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SCIENCE GURUMountain View High School Science Magazine

Dec 2013 Jan 2014Te latest and hottest news about science

rom all around the world! We publish

an issue every month; copies can be

ound in Dr. Tornburgs room and

issues are posted on our blog.

Editor-in-Chief: Kiana Nouri Science Guru club meets every Friday at lunch in 120, Dr. Tornburgs room

BiocomputersPratik Mulpury

I just like clones in a bio lab wemight see in a sci-fi movie. Tis

may not be as ar out in the utureas we may think. oday, computersare made o semiconductors thatare used to carry out computations,while computers made o livingparts have existed solely in therealm o science fiction; only lim-ited research has been conducted inthe field.

Continued page 9

Left to right Avni Singhal, Rohun Saxena, KianaNouri, Varsha Suresh Kumar, Dr. Tornburg

Science News & FactsKiana Nouri

Sorry Albert! New Physics Challenges Albert Einstein

Einsteins relativity theory may not be accurate. Strange signalspicked up rom black holes and distant supernovae suggesttheres more to space-time than Einstein believed. Einstein

envisaged space-time as a perectly smooth surace warped bythe mass o stars, planets, and galaxies to produce gravity. Nowsignals rom a variety o celestial objects are hinting at some-thing different. I the observations are confirmed and they arecontroversial they suggest that the landscape o reality is al-together more rugged than Einstein thought. Tat would meanhis isnt the last word on space-time or gravity and wouldchange undamentally our perception o the universe.

Continued page 6

Hypothetical Dark Energyand Invisible Dark Matter

by Jasmine Deng

Page

10Did You Know Your FaceIs Made Up of Junk?

by Varsha Kumar

Page

8CometInvestigation

by Carter Fox

Page

4Long Live . . . Us

by Jasmine Deng

Page

3


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I

DNA element in your blood responsi-ble or happiness? According to

UCLA scientists, ancient philoso-phers and modern psychologists,there isand the secret to happi-ness is quite trivial. I in act that istrue, what are these basic compo-nents? What does happiness meanto each o us and how can weulfill this pursuit o happiness?

Te art and science o hap-piness has been researched and

analyzed or centuries. Alain deBotton, the British philosopher,discusses this in his Epicurus onHappinessvideo. Te ancientGreek philosopher Epicurusclaimed that riends, reedom,and an analyzed lie are the keyingredients o a happy lie. Inact, present-day psychologistsare researching certain positiveemotions and causes o happi-

ness, such as reedom and riends.Some o these key emotions aregratitude, serenity, joy, interest,hope, pride, amusement, inspira-tion, awe, and love.

Psychologist Barbara Fred-rickson has done research inthis area. She has demonstratedthat positive emotions affect ourhealth. She has developed a the-

ory called Broaden and Build,through which she describes howpositive emotions broaden ourlives and how resilience is ueledby positive emotions.

Fredricksons research con-cludes: ratio o three to one posi-tive emotions to negative emo-tions is the point at which peopletend to flourish and thrive. As

another example, according topsychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky,50% o our happiness is set byour genes, 10% by lie circum-stances beyond our control, and40% by our own actions.

Now that we know the or-mula, we need to substitute thevalues that correspond to each oour lives. In my specific case, myamily represents the Epicureanriends. Financial reedom, po-litical reedom, and the reedom to

live a meaningul lie are my pur-pose, but achieving it is not trivial.

One key tool I can use to helpme is acquiring an education. Bygoing to university, I can learnabout my interests, my passion,and what I can do best in lie as aproessional. I can achieve finan-cial reedom and live a ulfillinglie. Getting a degree is an excel-lent goal; since I gain knowledge

that I can give. As a junior in highschool I started my own verysmall technology startup, and Iam still working on it. I still planto continue my education in tech-nology and science and utilize itto start more ventures. Tis pro-vides me with financial reedomand opens my hand into givingmore to others, so they can get

their opportunities in lie.Te third ingredient o Epi-curean lie, the analyzed lie, iswhat I need to work on, in theprocess o achieving a lie withreedom. Epicurus taught us thatwe look in the wrong places orthe pursuit o happinessorexample, a spending spree using acredit card.

On the other hand, i weanalyze our lives periodically, wecan observe that it is not achieve-ments such as educationor moneythat are the aims o our lives.My aim is to utilize education tocontribute to living a meaningullie. For me that means being ableto increase my knowledge. I gainknowledge to live a stimulatingand ulfilling existence. I plan toshare this stimulating lie, spreadknowledge when I can, and give

financially what I can.So, i there is a shortage o

the happiness element in yourblood chemistry and gene activity,is there another secret to happi-ness? Absolutely. Live an analyzedlie that, rather than indulgingmaterialistic cravings, thrives inthe reedom o living a meaning-ul lie.

Kiana Nouri is the ounder, presi-dent, and editor-in-chie o ScienceGuru Blog, Magazine, and Club.Tis issue o Science Guruis cre-ated, edited, and published by her.

The Scientific Basis of Happiness: Gene Activity and Blood Chemistry

Letter From the Editor Kiana Nouri


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T around or a very, very long time.Many people in myth and legend are claimed to be immortal more speci-ically, gods and goddesses, or very holy figures, in some religions. Te quest

or immortality has been (one can say) immortal throughout the ages as well.Around 200 , Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor o a unified China, des-

perately sought an elixir o lie that supposedly would grant him immortality.

Tis elixir o lie mainly consisted o mercury pills, which today are known tobe, unortunately, poisonous. At least he is immortal in our memory in teachingus that the path to immortality is not paved with mercury.

In the early 1800s, Leonard Live-Forever Jones claimed to be immortal.According to Jones, death occurred because o immorality (not to be conusedwith immortality), and with prayer and asting death could be avoided. He is,needless to say, not alive today.

O course, with improved medicine and technology, weve greatly elongatedhuman lie spans, or which many people are grateul. We have not quite guar-anteed immortality, but we can now grow lumps o liver, brain, some bits o the

heart, and retinal cells. So it appears stem cell research is paying off. However,we can grow only the differentiated cells, meaning that we can grow the specificlung cells, heart cells, and nerve cells, but they grow two-dimensionally, mean-ing that they grow to become totally flat, stuck on a petri dish.

Te issue is that we happen to be three-dimensional organisms, with three-dimensional hearts and brains and organs. We can and have made gelscaffolds to get around this, but these are airly effective only or small parts oorgans, not the complete one. But with the pace o technology, it is quite reason-able that we should perect this within a ew decades.

Continued next page

Long Live . . . Us

Jasmine hasbeen an activemember of our

club for two

years now. She isthe community

coordinator for

Science Guru.

JasmineDeng

Qing Shi Huang Di, thefirst Chinese emperor


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T , C ISON a stunning journey through the innersolar system. Tis extraordinary comet amazed astronomers around theworld as it made a daring encounter with the sun. Scientists and amateur

astronomers watched ISON closely. I ISON survived, it would reach a magni-tude visible to the naked eyebut, sadly, the suns intense heat and gravity brokeapart this icy rock rom the early solar system.

Comet ISONs journey started nearly a light year rom the sun, at the veryedge o our solar system. Tere lies an immense cloud o icy planetesimalscalled the Oort Cloud. Occasionally, some o these icy pieces o rock are slung

across the solar system towards the sun by the effect o solar gravity. CometISON journeyed among these planetesimals until it was pulled away and slunginto the inner solar system.

ISON was three to our miles across and its tail extended over 57,000 milesinto space. Its moment o truth with the sun came on Tanksgiving Day. In theimages above, the sun is blocked to show the comet moving towards it. ISONought the sun, but soon was disintegrated by its extreme heat and gravity. How-ever, something later appeared coming out rom the opposite side o the sun, asseen in the second image.

Continued next page

Comet Investigation

Carter Fox is anew member of

Science Guru

this year.

CarterFox


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Scientists cheered, think-ing ISON had survived its closeencounter with the sun. Unor-tunately, these dreams died whenthe remains were ound not tobe a comet, but simply a smallamount o lefover rock andpebbles that survived the encoun-ter with the sun.

Comets have always asci-nated humans, and ISON is surelynot the only comet we have in-vestigated. Right now the Rosetta

spacecraf is on its way to comet67P, a comet around two and ahal miles wide controlled by Ju-piters gravity. Rosettawill attemptto orbit the comet and to send alander down to the surace.

Afer finding a sae landingspot, Rosettawill launch its landerto the surace o the comet. Telander is equipped with harpoonsthat will be released to tether itselto the surace, preventing it rombouncing back into space. Onceon the surace it will drill and heatsamples to investigate organicmolecules and their construction.

Te Stardustspacecraf has al-ready rendezvoused with a cometand saely returned home a sam-ple capsule. On January 2, 2004,

Stardustswung past comet Wild 2and attempted to pick up particlesrom the comet. Aferward, thespacecrafs sample-return cap-sule landed in the Utah deserton January 15, 2006. Scientists

discovered surprising compoundsin the capsule such as olivine, amix o iron and magnesium.

Comets are extraordinaryobjects rom the ar reaches o oursolar system that continue to im-press astronomers with their beau-ty and complexity. Te Stardustand Rosettamissions and study ocomet ISON help scientists aroundthe world unravel the mysteries othe early solar system.

Watch this animation to see how

Rosettawill deploy its lander andwhat will happen as it descendsto the surace: http://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraf-

to-land-on-comet-in- 2014-animation.html

Comet Investigation Carter Fox

Continued rom previous page

Already, we can print skin on3D printers just rom taking someo the patients skin and isolatingindividual skin cells, then grow-ing them and printing skin, asi rom a regular inkjet printer.

(Luckily, skin is a two-dimen-sional organ.) While ew probablyare in desperate need o a skintransplant, this can aid healing,possibly saving patients lives, andprevent scarring.

According to the NationalKidney Foundation, as o June 21,2013, there were 118,617 peoplewaiting or liesaving organ trans-

plants in the US. O those, 96,645were waiting or kidney trans-plants. Soon we may be able togrow kidneys in labs and trans-plant them into the human body.Tis isnt just limited to kidneys we could grow eyes, hearts, lungs,and other organs and tissues.

No doubt the road to immor-tality still has a long way lef to

go. But were getting closer to inin continuing stem cell research,and someday, we may all becomea society composed o immortalindividuals like a society o vam-pires and the undead. Now, mostpeople can live to eighty or evenreach their centennial. But will wereach immortality? Only time willtell.

Long Live . . . Us Jasmine Deng

Continued rom page 3

A skin printer

Te scaffold or a kidney
http://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.htmlhttp://www.space.com/24090-european-spacecraft-to-land-on-comet-in-%202014-%20animation.html


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In quantum theory, nothingis static or certain. Particles andenergy can fluctuate and pop inand out o existence on the brie-est o time scales. Many theorieso quantum gravity the yearned-or theories o everything thatwill uniy our descriptions ospace-time and gravity with quan-tum mechanics suggest some-thing similar is true o space-time:instead o a smooth continuum, itis a turbulent quantum oam with

no clearly defined surace.Einsteins undulating land-

scape becomes more like a choppyseascape through which particlesand radiation must fight theirway. Lower-energy light with itslonger wavelengths would be akinto an ocean liner, gliding throughthe oamy quantum sea largelyundisturbed. Light o higherenergy and shorter wavelengths,

on the other hand, would bemore like a small dinghy battlingthrough the waves.

Want an A+ in your C-APre-test? Drink a double espresso

for breakfast!Coffee has long been a riend ostudents working through thenight, but it does more than just

keep us awake. A study providesthe first convincing evidencethat caffeine enhances long-termmemory in people provided thedose is right. Te effects mirrorsimilar results seen in honeybees;a boost to memory rom caffeine-laden nectar may help bees returnto certain plants.

Researchers strongly

suspected that caffeine enhancesmemory, but studies that tried toshow this in people werent con-clusive, as any apparent benefitsin memory could have been dueto increased attention, a knownbenefit o caffeine.

Studies in animals such asrats, meanwhile, suggested thatit enhances memory consolida-tion the process o strengthen-ing memories between acquiringthem and retrieving them whichshould affect long-term memory.

Bench your best player to winthe series

Dropping one route can boost anetworks overall perormance byemphasizing better options. Ac-cording to the emerging scienceo networks, there are good rea-sons why some systems perormbetter in seemingly disadvanta-geous conditions. Its just a natu-

ral property o certain kinds onetworks, although a paradoxicalone called Braesss paradox.

Te best implementation is toclose roads to get everyone home

aster, which has worked in NewYork and Boston. Cities have usedit or the electricity grid and it isbeing used in wireless networks.Now scientists are applying theparadox to any network, includ-ing working on curing cancer byusing this paradox on networks inthe human body.

A drug for perfect pitchDo you think you could have beenMichael ilson Tomas, the SanFrancisco Symphony maestro, but

missed the opportunity to start inearly childhood? A mood-stabilis-ing drug can help you achieve per-ect pitch the ability to identiyany note you hear without iner-ring it rom a reerence note.

Since this is a skill that usuallyis acquired only early in lie, thediscovery is the first evidence thatit may be possible to revert thehuman brain to a childlike state,

enabling us to treat disorders andunlock skills that are difficult, inot impossible, to acquire beyonda certain age.

Continued next page

Science News and Facts Kiana Nouri



7/127

From bilingualism to sportingprowess, many abilities rely onneural circuits that are laid downby our early experiences. Until theage o seven or so, the brain goes

through several critical periodsduring which it can be changedradically by the environment.During these times, the brain issaid to have increased plasticity.

akao Hensch, proessor oneurology at Harvard University,has conducted research on miceand ound that certain drugs canbe used to kick in the brains plas-ticity machinery.

He used valproate a drugused to treat bipolar disorder tocure amblyopia in adult mice.Hensch and Dr. Allan Young oLondons King college used Val-proate to make adults able to haveperect pitch, and it worked. Teirnext experiment inviolves usingthis drug to cure autism.

Tis time next year, we might bewearing computers on our heads!

Already a hit with early adopters,the much-hyped Google Glassheadset will be released to thepublic in 2014. And in response toeedback rom those testers, it islikely to boast a ew extra eatures.

For starters, developers arekeen to incorporate eye-tracking

so that the device can overlayinormation on top o objects orareas that the wearer is gazing at.Tat could boost the headsetsability to deliver ultra-personal,targeted advertising. Glass couldalso get tricked out with gesturerecognition, which would allowusers to control it just by wavingtheir hands.

Te Explorer program to testearly versions o Glass has alreadygiven rise to a slew o potentiallygame-changing applications. Forexample, it has allowed surgeonsto transmit their view o an op-eration to medical students else-

where, and helped people watchwhat they eat literally as a wayo managing diabetes.

Critics say the headsets cam-era will destroy privacy, and itsdistracting screen could ruinsocial interaction. But i Glass andseveral competing products launchnext year as expected, millions opeople could become hooked. Tatwill definitely to change the way

we look at the world.

New electric conductor: stanene

Move over, graphene. Te one-atom-thick orm o carbon, amedor its conductive abilities, maysoon have a rival in the ormo stanene, a single layer o tin

atoms. Tough it doesnt yet exist,calculations suggest that stanene rom the Latin or tin, stannum might conduct electricity with100 per cent efficiency, leading tolow-power computer chips.

Earths fraternal twin discovered

Astronomers have discoveredan exo-planet with the samemass as Earth. Te planet, calledKOI-314c, is sixty per cent larger

than Earth and is thought tobe more gas than rock so it isunlikely to be conducive to lie.Its unusual properties challengeassumptions that any Earth-massplanet would have an Earth-likecomposition.

(Portions printed rom NewScientist.)

Science News and Facts Kiana Nouri



8/128

Varsha has beenvice president

and a very active

member ofScience Guru

since it was

started.

VarshaKumar

A I DNA. Junk DNA is DNA that does not codeor proteins, but rather has a unction or protein that we have yet to ullyunderstand.

Geneticists have realized that only a small number o genes influences yourace shape, which results in variation. Other actors that influences your ace

shape are distant acting enhancers. Axel Visel rom the Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory believes that these enhancers influence variation whenit comes to ace shape. Tese ace enhancers are part o the non-coding DNA(hence where the name junk DNA came rom) that influences our ace shape.

Visel wanted to visualize how these enhancers influenced ace shape duringdevelopment. With the help o his colleagues, he used a technique called opticalprojection tomography, which allowed him to create a 3D model o a developingmouse embryo to show where and how the enhancers influence ace shape.

o see the effect the enhancers had, the scientists engineered mice to lackone o the 120 enhancers involved in ace structure. Afer eight weeks, the sci-

entists compared the mice skulls to the control group. Te experiment revealedthat deleting an enhancer had effects on ace structure, such as making themices ace longer.

So why is this important? Knowing the genome or ace shape will allowscientists to study variants and use that inormation to identiy variants on asmaller level.

I youre interested on this topic, check out this link!http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24462-your-ace-may-have-been-sculpted-

by-junk-dna.html#.UsRn_mRDvFg

Did You Know That YourFace Is Made Up of Junk?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24462-your-face-may-have-been-sculpted-by-junk-dna.html#.UsRn_mRDvFghttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24462-your-face-may-have-been-sculpted-by-junk-dna.html#.UsRn_mRDvFghttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24462-your-face-may-have-been-sculpted-by-junk-dna.html#.UsRn_mRDvFghttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24462-your-face-may-have-been-sculpted-by-junk-dna.html#.UsRn_mRDvFg


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Recent research by a team atStanord has shown that biocomputingmay be the next rontier or comput-

ers. Tis group o researchers was ledby Drew Endy, an assistant proessor obioengineering at Stanord. Tey turnedthe bacteria E. coliinto a computer thatperormed the most basic unctions ocomputers logic, data storage, and datatransmission. Furthermore, they demon-strated the ability to do this in all typeso living cells.

Similar things have been accom-plished by other researchers, but thisresearch set itsel apart with the tran-scriptor, which is their equivalent o

a transistor in a normal computer. It isable to turn a small amount o inorma-tion into a large amount o inormationby creating a change in the flow o RNApolymerase, an enzyme that producesRNA similar to how normal transistorscreate a change through creating a smallchange in voltage.

Despite the transcriptor being themost unique part o this biocomputer,there are several other components oconstructed by the Stanord research-ers. In a computer memory is stored in

a base-two numerical system (ones andzeroes) that the computer then inter-prets. Te biocomputer created by theresearchers at Stanord operates on asimilar protocol.

Te researchers used the interac-tions between two enzymes created bythe E. colito flip the direction o DNAsequence end to end and to flip it backagain. (Tere are enzymes in othermicrobes that interact similarly.) AsEndy put it, I you are reading along aparticular section o DNA and it readsone way, we can arbitrarily label that sec-tion a zero. I it reads the opposite way,we can call that orientation a one.

Due to the two enzymes being pro-duced by the microbe and not anothermicrobe, the data that is stored can becontrolled by the biocomputer itsel.Moreover, the data is extremely easy toread; the microbe is engineered in sucha way that the DNA sections, when putunder ultraviolet light, shine in different

colors or the two directions o the DNAsequence. All it takes to read the data isthe simple action o shining ultravioletlight on the microbes.

What is the use o this data i itcannot be shared? Te biocomputersolves this problem by making the datago viral. Using a virus called M13, whichlives a symbiotic liestyle in bacteria,the researches have created a biologicalinternet. When M13 inhabits bacteria,it broadcasts its genome to other cells.Tese other cells do not have to be bacte-ria and can be any type o cell.

Te researches took advantage othis unique attribute o M13 by engineer-ing the microbe computer to switch the

package with the M13s genome with themicrobes genome. Tis makes the M13send the microbes DNA in place o theM13s DNA, which gives the biocom-puter the ability to send to any cell thegenetic code containing the data o thecomputer. Tis ability to send geneticcode allows researchers to make modifi-cations to many cells at the same time.

In addition to all o this, the bio-computers created by the researchers canperorm logic like a normal computer.Te biocomputer contains genetic gates

that open and close to control an enzymethat travels along a DNA strand. Tisis based on the same core concept thata normal computer has, with its silicongates that open and close to control theflow o electrons.

Using the Boolean logic system,commonly used in computing, there aretwo outputs: true and alse. I the outputis true, electrons flow. I the outputs isalse, electrons do not flow. In comput-ing there are several logic gates that op-erate the electron flow, such as the andgate, which gives an output o true iboth inputs are true (true is representedby a one and alse is represented by azero) or the or gate which gives anoutput o true when when one o the twoinputs or both o the inputs are true. Tebiocomputer mimics Boolean logic withboth these gates and all the other majorgates in computing. I the output is truethe enzyme flows, and i the output isalse the enzyme does not flow.

All biological organisms have theability to sel-replicate and sel-assembleinto unctional components. Te eco-nomic benefit o biocomputers lies in

thr potential o all biologically derivedsystems to sel-replicate and sel-assem-ble, given appropriate conditions. Forinstance, all o the necessary proteins ora certain biochemical pathway, whichcould be modified to serve as a biocom-puter, could be synthesized many timesover inside a biological cell rom a singleDNA molecule, which could itsel bereplicated many times over.

Tis characteristic o biologicalmolecules could make their produc-tion highly efficient and relatively

inexpensive. In comparison, electroniccomputers require manual production,biocomputers could be produced inlarge quantities rom cultures, withoutmachinery needed to assemble them andreducing impact on our environment.

As one would expect, the potentialeffect the biocomputer can have on ourworld is immense. One day we might seeengineers using the biological computerto program cancer cells to stop their de-structive growth or to program a group omicrobes to produce insulin when sugar

is detected. Te possibilities are endless.Sadly, there are still some flaws with

the biocomputer due to technical issuesresulting rom differences caused bydivergent evolution and the technologyis many years off rom human use. Yet,even small amounts o computing usingthis technology can have a proound e-ect on our world.

Pratik Mulpury is a new member this year.

Drew Endys Youtube channel, with avideo about biocomputers:

https://www.youtube.com/user/chthonicphage/eed

Biocomputers Pratik Mulpury

https://www.youtube.com/user/chthonicphage/feedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/chthonicphage/feedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/chthonicphage/feedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/chthonicphage/feed


10/1210

D

G a theoretical repulsive orce thatcounteracts gravity and causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate.

Dark energy has always been a mysterious orce, and its existence has al-

ways been questioned. Te unknown o it is ar greater than the known. We knowthat about seventy percent o the universe consists o dark energy and that it isdistributed evenly, with constant density, throughout space, and can be detectedonly via gravity. However, the entire theory o dark energy is based on observa-tion; we have never been able to directly measure dark energy nor directly ana-lyze dark matter, the invisible mass o the universe that is thought to consist o anentirely new type o matter with entirely new types o elementary particles.

Te main problem leading to the hypothesis o the existence o dark energyis the act that universe is not, in act, expanding at a uniorm rate nor, in act,expanding at a decelerating rate. In 1929, Hubble showed that the urther away a

galaxy is, the more rapidly it is moving away rom us. Again in 2011, the NobelPrize winners in 2011 o physics Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and AdamRiess proved that the universe is accelerating. Te discovery lent credence tothe existence o dark energy and dark matter, both o which were first postulatedwith Hubbles discovery. Dark matter, on the other hand, was originally hypoth-esized by Vera Rubin to explain the speed o stars revolving around galaxies.

Te leading contender or explaining dark energy, o which much less isknown compared to dark matter, is quantum vacuum energy an idea, tied toquantum mechanics, that even in the vacuum o space, particles are constantly

Continued next page

Hypothetical Dark Energyand Invisible Dark Matter

Jasmine hasbeen an activemember of our

club for two

years now. She isthe community

coordinator for

Science Guru.

JasmineDeng

What our universe consists o

Our accelerating universe


11/1211

winking in and out oexistence, generatingenergy. We so ar havenot been able to linkthe math o quantummechanics, dealingwith the physics o on avery small scale, to themath o general rela-tivity, which deal withphysics on a very large scale.

Most scientists stick with thehypothesis that dark energy is a

orm o vacuum energy knownas the cosmological constant,as its strength never varies. I so,a number w relating the pres-sure pushing space apart to thedensity o dark energy mustequal negative one. Einstein origi-nally predicted this cosmologicalconstant.

o find out more about bothdark energy and dark matter, we

have to study them which is di-ficult when we dont have actualsamples to analyze. So ar, studymethods consist o, not studyingdark energy directly,but studyingwhat is affected by darkenergy.

One method to deter-mines the rate o accel-eration o the universe

caused by dark energy. Itmeasures the light rom aspecific type o superno-vas (ype Ia). Each ypeIa explosion has about thesame brightness, and asthe light travels towardsEarth, it is stretched bythe universes expan-sion to appear red. (Tis

phenomenon is called redshif.)

Te higher the redshif, the longerthe light has been traveling andthe arther back in time the su-pernova occurred. Examining asmany supernovas as possible canhelp scientists determine how astgalaxies are moving away romeach other.

Tere are also other ways tostudy dark energy, albeit indirect-ly. We can also detect dark matter

through gravitational lensing the gravitational field o a galaxy(or a cluster o galaxies) deflectspassing light. Te more massthere is, the greater the deflection.

Tus, we can iner theexistence o mattereven i we cant see it.

We can actu-ally weigh the universethrough measuringlight intensity o a gal-axy or the luminosity.Te more luminous agalaxy, the more mass itpossesses. Another ap-

proach is to calculate the rotationo a galaxys body. Variations invelocity indicate regions o vary-

ing gravity and thereore mass.O course, problem still exist.

We still dont know exactly whatdark matter and dark energy are.Most quantum field theories pre-dict a cosmological constant wordark energy that is more than onehundred orders o magnitude toolarge. But so ar, our conclusionsare that something,at least, is hap-pening in the ninety-five percent

o the universe that is dark.Alternatives to dark energy

involve modiying the laws ogravity to eliminate dark energy,or the idea that our galaxy and

its neighborhood maylie within a giant void.Alternatives to dark mat-ter involve changing thelaws o gravity to MOND

(Modified NewtonianDynamics) or possiblythat dark matter is justordinary matter that isdifficult to detect (such asMACHOs). Above all, itsprobably best to keep anopen mind.

Hypothetical Dark Energy . . . Jasmine Deng

How gravitational lensing works

Possible utures o our accelerating universe



12/12

On-line Blog: Scienceguru18.blogspot.com

FromtheEditor

DearReaders,WehopeyouhaveenjoyedourDecemberJanuaryissue.Feelfreetovisitusonlineatscienceguru@blogspot.com

orjoinourweeklyclubmeetingseveryFridayatLunch,room120.

KianaNouri

Coming soon to a class near you:

The February 2014

issue of Science Guru!

A report on the latest gadgets from

the Las Vegas Electronics ShowThe science of college acceptance

Science GuruClub Officers

Kiana NouriRohun Saxena

Varsha Suresh KumarJasmine DengAvni Singhal

Science GuruClub Members

Carter FoxKelyn Wood

Pratik Mulpury

AdvisorDr. Katie Tornburg

Mountain View High School3535 ruman Avenue,Mountain View, CA 94040
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science guru jan 2014 web-2

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