Scientific today

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Scientific Today is a student-run newspaper in Herricks High School in New Hyde Park, New York. It includes current events and news around the world.

There is a monthly photo contest, as well as a trivia question of the month. Issues are bi-monthly and released to all students of the school free of charge. Advertisements are encouraged in the magazine and can be seen by the student body of Herricks High School.

The following are excerpts from the December-January issue:

1 Trivia Question of the Month
2 Featured Topic: Global Warming
3 The Greenhouse Effect
4 Finding the Answer
5 Using Science to Win a Million Dollars
6 External Links
7 See Also

[edit] Trivia Question of the Month

How does cosmic ray spallation affect our universe?

[edit] Featured Topic: Global Warming

Greenhouse gases and global harming has been humanity’s problem longer than one can remember. It is truly an unparalleled test of will and technology to get a grip on such a problem. Human technology can only so much carbon dioxide before the atmosphere is completely transformed. Meteorologists see a dramatic exponential trend, in which carbon dioxide levels are about to double that of the 1700’s. The earth requires greenhouse gases, including water vapor and carbon dioxide in order in order to keep the heat received from solar rays in the atmosphere to keep life on earth possible. However, too much of carbon dioxide causes an increase on the thermometer, for the 20 hottest years were recorded have occurred since the 1980s.

[edit] The Greenhouse Effect

The Greenhouse effect is necessary for life on earth, so the infrared radiation can be trapped within Earth’s atmosphere. Most solar energy reaching the earth is absorbed on the surface, while the warmed surface then releases infrared radiation. The greenhouse gases then absorb and reradiate the heat in all directions including back to the surface of earth. Humans have increased the amount of greenhouse activities and therefore the amount of heat returned to the surface. As a result, temperatures around the world have are rising. Looking around in the world, there are many consequences that the burning of fossil-fuels has brought about. The receding glaciers and stronger hurricanes have brought this issue a higher sense of urgency. Throughout the last two centuries, Earth’s natural resources have been overextended, as coal, oil and gas industries are using 6.5 billion tons of carbon a year. Half of this is burned and released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

[edit] Finding the Answer

As America and other countries in the world grow in wealth, the service sector grows as well. Therefore, energy-intensive activities, such as iron making lowers the carbon expenditure of an economy. Also, energy expenditure will also decrease in the long-term, as technology will eventually develop to reduce the costs of energy, similar to how the world has evolved into using better refrigerators and motors than were available. Thus, energy could possibly be conserved more efficiently in the future to reduce carbon consumption. Henceforth, dramatic changes are feasible during the next fifty years because energy could improve significantly in the future. Our primary objective is how to fuel our transportation in the future. We must concern ourselves in how to distribute the fuel and drive the vehicle through its usual lifetime of about 150.000 miles and to manufacture, maintain, and dispose of the vehicle. This cycle becomes important when we consider fuels that do not come from petroleum and new types of vehicle technologies. Improving existing vehicles can do multitudes. By investing more money in increasing the efficiency of the engine and transmission, decreasing weight, improving tires, and reducing traction, most importantly, we can decrease fuel consumption and therefore the carbon in these fuels oxidized to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide during combustion. The massive use means that the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere is likewise immense. With the said improvements, we can reduce fuel consumption by about one third over the next 20 years. However, the constant appeal to larger cars and trucks, such as the Hummer has undermined our attempts at reducing car efficiency. Therefore, we need to motivate buyers to use the potential for reducing fuel consumption.

[edit] Using Science to Win a Million Dollars

In Boston University’s doctoral program in neuroscience (science of the brain), students are preparing for brain modeling, engineering, or…winning on the television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Presented with four answers in a series of multiple choice questions until the 1 million mark, contestants must answer correctly or be eliminated. Preparing for the quiz show was the focus of Ogi Ogas who just started his Ph.D in neuroscience. With his knowledge, he decided to apply for a chance in the hot seat and headed to New York where he passed a multiple choice test. Two weeks later, he would appear on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with the host Meredith Vieira. To prepare, Ogas studied memory techniques, especially that of intuition and priming. Priming involves the association of neurons within the brain, where memories are separated into many regions. If we find the beginning or fragment of a pattern, our brain has the ability to piece the rest of the pattern together. In one case, if we recall an old song that was played on a date we had long forgotten, the specific memories of such a date can be remembered. The game show allows contestants an unlimited time on questions, so this gave Ogas plenty of time to utilize these techniques in November 2006. He used priming on his $16,000 question, “This past spring, which country first published inflammatory cartoons of the prophet Mohammed?” Ogas did not know the answer but had a conversation with his friend, Gena about the cartoons. By recalling his conversation, he remembered Gina saying, What else would you expect from Denmark? Another cognitive process essential for winning on Millionaire is intuition, or more precisely, knowing how to make decisions based on intuition. What if you have a feeling about an answer? What should you do with your hunch? Folk wisdom holds that on standardized tests you should go with your first impulse. Research tends to support this idea: a first impulse is more often correct than a second, revised decision. But what if $250,000 is at stake? With his brilliant mind techniques, Ogas managed to attain $500,000 when he walked away from one million dollars. Ironically, he guessed the one million dollar question correctly, but did not take the risk.