Jolt Magazine

News

Polio Resurgence in New York State Prompts Rapid Public Health Response

October 4, 2022December 8, 2022

The July 2022 announcement of a case of paralytic polio in a young adult in New York spurred a rapid public health response. Because only unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated persons are generally at risk of symptomatic polio, and because antiviral or other treatments for polio do not currently exist, vaccination is key to preventing further disease spread.

Posted on thenib.com on September 9, 2019. Taken from: Naro M, Francis M. When “Peanuts” Went All In On Vaccinations. Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious virus that has no cure and can cause paralysis or even death. After nearly 40 years of no sustained poliovirus transmission in the United States (US), a case of paralytic polio was confirmed in New York, prompting a rapid public health response by local, state and national authorities. The World Health Organization declared the US polio-free in 1994. But on July 21, 2022, public health officials announced a case of paralytic polio in an...

Features

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

Sooyeon Jung

October 3, 2022October 3, 2022

Are you not from the Mid-Atlantic? Have you been terrorized by a brown, spotted bug with the thick black legs? Congratulations, you are in the spotted lanternfly’s hotspot, where this invasive species first came to America a few years ago. Learn more about this insect and what is being done to prevent the spread of its population.

A mature spotted lanternfly. Photo by Matt Rourke on AP Images, via CNN. Have you seen an insect with dots crawling on campus? When you try to kill it, does it jump and become a bright, flashing red? Does this insect escape easily, and when it does you feel deeply unsettled? Do your pacifist friends yell out when you try to stomp on it? Well, welcome to Pennsylvania, where the invasive species, the spotted lanternfly has completely taken over the state. Learn more about them, and why you are right in killing them. If you are not from around Pennsylvania...

Columns Stargazing

Fall 2022 Stargazing: JWST Photos and Jupiter Opposition

Karen Masters

September 29, 2022September 29, 2022

Karen Masters shares her seasonal guide to stargazing, including her favorite JWST photos, Jupiter’s Opposition this September, and a calendar of major stargazing events this Fall.

Karen Masters shares her seasonal guide to stargazing, including her favorite JWST photos, Jupiter's Opposition this September, and a calendar of major stargazing events this Fall. Karen Masters is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Chair of Physics and Astronomy, and KINSC Director at Haverford College. JWST Images JWST, the “Just Wonderful Space Telescope” (here I am deliberately avoiding the official full name due to the ongoing name controversy, and instead amplifying Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s excellent renaming suggestion), has been wowing astronomers all over the world with its images of the cosmos since it achieved first light in February of this...

Columns Quirky Queries

Why does coffee make you poop?

Sooyeon Jung

September 28, 2022September 29, 2022

Have you ever had some coffee and had to go to the bathroom within the hour? This article explores what exactly happens to our digestive system when we drink coffee.

Different types of coffee. Photo From Shutterstock. Quirky Queries answers your random science questions. If you have a query, let us know! - Have you ever ordered an iced mocha with almond milk or an iced vanilla latte with oat milk before class and then later had to poop really badly during lecture? Well, according to science, you aren’t the only one! In fact, about 30% of people need to use the bathroom after drinking coffee. Contrary to popular belief, caffeine isn’t the main culprit. In 2008, the National Library of Medicine published a study that tested the colonic function...

Features

A Look into Mathematical Biology

Emily Almgren

September 25, 2022September 27, 2022

Ever wonder how mathematics is used in biology? Professor Rebecca Everett uses differential equations to create mathematical models that represent biological systems. The models provide insight into these systems and predict long-term behavior.

Professor Everett (left) and her research students Maya Gong ‘23, Logan Post ‘23, and Anay Mehta ‘23 (left to right) presenting at Texas Tech University in 2021. The real world is full of complex biological relationships. A rabbit population might fluctuate depending on the fox population, the amount of edible plants, and the spread of disease. Mathematical biologists like Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Rebecca Everett make sense of these relationships using mathematical models. She explains that the mathematical models she creates represent biological systems much like a model airplane represents a real airplane. They are not perfect copies...

Columns Quirky Queries

How Do Fireflies Glow?

Sarah McNamara

April 25, 2022April 25, 2022

The Lampyridae family, more commonly referred to as fireflies and lightning bugs, are neither true bugs nor flies… but within these colloquial names, it sure is apparent where the “lightning” and “fire” came from! But how do fireflies produce light in the first place?

Firefly. Photo by @yb_woodstock on Flickr, cc-by-sa-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Fireflies are winged beetles, and there are over 2000 species distributed across the temperate and tropical areas of the world; in fact, especially when considering that not all species glow, it is likely that there are multiple species within your own backyard alone! An abundance of fireflies in Delaware County (Catskills), NY. Photo by @s58y on Flickr, CC by 2.0, via Flickr. Fireflies are bioluminescent, meaning they produce and emit light through chemical reactions in their bodies. Light is produced in a firefly’s abdomen — the “light organ” — when oxygen, calcium,...

Columns Stargazing

Marking the Passage of Time: Spring 2022 Stargazing

Karen Masters

April 20, 2022April 20, 2022

While it may feel like we’re stuck in a repeating loop of Spring 2020, watching the night skies can remind us that the seasons do actually keep passing by. Here is your stargazing guide for Spring 2022.

While it may feel like we’re stuck in a repeating loop of Spring 2020, watching the night skies can remind us that the seasons do actually keep passing by. Indeed many cultures throughout history have used the night skies to mark the passing of time. In my home country of England, ancient peoples built Stonehenge, probably to track the motion of the Sun (the brightest star in the sky!) and mark the year. In New Zealand, the Maori used the first sighting of Matariki (also known as the Pleiades) to set the start of the new year. The hottest part...

Columns Quirky Queries

What Actually Happens When You Black Out From Drinking?

Simon Thill

April 13, 2022April 15, 2022

What exactly happens in your brain if you black out from drinking? Why does this happen, and how dangerous is it?

Quirky Queries answers your random science questions. If you have a query, let us know! — To be honest, this was a very fun, and also very alarming question to research and write about. A lot of what I learned, especially about the human brain, was surprising, but I was shocked to learn just how potent alcohol is — it can completely shut down entire regions of your brain. There are many different types of memories, including long-term, short-term, and muscle memory. These are all stored in different, interconnected regions of your brain. Interestingly, binge drinking does not prevent you from creating...

News

The Extraordinary and Disastrous Eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano

Ashley Schefler

April 4, 2022April 4, 2022

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano in January 2022 was the largest our planet has seen in decades, wreaking destruction on the island nation of Tonga in which the volcano resides. Studies of this volcano can help us understand the causes and effects of such massive eruptions, and may even give insight into the geological processes that have shaped the landscape of Mars.

Media from NASA Earth Observatory On January 15, 2022, the largest volcanic eruption in decades devastated the island nation of Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean. The blast released a massive amount of energy, equivalent to between 4 and 18 megatons of TNT, which is hundreds of times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion created a low-frequency pressure wave that circled the Earth, causing the entire atmosphere to oscillate. Ash has coated the islands, causing a serious shortage of clean drinking water, and a tsunami caused by the eruption wrought widespread damage. The effect on...

Science in Society

Don’t Look Up: A Scientific Review

Kate Braverman

April 4, 2022April 4, 2022

How realistic is Don’t Look Up? What does it tell us about NASA, the importance of peer review, and asteroid-fighting technology in the real world? (Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)

Don’t Look Up, a film released on Netflix in December 2021, provided a metaphorized take on the relationship between the scientific community, the political sphere, and the public in regard to climate change. In a fictionalized United States, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), an astronomer at Michigan State University, and his PhD student, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), try to warn the public about a comet, first discovered by Dibiasky, scheduled to collide with the Earth in six months. Encountering the ineffectual POTUS Orlean (Meryl Streep) anda CEO tech billionaire, Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), only concerned with making a profit, Mindy...

Columns Quirky Queries

How does wind happen?

Simon Thill

March 18, 2022March 30, 2022

Have you ever wondered how wind happens? This short article describes the cause of wind and some of its patterns.

Hurricane Katrina. Courtesy of NOAA Quirky Queries answers your random science questions. If you have a query, let us know! — This is an excellent question, and one that I was curious about myself when I was younger. I would often ask my parents scientific questions, and they would do their best to respond, sometimes without actually knowing the correct answer. When I asked this same question, my parents told me something along the lines of “wind is caused by the rotation of the Earth.” While the Earth’s rotation does play a significant role in wind and weather patterns, this is not...

News

The Colorado Wildfires: How Climate Change is Changing Wildfires

Celeste Cubbage

February 23, 2022February 23, 2022

Recent wildfires in the west are just another example of how wildfire seasons are not only increasing, but also becoming more common all over the country. As weather conditions continue to change due to the global climate crisis, more extreme events such as drought and heat waves cause new areas to become susceptible to the possibility of wildfires.

2020 Colorado Wildfire. Photo by Malachi Brooks, via Unsplash. In 2022, as of early February, there have already been 2,388 fires that have burned a total of 40,822 acres across the U.S., surpassing a 10-year average of 1,924 fires and 38,501 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In 2021, the state of California faced unprecedented fires that raged throughout the year, burning a total of 2.5 million acres and changing officials’ definition of the “fire season” to a “fire year.” One of the most recent catastrophic wildfires occured on December 30th of last year, when a suburban neighborhood...

Features

Dinner in the Woods: A Catalog of Edible Fungi on Haverford’s Campus

Oscar Garrett

February 9, 2022February 10, 2022

Haverford’s nature trail has more delicious offerings than a pleasant place to gaunt and jog; you might find your next dinner!

Amanita muscaria (also known as “Fly Agaric”), a beautiful mushroom with a rich history. Image taken in the Haverford Pinetum. Note: All images featured in this article were taken by Oscar Garrett. Disclaimer: Foraging is a fun hobby with tasty rewards, but it can result in injury or death with the right combination of ignorance and misfortune. Do not eat anything you find without being 100 percent sure of its identity. The contents of this article are intended to educate you of these fungi's presence on campus, not identify them. Consult a field guide or foraging expert before consuming any...

Columns Quirky Queries

How do Snakes Move?

Emi Krishnamurthy

February 3, 2022February 3, 2022

How do these legless creatures slither, glide, crawl, and climb? Here we discuss multiple different mechanisms of snake locomotion (including flying!).

Characters Kaa, an Indian python, and Mowgli in Disney’s “The Jungle Book” (1967). From the Disney gallery. Quirky Queries answers your random science questions. If you have a query, let us know! -- How do these legless creatures slither, glide, crawl, and climb? Here we discuss multiple different mechanisms of snake locomotion (including flying!). Serpentine locomotion Snakes are known to slither. They move by pushing off of rocks, branches, and other surfaces in order to propel forward, but how do snakes travel on flat surfaces? Slithering, called serpentine locomotion, is dependent on the muscles that connect a snake’s skin, spine,...

Features Science in Society

Researchers Highlight Concerns About Personality Testing in Workplace Training

Andreas Wingert

January 30, 2022December 8, 2022

The use of personality testing in the workplace has expanded from personnel selection to workplace training. However, several concerns regarding the use of personality testing in workplace training have been identified.

Personality Test Cartoon. Photo by breakthroughvisuals.com While personality tests in the workplace setting were originally used for personnel selection, human research departments (HRDs) have increasingly employed personality tests in workplace training despite the paucity of evidence supporting their use for this purpose. Several concerns about the use of personality testing in workplace training were identified in a 2017 study by Lundgren et al., who analyzed multiple case studies. Using data collected in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands between 2012 and 2016, the researchers reviewed interviews, test reports, product flyers and email correspondence from publishers, associations, psychologists and HRD...

News

Parthenogenesis: Virgin Births Provide Hope for the Endangered California Condor

Isabel Thornberry

January 26, 2022January 31, 2022

California condors are a species that have hovered on the brink of extinction for decades, and captive breeding programs established in the 1980s have brought the species’ numbers back from just 22 in 1982 to 525 at the end of 2019. Now, a phenomenon called parthenogenesis, observed in two cases of California condors, brings up many questions around the birds’ reproductive ability and genetic variation.

California Condor. Photo by Chuck Szmurlo, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction whereby females eggs develop into embryos without fertilization from a male. While this phenomenon is commonly observed in fish, reptiles, and plants, it is rare or unknown in birds such as the California condor. As part of the captive breeding program of California condors, Oliver Ryder and his team developed a genetic database for all California condors such that breeding programs can work to maintain genetic variation in condor populations and prevent inbreeding, as described in an article published in October...