June 2021

Reef Shark Conservation: Is It Too Late?
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Reef Shark Conservation: Is It Too Late?

Lydia Guertin

Reef shark populations have severely declined in the past decade, and many species are now functionally extinct, according to a recent report. Is it too late to save them?

Blacktip reef shark. Shot by Talon Windwalker via Wikimedia Commons. Sharks are commonly heralded as an important species in oceanic and reef ecosystems, serving as an indicator of reef health, fish populations, and even seagrass growth. However, few people outside of the marine research community have noticed the alarming decline in shark populations, especially on reefs, until now, when it may be too late.  A July 2020 report published in Nature shocked many coastal communities across the globe when it announced that 20% of the reefs observed had no sharks over multiple months of observation. Although evidence of shark population...
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What is Dark Matter?
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What is Dark Matter?

Hannah James

Dark matter is mysterious to many, and exploring this phenomenon usually leads to more questions than answers. Professors Dr. Karen Masters, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Dr. Daniel Grin, assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy, provide key answers and explanations.

Dr. Karen Masters, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy (left), Dr. Daniel Grin, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy (right). Dark matter is mysterious to many, and exploring this phenomenon usually leads to more questions than answers. Professors Dr. Karen Masters, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Dr. Daniel Grin, assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy, provide key answers and explanations.  This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the distribution of dark matter in the center of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 1689, containing about 1,000 galaxies and trillions of stars. Dark matter is an invisible form of matter...
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How Quickly is the Universe Expanding? The Hunt for the True Hubble Constant
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How Quickly is the Universe Expanding? The Hunt for the True Hubble Constant

Lydia Guertin

Though scientists have researched the increasing expansion of the universe for years, a contentious debate still churns regarding the true value of this rate of expansion and how it may be changing right before our eyes.

Microwave emission map that shows the Cosmic Microwave Background, a distribution of early universe temperatures. The blue spots are colder than the red spots. Via NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day/Planck Collaboration It is now a well-known fact that the universe is expanding, but how quickly is it growing? Despite decades of cosmological research across the globe, no astronomer can definitively identify this rate of expansion, the Hubble Constant H0. Such uncertainty stems from Hubble Tension, the quantitative difference between two different methods used to calculate H0. Luckily, Dr. Bruce Partridge, one of the original collaborators on the Planck Satellite...
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Russia’s Neutrino Detector: A New Realm of High-Energy Particle Physics
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Russia’s Neutrino Detector: A New Realm of High-Energy Particle Physics

Lydia Guertin

Scientists in Russia recently launched a new telescope designed to detect heavy particles coming from all across the galaxy, moving us closer than ever to understanding extreme astrophysics.

Setup view of the Antares Neutrino Telescope, François Montanet Via Wikimedia Commons Some of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy involve the emission of neutrinos, including high-energy astrophysical events like supernovae and black hole formation that also emit high-energy light in the form of gamma rays. These neutrinos are subatomic particles that interact very weakly with their surroundings, so they can only be observed using very sensitive telescopes, complicating the process to observe them. To further the studies of extreme phenomena like black holes, rapidly-rotating neutron stars called pulsars, and galaxy merger events, where two galaxies collide, scientists in Russia...
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Crystal Synthesis: A Sneak Peak into the Norquist Lab
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Crystal Synthesis: A Sneak Peak into the Norquist Lab

Asher Maitin

Asher Maitin ’21 explains the Oxide Project in the Norquist Lab, where students work to generate crystals using compounds that are largely neglected in published literature.

Simulated image of crystal structures. The work done in Alex Norquist’s Chemistry Lab at Haverford College involves both the synthesis of novel compounds with exciting properties as well as addressing inequalities in material chemistry datasets. For instance, some materials can be used for material synthesis but are not due to various human-driven biases and decisions. One example is the material availability bias, referring to the cost of a material, or how readily available the material is to locate and use.  The Norquist Lab at Haverford is divided into several different projects, all pertaining to material chemistry and machine-learning, which can...
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Ingenuity: The First Powered Flight on Mars
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Ingenuity: The First Powered Flight on Mars

Hannah James

Ingenuity, which landed on Mars in February 2021, is the first powered aircraft to take place on Mars. Exploring Mars from the air gives scientists a unique perspective: they will be able to survey Mars’ geology in ways never attempted before.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on the belly of the Perseverance rover, ready to be dropped off at the helicopter’s deployment location. Photo by NASA. Ingenuity, which landed on Mars in February 2021, is the first powered aircraft to take place on Mars. Exploring Mars from the air gives scientists a unique perspective: they will be able to survey Mars’ geology in ways never attempted before. The Perseverance Rover has recently made headlines as the most recent rover to be sent to the red planet. Its main objective is to detect signs of life and to collect rock and soil samples....
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Bark Bacteria May Limit Tree Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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Bark Bacteria May Limit Tree Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Emi Krishnamurthy

Wetland trees are an unexpected but major source of global methane emissions. Methane-oxidizing bacteria recently discovered in tree bark could inform how climate scientists and legislators approach future methane mitigation strategies.

Paperbark Trees in Coombabah Lake Conservation Park. Photo by Silverish Lily via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Wetland trees are an unexpected but major source of global methane emissions. Methane-oxidizing bacteria recently discovered in tree bark could inform how climate scientists and legislators approach future methane mitigation strategies. Methane comprises 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but can be 32-87 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming Earth’s atmosphere. Natural sources produce millions of metric tons of methane every year because of climate change feedback systems, with wetland forests contributing about one-third of total methane emissions...
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Lightning and the Origins of Life on Earth
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Lightning and the Origins of Life on Earth

Ashley Schefler

Lightning strikes could have provided the phosphorus needed for the development of life on Earth, according to a new study.

Lightning during a thunderstorm. Photo by Felix Mittermeier via Unsplash. Phosphorus is an essential element for all life on Earth. Without it, we would not have the DNA that stores our genetic information, the ATP that provides energy for chemical reactions, or the phospholipids that make up our cell membranes. While phosphorus is abundant in Earth’s rocks, it is present in an oxidized form that makes it unreactive, and is therefore inaccessible to biological organisms. So how did early life on Earth gain access to phosphorus? Until now, the prevailing theory has been that meteorites brought phosphorus to Earth in...
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Summer Stargazing: Black Holes and Shooting Stars
Columns Stargazing

Summer Stargazing: Black Holes and Shooting Stars

Karen Masters

Summer nights are short but warm, and many people spend time camping — an ideal activity to mix with stargazing. Try looking for Sagittarius, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, meteor showers, and even a partial eclipse of the sun this summer.

Scroll to the bottom of this article for a stargazing and astronomy calendar for Summer 2021. The summer is one of my favorite times for stargazing. The nights are short but warm, and many people spend time camping — an ideal activity to mix with stargazing. Try looking for Sagittarius, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, meteor showers, and even a partial eclipse of the sun this summer. You can see almost everything I suggest below without any equipment. Sagittarius is one of my favorite summer constellations to look for. Greek astronomers saw a centaur firing an arrow, but I always look for...
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