no limits fall winter 2012 edition

NOLIMITS Fa l lW i n t e r2012

The Hotchkiss Science & Technology Magazine

HIGGS BOSON:THE GOD PARTICLE

A SHATTERING

DISCOVERY FROM CERN

FLY FISHING:THE HIDDEN SCIENCETHE FUNDING CRISIS SURROUNDING NASATHE SCIENCE BEHIND TYPOGRAPHY

2 • No Limits • Fall 2012

SCIENCE @ HOTCHKISS

04 Science Club’s Maker Faire Trip The club visits an inventor’s fair

06 Summer Research at RPI Students detail their summer work

08 Dr. George F. Cahill Jr. Commemorating a Hotchkiss alum

ARTICLES

09 Psychopath Brains What makes theirs different?

10 Hypnosis: Healer or Hack? Is it a viable treatment? 11 Schwann Cell Migration Daniel Lee ‘12’s summer research

12 Elephant Intelligence Why they are smarter than we think

14 The New Gene Meme theory and society today

16 Chem Mysteries

The top ten unsolved mysteries

FEATURES

18 Typography The hidden science behind text

22 Higgs Boson Its mystery unraveled

26 NASA The funding crisis.

28 The Science of Fly Fishing Part-physics & part-biology

31 Works Cited

FRONT COVER Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour. © NASA.

No Limits • Fall 2012 • 3

Editors-In-Chief Eric Li ‘13 & Sara Schroer ‘13

Managing EditorSejin Park ‘13

Art EditorVivian Xiao ‘15

Contributing WritersAustin Kim ‘13Margaret Lederer ‘13Daniel Lee ‘12Martie Ogle ‘14Ashley Park ‘13James Post ‘15

Faculty AdvisorDr. Susan Park

Visit us online:hotchkissmedia.org/nolimits

Like us on Facebook:facebook.com/hotchkissnolimits

Comments may be sent to: Eric Li ‘13 [email protected] Park ‘13 [email protected] Schroer ‘13 [email protected] Xiao ‘15 [email protected]

FROM THE EDITORSNo Limits began as a small group of students who met to share and dis-

cuss articles relating to scientific discoveries that they were interested

in. Eventually, this passionate group of students, under the guidance

of Mr. Jim Morrill, became a magazine and saw its first publication in

1988.

Besides his involvement with No Limits, Mr. Morrill’s contributions to

the Hotchkiss community have been numerous. From the establishment

of Eco Day to the day to day teaching of AP Biology, Mr. Morrill’s great-

est addition to Hotchkiss is our AP Environmental Science Curriculum,

which he single-handedly introduced to this school. He leaves with us

a legacy of one of the school’s most distinguished science faculty.

With Mr. Morrill as the club advisor, No Limits grew and flourished

for over 25 years. But at the same time, the magazine never strayed far

from its original intentions “to arouse your interest in science,” as Victor

Chu ’89, the first editor, put it. Mr. Morrill helped to foster an environ-

ment where people interested in science at any level could just come

and write about their passions and share it with the community.

As time passed, the activity of the magazine diminished and publi-

cations often strayed away from the original purpose of the club. This

issue marks the beginnings of a rebirth of the club. With this, we hope

to bring No Limits into the 21st century while still retaining much of

the club’s ideals that were fostered under Mr. Morrill.

Our mission statement is to “Bridge the gap between classrooms

and the real world, humanities & science, advanced student research-

ers and beginners, and much more.” To accomplish this while still keep-

ing the spirit of the magazine alive, we will be extending the breadth

of our articles beyond science to the fields of technology, engineering,

and mathematics. We will be concurrently publishing the print edi-

tion as well as an online edition to make it accessible to anyone. New

articles will also be posted to our online blog and on our Facebook

page so as to really share our passions and “arouse your interest in

science” as readers.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if it weren’t for

the leadership of Mr. Morrill. Thus, with much pride and gratitude, the

No Limits staff would like to dedicate this issue to him as an honor of

his significant contributions to not only the magazine itself, but also

the Hotchkiss community.

We hope you enjoy!

The Editors


MAKER FAIRE

2012

1 Eepy Bird gives a demonstration with Coke Zero and Mentos. 2 Robots from the FIRST Robotics Competition. 3 David Pogue, NYT Columnist, speaking on science in the media. 4 Stephen Wolfram discussing the use of Mathematica in education. 5 A 3D printer. 6 An AI bot named Hubo. 7 Towers made of toothpicks. 8 A 3D wood printer. 9 A life size mousetrap. Images taken by Sejin Park ‘13, Eric Li ‘13, Vivian Xiao ‘15.

4

7

SCIENCE @ HOTCHKISS


n the early hours of September 30th, 2012, the

Science Club headed down to the New York

Hall of Science in Queens, NY to attend the

annual World Maker Faire. This is an event that

“celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, science projects

and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset”. Every year, the

world’s makers, inventors, engineers, artists, scientists,

and hackers all gather at this space to showcase their

work. In addition to strolling around to many exhibits,

the students also had a chance to participate in hands-

on workshops and demonstrations. In the auditorium,

names such as Stephen Wolfram and David Pogue

educated visitors about the uses of Mathematica, a

computer algebra system, and scientific education in

public television.

“It was a way for me to see all of the different cool

projects that people around the world are working

on,” said Franton Lin ‘14, the co-head of Science Club,

“we really hope for the Maker Faire to become a great

introduction trip to the club, and get people psyched

about science in general.” □

Science club meets every Friday from 6:30-7:30 PM in the Science Building. The club heads are Eric Li ‘13 and Franton Lin ‘14 advised by William Fenton.

1 2 3

5 6

8 9

I


For the month of July this past summer, a group of 9 Hotchkiss

students went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. There, they

lived in dormitories and did research in the labs of different pro-

fessors. For this issue, we asked each of them to discuss their

experiences working in a lab environment.

Jessica Chen ‘13I studied the ability of the freshwater fern Azolla to uptake and

metabolize estrogenic compounds from the water. It was im-

portant to environmental issues because phytoremediation is

a promising and uninvasive way to remove dangerous environ-

mental pollutants from watersheds and aquifers.

Emily Silva ‘13This summer I worked in Dr. Corr’s lab at RPI with a masters

student, Hsin Dat Li. I was working in Biomedical engineering on

growing tendon fibers. We tested different variables to find the

optimal conditions and best methods for successfully growing

the fibers. Although I will not be able to continue the research

because I do not have the resources away from RPI, I had an

amazing experience. Everything was exciting, even the simple

tasks, because I felt like I was doing something important. I defi-

nitely plan on seriously continuing science in college, and hope-

fully pursuing a career in the sciences.

Meghana Koduru ‘14I worked in Dr. Patrick Maxwell’s lab on aging yeast cells. We es-

sentially gave the yeast cells a certain amount of food to start

with and once they ran out, they stopped growing. At this point

we counted how many cells were still living and also how many

could grow to form colonies if given more food. Aging yeast cells

help us understand how different animals age because there are

many similarities in the genome of yeast and mammals.

Dou Dou ‘13I worked in the Lakshmi lab researching on Photosystem ll in the

cells of plants, and in a bigger context of bio-solar energy trans-

duction study. We also worked on synthesis of the manganese

water-splitting center, EPR(Electron Paramagnetic Resonance),

and the inhibition of oxygen evolution in PS ll.

Austin Kim ‘13I worked on a biomedical engineering project that studied the

effects of alginate-based hydrogels to mitigate spinal cord

injury. In this study, four types of hydrogels prepared with bovine

serum albumin (BSA) were monitored for BSA release in artificial

cerebral spinal fluid (aCSF) over the course of two weeks. The

gels are injected onto a well plate through a syringe in order

to replicate the administration of injectable alginate hydrogels

in situ. A major part of this study was to apply the release of

BSA as a model for the release of small interfering RNA (siRNA).

siRNA works in the RNA interference pathway where it prevents

the translation of certain proteins, effectively “silencing” them.

A final goal of this project is to eventually have the hydrogels

carry siRNA that will use its gene silencing properties to block

synthesis of proteins such as GFAP and disrupt formation of the

glial scar to enhance regeneration outcomes.

Eric Li ‘13My research at RPI involved the effective transformation of Bacil-

lus megaterium using electroporation. I worked under Nicholas

Marchand in the lab of Cynthia Collins. Together we attempted

to explore the method of using electroporation to insert an en-

fuvirtide plasmid into the cell. Enfuviritde is an HIV inhibitor, and

the point of this research would be to find a cheaper more ef-

ficient way of producing HIV medicine rather than the currently

expensive treatment regimen. Electroporation involves applying

a high voltage shock to the cell, opening microscopic pores and

allowing the plasmid to enter the cell.

SUMMER RESEARCH

RPI@


Sejin Park ‘13My research had a very application-oriented goal: to redesign a

sequence of peptides that is used to detect the onset of acute

myocardial infarction, a lethal heart condition. To produce pep-

tides with better affinity to Troponin I, the protein that needs to

be detected, I took the single amino acid mutagenesis approach,

a technique of substituting an amino acid in the sequence with

other naturally occurring amino acids. After synthesizing, print-

ing, and screening peptides, some of the new sequences were

found to perform better than the original wildtype sequence. In

the long run, my research will be helpful in understanding more

about protein-peptide affinity on the amino acid level. I have

learned not only how to use many specific scientific instruments,

but also important lab techniques and approaches in research

and engineering in general.

LEFT Dou Dou ‘13 and Peter Moon ‘13 working in the Lakshmi Lab BELOW Back: Paul Oberto, Eric Li ‘13, Sejin Park ‘13, Peter Moon ‘13, Dou Dou ‘13, Austin Kim ‘13. Front: Emily Silva ‘13, Meghana Koduru ‘14, Jessica Chen ‘13, & Priyanka Sekhar ‘13.Images provided by Paul Oberto

Priyanka Sekhar ‘13I studied stem cell alignment and differentiation during my time

at RPI. The purpose of my project was to find a more efficient

way to culture stem cells for applications in the field of tissue

engineering. I used micropatterned surfaces to direct the growth

of the C2C12 cells. I then looked at deviations from the pattern

(compared to the control) to determine which micropatterned

surface and what conditions allowed for the most efficient and

directed stem cell growth.

Peter Moon ‘13I studied processes in photosynthesis. My lab focused on the ac-

tivity of the protein complex Photosystem II (PSII) and, specifical-

ly, a cubane manganese-based structure within this complex that

oxidizes water. My work involved the synthesis and purification

simplified versions of this structure, bonded to terpyridine mol-

ecules, to be studied via Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR).

Analysis of these EPR studies allowed us to observe the effects

of the bonded ligands on the efficiency and structure of the syn-

thesized manganese compounds and compare the results to EPR

studies of the naturally occurring manganese catalysts in PSII.

r. George F. Cahill Jr. ‘44, a prom-

inent Hotchkiss Alum in the

field of medicine, passed away

on July 30, 2012 as a result of complica-

tions due to pneumonia at the age of 85.

He was an unsurpassed diabetes expert

who clarified the role of insulin in human

metabolism, especially during starvation.

Dr. Cahill entered The Hotchkiss School

in 1940 barely 13, the youngest in class.

He immediately distinguished himself

as a bright scholar, receiving the Phillips

Prize for excellence in plane geometry

as well as being the head of the Chem-

Physics club. After receiving his BS in

biology from Yale University, he complet-

ed medical school at Columbia College

of Physicians and Surgeons, where his

father was on the faculty as a uro-

logic surgeon. At the Peter Bent Brigham

Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s),

Dr. Cahill began lifelong research on the

metabolism of glucose and amino acids

during feeding and fasting, as well as in

obesity and diabetes. His studies set forth

many of the tenets that form the basis of

our classic understanding of these pro-

cesses, said Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, the chief

academic officer at the Joslin Diabetes

Center in Boston, where Dr. Cahill was

research director from 1962 to 1978.

During human starvation, the body

initially uses glucose as its main fuel if it

is available. If glucose supply is depleted,

insulin is secreted to break down gly-

cogen into glucose. Dr. Cahill’s research,

which often involved test subjects such

as hibernating bears or divinity students

who were paid to fast for a week, shed

light on the next step of metabolism. He

explained that a drop in level of insulin

leads to breakdown of fatty acids into

ketones, which can cross the blood-brain

barrier and feed the brain as an alterna-

tive fuel. His studies revealed that insulin

is the “primary mover” in determining

human starvation, which interestingly

parallels a diabetes patient, who lacks

insulin, and a starving person, accord-

ing to Dartmouth biology professor Lee

Witters.

Dr. Cahill also found the later stages of

prolonged starvation, in which the body

breaks down protein from the liver to use

as a fuel. This can be life-threatening as

it impacts many vital organs and muscles.

Dr. Cahill authored more than 300

scientific articles and reviews in the field

of metabolism, many of them seminal

discoveries. The studies transformed sci-

entists’ understanding of starvation and

the way insulin regulates metabolism,

said Dr. Joseph Avruch, a professor of

medicine at the Harvard Medical School,

as referenced by the New York Times in

its August 17 tribute.

Former headmaster George Van

Santvoord described Dr. Cahill as “a vig-

orous young man of fine physique, good

intellectual ability, and excellent char-

acter.” Dr. Cahill’s legacy lives on in not

only his works, but also with generations

of researchers he impacted during his

teaching, administrative, and research

career at Harvard Medical school, Joslin

Diabetes Center, Howard Hughes Medical

Institute (HMMI), Dartmouth College, and

many more. Especially in Dartmouth, he

is remembered as a gifted teacher who

“could reduce the most complex bio-

chemical phenomena down to the under-

standing of a philosophy major,” wrote an

August 14 tribute from Dartmouth.

In 1990, Dr. Cahill was awarded

Alumnus of the Year at Hotchkiss to

celebrate his illustrious career. In this

issue No Limits commemorates him as a

distinguished alumnus. □Special thanks to the alumni office for pro-

viding us with with invaluable information.

© Associated Press


DDR.GEORGECAHILL

BY SEJIN PARK ‘13


ccording to a new study

led by University of Wis-

consin-Madison Research-

ers, the images of the

brains of those who are

diagnosed as psychopaths and those who

aren’t show significant differences. The

study discovered reduced

connectivity between an

area of prefrontal cortex

(PFC) and the amygdala.

The study took place in

a medium-security prison

in Wisconsin. Dr. Kent

Kiehl from the University

of New Mexico and the

MIND Research Network

brought a mobile MRI

scanner to the prison

and scanned the prison-

ers’ brains. Then another

investigator, Dr. Mike

Koenigs and his graduate

student, Julian Motzkin,

analyzed the brain scans.

The analysis com-

pared the brains of 20

prisoners with a diagno-

sis of psychopathy with

the brains of 20 other

prisoners who commit-

ted similar crimes but

were not diagnosed with psychopathy.

UW-Madison psychology Professor

Joseph Newman claimed, “The combina-

tion of structural and functional abnor-

malities provides compelling evidence

that the dysfunction observed in this

crucial social-emotional circuitry is a

stable characteristic of our psychopathic

offenders. I am optimistic that our ongo-

ing collaborative work will shed more

light on the source of this dysfunction

and strategies for treating the problem.”

The results could explain the heart-

less and impulsive antisocial behavior

of most psychopaths. The study showed

that psychopaths have reduced con-

nections between the ventromedial

prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the part of

brain that controls the sentiments of

empathy and guilt, and the amygdala,

which is responsible for fear and anxiety.

Assistant professor of psychiatry in

the University of Wisconsin School of

Medicine and Public Health asserted,

“This is the first study to show both struc-

tural and functional differences in the

brains of people diagnosed with psy-

chopathy. Those two structures in the

brain, which are believed to regulate

emotion and social behavior, seem to

not be communicating as they should.”

The University of Haifa conducted a

similar study on psychopath brain struc-

ture. “Our findings show that people who

have psychopathic symp-

toms behave as though

they are suffering frontal

brain damage,” said Dr.

Simone Shamay-Tsoory,

who conducted the

study. The study assessed

17 people who are diag-

nosed as psychopathic,

but not suffering from

any brain damage; and

another 25 individu-

als who are experienc-

ing frontal lobe injury.

Each of the subjects

underwent a computer-

ized test examining the

ability to understand

another’s thoughts and

emotions and show em-

pathy for another’s emo-

tions. The results showed

that both psychopaths

with no brain damage

and individuals with

frontal lobe damage demonstrated a sim-

ilar difficulty of showing empathy. “Seeing

as psychopathic behavior is similar to that

of a person with brain damage, it could be

that it could benefit from similar forms of

treatment,” Dr. Shamay-Tsoory noted. □

PSYCHOPATHBRAINS

BY ASHLEY PARK ‘13

The Joker from Batman: The Dark Knight. By Vivian Xiao ‘15.

A

ARTICLES

“Gentle Hypnosis” ©2012 leetSpaz (Deviantart).


hen one thinks of the

word “hypnosis,” im-

ages of polished pen-

dulums, mesmerizing

chants, or even The Professor from Gil-

ligan’s Island come to mind. For centu-

ries, hypnotism has always garnered the

attention of many, ranging from the de-

voted occult to the hopeful practitioner.

Hypnotism began with the work of Franz

Anton Mesmer in the 18th century. A sim-

ple Austrian physician, Mesmer believed

that he had discovered a phenomenon he

dubbed Animal Magnetism. He believed

that he could summon a healing wave of

bodily fluid controlled by the cosmos, and

that Animal Magnetism, which accumulat-

ed in his own body, could be passed on to

others. Mesmer therefore thought he had

the power to cure people in a hypnotic

ritual that became known as mesmerism.

In the early 19th century, James Braid,

a Scottish surgeon, developed hypnosis

which was based on Mesmer’s primi-

tive work. By investigating and later

developing his own trance-inducing

techniques, Braid created a crude form

of hypnotism to be used as a rudimen-

tary form of anesthetic during surgeries.

But what role does hypnosis play in

the world of modern medicine? To many,

it appears only as a quasi-science or fancy

magic trick. Despite this, the art of hyp-

nosis has actually been proven benefi-

cial to patients undergoing post-surgery

rest and recovery. A study by radiologists

at Harvard Medical School, published in

2000, found that patients who received

hypnosis before and after surgery re-

quired less medication, had fewer com-

plications, and underwent drastically

shorter recovery procedures than patients

who did not undergo hypnosis. In a 2002

follow-up study, the radiologists con-

cluded that if every patient having sur-

gery were to receive hypnosis the sav-

ings would amount to $338 per patient.

However, one must take caution in

agreeing to such a risky treatment. There

is no universal licensing process for hyp-

nosis practitioners. Edward Frischholz, a

clinical psychologist in Chicago who has

written more than 50 papers on clini-

cal and experimental hypnosis, said that

“hypnosis is like a surgeon’s knife: in the

right hands it can be life-saving, but in the

wrong it could cause harm.” (Lesley B6) □

HYPNOSISHEALER OR

HACK?

W

BY AUSTIN KIM ‘13

Schwann cells growing on tubules taken by researchers at Purdue University. ©2012 Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University.


SCHWANN CELL MIGRATION

BY DANIEL LEE ‘12

ver the summer of 2011,

I worked in a biomedical

engineering lab at Rensse-

laer Polytechnic Institute

that researches nerve re-

generation. The goal of my project was

to investigate the migration of Schwann

cells following electrical stimulation in

a 3D, carbon nanotube-embedded con-

struct.

The peripheral nervous system (PNS)

is made up of all nerves outside the brain

and the spinal cord, and it serves to con-

nect the central nervous system to limbs

and organs. In the event of a peripheral

nerve injury, due to a car accident, for ex-

ample, the severed nerve can only regen-

erate under optimal circumstances. Nerve

regeneration is impeded by factors such

as cell scarring, apoptosis (programmed

cell death), and a lack of a permissive en-

vironment. The role of Schwann cells is

critical in creating this permissive envi-

ronment for axonal regrowth.

Schwann cells are the support cells

of the PNS. They promote nerve regen-

eration by clearing scar tissue, releasing

soluble factors and expressing surface li-

gands, and thus allowing for the severed

nerve to reconnect. Thus, the migration of

Schwann cells to the injury site may be

critical in aiding nerve regeneration. Pre-

vious studies in the lab has shown that

in a 3D construct, electrically stimulated

Schwann cells migrate 68% further than

unstimulated cells.

However, applications of electrical

stimulation in the human body pose chal-

lenges because electrical signals may get

trapped in the adjacent connective tissue

before reaching the target site. Thus, an

inclusion of an electrically conductive

biomaterial may effectively focus the

electrical cues to the injury site, allowing

for a more effective treatment.

My hypothesis was that the addition of

single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)

in conjunction with electrical stimulation

will cause the Schwann cells to migrate

further than samples without SWCNT. In

my experiment I embedded rat Schwann

cells in a hydrogel construct with SWCNT

and stimulated these constructs for eight

hours under 50mV/mm. Then, I stained

these constructs, imaged them using a

light microscope, and measured the dis-

tance migrated using the images.

I showed that the Schwann cells with

both electrical stimulation and electri-

cally conductive nanotubes displayed

further migration compared to cells with

either one cue or none.This study is a

first step in examining the feasibility of

using electrically conductive biomate-

rial for nerve injury. Future work includes

increasing the sample size, studying the

differences in the physical properties of

the SWCNT-laden hydrogel due to the

inclusion of the nanomaterial, enhancing

the dispersion of the nanomaterial within

the construct, and evaluating migration

over a wider range of electrical stimuli. □

O


Elephant researchers have found that the way these animals interact with their environment and each other could be proof of intelligence.”

© Prince Eleazer, National Geographic


ost people would include

humans, apes, and dol-

phins on the list of most

intelligent animals. How-

ever, a much larger mammal belongs on

this list as well: elephants. Through nu-

merous studies, scientists have collected

both physical and behavioral evidence

for their intelligence.

Elephant researchers have found that

the way these animals interact with their

environment and each other could be

proof of intelligence. One of the main

reasons is that, like primates, elephants

use tools. They grip sticks, stones, and

other objects with their trunks to intimi-

date enemies, scratch themselves, and

shoo away insects. Also, elephant calves

will play with found objects from their

environment.

Another reason scientists believe in

elephant intelligence is that they mourn

their dead. When a member of their herd

dies, elephants will gather around the

dead. They will watch over the body for

days, only leaving for food. Elephants are

migratory animals, traveling hundreds of

miles a year, but when they pass a spot

where a family member has died in the

past, they will pause and exhibit signs of

mourning.

Besides personal memory, elephants

appear to retain cultural memory as well.

This taught culture is one of the biggest

supporters of elephant intelligence. In

herds that have been hunted in the past

display an intense fear of humans. How-

ever, herds that haven’t been hunted re-

spond to humans in curious and friendly

manner.

One way scientists gauge animal in-

telligence is through the complexity of

their communication. Elephants interact

with each other both through body lan-

guage and verbally. However, their range

of hearing goes to a much lower decibel

than humans. Because of this ability, el-

ephants can communicate at the lower

frequency and make seismic “noises” that

travel as vibrations in the ground.

Lastly, the strongest case for elephant

intelligence is that they are self-aware.

They are capable of recognizing them-

selves in mirrors. If an elephant sees dirt

on itself in the mirror, it will try to rub the

smudge off.

Besides behavioral evidence, scientists

have found physical proof of intelligence

as well. Like a human, the elephant’s

brain develops over many years giving

the elephant a span of 10 years to ac-

quire knowledge. This ability to learn is

quite unique in the animal kingdom. Re-

searchers have also found that elephants

depend on these learned behaviors rath-

er than instinctual ones.

More physical evidence towards el-

ephantine intelligence is that the brain of

an elephant is highly convoluted. This in-

tricate folding increases the surface area

of the brain, as it does in other intelligent

species such as humans and dolphins.

Scientists believe that there is a direct

correlation between the amount of brain

folding and the intelligence of the mam-

mal.

However, because elephants are dif-

ferent species than humans, we must

be careful not to give their actions and

intelligence our motives. Their need to

communicate or use tools, while funda-

mentally similar, is very different from our

own need. The possibility of understand-

ing this unique intelligence would be lost

if we tried to inflict it with our own expe-

rience. □

ELEPHANTINTELLIGENCE

M

BY SARA SCHROER ‘13


hroughout the history of man, one thing has been

passed on through generation after generation: cul-

ture. Similar to a gene, ideas that follow this type of

cultural transmission, coined “memes” are similar to

genetic transmission in that they both survive multiple genera-

tions, so to speak.

Coined by Richard Dawkins, the author of his 1976 book The

Selfish Gene, meme comes from the Greek root Mimeme, which

basically means imitation. In essence, a meme is an idea, behav-

ior, or concept that spreads from person to person within a cul-

ture.

Unlike genes, which modify the phenotype of an organism

and are passed on physically via DNA, memes often concern a

person’s mind, and are passed from person to person through

speech or other extracellular methods. Such examples of this

type of spread include tunes, ideas, fashions, and even the idea of

God, all of which originated from an individual or group of indi-

viduals, and propagated throughout the course of history. What is

interesting to discuss here, is the spread of such ideas and their

further effects on society.

Simply put, a meme “propagates [itself] in the meme pool

by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad

sense, can be called imitation,” (192). If a person hears, reads

about, or sees a good idea, he or she will pass it on to his friends,

and this process continues, until eventually, a large group of peo-

ple learns about it and it becomes a meme. The brain basically

becomes a vector in which the meme is allowed to propagate,

much like a virus takes over bacteria with its own phage DNA,

and propagates further using the cells as vectors.

In a more specific example, let us discuss the idea of God. In

and of itself, it is a very, very old concept. Yet, this concept has

been able to withstand countless generations and now exists in

various forms. But how has it been able to be passed on through

so many people while other ideas have failed to withstand the

test of such a transfer from one generation to another?

The question now becomes, “what is it about the idea of god

[or any meme] that gives it its stability and penetrance in the

cultural environment?” (193). As Dawkins puts it, “The survival

value of the god meme in the meme pool results from its great

psychological appeal. It provides a superficially plausible answer

to deep and troubling questions about existence,” (193).

MEMETHEORY

T

BY ERIC LI ‘13

“What is it about the idea of god [or any meme] that gives it its stability and penetrance in the cultural environment?”

Most of what is unusual about man can be summed up in one word: ‘culture.’ ”

- Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (p.89)


Similarly, a cultural meme such as jeans has spread because

the masses have found them comfortable and convenient. Thus,

memes are spread when people find them appealing and then

they are shared with others. Alternately, not all ideas will be able

to replicate. Such concepts are not popular in public opinion, and

after all: “[a meme’s] spread will depend on how acceptable it is

to the population, “(194). This type of weeding out of the bad

memes is analogous to natural selection of genes: the bad ones

simply do not propagate forward. Thus, memes really are “analo-

gous to genetic transmission in that… it can give rise to a form of

evolution,” (189), albeit a slightly different form than the form of

natural selection that is the characteristic of gene evolution.

There are also some memes that achieve short-term success in

propagating themselves rapidly, but do not last for much time in

the meme pool. Popular music is an example, satiating people’s

tastes until the next great hit comes out. Then, the older song is

simply forgotten. It is ideas that have meme potential that influ-

ence our society as a whole and the future of our society.

Going back to the meme of religion- the idea of God has

played a crucial role in societal development throughout history.

Early colonial America was purely based off of this meme. Nowa-

days, Internet memes and societal memes help to define our so-

ciety, its rules and ideologies, and each person as an individual.

Inventions are probably one of the most important memes of

our society today. Inventions such as the light bulb and cars have

lasted generations, giving proof to the survivability of memes.

Memes function very similarly to genes, in that they both

provide a ways for things to replicate themselves. Memes are

special because they require absolutely no tangible vectors in

order to replicate. The only vectors that are required by memes

are people’s minds. When you consider what you do in everyday

life, it will almost always relate back to one or more meme. □

Richard Dawkins is a world renowned evolutionary biologist and au-thor. His books, most famously The Selfish Gene, have sold over two million copies and been translated into over 31 languages.

Richard Dawkins speaking at a Writers Conference in Dublin.


How Did Life Begin?Scientists believe the first molecule to self-

replicate was similar to RNA, beginning the

process of evolution. Researchers at Georgia

Institute of Technology having been working

for more than a decade to understand how non-living molecules

combined to form the very first life. They have discovered that

small molecules may have acted as “molecular midwives” by as-

sisting the building blocks of genetic material in forming the

first short polymers of nucleic acids and by originally matching

the base pairs of the DNA double helix.

How Do Molecules Form?Scientists continue to disagree on what the

most accurate representation of a molecule

is since they are basing models on assump-

tions and approximate data. An electron

cloud with opposing electrostatic forces surrounds the atom’s

nucleus and the electrons are constantly moving. Computers

simulations can now calculate, with accuracy, the properties and

structures of molecules with relatively few electrons from quan-

tum first principles. The problem arises when the reaction’s elec-

tron count exceeds a few dozen, so modeling complex reactions,

like biomolecular processes, is still impossible.

How Does the Environment Influ-ence Our Genes?The control of gene activity seems to in-

volve chemical events happening at the

mesoscale, a scale greater than those of at-

oms and molecules. Chromatin, the mixture of proteins and DNA

that makes up chromosomes, has a structure greatly influenced

by the cell. The double helix of DNA is wound around histones,

which are bundled up into higher-order structures that are still

poorly understood. The way a gene is packed into this structure

3.

2.

10 UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

IN CHEMISTRY

1.

BY SARA SCHROER ‘13


determines whether or not it is active. Scientific understanding

of this process can help in the research and use of stem cells in

regenerative medicine and a greater understanding of genetic

diseases.

How Does the Brain Think and Form Memories?Although scientists have a basic under-

standing of the formation of habitual re-

flexes and everyday declarative memories

(people, places, etc.), there are still many gaps in brain sciences.

For example, we still do not understand how a memory is re-

called once it is stored. Learning about the chemistry of memory

making creates the controversial prospect of pharmacological

enhancement of memory.

How Many Elements Exist?The periodic table continues to grow as

scientists use particle accelerators to crash

atomic nuclei together to form new “su-

perheavy” elements. The nuclei are incred-

ibly instable and decay radioactively within a tiny fraction of a

second. The studies on these new elements test the conceptual

limits of the periodic table – do the superheavy elements still

display the trends in chemical behavior that originally shaped

the periodic table? Some do, but some don’t. Is there a limit to

the size of the superheavy elements? Simple calculations limit

the nuclei to 137 protons, but more sophisticated calculations

show it to be limitless.

Can Computers Be Made Out of Carbon?In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was

awarded for the discovery of graphene, a

web of carbon atoms arranged in a chicken

wire-like pattern. Being an electrical conductor, hollow, extreme-

ly strong and stiff, graphene promised applications ranging from

high-strength carbon composites to tiny wires and electric de-

vices. The problem is finding the right techniques to use this new

molecule; the key might be precise atomic-scale engineering to

build the molecule from the bottom up with hexagonal carbon

rings.

How Do We Tap More Solar Ener-gy?We are expansively and inefficiently us-

ing solar energy since we are incapable of

harvesting vast amounts. The conventional

photovoltaic panels made of silicon are extremely expensive, re-

stricting their use. Biology shows us, however, that solar cells do

not have to be incredibly efficiently if they can be made cheaply

and abundantly. A group of scientists are creating an artificial

leaf that would produce fuel from solar energy by splitting water

into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The difficulty is finding a cheap

photocatalyst that does the splitting. Currently, a cobalt-based

catalyst is being used, but it is not ideal.

What is the Best Way to Make Bio-fuels?The creation of biofuels is, as of now, in-

credibly inefficient and impractical. To be

more feasible, mostly solid biofuels would

need to be converted into liquid fuels for easy transportation

along pipelines. This conversion would need to happen on site

(where the plants are harvested). There is, however, no general

consensus on the proper way to perform the creation of biofuels,

but the solution undoubtedly will be found with chemistry.

Can We Devise New Ways to Create Drugs?In the 1990s combinational chemistry was

the hope of creating new medicines by

randomly assembling molecules and then

testing to see which ones held potential – it produced virtu-

ally nothing useful. Due to modern developments, combi-chem

could make a return to biotechnological research. Scientists can

now refine the library of candidate molecules by using a kind of

Darwinian evolution is a test tube. Another possibility is protein

synthesis in cells to tailor new drugs.

Can We Continuously Monitor Our Own Chemistry?Biosensors that use chemical reactions

to monitor the concentration of glucose

date back to 1960s. But increasingly, sci-

entists want to create faster, cheaper, more sensitive and more

ubiquitous chemical sensing to aid in detecting food and water

contaminants, monitor pollutants in the air, and biomedical ap-

plications, such as chemical sensors that would recognize the

products of cancer genes circulating in the bloodstream long

before normal clinical tests could diagnose it. Chemists foresee

continuous, unobtrusive monitoring of all biochemical markers

of health and disease to provide real-time information to sur-

geons and to automated systems for delivering remedial drug

treatments. □

5.

4.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

IMAGE CREDIT Solar Array © Saginaw Future (top left), Microscopic Surface of CD © Chris Supranowitz (middle left), DNA Gel Electrophoresis © Micah Baldwin (bottom left), & Chemistry Glassware © Nicholas Rigg, Getty Images (right).


THE SCIENCEOF TYPOGRAPHY

BY VIVIAN XIAO ‘15

FEATURES


THE SCIENCEOF TYPOGRAPHY

ypography is the art and technique of

arranging ‘type’ – letters and characters – to

communicate an idea. Though not officially

a branch of science, typography is essential

to the study and creation of good design.

The term ‘typography’ isn’t commonly used in

everyday life, but the technique of typography is used

everywhere. Science textbooks, the headlines of The

Record, and even history papers, all involve typography.

Typography allows us to read things clearly, and good

typography can convey a message ‘in between the lines.’

All typefaces have their own personality and purpose.

Although a deep understanding of typography isn’t nec-

essary to score an A+ on an English essay, typography

can still be useful to enhance a piece of writing.

The Periodic Table of Typefaces

The Periodic Table of Typefaces was created by graphic

designer Cam Wilde. It is composed of 100 of the most

popular, influential, and notorious typefaces of today

and is organized into groups of typefaces: sans-serif,

serif, script, blackletter, glyphic, display, grotesque, real-

ist, didone, garalde, geometric, humanist, slab-serif, and

mixed. Each cell of the table contains the name of the

typeface, the symbol, the designer, and the year it was

designed. The typefaces are arranged in order of relative

rankings. Some typefaces were omitted to keep fami-

lies of typefaces together. To find out more about the

Periodic Table of Typefaces, visit http://www.behance.

net/gallery/Periodic-Table-of-Typefaces/193759.

Typography in Math and Science

Many science and math textbooks are often printed in

similar typefaces. This is because only a few typefaces

are compatible with mathematical symbols, Greek let-

ters, and other ‘special’ texts throughout math and sci-

ence; these publications typically use Computer Modern

or New Century Schoolbook. Such typefaces allow for

T

The Periodic Table of Typefaces by Cam Wilde.


maximum clarity of numbers, letters, and symbols. TeX (pro-

nounced ‘teck’) is a text-formatting program used for typesetting

complex mathematical formulae and other technical material

attractively and consistently. It is commonly used in mathemat-

ics, computer science, economics, engineering, physics, statistics,

and quantitative psychology.

Typography for Essays

Teachers often set guidelines for font size, line spacing, margins,

and page limits for writing essays, and it can be a hassle to

edit an essay to meet the right requirements. Typography can

be helpful in these situations. If an essay is over the page limit,

Times New Roman will shrink it down. Or, if the essay is a little

too short, Verdana will stretch it out. The tracking of the text can

also be adjusted by right clicking and going to font > advanced

> spacing > condensed or expanded.

Typography in Graphic Design

Typography is used in many different areas of graphic design,

including posters, advertising and logo design. Type is combined

with negative space and graphic images to form relationships

between words and images. Graphic designers’ favorite type-

faces include Helvetica (e.g. the Microsoft logo), Futura (e.g. the

Adidas logo), Garamond (e.g. The Harry Potter books), Trajan (e.g.

the movie poster of Titanic), Myriad (e.g. Apple advertisements),

Franklin Gothic (e.g. the movie poster of The Dark Knight), and

Gill Sans (e.g. the London Underground logo). Popular typefaces

for display on screen include Lucida Grande, Verdana, and other

sans serif fonts. The graphic designers’ worst nightmare is the

abuse of Comic Sans MS. Some other misused and tacky type-

faces include Papyrus, Brush Script, Curlz MT, and Bradley Hand.

Economics of Typography

Ink is expensive. When it comes to printing large amounts of

text, the typeface that saves the most ink is Century Gothic,

which uses 30% less ink than Arial. However, Century Gothic

wastes more paper, so the best way to save money and the envi-

ronment is to avoid printing. Microsoft switched their default

typeface from Times New Roman to Calibri and Cambria because

of their higher readability on the screen. They believed that

the more pleasing that the text looks on the screen, the less

tempted someone will be to print out a document.

Terminology

When going into an in-depth study of typography, it is necessary

to know some key terms to identify different features of type-

faces. Here are a few basics to get started.

Font vs. Typeface: The most common misconception about

typography is the definition of the word ‘font’. Most people

would explain font as a style of letters, such as Times New

Roman, Georgia, or Comic sans. However, these names refer to a

specific typeface, while font refers to the collection of typeface,

size, weight or style.

Serif & Sans-serif: Serif refers to typefaces with a ‘decorative’

finishing stroke (called a Serif) at the end of character stems.


Sans Serif are typefaces with a lack of any Serifs.

Tracking and Kerning: Tracking is the adjustment of spacing

between characters of a whole group of characters (in a para-

graph or article), while kerning is the adjustment of spacing

between individual characters.

Leading: More commonly known as line spacing, leading is the

vertical line spacing between lines of text.

Weight: the thickness or width of strokes – light, medium, bold,

heavy, ultra, etc. □

An illustration on the anatomy of typefaces by

Vivian Xiao ‘15.


© Energy Services Network

THE ATLAS

DETECTOR IN THE

LARGE HADRON

COLLIDER AT CERN


article physics is vital to our understanding of

the world. It explains and explores the building

blocks of everything. This field of science gives us

insight to the origin and workings of the universe.

Despite particle physics’ important role in science,

however, it doesn’t attract much attention from the average per-

son, or the media. Recently, though, the Higgs Boson has gained

a great amount of publicity. Perhaps this is due to its sensational

title as “The God Particle”, or perhaps it is due to the creation of

CERN’s technologically advanced Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in

Geneva, Switzerland. The particle is known to be nature’s most

elusive particle, and most important subnuclear particle. In any

case, however, the Higgs should explain mass itself, and fill a

large gap in what we know about particle physics.

The Standard Model is a sort of chart that is used to explain

particle physics. Like the Periodic Table for chemistry, it provides

a foundation and structure for this field of study. Made up of

particles, the model is mainly divided into up, down, bottom, top,

strange, and charm quarks (some of which make up protons and

neutrons), and leptons (which include electrons). It is known,

however, that there are many particles missing, and spaces need-

ing to be filled, in this model.

The Higgs Boson is expected to fill a gap in our knowledge

of the major forces of the universe, which are gravity, the elec-

tromagnetic force, and the strong and weak radioactive forces.

In brief, it is believed that each of these forces has a respective

particle called a boson, through which the forces can be trans-

mitted, and affect matter. Despite finding the W and Z bosons

corresponding to the strong and weak radioactive forces, and

photons for the electromagnetic force, physicists were missing

the boson for the gravitational force. It is believed that the

Higgs will fill this role. (Atteberry).

Peter Higgs, a British physicist after whom the Higgs Boson’s

name originates, theorized about the particle in the 1960s. He

postulated that there was a Higgs Field, and proposed that in

this field, the Higgs boson transferred mass to a particle such as

a quark, electron, W, or Z particle. (“Origins CERN Ideas,”).

One analogy is often used to explain this field and how the

Higgs Boson gives particles mass. Imagine a fancy cocktail party

P

© Energy Services Network

THE HIGGS BOSONBY JAMES POST ‘15


in a large room. Suddenly, a movie star enters the scene, and the

people nearest to the celebrity pack in around him, eager for

conversation. Particles such as the W and Z boson particles act

as these movie stars, and the flock of people around the celeb-

rity represent a particle’s mass. When the star passes through

the Higgs Field, they gain mass. The Higgs boson particle acts

as the eager party guest; it is a manifestation of the Higgs Field.

Some particles, however, such as photons, attract much less

attention at the party, and act as unimportant guests. When they

pass through the Higgs Field, they don’t create any ‘distortion’ in

the field, which renders them massless. (“Origins CERN Ideas,”).

The search for the Higgs has been going on for decades.

Physicists use particle accelerators to search for particles like

the Higgs Boson. Throughout the 1990s, CERN’s Large Electron-

Positron Collider (LEP) and Fermilab, near Batavia, Illinois, have

been the sites for countless tests and experiments to find this

particle (“Origins CERN Ideas,”). At LEP, it was thought that they

found traces of the Higgs Boson, but scientists weren’t sure

and the accelerator was shut down in 2000. In 2005, however,

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, was completed, and is known to

be the world’s largest, and highest energy particle accelerator.

The LHC, like other particle accelerators, attempts to create

enough energy to form new particles, using strange ‘quantum

properties’. These massive underground rings fire bundles of

particles in opposite directions. When these bundles collide at

extremely high speeds, many of the particles are annihilated.

This annihilation releases energy, and strangely enough, this

energy simply converts to new particles that may be completely

unrelated to the particles annihilated. Some particles need

more energy than others to form, however, explaining the need

for larger and larger particle accelerators. The more energy you

have, the more particles you can create and discover (Anthony).

Even if a Higgs Boson is created in a test, however, it decom-

poses in a fraction of a second. Physivcists don’t have the

equipment to know that they’ve found it in that split second, so

they must look for what they believe the Higgs decomposes into.

Millions of measurements and tests must also be performed,

because sufficient is needed to show graphical evidence of the

Higgs Boson (it appears as a tiny bump on the graph). (Anthony).

Finally, on Wednesday, July 4, 2012, physicists from the LHC

announced that they had found evidence of a particle that had

the predicted mass of the Higgs Boson. With a one in a million

chance that they were wrong, they knew it had to be the God

Particle itself. The scientific community rejoiced, and physicists

likened the probable discovery to the unearthing of the DNA

sequence in the human body. (Perlman).

Despite the excitement many scientists felt at confirming the

Standard Model and our knowledge of Particle physics and the

universe, others were somewhat disappointed. As Ian Hinchliffe,

who leads a research team at the LHC, commented, “It would be

even more exciting [if it turned out not to be the Higgs Boson],

because then it would be something we hadn’t predicted at all,

and that’s what science is all about - finding your predictions are

wrong and starting all over again.” (Perlman).

Physicists are still working to completely confirm that this

particle is, in fact, the Higgs Boson, a process that will take

another few years. Unanswered questions remain. Why do some

particles gain plenty of mass in the Higgs field? And why do oth-

ers pass through the field without gaining any mass? (Anthony).

Nonetheless, we should greatly appreciate what was announced

on July 4th of this year. In the future, we’ll surely look back

on this event as a breakthrough in science and an important

moment in history. Who knows what this discovery could lead

to? □

1964Peter Higgs predicts the particle’s exis-tence.

1995The top quark is dis-covered by Fermilab in Batavia as pre-dicted by Higgs’s mechanism.

2001CERN rules out the existence of the Higgs with a mass below 115 gigaelec-tronvolts (GeV).

2004Fermilab places the mass of the Higgs particle between 117 GeV & 251 GeV.

2007CERN further reduces the upper limit to a mass of 153 GeV.

2008The Large Hadron Collider becomes operational for the first time.

2011The ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC show hints of the Higgs at around 125 GeV.

FEBRUARY 2012CERN boosts colli-sion energy from 7 to 8 teraelectronvolts (TeV), increasing sen-sitivity by 35%.

MARCH 2012Fermilab further places the Higgs as between 115 & 152 GeV.

JULY 4 2012CERN announces evidence of the exis-tence of the Higgs, with a one in a mil-lion chance of error.

TIMELINE OF HIGGSScientists at CERN and Fermilab used acelerators to smash particles together at high speeds. This collision, if done at high speeds, results in the production of smaller particles, one of which could be the Higgs Boson. The fingerprint of this particle left behind after it decays can be measured in gigaelectronvolts and will also give an indication of the mass of the particle (as heavier particles would have a higher voltage). An upper limit means that the Higgs Boson’s fingerprint is below that specified voltage. A lower limit means that the fingerprint is above that specified voltage.


ABOVE The 16 particles that make up the standard model of particle physics and their dates & places of discovery.

©2009 Symmetry Magazine.

RIGHT An artist’s rendition of a Higgs boson erupting

from a collision of protons. © Moonrunner Design Ltd.,

National Geographic.


he National Aeronautics

and Space Administration

(NASA), which replaced

the National Advisory

Committee for Aeronautics, was created

in 1958 as the Cold War and the race to

the moon began. Since then, NASA has

been behind a multitude of initiatives,

from supporting the International Space

Station to further exploration of the

Solar System and beyond. In addition,

NASA has dedicated itself to promoting

further research in physics.

Recently, the federal government

severely decreased the funding for NASA.

The planetary science division budget

was cut down by almost 300 million dol-

lars. The money lost by NASA is instead

being used to privatize space travel, cre-

“As a former astronaut and the current NASA Administrator, I’m here to tell you that American leadership in space will continue for at least the next half-century because we have laid the foun-dation for success—and failure is not an option.”

Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator

NASA’S FUNDING CRISIS

BY MAGGIE LEDERER ‘13

T


ating “space taxis.” The Mars exploration

program was one of the most affected

programs. NASA was in talks with the

European Space Agency (ESA) to invest

in a joint mission to Mars to bring back

soil samples. As a direct result of this

budget reduction, the initiative has been

postponed indefinitely. Consequently, the

Space Shuttle program was discontinued,

marking an enormous decrease in public

interest in space exploration and in NASA

overall. Sending humans into space is the

most exciting aspect of space travel, and

without it, the public’s ephemeral inter-

est is waning.

However, as Bolden said, NASA is not

giving up. NASA’s vision remains “to reach

for new heights and reveal the unknown

so that what we do and learn will benefit

all humankind.” (NASA mission statement)

NASA is also working in conjunction with

the Next Generation Air Transportation

System (NexGen) to discover more envi-

ronmentally friendly ways to build and

launch aircrafts. NASA is continuing to

be one of the global leaders in support

of advancing the International Space

Station. This space station relies on six

astronauts, all of whom are American,

who live in space for years at a time.

NASA has clearly not given up on the

ideas of humans in space, and even has

long-term goals of sending humans to

Mars and beyond.

Currently, NASA is supporting the

two Mars rovers, Cassini (orbits around

Saturn), Juno (on its way to Jupiter),

and many other probes. Beyond the

Solar System, the Hubble Telescope

was restored and is now being used to

observe the most distant parts of our

galaxy. Furthermore, NASA announced

the emergence of the new Space Launch

System, a uniquely American method

of launching rockets farther than ever

before. So maybe NASA isn’t in decline,

and this is merely the calm before the

resurgence of interest in space. A recent

article in Scientific American argued

that NASA’s space exploration program

is actually flourishing unbeknownst to

most of us, and its potential for an immi-

nent groundbreaking discovery is huge if

ample funding continuous.

Despite attempting to highlight its

human involvement, NASA, along with

many other space agencies, is work-

ing to make rockets solely operated by

machinery. While it is much safer and the

expected release date could be as soon

as 2017, the allure of sending a human

into space is lost. This creates a down-

ward spiral for NASA: less money creates

slower results in an increasingly impa-

tient nation. Clearly, investing in space is

not necessarily a top priority right now,

especially with our plunging economy

and high unemployment, but investing in

space can create jobs and spur interest.

This popularity can flourish, exposing

thousands of people to an exciting new

interest and a possible field of work.

As humans, we are inherently curious.

We are driven to answer unanswerable

questions: How did we get here? What

will happen to us? Are we alone in

this world? It is our natural instinct to

explore, and we must not ignore this. We

need to realize that these answers won’t

come easily, but we need to invest in

order to continue gathering the pieces of

an answer. □

LEFT A US flag being waved in the air as Space Shuttle

Atlantis rolls to its new home at Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 2, 2012. The spacecraft, which carried out 33 space-flights, closed out the Space Shuttle Program era with its

final landing on July 21, 2011.©2012 NASA

RIGHT Skylab: U.S.’s first space station, which orbited the Earth

from 1973 to 1979. Numerous experiments were conducted.

©2011 James Vaughan


ather than luring fish with

bait, a fly-fisherman uses arti-

ficial man-tied flies to trick

fish into biting it. He needs

to let his fly imitate not only the looks of

the favorite dish of the day, but also the

characteristic movement and behavior of

a real insect, whether it is a caddis fly or

mayfly nymph.

You may think it is easy because

fish may seem dimwitted, but that is

all relative. A novice fly-fisherman will

soon abandon his/her sense of human

superiority and learn to cherish patience,

humbleness on the river, along with pre-

cision and physics of fly fishing. On one

day, you may try ten different kinds of

flies—dry flies, streamers, and nymphs—

just to realize that trout jump in the air to

feed on everything but the flies you offer.

However, aside from reading tempera-

ture, current, location, and weather—as

much as they are important—the biggest

difference between a master fly-fisher-

man and a novice is the act of casting.

Casting is the core pride of fly fishing.

To catch a fish, a fisherman sends out a

fly attached to a 7-15 feet long leader,

a polyamide monofilament fishing line,

which is virtually invisible in water. The

leader, in turn, is attached to a thicker

and longer line, that is reeled in and

attached to the fishing rod. A common

misconception is that casting relies on

the fly; the truth is that you cast the line

while the fly just goes along for the ride.

When casting the rod, the line is lifted

and brought over your head behind you.

After letting the line “load” behind your

back while the rod stops in the air, the

rod is brought forth in front and the

line unrolls to gently place the fly on

water. The trick to casting is effectively

controlling many feet of leader and line

so that the fly lands in a desirable spot

of the river, causing gentle ripples, which

THE SCIENCE OFFLY FISHING

R

THE PHYSICS AND BIOLOGY OF IT

BY SEJIN PARK ‘13

© Tim Harris

line

leader (transparent)

fly rod

Rainbow Trout


attract fish to bite. While practicing intri-

cate precise mechanics of casting, the

most common phrase a novice fisherman

will hear is “accelerate to a sudden stop.”

How does that relate to the explosive

power of casting? How does a graphite

or bamboo rod let 9 feet of line unroll

so straight?

Potential & Kinetic Energy

The key of the physics behind casting

is in the “stop” at “2 o’clock,” as Norman

McLean calls it. As the line comes to a

stop behind you before you swing for-

ward, potential energy is stored in the

rod. That energy is then transferred into

the line as it is cast forward in front.

Specifically, elastic potential energy is

what is stored in the elastic material of a

fly rod. A similar situation can be found

in a slingshot; if you stretch back the

band in a slingshot to propel a small rock

through the air, the slingshot will then

have potential energy. Once the band is

released, that potential energy becomes

kinetic energy or energy of motion, which

snaps the band and transfers energy to

the rock, which then flies through the

air. The same concept holds true for a

fishing rod. Because graphite or bamboo

rods are flexible, letting the weight of

the lines bend them as they are being

“loaded” behind your head stores energy

It is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o’ clock.”

- Norman Maclean,A River Runs Through It

(1976)

© Louis Cahill

© Flick Ford


in the rod. This then provides the power

for a clean unrolling of lines.

Biomimicry

When the physics of casting is done, biol-

ogy plays another key role in the success

of casting. The flies are essentially a type

of biomimicry—man-tied flies attempt

to imitate the visuals and behavior of

common aquatic insects. Artificial flies

are tied with natural (eg. feathers) and

synthetic materials (eg. rubber, plastic,

and mylar) to represent a wide range

of insects. Different materials are put

together to configure certain weights

and behaviors of three big categories

of flies, depending on where they are

targeted. Dry flies float on the surface,

partially submerged emergers resemble

newly emerging insects, and nymphs,

streamers, and wet flies are purpose-

fully made heavier or less buoyant to

resemble insects in water. All of these

generally imitate natural insects, though

it is the fisherman’s ability to drift and

mend the lines well enough for the fly to

seem natural to a fish underwater; to be

effective at catching fish, the lines should

not disturb the natural drift of the fly on

the current. □

Fly fishing is part-physics, part-biology,

and of course, part-ecology. Mastering

mechanics of overhead casting and

understanding aquatic insects will

increase success of your fishing trips.

However, personal experience transcends

the science and adds the component

of art to this unique sport. Every time

I fish with the fly fishing crew in the

Housatonic River, I feel the force of load-

ing and unrolling in the handle of my rod,

see the line draw infinity signs as it sails

through the sky, and hear the fish flop-

ping on the surface or the trickling water.

Only experience will teach a novice how

to truly immerse in the river, and engage

in the art of “active meditation.”

This article is dedicated to Mr. Damon

White, who left school at the end of last

year. He introduced many students to fly-

fishing through literature.

Cody Cintron ‘13 mending his fishing line. Photo by Emily von Weise ‘15.


WORKS CITEDTable of Contents (page 2)Images from top to bottom, left to right: © Radial Info. © CERN. © Andrea Hill. © Eric Li. © NASA’s Marshall Space Center. ©2012 Alaska Salmon

Psychopath Brains (page 9)“Psychopaths’ Brains Show Differences in Structure and Functi on.” Med.wisc.edu. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 22 Nov. 2011. Web. <http://www.med.wisc.edu/news- events/news/psychopaths-brains-show-differences-in- structure-and-function/32979>.

Hypnosis: Healer or Hack? (page 10)Alderman, Lesley. “Using Hypnosis to Gain More Control Over Your Illness.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 15 Apr. 2011. Web. <Using Hypnosis to Gain More Control Over Your Illness>.

Schwann Cell Migration (page 11)Schmidt C. and Leach JB. Annu Rev Biomed Eng 2003 5: 293- 347.Guenard V, Kleitman N, Morrissey TK, Bunge R P and Aebischer P 1992 J. Neurosci.Koppes AN et al “Non-Neural Support Cell Migration in 3D Hydrogels Is Enhanced following Exogenous Electrical Stimulation” BMES Annual Fall Meeting, Oct 2011.McCaig CD & Rajnicek AM. Exp Physiol 1991:76;473–94. Behan J. of Biomed. Mat. Res. A Jan 2011 Vol 96, Issue 1.

Elephant Intelligence (page 12)November, Esther. “Elephant Intelligence: Why Elephants Might Be as Smart as Humans.” Voices.yahoo.com. 5 June 2008. Web. <http://voices.yahoo.com/elephant-intelli gence-why-elephants-might-as-smart-1536597.html>.

Holdrege, Craig. “Elephantine Intelligence.” Natureinstitute.org. The Nature Institute, 2001. Web. <http://natureinsti tute.org/pub/ic/ic5/elephant.htm>.

The New Gene (page 14)Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Print.

10 Mystery Questions in Chemistry (page 16)Ball, Philip. “10 Unsolved Mysteries in Chemistry: Scientific American.” Scientific American, Oct. 2010. Web. <http:// www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=10-un solved-mysteries>.Terraso, David. “How Did Life Begin?” LiveScience.com. Live Sci ence, 23 July 2010. Web. <http://www.livescience. com/6737-life.html>.

Typography (page 18)Bowley, Mark. “A 20 Minute Intro to Typography Basics.” Adobe

Photoshop Tutorials from Beginner to Advanced. N.p., 23 May 2009. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/techniques/a-20-minute-intro-to-typog-raphy-basics/>.

Garfield, Simon. “The 8 Worst Fonts In The World.” Co.Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://www.fastcode-sign.com/1665318/the-8-worst-fonts-in-the-world>.

Rose, Courtney. “The Ten Ugliest Fonts.” Courtney Rose Creative

Services. N.p., 6 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://courtneyrosecs.com/articles/tenugliestfonts>.

“The Top Ten Best Typefaces.” Best and Worst Typefaces. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://absolutegraphix.co.uk/bestworstfonts.asp?strID=Guest>.

“Typography.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography>.

“Want to Save Money? Change Your Font.” Fox News. FOX News Network, 07 Apr. 2010. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/04/07/want-save-mon-ey-change-font/>.

Higgs Boson (page 22)Anthony, Sebastian. “CERN’s Higgs boson discovery passes peer

review, becomes actual science.” Extreme Tech. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/135756-cerns-higgs-boson-discovery-passes-peer-review-becomes-actual-science (accessed October 10, 2012).

Aron, J. “A brief history of a boson: Timeline of Higgs” 03 July 2012 - New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22008-a-brief-history-of-a-boson-timeline-of-higgs.html (accessed October 10, 2012)

Atteberry, Jonathan. “What exactly is the Higgs boson?.” How Stuff Works. http://science.howstuffworks.com/higgs-boson1.htm (accessed October 10, 2012).

“Origins CERN Ideas.” Exploratorium. http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/cern/ideas/higgs.html (accessed October 7, 2012).

Perlman, David. “Physicists believe they found key Higgs boson .” San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/sci-ence/article/Physicists-believe-they-found-key-Higgs-boson-3684823.php (accessed October 10, 2012).

NASA (page 26)“What’s Next For NASA?” NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/about/ whats_next.html (accessed October 15, 2012). “NASA’s space exploration plans take a galactic hit.” Fox

News. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/13/nasa-funding-cuts-coming-space-exploration-to-suffer/ (accessed October 15, 2012)

“NASA’s Planetary Science Program Endangered by Budget Cuts.” Scientific American. http://www.scientificameri can.com/article.cfm?id=nasa-planetary-science-pro gram-endangered-buget-cuts (accessed October 15, 2012)

Fly Fishing (page 28)Rist, C. “The Whip-Like Physics of Fly Fishing” . Discover Magazine. http://discovermagazine.com/2008/ the-body/18-the-whip-like-physics-of-fly-fishing (accessed October 10, 2012)“Physics Behind Fly Fishing”. American Physical Society. http:// www.aip.org/dbis/APS/stories/21047.html (accessed October 10, 2012)Rotational Kinetic Energy in Fly Fishing. UNC Chapel Hill. http:// www.unc.edu/~blumensh/phys24rotationalKE.html (accessed October 10, 2012)

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