Holton-Arms STEAM Spotlight November '23 - Issue 1

november 2023

is there such a thing as a math person? pg. 2-3

crossword and sudoku pg. 12-13

music in the brain pg. 1 a peek into PCH: desmos design project pg. 4-5

and more...

TABLE OF

Music in the Brain -------------------------------- 1 Is There Such a Thing as a Math Person? ------------ 2 A Peek Into PCH: Desmos Design Project ----------- 4 Flashback: Engineering --------------------------- 6 Flashback: Math --------------------------------- 7 Typography Sans Style: Are You Serif-ous? ---------- 9 Famous Birthdays ------------------------------ 11 Sudoku/Riddles---------------------------------12 Crossword--------------------------------------13

IN THE BRAIN Sophie Delonis-Vigier ‘27 On August 15, 2023, the journal PLoS Biology published a study on brain activity when listening to music.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Ludovic Bellier and Dr. Robert Knight at the University of California, Berkeley, was able to reconstruct a 10-second clip of the song “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)” by Pink Floyd from the brain activity of 29 people listening to this clip. By placing electrodes on the brain, like doctors do for epilepsy evaluations, researchers tried to find electrode signals associated with the song’s auditory qualities.

Out of the 2,668 electrodes placed, researchers found that only 347 were significant in detecting music encoding. Based on these 347 electrodes and the data they gathered, researchers were able to translate the brain activity into the song.

Although the reconstructed song was not very clear, the researchers were able to get further in doing this than they had in previous efforts, making it a huge accomplishment.

Researchers also discovered that a higher proportion of electrodes on the right side of the brain were part of the 347 electrodes significant in detecting music encoding (16.4%) versus the left side of the brain, which had only 13.5%. This is nearly the opposite of speech, which has more brain activity detected on the left side.

Further Reading: Reconstructing music from brain recordings - Research Matters Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) Music can be reconstructed from human auditory cortex activity using nonlinear decoding models

art and science

pg. 1

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A Alex Cox ‘26

We all know a “math person.” The student who can multiply three-digit numbers in their head, who shows up ready to dominate every math meet, who can barely contain their excitement at the word “matrix.” You might be one of them. Or, like me, you might muddle through your math class, every squiggly graph and unknown variable making you wonder: “Why can’t I be a math person too?”

The answer, ironically, comes in percentages.

In a study published in 2020 by PLOS, researchers found that approximately 20% of children’s mathematical ability is likely genetic. They used medical imaging to map the brains of 178 children between 3 and 6 years old and then compared the children’s math test scores when they reached second grade. The scientists discovered that children with higher gray matter volume in their right parietal cortex, the part of the brain involved in processing quantities, tended to do better on their math tests. The disparity in right parietal cortex volume between different children was traced to a certain variant of a gene called ROBO1 (roundabout guidance receptor 1). ROBO1 increases brain size in the right parietal cortex, which in turn increases quantitative reasoning skills in children. The same phenomenon has been observed in adult mathematicians.

But you don’t have to be a math whiz to notice that ROBO1 gene variations don’t account for the other 80% of math skills. In truth, even experts aren’t completely sure where they come from. The currently accepted explanation for most of the remaining 80% lies not in the brain, but outside of it; Children who are exposed to math before preschool have more time to grasp math concepts, making them appear naturally gifted in comparison to their peers from non-mathematical backgrounds.

math and science

pg. 2

So, if you can’t change the past or your genetics, is it even possible to attain math skills after adolescence? Can you learn to love this notoriously difficult subject, or are you condemned to a life soundtracked by the weak excuse of, “Sorry, I’m just not a math person”?

Fortunately, it’s completely possible to become a “math person” regardless of whether you’ve always been a strong math student. Math isn’t an arcane, indecipherable script known only to the brightest of us; it’s simply a skill, and, just like any other, it takes practice. So do that Problem of the Cycle or that challenge section on your math homework. Sooner or later, you’ll discover that you’ve become- or maybe you’ve always been- a “math person.”

Further Reading: Brain study reveals how much of math ability is genetic ROBO1: Big brains, big math scores Neurobiological origins of individual differences in mathematical ability | PLOS Biology Former math teacher explains why some students are 'good' at math and others lag behind Think you’re bad at math? There’s a reason for that.

How genetic variation gives rise to differences in mathematical ability | ScienceDaily Increased Gray Matter Density in the Parietal Cortex of Mathematicians: A VoxelBased Morphometry Study - NIH

math and science

pg. 3

A PEEK INTO Rui Feng ‘26

DESMOS DESIGN PROJECT

Do you find math class tedious, boring, and thoroughly unenjoyable? Many fellow students feel the same. But it might surprise you to learn that Holton's notorious Precalculus Honors (PCH) class recently did a math project that everyone loved: using Desmos "to create an awesome picture…using transformations of different functions."

A key reason why people found this project so interesting and fun is the restrictions: none! As long as you fulfilled the requirements for "using transformations of different functions," there were no limits on what you could make (school appropriate, of course). This intersection of two STEAM domains – math and art – highly appealed to the students' creativity and imagination. It showed them that math does not have to be pages of homework problems and squiggly, unreadable graphs – you can make pictures of whatever you want! This project made math class more fun and served as a creative outlet for many students.

Besides engaging the students in a fun and creative way, there were many educational aspects of this project too. As Algebra II covers many functions and transformations, the Desmos project was a great way to review and apply previous concepts. Instead of just answering questions in a review packet, PCH students were able to use their knowledge to bring their ideas to life. It channeled the students' creativity into a way for them to show their teacher (the amazing Ms. Acerra) their understanding of the content.

While PCH may seem like a daunting class, it isn't all theorems and graphs and formulas! The Desmos project is only one example of how much fun PCH can be. If you are feeling up to it, we PCH students here at STEAM Spotlight highly encourage you to take PCH when you can. It may be a challenging course, but as the teachers always say, challenge yourself! Remember: math can be fun, and so can PCH!

math and art

pg. 4

SOME OF THE FINAL PRODUCTS:

Bag-End from The Lord of the Rings Rui Feng ‘26

Eye Remy Caspar ‘26

math and art

pg. 5

Sky Zhu ‘26 and Malia Humphries-Do ‘26 Engineering: On November 13th, 1979, Dr. Robert Jarvik patented his design for the first artificial heart, called the Jarvik-7. It was first used for patient Barney Clark in 1982 at the University of Utah. Although there were many debates in the media at first about the use of such devices, the Jarvik-7 had an extremely high success rate. The device was initially designed to be used as a “bridge transplant” before a human organ was found. Patients who had the heart inserted could survive for months, almost ten times the number of days the first ever heart transplant patient survived.

The Jarvik-7 heart is made of polyester, plastic, and aluminum. In order to pump blood, compressed air is transported to the heart pumps in tubes through the chest.

The heart itself is made up of two parts connected with velcro (the left and right sides), and blood moves through the valves and chambers, just like a real human heart! This important invention still inspires engineers and doctors today who are still searching for solutions to heart transplants.

Explore it further!

Jarvik-7: An Artificial Heart Robert Jarvik, MD on the Jarvik 7 Evolution of Artificial Hearts: An Overview and History Robert Jarvik Thirty Years Ago, an Artificial Heart Helped Save a Grocery Store Manager

engineering

pg. 6

Math: November 10, 1619 - It was a dark and stormy night…

René Descartes, a French mathematician known as the father of modern philosophy, was stationed in Germany in November 1618 when he had three dreams that would inspire him upon waking to lay the foundation for modern science and reason. He believed that these dreams were the result of a divine spirit sent to reveal to him a new way of approaching philosophy.

In Descartes’ first dream, he is haunted by phantoms and a dangerous whirlwind.

After a restless couple of hours, he falls back asleep to a second sinister dream in which thunder and sparks fly around the room. Descartes’ third dream is finally peaceful; he finds a book of poetry and opens it to read: "Quod vitae sectabor iter" (What path shall I take in life?)

Descartes believed that his dreams illuminated the “whole of science... by... the method of reason” and published it in his book Discours de la Methode (1637): “The first was, never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such. The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible and as might be necessary for its adequate solution. The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex. And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete and reviews so general that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.”

This method of (a) only believing something after proving it (b) splitting large problems into smaller ones (c) arguing from the simple to the complex and (d) checking work would lay the foundation for modern science. We can see how it can be applied to science experiments (scientific method), or even geometry problems!

math

pg. 7

Explore it further!

René Descartes (1596 - 1650) - Biography - MacTutor History of Mathematics René Descartes The Three Dreams of René Descartes Descartes' Method - MacTutor History of Mathematics Analytic geometry | Lines, Curves & Equations | Britannica Descartes’ Mathematics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

math

pg. 8

STEM Writing Contest Last February, students in Calculus I & II wrote essays on a variety of STEM-related topics for the New York Times’s annual STEM Writing Contest! With topics ranging from urban architecture to Comic Sans, math teacher Alessandra King says that she “greatly enjoyed learning about topics [she] otherwise would never have discovered.”

Read one below!

Typography Sans Style: Are You Serif-ous?

Adriana Gross ‘24 Would you be reading this article if I wrote in comic sans? Most people take for granted a font’s power. Serif fonts give off formality, while comic sans (e.g.) appears informal and uncredible. In the age of technology, people can access hundreds of fonts, but how did they get there? The answer lies in programming.

What is a glyph? Luther Tychonievich, professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, explains that glyphs are “a visual structure used to present a character.” Unlike characters, which are conceptual, glyphs are graphical.

When programming computers, many glyphs are used to represent the various letters of a given typeface. (A font is a typeface subsection.)

Glyphs are programmed one of two ways: as raster images or vector images.

The former is a bitmap (array of pixels) of each glyph. The more pixels there are, the better the resolution, hence why zooming in on a screenshot creates a blurry image while zooming

engineering and art

pg. 9

out seemingly makes it clearer. File formats like JPG, GIF, and PNG are often used to display these images.

Vector images are more mathematics based: the Collins dictionary classifies them as “mak[ing] use of fillable geometric outlines of letters and symbols.” The images are a collection of equations, so when the size changes, only the equation numbers change. This process allows computers to scale letters without changing the image resolution. Google Docs and Microsoft Word utilize vector images in displaying text.

Graphic design also plays a huge role in creating fonts. Initially, technology was poor enough that few fonts could exist. In turn, poorly designed fonts were an issue towards the computers’ earlier days, as “legibility became an issue,” according to New York Times writer Alice Rawsthorn, and there were no other alternatives.

As technology advanced, more people could access font editors and could fix presented issues. Ultimately, the solution to the legibility problem was the Georgia and Verdana fonts, which have become staples in today’s technological society.

These fonts were special in that they cleared up issues like differentiating i, j, l, and 1. By designing the 1 to be significantly shorter than the lowercase L, people could read text in Georgia better than they would in Times New Roman. Matthew Carter, the creator of both fonts, focused on spacing between characters when designing Verdana, explains Rawsthorn in a different article.

With many fonts and custom font generator websites instantly available, learning about the making of fonts seems pointless. However, fonts present themselves in all fields — academics, athletics, arts, media — and can play a crucial role in style and message of texts. The font collection continues to grow and change every day, but if the next generation of STEM-ists ignore the world behind the text, one day the font list will stop its growth, and with it, a source of expression.

Do you really want to write everything in comic sans?

engineering and art

pg. 10

FAMOUS

Willa Goodman ‘26 and Caitlin Federowicz ‘26

November is full of many famous and not-so famous scientists’ birthdays. Here are a few noteworthy scientists born in November.

Marie Curie was born on November 7th, 1896 and was a famous chemist. She not only discovered polonium, named after her home country of Poland, but also discovered radium in 1910. In the following year, she won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

August Krogh was born on November 15th, 1874 and discovered the motorregulating device of small blood vessels. He worked with animals such as frogs and wrote the Respiratory Exchange of Animals and Man (1916) and The Anatomy and Physiology of Capillaries (1922). His work of The Mechanism of Gas Exchange in Lungs won him an award from The Vienna Academy of Science and the Nobel Prize for zoology of medicine in 1920.

Lise Meirner was a physicist, who was born on November 7th, 1878. In 1817, she discovered a new element, protactinium, and evidence of four other radioactive elements. She also discovered uranium fission, which is when a neutron collides with a uranium atom, causing it to split. The split atom then releases energy in the form of heat and radiation. Due to this discovery, she is known as the mother of the atomic bomb.

Shakuntala Devi was born on November 4th, 1929 and was a mathematician, which at the time was also considered a human calculator. She could calculate multiplication and division of large numbers, and even add 13 digit numbers.

Shakuntala was also featured in the 1982 edition of The Guiness Book of World Records for fastest human computation. She found the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in 50 seconds while a computer takes 61 seconds. How long would it take you?

Alfred F. Krey-Wyssling was a Swiss botanist born on November 8th, 1900. He worked as a professor in botany and plant physiology and helped to initiate the study of molecular biology and sub microscopic morphology. To further aid in his studies, he used polarizing microscopy and other optical techniques.

science

pg. 11

Avantika Ayushi ‘26

2. What goes around and around the wood but never into the wood?

3. What did the limestone say to the geologist?

games

ANSWERS 1. wet rocks 2. bark of a tree 3. “don’t take me for granite”

1. What kind of rocks are at the bottom of the Mississippi River?

pg. 12

Yvonne Zhu ‘26 ACROSS 2. UCBerkeley research song artist 5. E of STEAM 7. in all chemistry classrooms 8. A of STEAM 9. M of STEAM 10. math with polygons 11. Holton's best newsletter 13. month that's a square number 14. royal teacher 15. S of STEAM 17. 2nd month that's a square number 18. PCH graphing tool

games

DOWN 1. morning math class 2. geometric theorem namesake 3. first female Nobel prize winner who discovered radium 4. T of STEAM 6. MVC and physics teacher 12. % of math ability that's genetic 16. essay contest newspaper

pg. 13

Thanks for reading the November 2023 issue of

Want to be a part of STEAM Spotlight?

Contact anyone on exec to get involved! aleca.aukhert.2025@holton-arms.edu grace.curley.2025@holton-arms.edu malia.humphriesdo.2026@holton-arms.edu maggie.shelton.2026@holton-arms.edu carter.thompson.2026@holton-arms.edu sky.zhu.2026@holton-arms.edu yvonne.zhu.2026@holton-arms.edu Special thanks to our advisor, Mrs. King!