PHENOMENA LAW EDITION

EDITOR'S LETTER

Between divisive political climates, ongoing conflicts, and the second year of a global pandemic, it’s no exaggeration to say we are living in an era of rapid change It’s also no surprise, then, that many of us are burnt out and looking for order in the chaos; to find comfort in constants Our third issue of Phenomena will focus on such constants with the theme of law, not just in the courtroom, but also everywhere else in the world: in a physicist’s calculations, in the outdoors, or in our favorite video games. With a critical but curious eye, let’s examine the regulations of prescription drugs, the truth behind the viral “law of attraction,” the phenomenon of Murphy’s Law, and more.

Let’s also reflect on how groups adapt laws in legislation and in nature. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from recent events, it is that some things we view as constants can shift Sometimes, that could help us No matter how rigid the rules may seem, there will always be room for growth, innovation, and further learning. As the world changes, we can, too

We would like to thank both our new and returning writers for their hard work this year. Moving back to pre-COVID schedules led to a busier workload for everyone, so we applaud the team for keeping up their efforts with Phenomena in spite of that

And, we are incredibly grateful to Dr Fishel, Dr Bartlett, and the Hockaday Science Department. It is with their steadfast support and sponsorship that we are able to continue publishing

Additionally, we give special thanks to Annie and Angelina for creating Phenomena Their talent, leadership, and hard work continues to inspire us today The magazine may look different, but the purpose they originally brought to it, that of connecting the community through science, remains more relevant than ever

Finally, thank you, dear reader, for reading We hope you enjoy!

Best, Sydney Ghorayeb ‘22 & Rachel Jan ‘22

THE FINE LINE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH: LAWS

REGARDING PHYSICIANASSISTED SUICIDE

A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH

PIXEL PHYSICS: VIDEO GAMES AND THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW: THE REALITY OF THE DRUG APPROVAL PROCESS

MURPHY'S LAW

THE SECRET BEHIND "THE SECRET": CONFIRMATION BIAS AND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

NATURE'S SECRET LAWS

SHH DON'T TELL: THE BIOETHICS OF DOCTORPATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY

IS THE PRICE RIGHT? THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF PRICE CONTROL LAWS ON PERSCRIPTION DRUGS

WOULD YOU RATHER: POLICIES ON FRACKING

HUMANS THE LAB RATS: HISTORY OF HUMAN INVOLVEMENT IN LAB EXPERIMENTS

THE LEGAL REVOLUTION: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LAW

LIFE & DEATH THE FINE LINE BETWEEN

BY SHERRY LONG

When Ethan Remmel was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, a malevolent disease that permeated his bones and withered them away, he was in the worst condition of his life His chances of recovery were nonexistent, and he was predestined to lay and deteriorate to a husk of his former self while awaiting imminent death

Although medical professionals debated endlessly over his situation, tossing up words like “ethics” and “obligation”, Ethan Remmel only had one wish: to die with dignity before his two sons had to watch him waste away with hollow eyes and trembling fingers Therein lies the question: is it morally just for a practitioner to offer a dying man a lethal dose of prescription sedatives to end his life, or to force him to live a bitter six months in excruciating pain?

The nebulous nature of physician-assisted suicide lies in the role of the physician When we think of doctors, we don’t usually consider that the professional who dedicates their life’s work to curing cancer also helps individuals die. It seems morally unjust, almost to the point where it would be principally wrong In fact, the four prima facie principles of medical ethics seem to go directly against it: beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and autonomy

"Beneficence doesn’t vacuum. Sometimes thing comes from he avoid a far worse sit

Beneficence and nonmaleficence are essentially two sides of the same coin Many argue that there is no way effectively ending someone’s life can be benevolent, kind, or altruistic However, beneficence doesn’t exist solely in a vacuum Sometimes, doing the right thing comes from helping someone avoid a far worse situation For example, when physicianassisted suicide was outlawed in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s, Debbie Purdy was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, a worsening neurological function that inhibited her ability to walk, see, or even think clearly With incoming paralysis, Debbie faced inevitable and painful death. She ran a campaign, stating that the laws surrounding physicianassisted suicide compelled her to personally end her life before her illness took hold since this would no longer be an option later down the line To minimize situations in which patients had to take their deaths into their own hands prematurely due to a lack of alternatives, the House of Lords granted Purdy a legal victory that became a landmark ruling on assisted suicide

Autonomy, however, is a principle in which the lines blur. Some may argue that death is the ultimate violation of a person’s individual agency, but many noted that choosing their own path gives them a greater sense of control Isn’t denying a person their right to death a blatant infringement of their personal liberty? On his blog, months before his death, Ethan Remmel wrote: “So I have the medication now. It is safely locked up. I have not decided if or when I will use it, but it gives me great relief to know that I have some control over my dying process ”

The Death With Dignity Act consolidates all of these ideas into one It states that “the terminally ill people, not

government and its interference, politicians and their ideology, or religious leaders and their dogma, who should make their end-of-life decisions and determine how much pain and suffering they should endure ” It seems as if the freedom to choice one’s one death is a driver of autonomy, not an obstacle to it

As of now, there are ten states with bills similar to that of the Death With Dignity Act. These statutes are impermanent; several attempts have been made to codify or ban the act, with none of them succeeding It seems as if the act itself, too, also exists on a liminal terrain in terms of medical ethics, mirroring the difficult phenomenon of physicianassisted suicide

t exist solely in a s, doing the right elping someone tuation."

A Matter Of

Life Or Death

BY TIANXIN XIE

Who Lives? Who Dies?

Today the question rarely crosses our minds because while resources are not infinite, for most, they are not scarce on an everyday basis But it is still a question we unfortunately face and some people must, regrettably, decide in hospitals, wars and other locations of crisis So how does one decide? Can one person even morally hold that responsibility?

Animal Examples

In the animal kingdom, sacrifice is a common technique for ensuring the survival of others.

Hamsters

For example, hamsters can usually only produce enough milk to provide nutrients for six pups To ensure that their strongest six pups survive, hamsters often eat the rest of their litter. This way, the remaining six have the best chance of survival, especially after the mother has

consumed additional nutrients. Another case of prioritizing survival is found in octopi reproduction.

Octopi

Female octopi tend to lay about 56000 eggs at once and then spend the rest of their life tending to their clutch The octopus will guard its eggs, which are laid in a protective den, while nurturing them until they hatch. She constantly blows on the eggs, aerating them, and will occasionally stroke them to keep them clean. After a few months of this, the mother octopus

dies of starvation, and about one percent of the babies hatch

Octopi sacrifice their own lives for the better survival of their young so that they can pass on their genes to the next generation and ensure the continuation of their species.

Bees

We also see something similar in the hierarchy of bees. Essentially, there are three categories of bees within a hive: drones, worker bees, and the queen The queen is the only bee in the entire hive that can produce worker bees, and is therefore the most important and must survive at all costs

Worker bees protect the hive, collect pollen to create honey, take care of the larvae, and produce drone bees The sole purpose of a drone is to mate with the queen, a process that results in their death And because these drones do not create any honey or protection for the hive, the worker bees, in preparation for the winter, will actually starve and kick out any that did not mate, as they consume too many resources without providing anything in return By killing off the bees that no longer provide use for the hive, the majority of the stronger worker bees are able to live through the cold winter and keep the hive alive for another year. Nature proves time and time again that the survival of the fittest reigns supreme.

However, this is generally in response to the survival of a species or a large group In the present day, humans do not experience this extreme level of struggle for survival As an incredibly intelligent species, people do have the ability to still acknowledge nature's drive to save the fittest in a matter of answering the question of who lives and who dies. Additionally, people tend to carry a moral standard that everybody deserves equality, regardless of who is the "fittest." Our overall desire

to look towards all people this way goes directly against the natural world's instinctive principle that picking who should live or die should be based on their biological potential for survival The strive for the highest moral value is against both this law of nature and the concept of utilitarianism That is what it means to be human.

A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW

The Reality of the Drug Development and Approval Process

BY CASSIE LIU

In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with COVID-19 vaccines reaching the Food and Drug Administration approval process, health officials have warned that public adoption will be crucial to ensure that enough of the population is immunized to stop the spread of the virus – at least 75% However, with many questioning whether the process of developing these vaccines has been rushed, the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines could certainly be derailed So what process do vaccines and other pharmaceutical drugs have to go through to be developed and approved?

To answer this question, we must understand the nuances of drug development, the time it takes to develop drugs, and the extensive process it takes to get approved

Drug development is time consuming and costly with the research and development industry for pharmaceutical drugs valuing billions of dollars Realistically, drug development typically takes at least twelve years Even after millions of dollars of funding and an extensive testing process, countless drugs are withdrawn, never approved as medicines

In Laboratory

Drug Development

Once a biotechnology company invests in the development of a drug, the drug development often begins with a design process A target for the drug is identified and computers are used to show which structural features of a molecule are likely to have biological activity Thousands of compounds are screened using simulations and predictive modeling, of which hundreds of compounds will be investigated, to optimize resources for maximum efficiency

In Vitro Research

Initial tests are carried out to see the effect of the compounds on individual cells containing the drug target inside the laboratory. In vitro research studies largely consist of an automated process to examine actions of a large number of different compounds on individual cells From these tests, the basic pharmacokinetic properties of each compound are recorded, and vast numbers of compounds are determined unsuitable for drug development

The remaining, likely more suitable, compounds are then studied in single cells in more detail by research teams to determine their biological activity Those which have a potential application as drugs are researched more deeply and developed more fully Of the thousands of potential drugs screened, few reach the development stage Here, the effect of the drug on the body, rather than just at the target site is investigated, using

computer modeling, in vitro studies, and the first animal tests Further, the delivery system by which the drug reaches the target site within the body will be considered and studied

Animal Testing

Initial tests on living organisms will usually be carried out on rodents like rats, unless the target for the drug is specific to a disease where more nuanced models must be used Multiples species are then used to gather basic information on the safety and efficacy of the compound being researched

Studies in living animals show whether the drug works the same way inside the body as it did in the artificial environment of the laboratory, indicating how the drug affects the interactions between different cells and organs of the body. These studies include full assessments of drug delivery systems, preliminary safety testing, and studies of possible drug interactions within living organisms If a potential drug appears to be effective in animals, passing the initial safety screening, it can then be considered for testing in human, clinical trials

IND Application

The drug developer submits an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on the results from initial testing that include the drug’s composition and manufacturing Within the FDA, a team of physicians, statisticians, chemists, pharmacologists, and other scientists review the drug

sponsor’s data and proposed labeling of drugs

The FDA reviews the IND to assure that the proposed future human studies, or clinical trials, do not place human subjects at unreasonable risk, verifying that there are adequate informed consent and human subject protections After reviewing and approving the application, the FDA develops a plan for testing the drug on humans as a guideline for drug developers

Human Testing

20-80 healthy volunteers participate in Phase 1 of the clinical trials The goal of Phase 1 is to determine the drug’s most frequent side effects and to understand how the drug is metabolized and excreted This stage emphasizes safety

Hundreds of patients participate in Phase 2 of the clinical trials. The goal of Phase 2 is to obtain preliminary data on whether the drug works in people who have a disease or condition For controlled trials, patients receiving the drug are compared with similar patients receiving a different treatment, usually a placebo or a different drug As safety continues to be evaluated, the short-term side effects and the effectiveness of the drug are also studied.

Thousands of patients participate in Phase 3 of the clinical trials. The Phase 3 studies gather more information about the safety and effectiveness of the drug, by testing different demographics, different dosages, and the combination of this drug with others.

FDA Approval

NDA Application

After success in the clinical trials, the FDA meets with the drug developers prior to the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) Through the NDA, the drug sponsor formally requests the FDA to approve the for marketing in the United States An NDA includes all animal and human data analysis of the data, and information about how the drug behaves in the body and how it is manufactured

Application Reviwal

After an NDA is received, the FDA has 60 days to determine whether to file the application to be reviewed If the FDA files the NDA, the FDA Review team is assigned to evaluate the sponsor’s research on the drug’s safety and effectiveness Who are the FDA reviewers?

The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has the responsibility of evaluating new drugs before they can be sold The CDER’s evaluation not only prevents quackery, but also provides doctors and patients with the information on how to distribute

CDER Evaluation

Analysis of the target condition and available treatments

and use the medicine wisely, ensuring that all drugs that enter the market have benefits that outweigh the known risks

Assessment of benefits and risks from clinical data

FDA reviewers evaluate clinical benefit and risk information submitted by the drug maker, considering any uncertainties that may result from imperfect or incomplete data Generally, the agency expects that the drug maker will submit results from two well-designed clinical trials, to be sure that the findings from the first trial are not the result of chance or bias In certain cases, especially if the disease is rare and multiple trials may not be feasible, convincing evidence from one clinical trial may be enough Evidence that the drug will benefit the target population should outweigh any risks and uncertainties 03 Strategies for minimizing and managing risks

FDA reviewers analyze the condition or illness for which the drug is intended and evaluate the current treatment landscape, which provide the context for weighing the drug’s risks and benefits For example, a drug intended to treat patients with a life-threatening disease for which no other therapy exists may be considered to have benefits that outweigh the risks even if those risks would be considered unacceptable for a condition that is not life threatening.

All drugs have risks Risk management strategies include an FDA-approved drug label, which clearly describes the drug’s benefits and risks, and how the risks can be detected and managed Sometimes, more effort is needed to manage risks In these cases, a drug maker may need to implement a Risk Management and Mitigation Strategy (REMS)

Special Circumstances

The FDA employs approaches to incentivize the development of certain drugs, especially drugs that may represent the first available treatment for an illness, or ones that have a significant advantage over existing drugs Each designation ensures that therapies for serious conditions are made available to patients as soon as reviewers can conclude that their benefits justify their risks

Accelerated Approval can be applied to promising therapies that treat a serious or lifethreatening condition and provide therapeutic benefit over available therapies This approach allows for the approval of a drug that demonstrates an effect on a “surrogate endpoint” that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, or on a clinical endpoint that occurs earlier but may not be as robust as the standard endpoint used for approval. This approval pathway is especially useful when the drug is meant to treat a disease whose course is long, and an extended period of time is needed to measure its effect After the drug enters the market, the drug maker is required to conduct postmarketing clinical trials to verify and describe the drug’s benefit If further trials fail to verify the predicted clinical benefit, FDA may withdraw approval

Since the Accelerated Approval pathway was established in 1992, many drugs that treat life-threatening diseases have successfully been brought to market this way and have made a significant impact on disease course For example, many antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS entered the

Fast Track is a process designed to facilitate the development and advance the review of drugs that treat serious conditions, and fill an unmet medical need, based on promising animal or human data Fast tracking can get important new drugs to the patient earlier

The Breakthrough Therapy designation expedites the development and review of a drug that is intended to treat a serious condition when preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate improvement over available therapy

Priority Review means that FDA aims to take action on an application within six months, compared to 10 months under standard review A Priority Review designation directs attention and resources to evaluate drugs that would significantly improve the treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of serious conditions

Controversy

From the long, extensive process drug manufacturers must comply with in order to have their drugs on the market, its clear approval serves a specific purpose: to make sure healthcare is as safe as possible However, because of the heavy responsibility of this government organization, controversy has shrouded the FDA's actions Does the FDA put speed over safety? In the face of regulatory and commercial pressures, is it succumbing to shortcuts? These are complex questions with no simple answers But, the bottom line is that the FDA is responsible for drug safety. So, is it doing its job effectively?

Certainly, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare activists have often alleged that the regulatory process for approvals is lengthy and arduous, leading to unnecessary delays in critical life-saving drugs reaching the market On the other hand, the FDA has been equally accused of gross under-regulation, which has led to the approval of unsafe drugs which were subsequently withdrawn but not before adversely affecting patients For instance, when the Opana ER drug, an opoiod drug used for severe pain relief in patients needing long-term treatment, was found to be more harmful that beneficial due to potential for substance abuse, despite previous FDA approval, the FDA called for the drug to later be removed from the market The FDA has a heavy burden on their hands people's lives, but that by no means suggests they are a foolproof organization.

With great responsibility, comes accountability and ethics

The Secret Behind

THE SECRET

Confirmation Bias & The Law of Attraction

BY RACHEL JAN

A Matter Of

It’s 2006, and Rhoda Byrne’s book The Secret is sweeping the nation. Millions of people are enamored with the new, life-changing ‘secret of the universe’ that they have discovered through this book: the Law of Attraction

Simply put, the Law of Attraction is the idea that all thoughts can translate into real events in the future. Focusing on specific thoughts, emotions, and moods can result in positive and negative experiences for a person. This belief is part of the New Thought philosophy, where a person’s ideas and thoughts are “energies” that can attract positive and negative events.

A key part in the Law of Attraction is manifestation -- visualization of any desired outcomes or experiences in order to have them occur in real life By meditating and focusing on what they want, advocates believe they can use manifestation to control their reality According to the Law of Attraction, if you continue to believe you can achieve wealth and success, the universe will respond to your thoughts and provide you with this success, thus helping you ‘manifest’ your dreams.

For example, if you wanted to receive a call from your boss about a promotion, you could ‘manifest’ it by constantly thinking about it and the positive emotions you would gain from receiving that call.

Beside “The Secret”, many other writers and influencers have introduced the Law of Attraction to the mainstream media through popular self-help books and videos online regarding self-care But is there actually any scientific evidence supporting the Law of Attraction?

The short answer is no. The Law of Attraction is generally regarded as a pseudoscience, based purely on subjective individual experiences In fact, most proof of the Law of Attraction can easily be attributed to a more well-researched scientific phenomena: confirmation bias

Confirmation bias is the human inclination to select and interpret the information we receive in a way that confirms our previous viewpoints, while ignoring evidence that suggests otherwise Often, confirmation bias is used to explain biased memory and biased interpretation of the same evidence.

Many different studies have proven the existence of confirmation bias. Experiments done in the 1960s and onwards have revealed our nature to use new evidence to continue to prove our existing opinions. In one Stanford study, participants were separated into two groups based on their support in favor or against capital punishment. Even after given similar information from studies that would oppose their existing view points, participants from both groups stuck to their original views, interpreting the data in a skewed manner

When you start becoming aware of confirmation bias, it is easy to see how the Law of Attraction can be influenced by it Because of confirmation bias, people are more likely to remember the times when their thoughts and wishes lined up with actual events than the times when they didn't

This also has to do with a more narrow type of confirmation bias: illusory correlation, which is just as prevalent in our psychology as

as biased interpretation

Illusory correlation is a phenomenon where people falsely perceive links between events or situations in order to suit a theory or belief.

For example, if you did, in fact, receive a call from your boss about a promotion at the time when you were thinking about it, you are a lot more likely to remember that event compared to all the times when you didn’t receive a call despite trying to ‘manifest’ it. It’s easy to start directly associating what happened with what your thoughts were, even though in reality, there’s no connection at all.

So is the Law of Attraction just positive thinking and confirmation bias working overtime?

Quite possibly And because of this, the Law of Attraction may not be as beneficial as one might think at first glance.

While positive thinking by itself is good, relying on positive thinking alone to manifest good things in life undermines the importance of actual

work and effort put towards a goal. In the 1970s, the American education system shifted towards a “self-esteembased education”, where students were held to lower standards in order to help them develop a positive self esteem

However, while students were becoming more confident, they were unable to match that confidence with the level of success they earned

In the end, positive thinking and ‘manifestation’ of good outcomes can only get you so far. They are placebos for actual change.

The truth of ‘The Secret’ is this: there is no ‘secret’ to the universe. At least, not one that has been discovered yet The Law of Attraction can only take you as far as your imagination does Will the universe actually give you what you want? No. Like any good phone call about an upcoming promotion…

you’ll have to work for it

SH DO

Bioethics of Doctor-Patient Confidentiality

BY CHRISTY GUAN

In September 2020, a man visited Dak Po District Medical Center in Vietnam after returning home from his visit to Da Nang, which was Vietnam's biggest COVID-19 hotspot at the time He had come up with a fever and a cough, so doctors took samples for COVID-19 testing and placed him on a list among others who were suspected of carrying the coronavirus

Before he received his official COVID-19 test results, the man took pictures of his medical records and sent them to Vo Xuan Thanh, who was the head of the department of Disease Control at the Dak Po Medical Center Thanh then forwarded those photos to the chairman of Tan An Ward, who subsequently sent them to the head of the patient's hometown Eventually, the photos of the records were posted on Facebook, inducing panic among the public as there were no recorded COVID-19 cases at the time

In this situation, were Thanh's actions justified? Did his intention to warn the public of a possible carrier of the coronavirus overpower the law of doctor-patient confidentiality?

What is doctor-patient confidentiality ?

As the name suggests, doctorpatient confidentiality means that a health care provider cannot disclose personal or medical information given by their client unless the individual gives specific permission to do so. This concept stems from the idea that one should not hesitate to seek treatment for fear of having their personal information given to others. Doctor-patient confidentiality may cause patients to be more likely to seek help, especially for conditions that are stigmatizing, like sexual and mental health When patients are able to fully trust their doctor, the medical official is able to understand their circumstances more comprehensively and thus, is able to diagnose and treat

the client properly Certain information is kept private after treatment has ended and even after the patient has deceased The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a set of federal regulations that protects patient health information while also allowing the health information needed to ensure necessary health care and to protect the public's health

What information is kept confidential?

In doctor-patient confidentiality, information regarding any appointments or procedures are kept secret. Medical records like documents of preexisting conditions and lab reports must also be kept confidential Furthermore, diagnoses or even opinions the doctor forms after an examination cannot be disclosed without explicit permission from the patient, as well as any sort of communication shared with the doctor or any other staff working with the doctor.

While it may seem surprising, family members of patients are treated just like anyone else in doctor-patient confidentiality: a doctor may not release any of the above information to a client's family without the permission of the client

Are there any exceptions to doctor-patient confidentiality?

Specifics of variations to doctor-patient confidentiality vary with different states, but all of them follow similar key points For one, suspected cases of abuse may be reported without permission from the client, as well as gunshot wounds If someone had a gunshot wound that was

obviously not self-inflicted and from an illegal gun, it would be crucial to breach doctorpatient confidentiality as it could prevent further shootings A doctor may also report an instance if the patient is a danger to themselves or others, such as if the client confides of plans to harm another person In most states, providers are not required to report substance abuse However, if a patient needs medical attention or is going through withdrawal, the provider isn't required to receive the client's consent to request assistance

Each state has certain legal requirements to share information about particular conditions For example, a state's laws may require someone to report a certain infectious disease In this case, duty to protect public health outweighs duty to maintain confidentiality

When do you draw the line in determining whether or not a breaching of confidentiality will violate the laws of bioethics?

While there is not a clear-cut answer to this, you can ask yourself: if this specific piece of information regarding the patient is kept secret, will anyone be at a serious risk of harm?

To illustrate, privacy has been especially debated during COVID-19 when healthcare officials must conduct contact tracing If someone tests positive for COVID-19, should their name be released to protect others who may have been exposed? If so, then to who close contacts, family members, doctors, or coworkers?

Many technological companies have created apps to increase the efficiency of contact tracing. When going out and about, it's impossible to name everyone who you have been around, especially on public transportation or in stores, so that is where contact tracing becomes crucial. However, the companies in charge of these apps need access to their clients' personal information How much access to one's personal information should a company have? Too less access may result in inaccurate or delayed results, but having t much access may cause a breach in confidentiality

Even if Thanh had good intentions, he was wrong t share the patient's informa without his knowledge or consent; it led to unnecess widespread confusion, especially since the test re had not yet been finalized

We can think of the law of bioethics surrounding doc patient confidentiality as a double beam balance that should be as close to even possible, with the safety of people on one end and the

right to confidentiality on the other It is a lose-lose situation if you completely take either safety for citizens or the right to confidentiality off of the scale because the entire scale will tip to one side or the other

The laws for doctor-patient confidentiality differ in various settings, but one thing is for sure: We must seek to balance the safety of the public with the need to keep certain personal or medical information private

Google/Apple's Exposure Notification System (GAEN)

THE LAB RATS HUMANS

The History And Laws Of Human Involvement In Experiments

BY ANIKA PRODDUTOOR

As medical and psychological research began to expand and advance in the 1900’s, research experiments began to become more specific and extreme Scientists and researchers had moved on past using small animals and insects as their research subjects, beginning to create experiments with humans to observe the desires of humans, test drug efficiency on humans, and study the effects of diseases When scientists pursue these experiments, they must know the line or boundary they cannot cross, which hasn’t been clear for many years

While there are currently laws and regulations put in place, historically, these laws were nonexistent, and dangerous or life-threatening experiments on humans would go years before being stopped Well- known and distinguished officials and organizations would begin unethical experiments on humans prior to these laws being established.

We must contemplate – what was the ethical line for these scientists, and what were their motives for such experiments? Looking back at infamous experiments, we see the lines and boundaries crossed, along with the laws that were established afterward

Experiments began, such as the CIA’s “Operation Midnight Climax,” where the CIA would create a situation in which men would be lured to a bedroom to have sex, dosed with LSD, a psychedelic drug that distorts and changes a person's senses and perception, and their actions would be observed behind a two-way mirror. The CIA created this program to “study the effects of LSD”, and dosed many other people with LSD, including other workers at the CIA This began in the 1950’s and was put to an end by the CIA Inspector General in 1963, due to an report made to urge this project to be closed immediately, and insisted on new research guidelines to be

to be implemented But how did this project last so long without any reports filed beforehand?

Other experiments like the UCLA Schizophrenia Experiment, which lasted over 10 years from 1983-1994, included two UCLA psychologists observing the effects of schizophrenia without medication The results of this experiment led to many patients suffering severe relapses, leading to patients committing suicide

The experiment failed to inform the patients of risks of the experiment or obtain proper consent This experiment directly violated the United States Department of Health and Human Services regulations, by not telling the patients the risks they would be taking Even as this experiment had occurred after the others mentioned, it still went unnoticed for a long period of time.

Furthermore, a federal experiment started by the U S Public Health Service (USPHS) was created in 1932, and lasted until 1972, in which the USPHS wanted to observe the natural history of syphilis and had let hundreds of Black men with syphilis in Alabama go untreated

After this experiment, in 1976, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

created the Office for Protection of Human Subjects, which established review boards for research experiments, and get approval for certain projects

One factor in these experiments is that they were created by highly esteemed organizations, such as the CIA or the USPHS themselves, and well-known universities, such as UCLA Even though these experiments had caused public backlash and outcry, the backlash often occurred decades later. As a result, regulations were not put into place until after the experiments were over In the early 1970’s, the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research was created to study the

In 2018, the U S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), created the most recent regulations used today for protection of human subjects, in code 45 CFR 46 This lays out the protection for all humans, with additional protection for pregnant women, children, and prisoners

These new regulations leaves little room for research experiments with humans going unnoticed for years, unlike the examples mentioned. Even though guidelines were created then, the newest regulations account for all protections of humans, and not committees made to just give reports on experiments happening at the time, or hasty guidelines to make public backlash decrease.

issues and protection of these humans, creating a report in 1979 that provided the ethical standpoints that federal laws and regulation are based on

Even as these laws are in effect, laws can be broken The concern still exists of the United States' involvement in experimentation in foreign countries, as well as global experiments performed by other countries While these chilling experiments may have decreased from the past, they are still occurring Even without federal or global laws put into place, we must think about the line between where an experiment begins to be unethical, or how far we can go in the name of science.

PIXEL PHYSICS

Video Games and the Laws of Physics

Whether or not we want it to, physics and its laws apply to each of us in every moment of our lives Even as we try to escape the limitations of the laws of physics by diving into the rich digital worlds of video games, we still end up tethered by real-world physics properties

You see, physics is a crucial aspect of video game development. Without programming physics, games would be random, unintuitive, and wholly unplayable Characters would jump up and never come back down, cars would drive with no way to control them, and games would lose an important aspect of what makes them fun

How programmers implement physics in their games is a complicated but fascinating process Because of incredible innovations in the game development industry, programmers don’t have to code every aspect of their digital worlds by hand, a task that would quickly become impossible as a game became more realistic Developers can use what is called “middleware,” or a third party physics engine

BY ABREA LA GRONE

to more easily simulate instances of realistic physics within a game More than convenience, physics engines are often a necessity, as they can handle more complex and complicated calculations than one could program by hand

game physics are rooted in real world physics principles, steps are taken to simplify these calculations. For example, not everything in a game will be interacted with or needs complicated mechanics, so

Despite what it may seem when playing extremely realistic games such as racing simulator "Assetto Corsa," video game physics don’t precisely resemble real world physics Instead, programmers devise more of a mimicry of realworld physics than actually recreate them So, while the equations used to calculate in

Pong (from e Guardian)

There are two types of physics in video games: rigid body physics (RBP) and soft body physics (SBP) RBP simulates what we usually would think of when we think “physics ” A “rigid body” is an object on which the distance between two points will remain the same, regardless of force acting on it, including anything

Tomb Raider 2: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Microsoft Windows Version, Square Enix 2015

from a building to a NPC to the ball and paddle in the 1972 classic, "Pong" Since "Pong" and other early video games, the factors taken into consideration when deciding how physics will affect a rigid body have evolved significantly In "Pong," factors such as gravity or wind resistance were not considered when calculating how the ball would bounce off of the paddle, exhibited by the almost random

deflection and constant speed of the ball Although "Pong" is comparatively simple when up against the ultra-realistic games of modern day, it still is enjoyable to play and its simplistic physics laid necessary groundwork for its successors That being said, the application of more complicated video game physics can make a game even more fun to play Video games provide developers a world in which they can decide

how the forces of physics work, from a replica of real-life to whimsical mechanics such as the double jump Because of this, the realism of RBP can differ greatly from game to game

A complicated but often necessary aspect of RBP is the recreation of humanoid characters with a method of character modelling called “ragdolling,” where rigid limbs are held together by joints and kinematic chains (a system of joints and limbs) in a skeletal structure. This allows the character to move in a realistic way, and techniques such as Featherstone’s algorithm or the Lagrangian multiplier method, both ways of calculating the forces on a characters’ skeletal structure, are used to do this. A popular physics engine for this is NaturalMotion’s Euphoria, which has been used in games such as “Grand Theft Auto: 4” and “Red Dead Redemption"

Soft body physics is the other type of physics in video games, which is how in-game forces apply to “soft bodies,” or deformable objects, like a flag or article of clothing Unlike

RBP, two points on a soft body will not remain the same distance apart, but instead move closer and farther from each other, constrained only by their distance when the object is laid flat SBP takes a huge toll on processors, since the behavior of millions of points must be taken into account Because of this, programmers will take shortcuts to keep the number of calculations manageable for the game These shortcuts include grouping portions of a piece of cloth, or in some cases creating a looping animation This cannot be used in all instances, however, like with the physics of Batman’s cape gliding around Gotham City in “Arkham Knight," or Lara Croft’s ultrarealistic in “Rise of the Tomb Raider," since they are acted upon by forces such as wind or gravity, making a looping animation jarring and unnatural Instead, programmers can use external engines designed specifically for the purpose of coding the physics of clothes and other soft bodies, such as APEX ClothPhysX

Another use for SBP is the simulation of Particle Systems, like smoke and mist. This process is even more complicated and taxing on processors than simulating the motion of cloth because each particle must be taken into account To help with this, each particle will have a “life-span” (the time between when it spawns and when it fades to respawn again) The longer the life-span, the more complicated the calculations are, so shorter particle life-spans are used to allow for realistic visuals that are still manageable for the processors Because of

restrictions on computations, the way developers implement SBP is more limited than RBP; innovative programmers are still finding ways to circumvent technical limitations and create stunning visuals More than anything, both video games and their physics are about the player experience, and more specifically, the amount of fun a player will have when playing a game It seems obvious - a game should be fun! Because of this, developers are tasked with the daunting goal of balancing the realism of in-game physics and the enjoyment of the player experience. Some games even break the laws of physics entirely, like “Portal” or “I am Bread,” all in the name of a fun game

Most recently, developers have been redefining what immersion can look like with virtual reality (VR) and constantly evolving engines and consoles For example, the Oculus Quest 2, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5, are the newest developments in gaming hardware, all capable of more powerful processing and displaying high-definition graphics With every new year, every new game, the boundaries of what developers can create in terms of both physics and graphics are advancing, allowing gamers to look to a future with even more impressive physics, even more immersive games, and an even more fun player experience.

Portal 2 (2011)

Physic Playground on Oculus Quest (2020)

MURPHY'S LAW

Today’s the big day it’s finally your wedding day, and nothing will come between you and your awaited moment However, nothing is going as planned As you walk down the aisle, nearing the altar, a weighty gust of wind blows your beautiful bridal hair awry While you cut the threetiered cake, you accidentally drop the first slice, and it lands frosting-side down onto the dance floor. It seems highly unlikely that these unlucky events would occur in close succession, but unfortunately, such instances are so frequent that there is a name for the phenomenon: Murphy’s Law. As we know it today, Murphy’s Law states that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong Sounds like an awfully pessimistic way of thinking, doesn’t it? Sure, we experience adverse situations every now and then and call it unlucky But, what if there was a factual explanation for some of the unfortunate happenings you’ve undergone?

Captain Edward A. Murphy developed Murphy’s Law in the 1940’s during World War II Murphy conducted Air Force experiments on the effects of rapid deceleration on pilots As he recorded his findings, he noticed that the electrodes used in every single trial were incorrectly wired Murphy duly concluded that “If there are two or more ways of doing something, and one of them can

lead to catastrophe, then someone will do it ” Over time, Murphy’s Law lost its meaning, twisting into an explanation for the mishappenings of daily life and rendering Murphy himself as a victim of his own law The origins of his theory seem quite arbitrary, not at all rooted in fact However, science has proved some of the most notorious “unlucky” happenings, such as dropping books face-down or finding an odd sock

Murphy's Law of Maps

Murphy's Law of Maps is an extension of Murphy's Law, stating that “if a place you’re looking for can lie on the inconvenient parts of the map, it will" Although this theory sounds almost comical, it is nonetheless rooted in science Working in tandem with optical illusion, probability accounts for the "unluckiness" of maps Suppose on a square map, the "Murphy Zone" includes the parts of the map that are closest to the edges and down the middle At first glance, this narrow zone seems to makes up a miniscule portion of the map's area; however, any random point chosen on the map has a 50-50 chance of falling into it Despite its meager appearance, the area of Murphy's equals the area of the rest of the map This zone's deceptively small area renders it difficult for map-users to successfully

BY LIYA CHEN

pinpoint their location Murphy's Law of Maps causes the failure to consider the perimeters of the map

The common saying associated with Murphy’s Law, “if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong,” might not hold absolute truth, but that is not to say that some of Murphy’s principles are without merit Under the consideration of probability or physics, Murphy’s original theory does apply to certain instances, such as toast falling butter-face down Despite the fact that Murphy’s Law does not always apply, it nonetheless holds insightful principles that we can learn from For example, adopting Murphy's perspective on a project can help you better allocate time. If you think it would take one week to complete an assignment, the consideration of unlucky circumstances should prompt you to either work more efficiently or allot more time for completion.

NATURE'S SECRET LAWS

BY AYLA SUMER

If you step into a forest of mature trees, the silence and inactivity of the forest may deceive you While trees are often regarded as fixed, uninteresting objects, if one looks below the surface they will discover a complex, interconnected network of trees communicating to share resources and even distress signals. Forest trees have evolved to live in cooperative, interdependent relationships, maintained by communication and a collective intelligence

Two decades ago, when researching her doctoral thesis, ecologist Suzanne Simard discovered this elaborate, underground communication network. Tracing rare carbon isotopes in both field and greenhouse experiments as they were passed from tree to tree, she discovered that trees communicate their needs and send each other nutrients via a network of latticed fungi buried in the soil

The most fundamental component of this forest-wide communication network, is the fungi that join the fine, hairlike roots of trees. The relationship between fungi and an individual tree (a " mycorrhizal network") is a symbiotic relationship. This means that because fungi are unable to produce food for themselves using photosynthesis, they rely on the partner tree to provide them with nutrients. The fungi consume about 30 percent of the sugar the trees photosynthesize from sunlight. In exchange, the fungi scavenge the soil for nitrogen, phosphorus and other mineral nutrients, which are then absorbed and consumed by the trees. The fungi also provide the trees with direct connection to each other.

To communicate through the network, trees send chemical, hormonal and slow, pulsing electrical signals that scientists are beginning to decipher. According to Simard's research of tree communication patterns, often the biggest, oldest tree in the forest takes on the role of what Simard calls the "mother tree." Typically this tree has a large fungal

network, which allows it to help neighboring trees by providing nutrients through the network. For example, when researchers placed Douglas Fir trees in a mycorrhizal network with other tree species, the Douglas Fir trees sent carbon more frequently to trees of their own species.

Simard states that "Actually, it doesn’t make evolutionary sense for trees to behave like resource-grabbing individualists. They live longest and reproduce most often in a healthy stable forest. That’s why they’ve evolved to help their neighbors.” Before Simard and other ecologists revealed the extent and significance of mycorrhizal networks foresters typically regarded trees as solitary individuals that competed for space and resources, but Simard and her peers have demonstrated that this framework is far too simplistic. A forest containing mycorrhizal networks is neither a merciless Darwinian battleground nor is it a collection of individual, disconnected organisms. Instead, forests are hiding a vast, complex society beneath our feet.

IS THE PRICE RIGHT?

THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF PRICE CONTROL LAWS ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

BY SYDNEY GHORAYEB

For the last three years, almost every drug developed for cancer has been priced at over $100,000 per year of treatment for one patient After hearing that statistic, most people would agree that the United States should impose price controls to lower the price of prescription drugs to make treatment more accessible Price controls, however, are not the simple fix many people believe them to be Price controls would change the United State's economic system for the pharmaceutical industry, affecting every part of the drug development process, not just the price you pay at the pharmacy

The Cost of Innovation

The United States does not impose price controls on the pharmaceutical industry, meaning it does not regulate or negotiate the prices of drugs In most cases, the companies that produce the drugs are free to decide the price. This economic policy serves the United States well Two in three of new medicines are invented in the United States About three quarters of capital investments in pharmaceutical research are in the United States This innovation is spurred by the freedom to charge high prices for new drugs But this freedom is also the reason why prescription drugs cost more in the United States than in any other country in the world

When estimating this cost, companies evaluate the total cost of producing and selling a new drug Because the pharmaceutical industry is what economists call a high-fixed low-cost marginal cost industry, there are two things to consider While the cost of producing one pill or drug may be minimal, creating a new drug and bringing it to market can cost many hundreds of millions of dollars

Investing this much money into a new drug that may or may not be successful is a great risk But with America's relatively free market system, companies and their investors are willing to take on this risk because if a drug is successful, they can acquire a patent that allows them charge high prices for the drug and recoup the money that they invested in research and development This is why such a large percentage of capital investments in pharmaceutical research go to American companies.

Price-Controls

If the United States adopts price controls, companies will no longer be able to count on high profits to fund their innovation, and they will be less likely to risk those hundreds of millions of dollars on the research and development of a new drug

But according to some economists who cite the law of diminishing

returns, less companies working on the research and development of new drugs is not necessarily a bad thing for innovation

The law of diminishing returns is a central idea in economics It says that after a certain point, spending more on innovation does not yield enough new innovative products to justify the higher cost that society pays to support this additional innovation Some argue that in the pharmaceutical industry the United States has already reached that point and that, according to the law of diminishing returns, even if more money is invested into the research and development of drugs, companies would not yield a significantly larger number of new, innovative drugs This means that even if price control laws lower the cost of prescription drugs and reduce the revenue that companies invest in the research of new drugs, there would not be a significant decrease in innovation And in return, prescription drugs would be sold at a more reasonable price

Today, nearly seventeen percent of the total amount of money spent on national healthcare in the United States is spent on medicines According to a 2015 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U S spent almost $1,026 annually per person on prescription drugs That is nearly double the average spent by other countries in the OECD, making the United States the country that spends the most money on drugs in the world

This high cost for drugs endangers healthcare budgets and makes it difficult for Americans without healthcare to afford prescription drugs In another industry, consumers would decide not to buy the product, threatening manufacturers and leading to a decrease in the price of the product However, this is not the case in the pharmaceutical industry People are willing to pay anything to save or prolong their lives or those of their loved

ones And because the United States government does not negotiate the cost of prescription drugs, drugs for serious illnesses, such as cancer, cost over 100,000 dollars per year, incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for families and patients

Proposed Bills

The United States put everything on halt to deal with the national health crisis of the coronavirus This included the proposed bills in the House and Senate that could have a drastic impact on the cost of prescription medication

Right now, there are two bills that could cut drug prices One is the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, pushed by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), which proposes heavy governmental price setting The other is the Lower Costs, More Cures Act promoted by Sen Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), which offers more freedom to the pharmaceutical companies, but still lowers prescription drug prices

Much of the United States population agrees that there should be some sort of legislation that lowers the price of prescription drugs, but the debate is over how the United States should do it Some argue we should protect innovation and the interest in research and development, and some argue we should lower costs to make prescription drugs more accessible to the public. Until this debate is resolved and a new law is enacted we will just have to wait and see As for now, think about it: do you think price control laws hurt innovation or are worth the lower costs?

WOULD YOU RATHER:

BY SIDDHI BANSAL

Sacrifice Your Current Lifestyle for a Long Term Environmental Benefit Sacrifice a Long Term Environment Benefit for a Better Lifestyle

or

You've probably heard the word fracking a few times in the past few months, whether it be in presidential debates or the numerous tweets by Trump and Biden. But, what exactly is fracking? And why is it so controversial?

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracking, is a drilling process that requires drilling into the earth before directing a highpressure water mixture into the soil which helps release the gas inside Usually, water, sand, and chemicals are pressured into the rock, releasing the trapped gas or oil into the head of the well This process isn't new; it was first used in 1949 However, recent years have seen fracking becoming more widespread as more companies devise ways to make it even more efficient.

Proponents of fracking believe that fracking has led to a large economic boost, especially in states that are known for oil like North Dakota, Texas, and

Pennsylvania This economic boost has greatly changed the American energy consumption landscape; it has led to higher consumption of oil and gas, making energy much cheaper and reducing the reliance on imports, thus fostering American manufacturing It has also lessened the use of coal as an energy source, directly decreasing the effects of global warming

However, many others believe that fracking's cons outweigh its pros They suggest that the industry isn't administered well, and it doesn't necessarily reduce the impact of global warming. Although fracking has led to a decrease in coal consumption, it has ultimately increased air and water pollution There is also the danger of ruining Earth's terrain and making it unstable, which may lead to soil erosion. In fact, evidence suggests that fracking has led to various minor (magnitude <1) and major (magnitude >1) earthquakes, which can be devastating

What does fracking have anything to do with politics?

Trump, on one hand, believes that fracking is essential to the American economy since it encourages the "Made in America" policy through increased national manufacturing Trump also suggests that fracking protects American jobs since a large number of them are produced in the fracking industry Also, fracking results in a lower electricity bill every year In 2019, the Council of Economic Advisers estimated that fracking had helped reduce energy prices and save Americans $203 billion per year, or $2,500 each year for a family of four These savings amount to a large number for low-income families and Trump believes that banning fracking and other similar technologies would increase the prices of gasoline (due to limited supply) along with heating, air conditioning, and electricity

On the other hand, Biden supports the Green New Deal, a deal first proposed by Democrats Alexandria OcasioCortez of New York and Senator Edward J Markey of Massachusetts This deal aims to move away from the use of fossil fuels are targets to use 100% renewable energy by the year 2035 This deal is based on the idea that fracking will be reduced, but not completely Biden says that he does support fracking but only a small amount of it, and believes that it should not be widespread like it is currently since it has a large

impact on the environment and disrupts the ozone layer, contributing to the already worsened problem of global warming

Thus, fracking has many positive and negative impacts On one hand, we have the benefits of the economy and the people, and on the other, the benefit of the environment which would cause us to make radical shifts to our current lifestyle

THE LEGAL REVOLUTION

Artificial Intelligence In Law

BY DEFNE GURUN

Ginni Rometty (former CEO of IBM)

As Rometty said, artificial intelligence has the potential to enhance our lives and our knowledge Humans have made significant technological advancements over the past few decades, from fields such as farming and agriculture to biology and medicine Artificial intelligence is one of these technological advancements and is shaping our world today

We have all heard the term “artificial intelligence,” maybe from the news about the development of technology or futuristic sci-fi movies But what exactly is artificial intelligence? Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that studies the intelligence demonstrated by machines and makes it possible for machines to perform the tasks that humans generally perform. Speech recognition, decision-making, and visual perception, to name a few, are all human-like features that machines may be able to possess Common examples of artificial intelligence in our daily lives

include many apps on our phones, such as navigation apps or social media apps Amazon Alexa, also just known as Alexa, is a well-known digital assistant that is powered by artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has and will continue to enhance our lives, including one critical part of our society that preserves order and justice: law Law is a social science and humanities discipline that uses a system of formal logic In the legal profession in the present-day world, artificial intelligence helps lawyers by reviewing legal documents and assisting in the research required for making a case Artificial intelligence is able to do this by filtering the research through certain keywords that are relevant and sorting through the research in an efficient manner Because machines are able to work at a more efficient pace, the legal research is done much faster and allows the lawyers to have more time to develop and finalize better cases According to the

National Law Review, this lessens the number of mistakes and overlooked details made during the legal process Today, artificial intelligence can even be used to predict the chances of winning or losing a case and calculate the profit and loss from the cases

In the future, artificial intelligence will be able to contribute more to the world of law. Machines may be able to determine legal rulings based on precedents that have been set from previous decisions, previous experiences, and the law itself With machines doing the data gathering and processing, the lawyer will have more time to analyze the case and advise their clients All in all, artificial intelligence can reduce the time and cost spent on a case, the hours spent on mundane tasks for a lawyer, and the errors that could have been made

Although there are several benefits of the implementation of artificial intelligence into the law field, there are some

“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”

P H E N O M E N A

2021-2022 Journalists:

Siddhi Bansal

Liya Chen

Sydney Ghorayeb

Christy Guan

Defne Gurun

Rachel Jan

Abrea LaGrone

Cassie Liu

Sherry Long

Anika Proddutoor

Ayla Sumer

Tianxin Xie

Sponsors: Dr. Fishel

Dr. Bartlett