Science

Civilians Blast Off into Space

Onward and upward remains a dream for many

By Regan Cunningham

In the past couple of years, SpaceX has truly made strides in the space industry, including their multiple successful launches of commercially funded trips to the International Space Station, as well as their continued success with their sustainable rocket boosters. Their success was not limited to 2020, as they continue to fund new missions this year.

The Crew Dragon, previously used to bring Crew-1 and Crew-2 to the ISS, is now being used to send 4 civilians to space for the first time. It started with a 37 year old billionaire named Jared Issacman. As an experienced pilot with over 6,000 hours of flight time, he will be the flight commander, nicknamed “Leadership,” and bought the flight through SpaceX, which is bookable through their website, just like how NASA gets their SpaceX contracts. Similar to Jeff Bezos’ recent trip to space, Issacman funded this mission for charity, specifically for the St. Jude Children’s hospital. The funding goal is currently at $200 million.

Three other civilians will be joining him on the flight. One of them being Hayley Arceneaux, who will be one of the youngest women in space, as well as the first person in space with a prosthetic leg. She is a bone cancer survivor, and is a physician's assistant at St. Jude Hospital. Nicknamed “Hope,” she will be the Chief Medical Officer for the flight. Chris Sembroki, nicknamed “Generosity,” will be the mission specialist. He is a U.S Air Force Veteran who won a contest for one of the seats on the Inspiration4 mission. He has been passionate about space and astronomy all his life. The fourth seat goes to Sian Proctor, nicknamed “Prosperity”. She is a 51 year-old geologist and science communication specialist, and will also be the first person from Guam to fly in space. She got her seat by winning an astronomy entrepreneur contest. She will be the mission pilot.

There haven’t been many civilians in space due to the danger that comes from their inexperience. Usually, civilians who go to space are accompanied by many trained, and highly experienced scientists. One of the first civilians in space was a Utah U.S Senator named Jake Garn. A Saudi Arabian Prince was the next civilian in space. There was one more Florida congressman, Bill Nelson, who flew on one of the shuttle missions. One of the last civilians in space was Christa McAuliffe, the teacher selected to be on the Challenger mission. The failure of the Challenger mission casted a fear of space travel into the millions of people who watched, and with it came the hesitation to put any more civilians in space. As a result, NASA banned the allowance of civilians in space. The passion people once had for the abilities of space travel disappeared. Fortunately, laws, regulations, and equipment have changed for the better. Better testing, weather management, and safety precautions have restored the want to get everyday people into space. More recently, Jeff Bezos’ has gone into orbit himself, showing all who watched the possibilities of civilians taking trips to Earth’s upper orbit.

Like most of the SpaceX ventures, this mission will truly make history. Almost 35 years after the Challenger disaster, we are slowly building the wonder people had for space travel back up to where it once was. The commercialization of space travel currently has its limits, however with more time and more missions, there are endless possibilities for what we can achieve. The chance that everyone could see what these trained professionals see is hope enough to continue these missions.

ADHD Increases Among Children

Experts study data and speculate on possible rationale

By Grace Finch

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, more commonly referred to as ADHD, is a disorder affecting one's attention span, with symptoms including difficulty paying attention, impulsiveness and restlessness at a level that impedes daily functioning.

In recent years, ADHD diagnoses have increased to include 10% of American children. This rise in diagnosis has been met with various reactions from the American public. Some view this rise in diagnosis as something that will allow newly diagnosed young people to better understand how they can best accomplish their personal and academic goals. Others fear the uptick in ADHD diagnosis may indicate an over eagerness on the part of parents, teachers, and others to attribute struggles typically seen in many young people to Attention Deficit Disorder.

However, health professionals recognize that high levels of ADHD as opposed to 20 or 30 years ago are unsurprising. The medical field has seen many scientific advancements, particularly in the last decade, that have enhanced the understanding of Attention Deficit Disorder. Now, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM), the standard classification manual used by health professionals to diagnose mental health disorders, recognizes three presentations of ADHD; inattentive type, hyperactive type, and combined type. Prior to this change, only children who demonstrated hyperactivity and inattention received an ADHD diagnosis. Hyperactivity is the most recognizable of the ADHD symptoms, making a hyperactive child much more likely to be diagnosed because of their high potential to be disruptive in a school environment. Currently, trends indicate an increased rate of diagnosis among young girls, who in previous decades, were often undiagnosed because they are 3 times more likely to display symptoms of inattention, without the more identifiable hyperactive symptoms.

Gender differences in the presentation of ADHD symptoms and improved understanding are not the only factors contributing to a rise in ADHD diagnoses. Increased access to health care likely also plays a role. One study “Examining ADHD Trends Among Adolescents Over the Past 20 Years,” illustrates an uptick in cases among minority groups. This suggests that a rise in cases may be partially attributed to increased access to healthcare for those who could previously not afford such care. The Affordable Care Act expanded healthcare access to many previously uninsured Americans and mandated that insurance policies must cover basic mental health treatments. The Affordable Care Act allowed for better access to referrals and other services for some low income families. These benefits are particularly important in the context of rising ADHD diagnoses because the process of receiving a formal diagnosis can be time consuming and very expensive without comprehensive insurance coverage.

Some argue that the rise in ADHD is not a “true” rise in the condition, but rather an issue of over-diagnosing on the part of medical professionals. However, there is little evidence to support this view as the process required to receive a diagnosis is extensive. For a child to be diagnosed with attention deficit, they must first present a minimum of five of the six ADHD symptoms set forth in the DSM-5 and demonstrate that symptoms are present both at home and in the classroom. While assessments vary slightly to account for a child’s age and understanding, the requirements remain the same. The lack of a definitive measure to diagnose the disorder means that many procedures exist to ensure that accidental diagnosis is unlikely because standard ADHD medications are classified as “controlled substances”. This classification ensures that medication is dispensed carefully and that prescriptions are not easy to acquire.

Still others believe children spend more time in front of various screens and are becoming more easily distracted and/or anxious as a result. They are constantly looking for instant responses and worried about missing out on something posted somewhere and it impairs their ability to focus on traditional learning or even sitting to listen to class discussions, read a book or analyze a painting. They simply check out and want to move on and thus are viewed as disruptors of learning who are struggling to concentrate.

A rise in cases does not necessarily indicate an uptick in ADHD among the American population. More likely it indicates that as health professionals' understanding of the condition further develops they are becoming more skilled at identifying ADHD and less people are going through life undiagnosed. As mental health becomes less stigmatized amongst American society, there is a greater awareness and an increased effort to understand one's brain to optimize success. Hopefully, the increased detection of ADHD will prove to be a positive thing, and allow more children to achieve personal, academic and professional success as they age with their diagnosis.

Hackers Pose a New Kind of Threat

Cyber attacks cause serious concern and potential distaster/danger

By Regan Cunningham

There has been a recent spike in cybercrime in America, according to recent reports. COVID-19 has allowed people to explore every different avenue to committing a crime. This time they don’t even have to leave their homes. Ransomware attacks (where people hold information and require people to pay to get it back) has cost close to $6 trillion annually in 2021.

Through an influx of ransomware specifically, the FBI has been targeting specific hacker groups. These hacker groups target specific places, like corporations, hospitals, or schools. Due to technology and the advances that we make in cybersecurity every day, these hackers don’t get very far in terms of information. However with the FBI’s recent takedown of hacker group ‘REvil’, the cybersecurity community has been forced to re-examine their ways of protecting important information.

A somewhat new hacker group first surfacing in August 2020, assumed to be based in eastern Europe, officially put themselves on the map by going after one of America’s most valued industries, the oil and gas companies. Their name ‘DarkSide’ made the news after they caused the shut down of one of America’s largest gas pipelines, also known as the Colonial pipeline, which delivers 45% of the fuel on the East Coast, and their pipes range from Texas to New York. The original attack started on May 7th, 2021, when the computers that control the pipeline stopped working, and a ransomware message was shown instead. This prompted the technicians of the pipeline to call their supervisors. The immediate shutdown of the pipeline was ordered, and it would be shut down for more than a week after that. Quickly, this hack became one of the largest cyber attacks on an American oil company in history.

The effects of the shutdown were evident across the east coast, with 71% of the gas stations in Charlotte and 87% of the gas stations in Washington D.C were out of fuel. The lack of fuel even caused some flights to be delayed in certain areas. Additionally, fuel prices rose to their highest point since 2014, causing a panic among people who quickly rushed to fill their cars and cans with gas.

Once the attack was discovered by the company, talks of paying the hackers ransom, which was 75 bitcoin (or 4.4 million dollars USD) were in motion. Usually, the FBI doesn’t allow ransoms to be paid, but the choice was made, and the company paid for a decryption key to get their systems online, and to receive their stolen data.

Almost a week after the shutdown of the pipeline, President Biden signed an executive order to call for the increase in cybersecurity software standards. The Department of Justice also created a cybersecurity task force, hoping to help counter the rise of cybersecurity attacks. In a thorough investigation by the FBI, in partnership with the DOJ, by June they were able to recover about 2.3 million dollars worth of the bitcoin payment (the price of the cryptocurrency had declined since the original payment had been made). When looking into the cause of the attack specifically, the FBI found that it was due to a single compromised password, which they believe was due to a leak on the dark web. With this password, they were able to get into an inactive employee’s account, where they were able to control the pipeline remotely. The FBI also stated in their investigation that the day before the attack, the hackers stole almost 100 gigabytes of data from the company, and used it as a part of their random demands.

The recent talk of the hacker group was due to reports that they had finally accessed the ransom money in October, through bitcoin wallets, and were laundering the money by distributing it to multiple different accounts across the world. Not much is known about this hacker group so far. They have been found to be communicating with ‘customers’ through dark web hacker forums, where they offer their ransomware, or their hacking services to anyone who will pay. The FBI noticed that they have a code of conduct. Darkside claims to be apolitical, meaning that their attacks aren’t politically motivated. They will only attack for-profit companies in English-speaking countries, and refuse to hack charities, schools, or hospitals. They have even shown proof of donating some of their earnings to charity.

With October being Cyber security awareness month, there has been a spotlight on these hacker groups, and that spotlight has been placed there by the FBI, who have made it clear that they intend to shut these people down. With the take down of a big hacker group, many of the other hacker groups, including Darkside, have made it clear to the FBI that they plan to retaliate. With this news came the discovery of Darkside’s new version of their malware, but their future plans remain unknown.

With each cyber attack, cyber security is enhanced, but there is also a new awareness to this type of crime about which people have been unaware. Unfortunately, with the advancement of technology comes the new ways of digital exploitation. Through these increased attacks, cyber security professionals have urged these massive companies to care about their cyber security just as much as their physical security, but it seems that these attacks are only increasing. With everything from drinking water to medical information now possible targets, urgent vigilance is mandatory.

Rise in Coral Reef Destruction Causes Serious Concerns Among Scientists

Destruction warns of far greater catastrophic consequences

By Lexi Januszewski

When people think of the ocean, most people think of beautiful, vibrant coral reefs with brilliant wildlife. But what most don’t know is that although coral reefs only make up 0.0025% of the oceanic floor, they produce half of Earth’s oxygen and absorb one third of carbon dioxide generated by the burning of fossil fuels. Coral reefs are essential to the livability and survival of not only healthy oceans, but a healthy planet as a whole.

As many are aware of, climate change has taken a large toll on earth, from plastic pollution to a warming climate. The majority of these issues have been caused by people, with advances in technology that benefit our society yet harm the natural world.

As previously stated, carbon dioxide emissions are on the rise. With the main cause of this being burning fossil fuels, the atmosphere is heating up. The earth’s “greenhouse effect” traps heat and radiation within the atmosphere, which normally would be beneficial because the sun is one of the only natural energy sources that heats the earth. However with man-made energy sources, the carbon dioxide emissions being released remain in the atmosphere, causing the entire planet’s temperature to rise. While the rising temperatures heavily affect all environments, the ocean makes up 71% of the earth’s surface, making it’s temperatures increase the most. Also, the ice caps at the north and south poles are melting at a faster rate than ever recorded before, causing a rise in sea level as well.

Coral reefs are not only hot spots for many forms of marine life, but about a quarter of the ocean’s fish depend on them for feeding, breeding, and shelter. They also provide protection from storms and erosion for coastlines, jobs, recreation, as well as food and medicine. In fact, over half a billion people depend on coral reefs for food, income, and protection. They are also financially beneficial to recreation in snorkeling, fishing, and diving with the estimated world value to be tens of billions of U.S. dollars per year.

But regardless of the environmental and economic benefits of coral reefs, there is little effort toward their conservation or preservation. Coral reefs continue to die off at quicker rates than ever before, causing other species that rely on them to decrease in population. Even the Great Barrier Reef which could be viewed from outer space is beginning to fade away. Although there has been much loss of these beautiful marine ecosystems, there are efforts to restore them. Many conservation centers, such as the Maui Ocean Center (The Aquarium of Hawaii), whose local environment and society depend on the ocean have found ways of restoring coral. Scientists take small samples of a reef and grow their own corals in a lab. Once those corals are strong and healthy enough, they take them back into the ocean and attach them to places that have lost corals in an effort to restore them.

There are ways that the public could support conservation efforts, such as avoiding certain sunscreens. Many popular sunscreen brands such as Banana Boat, Coppertone, Sun Bum, Aveeno, Neutrogena, and Hawaiian Tropic include chemicals which are toxic to coral reefs like oxybenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, and octocrylene. Consumers planning on wearing sunscreen to the beach should be wary of these brands and check the ingredients for such chemicals. Hawaii airports have gone as far as confiscating any non reef-safe sunscreen found at security checks. There are brands which are reef-safe like Manda, Raw Elements, Thinksport, and Suntegrity.

Scientists encourage everyone to do their part to protect coral reefs and the ocean as a whole. Without these vital natural treasures, none of the species on earth would survive and life itself on this planet would ultimately cease to exist. If you find that scary, you should.

Rise in Species Extinction Rates Threatens Global Biodiversity

Ignoring "Endangered status" leads to "Gone and lost forever"

By Oliva Coish

Perspective can be an ironic concept. Many have all been told since youth that when faced with adversity they should look at the bigger picture. Most people have been told that our 1-minute feeling of undying thirst is a 1-week, unquenchable reality for those in impoverished countries. When put into perspective, our seemingly unsurpassed issue is really just a microscopic disturbance in our lives. Yet, this idea of varying our viewpoint introduces the question of how far people should reduce the severity of a situation by putting it into perspective. For instance, at times, it could seem like the loss of your loved one during a disaster matters more than the death of the other hundreds of people. Even though that person seems “tiny” in the 7.8 billion people in the world, their death can affect one's life greatly.

The same applies to an ecosystem. The loss of just one species disrupts the environment’s entire balance, altering the existence of their predators and prey. The biodiversity, or the variety of life in the particular habitat, will become unstable. Now take that one extinction and add 22 more to the list. The loss of 23 species, when put into the perspective of the 8.7 billion identified animal species across the globe, does not ignite a sense of earnestness or severity. However, the repercussions affecting ecosystems and human life on earth as a result of the extinctions say otherwise.

According to an NPR news update released on September 29, 2021, Wildlife Officials announced that 23 species were withdrawn from the Endangered Species List on account of their extinction. Since the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, which protected imperiled species, only 11 species were eliminated from the list. Now all of a sudden, 23 are declared extinct. This dramatic increase is a result of human intervention threatening the biodiversity of an ecosystem. The implementation of human civilization, meaning roads, fences, houses, and parking lots, intrudes on existing animal habitats. Overexploitation, or excessive fishing and hunting, as well as resource extractions and logging also contribute to the global increase of extinction. Most predominant, however, may be the polluted rivers and air, as a result of the gas emissions and litter humans obliviously dispose of into the environment. Consequently, the biosphere where these species once flourished is now contaminated. According to Wildlife Official Deb Haaland, “Humans altered their habitat in a significant way, and we couldn’t or didn’t do enough to change the trajectory before it was too late.”

Although it is too late to reverse the damage that has been done, officials are making efforts to slow the extinction rate. It was recently announced that national protection for migrating birds would be reinforced. The Biden administration has pledged to protect a third of the country's land and water. Although there are still questions regarding the implementation of these efforts, addressing the decline in the world’s biodiversity is progress itself.

That being said, the human action which caused these extinctions emphasizes the immediate need of prevention. As stated by Wildlife Official, Cam Tsujita, “As humans, we are seeing things sort of day by day. And on a day-by-day basis, it may not seem to us that there is a crisis happening.” Some of these species, such as the freshwater mussels, acted as purifiers. They cleaned contaminated water of its toxins. Currently, 8 of these mussel species are extinct, decreasing the amount of filtered water available for humans.

Now that the perspective on the situation has been addressed, action needs to be taken. Human intervention has already negatively affected multiple ecosystems throughout the world, and is now backfiring on human life. As a result, those 23 species may not be the only ones removed from the endangered list this year. Uless we want the next generation to marvel at only photos of creatures that once roamed the earth and flew the skies, we must work together to make protecting the natural world and ultimately our own survival, a top priority. If not us, who? If not now, when?

How do Multivitamins Impact Human Health?

Experts warn that no pill exists that can replace overall healthy lifestyle

By Sarah McCullough

Multivitamins have taken over the health industry as a new way to supplement your diet without making any other changes in lifestyle. Many people preach and stand by them, but do they really make any discernible difference in overall health?

Multivitamin companies promise healthy hair, skin, and nails, reduced risk of cancer, reduced risk of stroke, eye health, and general well-being, (the list goes on) but several studies and scholarly articles contradict this being the case. An article from John Hopkins says that most vitamins have no health benefits in relation to heart disease, and some vitamins (such as vitamin D and calcium) actually have the opposite effect, increasing the risk of heart disease. This article also warns of fillers in multivitamins, stating that what’s on the label and what’s in the pill can be two very different things. Fillings can range from powdered rice to silicon dioxide, but they can be more dangerous. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) also warns about use of multivitamins, saying that “FDA is not authorized to review dietary supplement products for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed.” This means they can only analyze the contents of these products after they’ve been advertised and put to market, which can be very dangerous, as they say in the same article, “Many supplements contain active ingredients that have strong biological effects in the body. This could make them unsafe in some situations and hurt or complicate your health.”

So, what are you supposed to do to stay healthy and prevent disease? While some vitamins may have benefits, they can’t replace a healthy and diverse diet in conjunction with exercise. It’s likely disappointing that a once a day pill can’t miraculously change your health substantially (for the better, at least), but healthy eating really is the best thing that you can do for your body. This is because fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and meats have all of the nutrients necessary for human growth and substantiation, without being altered with fillers an other dangerous particles. Basically everything edible in the grocery store is also FDA approved, meaning it has gone through rigorous testing which ensures that it’s safe to eat, unlike some multivitamins. There are some instances where vitamins can be used to supplement health where a fulfilling diet would fall short. For example, in pregnant women, the nutritional need is much higher than a normal diet, with a recommended amount of 400 milligrams of folic acid daily. For reference, a cup of spinach (a natural and densely packed) source of folic acid has only 83 grams per cup raw, and 263 grams per cup cooked. If spinach were the only source of folic acid in a pregnant woman’s diet, she would need to buy and consume a little under seven cups of spinach daily in order to meet the recommended daily intake. Since this can be costly and time consuming, it’s recommended by most doctors to take a dietary supplement. This is also the case for extreme nutrient deficiencies.

Doctor Lawrence J. Appel, a professor in medicine at John Hopkins University and expert in hypertension, cardiovascular disease prevention/internal medicine suggests that this is the only exception, stating: “I don’t recommend other supplements, if you follow a healthy diet, you can get all of the vitamins and minerals you need from food.” Another risk related to multivitamins is consuming too much, causing an overdose. Taking more than the daily recommended amount over extended periods of time can be dangerous to your health and put you at the risk of an overdose, or vitamin toxicity. Most multivitamins companies don’t take this into account - if you look at any multivitamin label, you will most likely find that there will be at least one vitamin or nutrient that will be above the recommended intake (one hundred percent), some even at one thousand percent of the recommended daily intake! If you do regularly consume multivitamins, be sure to check the labels and see what percent of the daily intake you’re getting, since too much can negatively affect your health.

The ideal way to keep yourself healthy is to get your vitamins primarily from food, mainly nutrient dense fruits and vegetables and to get regular/adequate rest and excercise. Studies show maintaining close ties with family/friends, reducing stress in everyday life, and volunteering to assist others, can also improve quality of life and promote wellness. And of course, avoid cigarette smoking and other risky behaviors. Cheers to a long, productive and happy life!