Alex L., Fast Food Beef, S.I.N, November

It has been supposed that fast-food chains use mass-produced corn-fed cows for years; now proof of this has arrived, as David Biello reported on entitled That Burger You're Eating Is Mostly Corn. The study, preformed by A. Hope Jahren and Rebecca A. Kraft of the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and the The University of Hawaii, Honolulu, respectively, evaluated the amount of carbon 13 in the food tested.
This isotope of carbon is slightly heavier, because it has an extra neutron and is present in higher quantities in commercial corn then in most other plants. The findings have shown that 93% of the animal tissue in these foods are corn derived; based on find using a method to evaluate the amount of carbon 13 in the food. This was found in a statistically accurate survey of fast food servers. Only a dozen had hugely lower numbers, all of these were west coast Burger Kings, the researchers presume the levels were different because the meat was imported. The amount of isotopes found in chickens which are fed entirely on corn, varies less in chain-restaurants country wide, then it does in a single “farm-yard” chicken. This corn content may not matter to some but to all who care about their health, the environment’s health, or the world’s health might care greatly. The cows used in the factories that produce this food are fed on almost nothing but corn. This uses a great quantity of corn, which in turn uses a vast quantity of resources to create, and pesticides to. Not only this, but because they eat only corn when they are designed to eat a verity of different foods, this causes the cows to have to be over treated with antibiotics, which leads to more incurable diseases and poisons us.
It has been proven that corn is the primary food source for beef and chicken that is used in the fast-food industry. This leads to an overuse of corn that is detrimental to the environment, the cow’s health, and our health.

Nuclear Waste Disposal Lab

This lab modeled nuclear waste disposal containment methods by sealing a pellet of sodium hydroxide, a caustic base, with (1) aluminum foil (2) plastic wrap and (3) modeling clay. Each of these "contained" pellets was softly dropped into a weak solution of phenolphthalein, an indicator. This “nuclear waste” was let sit under observation for three days.

After this three-day period, it was noted that the aluminum foil had degraded. To the effect that it had released a great quantity of “radiation”. This expressed itself with a change in the color of the indicator solution, from clear to dark purple. The clay did not change, save for a slight release of bubbles. The plastic was held closed with a piece of wire, which quickly rusted, turning the solution a light brown color. If an extrapolation is made, the wire would rust through, leading to a release of “radiation”.

This experiment was designed well. I found the experiment to be exemplary of the difficulty associated with containment. The use of an indicator solution to show leakage was an ingenuous way to visually express the idea of radiation.

Orion K, SIN, Silicon Spintronics, November

Silicon Spintronics

Researchers have taken the first step towards a new technology that could possibly make computers produce less heat and use less electricity. This technology controls electron spin in silicon, which is the first advance in making silicon spin-based computer processors. This was reported by J.R. Minkel on sciam.com, in an article titled Spintronics Breaks the Silicon Barrier.

The researchers used aluminum electrons pushed through a ferromagnet to obtain electrons of the desired spin, which were then pushed into the silicon. Spin is a quantum property used to classify electrons; it is either up or down (also called clockwise or counterclockwise). Aluminum has equal parts spin-up and spin-down electrons. The ferromagnet will allow only electrons of one spin through; it impedes the flow of those electrons of the opposite spin.

The ferromagnet increased the percentage of one spin type in the silicon by one. However, this was done at 85 Kelvin. In theory this spintronics device should function at room temperature, this has not been tested though. To operate, a functional spintronics device would require a uni-spin substance.

These processors would be capable of using a small portion of the electricity used by contemporary, charge-based silicon processors; moreover, a spin-based processor would produce far less waste heat. This means that your laptop’s battery would last longer, because (1) the processor does not need as much energy and (2) the computer would need less cooling, which takes a large percent of battery life. Moreover, the computer could be smaller because a smaller fan could be used.

Popluation Size Estimation Lab

There are numerous uses for population size estimation, and numerous ways to estimate.

In this lab, the mark and recapture method was used by randomly choosing and marking 10 specimens from a bag of an unknown number. The ten trials of 15 specimens were randomly taken from the bag. This yielded variegated results from the different teams.

Using the random sampling method, a four (4) foot by four (4) foot grid was made on the floor, and the specimens were randomly spread across this. The specimens from four of the four (4) foot squares were added together and multiplied by four (4) to garner the population estimation. This process was repeated a varied number of times, with varied accuracy, among the groups.

Orion K, SIN, The Beginning of Life as described by Math, October

The Beginning of Life as described by Math

A mathematical model has predicted the beginnings of life on earth. Heather Wax reported in Using Math to Explain How Life on Earth Began at sciam.com that Martin A. Nowak produced a computer simulation founded on a mathematical algorithm. Martin A. Nowak is the first person to have a joint professorship in Mathematics and Biology at Harvard University.
This algorithm uses binary to model the fundamental building blocks of life, nucleic acids (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine or uracil). Nowak composes these “building blocks” into “random and spontaneous” strings of binary coding that he calls monomers. He then uses his binary strings to make a model of the evolution of the nucleic acids. Nowak claims that the nucleic acids will perform the same way that his model suggests; however, this is not without problems. David W. Deamer, a biomolecular engineer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, explains: “It’s hard to imagine an easy way to make nucleic acids.” This is because the model does not allow for enzymes that would process and build the nucleic acid molecules.
Though it may not seem important, using math in biology is imperative, according to Nowak. This is because math is capable of solving previously unsolvable problems such as decoding gene sequences. These could be used in a wide variety of topics; from curing diseases to building AIs, to improving education. Moreover, the exploration of the beginning of life is one of the fundamentals of biology.

Alex L., S.I.N., October

Jaguar Land Rover’s Virtual Reality Center

Jaguar Land Rover, a division of Tata, an Indian carmaker, has worked with Sony, Sun Microsystems, ICIDO, and HoloVis International to construct what they call a “Virtual Reality Center” (VRC) to aid in the design process. In conjunction with a Computer Aided Virtual Environment (CAVE) that they say will allow the company to reduce design time by an estimated 3 months and reduce design costs. As reported by Stuart Birch, an author for Automotive Engineering Online, and published under the title “Jaguar Land Rover projects new images” (found at http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/simul/4364) this product took 18 months and $4 million to develop and produce, a sum they say they are on track to recovering within the first year of its use.

VRC and CAVE are, as the names suggest, a virtual environment system that is constructed with the use of eight Sony SRX-S105 projectors, which have an image definition of 4096 x 2160. These projectors, each powered by two powerful computers (each with two prime quality graphics cards), display a bifocal view of the vehicle, in full scale, with realistic components all in 3D. Another computer coordinates these; another manages the database, which the work of the employees (such as designed parts) is uploaded to. The system uses complex surround sound to simulate a real driving environment, and hopes to incorporate a haptic glove, which would allow the tester to feel the textures and contours of the model. They would utilize the haptic glove under development at Salford University (England) that will be ready in about six months. This technology would streamline the R&D of Jaguar Land Rover, improving their finances, allowing them to make vehicles more cheaply, thereby stimulating the economy.

Orion K, SIN, Environmental Complexity, September

Environmental Complexity
Davidson, A. W. and Bar-Yam, Y. Environmental Complexity: Information for Human-Environment Well-Being.

This study linked environmental complexity to cognitive function in the elderly. Environmental complexity is calculated based on the number of visually distinct characteristics of objects appearing in photographs of the participants’ houses.

A board of assessors viewed every photograph, and assigned a complexity “score” to each, using a “semi-quantitative measure”. The photograph was also scored on aesthetics. This method was used in correlation with a mathematical model, called Shannon's Information Theory: I = – Σ P(i) log2P(i), where P(i) is the probability of an item’s particular location and the sum is the over all possible locations.

The “Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale” was used to measure the participants’ mental fitness. Cognitive wellness was evaluated using the Mini-Mental Status Exam. The circadian locomotor activity of the participants was measured through a “wrist worn ambulatory activity monitor”.
It was found that the greater the complexity of the environment the greater was the cognitive skills of the participant. Moreover, the circadian activity increased as the environment was more complex. However, mental fitness was not increased.

This research is beneficial to me in that I will someday be considered one of these “elders” and will wish to maintain my mental capabilities.

Alex L., Science In The News(S.I.N.), September

Learning Aptitudes in Mathematics

Hinterthuer, A. (4-25-08). Word Problems Fail Math Students, Scientific American Online. Retrieved 9/10/08 from http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=86148EF0-91C8-2DCA-768F20CDA543F8E7

A study, preformed at Ohio State University, shows that when students learned through real-world word problems their overall ability to adequately solve the overall type of problem suffered. In the study two groups of undergraduates were taught mathematical concepts, which they would use later to solve other problems. One of the groups learned in the traditional style; by using abstract equations and formulae. The other group was taught in a style that used “real-world” problems and applied mathematics to them. The results were as follows: the students taught with abstract problems tested, on average, at 80% correctness, the students taught with the “real-world” situation tested at 44%. The lower scoring group did seem to acquire the knowledge faster, although they could not transpose this knowledge.

Meandering Stream Lab

This lab models what happens to the banks of slow and fast moving streams. Scientists use a "stream table" with 1 inch or so of sand, draw in a stream bed, then add water. The scientist can then observe what happens to the inner bank of corners as well as the outer bank of corners of streams of various flow rates.