Posts

For 12/15:

Article Source: Time Crystal in a Quantum Computer  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211130130231.htm

 

Article Summary:  In an ongoing effort to create quantum computers, scientists observe a new, non-equilibrium phase of matter as a “time crystal”. Time crystals endlessly repeat their structure in time without any additional energy input or leakage. They are made out of particles that follow that Ising model and are given the appropriate starting energy to spin between each state endlessly. By using Google Sycamore’s quantum computer, the research team was able to simulate the same crystals they found and prove their theoretical infinite stability.

 

 

Journal Source: Time-Crystalline Eigenstate Order on a Quantum Processor https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04257-w

 

Journal Study:

Vedika Khemani, Shivaji Sondhi and many other researchers found how quantum systems with complex bodies could still change phase outside of equilibrium. This happens through eigenstate order. The researchers made this discovery using superconducted qubits in the Google quantum computer and analyzing data from custom Python code.

Comparisons:

• The article does not hesitate to explain what Ising models are, while the article assumes that reader is already familiar with them.
• Both the journal and the article convey how the time-crystal being in a non-equilibrium phase was novel.
• The article explained why using the quantum computer was useful and even had quotes from some Google employees that helped develop it, however, the journal’s only credits many Google employees in the journal and does not talk specifically about their computer in the paper. These credits are likely why the list of authors is very long.

Article4

Maxim Kleyer

Professor Vejdemo-Johansson

HON 223 Seminar

November 22, 2021

Over the last couple of decades, scientists have researched ways to keep massive carbon pockets from rising to the atmosphere through deforestation and other methods. The steady skyward climb of redwoods, the tangled march of mangroves along tropical coasts and the slow submersion of carbon-rich soil in peatlands has locked away billions of tons of carbon. The damage to the environment and world will be noticeable if these vaults were to ever open. With the new mapping project being conducted by scientists, we can now measure how much “irrecoverable” carbon there is, so we can protect these areas from deforestation and impacting our climate. Monica Noon, an environmental data scientist at Conservation International in Arlington, Va, states “Current efforts to keep global warming below the ambitious target of 1.5 degrees C require that we reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and that carbon stored in nature stays put.” The massive amount of carbon stored in the world is estimated to be up to 139 gigatons, and with almost none of these being released, the average temperature of the Earth can become stable. In comparison to the actual research article, Monica Moon and her colleagues develop a step by step strategy detailing important places on the globe where carbon is stored. She states, “Our irrecoverable carbon map  identifies irrecoverable carbon reserves that are manageable …. “ and to add onto her statement, the few places with the most carbon stored is the northwest United States, the Amazon Rainforest, and Central Africa. Also, under business as usual all over the globe, it is possible for irrecoverable carbon to be lost each decade due to deforestation alone. In conclusion, deforestation is a major cause of massive carbon emission and the warming of our planet. To stop this, we need to cut down on deforestation on massive carbon vaults to limit the potential disasters looming ahead. 

Citations:

• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-natural-carbon-stores-new-map
• M.L. Noon et al. Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Sustainability. Published online November 18, 2021. doi: 10.1038/s41893-021-00803-6.

Maxim Kleyer

Professor Vejdemo-Johansson

HON 223 Seminar

November 8, 2021

The science article I chose this week was about the findings of tropical birds shrinking in size due to climate change. In the article Climate change may be shrinking tropical birds by Jonathan Lambert, talks about how the change in size of some animals help them stay cooler as temperatures rise. Over the last 40 years, in a remote corner of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, researchers have spent decades catching and measuring birds in a large swath of forest unmarred by roads or deforestation. To the surprise of the researchers, in this pocket of the wilderness, the birds are shrinking. To see if birds that stay put have also been shrinking, Jirinec and colleagues analyzed data on nonmigratory birds collected from 1979 to 2019 in an intact region of the Amazon that spans 43 kilometers. The dataset includes measurements such as mass and wing length for over 11,000 individual birds of 77 species. The researchers also examined climate data for the region. In conclusion, each birds’ mass decreased the most in the year or two after especially hot and dry spells, which tracks with the idea that birds are getting smaller to deal with heat stress. In comparison to the actual research article, the news article and the research article go together very well. Just like any news article, the most important facts are stated. The research article presented by Jirinec and his colleagues provide more evidence for the shrinking of the birds over the years. The research article lists every step taken to identify each birds mass and height without disturbing the wildlife around them. In the results sub-section of the article, Jirinec explains what they used to find the climate trend of the area and how it affected the birds and wildlife. And finally, the results of the shrinkage of the birds were to keep them cool. Just like every animal that sweat, having a larger body mass means more struggle when living in a dry and hot area. 

Citations:

• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-shrinking-birds-tropical
• V. Jirinec et al. Morphological consequences of climate change for resident birds in intact Amazonian rainforest. Science Advances. Published online November 12, 2021. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abk1743.
• B.C. Weeks et al. Shared morphological consequences of global warming in North American migratory birds. Ecology Letters. Vol. 23, February 2020, p. 316. doi: 10.1111/ele.13434.

Melena Scala

HON 223

Science News Article #4

One article that I found posted on CNN.com referenced a study that found that four in five parents that responded to a poll do not think their children are “as grateful as they should be.” The article examines the reasons that could be behind this phenomenon, such as whether parents are effectively teaching their children gratitude by modeling behavior or giving them opportunities to express through volunteer work, for example. Furthermore, it explores how the pandemic has possibly taken a toll on children and their behavior. I found that the article did include the sources of where its information was found in the form of hyperlinks. Something that was surprising to me was that the link to the study was not in the form of a traditional journal. Instead, the link brought me to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital poll report on a separate website. The report consisted of different subsections that you could click on with infographics, media coverage and press release, and research methods. I wasn’t sure about how reliable this was, so I investigated the website further and found links to other academic journals and poll reports that the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital has done. I am not sure if the academic journal is not included because it was recently published, but it seems like the organization has published other credible studies previously. As for the article itself, the information included seems to match up with what the poll report found and I did not find anything that was taken out of context.

 

Sources

Liang, Sherry. “Parents Don’t Think Their Kids Are as Grateful as They Should Be, Poll Finds.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Nov. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/health/parents-children-gratitude-wellness/index.html.

“Parent Efforts to Teach Children about Gratitude.” National Poll on Children’s Health, mottpoll.org/reports/parent-efforts-teach-children-about-gratitude.

Marco Korcak

Professor Vejdemo-Johansson

MHC 223

November 22, 2021

Neurodegeneration and cognitive decline tied to western diet

The human body is constantly changing and developing as time goes on along with the medical field. New discoveries are constantly being made and previously known habits are starting to be replaced by new ones. What animals and humans eat can greatly impact their life in numerous ways. Depending on the environment a person was raised in their eating habits differ from others as well as their diets. Diets considered normal in certain regions can be foreign to others and studying the impacts of diets has been an area of research for scientists. A recent study done by scientists published in the Cell Press journal iScience examined how the western diet of over-refined sugars and many calories can be tied to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. This research was mentioned in an article published by the New York Post and when examining the published article with the research paper, it is evident there are similarities along with discrepancies present.

The New York Post published an article titled “Western diet tied to cognitive decline, neurodegeneration: mouse study” which was written by Julia Musto. The article based its reporting off a research paper published by the scientific journal “iScience – Cell Press”. The article stated that the cognitive decline impacts are created through increased Na,K-ATPase signaling in adipocytes. Adipocytes are fat cells which are the major energy storage sites in the body and Na,K-ATPase is a cellular sodium-potassium pump. A mouse model was used where some mice were given normal diets and other given a western diet for 12 weeks. Results showed that the mice eating the western diet increased their body weight while also having low energy and oxygen levels along with increased insulin resistance. Behavioral changes were also noticed which is similar to the changes in humans with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Researchers also found that when the Na,K-ATPase signal was obstructed through the use of NaKtide in fat cells, the adverse effects were stopped, specifically in the hippocampus region of the brain. This was significant because the hippocampus is the region of the brain associated with emotional responses and is principally involved in storing long-term memories. All of this information allowed scientists to conclude that if this was observed in humans, Na,K-ATPase would serve as a clinical target in the therapy of neurodegenerative disorders. Overall, the article summarized the findings of the research article while briefly explaining the significance.

“Role of adipocyte Na,K-ATP oxidant amplification loop in cognitive decline and neurodegeneration” is a research article published by a team of researchers from Marshall University. The authors include Komal Sodhi, Rebecca Pratt, Xiaoliang Wang, Sandrine Pierre, Thomas Nelson and Joseph I. Shapiro. The article was published after undergoing extensive peer review and has received large media coverage since its publishing. The study aimed to demonstrate a central role of adipocytes, specifically through adipocyte NKAL, in neurodegeneration since previous studies established a causal relationship between adipose tissue and the brain. The abstract stated that a western diet may contribute to clinical neurodegeneration and dementia. This was concluded since the diet caused increases in circulating inflammatory cytokines as well as behavioral, and brain biochemical changes consistent with neurodegeneration. The systemic oxidant stress along with evidence of activation of Na,K-ATPase signaling both murine brain and peripheral tissues were produced by a western diet. This experiment was done on mice where some were fed a normal diet while others were fed a western diet and the changes they experienced were recorded. The method included examining indirect calorimetry and locomotor activity, glucose tolerance test, measurement of plasma cytokines and much more. All data collected was tested for normality and then subjected to parametric analysis and total RNA was extracted from tissues. In essence, augmented Na,K-ATPase signaling along with antagonism of the pathway in adipocytes ameliorates the pathophysiology suggests that the western diet produces cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

After reading the New York Post article and research article itself, it is evident that there are numerous similarities, but many discrepancies present as well. In terms of the general concept and results the article matched up with the research paper. The article published mentioned the findings but failed to mention the numerous procedures done in order to properly understand the findings and their overall significance. The article mentioned that mice were used and one group was given a regular diet while the other was given a western diet but how differences were measured was not mentioned. The article mentioned that the western diet led to mice gaining weight but did not go in depth about the other experiments and variables that were measured. For instance, at the end of the 12-week period the mice underwent metabolic cages for measurement of energy expenditure, oxygen consumption and locomotor activity. The mice were also fasted for 8 hours after the 12-week period in order to do a glucose tolerance test. Open field tests were also performed in order to assess exploratory behavior, anxiety, general activity level and gross locomotor activity. In addition to these tests, RNA extraction and real-time PCR was done. These were only a few of many tests done in order to properly understand the results that were overlooked by the article. Moreover, the article failed to emphasize why adipokines were examined in mice when conducting this study. Neurons express receptors for various adipokines which indicates that factors released from adipose tissue have the potential to communicate directly with the brain. Increased inflammatory conditions and metabolic changes associated with obesity can cause damage to the central nervous system which can lead to neurodegenerative disorders. The research paper explained the very complex study that was done, and the numerous variables associated with the experiment. The article did mention results of the research paper but undermined the complexity of the experiment and did not give enough emphasis to the experiments that contributed to the findings. In essence, there were similarities between the research article and the New York Post article, but the article did fail to mention very important aspects of the research process.

Works Cited

Musto, Julia. “Western Diet Tied to Cognitive Decline, Neurodegeneration: Mouse       Study.” New York Post, New York Post, 29 Oct. 2021,                       nypost.com/2021/10/29/western-diet-tied-to-cognitive-decline-neurodegeneration-mouse-study/.

Sodhi, Komal, et al. “Role of Adipocyte Na,K-ATPase Oxidant Amplification Loop      in Cognitive Decline and Neurodegeneration.” iScience, vol. 24, no. 11, Elsevier     Inc, 2021, p. 103262–, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103262.

Matthew Keeler

Professor Vejdemo-Johansson

HON 223

November 21, 2021

 

         One article that I found interesting when searching through various sources was “Americans Drank and Smoked More During the Pandemic, Study Shows” by Julia Musto posted in the New York Post. The article introduces the idea that while the stay-at-home orders and quarantines were in effect, society was not only affected with diseases from Covid-19, but impacted the way that people functioned in their daily lives. Within this article they identified the Health, Ethnicity, and Pandemic (HEAP) study that was conducted in October of 2020, which was carried out by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The roughly 3,000 people chosen were to report their lifestyle behaviors before and during the pandemic, and their results were analyzed to identify any decrease in essential activities and any increase in factors that will negatively impact their health and behavior. Along with the percent increase or decrease this article also discusses the idea that there were subgroups that were more susceptible to these pandemic influences and notes that there needs to be steps taken to maintain and get back to the lifestyle they had before the pandemic. Overall, within this news article I realized that this went into the actual statistical findings of the study and identifies the future processes needed as also discussed within the study itself. This article includes a lot more data than previous articles I have read because in the title it explicitly refers to a study, so they aren’t skewing information to vaguely discuss the research, in fact it is the main highlight.

         When reading through the abstract of the research paper I noticed that it is very similar to the way that the news article was structured. The abstract of the research paper essentially was structured with the same information from the New York Post article in which it introduces the study and relays background information as to why the study was conducted. However, the abstract does give a little bit more information regarding the actual numbers of the overall impact of the pandemic and highlights the fact that all the negative lifestyle behaviors increased, while those essential to our overall well-being decreased as society was forced inside unless essentially needed for work. The news article takes influence from the abstract as at the end it discusses the idea of separating the people into subgroups to see the effects on people depending on their race, ethnicity, and their age. Essentially, the research paper itself follows this same format once again, but when it comes to the results and data referring to the changes of behavior, they go more in depth into the percent change and utilize various graphs and tables to visualize the effect with the different variables. A portion of their results also details each identification of behaviors such as drinking, smoking, fast-food consumption, and lack of exercise, but is broken down by race, age, and even income to show the rates varied based on the subgroup the people tested were divided into. Although this does not provide long-term information it shows the immediate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and does not discuss how these numbers may fluctuate after the pandemic and what this means for the future of our country.

         Overall, the New York Post article, abstract, and the research paper ended up correlating with each other and relayed the same information consistently throughout. Typically, the news article would write in a way to just gage the reader’s interest and let them explore more on their own if they would like, but I believe it offered a very accurate summary of the study itself. It captured the main highlights from the paper and the study and clearly portrayed the results that can be seen statistically throughout the paper itself. Since the news article seemed to be based mostly on the abstract and pulling quotes from the article to summarize the in-depth data collection they went through, the three all matched up with no discrepancies and they all flowed well with another to create the same overarching idea that was concluded from the study.

 

Works Cited

 

Chen, Liwei, et al. “Changes of Exercise, Screen Time, Fast Food Consumption, Alcohol, and Cigarette Smoking during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Adults in the United States.” Nutrients 13.10 (2021): 3359.

News, F. (2021, October 15). Americans drank and smoked more during the pandemic, study shows. New York Post. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://nypost.com/2021/10/15/americans-drank-smoked-more-in-the-pandemic-study-shows/. 

Madison DeGrezia

Professor Vejdemo-Johansson

HON 223

21 November 2021

Children or Adults: Who would risk more for the learning experience?

After thoroughly researching and examining the recent articles uploaded to the New York Post, the news article comparing learning habits between children and adults caught my interest. The article, “Study Reveals why children may be better learners than adults’”, by Shiv Sudhakar discusses how children are less likely to get discouraged when making mistakes, in comparison to adults. Children are very creative and enjoy exploring new things. They have an imagination like no other and are constantly pushing themselves to further their learning. In contrast, adults easily lack interest and motivation when they aren’t successful. Research has been conducted to further explore the optimistic demeanor of children when learning in stark contrast with adult responses to their own failure.

The New York Post article written by Sudhakar based its findings off of the research published in the peer-reviewed paper, “Children are more exploratory and learn more than adults in an approach-avoid task”, written by Emily G. Liquin and Alison Gopnik. The research carried out was composed of four different studies where the actions of young adolescents, ranging from preschool to early ages in school, were compared with adults, ranging from ages 21-62 years old. This study prompted both parties to choose which objects were “zaffs”, which would reward them with a green smiley face on the screen if they identified them correctly. The second study was conducted similarly to the first study except this time they either gained or lost stickers based off of the outcome of choosing which objects were “zaff”. The third study explored whether there was a correlation between age and the choices made when choosing the “zaffs”. They were shown four different objects and were prompted to decide each time if it was a “zaff”. In this case, the second one was not a “zaff” to see how the participant would respond to the outcome and if they would continue playing without being discouraged by their mistake. Finally, the fourth study analyzed whether the evidence participants were given affected how they learned. For example, the evidence both parties received were deemed as either “child-like evidence” or “adult-like evidence”, depending on the objects they were given information about and how many objects they approached. Overall, the four studies concluded that children explore more than adults and were unafraid to test objects even though they were unsure of the outcome. Consequently, children have proven to produce ample data and learn more sufficiently in comparison with adults.

After extensively reviewing the information discussed in the article and the paper, it is clear that there are several similarities, along with few discrepancies. The abstract and the article were in agreement with each other, as they both captured the concept that children can be more creative and accepting of failure when it comes to learning than adults. However, the article stated that only four to five year olds participated in this scientific experiment, while the paper clearly acknowledges that preschoolers and young adolescents, up to the age of seven, were used as participants in this study. The article failed to mention that there were a total of four studies conducted, which the paper extensively discussed the procedures and results for each corresponding study. The article was considerably short in length and lacked important details that the paper included to support the claim that children are better learners than adults, as a result of their willingness to explore. This did not come as a shock due to the articles on the New York Post typically being condensed versions of the corresponding scientific paper. The purpose of the article is to intrigue their audience and convince them to conduct more research. All things considered, the New York Post article was in agreement with the paper and the abstract, despite the presence of very few discrepancies. 

 

Work Cited

Liquin, Emily G., and Alison Gopnik. “Children Are More Exploratory and Learn More than Adults in an Approach-Avoid Task.” Cognition, Elsevier, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027721003632#s0245.

News, Fox. “Study Reveals Why Children May Be Better Learners than Adults.” New York Post, New York Post, 12 Nov. 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/11/12/study-reveals-why-children-may-be-better-learners-than-adults/.

Justin Zaluk

Professor Vejdemo-Johansson

HON 223

22 November 2021

“Here’s How Long the Perfect Hug Should Last, According to Science”

        After searching for a recent piece of scientific advancement, I uncovered the New York Post article “Here’s How Long the Perfect Hug Should Last, According to Science ”, by Hannah Sparks. It was published on November 17th, and documents a study performed by scientists at Goldsmiths, University of London. Researchers attempted to gain a better understanding of what defines an ideal embrace, and the effects such an interaction may have. After gaining forty participants, they assigned a partner to each of them and were blindfolded, directing them to hug in intervals of one, five, or ten seconds. Furthermore, each embrace was done either in a “criss-cross” or “neck-waist” form, with participants reporting their feelings after zero, three, and six minutes. The author explains how after this data was collected, it was revealed that five to ten second embraces of any form had a larger positive impact than longer ones. The researchers hope to use this revelation to better understand the “factors that influence hugging evaluation and behavior” and how this plays into one’s emotions on a larger scale. Sparks also explains how such a common interaction can have so many underlying factors that define it.

        The peer-reviewed research paper that is associated with this article, titled “The influence of duration, arm crossing style, gender, and emotional closeness on hugging behaviour”, was published in the journal Acta Psychologica. This paper explains the study in greater detail, first describing the lack of information regarding a hug’s effect on emotions and stress. Additionally, it initially illustrated the power calculations that determined how a sample size of forty eight women would be sufficient for results to be obtained, along with it being approved by the local ethics committee. A visual diagram exhibits the specific procedure that took place, with each participant performing a “pre-hug self-rating”, receiving the first hug, and listening to an audiobook to measure their attention. This process was repeated two more times, with three participants being excluded for not performing the hug interval correctly. Visual bar graphs show how one to ten second hugs of either criss-cross or neck-waist style induced the most pleasure and positive feelings, at about seventy percent. The paper thoroughly explains any limitations, such as women only being considered, and whether or not the environment contributed to the decision of what style of hug would be used. Finally, it briefly explains a second experiment that contributed to this, involving both men and women. After one hundred three hugs were observed, it was further supported that short, criss cross embraces between both genders resulted in the most pleasurable feelings.

        After analyzing the New York Post article and published paper in great detail, it became clear that similarities and discrepancies were prevalent. As an example, when comparing Spark’s article with the contents of the paper’s abstract, it was noticeable how both summed up the results and methods of the study in an easy, legible way. However, the New York Post article focused mainly on the first experiment, and did not mention the second one in as much detail. Aside from this, if I had not read the paper, the article still would have provided me with a sufficient amount of information. In comparing the paper itself to the article, more discrepancies became clear. Not only did the paper mention various limitations, but it also included visual charts and diagrams that were not available in the article. It was also able to include more information, as each experiment was separated into the sections “participants”, “procedures”, “measures and conditions”, “results”, and “discussions”. These differences were minor, as both publications still gave necessary general background information, along with the way that these studies can be used in the future. As a whole, Hannah Spark’s article, along with the research paper, allowed me to understand a new instance of scientific progress and compare it in numerous ways.

 

Works Cited

Dueren, Anna L., et al. “The Influence of Duration, Arm Crossing Style, Gender, and Emotional Closeness on Hugging Behaviour.” Acta Psychologica, vol. 221, 2021, p. 103441., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103441. 

Sparks, Hannah. “Here’s How Long the Perfect Hug Should Last, According to Science.” New York Post, New York Post, 17 Nov. 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/11/17/heres-how-long-perfect-hug-should-last-according-to-science/.