April 2021

What We’ve Learned from Juno’s Latest Laps Around Jupiter
News

What We’ve Learned from Juno’s Latest Laps Around Jupiter

Lydia Guertin

You may have seen the gorgeous pictures of Jupiter floating around your twitter feed, but they only scratch the surface of the incredible discoveries the Juno spacecraft has sent back to Earth.

Jupiter’s (cyclonic) south pole, taken by the Juno spacecraft. NASA, 2017. You may have seen the gorgeous pictures of Jupiter floating around your twitter feed, but they only scratch the surface of the incredible discoveries the Juno spacecraft has sent back to Earth. “Every 53 days, we go screaming by Jupiter, get doused by a fire hose of Jovian [pertaining to Jupiter] science, and there is always something new,” says Scott Bolton of his experience as principal investigator aboard the 10-year-old Juno mission.  Since July 4, 2016, when the Juno spacecraft was close enough to Jupiter to complete one orbit...
Read More
The Ocean as a Key Resource in the Antibiotics Arms Race
Features

The Ocean as a Key Resource in the Antibiotics Arms Race

Emi Krishnamurthy

One key solution to fighting antibiotic resistance is to discover new antibiotics. Shreya Kishore ’21 shares how she screens marine bacterial cultures in pursuit of discovering a novel antibiotic.

Shreya Kishore ’21 in the Whalen Lab at Haverford College. Shreya Kishore is currently a senior Chemistry major with a biochemistry concentration and health studies minor at Haverford College. As a peer tutor and member of the Chemistry Student Group, Kishore is passionate about increasing the transparency of Haverford’s chemistry department. She plans on working toward her Chemistry PhD at Stanford University this fall. One key solution to fighting antibiotic resistance is to discover new antibiotics. Shreya Kishore ’21 shares how she screens marine bacterial cultures in pursuit of discovering a novel antibiotic. Almost 100 years ago, Sir Alexander Fleming...
Read More
Scientists Clone Disease-Threatened Ferret Species to Introduce Genetic Diversity
News

Scientists Clone Disease-Threatened Ferret Species to Introduce Genetic Diversity

Griffin Kaulbach

For the endangered species of black-footed ferrets, scientists are going beyond the typical conservation methods. Biotech companies and wildlife conservation organizations are working together to implement reproductive cloning to introduce genetic diversity into the disease-threatened ferret species. If successful, this method will create a more resilient population and show that reproductive cloning has the potential to save more of our vulnerable native species.

Endangered black-footed ferret in an outdoor preconditioning pen at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado. Photo by Stewart Brand for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For the conservation of endangered black-footed ferrets, scientists are going beyond protected areas and habitat restoration. Biotech companies and wildlife conservation organizations are working together to implement reproductive cloning to introduce genetic diversity into the disease-threatened ferret species. If successful, this method will create a more resilient population and show that reproductive cloning has the potential to save more of our vulnerable native species. In 1988, a Wyoming rancher was surprised when...
Read More
The Twenty-Two Percent: A Review of Gender in Physics
Features Science in Society

The Twenty-Two Percent: A Review of Gender in Physics

Ashley Schefler

Recently, the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University published a study ten years in the making investigating the relationship between gender and performance in introductory physics courses. This article will review the results of the study, as well as the underlying problems that have led to the underrepresentation of women in the field.

Naval officer Gretchen S. Herbert speaks with young women participating in a Pre-College Experiences in Physics (PREP) Summer Program at the University of Rochester. Photo by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Katrina Sartain, via Wikimedia Commons. Note: This article will use some binary gender language (“women” and “men”). These were the genders studied and language used in the papers this article covers, but I acknowledge that this language does not encompass the whole spectrum of identities. Recently, the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University published a study ten years in the making investigating the relationship...
Read More
Swirling Plasma Clouds: What We Know About Space Hurricanes
News

Swirling Plasma Clouds: What We Know About Space Hurricanes

Lydia Guertin

On August 20, 2014, researchers at Shandong University in China noticed some strange readings at Earth’s polar regions. While they didn’t know it then, the team at Shandong University was watching the first observed space hurricane.

Illustration based on recent confirmation of first-ever observed space hurricane. Qing-He Zhang/Shandong University eOn August 20, 2014, researchers at Shandong University in China noticed some strange readings at Earth’s polar regions. There were no solar flares, abnormal geomagnetic conditions, or other phenomena that could explain these readings, yet there was a storm building at the North Pole. This was no ordinary storm: massive plasma clouds with spiraling arms were beginning to take shape, pulling electrons in from Earth’s magnetic field lines. While they didn’t know it then, the team at Shandong University was watching the first observed “space hurricane.” These...
Read More
Creating a Real Warp Drive: Zero to 299,800,000 in No Time
News

Creating a Real Warp Drive: Zero to 299,800,000 in No Time

Lydia Guertin

A warp drive is a type of engine designed to travel at the speed of light, which is a revolutionary concept, if one can solve the issue of hurtling a spacecraft with much more mass than a photon through space.

Concept model of an Alcubierre Drive. Via NASA. In 1994, Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed something seemingly out of science-fiction: a real, working warp drive with the capacity to travel faster than the speed of light. Well, “working” in the theoretical sense, but even then it did not quite follow the ever-present laws of physics. A warp drive is a type of engine designed to travel at the speed of light, which is a revolutionary concept, if one can solve the issue of hurtling a spacecraft with much more mass than a photon through space. This idea, while not practical...
Read More
New Anti-Biofouling Technology “SLIPS” into Action
Columns Green Chemistry

New Anti-Biofouling Technology “SLIPS” into Action

Atira Glenn-Keough and Isabel Thornberry

Biofilm buildup on marine infrastructure forces ships to use more fuel and pay for more maintenance, and most solutions are harsh and dangerous for the environment. As a more environmentally-friendly solution, chemists are currently looking into SLIPSs.

Dried algae and rusty metal on a boat ramp. Photo by W.carter, via Wikimedia Commons. Biofouling is a process that occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria, form communities and adhere to surfaces. These communities are called biofilms, and once established, they often spread rapidly and expand onto other surfaces. Biofouling can create many problems for the environment and man-made structures as it interferes with and accelerates the degradation of infrastructure, such as plumbing and shipping. For example, marine biofouling occurs when biofilm on a ship accumulates, followed by other surface marine organisms, like algae and barnacles, causing ships to use...
Read More
Halting Misinformation is Crucial in Battling Conspiracies
Features Science in Society

Halting Misinformation is Crucial in Battling Conspiracies

Lukas Voelkner

Was the moon landing faked? Is the Earth flat? Does Bill Gates inject microchips in Americans? There are many popular conspiracy theories held amongst the American population. With very little to no evidence backing up conspiracies, why do so many people believe in them? A recent study from the Philipps-University emphasizes the importance of limiting the spread of misinformation.

At a QAnon rally in Los Angeles (2020). Photo by Joel Muniz. Was the moon landing faked? Is the Earth flat? Does Bill Gates inject microchips in Americans? (The answer to all of these is no.) There are many popular conspiracy theories held amongst the American population. With very little to no evidence backing up conspiracies, why do so many people believe in them? A recent study from the Philipps-University emphasizes the importance of limiting the spread of misinformation. A conspiracy theory is a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event. Conspiracy theories...
Read More
Harnessing Plants’ Carbon Storage for a Greener Future
News

Harnessing Plants’ Carbon Storage for a Greener Future

Griffin Kaulbach

In La Jolla, California, the founders of the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) at the Salk Institute are thinking about the big question that connects agriculture, wetland restoration, and atmospheric climate change: How can we safely use plant pathways to capture and store carbon, while restoring our agricultural and coastal environments?

In sunny La Jolla, California, the founders of the Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI) at the Salk Institute are thinking about the big question that connects agriculture, wetland restoration, and atmospheric climate change: How can we safely use plant pathways to capture and store carbon, while restoring our agricultural and coastal environments? According to Joanne Chory, leading Lebanese American plant biologist and co-director of HPI, “If we can optimize plants’ natural ability to capture and store carbon, we can develop plants that not only have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but that can also help enrich soils...
Read More
News

Four New Exoplanets Discovered

Hannah James

The discovery of four new exoplanets gives insight into how scientists search for habitable or previously inhabited exoplanets.

An artist’s rendering of five planets orbiting TOI-1233, four of which were discovered using the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS), an MIT-led NASA mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The discovery of four new exoplanets gives insight into how scientists search for habitable or previously inhabited exoplanets. Exoplanets are just like the planets in our very own solar system, but with one key difference: They orbit around other stars instead of the Sun. Because exoplanets orbit bright stars, they are very difficult to detect with telescopes, so the discovery of an exoplanet is a very big deal. MIT researchers recently discovered four new...
Read More
Spring Skies: Martian Fever
Columns Stargazing

Spring Skies: Martian Fever

Karen Masters

Let Karen Masters, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Haverford, lead you on a stargazing journey through Spring 2021.

Photo by Sky Xe, via Wikimedia Commons. If you plan to go stargazing just once this spring, you should find the planet Mars. You cannot have missed how missions to Mars have been in the news recently, with three missions arriving at the planet in mid-February. The orbits of Mars and Earth line up every two years, creating a window of favorable conditions to send spacecrafts. During the last window which opened in July 2020, three separate spacecraft were launched: the “Hope” spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft, and a mission from NASA which includes both...
Read More
You’ve Got Mail, And It’s From Spinach
News

You’ve Got Mail, And It’s From Spinach

Cat Kim

The idea of plant-to-human communication may seem far-fetched, but not for a certain team of chemical engineers. With the power of nanobionics, Dr. Michael Strano’s chemical engineering lab at MIT implemented a process in which the ordinary spinach plant can detect toxic nitroaromatic compounds found in explosives and relay such detections wirelessly — in the form of an email.

Spinach plant. Photo by Jyotishmita Bhagawati, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The idea of plant-to-human communication may seem far-fetched, but not for a certain team of chemical engineers. With the power of nanobionics, Dr. Michael Strano’s chemical engineering lab at MIT implemented a process in which the ordinary spinach plant can detect toxic nitroaromatic compounds found in explosives and relay such detections wirelessly — in the form of an email. Plant nanobionics, according to Dr. Strano, aims to “introduce [structures] into the plant to give it non-native functions.” Strano’s lab previously created carbon nanotubes — cylindrical molecules made of...
Read More
A New SPARC of Hope for Fusion Energy
News

A New SPARC of Hope for Fusion Energy

Celeste Cubbage

A new spark of hope has recently emerged in the field of clean energy technology: the SPARC fusion reactor. Scientists and technicians affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been collaborating on this new fusion energy reactor, which has more promising projections than previous reactors.

Model of SPARC under design by MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Rendering by T. Henderson, CFS/MIT-PSFC, via Wikimedia Commons  A new spark of hope has recently emerged in the field of clean energy technology: the SPARC fusion reactor. Scientists and technicians affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been collaborating on this new fusion energy reactor, which has more promising projections than previous reactors. Fusion energy provides a carbon-free, abundant power source that is safer than nuclear power with virtually no long-life radioactive waste. Matter becomes plasma by being heated in...
Read More

Recent

Polio Resurgence in New York State Prompts Rapid Public Health Response

What are Spotted Lanternflies, Why You Should Kill Them, and What Haverford Researchers Are Doing to Fight Them

Fall 2022 Stargazing: JWST Photos and Jupiter Opposition

Why does coffee make you poop?

A Look into Mathematical Biology