first issue - Whitman Science Magazine

Whitman Science Magazine
OLFACTORY
WHITE
WHAT DOES IT
SMELL LIKE?
THE
UNIQUE
TEEN BRAIN
THE REASON FOR YOUR
RECKLESSNESS
WWW.WHITMANSCIENCEMAG.ORG
Volume 1 • Issue 1 • December 2012
Also in
this issue:
Classroom Innovations:
What’s Next?
Too Much Sleep Can Hurt
Your Grades and Your
Health
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!
No, It’s the International
Space Station!

CONTENTS
03 Hiding from Curiosity
By Anais Roche
04 It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, It’s the International Space Station!
By Danny McClanahan
05 Olfactory White
By Tori Seidenstein
06 The Unique Teen Brain
By Beatriz Atsavapranee
08 Classroom Innovations
By Dani Banner
09 Too Much Sleep Can Hurt Your Grades and Your Health
By Beatriz Atsavapranee
10 The Second Oldest Turtle
By Gwyneth Meyer
11 The Chaos Behind High School Robotics
By Ana Paula Pineda
FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome to the first issue of the Whitman Science Magazine. The maga-
zine is a non-profit publication run by students at Walt Whitman High
School in Bethesda, Maryland. All magazine content and design is creat-
ed by Whitman students who meet regularly and collaborate to publish
issues every academic quarter.
In this inaugural issue, you’ll find articles and pictures covering a variety
of topics ranging from aeronautics to neuroscience. We hope to engage
and inform readers about current and topical areas of research in science
and technology.
Beatriz Atsavapranee
Editor
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Cover photo shows an MRI picture of Beatriz
Atsavapranee’s brain with the nerve connections
false colored depending on their
direction.
Editor
Graphic and Web Designer
Beatriz Atsavapranee
Writers
Dani Banner
Danny McClanahan
Gwyneth Meyer
Ana Paula Pineda
Tori Seidenstein
Artist
Anais Roche
Academic Advisor
Mr. Sean Reid
Please email us at
whitmansciencemag@gmail.com
if you have any questions or comments.

HIDING FROM CURIOSITY
BY ANAIS ROCHE
NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars about four months ago after a 350,000,000 mile journey. The rover’s most well-known goal is to
search for life on Mars. A key element in this search is the presence of methane in the atmosphere. As a simple carbon compound, meth-
ane often leads to the formation of complex organic chemicals that support life. However, in the first analysis of the Martian atmosphere,
Curiosity found virtually no methane present.
“Methane is clearly not an abundant gas at the Gale Crater site, if it is there at all. At this point in the mission we’re just excited to be
searching for it,” said scientist Chris Webster in a NASA press release. “While we determine upper limits on low values, atmospheric vari-
ability in the Martian atmosphere could yet hold surprises for us.” ◊
Works Cited:
“NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” NASA. NASA, 2 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. .
Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org • 3

IT’S A BIRD! IT’S A PLANE!
NO, IT’S THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION!
BY DANNY MCCLANAHAN
SPOT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FROM YOUR BACKYARD
EStation,
and with NASA’s Spot the Station program, you can be
Works Cited:
ver wondered whether that bright light in the
sky was a spaceship? I’m sure your parents said it
was just an airplane. But what do they know? The
truth is, it could have been the International Space
alerted when it flies near your house.
The International
Space Station (ISS) is
a manmade, self-sus-
taining satellite that
houses an interna-
tional crew who per-
forms experiments on
subjects ranging from
astrobiology to mete-
orology. It orbits the
Earth around 16 times
per day, and it’s com-
ing to your area. Spot
the Station is a new
program from NASA
that sends an email or
text message when the ISS flies over a specific area.
The ISS isn’t always visible; Spot the Station only sends notifica-
tions when it’s high enough in the sky and lasts long enough to
see. A typical message reads “SpotTheStation! Time: Wed Apr 25
7:45 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 66 degrees, Appears: WSW,
Disappears NE.” This means you’ll be able to see the ISS for 4 min-
utes, it’ll be about 66 degrees high, and it travels from west-south-
west to the northeast. 0 degrees is completely horizontal, while 90
Gater, Will. Spot the International Space Station. Digital image. WillGater.com. Wordpress, 25 June 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2012. .
Keeter, Bill. “Spot the Station.” NASA. N.p., 18 2012. Web. 7 Dec 2012. .
4 • Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org
degrees is completely vertical. As a quite literal rule of thumb, “if
you hold your fist at arm’s length and place your fist resting on the
horizon, the top will be about 10 degrees.”
Sometimes you won’t get the message in time, or you might see
the station without having received a message from Spot the
Station. Don’t worry, you can always check to see if what you saw
was the ISS by check-
ing the Johnson Space
Center’s Sighting
Opportunities page.
Who wouldn’t want to
see one of mankind’s
engineering marvels in
action? Not anyone I’d
like to be friends with,
that’s for sure. The
ISS is at once remark-
able, fleeting, shiny,
and photogenic. Very
romantic, to be sure.
But spotting the sta-
tion is something you can do alone, too. Sign up today for Spot
the Station and get as close to being an astronaut as is possible
without years of training. Don’t tell me you never wanted that as
a child. ◊
Signup for Spot the Station: http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/.
Johnson Space Center’s Sighting Opportunities: http://space-
flight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

OLFACTORY WHITE
BY TORI SEIDENSTEIN
THE SMELL TO END ALL SMELLS
P
henomena such as white light, the combination
of light of all frequencies, and white noise,
the amalgamation of sounds of all wavelengths,
have long been recognized and understood by
scientists. But an exploration into the smell equivalent was only
recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences.
Professor Noam Sobel and his colleagues at the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Israel have developed a new scent—
“olfactory white.” Produced by mixing over 30 different smells
across the range detectable by humans, olfactory white pos-
sesses intriguing characteristics.
Sobel’s study participants encountered great difficulty describing
the scent due to its bland and non-descript odor. They used 146
different labels but commonly agreed that the smell was “largely
indeterminate.”
Works Cited:
Olfactory white has been found to neutralize all other smells.
Sobel’s findings indicate that once a mixture contains over 30
distinct scents the identities of the components become indis-
tinguishable and the scent becomes neutral.
Olfactory white has many practical implications. Commercially,
it can be used to freshen up gyms. It could also be used in the
home. But this new discovery opens up potentially dangerous
applications as well. For example, criminals could use the chemi-
cal to intentionally deceive drug sniffing dogs. Therefore, the
future implications of this new discovery are unknown.
Still, scientists see this new development as a valuable step in
the process of better understanding the interaction between our
brain and sense of smell. ◊
Doll, Jen. “What People Say the White Noise of Odor Smells Like.” The Atlantic Wire. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 25
Nov. 2012.
Kim, JuJu. “Researchers Discover ‘White Noise’ of Smell, ‘Olfactory White.’” Time. Time, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.
Tali, Weiss et al. “Perceptual Convergence of Multi-Component Mixtures in Olfaction Implies an Olfactory White.” Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. (2012): n.pag. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.
Wertheimer, Linda, host. “Aromatic Discovery: Olfactory White.” NPR. NPR, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.
Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org • 5

THE UNIQUE
TEEN BRAIN
BY BEATRIZ ATSAVAPRANEE
L
ast year, a local lawyer
named Salvatore Zambri
came to Whitman to
inform students about the
danger of distracted driving. He told us
that he lectures at high schools because
teenagers are particularly prone to dis-
traction. Teens have always been associ-
ated with reckless behavior—but why?
Research in recent years has revealed that
the source of this behavior is not only hor-
mones, but also the brain.
Scientists used to think that a ten-year-
old’s brain was almost completely devel-
oped and that a teenager’s brain was just
“an adult brain with fewer miles on it.”
However, studies on both humans and
animals have proven otherwise.
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The brain is constantly growing and
changing throughout youth; it is only
about 80 percent developed in adoles-
cents. According to Frances E. Jensen,
a professor of neurology at Harvard
University, adolescent brains are unique
in structure and chemistry, with both fast-
growing areas and sections that remain
unconnected.
The largest part of the brain, the cortex, is
composed of four lobes that mature from
back to front, with the most complex brain
centers developing last. Among the last
to mature is the frontal lobe, which con-
trols various cognitive processes such as
reasoning and judgment. Jensen says that
this mental connection is not completed
until a person’s late twenties.
RECKLESS TEEN
BEHAVIOR?
BLAME OUR STILL
DEVELOPING BRAINS
This developmental stage of the brain,
when some sections are not yet matured,
causes teens to act impulsive, relying on
gut decisions instead of executive deci-
sion-making.
In a recent article published in Nature,
Cathy Price and colleagues from the
University of London reveal further evi-
dence that there are active changes occur-

ing in the brain during the teenage
years. The study is unique in that
it observes the same 33 teenagers
at two different time points: once
at 14 years of age, and later at 18
years. Doing so eliminates the varia-
tion in test-taking or brain structures,
which is inherent when comparing
different individuals. At the first time
point, the teenagers were given intel-
ligence quotient (IQ) tests to measure
both verbal and performance IQs. The
structures of their brains were then
examined using magnetic resonance
imaging.
The dogma in the neurology field has
been that a person’s IQ (i.e., cognitive
skills as measured by tests) stays con-
stant during their lifetime. However,
Price and colleagues found that 39%
of their subjects had changes in their
verbal IQ (VIQ) and 21% had chang-
es in their performance IQ (PIQ). On
both measures, the changes could
be positive or negative. There was
no significant correlation between
the VIQ or the PIQ, so they could
be taken as independent variables.
Upon examination of brain structures,
they found that certain areas showed
changes in grey matter density (GMD)
that correlated with changes in VIQ or
Works Cited:
PIQ. Changes in verbal IQ positively
correlated with changes in GMD in
the left motor cortex (shown in yel-
low), a region that is activated dur-
ing articulation of speech. Changes
in performance IQ corresponded
to changes in GMD in the ante-
rior cerebellum (shown in red), an
area important for motor control
of the hand. What’s striking about
these results is that the brain is still
developing and changing, even in
the teen years, and that changes in
cognitive abilities could be directly
correlated with specific structural
changes in the brain.
So, it’s not just about the connec-
tions between neurons or brain
lobes, it’s also about how much gray
matter there is. What you have, can
change. Something to think about
next time you’re making impulsive
choices: is this making my IQ go up
or down? Maybe that extra effort on
this English paper will increase the
gray matter density in my left motor
speech region. Just like our bodies
during adolescence, our brains, too,
still have the capacity to grow. ◊
Knox, Richard. “The Teen Brain: It’s Just Not Grown Up Yet.” NPR. 1 Mar 2010: n. page. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. .
Parker, Randall. “Longitudinal Brain Scan Study Shows How Brain Matures.” FuturePundit. 17 May 2004: n. page. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. .
Ramsden, Sue, Fiona M. Richardson, Goulven Josse, Michael S. C. Thomas, Caroline Ellis, Clare Shakeshaft, Mohamed L. Seghier, and Cathy
J. Price. “Verbal and non-verbal intelligence changes in the teenage brain.” Nature. 479. (2011): 113-116. Print.
Ruder, Debra Bradley. “The Teen Brain.” Harvard Magazine. Sep-Oct 2008: n. page. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. .
Cerebrum. N.d. Graphic. University of Illinois at Chicago. Web. 24 Nov 2011.
Figure reprinted with permission from Ramsden
et al., … Nature Publishing Group.
Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org • 7

CLASSROOM INNOVATIONS:
WHAT’S NEXT?
BY DANI BANNER
F
rom chalkboards to whiteboards to electronic
boards in classrooms, students have witnessed
periodic changes in teaching methods throughout
their school years. Being a student myself that
leaves us with a question—what’s next? A range of ideas have
been hypothesized, many of which seem to involve futuristic
technology seemingly derived from a sci-fi film. However, not all
these ideas will be fiction for long. Scientists are currently putting
new ideas to the test.
Researchers are in the process of testing a new way to learn in
schools—a new invention expected to create “the classroom of
the future.” Synergy Net classrooms, appropriately also known as
“Star Trek classrooms,” are ones which utilize NumberNet desks.
NumberNet desks are multi-touch screen, multi-user desks in
which students can interactively participate and collaborate in
classroom activities. It was primarily created to focus in math but
is now used in multiple other subjects as well. Synergy Net class-
rooms can be useful to students in all grade levels, from lower,
middle and high school students alike.
Works Cited:
8 • Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org
Principal investigator Professor Liz Burd stated, “Our aim was
to encourage far higher levels of active student engagement,
where knowledge is obtained by sharing, problem-solving and
creating, rather than by passive listening.” SynergyNet classrooms
do just that; they significantly increase opportunity for engage-
ment, which helps students become more focused and interested
toward the subject matter—instead of being flooded with end-
less worksheets and lectures. One study conducted at Durham
University, shown in the photograph, revealed 45% of children
who used his new technology in a math
lesson showed enhanced performance,
rather than the 16% of students who
showed improvement on the same les-
son though paper-based activities. Not
only does this new device help students
learn, but it is also eco-friendly. The elec-
tronic desks eliminate the countless num-
ber of trees used per year on paperwork
students may use only once, and then
throw away. Many improvements have
been made over the past few years of
testing, including making the product
more affordable, in hopes that it will be
available in more schools in the future.
If schools adopted new technology for
students such as NumberNet desks,
schools could be more engaging, more
inspiring and more motivating for stu-
dents to learn. Every student likely knows the feeling of sitting
in class contemplating exactly how bored they are while vaguely
listening to (or tuning out) the teacher droning on in the back-
ground. This should be a way of the past. In order to move for-
ward intellectually as a nation and a planet as a whole we must
begin with the upcoming generation of students. So what’s next?
Hopefully in the future, schools will make it a mission to continue
to modify outdated ways of teaching and to adopt new ways, thus
inspiring academically engaged and motivated students. ◊
Durham University. “Star Trek classroom: Next generation of school desks.” ScienceDaily, 22 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 November. 2012.
SynergyNet. RSS. Word Press, 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. .

TOO MUCH SLEEP CAN
HURT YOUR GRADES AND
YOUR HEALTH
BY BEATRIZ ATSAVAPRANEE
I
t’s the night before an important exam at school.
You usually stay up late on school nights, but you
decide to go to sleep early so you can be rested for
the test. You’re thinking, “The more sleep, the better,
right?” Think again.
People often presume that more sleep leads to better academic
performance. However, a recent study by Eric R. Eide and Mark
H. Showalter from Brigham Young University analyzed data from
a representative sample of 1,724 primary and secondary school
students across the country and found that more sleep does not
always improve performance on tests. Rather, there is an optimal
amount of sleep for test performance that decreases with age: 9
to 9.5 hours for 10-year-olds, 8-8.5 hours for 12-year-olds, and 7
hours for 16-year-olds.
The data from the study shows that student
performance on four exams, on a scale from
zero to one, was best when they had the
optimal amount of sleep.
Deviation from the optimum, in either direc-
tion, had a negative effect on test scores that
is comparable to that of other known factors
such as low household income and level of
Nam parent education. ut massa
turpis, ac blandit
justo. Nulla ultrices,
odio commodo
faucibus
For 16-year-olds, a one hour deviation is
comparable to a decrease in household
income from $48,200 (the sample median
household income) to $35,771, or to a loss of
50-65 percent of a year of parent education.
Works Cited:
Yet, the impact of your sleep regimen does not stop at test scores.
A 2011 study by researchers at University of London warns that
getting the wrong amount of sleep can have long term effects on
mental health. Straying too much from the seven hour sleep opti-
mum accelerates cognitive decline and can age the brain by up to
seven years. The worsening brain function can also cause physical
decline and premature death.
Researchers cannot yet fully explain why too much sleep nega-
tively affects how the brain functions, but studies have shown
that a strong relationship exists. So plan your bedtime wisely to
both maximize your test scores and maintain your mental health.
You already knew that you shouldn’t stay up late cramming, but
remember that it’s equally bad to go to sleep when it’s still light
outside. ◊
Daily Mail Reporter. “The Wrong Amount of Sleep ‘can Age Your Brain by up to SEVEN YEARS’” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd,
6 May 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. .
Eide, Eric R., and Mark H. Showalter. “Eastern Economic Journal.” Eastern Economic Journal 38 (2012): 512-24. Eastern Economic Journal.
Palgrave Journals, 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. .
Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org • 9

THE SECOND OLDEST
TURTLE
BY GWYNETH MEYER
Iany
plant or animal that lived many thou-
bet you are all familiar with
the term fossil. In case you
are not though, a fossil is
the remains or evidence of
sands of years ago. Fossils tell us a lot
about the animals that lived on the earth
before humans, such as the Proganochelys
quenstedti, which is the scientific name
given to the second oldest known turtle.
Until an older species of turtle was dis-
covered in 2008, the Proganochelys quen-
stedti was the oldest known turtle. The
Proganochelys quenstedti has been dated
back approximately 210 million years. The
only places where Proganochelys quenst-
edti fossils have been found are Germany
and Thailand.
From fossils, we can tell that the Proganochelys quenstedti did not have a retractable neck like the turtles we know today. That was
alright for these turtles because they had spikes on their head, neck, and a club-like tail. The Proganochelys quenstedti had a complete
shell covering like the turtles today, while the oldest known turtle did not, showing how the turtle adapted to life and predators on land.
The Proganochelys quenstedti was approximately one meter or 3.3 feet long, longer than the largest turtle found in North America, the
Alligator Snapping Turtle, by 0.44 meters.
Fossils tell us so much about extinct animals, and there is still much to learn from them. ◊
Works Cited:
Shepherd, Roy. “What Is a Fossil?” Discovering Fossils. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.
“Fossil.” Biology-Online.org. Biology Online, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.
“Proganochelys Quenstedti.” Palaeocritti. Palaeocritti, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.
“Animal A Day!: Proganochelys.” Animal A Day. Blogspot, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.
10 • Designfreebies Magazine • www.designfreebies.org

THE CHAOS BEHIND HIGH
SCHOOL ROBOTICS
BY ANA PAULA PINEDA
Y members, the robotics team meets every year to build a robot and
ou’ve probably heard of Whitman’s crew cult,
speech and debate cult, and tech cult, but there
is one more cult that most people haven’t heard
of: Whitman’s robotics team. Made up of about 30
participate in competitions around the region. As a member of the
team, I know how much effort it takes to put together this robot.
A company called FIRST holds an annual competition in which
high school robotics teams around the country are given six
weeks to design and construct a robot according to a given chal-
lenge. Last year, the challenge was to build a robot that could
shoot basketballs and balance on ramps, among other functions.
The six weeks of building is called build season, and it consumes
our lives. During build season, robotics members work from 2:15
pm until 11:00 pm on some nights.
The robotics team functions in three different main groups:
building, wiring, and programming. Within each of these groups,
members design and build the parts of the robot they know
most about. For example, the building team puts together the
physical parts of the robot and does jobs such as cutting, tapping,
tightening, and sanding. The members of each group are divided
into three more categories: drive frame, which is the movement
of the robot as a whole, and two game-specific categories. In
other words, all members belong to one group and one category.
Throughout the building process, members meet with others in
their group and category to discuss progress.
In the end, all three groups join to form a functioning robot. The
build team constructs the robot that is controlled by wiring team’s
wires, and the wires carry information to control the robot that
was programmed by the programmers.
Although time consuming, most robotics team members will
agree that being part of the team is worth the time because of
the valuable skills that they learn. Additionally, Whitman’s robotics
team had the opportunity to present their robot in the national
science fair last year, teaching other Americans about the pro-
gram. ◊
Learn more at:
http://www.usfirst.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3axOh49U&safety_
mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
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