Innehållsförteckning för February 2016 från Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

Right Back at You For a Muse Reader, I know I am ancient and decrepit at 17 years of age. Yet there is no lack of love from my side and I can only hope that it is reciprocated by the publishing of this letter. It is rather in tradition to make a threat of some kind, but I shall accept my fate in the FMP. It may be warm and comfortable. My letter can form a knitting club and orchestra with the other rejects. They can have weekly yoga classes and pity parties about their fate. Before the conclusion of this letter, I must inquire after information regarding the science of string instruments as it (violin) is my chosen profession, and send much admiration of…

A few years ago, in his advisor’s lab at Harvard University, Bhart-Anjan Bhullar carefully removed another batch of specimens from their shells, placed them into containers with preservatives, and packed them up. The specimens were chicken embryos, but from what Bhullar could see, they didn’t appear to have beaks—they had something that looked more like a dinosaur’s snout. He’d have to wait for the final pictures to be sure. The specimens were on their way to get a CT scan. (Computerized tomography, or CT, provides highly detailed X-ray images.) Bhullar is a paleontologist. He and his team study how vertebrates (organisms with backbones) have evolved over time to the animals we see today. He’s now a professor at Yale University, but he earned his PhD at Harvard, where he spent…

1951 During surgery, sample cells are removed from Henrietta Lacks without her knowledge. George Gey cultures the first “immo tal” human cell line using Lacks’ cells. The line is called HeLa. Henrietta Lacks dies of cervical cancer. 1952 Scientists use HeLa cells to develop the polio vaccine. The Tuskegee Institute establishes a “HeLa factory,” to supply cells to scientists. Later, a company will culture and sell HeLa cells for profit 1953 HeLa are the first human cell to be cloned. 1960 HeLa cells go to space in a Soviet satellite. 1973 Her family learns that Henrietta Lacks’ cells are still alive. Without explaining clearly and then receiving permission, researchers take samples from Lacks’ children for additional study. 1974 A new policy in the United States requires informed consent for all…

Dolly the sheep In 1996, Dolly was the first animal to be cloned, in a lab at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. This means that she developed from material in an adult cell, and not from a sperm and egg. Scientists went on to clone pigs, deer, horses, and bulls. Cloning animals could possibly produce meat for us to eat and save endangered species from extinction. Can you think of any potential bad effects of cloning? Chimeras Geeps (animals made from goat and sheep genomes) have been developed in labs around the world. Ligers (hybrid combinations of lions and tigers) appear despite laws banning their breeding in some countries. The names are a blast to say and they are fun look at, but some of these animals have birth…

In case you don’t already discuss genetics in casual conversation, here are some genetically relevant terms: DNA—Stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. You’ve probably heard the shape of DNA described as a double helix. However, the long, spiraling double helix usually sits in the nucleus of a cell as a tangled blob called chromatin. Chromosome—A group of genes. When a cell reproduces, its DNA untangles and organizes into pairs of chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Chimpanzees have 24 pairs. Gene—A section of DNA that controls a specific function, like eye olor. Genome—Your entire set of 46 chromosomes; your personal collection of genes. Embryo—The name for an unborn, growing organism while it’s still in an egg or a womb. Humans are called embryos for the first eigh weeks of their development.…

It took Rebecca Skloot over 10 years to write The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and, during that time, she became very close with Lacks’ descendants. To honor the family and recognize one woman’s contribution to science, Skloot created The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants money to the Lacks family and other similar, needy families. To qualify for a grant, an applicant must prove financial need and h ve made, or be related to someone who has made, a significant ontribution to scientific research without any personal benefit The foundation has provided tuition and books for Lacks’ grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They attend high schools, colleges, graduate schools, and trade schools. The foundation has also helped the family with medical and dental expenses. Anyone can contribute to the…

What would we do if antibiotics, our most important defense against infection, stopped working? Imagine you get pneumonia, go to the hospital, and the doctor gives you some bad news. “Your infection is caused by bacteria that have become resistant to every antibiotic we have available. We’ll do everything we can, of course . . . but you may not recover.” Before chemists developed the first antibiotics in the early twentieth century, people frequently died from bacterial infections. Since then, some of the bacteria we treat with antibiotics have evolved and turned into “superbugs,” able to survive treatment with drugs that once eliminated them. It can take only a few years for a strain of bacteria to develop resistance to a new antibiotic. Both the United States’ Centers for Disease…

You and many of your friends have cellphones, and you use them just about everywhere. But your school has a rule against cellphone use in the classroom. Do you and your classmates agree with that policy? The best way to find out is to ask the question of everyone in your class. You might discover, for example, that 21 students think the school should allow cellphone use, and 9 say it is not a good idea. It’s pretty easy to get a definite answer when you’re dealing with just 30 people. It’s a little trickier if you want the opinion of all the students in your school—and much, much harder if you want the opinion of 10 million middle schoolers scattered across the country. It’s just not practical to ask…

ASK YOURSELF these important questions: 1. Am I hungry? (YES) 2. Am I a panda? (YES) 3. Is this bamboo? (YUM) 4. Is this my bamboo? (NO IDEA) This is not an ethical problem. The answer is: eat the bamboo. However, let us ask one more question: 5. Did I eat bamboo yesterday? (YES) Still not a problem! You’re a panda! Eat the bamboo. Ah, but, what about this: 6. Would eating this bamboo mean there would be less bamboo for others? (UM. WELL. PROLLY.) 7. Is this your problem? (NO) Bing! Again: not an ethical dilemma. Eat the bamboo. And, finally, ask yourself: 4. Do I have massive jaw muscles capable of ripping this sinewy bamboo stuff o shreds and masticating it in my big cheeky mouth? (OH BABY…

COMPUTER SCIENCE Liar, Liar, Pants on WiFire HAVE YOU heard of the Turing test? It’s a test of artificial intelligence. To pass, a computer program has to answer questions from a human judge and fool that judge into thinking she is talking to another human. An artificial intelligence system developed in California has passed another kind of test: it can trick you into thinking it’s human, but only when it’s telling lies. In an experiment, human judges typed online conversations with either computers or people. No matter the question, the program or person had to answer with false information. Afterward the judges guessed which they were speaking to. A program called Pinokyo passed the test with flying colors, fooling all eight judges into thinking it was human. This is a…

Q What exactly is bioethics? A Bioethics asks questions about the moral issues that come up around the fact that we are biological creatures. It was born in the 1970s from the Patient Rights movement. At that time, doctors would give advice on what they thought a patient should do, without asking that patient what he valued. Doctors would just tell someone with cancer, you should take this medicine. Instead of asking, “Would you rather not have chemotherapy and have good quality of life for a short time? Or do you want to extend your life by a few months, even if chemotherapy is difficult?” The Patient Rights movement said, doctors are the experts on the science. But patients are the experts on what matters to them. You can’t reach…

Have you ever waved to a giraffe, laughed at a chimpanzee, or gotten splashed by a killer whale? Chances are, you met the animal at a zoo, aquarium, or theme park. Some animal rights activists believe that no animal—not even dogs and cats—should ever live in captivity, but this is an extreme view. At the other extreme are very early zookeeping practices. From the 1890s through the 1930s, zoo animals often lived alone in small cages with concrete floors. Today, treating an animal that way seems wrong. But how should we treat animals? What is OK, and what isn’t? Why Zoos? We keep animals in zoos or as pets for many reasons. Sometimes the motivation is to rescue an animal or a group of animals. Hawks that fly into windows,…

We live in a world where antibiotics don’t cure as many infections as they used to. And bacteria evolve faster than we can invent new drugs that work. The more we use antibiotics today, the greater the chance we won’t have any working antibiotics left in the near future. This puts doctors and policy makers in a difficult position Doctors have a huge influence on antibiotic use In many countries, they write the prescriptions. Their job is to treat their current patients and yet, every day, whether they realize it or not, they are affecting future patients. Johnny’s infection isn’t life-threatening. Should Johnny get a less effective antibiotic so the stronger ones can be used on sicker people? Sanya feels miserable. Should Sanya be given an antibiotic because she really…