APISSAR Science Journal 2015

Editors-in-ChiefRebecca Horowitz and Amanda Klestzick

Assistant editorsJake Brzowsky, Jacob Cohen, Ariel Inker, Rebecca Roitman,

WritersJacob Aaronson, Sharona Bellin, Jake Brzowsky, Leeya Chait,

Jacob Cohen, Allison Herstic, Ariel Inker, Liana Katz, Benjamin Kepecs, Amanda Klestick, Jordana Kosowsky,

Amiel Orbach, Rebecca Roitman, Chana Rosenthal, Ayelet Rubenstein, Ilan Sasson, Ayelet Slasky

Artists

Ariel Benillouche, Ariella Goldman, Allison Herstic, Jordana Kosowsky, Hadas Krasner, Rebecca Perla, Jenny Weinstein

Cover artworkBinyamin Kaplan

Faculty advisorMs. Bader

Layout editorBracha Eisenstat

Table of ContentsArticles

Free Will: Science or Faith?

HIV Prevention for Babies

Quantum Entaglement

Is Sitting Killing us?

Germs and Genesis

Lying

Fish on acid

Ion Channels and Cytoplasmic Domains of the KCNQ1 K+ Channel

What is Metabolism?

Good News for Chocolate Lovers

Summer Research: Weight-LossSupplement and Artificial Sweeteners

Toxic Blood

What Makes Humans Unique?

What is your Dog Thinking?

Pickup Lines

Haiku: Photosynthesis and Respiration

Fun Facts

Bibliography

Chana Rosenthal

Ariel Inker

Amiel Orbach

Jake Brzowsky

Rebecca Horowitz

Allison Herstic and Leeya Chait

Allison Herstic and Leeya Chait

Benjamin Kepecs

Amanda Klestzick

Jordana Kosowsky

Rebecca Roitman

Liana Katz

Jacob Aaronson

Jacob Cohen

Ayelet Rubenstein

Sharona Bellin

Ilan Sasson

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Letter from the Editors SAR’s extraordinarily talented science students contribute to an innovative and diverse range of science activities at SAR. The Science Journal includes a wide array of topics ranging from bi-ology and chemistry to nutrition and engineering, in forms such as articles and poems. The different forms of expression appeal to different types of readers and allow them to explore all areas of science. APIS conveys the scientific activities and talents of SAR student contributors to its readers. Anyone who picks up a copy of APIS immediately senses the talent and diversity of SAR students. Students with different abilities, interests, and skillsets are all welcome to submit to the journal and have their scientific interests incorporated. This year’s project has been an incredible

process, and we hope you enjoy the final product.

Sincerely,

Amanda Klestzick and Rebecca Horowitz

Science JournalArticles

2014

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Free Will: Science or Faith?Chana Rosenthal

The concept of free will has been discussed, debated and written about by theologians, philosophers, sci-entists, politicians and lawyers for many centuries. A simplified definition of free will is an individual’s freedom of constraints from law, politics, religion, relationships, emotions, and morality to control their own thoughts, feelings and actions. Critics of this concept of free will such as Sam Harris (Free Will, Waking Up,Lying,The Moral Landscape ), Stephen Hawking (The Grand Design), and Richard Dawkins ( The Greatest Show On Earth) dismiss free will as flawed, incoherent, and the cause of despair, guilt, and nihilism. A principle that is diametri-cally opposite to free will is determinism, which states that all actions and behavior have external causes and the future is already determined. Albert Einstein once said, "Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills." Einstein's philosophy combines the theory of free will and the theory of determinism , which together is referred to as the theory of compatibilism. This concept means that a person is free to act according to a motive, but the nature of the motive is pre-determined. The religious origin of free will ( bechira chofshi) comes from the sin of Adam and Eve disobeying the will of G-d. This event in the Garden of Eden and the principle of free will is therefore based on the principle of faith. According to the Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma 3b, “A person is always liable for his actions, wheth-er awake or asleep." Conception, future behaviors, actions and personality of an individual according to Rabbi Hanina bar Papa in the Talmud Niddah 16b, is not a result of a scientific or biological event. Rather it is deter-mined by an angel and G-d. The Rambam (Moses Maimonides), in Mishneh Torah, " Laws of Repentance," 5:2 , G-d pre-determines whether a person will be 'righteous or wicked.' Man then expresses this character trait with his free will. A variation of opinion in Jewish philosophy is described in Viktor Frankl's, Man's Search for Mean-ing. Frankl is a Holocaust survivor who experienced the concept of free will in concentration camps. His conclu-sion is that human beings always have free will, beyond logical, scientific or biological explanation even in the most extreme and oppressive circumstances. As seen in the Talmud, the concept of free will and determinism is not completely clear. In sharp contrast to the theological explanations of free will here are theories of biological determinism presented by atheists, philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists. Understanding and explaining human be-havior has been a challenge since the beginning of time. Criminals pleading insanity, judges convicting the guilty (?) and lawyers representing the innocent (?) can be studied philosophically, biologically, or sociologically. As scientific knowledge expands our understanding of the genome, our society is redefining how the human mind controls our bodies and behavior. In the book Genome by Matt Ridley, a detailed description of scientific studies reveals irrefutable evidence that chromosomes have a direct influence on human behavior. For example, chil-dren of alcoholic or abusive parents will have a higher incidence of repeating the same behavior as their parents. According to Ridley, there are actual chromosomal changes in these children that can be detected. There have also been studies of serial killers showing that there are variations in their actual genetic code, compared to the general population (Stephen Mobley - February 1994, convicted of murder...his defense -his genes made him do it). Most scientific explanations of the concept of free will largely favor nature over nurture. With great pleasure an individual will give up the ‘illusion’ of free will to escape responsibility for an egre-gious act: a murder; an unfaithful friend, partner or spouse; fraudulent businessman; corrupt politician; or even a child taking another child’s toy. Accepting the theory of determinism releases culpability and accountability. Without accountability of good and bad deeds from a religious perspective, there cannot be the concept of sin, Hell, or rewards in the “world after”. According to Eli Wiesel (Night), Man commits crimes against humanity, not G-d (the Holocaust). If Man has no free will G-d would have to be responsible...which cannot be, since G-d is all good and righteous. Some one has to be blamed for these horrible events throughout history. On the other side, there are natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and fires which destroy massive amounts of

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property and life. Free will, obviously cannot be held responsible for these events, which therefore leaves no answer or explanation. Atheists claim religion and free will was created by Man to control the behavior of hu-manity to control the evil side of human nature with fear and guilt. Charles Darwin defined free will as a delu-sion caused by our inability to understand our own motives and the Universe. Whichever theory one believes, there are, and probably always will be, many unproved and unanswered questions when it comes to G-d and humanity. The premise of believing in determinism is- we are not free...and yet, we usually feel free we usually feel free to make our own decisions. Whether it is the stock market, the weather, or human behavior, the universe is filled with randomness, influenced by our environment, and our genes. Perhaps in addition an unexplained force controlling all of the above and all of the below is also responsible many of us call this G d.

HIV is one of the most serious viruses in the world, but in many cases is preventable. Mother-to-child transfer, through childbirth, delivery, and breastfeeding, is the most common way that a child becomes infect-ed with HIV. This is also called perinatal transmission of HIV. To prevent the transfer, many women with HIV schedule a Caesarian section, to reduce the contact of bodily fluid. The mothers also receive special HIV medi-cation during pregnancy. Children born to HIV-positive mothers are given medication for six weeks after birth and are not breastfed. All pregnant women are encouraged early in their pregnancies to test for HIV, because if they test positive, precautions need to be made. The HIV medications reduce the amount of HIV circulating in the body. The lower amount of HIV reduces the risk of the baby getting the virus. Having less HIV in the body also helps the mother. The medication travels across the placenta, which would protect the baby, especially during childbirth. Babies should also not eat pre-chewed food. An HIV positive mother not treated for HIV during preg-nancy and delivery has a 25% chance of passing the virus on to her child. However, when antiretroviral drugs and a C-section are utilized, the risk goes down to less than 2%. Even though some women do not find out they are HIV positive until very late - some might not find out until they are in labor - if antiretroviral drugs are used and the mother doesn’t breastfeed, the likelihood of passing the virus on is significantly decreased. This shows the wonders of modern medicine — that a deadly virus can be avoided, and more healthy chil-dren born.

HIV Prevention for BabiesAriel Inker

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Quantum Entanglement

Amiel Orbach

According to the laws of relativistic physics, nothing can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum, 299,792,458 m/s. This holds true for scales observed by our naked eye, but on the scale of subatomic particles, there are other sets of laws in a field called quantum mechanics, which are radically different. For instance, particles can be in multiple places at the same time, and can cross distances by skipping through space in leaps, teleporting small distances without passing through the space in between these jumps. One of the most interesting phenomena in this subatomic world is a process called quantum entangle-ment. This action starts with a pair of particles, such as electrons, becoming entangled. This means that they are linked together, and by measuring one, you can know information about the other. For example, if you have a pair of entangled electrons, you can know the spin, or direction (up or down) of rotation, of one of them by measuring the other. If you see that one electron in the pair has an up spin, you know that the other electron has a down spin. This also means that if you change the spin of one electron, the other electron’s spin will change instantaneously, even faster than a beam of light. Another very interesting thing about this is the fact that before you measure the spin (or any other infor-mation about the particle), the particle doesn’t have a definite spin. It is in a superposition of having both an up spin and a down spin. Only when you measure the information do you “force” the particle to pick either up or down. Right now, quantum entanglement doesn’t have much everyday use, but in the future, we could invent devices such as teleporters and quantum computers. The way the teleporter would work would be as follows: first, you would place the object to be teleported inside of a container. A scanner would scan all of the informa-tion of all of the atoms and subatomic particles and record it. It would then send that information to one side of a cloud of entangled particles. As the particles receive the information, they would instantly turn their correspond-ing set of particles into the object which was scanned. This way, you could send packages instantaneously. We probably wouldn’t, however, use it for human teleportation, because as you are reconstructed on the other side, your original body would collapse into subatomic mush, which technically would be murder. However, we are nowhere near there yet, since so far scientists have only teleported photons and electrons. A quantum computer would have a massive advantage over the digital computers we currently use. A digital computer stores information in binary, meaning each character is either a 0 or a 1, either off or on. Each character, such as a letter, is called a bit, and is a string of eight 0s or 1s. This means that each character you see on your screen is actually eight times the length, which can take up a lot of space. A quantum computer would operate on quantum principles, and could store information much more efficiently. Each particle would be in a superposition of an infinite number of numbers, and it would only become a 0 or 1 when it interacts with other particles. If we have a computer running off of these particles, the brain of the computer could be as small as a grain of sand.

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We all know that smoking or drinking can kill people, but you probably aren’t aware of a host of danger-ous behaviors that you are doing that are also potentially lethal. Take, for example, sitting. You’re probably sitting down as you read this — bad idea! Sitting can result in an increased risk of obesity, high blood pressure, cardio-vascular disease, cancer, depression, and possibly Alzheimer’s disease, according to James Levine, an endocri-nologist and researcher at the Mayo Clinic. “The human being is designed to move,” says Levine, and without movement, the body “crumbles on every level.” In one study of 220,000 adults, published in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine, those who sat for eight or more hours a day had a fifteen percent greater risk of dying within three years than those who sat who sat for under four hours, while those who sat 11 or more hours had a 40% higher chance of death compared to those who sat fewer than four. These results are backed up by a similar study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and a 2010 report by the American Cancer Society in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Risks of heart disease and diabetes were doubled in people who sat for long amounts of time. What’s most troubling is that the amount of exercise one does had no effect on the results. Even those who exercised regularly experienced no significant change in the results. Only frequent breaks were shown to have some effect in helping to neutralize the negative effects of sitting. It is clear that more research is needed to determine the causes of the neg-ative effects of sitting. As of now, however, the evidence points to elevated blood sugar and triglyceride levels, which, without frequent exercise to lower them, can cause serious consequences. Muscle contraction and body movement also stimulate blood flow, thereby removing toxins from the body via the lymphatic system. Another possible solution, proposed by Dr. Joan Vernikos, a NASA doctor, is that sitting for long periods of time actually subjects the body to anti-gravitational forces. Lower than normal gravity results in a distur-bance of bodily function and a greatly increased rate of deterioration. This is the reason astronauts suffer from muscular atrophy and bone degradation while in space.It is also important to note that correlation does not equal causation. None of the studies confirmed that sitting is the cause of a premature death. People who spend large amounts of time sitting may have other health issues, or also be engaging in other unhealthy and potentially deadly behaviors such as snacking and watching television. But for now, until we know more, all we can do is sit and wait (not literally, of course).

Is Sitting Killing Us?Jake Bryzosky

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If you love science, meeting interesting people, and having a lot of fun, Genesis at Brandeis University is the perfect summer program for you. It’s not just working in a lab; it’s a social and religious experience as well. It’s basically everything anyone could want in a summer! Genesis is a pluralistic Jewish enrichment program for high school students. We begin the day with optional kavanot. Kavanot means intentions in Hebrew. It’s a time slot in the day for any spiritual activity that can make you feel connected to something greater than yourself. the goal of “kavanot” is to take a step back from the normal routine of the day to feel present. Then, we spend a few hours in the morning learning high-level, innovative topics in our area of study. I chose science. There are three other majors at Genesis. But nothing is typical at Genesis, and majors were no exception. For a portion of the month we learned “science and ethics,” where we debated ethical dilemmas that could arise in modern medicine from a Jewish and secular standpoint. Even when we debated things from a Jewish standpoint, it was nothing like I have ever experienced. I absorbed the perspectives of Elizabeth, Noa, and Sam. Elizabeth lives in Missouri and goes to public school. She is completely unaffiliated. Noa lives in Columbus, Ohio and goes to an all girls prep school. She considers herself Modern Orthodox. Sam is a Russian Jew who attends a military academy. He is openly atheist. These are just three examples of the 100 passionate participants in Genesis. The perspectives and opinions were infinite. Simultaneously with the ethical studies, we did a large, comprehensive lab. The goal of the lab was to dis-cover if, to what extent, and how long it takes for bacterial homogenization to occur. Bacterial homogenization is the process in which many forms of bacteria from different organisms mix and become uniform throughout all the species. The participants at Genesis come from all corners of the globe and from every Jewish background you can imagine. With them come all the different pathogens of their particular environment. The question the lab set out to answer was, when all the participants come to Genesis and start living and eating together, do the bacteria that each participant brings eventually homogenize? The first step to answering this question was to learn a lot of background information. We then isolated bacterial DNA, cut it with restriction enzymes and performed PCR. By performing PCR, we amplified certain regions of the DNA. This was necessary to eventually sequence the bacteria. We then prepared the bacteria for the library and sequencing machines at MIT, and ana-lyzed our data! It turns out that the various bacteria sequences did homogenize. The rates of homogenization were higher within genders, roommates, and classes, as expected. The homogenization started off at a low fre-quency then came to a higher frequency. Throughout the month, the science majors also heard a multitude of lectures on topics from probability and how it relates to disease and genetics, to evolution and God’s role in the creation of the earth. What I learned at Genesis went beyond empirical facts and data. I learned about community, inclusivity, and what it means to be a Jew.

Germs and GenesisRebecca Horowitz

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How easy is it for the human brain to detect a liar? The University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business recently did a study that determined the brain may be worse at detecting lies than people commonly assume. Unconsciously, we are good at distinguishing lies from truths, yet our conscious reasoning distorts these results . People, when armed with background information may be able to distinguish a lie from a truth, but without any information about a situation, the brain finds it hard to comprehend. In a study conducted to see if we detect lies in some capacity even if we are not aware of it, individuals volunteered to be interviewed about a fake crime. These individuals were split up into two groups, one with the mission to steal 100 dollars from a room and the other told not to. After the volunteers had completed their designated task they each confessed to a panel that they had not stolen the money. The panel then had to guess who was telling the truth and who was lying. The results, with under 50% of the people picking correctly, further proved that humans cannot detect lies without any background information. The results were radically different using a system known as the Impli-cation Association Test. Using the IAT researchers measured if the use of words like “dishonest” or “deceitful” correlated with lying and words like “ valid” and “honest” related to truth telling. The unconscious associations, measured by the time it takes a volunteer to choose one type of word or another to describe the suspect ,turned out to be more accurate than the panel’s’ conscious judgments. The question then becomes how is our uncon-scious ability to detect lies more accurate than our conscious one? One answer may be our reliance on physical cues, like fidgeting, that are associate with lying, but aren’t actually reliable. An interesting question for the future is whether people are more likely to act on their unconscious or conscious judgments. For instance, if you un-consciously sense that someone is lying about a theft but decide they’re telling the truth, how likely would you be to leave your laptop alone in a room with that person?

LyingAllison Herstic and Leeya Chait

Global Warming is often highlighted because of its negative effects on mankind’s quality of life. What many people don’t realize is that the dramatic changes in the environment are negatively affecting every organism, down to the smallest fish. As the CO2 in the air increases, heat is trapped in Earth’s atmosphere, causing ocean acidification. The acidification in the oceans causes fish to act strangely, and even self destructively. Marine biologist Danielle Dixson discovered this strange behavior when she observed fish from an acidic reef in Papua New Guinea. Fish’s nature is to avoid water in which predators have recently swam in, but not only did these fish not avoid these waters, they swam directly into it. These fish chose to stay in the water infested with their predator’s odor, rather than to inhabit the odorless offshore water. They also stopped taking precautions to protect themselves, like swimming away from their homes, and stopping to nestle. Although it is unclear on a molecular level exactly why these fish are acting so strangely, re-searchers believe that their sense of smell may be deteriorating, there-fore making the fish unable to navigate through the waters and avoid their predators. This problem is somewhat isolated since these pockets of overly acidified water are surrounded by normally acidic water. How-ever, Climate models show that by 2100 the entire ocean will become as acidic as this reef, endangering all the aquatic species.

Fish on AcidAllison Herstic and Leeya Chait

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Ion Channels and Cytoplasmic Domains of the KCNQ1 K+ Channel

Benjamin Kepecs

Ion channels are cellular structures that play a critical role in generating and propagating electrical signals through cells. These channels are macromolecular protein complexes embedded in cellular mem-branes, such as those of nerve and muscle cells. The concentrations of ions in the cytosol of these cells are different than those in the surrounding extracellular fluid, thus creating a charge difference across the mem-brane of the cell, called membrane potential (“Cell Membrane Potentials”). Controlled by signaling mecha-nisms and voltage within the cell, the ion channels open and close to allow ions such as sodium, potassium, and calcium to flow into and out of the cell. Changes in ion concentration result in action potential, the depolarization and subsequent repolarization of a cell’s electrical charge (“Action Potentials”). For example,

myocardial (heart) cells have a resting state voltage of -85 to -90 mV (“Cardiac Physiol-ogy”). When the channels are signaled, certain ion channels open and allow an influx of positive ions in several stages, changing the cells’ charge to positive for a brief period, the “excited state,” as can be seen in Figure 1, during phases 1 and 2. As the voltage inside the cell becomes positive, the channels that allowed the positive ions

to enter consequently close (Rediscovering Biology: Unit 10 Neurobiology). New channels that releasepositive ions from within the cell open, causing the cell to revert back to its resting negative state. Action potentials translate into electrical signals in the body, which control multiple aspects of the body’s function-ing, including neuron transmissions and muscular contractions, such as heartbeats. Potassium ion (K+) channels play vital physiological roles by controlling cells’ resting membrane potential after the cells have entered their excited state. K+ channels are found in all cells in the body, but they are critical to the specific functions of specialized tissues such as those of the heart and brain. The channels play a role in controlling the timing and duration of heartbeats by regulating transmembrane flux of potassium ions at crucial times, in order to control depolarization and repolarization of the cells. Mu-tations in K+ channels can lead to irregular ion flow, and thus cause heart diseases involving ventricular arrhythmias, which can lead to syncope, cardiac arrest, or sudden cardiac death. Mutations in one channel, the KCNQ1 channel, have been known to lead specifically to the heart disease LQT1, a prolongation of the QT interval between electric impulses that cause the heart to pump. This disease can lead to the above symptoms. In order to find cures or treatments for diseases associated with mutations in a potassium chan-nel, the channel’s specific structures, functions, and interactions need to be understood.

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In the summer of 2014, I spent a month in a laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, in the cardiac unit. I researched there as part of the Einstein-Mon-tefiore Summer High School Program. During this month, I was taught various laboratory skills involved in biological research, researching the KCNQ1 potassium channel under the guidance of a superb teacher. The KCNQ1 channel is made up of four identical protomer subunits, each with 6 transmembrane regions. The channel interacts with an accessory protein called a MinK- related peptide, part of the KCNE family of proteins, which is crucial to its functioning. Irregularities in the interactions of these two proteins can lead to fatal genetic disorders that include cardiac arrhythmias. The interaction of these two proteins is not fully understood, and therefore on of our goals was to identify the role this relationship plays in channel kinetics. The channel has a C-terminus made up of 328 amino acid residues

The C-terminus of the protein may be important in channel kinetics and subunit assembly, but the specific function is unknown. It

I would like the thank Dr. Thomas McDonald, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as well as the Einstein Montefiore Summer High School Research Program for giving me the opportunity to expand my re-search experience. I would especially like to thank Dr. Renjian Zheng for his patience and guidance through-out my summer at Albert Einstein, and Dr. McDonald for his informative and engaging lunch lessons. The authors thank NIH/NHLBI and AHA for providing the necessary funding.

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Contrary to popular belief, a fast or slow metabolism does not determine one’s weight. Weight gain is caused by excess energy in the body being converted into fat. The main factors in-volved are the amount of food ingested and the amount of physical activity one’s body goes through. Engaging in physical activity burns more calories and increases the rate of breaking down food. If there is an imbalance in the amount of ingested food and food broken down — if one eats more calories than one burns — then one will gain weight. So what does a metabolism actually do? A metabolism runs through two different channels, catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is the breaking down of food particles to be converted into energy in a catabolic reaction. This process of large molecules breaking down into smaller mole-cules produces energy. Examples of products are cortisol, a stress hormone, glucagon, a hormone that breaks down glycogen, and adrenaline, also known as epinephrine. The energy that is produced is then used to fuel anabolic reactions. Anabolism is the opposite of catabolism and includes the processes of building up of your body, such as the growth of cells and tissues. An anabolic reaction occurs when two smaller molecules join to form a larger molecule, using energy in the process. Examples of anabolic products are growth hormones, insulin, testosterone, and estrogen. If there is more energy than the anabolic reactions require, the energy is stored as fat in the liver, and this accounts for body weight. The correct process by which our body gains weight is the consumption of food. Food particles are broken down in a catabolic reaction which produces energy, this energy fuels anabolic reactions, and the excess energy is stored as fat and we gain weight.

What is a Metabolism?Amanda Klestzick

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Good News For Chocolate LoversJordana Kosowsky

Everyone knows the feeling of being hun-gry and needing a little snack to tide you over before your next meal. You can either go for a healthy snack such as a fruit or vegetable or an un-healthy “junk” snack. But, what if you could have a healthy “junk” food?I was recently reading “The Week” and I came across an article in the Health and Science section about the benefits of cocoa. I know chocolate is delicious, but after doing further research, I discov-ered that it also has numerous health benefits, such as boosting memory and increased heart health. In 2008, Harvard scientists tested the result of “en-hanced chocolate intake,” and established that in-creased chocolate leads to increased blood flow to your brain which leads to improved memory function. Cocoa beans are rich in flavonoids, which have antioxidants that protect the body’s cells from environmental and other damage. Specifically, epicatechin, a flavonoid found in cocoa beans, reduced brain damage in mice who suffered from strokes. Scientists at California’s Salk institute added that epicatechin improved mice memory. Addition-ally, at the John Hopkins University, researchers found that dark chocolate protects the cells in the brain, and therefore protects the brain from damage caused by strokes. More importantly, this has been proven to apply to humans as well. In a small study, two groups of healthy people were either given 900 milligrams or 10 milli-grams of epicatechin a day. After three months the group that was given 900 milligrams performed significantly better on memory tests, and brain scans later confirmed improved blood flow to the brain. So the flavonoids in chocolate improve memory by increasing blood flow to brain’s arteries, and also have other positive influences on vascular health. Additional studies prove that chocolate reduces blood platelet clumping. By preventing blood clots, chocolate re-duces the risk of heart attacks. For example, those who ate eight grams of 70 percent cocoa chocolate every day for a month had a significant improvement in vascular function. A study from Cardiovascular System Journal presents evidence that consuming dark chocolate in moderate quantities can in fact decrease the risk of heart disease.Other possible advantages of chocolate consumption include cancer prevention, decrease in risk of diabetes, and positive effects on skin and even on mood. However, eating chocolate has some obvious detriments as well. While dark chocolate is believed to have the highest levels of flavonoids, most commercial chocolates, even dark chocolates, are highly processed, meaning many flavonoids are lost, and you are left with a high sugar and fat content. Finally, eating small amounts of chocolate, especially non processed dark chocolate, is actually a good thing, so don’t feel guilty about it, but remember that moderation is the key.

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This summer I volunteered at the John B. Pierce laboratory at Yale University, a neuroscience lab that studies the brain representation of taste, smell, flavor, and feeding in humans. I helped out with two studies. The first one dealt with PhosphoLean, a supplement that increases levels of OEA, a molecule in the gut shown to promote satiety. An increase in OEA can help restore communication between the gut and the brain, which will not only help the participants feel fuller by sending messages to the brain once the body has eaten enough but also enhance their ability to learn about negative outcomes. The study investigates the effects of PhosphoLean on weight loss and impulsive eating habits in obese and overweight individuals. With reduced impulsivity due to the supplement, the subjects will have an easier time complying with a low-calorie diet, which will promote weight loss. The effectiveness of the supplement is measured through computer tasks that test impulsivity, blood draws, and body fat percentage by going into the "BodPod," (a machine that measures body fat compo-sition). Another way that the effectiveness of the supplement is measured is by having the subjects taste and rate different puddings and jellos based on fat content, sugar content, and intensity. The purpose of this test is to see if the supplement has an effect on how the subjects perceive fat content and sugar content. The subjects also participate in fMRI scans which measure their brain activity while they consume milkshakes. These tests and scans are occurring over the course of 14 months as the subjects go through different phases of sup-plementation such as weight-loss counseling, weight-loss maintenance, and a switch from the Phospholean supplement to the placebo (or vice-versa). The second study that I helped out with studies the effects of artificial sweeteners on taste bud sensi-tivity and weight gain. Participants come in for sessions in which they rate the intensity of different solutions that are sweet, bitter, umami, salty, and sour. Between these sessions, the subjects are instructed to drink a beverage made with artificial sweetener (or sugar for the placebo). The lab then looks to see if the partici-pants' sensitivity towards certain tastes decreases over the course of the study. The expectation is that sensi-tivity towards sweet taste will decrease while sensitivity towards the other tastes will stay the same. This decrease in sensitivity towards a sweet taste can lead to over-sweetening of certain foods, leading to weight gain. The other possible effect of artificial sweeteners that is being studied is the ability of artificial sweeteners to alter the brain reward circuits that code for the physiological significance of sweet taste, resulting in decreased ability to use sweet taste to guide feeding. This hypothesis was studied using the fMRI scanning. The study is in its initial stages and I had the chance to conduct my own mini-study to figure out which concentrations of the solutions were gen-erally rated as "moderate". Overall, it was a terrific experience and I learned a lot about the scientific process and how a lab runs. I hope to stay connected with the research and continue to find ways to be helpful to them.

Summer Research: Weight-Loss Supplement and Artificial Sweeteners

Rebecca Roitman

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It was a casual Sunday morning when I found myself glued to yet another episode of Grey's Anatomy. The episode I stumbled upon was called Wishin’ and Hopin’. To sum it up, a cancerous patient, Marina Wag-ner (played by Amanda Collins), was admitted to the hospital and was revealed to have toxic blood, making several physicians fall ill. Very curious on how this is at all possible, I decided to research the case, and to my surprise, her toxicity was legit. Gloria Ramirez, a volunteer at a local elementary school and mother of two was brought into the emergency room of California’s Riverside General Hospital at about 8:15 PM on February 19, 1994. Ramirez’s paramedics claimed that she was suffering from the effects of her advanced cervical cancer. As a result, she fell semi-conscious; suffering from tachycardia, an accelerated heart rate, and Cheyne–Stokes respiration, a very abnormal breathing pattern (“Gloria Ramirez”, 2014). Upon her arrival, she was injected with sedatives such as diazepam, midazolam and lorazepam. When it became clear that Ramirez wasn’t responding to her treatment, the doctors and nurses tried defibrillating her heart. At that point, several of the staff members saw an oily covering on Ramirez's body, and some noticed a fruity, garlic-like odor that they thought was coming from her mouth. To obtain blood for analysis, a registered nurse named Susan Kane began to draw blood from Ramirez's arm. Once the blood entered the tube, she no-ticed an ammonia-like smell. Being that she was an experienced nurse, not much made her queasy. However, feeling very faint, she passed the syringe to Dr. Julie Gorchynski, a medical resident who noticed manila-col-ored particles floating in the blood. At this point, Kane completely passed out and was removed from the room. Shortly thereafter, Gorchynski began to feel nauseated and light headed. Complaining that she was too feeling sick, she left the trauma room and sat at a nurse's desk. A staff member spotted her and asked her if she was okay, but before she could respond she also fainted. Maureen Welch, a respiratory therapist who was assist-ing in the trauma room was the third to pass out. Very worried, the staff was ordered to evacuate all emergency room patients to the parking lot outside the hospital. A very minimal amount of doctors stayed behind on a rotation to stabilize Ramirez. At 8:50pm, after 45 minutes of CPRand defibrillation, Ramirez was pronounced dead from kidney failure which was assumed to be related to her cancer (“Analysis of a Toxic Death”, 1995). “A doctor and two nurses who were apparently poisoned by fumes from a dying woman in a strange medical episode on Saturday night are recovering, but no one knows yet what caused their symptoms” (Ko-lata, 1994). Many newspapers and radio stations got word of this bizarre case and for weeks were supplying the same information because no one knew the cause of this insanity. Therefore, when the RN, Susan Kane, recovered, she contacted the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to find out what exactly was wrong with Ramirez. After much analysis by tens of forensic scientists, pathologists, and other researchers, they came to an unsteady conclusion that the electric shock defibrillation administered during her stay in the emergency room was likely to have converted the dimethyl sulfone (DMSO2) later found in her purse into dimethyl sul-fate (DMSO4). This homemade pain relief drug turned into a poisonous gas, to which exposure became very dangerous. This is most probably why the emergency room staff had such violent symptoms when treating Ramirez (“Gloria Ramirez”, 2014).

Toxic BloodLiana Katz

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What Makes Humans Unique?Jacob Aaronson

For many years, humans considered themselves to be fundamentally different from all other living things. This conclusion seems somewhat logical since our species, Homo sapiens, is the only species that produces art, literature, science, and mathematics; no other animals communicate using verbal languages with complicated rules like ours, and no other animals have ever invented any complex machines like cars or computers. However, despite the unique qualities exhibited by humans, scientists are constantly finding new evidence that shows an increasing number of similarities between humans and other animals. These revolutionary findings have com-pletely changed the way we view our own uniqueness because they disprove the theory that human beings are drastically different from all other animals (Goodall 2002). Numerous studies of apes have shown that many characteristics which were once believed to be unique to hu-mans exist in other primates as well. For example, it was assumed for decades that humans are the only animals that care about the welfare of others. However, science has since proven otherwise. In one study, two chimps were put in separate cages side by side. One of the chimps had access to a bucket full of green tokens and red tokens, from which the chimp could pick up a token of its choice and hand it to a human. If the chimp were to choose the green token, both she and the other chimp would receive an equal reward of food. If the chimp were to choose the red token, only she would receive the reward, while the other chimp would get nothing. When the chimps figured out the difference between the red tokens and the green tokens, the choosing chimp preferred the green token most of the time, feeding both chimps. If the non-choosing chimp was removed, then the red to-ken was preferred. The experiment clearly showed that chimps care about helping their companions, even when it does not necessarily benefit themselves. This proves that chimpanzees have some understanding of fairness, which was once believed to exist only in humans (De Waal 2011).Due to this experiment and many similar ones, the line between humans and other animals has become increas-ingly fuzzy. We know now that other animals are capable of empathy, compassion, sharing, cooperation, humor, creation of simple tools, and self-recognition in a mirror — all qualities that were once considered to be unique to humans (Goodall 2002). Homo sapiens are no longer considered the most unique species, rather we are now regarded as the most advanced. Humans are definitely smarter than other animals, but our superior intelligence does not necessarily make us any more unique than other animals. After all, every animal has something that it’s good at. Birds are good at flying, dogs are good at smelling, and fish are good at breathing underwater, yet we do not consider any of these animals to be particularly unique. The only real difference between humans and ani-mals is the fact that our skills are intellectually based, due to our big brains (Dawkins 2014). Compared to other animals we are very good at remembering, counting, thinking, and speaking, and our advancement in these areas is the one thing that truly separates us from the chimps.

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Sit. Shake. Quit barking. Have you ever wondered what you dog is thinking about as you try to speak to them? Recently, researchers have been studying what exactly goes on in a dog’s head when it hears these com-mands. These researchers are trying to figure out what emotions, thoughts, dreams, or even words dogs are able to comprehend and, interestingly, express themselves. A recent study published in the Animal Cognition journal, found that dogs are, in fact, able to perform and understand simple calculations and statements. In other words, dogs can understand a lot more than just the words “down,” and “quit barking.” In fact, an average dog is capable of learning 165 words, according to psychol-ogist Stanley Coren (Paul). Some dogs are even skillful enough to have a vocabulary of up to 250 words. That’s enough words to teach your dog a whole lot of new tricks. In addition, dogs are apparently quite talented at solving “spatial problems,” says Coren (Paul). Moreover, Coren says that dogs are extremely efficient in devising the fastest route to a specific location, locating hidden treats, and can even learn from humans how to turn knobs and latches (Paul). You may have asked yourself, “Does my dog feel emo-tions?” After decades of intensive research, scientists are finally able to put together a good picture of how a dog’s mind is func-tioning. Dogs and humans have almost identical brain structures that produce emotions as we understand them (Coren). Dogs have many of the same hormones as humans do and therefore have the ability to feel many of the same emotions. Oxytocin, a hormone found in both dogs and humans, is associated with feelings of love and affection. Yet, a dog’s mind is still quite undeveloped compared to that of a human. In fact, a fully devel-oped mind of a dog is similar to that of a two year old (Coren). Because of this, dogs are able to sense emotions such as “joy, fear, anger, disgust, excitement, contentment, distress, and even love.” However, they are not able to express feelings of “guilt, pride, contempt, and shame (Coren).” We can now deduce that your pet dog is probably smarter and more capable than you might perceive them to be. A dog is able to perform certain basic tasks, comprehend a significant vocabulary, and even express certain emotions also known to humans. But dogs are not inferior to humans in all matters of cognitive com-parison. Dogs possess the ability to detect scents approximately 10,000,000 times better than humans. Dogs can literally sniff out lethal cancers, sense blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, and even detect oncoming sei-zures up to 45 minutes before they occur (Papas). So the next time you play fetch with your pooch and they don’t return the stick because they got distracted, don’t call them stupid. Instead, call them genius.

What is your Dog Thinking?Jacob Cohen

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Do you have 11 protons? Cuz you are sodium fine. You must have a high electronegativity, because I’m feeling attracted to you.I know you can feel that chemistry between us.Are you making me radioactive? Because you’re making my heart decay.You make my heart explode like a uranium bomb.If I could rearrange the periodic table, I’d put Uranium and Iodine to-gether. You’re hotter than a bunsen burner set to full power.I’ve got my ion you.Are you a carbon sample? Because I want to date you. Are you Fluorine? Cuz you are super attractive.Did you just zap me with some energy? Cuz you got me in an excited state.Even if there wasn’t gravity on earth, I’d still fall for you. I would say your figure is significantly cute.Do you like artificial transmutation? Cuz I say we do some fusion.I tried to think of some more, but all the good ones argon.Let me know ur reaction to these.

Pick up LinesAyelet Rubenstein

Photosynthesis.When plants and algae make foodby using sunlight.

The components are:Carbon dioxide, waterand light energy

These ingredients create glucose, oxygen,which humans breath in

Respiration isthe opposite process of photosynthesis.

Respiration isthe action of breathing airso that we can live.

The process involvesglucose and oxygen andenzymes’ assistance.

They transform intocarbon dioxide, water,which humans release

Haiku: Photosynthesis and Respirationby Sharona Bellin

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Did You Know...

1. That there are 300 bones in children and 206 in adults.

2. That the most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. They have a habit of visiting other animal’s wastes and they transmit more diseases than any other animals.

3. That the tentacles of the giant arctic Jellyfish can reach 120 feet in length.

4. That the deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet deep and is located in the Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean.

5. That the hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. That the ears of a cricket are located on their front legs, which are just below their knee.

7. That the leg muscles of a locust are about 100 times more powerful than an equal weight of hu-man muscle.

8. That your sense of smell is around 10,000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste.

9. That it might only take you a few minutes to finish a meal but it takes your body around 12 hours before it has completely digested the food.

10. That your nose and ears continue growing throughout your entire life.

11. That an Infant blinks only once or twice a minute while adults average around 10 blinks per minute.

12. That Helium is lighter than the air around us , so it floats and is perfect for the balloons you get at parties.

13. That Because of differences in gravity, a 200 pound person would only weigh 76 pounds on Mars.

14. That the fastest land animal in the world is the Cheetah, clocking at a max speed of around 113 km per hour.

15. That sneezing with your eyes open is impossible.

16. That Humans get a little taller in space because there is no gravity pulling down on them.

Fun Facts Ilan Sasson

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Bibliography

Fish on AcidDixson, Danielle. “Fish on Acid.” Science Updates. Accessed 2015. http://sciencenetlinks.com/science-news/science-updates/fish-acid/

Free Will Science or Fate?http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/intro/free_will.htmlhttp://www.iep.utm.edu/freewill/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/FreeWill.pdfhttp://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Theology/Free_Will/Free_Will_101.shtml

Fun Factshttp://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/funny.htmlhttp://www.hightechscience.org/funfacts.htm

Good News for Chocolate Lovershttp://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/heart/prevention/nutrition/food choices/benefits of-chocolatehttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/28/11 reasons chocolate is good for-your health.htmlhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why is dark chocolate good for you thank-your microbes/Cocoa boosts memory: The Week, Health and Science. Volume 14 issue 694, pg 21.Summer Research; Weight Loss Supplement and Artificial Sweetners

HIV Prevention for Babieshttp://aidsinfo.nih.gov/education materials/fact sheets/20/50/preventing -mother-to -child-transmission- of- hivhttp://www.aids.gov/hiv aids basics/prevention/reduce your risk/pregnancy and childbirth/

Ion Channels and Cytoplasmic Domains of the KCNQ1 K+ Channel“Cell Membrane Potentials.” Cell Membrane Potentials. Accessed November 28, 2014. http://hyperphysics.phy‐astr.gsu.edu/hbase/biology/mempot.html. “Action Potentials.” Action Potentials. Accessed November 28, 2014. http://hyperphysics.phy‐astr.gsu.edu/hbase/biology/actpot.html#c1. “Cardiac Physiology.” Cardiac Physiology. Accessed November 28, 2014. http://www.pharmacology2000.com/Cardio/Cardio_risk/adult_car-diac_procedures/physiol1.htm. “Rediscovering Biology ‐ Online Textbook: Unit 10 Neurobiology.” Rediscovering Biology ‐ Online Textbook: Unit 10 Neurobiology. Ac-cessed November 28, 2014. http://www.learner.org/courses/biology/textbook/neuro/neuro_4.html. http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/myo-cardactionpotential.gif

Is Sitting Killing Us?Cappuccio, Francesco, Lanfranco D’elia, Pasquale Strazzullo, and Michelle Miller. “Sleep Duration and All Cause-mortality: A Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies.” Sleep 33, no. 5, 585-92. Woodham, Chai. “Are You Sitting Yourself to Death?” US News. May 2, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2014.“Lack of Sleep Linked to Early Death.” Discovery News. February 11, 2013. Accessed December 7, 2014. Astaiza, Randy. “The Health Hazards Of Sleeping Too Much.” Business Insider. October 2, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2014. “Oversleeping Side Effects: Is Too Much Sleep Harmful?” WebMD. Accessed December 7, 2014.

LyingBrinke, Ten. “Spotting Liars.” - Science Updates. http://sciencenetlinks.com/science-news/science-updates/spotting-liars/.

Pick up Lineshttp://www.jokes4us.com/pickuplines/scientificpickuplines.html

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Quantum EntanglementBonsor, Kevin, and Robert Lamb. “How Teleportation Will Work.” HowStuffWorks. Accessed 2014. http://science.howstuffworks.com/science vs myth/everyday-myths/teleportation.htmlGreene, Brian. “The Fabric of the Cosmos.” PBS. Accessed 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/fabric of cosmos.htmlLuntz, Stephen. “Scientists Achieve Quantum Teleportation.” IFLScience. Accessed 2014. http://www.iflscience.com/physics/scientists achieve quantum-teleportationKluger, Jeffrey. “Teleportation Is Real and Here’s Why It Matters.” Time. Accessed 2014. http://time.com/2800071/teleportation quantum-entanglement/ Tate, Karl. “How Quantum Entanglement Works.” Livescience. Accessed 2014. http://www.livescience.com/28550 how quantum entanglement works-infographic.html“Why Can’t Anything Go Faster Than The Speed of Light?” Zidbits. Accessed 2014. http://zidbits.com/2011/04/why cant anything go faster than the-speed of light/ Schulte, Michael, Zheng, Renjian, & McDonald, Thomas V. Departments of Medicine & Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.

Summer Research: Weight-loss Supplement and Artificial Sweeteners. https://docs.google.com/a/sarhighschool.org/file/d/0B1aaWYUayNkEck5yMXZ1ZzIwNlBGMldaQXBZUExERnpzLUtF/editAFS: https://docs.google.com/a/sarhighschool.org/file/d/0B1aaWYUayNkENEQyMEN1M044VDRXdl9HWHdobGdETUxRSWFr/edit

Toxic Blood“Gloria Ramirez.” Wikipedia. November 29, 2014. Accessed December 02, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Ramirez.“January/February 2015.” Discover Magazine. Accessed December 02, 2014. http://discovermagazine.com/1995/apr/analysisofatoxic493.Kolata, Gina. “FUMES AT HOSPITAL BAFFLE OFFICIALS.” The New York Times. February 21, 1994. Accessed December 02, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/22/us/fumes at hospital baffle officials.html.

What is Metabolism?Mayo Clinic Staff. “Weight Loss.” Metabolism and Weight Loss: How You Burn Calories. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.mayoclin-ic.org/healthy living/weight loss/in-depth/metabolism/art 20046508?pg=1. Nordqvist, Christian. “What Is Metabolism? How Do Anabolism and Catabolism Affect Body Weight?” Medical News Today. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8871.php.Voropay, Elena. “Metabolism Explained Learn How Your Body’s Metabolism Works.” Metabolism Explained Learn How Your Body’s Metabo-lism Works. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.shapefit.com/metabolism explained.html.

What Makes Humans Unique?Dawkins, Richard. “This Organ Separates Humans From Animals.” New Republic. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.newrepublic.com/arti-cle/116181/humans vs-animals organ makes all difference. De Waal, Frans. “Moral Behavior in Animals.” Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_do_animals_have_morals?lan-guage=en. Goodall, Jane. “What Separates Us from Chimpanzees?” Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_goodall_on_what_separates_us_from_the_apes?language=en.

What is Your Dog Thinking?“11 Things Humans Do That Dogs Hate.” MNN. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/11 things humans do that dogs-hate.Coren, Stanley. “January/February 2015.” Discover Magazine. September 5, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul aug/06 what is your dog thinking.Kaye, Randi, and Watch Anderson Cooper360° Weeknights 8pm ET. For the Latest from AC360° Click Here. “Inside the Science of How Dogs Think.” CNN. November 18, 2010. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/11/18/intelligent.dog.psychology/.King, Barbara. “Do Dogs Think?” NPR. July 10, 2013. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/07/10/200391713/do-dogs think.Pappas, Stephanie. “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Dogs.” LiveScience. March 17, 2011. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://www.livescience.com/13305 facts dog breeds genetics-pets.html.Paul, Annie. “What Is Your Dog Thinking? A Lot.” Ideas What Your Dog Is Thinking Comments. October 11, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2014. http://ideas.time.com/2012/10/11/what your dog is-thinking/.

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SAR High School503 West 259th Street Riverdale, NY 10471SAR High School503 West 259th Street Riverdale, NY 10471

SAR High School503 West 259th Street Riverdale, NY 10471