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Throughout the medical world, both in the past and present, perhaps the most infamous ailments of which humanity has found no cure are the various forms of cancer. However, recent advancements in oncology and dermatology have helped combat the disease, with recent treatments having the potential to raise the likelihood of survival and recovery, as well as lower the risk of future rebound. Despite medical advances, cancer care on an individual level remains difficult to navigate, with patients struggling to maintain their social and familial lives due to the overwhelming information and stress posed from treatment. High school student Matthew Szeto attempts to address the issue, creating the platform CodeTheCure to build tools patients personally request during their battle against cancer.

Since its creation, CodeTheCure has grown from a three-person project into a team of more than 70 students around the world, all working towards one goal: technology for cancer patients. The organization builds instruments meant to turn research and medical information into understandable language, help patients organize their care, and respond to the problems patients themselves report.

Due to initial criticism about the lack of novelty, the team started adding features built more specifically around what cancer patients might need. Szeto pointed to things like a voice-to-action system and a symptom-tracking calendar as examples of how CodeTheCure moved beyond a basic question-and-answer chatbot.

Szeto eventually brought in students across the nation, from schools such as UCLA, Harvard and Stanford. As the organization grew, CodeTheCure also became more selective about who joined its development team. Applicants are now screened through resumes, GitHub profiles, and prior experience since the projects themselves have grown to be much more complicated.

CodeTheCure is still in development, constantly being modified based on the positive and negative feedback from users. Yet despite these modifications, the question behind the project has remained the same: What do patients need next?

Catalyst recently had the opportunity to talk to Szeto about his journey building up CodeTheCure. For the full interview, please check out our upcoming fall 2026 issue.

Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) is an essential laboratory technique, which can be utilized in many fields, such as measuring the amount of specific DNA in any sample. Traditional PCR often only reveals the presence or absence of a DNA sequence, while qPCR has a quantitative element to it, enabling scientists to monitor the amplification of DNA and determine how much of it was in the original sample, which provides quantitative information about the amount of DNA present.

Within qPCR, the process that is undergone includes constant heating and cooling cycles, in which primers attach to target sequences and DNA strands separate, allowing DNA polymerase to subsequently build new strands. DNA is consistently copied through cycles of heating and cooling in qPCR, and in each cycle DNA strands separate, primers attach to target sequences, and the enzyme DNA polymerase builds new strands. As the DNA is amplified, fluorescent molecules emit signals that increase in intensity, allowing instruments to detect this fluorescence to allow researchers to track the growth of DNA.

Since the DNA produced is related to the fluorescence level, scientists can calculate the starting quantity of genetic material. Through these results, qPCR can detect harmful viruses, measure gene expression, and study genetic change.

qPCR has become integrated within modern science, having applications in almost every field of biology, medicine, and biotechnology – providing visualization of results through graphs derived from quantitative measurements.

Matter can be found in different states, or phases, depending on how much energy its particles have and how they are arranged and interact with one another. The most common states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas, though other states exist under extreme conditions.

In solids, particles are packed tightly together in an orderly pattern. They only vibrate in place, which is why solids keep their shape and volume.

In liquids, the particles have more energy, so some bonds break, and the particles can slide past each other. This lets liquids keep their volume but not their shape, so they flow to fit their container.

In gases, the particles have even more energy and move freely in all directions. Gases have neither a fixed shape nor a fixed volume and will expand to fill any available space.

At very high temperatures, matter becomes plasma, where atoms break apart into free electrons and positive ions. Temperature matters because it affects how particles move and how much total thermal energy there is. For example, a large, cold iceberg can have more thermal energy than a small, hot cup of tea.

By studying these states, from the coldest solids to the hottest plasma, we can see how energy influences the behavior of matter and shapes the physical world around us.

An unkept and untidy room is a notion familiar to children, and has caused great outrage and irritability from parents around the world. However, this messiness is the exact phenomenon that led to one of the most important medical discoveries in human history. 

In 1928, Scottish microbiologist Alexander Fleming went on vacation, leaving his laboratory unorganized and messy. Upon his return, Fleming noticed a petri dish containing Staphylococcus bacteria contaminated by mold. Around the mold, the bacteria had been completely killed. The death of the bacteria revealed that the mold, now known as Penicillium, acted as a powerful antibacterial agent. Fleming’s discovery of penicillin led to the discovery of antibiotics, saving countless lives around the world.

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) points to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.

A.I. has become one of the most promising technological advances ever in history. I strongly believe that A.I. will drastically change the way people do business, conduct scientific experiments, produce entertainment, engineer machines, and perhaps most dramatically, how people go to war.

Warfare is one of the most important events when it comes to shaping a civilization. There are two types of warfare in this world. The first type is the kind of violent, gun-blazing warfare where human lives are lost. The second type is monetary warfare, which is less bloody, but just as brutal and is going on right at this very moment.

First, let’s talk about how A.I. can influence the first type of warfare. Artificial intelligence can do anything in these wars. They can engineer weapons, vehicles, computers, etc.. They can even be soldiers that fight on the battlefield. This way, no human lives will be lost. Also, when coming up with battle strategies, people can find a way to input those strategies into the programming software of the machine, thus eliminating human error. Artificial intelligence allows mechanized weapons to simulate human intelligence which makes it possible for them to replace humans’ traditional role on battlefields.

Then there’s monetary warfare. Monetary warfare can be referred to as modern warfare. Now, people have been moving on from gunships and firearms to money and economic power. In today’s financial market, changes happen in the matter of nanoseconds, which is impossible for a normal human being to keep up with. However, computers can manage that as they can process information a lot faster than humans. The new development in A.I. may result in dramatic increases in our ability to process large amounts of information and even devise strategies in response to market changes that are measured in nanoseconds. Needless to say, whoever possesses technology like this will gain an edge in their performance in the marketplace.

You might be thinking, “What if they turn on us?” Well, this is not going to happen. There is a common misconception that Artificial Intelligence is the same as Artificial Consciousness. This could be the result of many Sci-Fi films portraying big deadly robots turning on mankind and starting an all-out war and panicked journalists who publish stories reinforcing public fear and ignorance of A.I.. However, one characteristic of Artificial Intelligence is not to have natural intelligence such as that displayed in animals, driven by emotion and consciousness. For a machine to have feelings like hatred and love and to make decisions based on those feelings is far beyond where we are now and is definitely not Artificial Intelligence. So, we can all take a deep breath and relax.

Artificial intelligence is going to be a real game-changer. It will affect not only the aspect of war but also crime, justice, society, and our very own sense of being human. The age of artificial intelligence is nearing, and it will push us to make choices in our quest for a great future life, intelligence, and consciousness—on Earth and beyond.

[Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3] [Source 4 – ‌Tegmark, Max. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Vintage Books, 2017.]

With increasing detriments to human civilization, natural environments, and everything in between brought upon by climate change (1), many scientists and governments are searching for new ways to produce clean energy.

Though there has been an increase in investments of renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric power, solar power, and wind power, these technologies are simply not enough to satisfy the world’s energy demands. For quite some time, many scientists and engineers have been researching and developing a new way to produce energy—nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion is a process in which smaller atomic nuclei are combined, or fused, together to form a heavier element, and large amounts of energy is released because the total mass of the heavy element that is formed is less than that of the original nuclei (2). In order to harness energy from this process, we must find a way to sustain a plasma (3) under the conditions on Earth. Creating a plasma is actually not difficult. One can simply make one using a grape and a microwave, but it’s difficult to create a self-sustaining one in an artificial environment— which is what nuclear fusion needs. In order to commercialize fusion power and use it to generate electricity, it has to be cost-effective and reliable for long periods of time. Self-sustaining plasmas satisfy all of these requirements since it is capable of efficiently continuing nuclear fusion for a long, long time. 

Interestingly, nuclear fusion is the very mechanism that powers all of the stars in the universe, including the sun. With extremely strong gravitational pull and accompanying high pressure, the sun has the capacity to sustain its plasma for billions of years. However, Earth does not have that kind of luxury. To create a self-sustaining plasma on Earth, immense pressure and heat must be generated, in addition to finding, and using, materials capable of handling extreme conditions. The theoretical model for creating a self-sustaining plasma involves a Tokamak, which is a machine that is made of electromagnets and a vacuum chamber which is walled by an unknown material that can withstand a hundred million degrees celsius worth of temperature. As of now, none of the known materials on earth can withstand these conditions and is a major obstacle in the development of this technology.

In theory, fusion power is efficient, releases no greenhouse gases, has no chance of nuclear meltdown, and does not produce any long-term radioactive waste like fission (4) power. However, it is very costly. The construction of fusion machines and laboratories cost enormously—in the hundred billions. On top of that, the numerous engineering difficulties also require great investment. Especially with a technology like nuclear fusion still in its infancy, it is difficult to predict the future of its development. A recent milestone in Europe, Asdex Upgrade, ITER, and the JET test plant in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom respectively, have generated their first plasma (not self-sustaining) by fusing light atoms such as tritium and duterium, and more experimental operations will commence in this decade.

Footnotes

1. Climate change is a change in the average weather patterns in the atmosphere. 

2. Illustrated by Einstein’s equation, E=mc^2, mass can be converted to energy. The difference in mass in the nuclear fusion process causes energy to be released.

3. A plasma is a state of matter in which electrons are stripped from their atoms and electrostatic forces are overcome to create a superheated fluid-like cloud.

4. Nuclear fission occurs when a heavy atom splits and releases energy when it hits a another particle. This reaction usually leaves long-term nuclear waste.

[Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3] [Source 4] [Source 5]

CRISPR Cas-9, or CRISPR for short, is a tool that can edit DNA. Take out bases, put in different ones.

CRISPR doesn’t even just edit the genes of a single cell; it edits the genes of multitudes of them, and it can be used on a living organism. That means that we could edit the genes of humans with this tool to the point where being essentially superhuman is normal. CRISPR may just be the future, so taking a few minutes to learn about it seems like a worthwhile exercise. 

First: how does CRISPR work? The technology we know of as CRISPR is a combination of a protein that can cut open DNA attached to a molecule that finds where the DNA is supposed to be cut open. When the molecule reaches the desired spot, it cuts open the DNA and either puts in a DNA sequence that is attached to the molecule or removes the gene that was cut off, thereby disabling it. Then, the cell puts the DNA back together with the new adjustments. 

So, what can we do with CRISPR? One of the crazy and almost miraculous things about CRISPR is that it is relatively affordable. The molecules needed for it are not that difficult or expensive to manufacture, given the correct equipment. Another amazing feature of CRISPR: it can be used on already living organisms. This all means that CRISPR has the capacity for widespread medical uses to treat things such as genetic diseases and cancer. It also has the capacity to be used to tweak the genes of embryos to make sure that a baby isn’t born with a genetic disease or defect. Since CRISPR can be used on almost any plant or animal, it can also be used for such projects as growing organs for human transplant in pigs or increasing crop yield on a farm. In addition to all of this, it may in the future be used to create upgrades for the human genome so that humans are stronger or smarter or more resistant to certain diseases. 

CRISPR has numerous, almost endless, possibilities for use in the future, some of which we don’t even know about yet. Since CRISPR is a relatively new technology–it was invented in 2012 by Jennifer Doudna and Emanuelle Charpentier, then later refined by Feng Zhang–we still have a lot to discover about this revolutionary tool, which has forever changed biology as we know it. CRISPR has an enormous capacity to change the world for the better, but, as Spiderman once said, “with great power there must also come–great responsibility” and the same is true here. CRISPR has an astronomical amount of power. Whether we use it for good or evil? Well, that choice is ours to make. 

The campaign against climate change has surged to the spotlight yet again, as bushfires continue to engulf the Australian continent.

The fires have destroyed more than 6 million hectares of land, destroyed thousands of homes, killed more than 27 civilians and firefighters, and claimed the lives of more than half a billion animals. They have annihilated entire ecosystems, and the United States alone has sent nearly 200 firefighters and personnel to help combat the fires. While celebrities have taken to Instagram to donate millions of dollars, the fires in Australia have forced all of us to confront our own actions. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact role that climate change plays in all of this, it’s safe to say that human negligence has greatly exacerbated this environmental disaster. All of us have contributed to climate change in one way or another, which means all of us have a responsibility to rectify this ecological damage. 

A natural combination of high temperatures, prolonged drought, and dry air doesn’t end well when coupled with record high CO2 emissions. Dr. Imran Ahmed of Australian National University states that there is a direct link between climate change and the increasing  frequency and intensity of fire seasons, “because what climate change does is exacerbate the conditions in which bushfires happen” (bbc.com). Unfortunately, the future isn’t looking very bright either. Scientists predict that if the climate crisis continues to escalate at the current rate, such bushfires will be 3 times more frequent by the end of this century. Now this has a few particularly disturbing implications. First, beyond a certain point, climate change may be irreversible. In March of 2019, the United Nations General Assembly President stated, “‘We are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damage to our planet,’” emphasizing that 11 years is all we have to “avert catastrophe” (un.org). Furthermore, combating fires requires a colossal amount of resources, from airplanes to water, to the actual firefighters and volunteers who place their lives in peril in order to protect the rest of us. And we simply cannot keep up with these fires; our current methods of combating bushfires are not sustainable, and by allocating more and more resources to combat fires, we are further depleting our planet’s limited materials. 

While the Australian bushfires might not affect us directly, they must serve as a grim reminder to people all over the world of the consequences we risk facing if we don’t take action now. At the end of the day, this is the only home we’ve got; unless people and governments work collectively to solve this crisis, what is happening in Australia will become all of our realities.

[Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3] [Source 4] [Source 5]

If you’re a student in present-day America, there’s no doubt you have something to say about our education system.

Whether that criticism is positive or negative, gamification has the potential to reinvent the educational process, to the benefit of students and teachers alike. First, however, comes some sorely-needed background on gamification, its history and uses, and then how it will change our educational system in the future.

Gamification is the process of adding game elements or mechanics to an otherwise non-game-like task. When we say “game elements,” we can mean points, levels, customization--a myriad of options limited only by the creativity of the designer. Mechanics are similar, but are more akin to the “rules” of the game. They govern what the player (you) is able to do and conversely, not do, within the game. With those basics out of the way, we can begin talking about the more interesting parts. Gamification has long been researched as a way to improve the engagingness of otherwise menial tasks, like, for example, sorting letters in a post office. If a jingle played when you sorted a letter correctly, you’d be receiving positive reinforcement from the game, and would be more likely to sort letters correctly in the future--and stay engaged in the task. That is the most basic of gamified elements--basic positive reinforcers--but there are many more. Add in streaks of letters sorted correctly, points earned for each letter sorted correctly and subtracted for those sorted incorrectly, and you’ve got yourself a more involved game. It’s relatively easy to apply this to everyday work, but education is a little more tricky--which is where the research comes in.

Chances are that if you’ve ever had trouble in a class, you’ve turned to gamified education to help you out. KhanAcademy, Kahoot, and Quizlet are all examples of gamified education. Even NitroType (remember that?) has game elements to it beyond those that seem obvious. However, you’ll notice one important factor--while all of these may at some point have been used in a class, none of them comprised the body of the class entirely (at least not in public schools). The goal of gamified education is to bring adaptive, lifelong learning to students everywhere, and to do that, we need to start with public schools. The kind of gamified educational program that most resembles the program that schools use is called the MOOC--short for massive online open course. KhanAcademy is one example of a MOOC. Coursera is another. CodeAcademy is a more focused MOOC. If we are to truly gamify education, we need to understand how these programs work to keep students involved and eager to learn. An important part of that is intrinsic motivation. Students need to want to learn for themselves, not for the sake of advancing in the game--and that is a complex problem. Most motivating factors that these MOOCs use to keep students learning are external motivators that more often than not harm the student’s intrinsic motivation to keep learning. To remedy this problem, we have to turn to psychology.

Motivation theory teaches that while external rewards more often than not undermine intrinsic motivation, the manner of delivery matters in how great this undermining effect is and whether or not it occurs at all. Verbal praise generally informatic much to intrinsic motivation. Neither do unexpected rewards. In short, using specific mechanics can reduce or even nullify and reverse the impact on a student’s intrinsic motivation. Combined with effective, proven teacher techniques, like hints, we can begin to design a more effective (in more than just test scores) gamified education program for students in public schools to use. Personalize it by using informatic techniques, like machine learning, to predict based on student performance what they’ll want to learn next, and you have a recipe for lifelong learning, all through gamified education.

Space exploration has become more and more popular as we dream of one day being able to freely travel among the stars in the inky skies, yet that requires having a capable spacecraft that can help achieve these feats.

One of the biggest weaknesses that all spacecrafts possess is that they are limited by the amount of fuel they can carry. Nevertheless, an experiment by the Planetary Society set out to counteract this issue by creating the first ever spacecraft propelled by sunlight, known as LightSail2.

Launched on June 25 of 2018, it had soared into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket, and scientists have been compiling data ever since. The creation of such a technological achievement wasn’t easy and required four triangular sails, designed to be combined into one 344-square-foot sail. It was made primarily of Mylar, which is known for being a tear-resistant, extremely reflective fabric that is thinner than a human hair. Light is reflected off of the large surface area, and it adds to the momentum of the sail. In theory, it allows for indefinite propulsion, and to guarantee that sunlight is directly hitting it, the sail has to constantly adjust its orientation.. 

When it was launched, it eventually orbited at a much higher altitude than the typical satellite. For example, the International Space Station is approximately 400 kilometers above Earth’s surface while LightSail2 is 720 kilometers above. However, with the issue of atmospheric drag, LightSail2’s orbit is actually gradually getting smaller and smaller as time goes on. But as it is the first of its kind, the next generations will be used in much higher orbits that would allow for greater space exploration. The developments of this kind of new, innovative technology may someday allow for scientists to reach star systems previously unavailable to us as well as help answer countless questions about our universe.

[Source 1] [Source 2]

Catalyst Magazine interviewed Glenn Collins, a veteran of the scientific publishing industry and the former editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

From him, we learned about his career and what it takes to work in the scientific publishing industry. His answers were quite informative.

Catalyst: How and why did you pursue a career in scientific publishing?

Glenn Collins: I fell into science publishing a little by accident. I graduated with a degree in biology from Cornell University in 1991.  Not sure what to do next I took a job in a microbiology lab for a large company. I started to pursue a master’s degree in literature when my family decided to move to Arizona and I needed to make a decision.  I always liked science and so I applied for an editorial assistant position in New York City at John Wiley & Sons. I got the job and have not looked back. That was 1995 so I am in my 23rd year now. 

Catalyst: What is your favorite part of your job in this industry?

Glenn Collins: I like the idea of bring research to light for the benefit of the greater good. Publications I have worked on have published research in cardiology, physiatry, rehabilitation research and brain research. I have also played a role in the launch of new scientific journals (5 and counting) which give new avenues for more researchers to get their work out there, get noticed and who knows, maybe change the world.

Catalyst: What part of your job do you find the hardest or most difficult?

Glenn Collins: Getting scientists from all over the world to meet deadlines. That is not easy!

Catalyst: Which skills and abilities do you find to be the most important in this career?

Glenn Collins: Communication is essential. Every day I write or speak to dozens of people.  Typically I need something from them – to complete a peer review, to submit a revised paper, to check a galley proof and so on.  I need to be crystal clear in what they need to do to keep the engines humming. A science journal is not unlike a busy newspaper – there are always deadlines to watch. Time management, project planning, a little business savvy have all come into play.  My title is a misnomer. I rarely edit anything. Rather I make sure the scientific editors do the editing, the editorial assistants keep the papers going, the marketing team keep to their marketing timelines and the publisher does their job to get a high quality publication out on time.

Catalyst: What is your typical day like?

Glenn Collins: Email, email, email. Like many people my inbox is my to do list. I have several email addresses for the various journals and projects I work on.  I have to check all of them each morning, prioritize and then start knocking out replies. I often have a number of calls each day as well. Running a scientific journal can often mean you need to know about the society that owns the journal. That can mean joining staff calls, marketing calls, social media and so on.  Then I need to make sure I carve out some time for long term projects or consultancies I might currently be working on. Besides the three journals I run, I also help through the company I work for, Origin Editorial, which provides consultations for other societies and their publications.

Catalyst: Do you have any advice for students like us who aspire to work in this industry?

Glenn Collins: Science publishing is undergoing tremendous change right now.  The business model of member and institutional subscriptions is slowly giving way to the Open Access and Open Science movement.  This is in turn putting pressure on traditional revenue streams. I do not think science publishing will look like it does now in 20 years.  I would say it is a challenging time to view a long term career in it. People entering into the field now must do so with their eyes wide open and understanding what is happening and will likely continue to happen to the field.  Science publishing will always be needed of course, but going the traditional route right now might be like joining Blockbuster video just as Netflix is starting.

Thanks, Glenn!

Through this interview the editors and members of the Catalyst staff learned more about the industry we seek to replicate, and what to expect should we pursue careers in this collective interest of ours. 

Some of you may want to know more about Glenn. Glenn Collins graduated from Cornell University in 1991 with a B.S. in Biology. After working in a microbiology lab for a few years at Pall Corporation he started his STM publishing career at John Wiley and Sons in 1995. Glenn left Wiley and moved to San Diego in 2000 where he first worked for the journal Brain Research before becoming the managing editor of JACC – the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. After more than twelve years as the Executive Managing Editor of the JACC Journals, Glenn moved to Origin Editorial as the Director of Business Development and the Publications Director/Managing Editor for the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is also the Executive Editor for the journal Structural Heart: The Journal of the Heart Team. He is currently launching his fifth journal—the Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation—an open access journal.

Incurable. Life-changing.

Everyone knows about Alzheimer’s and dementia, two degenerative, long term ailments that typically affect older generations.

But what of Parkinson’s, a progressive illness that affects the nervous system over a long period of time? Like the aforementioned diseases, Parkinson’s has no discovered permanent cure yet. While there is treatment—medical drugs, change in diet, rehabilitation, and even surgery to insert microelectrodes that initiate brain simulation—they are only to alleviate symptoms of the resulting, fatal disease. In other words, Parkinson’s is a sure sign of death, with a remaining lifespan of only seven to fourteen years. While scientists suspect the origins to this disease lie in genetic and environmental elements, no real connections have been made until fairly recently.

Scientists have found recent evidence that gut bacteria, specifically from the appendix, could be a leading factor in the cause of not just Parkinson’s, but possibly other neurological based diseases. After examining the brains of patients with Parkinson’s, scientists discovered protein that was present in both the intestinal organs and the brain. The identical protein, alpha-synuclein, suggests gut-bacteria can travel up the spinal cord to the brain. Because the evidence is still recent, it is not advisable to get an immediate appendectomy for prevention. However, with the promising display of verification towards the roots of Parkinson’s, a cure can be envisioned, just on the horizon.

[Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3]

The images sent back were stunning. On September 22, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed two MINERVA rovers on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu.

One of them snapped this amazing “action” photo of Ryugu’s surface. Before Hayabusa2, none of the landers which descended on asteroids had the capacity to move. And the MINERVA rovers don’t rove in the traditional way. An internal “torquer” rotates quickly and causes MINERVA to “hop” around the surface of the 1-kilometer wide Ryugu, each hop lasting about 15 minutes. Upon receiving the images from Hayabusa2, Makoto Yoshikawa, the mission leader of Hayabusa2, said that he and his team “could feel the dynamic motion of [the] rover … [and were] very surprised to see such a beautiful image.” To analyze the asteroid, the MINERVA rovers are equipped with a wide variety of instruments, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, and multiple cameras. By hopping around Ryugu, they’ll be able to take measurements at multiple points on the asteroid.

But that’s not all. Hayabusa2 carries four rovers: the two MINERVA rovers mentioned above, a MASCOT rover built in collaboration with German and French space agencies, and an extra optional MINERVA rover. On October 2, Hayabusa2 successfully landed the MASCOT on Ryugu. Points if you can guess how it moves. A bit larger than the MINERVA rovers, MASCOT carries a wide-angle camera, radiometer, magnetometer, and an infrared spectral microscope.

So why is Ryugu so important, even if the pictures we get are stellar? Ryugu is a C-type (carbonaceous) asteroid, containing organic material and water from the birth of our solar system. Scientists hope that the Hayabusa2 mission will shed more light on the evolution of the solar system we call home, and possibly even the origin of life itself.

Hayabusa2’s mission will conclude with the gathering of asteroid samples, sometime in January next year. To obtain pristine asteroid material untouched by contamination, Hayabusa2 will fire a copper impactor into the surface of Ryugu, while hiding behind Ryugu. The spacecraft can then obtain pristine material from inside the asteroid. If all goes as planned, Hayabusa2 will return with its asteroid payload on December of 2020.

If you’re interested, the German space agency DLR published a YouTube video animation of the Hayabusa2 mission. It’s pretty cool! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4aZX_8hMA

[Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3] [Source 4] [Source 5] [Source 6]

When most people think of death, they imagine a complete absence of any activity within the body. However, recent research has uncovered an uneasy yet mind-boggling truth about the post-mortem human body, forcing us to reshape our definition of “death”.

Scientists discovered that even after a person “dies”, genetic activity continues for the next 24 hours. The discovery has opened doors for a new forensic technique. Instead of relying on body temperature and physical conditions, physicians can now observe patterns in genetic activity to derive a more accurate time of death. The continuation of genetic activity is also present in organisms like mice and zebrafish, whose genes function for a few days after death. Although it seems very unrealistic, the post-mortem activity of genes is not all that unusual. According to Tom Gilbert, a geneticist from the National History Museum in Copenhagen, “It’s not like you need a brain for gene expression.” Molecular processes are sustained as long as there sufficient enzymes and chemicals. Dr. Gilbert likens gene activity to a boiling pot of pasta. “If you turn the cooker off,” he says, “it’s still going to bubble away, just at a slower and slower rate.” Although this discovery is promising for the future, it is yet to be perfected to minimize variability. But it does raise unsettling questions about our bodies— “When does everything stop”, and “what actually is death?” (Science News). 

A red tide occurs when certain species of dinoflagellates, which are eukaryotic algae, suddenly bloom, increasing their numbers exponentially.

Hello CCA! I know you’re all getting antsy about summer break by now. Don’t worry. Just pull through AP testing, aim for that ‘5’, and then a couple more week of school, and there we have it: summer break! Now, a lot of you may be going to the beach this summer – so you may want to read this until the end. And now that I got your attention, I will explain to you about an interesting phenomenon that happens right here along San Diego’s beaches called a ‘red tide’.

A red tide occurs when certain species of dinoflagellates, which are eukaryotic algae, suddenly bloom, increasing their numbers exponentially. They usually cause the ocean to turn a vivid shade of red, however can they have a high color range, and can be anywhere from pink to brown. Red tides have been known to occur all around the world, but they are especially common along the Southern California coastline. The cause for this oceanic algae bloom is correlated to many factors, including below average ocean salinity, low surface nutrient content high nutrient content in water-which is caused by runoff from human activity or rain, calmer than usual seas, low wind speed near the coast. Also, despite the fact that they mainly flourish in high nutrient density, recent studies have shown that red tides can flourish in low nutrient densities on the surface of the ocean, further complicating the scientists’ research.

They can be both a vivid and dazzling experience, but are also pesky to beachgoers and sea animals. This is because some of the species responsible for these blooms release toxins, such as domoic acid, which build-up in the tissues of nearby marine animals, ranging from sea lions to squid. If too much toxin builds up, there can be significant marine animal die-offs following the tides. Humans can also be affected, but to a lesser extent. The toxins may cause mild respiratory distress, so it’s better not to wade in the water if the bloom is particularly severe.

Now on to the ‘dazzling’ part. Some of these dinoflagellates display bioluminescence, which is the ability of certain organisms to produce and emit light. At night-time, if you were to go to the beach, you would see the water glowing a light, vivid, glow-in-the-dark blue. Even in total darkness, bright glow of the algae can light up the surroundings with flashes of blue, providing a truly eye-catching experience. This phenomenon only occurs in certain places around the world, one of them being the San Diego coast, and usually happen every couple years, and typically during late summer to early fall.

Now let’s just hope that this year will be the year bioluminescent algae will make a comeback this year to reward us for our hard work this year!

[Source 1] [Source 2] [Source 3]

As I write this, it’s been three days since second semester has started. And already, my thoughts have gone from, “Wow, I’m kinda excited to change classes,” to “O summer break, bring my sweet respite from my suffering.” And, unfortunately, this attitude is an unavoidable part of high school life.

One one hand, school can be a great place, whether it’s starting the day with music during band or ending the day in conservatory. On the other, we go to CCA—the school where everyone has decided that the best classes are the hardest ones. And with this attitude, stress is imminent.

Stress, if it makes you feel better can actually be “science-ed” away as the excessive production of a variety of chemicals, including adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) to promote the production of cortisol, adrenaline, and thyroxine. Overall, the stimulation of these glands/hormones promote a fight or flight response. In other words, when you’re dealing with school related stress, your body is quite literally encouraging you to enter gladiatorial combat with your homework. (“Only one of us will survive, Integral Worksheet, and I don’t plan to pass until I make the most out of girl scout cookie season”).

That being said, fighting to the death against every homework assignment is bound to take its toll on you so here’s a couple ways to chill out—backed up with more science!

The keys to combating stress are endorphins, one of the many types of brain chemicals otherwise known as neurotransmitters. Endorphins are, in crass terms, the body’s natural opioids. Interacting with the body’s opiate receptors, endorphins reduce our perception of pain while also stimulating feelings of euphoria, modulating appetite, and enhancing our immune system. Overall, they make you feel happier and less stressed.

Both ginseng and spicy foods such as peppers help stimulate the production of endorphins. On the more tasteful side, the cocoa found in chocolate also relieves stress. Physical activity such as running (or walking, if you’re like me and prefer to stay away from intense cardio) is another good way to stimulate endorphin production, while also providing additional health benefits.

In addition to endorphins, exercising has an additional benefit of expending energy. As a result, it’s much easier to fall asleep, and a larger majority of the rest you get will be REM sleep. REM sleep—in addition to being a “deeper” sleep—actually reduces the amount of stress hormones produced while also reorganizing your mind for new experiences the next day. That being said, going to bed at one in the morning isn’t likely to magically or scientifically reduce your stress levels. However, taking time to workout will ensure that the 2-3 hours of sleep you actually get will be more effective and efficient. (On an unrelated note, exercise is also proven to help with memorization, so studying as you exercise may actually help you pass that one AP exam).

Well that’s all for now CCA, keep up the good work and try to stay relaxed!

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On December 22, 2017, a white streak raced across the night sky. My sister and I, never seeing anything like it, hoped that we were witnessing first contact by alien life forms.

To our surprise (and slight disappointment), the white streak was the fourth Falcon 9 launch and the first to reuse a booster from one of the previous launches. The unprecedented “reusable” rocket is one of the many successful launches headed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. Musk, the CEO of Space X as well as the famous car company Tesla, has big dreams of putting humans on Mars in the near future—possibly as soon as 2024.

Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world and is scheduled to launch on February 6, 2018; it can lift off with the weight of 54 metric tons, which is more than enough to carry passengers, crew, luggage, and fuel. Though Musk is not planning to send Falcon Heavy to Mars, it would hopefully achieve SpaceX’s goal of landing all three (reused) engine cores, something Musk has called a sort of “synchronized aerial ballet.” If Falcon Heavy is successful (knock on wood), it would be a monumental first step toward colonizing outside of Earth.

Despite SpaceX’s numerous and incredibly ambitious missions the past few years, they have not slowed down: SpaceX has already generated plans to create an even bigger reusable rocket called BFR. According to Musk, BFR will most likely be the means to colonize Mars. The advancements that SpaceX will make in the near future will place a mark in history, and perhaps, in the next generation, we will be living on new worlds.

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Before informing you about the consequence of falling into a black hole, I must first explain what one is. Black holes can be sorted into three main categories: primordial, stellar, and, supermassive.

Primordial black holes are the smallest and are the size of an atom, though do not let their size fool you. They have the mass of a large mountain and are thought to have formed in the Big Bang. The next biggest type are stellar black holes, which have a diameter of 10 miles and have a mass that can be as large as that of 20 suns. Lastly, there are supermassive black holes, which are thought to have the size of universe, and are the size of a solar system.

Now to answer the real question, if a person were to fall into a black hole, then they would surely not survive. I will now explain the most common theories of what would occur if a human were to fall into a black hole. First of all, the human would fall in due to the massive gravity of the black hole. In addition, they would not be able to escape, as even light cannot; hence, black holes cannot be seen by the naked eye. However, the heat of the surface is enough to incinerate a human already. Black holes not only emit great heat on their horizon, but they bend time and space as well. Another theory is that the amount of speed of gravity that the black wave pulls a human at is enough force to destroy the body completely. Lastly, the coming into contact with both time and space could rip one’s self apart. In conclusion, as I am sure you know, Do Not Enter Black Holes.

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Since the beginning of 2017, the value of bitcoin has shot up from $1,000 to nearly $20,000. It’s extremely hot right now, but what exactly is bitcoin?

Although much of bitcoin’s popularity is from its trading value which fluctuates from day to day similar to a stock, bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. As the name suggests, a cryptocurrency is digital money. Unlike currencies such as dollars, which are managed and produced by the government, bitcoin is a decentralized monetary system. Being decentralized means that bitcoins are managed without a central figure of authority. Bitcoins can be used to send money, buy goods, or can be used as an investment. Furthermore, all bitcoin transactions go directly from one party to another without going through anyone such as a bank, and can also be used to instantly send money internationally without any international fees.

Because bitcoin is a digital currency, bitcoins are stored in a digital “wallet” in the computer of the user or in the cloud. The wallet is essentially an online bank account in which users can send and receive money, or buy goods. Despite the fact that all bitcoin transactions are recorded publicly in the blockchain, a database of transaction information, the user’s name is not revealed. Only the wallet IDs are revealed, thus making bitcoin use mostly anonymous.

Bitcoin was created by an unknown person or group under the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. The way bitcoins are produced is through a process called mining, in which bitcoin miners compete by using a computer software to solve math problems. In exchange for solving the problems, miners receive a certain amount of bitcoins. The maximum number of bitcoins that will ever be created is 21 million.

Now, where can one get started with bitcoin? There are many websites in which anyone with a credit card or bank account can buy bitcoins such as Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Bitfinex. Also, it is possible to buy a fraction of a bitcoin, not just in whole numbers. As for the future of bitcoin, time will tell where it goes.

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What was the greatest plot twist of all time for you? Was it Game of Thrones’s shocking Red Wedding? The big Harry-is-a-horcrux reveal in Harry Potter?

For the colleagues of Dr. James Barry, it was the discovery that their irritable, combative, but undoubtedly brilliant coworker was, in fact, a woman.

Dr. James Barry was born Margaret Ann Bulkley to a middle class Irish family during the 1790s. Despite her modest station and the inequalities women faced at that time, she always had ambitions to join the army. Dr. Michael du Preez and Jeremy Dronfield noted in their biography James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time that Barry had once expressed to her brother that “Were I not a girl, I would be a soldier!”

Due to some financial issues with her family, Barry later moved to London with her mother. It was here where she met and impressed some powerful friends of her uncle, a famous Irish painter also named James Barry. These friends would become instrumental as they used their power to get Barry enrolled in the University of Edinburgh as a medical student. At around 19 years old, Margaret Ann Bulkley shedded her old name and officially became James Barry; Barry would maintain this identity for almost the next sixty years, even in private. A minor snafu occurred when the University, noting Barry’s short stature and high-pitched voice, assumed that he was a child and attempted to block him from taking the final exams, but the Earl of Buchan, one of Barry’s uncle’s friends, threw his support behind him and allowed him to take the tests. Otherwise, the rest of Barry’s education was rather uneventful; after earning an MD the University of Edinburgh, he went to London to work at the United Hospitals of Guy’s and St Thomas’, after which he passed the examinations for the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1813.

Dr. Barry’s first job was a Hospital Assistant in the British Army; after three years, he was promoted to Assistant Surgeon of the Forces and assigned to Capetown, South Africa. While there, she befriended the Governor, Lord Somerset, after he treated his sick daughter; Barry later went on to become the governor’s personal physician and was appointed the Colonial Medical Inspector. During his time in South Africa, Dr. Barry became an avid activist for better sanitation, improved water systems, and better living conditions for the lower class and prisoners. He also performed the first successful Caesarean section in Africa wherein both the mother and child lived. The descendant of that child, James Barry Munnik Hertzog, later became a prime minister of South Africa.

As he was stationed around various parts of the British Empire, including Mauritius, the West Indies, Corfu, and Canada, Dr. Barry advocated for improvement in living conditions and sanitation, especially for the poor. His uncouth and at times overly forward way of doing so contributed to his reputation as a particularly short-tempered individual; in one famous example of his fiery temperament, Dr. Barry had a public feud with Florence Nightingale after which Nightingale labeled him a “brute”. He was demoted, heavily reprimanded, and even got into a duel with a fellow soldier. Despite this, he was also known for being kind to animals, his favorite being his pet poodle Psyche.

After being forced to retire in 1859 due to poor health and old age, Dr. Barry died in London of dysentery the following year, leaving behind astounded colleagues and an inspiring–and admittedly colorful–legacy. No matter what people may have thought of her hot-headed actions as Dr. James Barry, Margaret Ann Bulkley’s story is indisputably one for the history books: as a trailblazer, but also as a fantastically talented surgeon in her own right.

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Looking up at the night sky, everything we see is the past. It takes light many millions of years to reach us, and by the time it does, the stars we see are completely gone. And, these once incredibly enormous stars are merely a speck in our night sky.

In the same sense, every message we send to space takes an incredible amount of time, and interstellar communication, thus, is nearly unachievable. Our radio messages, part of Active SETI, or Active Search for Extraterrestrial Life, itself not only take millions of years to reach our nearest neighbors, but the signal itself also diminishes. Lasers have also been experimented, with its possibilities to outshine nearby stars, and to the more extreme, modulated neutrinos or gravitational waves can be manipulated to send messages. But all these methods for interstellar communication have problems such as the farther away you are, the less powerful the signal.

So, is there a way for effective interstellar communication?

Not quite, but there is a very intriguing concept: the messenger theory.

Proposed by John R. Samuels before a forgotten conference, Samuels describes advanced alien life communicating through organisms. Instead of using physics, you use biology, where the message will be just as powerful millions of miles away as it was near you. Simply, one would create a tough and extreme bug, where it can withstand space, and for a cheap price, you could send a few out where they will duplicate and divide in any and every direction, reaching all corners of a galaxy and as strong as the first ones. These organisms, upon contact with life, could grow fully and share their DNA and knowledge, thereby informing their presence in the world and how future contact with the host could be made.

Obviously this theory is not one we could use or should use, but it itself is very incredible.

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