert people not getting vaccinated to get vaccinated at this point.

There are political things, and some people don’t trust in science and the data available.”

As our community continued taking initiative in helping protect each other from the spread of the virus, the lifting of the St. Mark’s mask mandate in November 2021 was a justified step in our return to normal life.

In that way, we have restored the prepandemic campus and student lifestyle and continue to share the Marksmen experience in the absence of COVID and its restrictions.

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masks for the entire community.

“I think all things are always on the table,” Doerge said. “We could see a variant that will undo all the negation that we’ve done before; the variant would have to cause people to be very ill, go back into hospitals, and see severe cases. What we need to start to look at instead of case numbers are the hospitalization numbers.

It appears there are fewer cases in rural areas, but that’s not the case because of less testing.”

Although the Omicron variant was certainly dangerous, it did not quite meet the catastrophic level described.

“We know the transmissibility was about 7 times greater than the Delta variant,” Doerge said. “But that is to say only for people who are not immunocompromised. One person every thirty-six seconds dying from the virus might seem like a lot, but you need to do more research. We need to factor in the possibility of people with underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable to the new variant.”

Although St. Mark’s had eased out of COVID restrictions, it is important not to forget that our community can still take more initiative to help protect each other.

“Certainly when we have flu in our community, we get a flu shot but we don’t wear masks,” Doerge said. “So, the best protection is vaccination. I’d say the same is true for COVID. We will see it for many years to come since animals are its host.

We need to get vaccinated, get a booster when it’s time to get a booster. If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, wear a mask. One of the issues with masking in schools is determining how many kids wear masks appropriately and how many kids are actually wearing masks effectively.”

Not all masks are the same, though.

Different types of mask have different comfort levels and have varying levels of effectiveness when it comes to prevention of virus transmission.

“N-95 masks are very uncomfortable.

Surgeons have been in surgical masks for a long time and they worked well. We are now going into our third year, I think everybody needs to protect themselves from family risks, you don’t want to get it from school and bring it home to them.” But she knows “For us to say by putting a mask on we’re not gonna spread the omicron variant, we know that’s not the case. I think we need a reset in terms of expectations, and we cannot keep up with vaccinations and mask

Week

OPINION Branden Song PHOTO Tiger Yang

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Section I: On Campus Hackathons Not the sight you’d see in a typical classroom, avid coders seek the thrill of building a project from scratch while under time-constraints.

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hackathon is a social coding event where avid computer programmers team up to develop a new software program, usually with the goal of tackling some issue or topic. The name itself is a combination of the words “hacker” and “marathon,” hinting at the need for coders to be clever while also maintaining endurance. Teams compete in hackathons to see who can build the best product in a limited amount of time, typically one to two days.

Recently, hackathons have seen a surge in popularity among high school and college students. Neil Song ‘23 is an experienced hacker himself, having competed in six hackathons in the past.

“I usually build something like a mobile app or website that adjusts to the goals of the hackathon,” he said. “Different hackathons have different goals or tracks, for example, mental health or education.”

In his first hackathon, Song built a project called EnhanceNotes, which leverages artificial intelligence to annotate handwritten notes.

“Essentially what we did was translate handwritten notes into typed notes, except with additional enhancements based on certain syntaxes in the note. For NEIL SONG example, if you put Junior slashes around a term, then it would insert the definition.

Another syntax would give you an image of the term.” he said. “The best part about the project was all the AI that went into recognizing the handwriting as syntax and fetching APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for images and stuff.”

From his very first hackathon, Song already realized one of their major challenges: building a team that has all the necessary skills.

“We jumped into the hackathon with Python experience, but we couldn’t figure out how to create a User Interface because nobody on the team had experience designing a frontend,” he said. “And that was the main lesson we learned. We needed a User Interface, not just a backend.”

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From then, Song participated in many more hackathons. One of his top projects, Manuscripted, is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to help students write essays.

The software won first place in PackHacks, an annual hackathon sponsored by North Carolina State University.

“Manuscripted is a website designed to help students write essays. You could write your essay or copy and paste from a Word doc, and Manuscripted would give you analytics and insights into your drafts,” he said. “It scores them and shows you where the grammar mistakes were. The best part, though, is if you can’t think of anything, then we’d generate sentence endings and openings for you using Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), a model that uses machine learning to produce real text.”

For Song, Hackathons are also a way to connect with teammates.

“It’s just an amazing bonding experience. We’re all kind of suffering at a certain point. But at the same time, we’re all we’re eating, sleeping, and winning together,” he said. “It’s high stress, but it’s really fun at the same time. If you enjoy what you’re doing, it’s always great to be with other people.”

Song encourages anyone and everyone to start competing in hackathons, regardless of how much coding experience they have. However, as an experienced hacker, he has some advice.

“The number one skill is learning how to do project-based learning because in a hackathon, you will delve deep into frameworks, libraries, and modules that you wouldn’t normally explore in a normal course, so you have to be really quick to learn new things,” Song said. “Number two is time management. If something doesn’t work, you either have to kill it or make an alternative. You usually have 24 hours, but sometimes like 36 or 48, so you have to consider many different factors. When’s it time to start doing the presentation?

When’s it time to start wrapping up the backend versus the front end? When is it time to stop developing new features?”

The third most important skill according to Song might not be what you expect.

“Number three is knowing how to take breaks. We’re out here coding straight for a really long time,” he said. “So, taking

Most Popular Hackathon Languages

breaks, refreshing the mindset, and seeing what’s working and what’s not is really helpful and effective. Just taking a walk and reevaluating our plan of action can be very decisive in how a hackathon goes.”

Song also believes that engaging in challenging hackathons has given him essential skills that he’ll put to use later down the road.

“Hackathons have put me on a different level in terms of being able to build what I want with code. Before I got into hackathons, I studied algorithms for the USA Computing Olympiad, but then I realized, dang, I can’t really make anything out of this,” Song said. “But now, I can really utilize my skills, especially in the professional domain, for example with companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc. — it’s all application programming, which is what I’ve learned through Hackathons. They’ve been very beneficial for me overall as a coder.”

STORY Jeremy Yu PHOTO Neil Song

behind the hacking TECH WIZ Over years of experience, Song has developed a unique skillset, making sense out of code that remains seemingly incomprehensible to the untrained eye.

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Section I: On Campus TechnicBots

anthony wang: perspective Anthony Wang is a seasoned veteran in the field of robotics. Here he speaks on his experiences with the TechnicBots, a team in the metroplex that has reached the international stage in competition.

STORY Jeremy Yu PHOTOS Anthony Wang

PIT STOP Wang inspects the robot one last time, looking for anything off before his team enters the next competition.

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J

unior Anthony Wang has been interested in robotics since he was young, competing with the TechnicBots, a local robotics team.

“Robotics offers an incredible avenue into all fields of STEM, including hardware and software,” Wang said.

Through the years, Wang has used robotics as the gateway to learn various software, such as Java and machine learning, as well as hardware design and manufacturing. He has been involved in the FTC robotics program for five years and has seen firsthand how rapidly new technologies can be adopted by other teams.

“The past couple of years, I’ve delved deeply into the software design process,” Wang said.

For this year’s competition, “Freight Frenzy,” Wang has been working on advancing his team’s robot, now named Nitro. Typically, Nitro and the other robots play a game, consisting of thirty seconds of autonomous play followed by two minutes of driver-controlled play. This year, Wang is working on fully automating everything.

“What I’m working on and have accomplished is a system that can detect these game elements with vision and pretty much do everything that a driver can,” Wang said.

Nitro is his fifth FTC robot, and it is the farthest along. Wang is working with his team to complete it for the upcoming season. He is hoping to complete a fully autonomous playing of the game this year, which could be a major milestone for robotics.

Wang’s drive to make robotics accessible to everyone comes from his personal experience as someone who didn’t have much experience before getting involved with the TechnicBots.

“I took great inspiration from seeing other people do cool stuff with tech, especially when I was younger,” Wang said.

His goal is to eventually make his system as efficient and as easy to use as possible, so that it can be shared with the robotics community at large. Wang claims what makes robotics special is that it is a field where one can pursue a multitude of passions.

“Robotics is not limited to competition, such as the FIRST program I was involved in,” Wang said. “Many of the skills used in robotics competitions can be used by people to make all sorts of cool and helpful robots at a low cost.”

Wang cited examples such as a robot that can help track runners set a pace while automatically following a course and a robot that can deliver meals to people and navigate to various houses. While these technologies do have a cost to set up, they can be a fun project for people to develop.

One other great thing about robotics is the vast expanse of STEM that it covers.

Wang finds himself to be someone who is primarily interested in the software side of things, but without robotics, he would have nowhere close to the passion he currently finds for designing and manufacturing.

“Sure, software is cool, but when you combine software with hardware to make things come alive by moving, making sounds, and interacting with objects,” Wang said. “That’s where the beauty of robotics reveals itself.”

Robotics, he says, is an interconnection between all the branches. Several other members on his team find themself branching out from what they originally were interested in.

“We have hardware guys who now are highly proficient in programming as a result of robotics,” Wang said.

Aside from the pure STEM skills that participating in a robotics program provides, interpersonal relationship skills are heavily tested in FIRST Robotics.

“We have to talk, debate, and convince not only our teammates, but other teams, and also judges,” Wang said.

One critical activity really helps to create students who can negotiate and sell their team: alliance selection. In a nutshell, the teams who perform the best get to select other teams from the tournament and create alliances. Those 3 team alliances go on into an elimination bracket and compete for the winning alliance title.

“During those times, everyone is

absolutely filled with stress—both the alliance captains and the teams they pick,” Wang said. “But, picking the right team and winning with them—it’s an unforgettable experience.”

Currently, the TechnicBots have qualified for the world championships from the North Texas Championship as the first place Inspire Award winner and are busy at work preparing for the world championships.

Wang’s advice to high-school students interested in getting involved in STEM is to seek out opportunities for hands-on experience. For example, he says, there are robotics programs provided by FIRST for students of all ages, from elementary schoolers to high-school seniors. Another way to get involved is by applying to summer programs for youth interested in STEM. “It’s hard to know what you like when you’re young,” Wang said. “Personally, I was completely in the dark about my interests up until my sophomore year, where I stumbled across robotics and found that it suited me perfectly. I hope people who are in the same boat that I was in can take more shots at different activities.”

IN ACTION The TechnicBots’ robot whirrs along at the North Texas Championship, a product of months of hard work.

23

Section I: On Campus The Robotics Team

building something from nothing

Students apply their creativity and undertake endeavors of engineering and technology.

B

uilding robots from scratch isn’t something you see in your everyday classroom. At St. Mark’s, however, the Robotics Team tackles the interdisciplinary field of robotics yearround, applying both computer science and engineering skills to build whatever they want.

The Addy Family Makerspace, located in the Winn Science Center, has played a great role in enabling the robotics team, as it provides them with many useful resources like 3D printers. Senior James Singhal serves as the captain of the team, which he says is especially unique for its student-driven nature.

“Some of the other schools have classes for robotics, but at St. Mark’s, it’s purely a club and it’s very student-driven,” Singhal said. “Not only is the team led by students, but students have to recruit new students, train them in the Makerspace, and train them on new tools.”

The team’s yearly schedule is split into two main sections: competition and offseason.

“A lot of people don’t know but the competitive league is really only an eightweek season, and if we succeed in that first round of regional competition, we move on to another six weeks before we go to state,” Singhal said. “For the rest of the year, the robotics team turns into a club where we work on other projects in the Makerspace for alumni, parents, or teachers.”

One major project that the Robotics Team embarked on outside of their competition season was building a deepsea sediment sampler for alumni Victor Vescovo ‘84. The equipment assisted

24 The Scientific Marksman

Vescovo on his Five Deeps Expedition, where he visited the deepest points in all five oceans around the world.

“Vescovo came to us and said that he needed to fully mechanically sample soil from the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. And with that, we came up with a couple of designs, pitched them, then he chose the design that he thought would be the most viable, which ultimately turned out to be a macaroni-shaped sampler that scooped up dirt but didn’t maintain the layers of the soil,” Singhal said. “We built that out of aluminum and some steel bolts and some acrylic plastic sheets. Once Vescovo tested that, we found that it collected samples successfully about 50% of the time. So, we went back to improve the performance, and our second version was built to maintain the individual layers of the soil by plunging a tube into the soil that would go in, close itself off, but also let the excess pressure out. That was one of the coolest projects we worked on.”

Singhal also points out that the Robotics club is very multi-faceted, requiring all sorts of different people with different skills – not just in engineering.

Without the wide assortment of students and their diverse backgrounds, many of the projects would not be able to come to fruition.

“It’s not just building robots.

There’s obviously always the mechanical design side, but there’s also the coders.

There’s the design and marketing side; in our competitions, we have to not only make and code a robot but also create a presentation with a booth. If you’re interested in the aesthetic design of the

robot, we also get points for that,” Singhal said. “You don’t have to be endlessly interested in the very specific mechanical design of the robots. It’s a club that’s competing, but it’s also just a great way to get to know science and engineering.”

When it comes to competition, Singhal has gained lots of experience with delegating tasks, teaching new members, and maintaining a key balance between collaboration and individual work in the team to maintain maximum efficiency.

“Because of the competition’s short timeline, if we let everyone collaborate on one big team project, it will not work very well,” Singhal said. “So, we let people figure out the things that they really like to do, and then own those little things. We trust them to design their own components and work on their own prototypes.”

After team members complete their individual projects, it comes time for everything to become unified into one robot that will enter the competition.

“At the end, we start putting everything together under the same robot. It’s difficult because we have to integrate a bunch of different components,” Singhal said.

“But with the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software we use, we’re able to put everything together into one 3D design.

It’s collaborative, but we also let people do their own projects, build their own things, and reap the rewards from those.”

Singhal finds the most rewarding aspect of his robotics journey to be seeing people, like himself, join the club with not much experience, then gradually growing into passionate members who not only help the team but also pursue their individual engineering interests.

“The most rewarding part was seeing people join the team who didn’t have much experience in robotics and were interested in learning something new,” Singhal said.

“They’d learn a couple of tools, then gradually start teaching themselves and showing a passion for helping the team; however, I also enjoy seeing people develop their own individual interests, as our robotics team also encourages everyone to forge their own paths, build their own mechanisms, and create their own innovations.”

STORY Jeremy Yu PHOTO Neil Song

FINE TUNED Armed with power drill and safety glasses, Singhal puts the finishing touches on the team’s robot.

25

Section I: On Campus Science & Sound

the science of As the music industry has continued to progress, audio technology has become increasingly complex. In freshman year, James Singhal was introduced to music technology. Using the Makerspace, James undertook a project to create his own distinctive set of speakers. Now, James allocates his time to developing audio plugins for all musicians to use.

26 The Scientific Marksman

T

he modern-day music industry isn’t what it used to be. In the past, someone would sing a song and record it in the studio, maybe add a few effects, and that would be the end of it. Nowadays, however, countless hours go into audio and digital effects for each popular song.

A popular effect, AutoTune, has allowed singers to completely manipulate how their voices and pitches sound. In terms of the science behind sound, there’s more than meets the eye. In fact, many of us likely underestimate just how much goes on behind the scenes. Senior James Singhal ‘22, an avid roboticist and engineer, has worked with some of these technologies throughout his high school career.

“It’s hard to imagine how much technology goes into audio. If you have an acoustic instrument or a guitar, you don’t really think about it because you just plug in some cables,” Singhal said.

“In reality, especially with modern music

production, producers have multiple plugins over every track that so much math and software goes into. Some of the beats nowadays are created fully on a computer.”

Singhal wasn’t always an expert on audio. There was a time when he was looking to get into the field but wasn’t sure if he should because of his lack of experience with musical instruments.

“When I first wanted to get involved with audio, I wasn’t very musical, so I wasn’t able to pick up instruments very well,” Singhal said. “However, I was able to grasp the technical side very well, so I could dive headfirst into the field. I could see the connection between an effect and the music it created. That was really cool.”

After learning to trust his technical expertise, Singhal started to explore what would ultimately become one of his major passions.

“The first time I was exposed to music technology was in the summer after

d

soun ninth grade, I interned for a company that built small musical instruments. Some were like toys, but at the same time some professional musicians used them because they had these cool Lo-Fi effects where you can record a sound, playback, shift the pitch up and down, slow it down to speed it up,” Singhal said. “After I worked there, I started hearing different acoustic instruments and effects in the music I enjoyed, as well as the electric effects that people use to emulate those acoustic effects and also create new ones.”

And so his journey had begun. Singhal previously gained experience with circuits and electrical engineering, so all he had to do was find something to connect this with his new passion for audio engineering.

“That’s when I started to look into the crazy science behind all of these musical effects and all the math in music.

My research started with looking at the history of music and electronics, and I got really interested in simulating analog devices that had digital effects,” Singhal said. “So, I took a tutorial in the first semester of senior year, where I learned the mathematical concepts and theories behind digital signal processing, where you can take a musical sound signal and

change its effects, whether you’re filtering it, picking up different frequencies or pitching it up and down.”

Using his newfound knowledge, Singhal embarked on a project where he synthesized a unique speaker design by coupling his knowledge of the science of audio with his engineering skills.

“I wanted to create a set of

speakers that were somewhat unique and didn’t follow the traditional cabinet design. So, I created a really big horn because I wanted to amplify sound using a special kind of speaker called a compression driver which you put at the end of the horn,” Singhal said. “The cool thing is if you have the horn shaped correctly, although the compression driver opening is only about an inch, it’s

shaped so that the effective opening of the speaker is 24 inches in diameter. You get a much louder, wider sound without changing the frequency of the sound; whereas traditional 24-inch speakers will be really low pitch, with this speaker you can have a really high pitch.”

From then, Singhal transitioned into a new set of projects where he would develop digital audio plugins that are accessible for musicians to use and apply to their music.

“In the second half of this semester, I’ve been creating audio effects and plugins, and musicians can download the plugin and apply it to their voice.

My main focus right now is manipulating breathiness, so changing the qualities of a voice like the raspiness or the vocal fry for example,” Singhal said. “If you can artificially render that, then you can create much more texture to a voice. That’s just one example of what we can create. I think it’s just a really cool thing to look into, mixing technology and art.”

STORY Jeremy Yu GRAPHICS Courtesy James Singhal

27

Section I: 10600 Diving Deep into STEM SUSHI? Throughout his dives, Vescovo encounters a variety of wildlife in the deep sea.

Victor Vescovo ‘84 is widely known for his daring missions to the highest and lowest places on our planet. In 2022, two seniors aided him on one of his journeys.

diving deep into

STEM 28 The Scientific Marksman

G

ently maneuvering his craft, Victor Vescovo ’84 pilots his submersible down 35,853 feet into the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep—the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean. Vescovo’s 2019 expedition into the depths of the sea broke various depth records—including the deepest dive in human history—making him and his craft, the DSV Limiting Factor, famous in the scientific community.

After making newspaper headlines across the world, Vescovo later returned to the Mariana Trench in 2020. Onboard his vessel sat a miracle of engineering designed and built by the St. Mark’s engineering program, serving as a testament to its past and present capabilities.

Before Vescovo returned to the Challenger Deep, he contacted professional engineers from across the country to conjure up a machine fit for collecting soil samples from the bottom of the ocean. In the end, not satisfied with the propositions he received from these scientists, Vescovo consulted the St. Mark’s

Robotics Team. Senior Tomek Marczewski was one of our students who contributed to the project.

“At the time, the biggest issue we had to face was the astounding pressure at the bottom of the ocean,” Marczewski said.

“The devices we take for granted up here stopped working, so we had to collectively brainstorm innovative solutions.”

In order to solve the problems they faced, the students devised a simple design based on spring-loaded actuation plates.

Marczewski remembers constructing the contraption by utilizing the tools of the St. Mark’s Makerspace.

“We initially used Computer-Assisted Design (CAD) technologies to come up with a rudimentary schematic of our idea, then assembled the final product,” Marczewski said.

The finished product was a curved sampling tube, affectionately referred to as “The Macaroni” by Marczewski, that operated by slamming into the ocean floor and scooping up soil. Following the

mission’s success, Vescovo praised the Marksmen he worked with by emailing the school.

“I should note that an electricallyactuated device, made by a commercial marine-engineering firm, failed to extract any useful samples last year,” Vescovo said.

“The young men of St. Mark’s were able to build a purely mechanically-actuated soil sampler. Well done, gentlemen!”

Over the course of his collaborations with Vescovo, Marczewski claims that his team faced no shortage of obstacles.

“Back in 2020, when the robotics team was working on the Challenger Deep mission, the Coronavirus pandemic caused our development to become highly inefficient,” Marczewski said. “Our members were scattered all around Dallas and had to communicate by means of Zoom.”

Due to the St. Mark’s Makerspace’s closing, Vescovo’s helpers were also unable to completely finalize their product due to a lack of equipment. With the deadline fast approaching, Makerspace Director Stewart Mayer decided to take matters into his own hands, establishing an impromptu center of operations at a team member’s house. From the last-minute completion of his team’s creation, Marczewski learned much about the process of innovation.

“I realized then more than ever that consistent effort and perseverance in the face of adversity is key in research and development,” Marczewski said.

After the Challenger Deep mission’s end, two St. Mark’s students continued to collaborate with Vescovo on other technological endeavors. Recently, seniors Isaac Song and Benjamin Gravel worked on a navigation app for Vescovo’s submarine and its journey to the Kermadec Trench in the South Pacific. Gravel recalls that he and Song started working on their app last spring after Vescovo reached out to them.

“Other teams had been overengineering all sorts of solutions, and none of them worked,” Gravel said. “So, knowing what we were capable of, Mr. Vescovo came to us.”

For the rest of the year, the two seniors collaborated to build, test, and deploy their navigation app. Finally, on December 16th, 2021, Vescovo successfully explored the trench by using Song and Gravel’s app, which he said helped him both with finding a reference landing position and with expediting his ascent to the surface.

Overall, by working with Vescovo, St. Mark’s students have been able to

further their interest in solving real-world problems by utilizing their technical abilities. Marczewski posits that his experience with Vescovo’s Challenger Deep mission was a good precursor to the work he’ll be doing in college this fall.

“At the time, I was excited to apply my knowledge in a practical scenario,”

THE SCHEMATIC Vescovo’s submarine is a complex work of machinery.

Marczewski said. “ Now, going forward, the skills that I have learned will definitely help me during college and beyond.”

Similarly, Song also learned much from developing his and Gravel’s app and is proud of what he and his peers have been able to contribute to Vescovo’s expeditions.

“This is the first time where code I’ve written will actually be used and deployed, not just in theory or for an assignment, but for a scientific purpose,” Song said. “It feels cool to know that something I worked on is one of the very, very few apps that has ever been launched in those depths.”

STORY Vardhan Agnihotri GRAPHICS Jeremy Yu

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Section II: The World Around Us Divider

30 The Scientific Marksman

SECTION II the world around us Cryptocurrencies and NFTs Unraveling Biotech The Shrinking Himalayan Glaciers The Future: Stem Cells Epigenetics & Epistasis Mental Health and COVID-19

32 34 36 38 40 42

31

Section II: The World Around Us Cryptocurrency

B C

ryptocurrencies, often referred to as crypto, are one of the most exciting new advancements in technology. With the potential to revolutionize the financial technology industry, as well as replace normal paperback currency, cryptocurrencies are digital currencies which typically don’t have a central government minting or regulating them.

Cryptocurrencies are traded on a ledger system called blockchain that keeps track of transactions. Computers can mine and trade crypto, often in exchange for real-world goods or services.

Crypto has many appealing factors, most notably the lack of a central regulatory authority that can track and manage deals done on the blockchain. In addition to escaping the gaze of regulatory authorities, crypto also serves as a hedge against inflation. Paper currencies like the dollar risk massive inflation. Taking the dollar as an example, proponents of cryptocurrencies maintain that converging factors such as reckless deposit spending by the United States Federal Government and fiscal policy leave the value of the dollar in a precarious position.

One solution to this problem of inflation is cryptocurrencies. For example, there are only a finite number of Bitcoins in existence, and they can

32 The Scientific Marksman

cryptocurrencies and

NFTs

With cryptocurrencies and NFTs gaining more and more notoriety, the question remains: are these digital products here to stay, or just a passing fad?

only be obtained through trading or mining with a computer processor, meaning no central authority can mass print it at will. Noelle Acheson, Managing Director of Research at CoinDesk, a news site that focuses on digital currencies, claims that “Bitcoin is seen as an inflation hedge mainly because of its limited supply, which is not influenced by its price, and because of its relative attractiveness when real yields head to zero or lower.”

Furthermore, Blockchain can render the financial industry more transparent. Because all blockchain transactions are performed on a public ledger, blockchain can expose fraud and corruption as well as cut down on inefficiencies. In addition, blockchain’s cryptographic algorithms can bring sufficient security to any deal taking place.

However, it’s worth mentioning that crypto isn’t perfect. Firstly, the fact that crypto is not controlled by a central governing authority leaves it open to price swings and rapid devaluation, which can prove especially harmful to an investor. When the US dollar is experiencing inflation, on the other hand, the Federal Reserve can raise interest rates to combat the issue.

Similarly, when the economy is in a slump, the Federal Reserve can lower interest rates to boost investment into the economy. The lack of a central

regulatory authority for crypto means nobody can monitor, regulate, and protect the value of cryptocurrencies.

Moreover, crypto can also cause serious damage to the environment. The basic mechanism of acquiring crypto is called “mining”, a complicated process that consumes a lot of electricity and is very resource and computing-power intensive; thus, mining can contribute to things like global warming.

Now, moving to something related to cryptocurrency that has been in the news a lot recently, non-fungible tokens, commonly abbreviated as NFTs. NFTs function as part of the blockchain of Ethereum, a popular cryptocurrency, but have extra pieces of information to them that make them different from a normal token. An NFT can serve as anything digital, i.e., a song, a drawing, a clip, or other various collectibles. However, the main hype around NFTs right now comes from digital art. The way an NFT functions is that while anybody can copy the digital file involved with the NFT, only one person can actually own the original. Of course, the rights to the original can be bought and sold through the blockchain.

NFTs have many uses for many different types of people: Firstly, for artists, they can turn your artwork into its digital form and create an NFT. They can then sell your NFT to someone through Etherium and

make some money. NFTs have a builtin balloon feature that necessitates that whenever an NFT changes hands, the original artist will receive a cut of the sale, ensuring that if your artwork gets popular and balloons in price, you will receive some of that money.

For buyers, purchasing an NFT gives you usage rights; since you have legal ownership of the image, you can post it freely online without fear of a copyright strike.

For investors and traders, an NFT can function as a speculative asset, meaning one can purchase an NFT with the hope it will rise in value at some later time and then sell it for a profit.

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs have the potential to revolutionize the financial and art industry. Whether crypto and NFTs will be the next step in financial technologies and art trading or just a short-term bubble remains to be seen. But, every investor looking to stay up to date in the financial industry should, at the very least, learn about cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

D STORY Sid Bidare GRAPHICS Jonathan Yin, Anthony Wang, Vardhan Agnihotri

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Section II: The World Around Us Biotech

unraveling biotech

I

n the past few years, the biotechnology industry has gained a lot of traction and has entered the spotlight in general society. Not only are new technologies being innovated, but the potential for the economy is also a serious benefit of biotechnology. The number of biotech companies going public is skyrocketing, and investors are constantly looking for new opportunities to strike gold.

Biology instructor Mark Adame has had extensive experience in the biophysical and physiology fields. During his time at Michael Jennings’s lab at the University of Arkansas, Adame worked on a project that focused on anion transport and volume sensing in red blood cells using a protein called Anion Exchanger 1 (AE1).

Fundamentally, AE1 partially controls the amount of bicarbonate in the blood, which is one of the main ways that carbon is transported through the circulatory and respiratory systems. Without a stable way of transporting waste carbon dioxide out of the body, it will gradually replace the oxygen in the body, leading to detrimental effects. Generally, Adame would run experiments through human, mouse, and rabbit blood samples, which he then inserted into yeast cells to study proteins of interest. A typical day in the lab consisted of preparing blood samples, equipment, and experiments, running experiments, and cleaning up afterwards. With his deep knowledge and experience in the field, he has been able to keep up with the incredible amount of new innovations in the field.

One of the biggest innovations in the biotech field has been CRISPR-Cas9 technology. In short, scientists take DNA sequences from prokaryotic cells, use the Cas9 enzyme to cut DNA at a specific location, and then let DNA self-repair to increase mutation rates. The main problem with technologies like CRISPR is that researchers still don’t fully understand the

34 The Scientific Marksman

As biotech continously advances along new fronts, what does the future hold? side effects of the mutations. Additionally, there’s an ethical problem with CRISPR due to the fact that some people who have better access to these technologies will be able to access this gene-editing technology, leading to severe inequality in treatment.

Another hot topic in the news is the financial aspect of the biotechnology industry. With many companies going public in the past couple of years, it’s natural to ask about the sustainability of these corporations in the market.

Essentially, every biotech company seeks to develop a product to cure a specific disease or set of diseases, and investors invest in the company based on how effective they think the product will be. If the product is shown to be effective through clinical trials, the stock’s share price will skyrocket and lead to a positive feedback loop of financial gain for both the company and the investor. However, there is a large amount of risk associated with these companies because they often go public before clinical trials and product tests.

According to Adame, the recent breakthroughs in biotechnology, including methods like CRISPR-Cas9, have the potential for both great benefit and incredible detriment.

“It’s kind of scary,” Adame said.

“We’re getting more and more tools that are more and more powerful.”

Additionally, he mentioned the common ethics problem that biotechnology possesses. For example, the access disparity of new

biotechnology due to the wealth gap could become a defining feature of the 21st century. Even if biotechnology begins to save many lives and cure many genetic diseases, Adame stresses that overpopulation could become a large problem in the near future.

“There’s already a human population problem,” Adame said. “So, what will [the advent of biotechnology] do for humankind?”

These new innovations could possibly become more detrimental than the problems that they are trying to solve.

However, Adame still retains trust that the scientific community is self-regulating by dealing with these ethics issues before putting new products onto the market. By and large, the scientific community must be

careful and keep new biotechnology on a knife’s edge, ensuring that it will not lead to the eventual extinction of humankind.

For the students interested in working for biotech companies, Adame has some suggestions.

“Get at least a PhD, do your postdoctoral studies, have discipline, motivation, and drive,” he said. “And importantly, have some way to support yourself financially before getting into the industry.”

Due to the immense high-risk highreward aspect of the biotech industry, it’s important to have a financial foundation for oneself before entering a biotech research or private company.

St. Mark’s new chemistry teacher, Dr. Jonathan Moody, also has a connection in the biotech industry. His wife, who works in a pharmaceutical analysis company, reviews claims made by pharmaceutical companies about the effectiveness of their products. People who work in these sectors ensure that these new technologies and products will be held to a high standard and not used to swindle consumers.

Since biotechnology has begun to ingrain itself in modern-day society, people should educate themselves on the benefits, disadvantages, and opportunities that the industry can offer. Through further research, more companies will begin to treat more and more diseases, leading to the improvement of humanity all around the world.

STORY Alex Pan GRAPHIC Michael Gao

35

Section II: The World Around Us Climate Change

shrinking

the

Despite efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, global warming continues to worsen. As a result, a large portion of the Himalayan glaciers has melted away from rising temperatures. As the glaciers keep melting away, how will the world suffer?

T

he Himalayan glaciers are a system of more than 32,000 glaciers located within the Himalayan region in Southeast Asia. The Himalayas, famous for its system of mountains that extend 1550 miles throughout South and East Asia, are home to the third-largest deposit of snow and ice in the world, only behind the Arctic and Antarctica. These glacial deposits feed into some of Earth’s most crucial river systems, providing billions of people with water, energy, agriculture, and sources of income. Recently, Himalayan glaciers have been subject to disastrous effects. A study led by the University of Leeds reveals that over the past few decades, the Himalayan glaciers have lost ice at a rate ten times quicker than before.

In fact, Himalayan glaciers are shrinking at a rate faster than any other glacial system in the world.

Dr. Jonathan Carrivick, Deputy Head of the University of Leeds, says: “Our findings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that is at least ten times higher than the average rate over past centuries. This acceleration in the rate of loss has only emerged within the last few decades, and coincides with human-induced climate change.” Even between 2000 and 2016, the Himalayas lost billions of tons of ice, almost double the amount lost between 1975 and 2000.

The main cause for this abrupt melting can be connected to the rise in global temperatures, predominantly from CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Particulates, usually dust or soot, are frequently deposited on Himalayan glacier ice and help determine how much solar energy and heat the glaciers absorb.

Although the buildup is gradual, too large

36 The Scientific Marksman

an accumulation of particulates could ultimately prove catastrophic. In addition to climate change, the glaciers seem to be declining faster in regions with lakes, where these warming effects are amplified.

Carrivick cited both human activity and natural happenings as sources for the glaciers’ situation: “While we must act urgently to reduce and mitigate the impact of human-made climate change on the glaciers and meltwater-fed rivers, the modeling of that impact on glaciers must also take account of the role of adverse environmental contributions such as lakes and debris.” The rapid melting of glaciers results in the creation of more lakes and other bodies of water throughout the Tibetan plateau, causing a negative feedback loop. Working in conjunction, the factors which continuously cause the glaciers’ melting, like evaporation and wind scouring, also lead to the concerning impacts of glacier retreat both on the environment and surrounding wildlife.

While there are countless effects of the glaciers melting, some are more devastating than others. The first major repercussion of glacial loss is the increase in flooding of neighboring lands. As the ice melts, more meltwater enters the water system from the glaciers. The sudden increase in water levels prompts lakes to be unstable, which in turn escalates the chances of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) from broken dams. Future simulations of hazards project a possible monsoonal flood

himalayan glaciers as a result of lake instability, “putting the livelihoods of 220 million people at risk”, according to Georg Veh, a professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Geography. In the last several hundred years, the melting Himalayan glaciers have lost significant portions of their land areas — enough to raise global sea levels from 0.92 to 1.38mm.

With the increase in water and rise in temperature, many scientists are starting to notice shifts in weather patterns. Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes have become a noticeable occurrence. As the water levels rise rapidly, agricultural yield and energy production in the area may start seeing more dramatic effects. The constant floods and changes in the volume of water will result in different patterns of agriculture and energy production than what millions of people are accustomed to.

In addition, given the alarming rate at which the Himalayan glaciers are melting, it may not be long before the whole glacial system is gone. The Himalayan glaciers are the source of water for the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Indus rivers, all crucial to both the sustenance and livelihood of civilizations surrounding the region.

Without a source, these rivers are bound to dry up, which would threaten the Indian subcontinent and its people.

Simon Cook, coauthor of the study led

by Carrivick, claimed that people who rely on these rivers and their origins

are already experiencing unprecedented negative effects: “People… are already seeing changes that are beyond anything they witnessed for centuries… the Himalayan glaciers have lost roughly 40% of their area in the past several hundred years.”

“This research is just the latest confirmation that these changes are accelerating and that they will have a significant impact on entire nations,” Cook said.

There is no immediate cure for the Himalayan glaciers’ situation. The best solution could be to take a collaborative approach in stopping global warming from getting any worse, a tactic that many countries have tried via agreements such as the Paris Accords or the UNFCCC. Despite these nations’ cumulative efforts, no one method would ever produce results significant enough to halt the byproduct of the ice’s melting. Rather, swapping to clean energy sources, artificially increasing glacier thickness, and damming regions of the Himalayas would all be viable solutions if implemented together. But the glaciers in the Himalayas are not gone yet. Without these efforts to stop global warming and reduce the rate of melting, however, the fate of many endangered species, the geological stability of such a crucial region, and the lives of billions of humans lie at stake.

STORY Vardhan Agnihotri, Sohum Sukhatankar, Branden Song GRAPHIC Baker Lipscomb

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Section II: The World Around Us STEM Cells

the future:

Unspecialized and multipotent, these precursors of every other cell in the human body have the potential to build every tissue in the human body.

THICK SKIN Skin grafting surgery will no longer require the transplant of healthy skin from one place to another, but just cells of the same DNA.

38 The Scientific Marksman

T

he year is 2040. “Looks like you’ve torn your ACL,” says the doctor. Normally, this would spell disastrous, potentially career-ending news for an athlete: players like J.J. Watt and Derrick Rose have torn this ligament and never returned to their full form. However, the star player sitting on the hospital bed isn’t worried because he knows that he can recover. Over the past few years, stem cell therapy has been taking the world by storm, and it has been shown to effectively treat a variety of injuries and diseases in clinical therapy.

Bill Pennington, a reporter for the New York Times, reported on this phenomenon, writing, “doctors and researchers say that… the use of primitive stem cells from infants’ umbilical cord blood could grow new knee ligaments or elbow tendons.” Using Dr. Scott Rodeo’s data, Pennington found that stem cell therapy was able to successfully regenerate damaged tissue in rats and that the process could be translated to humans in the near future. These other types of therapy have also been shown to cure blindness, treat blood cancer, alleviate diabetes symptoms, and manage a multitude of other diseases.

Many people only consider the human aspect of stem cell therapy, but the same methods can also be applied to animals. A striking example of stem cell therapy occurred in 2011 when Brazilian veterinarians at the Brazilian National Zoo used stem cells to treat the broken bones of a maned wolf. The operation resulted in faster recovery times, with the maned wolf being able to walk in only a few hours, along with full recovery in three weeks. Similarly, mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, an increasingly popular alternative to iPSCs with apparently better potential for tissue regeneration, were used to treat more than a hundred racehorses with naturally occurring tendon diseases, and more than 72% reported significant clinical recovery.

Adult MSCs may thus be used as an alternative form of treatment for musculoskeletal injuries and diseases within horses and other animals like dogs using their respective stem cells. While

stem cells advancing the field of veterinary medicine is one obvious plus to this, another is preserving the biodiversity of Earth.

Because the aforementioned maned wolf is of a near-threatened conservation status, procedures like this one would greatly help these animals. Using this same logic, stem cell therapy can be applied to other endangered species to prevent extinction.

In fact, a northern white rhino had its cells transformed into iPSCs and stored in culture, where they could theoretically be differentiated into lab-grown rhinos should something happen to the two that are currently alive. Additionally, if zoologists could decrease the interval between treatment and release of animals via stem cell technology, it would result in increased reproductive success of these critically endangered species.

All this begs the obvious question: how does stem cell therapy even work?

Most of the time, the cells are taken from a source like an infant’s umbilical cord or other parts of an early-stage embryo. As the embryo develops, it creates stem cells, which later differentiate into many of the different cells of the body depending on the tissue in which they’re grown. Adult stem cells up until now lacked the same pluripotency as infant stem cells, meaning that they could not create as large a variety of cells. However, new technology has been emerging in the form of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These stem cells are what they sound like: induced from differentiated cells back to stem cells, possessing properties of pre-implantation embryonic stem cells. Using this new knowledge, scientists and doctors can begin to easily create personalized stem cell batches for individual patients, leading to easier therapy and research. iPSCs have many benefits over infant stem cells, including being easier to obtain. Another important plus of iPSC usage is its lack of immune rejection which occurs when the immune system identifies transplanted

cells as foreign bodies, and the patient’s T cells migrate to the graft, proliferate, and promote tissue destruction. With iPSC technology, cells can be grafted directly from their intended recipient, guaranteeing a 0% chance of immune rejection. Patientspecific iPSCs also get rid of the need for a donor, and “[pave] the way towards personalized medicine”, according to Connor Wiegand and Ipsita Banerjee, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.

However, though iPSCs have definite advantages, they also possess major issues which have made researchers hesitant to use them in practical treatment.

For one, their lack of innate potential for differentiating in comparison to embryonic stem cells means they must be reprogrammed before implementation.

If a patient is injured in an area in which their cell types either divide infrequently or not at all, such as fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) in the elderly, neurons, or myocytes, their reprogramming rate is estimated as “less than 0.02%” (Dr. Surat P., Ph.D. in Mechanobiology). This ineffectiveness means that adult stem cell treatment may not be viable regardless of modification for such cell types. Next, and more importantly, c-Myc, a gene used to reprogram, is an oncogene, meaning that it has a high possibility of causing cancer if for whatever reason this gene is overexpressed. Additionally, iPSC lines are often tested for pluripotency by their ability to form teratomas, or germ cell tumors, as proof that they can properly differentiate - however, this also means that even in c-Myc-lacking iPSCs, cancer can still spread. All of these results clearly show that embryonic stem cells are more desirable for curative purposes. However, the implications of extracting tissue from such an early stage of human development raise many ethical questions.

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” This

infamous quote from Jurassic Park, though used in the fictional context of bringing dinosaurs back to life, rings surprisingly true in the context of stem cell research.

As with many other recent discoveries, it has great potential for advancing biotech, but like gene editing, doctor-patient confidentiality, or chemicals that promote crop growth while also causing ecological harm, ESC and iPSC therapy isn’t just a black-and-white issue. Along with the issue of a lack of patient consent, the transition from animal to human subjects raises concerns due to the possibility of tumors or other harm.

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” This infamous quote from Jurassic Park, though used in the fictional context of bringing dinosaurs back to life, rings surprisingly true in the context of stem cell research.

As with many other recent discoveries, it has great potential for advancing biotech, but like gene editing, doctor-patient confidentiality, or chemicals that promote crop growth while also causing ecological harm, ESC and iPSC therapy isn’t just a black-and-white issue. Along with the issue of a lack of patient consent, the transition from animal to human subjects raises concerns due to the possibility of tumors or other harm. However, as research continues and scientists gain more insight into how to safely utilize stem cells, the prospect of human stem cell treatment grows ever closer.

STORY Alex Pan, Sohum Sukhantankar GRAPHICS Jeremy Yu

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Section II: On Campus Epigenetics & Epistasis In a constant battle between modern medicine and genetic diseases, what role do epigenetics play?

C

ardiovascular disease claims 18 million lives each year, with cancer making up another 10 million.

But how have these diseases managed to keep such a high mortality rate with the advancements of modern technology?

The answer lies within the fact that they are unpredictable — compared to most diseases, they arise through mutation rather than genetic changes. Epigenetic mechanisms repress or over-express certain genes, and cancer cells develop abnormally and replicate themselves without following the rules of cell death.

Biology teacher Mark Adame explains the processes behind epigenetic mechanisms.

“We inherit all the genes we’re ever going to have, but the phenotypes can change,” Adame said. “If 1 step goes wrong in a signal transduction pathway, it can cause epigenetic disease.” Research has shown that, while cancer can develop epigenetically—by changing the way the body reads DNA rather than the DNA itself—some cancers also have the potential to be treated through epigenetics or epistasis, a subset involving the regulation of genes by other genes.

In contrast to gene editing itself, epigenetic editing has the advantage of only regulating the expression of a gene without controlling what the gene itself does. Recent refinement in epigenetic technology and research on epistatic interactions could lead to a better understanding of how a genotype produces a given phenotype in the

epigenetics & epistasis STORY Sohum Sukhatankar, Sid Bidare GRAPHIC Sohum Sukhatankar

40 The Scientific Marksman

context of human development and how epigenetic disease develops.

Before geneticists could aim to study epigenetics further, they first had to understand the mechanisms by which cells and other genes modified gene activity with out changing gene sequence. One major agent of this, and one of the most-researched epigenetic systems, is pericentric heterochromatin (PCH), a form of tightly wound DNA. Experimentation has revealed that PCH has certain repressive

heterochromatic marks which allow it to suppress DNA. However, it doesn’t act alone: PCH acts in tandem with other proteins to suppress defective genes and to allow the centromeres to function, an integral part of proper cell division.

After studying epigenetics at the molecular level to observe how the body develops phenotypes, scientists began to experiment on model organisms like Drosophila melanogaster and lab mice.

This knowledge could then start to be utilized for human treatment.

As opposed to the naturally occurring systems of methylation and (de)acetylation above, the CRISPR-Cas9 editing technology allows for much more control over the genetic code of an organism, and it has been revolutionary in the field of biotechnology as a whole.

Cas9 is directed by a strand of guide RNA that allows it to target specific genes to cut or induce splicing. In the context of epigenome editing, a deactivated form of Cas9 (dCas9) locates genes in much the same way as its active form, but rather than editing the genome, it changes levels of gene expression. Researchers at Duke University have implemented dCas9 through the use of transgenic mice in vivo: by comparing two strains, one with activated genes and the other with repressed ones, it was possible to view the impact of epigenetic mechanisms in terms of tissue and physiology on a breathing organism. Another team at Yale performed similar experiments, utilizing CRISPR to repress the Utx gene in mice from the father’s DNA. At first, there were no visible changes, but after a period of about a year, the Utx-repressed mice began to die at an alarming rate, and an autopsy revealed tumor growth at a rate disproportionate to the wild type. The Utx gene is only one example of the many genes for which a single mutation could have catastrophic consequences. However, one gene stands out from all other tumorsuppressor genes, and studying it further could yield important insights into the treatment of epigenetic diseases.

The epistatic p53 gene has been labeled the guardian of the genome for its major significance in preventing damaged or mutated cells from proliferating. By sensing elevated levels of oncogenic expression, which are high levels of expression of a gene likely to cause

cancer, or ischemic stress caused by an increase in oxygen demand and blood pressure in the context of cancers and cardiovascular diseases, p53 controls other genes which in turn arrest the cell cycle.

Some harmful genes which are commonly targeted include ones which promote cell senescence, the slowing of a cells ability to duplicate, and apoptosis, controlled cell

epigenetic modifcation

to chemotherapy in the future. This can be done by inhibiting the negative regulator of p53, called MDM2.

However, according to a recent study

by Andreeff et al., when an MDM2 antagonist was tested, it resulted in

to drugs that may have once worked. For this reason, the best solution for them is a mix of treatments,

phenotype dna sequence variation

death.

Cellular senescence is of particular importance because it allows cells to remain functionally intact without the ability to make copies of themselves, and as cancer cells have often mutated too much to retain function, this renders them incapable of harming the body in some circumstances. Stifling cell growth as a whole also halts tumor growth rate and allows the body to conserve energy under increased levels of metabolic stress. In cancers, the p53 gene is often defective or mutated, so p53-targeted cancer therapy may be a viable alternative

uncontrollable overexposure of wild-type p53, and all patients within the study experienced at least one adverse event. Additionally, MDM2 inhibition therapy alone is not enough to fully suppress tumor progression. Until this type of treatment can be stabilized, it cannot be used reliably.

For the short term, cancer and other forms of disease such as superbugs continue to adapt through strains resistant

specifically antibody drug cocktails for viruses. However, research in epigenetics has still given us insight into how such diseases have remained prevalent, and future development will no doubt allow us to learn more about genes that may otherwise prove fatal.

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mental health

Section II: The World Around Us Mental Health and COVID-19 A new normal. These words evoke memories of once-familiar faces obscured with masks and the oncelively lunchroom being deserted. The pandemic has changed countless lives around the globe, and adjusting to the “new normal” has been difficult for many—with St. Mark’s being no exception.

P

NOT ALONE Although life in our postpandemic world has greatly affected everyone’s mental health, reaching out to others can help alleviate some stress.

42 The Scientific Marksman

eriods of remote learning, as well as cancellation of both athletic and academic events, are just some of the effects we have seen within the school setting. Many students also live with family members who may be more susceptible to COVID-19. Therefore, apart from its obvious physical effects, the pandemic has had a drastically negative impact on the mental health of St. Mark’s students and teachers alike. Together with stress relating to tests, homework, and non-academic obligations always present in Upper School students, preserving mental health has never been more crucial.

On March 13th, 2020, school was canceled for the first time due to growing concerns over the pandemic. Students entered a period of asynchronous learning for the remainder of the school year, with classes meeting once a week. Finals were also canceled that year, and while many students rejoiced about this at the time, the lack of class in the school year’s last trimester made related classes more difficult in the future—preliminary concepts which teachers expected students to understand were covered with not enough depth, or in some cases, not at all. This knowledge gap forced teachers to adjust their lesson plans long-term.

Along with this, frequent switches between remote and in-person learning during the 2020-21 school year and a February snowstorm that left many members of the St. Mark’s community without power meant that overall, lesson plans were lagging far behind.

At the beginning of the next school year, a new remote learning format was introduced in lieu of asynchronous learning.

While it let teachers do their jobs safely, it also posed a set of unique issues: Wi-Fi and other technical difficulties caused students to miss vital parts of

the pandemic has worsened the social lives of many students, one of their major outlets for relieving school-related stress.

Due to relatively long periods of physical isolation from their peers, it is more common for students to feel like they cannot connect with others socially. It is also difficult for them to reach out about mental issues in general due to denial that they are experiencing these problems, so often observing warning signs is one’s best bet at helping a friend get the help they need.

Dr. Bonsu also explained that some signs a student may be struggling include being “irritable, checked out in class, [or] sleepy.” Another important reason why students may hesitate to talk to a counselor comes from the fear of being stigmatized.

Seeing peers trivialize mental health disorders in ways like saying “kill yourself,” even jokingly, or making fun of depression can make a troubled student feel like their problems aren’t important or real.

Over the past two years, the difficulties of living in a world where a deadly illness is so easily transmissible without proper caution have made many vulnerable in ways never felt before. But the world is starting to recover. There will be good days and bad days for everyone, but the most important thing to remember is, though it may sound cliché, we’re all in this together, and you are not alone in the stress and anxiety you may feel, COVID-related or otherwise. As a community, we must protect both our own and each other’s mental health in every way we can.

and COVID-19

lectures. More importantly, they were not as engaged, said counselor Mary Bonsu, and they “found it difficult to focus… because of so many [online] distractions.”

Although we are now back to in-person school, what are some of the ways in which students can study effectively and thereby minimize both distractions and stress in an increasingly computer-based academic environment?

As we all know, using an electronic device to study often distracts one from the topic at hand, especially in comparison to paper notes. Additionally, exposure to blue light caused by staring at a screen for too long may have damaging effects on the body. So, while trying to look over a large amount of online material before an exam in one stretch may seem like the most efficient way to prepare, it can hurt performance. Instead, reading a book or going outside to take a walk and clear the mind is both healthier and relieves stress.

Taking regularly scheduled breaks by using, for example, the Pomodoro method, can help one to focus on one topic at a time, too.

Another seemingly efficient yet extremely damaging habit of St. Mark’s students is cramming. Cramming usually occurs in conjunction with either heavy sleep loss or even pulling an all-nighter, and students may also drink coffee or ingest other stimulants. Though cramming and cramming-adjacent behaviors may pay off short-term, they cause elevated levels of stress, irregular sleep patterns, and caffeine dependency. Stress, although many perceive it as purely mental, physically manifests itself through headaches, exhaustion, chest pain, and high blood pressure. Interruption of circadian rhythms displays similar effects, and stress and sleep loss reinforce each other negatively.

Correcting a sleep schedule to a given pattern requires “an intervention that also has a pattern,” and it may take just as much time to fix the problem as it did to make it.

On the other hand, dependency on caffeine creates a far more difficult issue. Caffeine, though it is not an addictive substance in the technical sense of the word, exhibits the same withdrawal symptoms as many addictive drugs. Keeping this in mind, even though studying for a test over the course of many days prior is the harder choice to make, it benefits one’s health much more in the long run.

Along with affecting studying habits,

STORY Sohum Sukhatankar PHOTO Neil Song GRAPHIC Jonathan Yin

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Section III: What’s Next? Divider

44 The Scientific Marksman

SECTION III what’s next?

Transportation as a Service A Giant Leap for Mankind?

A Gold Mine in Another World Humanity’s Next Home?

Artifical Intelligence Into the Metaverse The Future of Energy

46 48 50 52 54 56 58

45

Section III: What’s Next? The Future of Transportation

T

ransportation as a Service (TaaS) represents the shift in mobility to autonomous electric vehicles. In TaaS, consumers do not own vehicles, but rather a small group of companies will operate large fleets of autonomous vehicles. Today, most Americans rely on independently owned vehicles as their primary mean of transportation. As Transportation as a Service grows, mobility will become cheaper, safer, greener, more accessible, and more productive.

Transportation costs stand as the second most costly item on an American household’s budget. It’s only natural, especially when considering the number of expenses owning a car entails: fuel, maintenance, insurance, and parking.

Transportation as a Service will eliminate much of these costs, as fleets will operate autonomous electric vehicles. The experience will be similar to many ridehailing companies, like Uber or Lyft—just far more streamlined and inexpensive.

Drivers and fuel are the primary costs when it comes to ride-hailing services, so, by eliminating the two greatest expenses, the affordability of TaaS is highly advantageous compared to owning and driving a car. Tony Seba, entrepreneurship and clean energy professor at Stanford, states that transportation as a service will make mobility ten times cheaper per mile by 2030. With the average transportation costs in an American household at $9000, a 90% reduction in costs will significantly increase the real income of American households.

On the other hand, road accidents are the primary cause of death in Americans aged 5-54. Every day, people risk their lives because of the importance of mobility in our society. Worldwide, over one million people get killed in car accidents each year, and 95% of road accidents are caused by human error. Because TaaS vehicles are fully autonomous, TaaS will help mitigate nearly all of these wrecks. There are six levels of autonomy in vehicles, ranging from level zero—no automation at all—to level five—full autonomy with no human input required. Of course, level five has yet to be implemented at a production level on public roads. In recent years, however, the advancements in safety features, such

transportation as a service opinion:

Each year, Americans spend over a trillion dollars getting from point A to point B. But as new technology and business models develop, this stands to change. What does the future of transportation look like?

46 The Scientific Marksman

most used forms of transportation

as lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control, help keep people safe on the road.

The lack of driver error on the road will save millions of lives and lead to less risk Personal Car involved with mobility.

For centuries, cars have relied on the Public Transportation internal combustion engine (ICE) as their powerplant. These engines require gasoline Bicycle to run and spew carbon emissions into the air. Worse yet, gasoline engines are only Local Ride Sharing about 25% efficient; the rest of the energy gets wasted on heat and friction. On a side Motorcycle note, gasoline cars smell, make noise, and have thousands of moving parts. From a holistic view, gasoline cars produce not Car sharing only air pollution but also noise pollution, smell pollution, and heat pollution.

Taxi Electric cars solve these problems and more, as they generate no tailpipe Other emissions when driving on the road. A typical ICE car emits about five metric 0% 15% 30% Source: Statista Global tons of carbon dioxide annually. While the Consumer Survey US produces about 60% of its electricity from fossil fuels (the remaining 40% is to about six trillion miles annually. Beyond made up evenly of nuclear and renewable the increase in access to mobility for the sources), energy generation at the plant economically disadvantaged, TaaS would is far more efficient than an internal also increase mobility for people below combustion engine. Transportation as a the driving age. In most US states, the Service will almost entirely operate electric minimum legal age to get a driver’s license vehicles in fleets due to the significant is sixteen. For most of their childhood, kids cost and environmental benefits. While must be shuttled to school, extracurricular full autonomy is still a few years away, activities, and their friends’ houses by their electric cars have been rapidly entering the parents. Kids must build their schedule market. Electric cars currently represent based on their parents’ schedule; parents almost 4% of new car sales. Considering must create space in their day to drop their that most people have a reliable place to children off and pick them up, even if they charge on a regular basis and drive less than have nothing to do with the event their 50 miles in a day, the numerous benefits child is going to. With TaaS, kids of any of electric vehicles have strong appeal. As age will be able to freely go to where they autonomous technology advances, TaaS need to; parents will no longer be tethered will prevail as the environmentally friendly to their kids for all activities. Because of way to commute.

TaaS, kids with working parents will have The significant cost of owning a the flexibility and opportunity to engage in vehicle, the minimum driving age, or activities they previously couldn’t. Parents even the maximum legal BAC limit the can also spend the time they are not accessibility of transportation picking up/dropping off their to some audiences. TaaS offers kids to do other things, leading affordable mobility for all. to a more productive society.

Americans in the lower economic The average American class might have a harder time spends about 500 hours in a car finding reliable, affordable annually. All this time, drivers transportation. Sometimes, a lack must focus on the task at hand: of mobility inhibits people from driving. The mundane, boring Aditya goel finding jobs. Because TaaS will nature of driving leads to many Staff Writer be about ten times cheaper, more distracted drivers on the road people will be able to go where they need attempting to boost their productivity. to go. Americans currently cover about Distracted driving is the leading cause of four trillion passenger miles annually; by car accidents, yet many drivers continue to 2030, TaaS will allow that figure to jump text and drive. Transportation as a service

45%

60%

75%

90%

enables people to safely do other things while on the road. As TaaS becomes widely adopted, some services, like refreshments, grooming, or banking, will be available inside of vehicles while commuting. The insides of vehicles will look different as they change to accommodate these different services. The result of so many hours being spent on productive activities can boost the US GDP by up to one trillion dollars.

TaaS will vastly improve the daily lives of people around the world because of its implications for so many different industries. It will change mobility as we know it and positively impact society.

OPINION Aditya Goel GRAPHICS Jonathan Yin

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a giant leap for mankind?

Section III: What’s Next? New Rocket Technologies A recent spike in private space travel has sparked an interest in new rocket technologies. Will commerical space flight become a typical part of our culture?

T

OPINION Alex Pan GRAPHIC Kevin Lu

48 The Scientific Marksman

hat’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

In the time since NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered these famous words, eleven other astronauts have stepped on the moon’s surface, with the last manned moon landing occurring in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission.

Whether NASA stopped its missions due to towering costs, the decline of the Soviet Union, or decreasing public interest, the fact is that it has been fifty years since a human has stepped foot on the moon. However, the U.S. government is beginning to push for a mission dubbed the Artemis Program, whose third iteration will send humans—including the first woman—to the moon in 2025.

Some of the main contributing factors in support of the Artemis mission are the new breakthroughs in the growing field of rocket technology. NASA developed the Space Launch System (SLS) for the first Artemis mission this year, which follows the Ares vehicles as NASA’s principal launch vehicle. Similarly, SpaceX has been developing a launch vehicle called the Starship Human Landing System (HLS), which will be used in the Artemis 3 mission. The main advantages of the HLS over the SLS are its ability to carry more cargo mass from the Earth to the moon and its cheaper launch cost, which will enable more frequent launches.

Alan Stern ‘75, a St. Mark’s graduate and leader of NASA’s New Horizons mission, believes that humans will be able to make it to Mars by the mid-2030s.

From now to 2024, however, NASA hopes to launch six more unmanned lunar missions into lunar orbit, with the first being flown on March 17th of this year.

The main purpose of these missions is to look for ice at the moon poles to supply astronauts with drinkable water. Stern suggests that ice mining on the moon could be a very lucrative business after the formation of a lunar economy and a more sustained human presence on the moon.

On the topic of commercial space travel, Stern believes that it has the potential to surpass airline travel in the next two to three decades. Currently,

commercial space travel is only accessible to the wealthy—Jeff Bezos, for example, took a commercial flight to outer space last year through his space travel company, Blue Origin. Interestingly, Blue Origin launched more people into space last year than any other entity, demonstrating the growing interest in commercial space travel for people who can afford it. Companies like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX have also flown people to space recently. Due to the controlled nature of government-run space agencies, the vast majority of space travel has now become commercial and private.

To decrease the cost of space travel, Stern says that we must develop new reusable rocket technology. Additionally, he says that economies of scale—more factories and higher development—must develop to further decrease the cost of commercial and private space travel. At this point, although the frequency of commercial space travel has increased dramatically to hundreds of trips per year, it is still nowhere near the number of thousands of routine airline routes flown in the world per day. The considerable gap between these two frequencies will eventually be decreased, but the technology has to come first before this happens.

In addition to the crucial step of developing cheap reusable rockets, the cost and efficiency of space travel will also decrease with the production of new in-orbit satellites. Just last year, SpaceX launched fifty-two Starlink satellites into orbit to provide high-speed internet access to most of the world. According to Stern, these satellites possess high-speed computing power that allows them to process data quickly and utilize machine learning and artificial intelligence to become more efficient. Additionally, new propulsion systems are being developed which have the potential to decrease the travel time from Earth to Mars from one year to just one week.

With these new technologies and missions being planned in the very near future, enthusiasm for space flight will continue to increase, and commercial spaceflight might eventually become an integral part of our regular culture. Furthermore, the renewed interest in space travel could potentially spur on more and more discoveries with the addition of

more and more scientists and engineers to the industry. Like the founding of St. Mark’s as a Sputnik school, this new era of space exploration will lead to another increase in S.T.E.M. education across the United States in the coming decades.

AD ASTRA Founded in 1958 during the Space Race, NASA has slowly taken the backseat to private companies, like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic.

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Section III: Whats Next? Asteroid Mining

hitting a gold mine

in another world As Earth’s precious resources dwindle and its rare earth metals supplies dry up, society may have to turn towards the stars to satiate their appetite for natural resources.

MINE DIAMONDS Asteroid mining is most lucrative in providing valuable elements most commonly found in the crust like gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, osmium, and palladium. As these elements are used up, asteroid mining will become more and more necessary.

50 The Scientific Marksman

A

s natural ores and other resources on our planet become increasingly scarce, scientists and engineers have turned their attention to extraterrestrial sources. Professionals and enthusiasts alike have formulated elaborate plans for mining material out of near-earth asteroids (NEAs) and other bodies, though many are unsure whether these final-frontier alternatives are feasible.

To extract metals from ores on earth, mining machines either need to detonate or excavate the rock—which requires using fossil fuels and emitting toxic pollutants that contribute to global warming and its harmful effects. Coupled with the importance of space resources in any extraterrestrial settlements, these

environmental concerns have made the need for asteroid mines more apparent than ever.

To solve this issue, scientists at NASA developed Project RAMA, a system known to be one of the most cost-effective, efficient, and scalable propositions available. To harness the full value of asteroids, the RAMA architecture inserts a “seed craft” into the asteroid, then manipulates its interior to gather propellant and extract minerals.

Although this solution might turn out to be lucrative, critics of the asteroid mining concept have raised concerns with the idea, such as nation inequality and overall unprofitability. But, however many downsides skeptics formulate, there remain many steadfast proponents for the idea of asteroid mining. A publication by Jeffrey Kargel, planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, argues that space mining is an environmentally-friendly prospect which

could help usher in new technologies and help countries become self-sufficient when dealing with rare and highly-utilized metals.

For Alan Stern ‘75, mining of NEAs is only practical for rare and high–demand minerals. Stern cited both the randomness of NEAs—given that no two asteroids will ever be the same—and our current inadequate technology as factors that could mitigate further progression of asteroid mining.

“Asteroids are hard to know how to mine,” Stern said. “Technology and discovery will advance as time goes on, meaning that the necessary equipment will be around in about one to two hundred years.”

According to Stern, one of the most vital resources for a sustainable future is platinum.

“Platinum is one of the most important parts of fuel cells, specialized energy cells which can eliminate the need for detrimental fossil fuels,” he said. “To produce energy, fuel cells use

platinum to catalyze the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen.”

Instead of developing machinery for mining asteroids, Stern proposes harvesting materials from the moon. Not only can platinum be found in abundance on the moon, but scientists have also been able to locate platinum “hotspots,” meaning that all operations are almost guaranteed to be lucrative and that excavation probes will maximize efficiency with consistent design and performance, eliminating one of the caveats that NEA mining would come with.

In addition to coming with less drawbacks, lunar mining also has more practical prospects for space exploration

than asteroid mining. Companies such as NASA and SpaceX are looking to launch several missions in the coming years to take the first steps to the creation of a lunar base, complete with human life support systems and possible mining probes. For the sake of minimizing rocket travel costs, scientists have agreed upon shipping 3D printers which would print the infrastructure on the moon using a conglomerate of mined and sent materials, mining robots–ideally self–sufficient in all operations–and processing facilities, meant to package and store all materials for the rockets that ship them to earth. According to Stern, the implications of the introduction of human life to the moon include additional colonies on extraplanetary bodies and better technology for supporting those civilizations.

“There is a lot of opportunity for improvement when it comes to the improvement of astronauts’ conditions in space,” he said. “Taking the next steps to mars and beyond could potentially improve both medical and quality of life technologies.”

With these new

ideas of extraterrestrial mining, both space exploration and our earth-faring civilization’s sustainability will continue to develop and improve. Akin to how Columbus set sail for the new world in search of material goods approximately 500 years ago, a new generation now turns its eyes to the skies in search of a more technologically advanced future. The new discoveries that humankind will make in space will kindle a new appreciation for our universe, and hopefully will inspire a longlasting thirst for scientific knowledge.

STORY Vardhan Agnihotri GRAPHICS Michael Gao

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Section III: What’s Next? A New Home

humanity’s next home?

As humans pollute the planet and the risk of turning our planet into an uninhabitable wasteland increases year by year, it’s worth exploring options of where humans could live in the future.

Do we try to fight climate change on our own planet, or do we jump ship and find a new home?

T

he space race is in full swing, and advancements in space-going technology allow space travel to be more accessible. Private companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are achieving the first steps of space travel with short trips to space. However, the next major goal in space exploration is Mars; the red planet is the new horizon for human exploration. Instead of sending a rover, humans would land on Mars for the first time, hoping to establish a base on Mars and find a way to sustain themselves permanently.

Before a human exodus to Mars, however, scientists must look to the moon to conduct research and gauge how feasible it is to create a human base on Mars. Humans have yet to stay on the moon for more than two weeks, with the longest stay by the Apollo 17 crew at about 13.5 days. While there certainly are differences between the moon, Mars, and other space bodies, a moon base would provide humans with the opportunity to discover the obstacles in sustained residence on a natural space body. Wesley Irons, physics teacher at St. Mark’s and space enthusiast, provides some insight into the feasibility of establishing a Mars base.

“The environment of Mars is, quite simply, uninhabitable,” Irons said. “It has an atmospheric pressure 0.06 times that of

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SHOOT FOR THE STARS As scientists turn towards space, Mars seems to be the most logical option, even despite its hostile surface.

Earth, an atmosphere that is 95% carbon dioxide, and temperatures far colder than anywhere on Earth.”

The atmosphere, terrain, and weather are elements that must be taken into account, all of which are drastically different from what is found on Earth.

Considering the fact that humans are yet to perfectly combat or avoid the natural disasters of Earth, establishing a base on a space body will present many especially difficult challenges.

Furthermore, beyond just the infrastructure and environmental issues, the human body is also unaccustomed to the conditions in space and on other planets. Traditionally, humans have had to use bulky space suits to cope with the strenuous conditions in space. Mr. Irons points out that there are also concerns beyond just the physical body, like mental stress.

“Particularly, the incredibly long voyage to Mars or an asteroid would have many effects, known and unknown, on the human body and psyche that must be addressed before any undertaking occurs,” Irons said. “Studies have shown the deleterious effects on humans due to radiation and microgravity—immune system problems, muscular problems, cognitive problems, etc.—and extended

periods in a small space with no chance of turning back could certainly create psychological problems as well.”

As technology progresses, space suits will hopefully become better at holistically ensuring astronaut health.

Perhaps they will even become obsolete as entire environments might be able to be controlled.

Mars, though, presents a difficult challenge due to the lack of water and oxygen in the atmosphere. The impacts of climate change and overpopulation on Earth lead some to explore the possibility of creating sustainable environments for humans on other planets. However, the problems faced on Earth seem insignificant when compared to the issues with living on Mars.

“I keep returning to the thought that we humans cannot even manage to get anthropogenic climate change on our own planet under control, while the climate on Mars (with no influence from humans) is worse,” Irons said. “If we are capable of the massive undertaking of developing colonies on another planet, then perhaps we should aim that ambition and ingenuity instead toward making the Earth a more habitable place for the vast colonies already here.”

The technology required to sustain

life on Mars is so advanced that the same technology may be used to extend the habitability of Earth. Establishing a permanent human base on Mars, however, will not only officially make humans an interplanetary species but also serve as a whole new gateway to further space exploration.

The space race today is different from the one in the 1960s. Today, private companies are developing new technologies that will take people to space.

Like air flights did over time, space flights will become more and more accessible.

One hundred years ago, flying in airplanes was limited solely to the richest; today, flying in airplanes is available to the average person. As the flights to space become cheaper, more people will be able to experience the beauty of space and expand our understanding of the universe.

“I think it is clear that the current private space race is renewing human interest in space exploration, as well as science and engineering in general, which I think is wonderful,” Irons said.

As history has shown, the pace at which technology is advancing is faster than it has ever been—but it is also slower than it ever will be. It can be difficult to predict and put a timeline on the future of human trips to Mars. Some ambitious folks, such as Elon Musk, claim that humans will have colonies of thousands on Mars within the next few decades.

Irons doesn’t agree that this will be the case because of the various complications of sustained life on Mars and the fact that humans will continuously try to improve the condition of life on Earth.

As people continue to innovate and reach for the stars (and planets), humans still have a ways to go before sustainably becoming a space—and Mars—dwelling species. Additionally, people will continue to explore the real impact and feasibility of creating colonies on Mars. Space visits are sure to become more accessible to all in the next couple of decades. Overall, space exploration serves not only as a means to learn more about the universe but also as a means to find other new places where humans can explore.

STORY Aditya Goel GRAPHICS Jonathan Yin, Will Spencer

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Section III: What’s Next? Artificial Intelligence

O

ne of the largest technological shifts in the last few decades has been the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is now used in a variety of ways, from basic tasks like providing customer service and making recommendations to more complex tasks like driving cars and piloting planes.

Recent advancements in AI technology have foreshadowed even more breathtaking possibilities, such as creating new medicines or mapping the human brain.

This rapid progress in AI, however, has also led to fears about its impact on the job market. A common fear is that humans will become obsolete as machines become better at doing our jobs.

Connor Leahy, the CEO of EleutherAI, points out that this issue is more nuanced than people think.

According to Leahy, history shows us that new technologies don’t necessarily lead to mass unemployment. For example, when the automobile was invented, there were

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fears that horse and cart makers would drawbacks when it comes to the job market. go out of business. In reality, the demand Even if new job categories are created, for horses declined, but the demand for they might not be enough to offset the jobs other job categories like mechanics and lost to AI. In fact, recent advancements in gas station attendants went up. Innovation AI technology have led many to believe can often be a double-edged sword—while that the pace of change might be too fast it can destroy some jobs, it also has the for humans to adapt. potential to create new ones.

“Machine learning Other recent examples include algorithms are likely to be too the rise of ATMs, which led to powerful and too fast for humans the decline of tellers but also to keep up,” Leahy said. the rise of jobs like computer This is a scary prospect, but programmers.

Leahy remains optimistic. He It’s possible that the same believes that humans have always thing will happen with AI. As been able adapt to change and ANTHONY WANG the technology improves for that we will find a way to do so Executive Editor completing certain tasks, the again. demand for those jobs will decline. But, As with the rise of any powerful at the same time, new job categories will technology, power is accompanied by be created to support the technology. For responsibility. The responsible action to example, ther could be a rise in demand take is to ensure that the benefits of AI for machine learning engineers, who are shared as widely as possible, which train computers to learn specialized tasks. entails investing in education and training However, this might come with its own so that people can learn the skills they

artificial intelligence and the job market Artificial intelligence is on the rise and is poised to make a large impact on the job market. Is this change something we should be worried about?

need to participate in the new economy. It also means ensuring that the technology is ethically sound, so that its use benefits humanity as a whole and doesn’t serve the interests of a few individuals. Research into the field of AI safety, known as alignment, i.e. aligning AI with the values of humanity, is just beginning and will be crucial in the years to come. EleutherAI is one of the organizations that have the most potential in this field.

Some people worry about a far darker future in which AI becomes superintelligent and ultimately decides that humans are expendable. Though this theory still remains farfetched, the question at hand should no longer be “will humans become obsolete?” but rather “will humans become extinct?” In the coming decades, there will have to be a serious discussion about the implications of AI and how to make sure that it is used for the benefit of humanity, rather than its destruction. In the short term, however, speculation does

little to help us prepare for the future.

AI is having a profound impact on the job market. Many jobs that used to be done by human beings are now being done by AI, and the trend is only accelerating. For example, customer service representatives, telemarketers, and tax preparers are increasingly being replaced by chatbots and other AI-powered software. This trend is likely to continue as AI gets better and better at performing these tasks. When evaluating job security in the future, it’s important to consider not only the job itself but also the industry in which it exists.

For example, jobs in the transportation industry are likely to be replaced by selfdriving cars, while jobs in the healthcare industry are more likely to be assisted but not eliminated by AI. The best way to prepare for the future is to stay informed about the latest advancements in technology and to learn new skills that are more desirable in the job market. For example, jobs that require

human interaction and empathy are less likely to be replaced by AI. So if you’re looking for a job that will be around for a while, consider becoming a teacher, a nurse, or a social worker. And if you want to stay ahead of the curve, learn how to code, learn about machine learning, and stay upto-date on the latest AI advancements.

This rapid increase in AI adoption is causing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.

Many people are worried about how they will find work in a world where machines can do so much. However, it’s important to remember that every time there has been a major technological shift in history, there have always been people who have adapted and thrived. The future is still unwritten, and it’s impossible to say for certain what will happen. But one thing is for sure: the world is changing, and we need to be prepared for it.

OPINION Anthony Wang PHOTO Neil Song

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Section III: What’s Next? The Metaverse Less than forty years ago, the first “digital” device was created: the Internet. Since then, technology has expanded rapidly into almost all areas of life, including work, school and entertainment. But what if we were to take that even further?

I

n the 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, the protagonist, Hiro Protagonist, enters a virtual world called the Metaverse—a universe where people can meet, interact and do business in a shared virtual space. Thirty years later in the present day , Facebook is working on bringing the Metaverse to life. The social media giant has been building a team of engineers and designers to create a virtual world that could potentially become inhabited by billions of people in the future.

The Metaverse will be a place where people can interact with each other and with virtual objects, as if they were in the same physical space. A place where you can shop, work, play and learn. A 3D virtual world built on top of the existing internet.

The potential applications of the Metaverse are endless. Imagine being able to try on clothes before you buy them, or take a virtual tour of a new home before you make an offer. You could attend a virtual concert or conference. You could even visit a virtual version of your favorite restaurant, or go on a virtual vacation.

The Metaverse is not just a place for entertainment and commerce—it will also be a place for learning and education. You could explore ancient ruins or the surface of Mars without even leaving your living room. The Metaverse will be a place where you can be anyone you want to be, and do anything you want to do.

Currently, the Metaverse remains a work in progress, although similar ideas have been put into play already.

Take VRChat for example, a social VR app that lets you interact with others in

into the metaverse: a fully virtual world

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virtual reality. There are already millions of users, and the app continues to grow in popularity. Users can explore various virtual worlds or create their own. There are also a number of social VR platforms in development, such as High Fidelity and Sansar. These platforms are still in development, but they offer a glimpse into the potential of the Metaverse.

Linden Lab’s “Second Life” was a similar idea that was heavily explored when launched back in 2003. The platform lets users create their own avatars, worlds, and businesses and interact with one another.

The platform first peaked in 2007 with 1.1 million users, and, as a result of the pandemic, experienced a resurgence in popularity in 2020, thus proving the demand for virtual social experiences.

Many users spent years on the platform, making friends and businesses; some even found love. So, there’s certainly a place for the Metaverse in our increasingly digital world.

There are, of course, some drawbacks to the Metaverse. The most obvious drawback is the potential for abuse and the glaring risk of addiction. Just as people can become addicted to video games, people could become addicted to the Metaverse.

People could start spending more time in the Metaverse than in the physical world, and that could have severe consequences.

Founders’ Master Teaching Chair Doug Rummel recognizes this potential issue.

“It is not hard to see how people could spend too much time in virtual worlds and lose touch with the real world,” Rummel said.

It’s easy to draw a parallel between the metaverse in the future and social media today. During the past two years of life in the COVID-19 pandemic, a plethora of students ramped up their social media usage. The human experience of interaction failed to be replicated in this virtual medium and actually ended up deteriorating the mental health of many children and younger people. The Metaverse holds great potential to remedy this problem, and as the technology advances, it becomes even more likely that it can replace face-to-face human interaction.

On the other hand, the environmental concerns of running a hyperrealistic immersion experience for billions of people are troublesome. The costs of the servers, data centers, and user devices necessary to support a functioning Metaverse would be staggering. Rummel recalls a Virtual Reality (VR) experience involving a large backpack computer to run all the calculation-heavy software. If it takes an entire backpack computer to power one person’s experience, supporting even a fraction of the world’s population would require an astoundingly large number of servers and data centers, and result in an enormous carbon footprint.

While VR has the potential to replicate many aspects of the physical world, there are some things that it cannot replicate. For example, virtual reality cannot replace the experience of being in the physical world.

VR can create realistic 3D environments, but it cannot create the smells, sounds and sensations of the physical world. VR can

also create social interactions, but it cannot create the physical sensations of being with other people. However, Rummel still believes in the potential of VR. “For the most part, you can just do most of the work you need via telepresence,” he said.

A simple doctor’s visit, for example, can be conducted with little disruption.

Social interactions can be conducted in a similar way. You can still get the benefits of being around other people, even if you are not in the same physical space.

In the long run, it is possible that virtual reality will be able to replicate the physical world to a degree that will make the need for physical interaction irrelevant.

However, that day is a long way off, and in the meantime, we should enjoy our daily lives in the physical world.

OPINION Anthony Wang PHOTO Neil Song INFOGRAPHIC Aaron Liu

metaverse developments today

Meta

VR-based Metaverse for social media and more

Snap

AR-based metaverse for social media

Roblox

Immersive metaverse gaming platform

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Section III: What’s Next? Nuclear Fusion STORY Baker Lipscomb GRAPHICS Jonathan Yin, Aditya Goel

the future of energy 58 The Scientific Marksman

With global gas emissions on the rise again, sustainable renewable energy has become more important. While current efforts are focusing on other alternatives like solar energy, is nuclear energy a viable option too?

P

icture a world with cheap, affordable energy for everyone with zero harmful waste. In America, only around 12% of the energy we use is renewable. Renewable energy comes from natural sources such as the wind or sun, and it doesn’t run out. It is also known as clean energy because little harmful waste is produced that could damage our environment. The energy produced by nuclear fission and fossil fuels, which make up a large percentage of our main energy sources, releases dangerous waste that damages our environment.

The nuclear waste from fission reactors continues to build up every day. As Ken Owens, chemistry teacher at St. Marks, points out, relying on this type of energy brings major risks.

“Right now, all the nuclear power plants around the country just hold on to all their ever-growing radioactive waste on site—that’s a security problem,” Owens said. “People can steal it, they can try to make a bomb.”

Clearly, we cannot continue to use fission reactors forever because of the many issues that come with them, and at some point we have to make a transition to a new energy source.

While enough solar panels could provide a replacement in the near future, there is a much more effective solution that could be the answer to a very efficient and clean energy source: nuclear fusion.

In brief, nuclear fusion is when the nuclei of two different isotopes, atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons, of hydrogen fuse together to form one larger atom.

Because the nuclei of atoms contain protons making them positive, they repel and are incredibly hard to push together. In order to fuse them, a very high temperature of approximately 100 million Kelvin is necessary.

As the two different isotopes of hydrogen atoms heat up, their energy increases, and they move at faster and faster speeds. Eventually, when they hit each other at a speed fast enough to overcome the repulsion between them, they will fuse,

thus forming a helium atom and releasing large amounts of fusion energy.

Currently, reactors only produce a small amount of net gained energy. The eventual goal is for the amount of energy yielded to be much larger than the amount of energy required to initiate the reaction.

If this goal can be attained, nuclear fusion could easily surpass all other sources of energy, doing so at a much cheaper cost.

In 1989, two scientists claimed to have discovered cold fusion, the fusing of atoms at around room temperature.

Unfortunately, the experiment they conducted was never successfully replicated.

Despite this failure, interest in research of cold fusion spiked for a short time until scientists lost hope. Cold fusion removes the big problem of heating the atoms to incredibly high temperatures. Also, the net energy gained after the reaction would be significantly higher because relatively little energy is required to begin the reaction.

Owens emphasized the results we would have seen if that experiment had been successful. “I cannot stress enough that if cold fusion had worked in 1989, we would not be driving gasoline cars right now,” Owens said.

Maybe someday we will see our world be powered entirely by small cold fusion reactors providing energy for our everyday needs at inexpensive costs. However, the chances of success with cold fusion are very low. Investing in the improvement of the

fusion reactors we are working on today could be a better allocation of resources.

Our current fusion reactors are massive and require incredible amounts of energy to operate and sustain the reactions.

If a few billion dollars have already been invested into fusion, why not invest more?

The return may not be immediate, but likely we will see nuclear fusion take over energy production within the next hundred years.

However, the main clean energy sources mentioned earlier, solar and wind, are not to be dismissed. Owens notes that they have great potential as reliable energy sources, especially in the more foreseeable future.

“With current technology, solar and wind are probably the most viable going forward,” Owens said. “There was a calculation a number of years ago that said if you had enough solar cells to cover a square, 150 miles a side… you could power the whole planet with it.”

Like nuclear fusion, a solar farm would take large amounts of investments to create one large enough to power earth.

Instead of a delayed return like investment in nuclear fusion, progress would be seen almost immediately. Despite this, they are still not completely effective due to the fact the sun’s not shining half the day, and some days are cloudy. Nuclear fusion reactors can run day and night, although the implementation of these reactors will not be seen anytime soon.

A GREEN FUTURE Harnessing the energy produced by hydrogen atoms fusing together, the only byproduct of nuclear fusion is helium, an extremely inert gas.

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Closing Our Floating Rock

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closing

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Closing Team

team

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Editors-in-Chief Jonathan Yin ‘22, Jeremy Yu ‘22

Managing Editor Jeffrey Chen ‘22

Creative Director Michael Gao ‘23, Benjamin Chen ‘25

Executive Editor Anthony Wang ‘23, Vardhan Agnihotri ‘24

Section Editors Branden Song ‘23, Sid Bidare ‘24, Kevin Lu ‘24

Head Photographer Neil Song ‘23

Staff Alex Geng ‘22, Shaan Mehta ‘22, Thomas Philip ‘22, Sampath Rapuri ‘22, Darren Xi ‘22, Shreyan Daulat ‘23, Aditya Goel ‘23, Renil Gupta ‘23, Aaron Liu ‘23, Will Spencer ‘23, Adam Kappelman ‘24, Baker Lipscomb ‘24, Alex Pan ‘24, Sohum Sukhatankar ‘24, Dawson Yao ‘24, Tiger Yang ‘25

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Closing Details

details

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Policy The Scientific Marksman is an out-of-school extracurricular activity that works independently from the St. Mark’s School of Texas journalism program. Throughout the first half of the year, staff members pitch story concepts, hold interviews, and write articles; the majority of the design process occurs in the latter half. This publication is submitted annually for evaluation to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA).

Colophon The Scientific Marksman is printed by J Culley Imaging. The cover is printed on 130# velvet, and text pages on 100# velvet, perfect bound.

300 copies were printed and distributed to St. Mark’s students and faculty. The staff used Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop 2022 on 27-inch Retina 5K Display iMacs and personal computers to design spreads. Typefaces include Europa Bold for headlines; Quasimoda for subheadings and bylines (multiple weights and styles); and Garamond ATF for body text.

Special Thanks Our utmost gratitude goes to Mr. Fletch Carron, our spectacular advisor — thanks for stepping up into this role — as well as Jim Barragan and Ronda Fiedler with J Culley Imaging.

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Closing Our Floating Rock

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scientific marksman

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The Scientific Marksman Volume 10 2021-2022 St. Mark’s School of Texas 10600 Preston Road Dallas, TX 75230 214.346.8000