CATAPULTANews about the GardeN Club!

INtervIew wIth Ms. arNold

arChIMedes’epIphaNy

FALL 2014

e iπ + 1 = 0

Editorial Board

Faculty Advisor:Ms. Bateman

Special Thanks:Mr. Smith

Catapulta Fall 2014

New EnglandScholastic Press

AssociationMeritorious

Award2014

Mission statementCatapulta publishes this issue in order to illuminate scientific pro-cesses, phenomena, and recent de-velopments, pique interests in the sciences, combine the contempo-rary with the classical, and secure the blessings of knowledge to our-selves and our fellow classmates.

Dear Reader,

As always, the most of this issue: enjoy

feel free to contact us at catapultasciencebls@gmail.com.

Lastly, we are proud to announce that Catapulta received a First Place Award for Overall Excellence from the American Scholastic Press Association. This and future achievements would not be possible without the great work of every-one in the Publication Crew, as well as that of Ms. Bateman, our faculty advisor, who has given us the utmost support.

AmericanScholastic Press

AssociationFirst Prize

2014

AmericanScholastic Press

AssociationFirst Prize

2014

New EnglandScholastic Press

AssociationMeritorious

Award2014

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Editors’ Note

we want you to make the articles, try the puzzles at the end, and learn something really interesting. And of course, if you are interested in contribut-ing in any way (writing articles, working with the publication crew),

Editor-in-Chief:Michael Gao, IITask Manager:William Gao, IICopy Editor:Neil Sun, ICopy Associates:Randy Chen, IIINena Kotsalidis, IVAlfred Yan, IVContent Editors:Jiayi Chen, IIKevin Yang, IIContent Associates:Elisabeth Kotsalidis, II William Ho, IIIAlfred Yan, IVAshley Chou, V

magazine! In this issue, there are many great things we would like to share with you, ranging from an interview with Ms. Arnold, the faculty advisor of YouthCAN, to articles about cool species and groundbreaking discoveries in medicine.

Layout Editor:Yinyu Ji, IIILayout Associates:Jenni (Bixuan) Chen, IIGreta Gaffin, II

Hayden Codiga, IVFahad Anwar, VAnnie Tsan, VTreasurer: Daniel Sherman, IIWebsite Coordinator:Michael Lee, II

Welcome to the Fall Issue of Catapulta, the school science

John (Hanjin) Kim, II

Tim (Zhaoyang) Liu, V

save the turtle

the king of all snakes

turkey on the common

interview with ms. arnold

thinning of ozone layer

spotlight: leonhard euler

buoyancy, volcanology

the “anti-aging” drug

Although its habitat includes coral reefs and coastlines all around the globe, the hawks-bill sea turtle is the only species left of the genus Eretmochelys, and is critically endangered despite the World Wildlife Foundation’s efforts to save the turtle with its “Adopt a Sea Turtle” program.

underwater ecosystems which consist of coral, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, bacteria, and other creatures—are being destroyed around the world. However, these sea turtles can play a ma-jor role in saving coral reefs before these reefs are all gone. By preying on heterotrophic sponges which compete with autotrophic coral, producers in the ecosystem, turtles im-prove the overall ecosystem.

One major reason why the num-ber of sea turtles is dwindling is that fishing lines and nets unin-tentionally capture them. This type of capture is called bycatch,

reason, however, for the de-population of the turtles is that the pattern on their shell is very popular in the making of jewelry and other lux-

ury items. Despite laws that are currently in place in many countries, in-cluding Madagascar and In-donesia, the demand for these items in Asian trade contin-ues to encourage massive amounts of illegal trading and fishing. Hawksbill turtles’ flesh and eggs are still valued highly for their taste, nutrition, and cultural significance. In a survey taken in Nicaragua regar-

S VE THE TURTLEding the consumption of turtle eggs, about a third answered that they ate turtle eggs for the taste, while another third answered that they did it for the nutrition-al value, and fourteen percent answered that turtle eggs were were a traditional food. Nicaragua, located in the middle of the habi ta t , i s among the many countries that has passed l aws ag a ins t turtle poaching and the sale of turtle pro- ducts. Also, for many Indonesians living in the CoralTriangle, tourism for the tur-tle sightings provides a major source of income. So for the turtles, for the fish, for the cor-al, and for all those who depend on it, let us all work together to save the hawksbill turtles!

“last species left of the genus Eretmochelys”

Liane Xu, V 1

which could be prevented by using different types of fishing hooks. The main

Coral reefs—

Financial District, and turkeys in Downtown. In Brookline, there are turkeys that even attack peo-ple. They were the hunted… and now they are the hunters.

But why? Why do they not stick to the forests and glens their ancestors preferred? It is partly because these birds are lazy.

The turkey of yore had to get its own food. The turkey of today can rummage around in trash bins, so cover your garbage cans!It is also partly because there is not much woodland left for them to dwell in. The forest primeval, especially in east-ern Massachusetts, has been almost wholly destroyed, for-merly for farms and now for subdivisions. On the other hand, in previously more agricultural parts of

Massachusetts, there is now more forest than there was a century ago due to a large amount of farmers moving to Ohio. Greater Boston stopped being heavily agrarian before

the mass exodus to the Ohio River Valley in the nineteenth century, so there was no farm-land to become forest again. But, thanks to how difficult it is to legally hunt a turkey in the twenty-first century (only during certain months, not at all on Sundays, and only with certain kinds of arrows and shotguns and so forth, not to mention how strict gun regu-lations are in Boston), the urban turkey is here to stay.

Turkeys. Where did they come from? What do they want? And who do they think they are? The turkey (Meleagris gallopa-vo), is not from the Eurasian country with which it shares its name, but rather from right here, in North America. The turkeys you may see wandering around Brookline, Cambridge, or even occasionally right out-side our very own Boston Latin School (BLS), however, are not related to the fowl that escaped the Pilgrims’ poor, hungry hands. In fact, for a long time, Massachusetts had no tur-keys at all—its last native tur-key was killed in 1851. There-fore, in 1972 and 1973, the state took turkeys from New York and reintroduced them to the Berkshires. Then, be-tween 1979 and 1996, turkeys were brought to the rest of the state. Today, Massachusetts is home to over 20,000 turkeys.

All seemed to be well so far—your standard animal reintro-duction plan. What officials did not anticipate was how urban those turkeys would become. There have been turkeys on Morrissey Boulevard, turkeys in the Back Bay, turkeys in the

2 Tur

key

on

th

e C

om

mo

n

“They were the hunted… and

now they are the hunters”

“officials did not anticipate

how urban they would become”

Greta Gaffin, II

According to a survey tak-en in 2001, fifty-one percent of Americans are afraid of snakes. Until recently, Giganto-phis, a prehistoric snake mea-suring up to thirty-three feet in length, would have been the worst nightmare of these snake-fearers. The snake Ti-tanoboa, however, has now usurped its place. Measur-ing fifty feet long and two feet wide, this monster of a snake existed in the lost pe-riod after the extinction of the d inosaurs.

Af te r the devas ta t ing ext inct ion of a l l the dinosaurs, Titanoboa ruled in the prehistoric tropics and was at the top of the food chain. Along with Titanoboa, Acherontisuchus, an animal resembling a modern day croco-dile, has been disco-vered. It could only g row up to seven feet. The real stun-ners, however, are the tur t l e s tha t were found with Titanoboa. These t u r t l e s c o u l d grow up to six feet in size.

power of a Titanoboa would be equivalent to being squished by three Eiffel Towers! However,

Titanoboa’s huge size gave it a disadvantage in speed, so it most likely stayed in shallow water most of the time, to be neither vulnerable nor sluggish.

Scientists have tried to explain how Titanoboa could have become so enormous. They have realized that in modern times, snakes a r o u n d t h e wo r l d would be larger if they lived in warmer e n v i r o n m e n t s . Snakes are cold- blooded, so they draw heat ener- gy from their sur roundings. There- fore, Titanoboa would have had to really live in an ex t remely war m environment for it to grow so large. So for those who do not want another Titanoboa, prevent global warming!

While modern day Galapagos turtles can also grow up to six feet, the ones found with Ti-tanoboa were freshwater turtles, and it is uncommon to find freshwater turtles of this size.Titanoboa hunted using a method very similar to that of modern day anacondas. They could dislocate their jaws to fit

could also utilize the power of constriction. Scientists have calculated that the constriction

“TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN”

OF ALL THE KING

SNAKES

large prey in their mouths, and

Kevin S. Qi, V 3

Q: What are some ways we can protect the environment? A: Well, there are some very sim-ple ways we all make protect the

reusable type of water bottle to

cut down plastic usage, taking a slightly shorter shower to reduce daily water usage, turning the wa-ter off between brushing your teeth. There are a million things you can do to protect the environment.

Q: What do you personally think has been YouthCAN’s biggest project?

A; I think the Green Roof is still the biggest project although now it’s in the stage where the architects and engineers and the fundraisers, are working on it, so it’s become part of the fundraising campaign the school has launched. We do a lot of other things: for instance, the mayor and city council have reached out to us and want to work with BLS YouthCAN to spread the successes

say one of the longest term successes is our Annual Summit at MIT. Over

vironmental protection, and the majority of the preparation for the event is done by BLS students.

The first thing that students in Earth Science class are introduced

to is the concept of studying Earthis the concept of studying Earth as a whole. Humans have learned that

together to make an impact. The dis- covery of glo- bal warm ing now

makes this collaboration a necessary part of sustain-ing the planet and its resources.

Today, over 98% of the ozone-depleting substances have been banned throughout the world. Now, for the first time in 35 years, scientists have confirmed a statisti-cally significant rise in ozone. For instance, from 2000 to 2013, ozone layers increased by four percent in northern latitudes (Canada, Rus-sia, and other Arctic areas). Scien-tists say this development demon-strates that when the world comes together, it can avert a brewing crisis. Unfortunately, the news of of the recovering ozone is bit-tersweet; atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and carbon di-oxide reached a record high in 2013. This update on ozone levels has shown that when we work to-gether, progress is made- so why not take on global warming next?

Q: Are there any YouthCAN events coming up?A: Students are currently collecting pledges to recycle from people in the

as one part of the Zone

initiative will also raise aware-

things we should recycle. We’re launching a fundraiser with Next Step Living to get families to sign up for free energy audits, and we’re testifying at a public hearing in the

a Boston City Council meeting to ask that the councilors make the

city of Boston divest from spending city funds on organi-zations that pro-mote fossil fuel

has done a similar cam-paign suc-cessfully. We’re also competing in the Le-xus Eco Challenge. Anyone can come to theevents and help in this campaign to protect our environment.

working alone is often not an op- tion : people must work

atmosphere, protecting the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. The ozone layer, however, has been thinning since the late 1970s due to man-made chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which release chlorine and bromine. These gases deplete ozone molecules in the upper atmo-sphere. Originally, they were used in agriculture as pesticides, but by using them, humans unknowingly greatly reduced the atmosphere’s ozone layer. After scientists made this discovery in 1987, countries around the world agreed to the Hel-sinki Treaty (1989), promising that they would no longer use CFCs.

“RAISING MORE AWARENESS”

Ozone, or O3, is a key part of the

"OVER NINETY PEOPLE"

environmental protection? How did YouthCAN begin?

environmental protection until my

gave me a copy of Al Gore’s

change. It just so happened that I always do the mock trial and Zenger trial with the students and then do a followup to see how the media is involved on a current issue. That year, I decided to make it about climate change. I showed them a documentary and asked the students to talk about how the

saying, “It’s terrible, [the media’s] not covering anything.” So the students were the ones who drew me into this idea of environmental protection, they were the ones that came up with the ideas on what to do regarding the problem, and one of the ideas was to have club about environmental protection. When I started asking how many people would come to meeting, I found it was going to be over ninety people,

volunteered. I began to feel that we could actually change things with so many people. At first, I wasn’t

the students who drew me into it.

fifty schools go to this day about en-

Inconvenient Truth on climate

media was covering the issue

and quite a few of their parents

use—Harvard

Q: What sparked your interest in

[climate change] and students were

we have had to other schools. I would

Captains program. Hopefully this type of

ness about what types of

school community

environment—recycling, using a

I didn’t really have interest in

really an environmentalist; it was

dad, the year YouthCAN started,

4 Interview with Ms. Arnold Morgan Stevenson-Swadling 5

Q: What sparked your interest in environmental protection? How did YouthCAN begin?

Q: What are some ways we can protect the environment? A: Well, there are some very sim-ple ways we all make protect the environment--recycling, using a reusable type of water bottle to

cut down plastic usage, taking a slightly shorter shower to reduce daily water usage, turning the wa-ter off between brushing your teeth. There are a million things you can do to protect the environment.

Q: What do you personally think has been YouthCAN’s biggest project?

A; I think the Green Roof is still the biggest project although now it’s in the stage where the architects and engineers and the fundraisers, are working on it, so it’s become part of the fundraising campaign the school has launched. We do a lot of other things: for instance, the mayor and city council have reached out to us and want to work with BLS YouthCAN to spread the successes we have had to other school. I would say one of the longest term successes is our Annual Summit at MIT. Over 50 schools come to a day about en-vironmental protection, and the majority of the preparation for the event is done by BLS students.

The first thing that students in Earth Science class are introduced a whole. Humans have learned that

bal warm

makes this collaboration a necessary part of sustain-ing the planet and its resources.

Today, over 98% of the ozone-depleting substances have been banned throughout the world. Now, for the first time in 35 years, scientists have confirmed a statisti-cally significant rise in ozone. For instance, from 2000 to 2013, ozone layers increased by four percent in northern latitudes (Canada, Rus-sia, and other Arctic areas). Scien-tists say this development demon-strates that when the world comes together, it can avert a brewing crisis. Unfortunately, the news of of the recovering ozone is bit-tersweet; atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and carbon di-oxide reached a record high in 2013. This update on ozone levels has shown that when we work to-

not take on global warming next?

Q: Are there any YouthCAN events coming up?A: Students are currently collecting pledges to recycle from people in the school community as one part of the Zone Captains program. Hopefully this type ofinitiative will also raise aware-ness about what types of things we should recycle. We’re launching a fundraiser with Next Step Living to get families to sign up for free energy audits, and we’re testifying at a public hearing in the

a Boston City Council meeting to ask that the councilors make the

city of Boston divest from spending city funds on organi-zations that pro-mote fossil fuel use--Harvard has done a similar cam-paign suc-cessfully. We’re also competing in the Le-xus Eco Challenge. Anyone can come to theevents and help in this campaign to protect our environment.

working alone is often not an op-

A: So I didn’t really have interest in environmental protection until my dad, the year YouthCAN started, gave me a copy of Al Gore’s Incon-venient Truth, and it just so hap-pened that I always do the mock trial and Zenger trial with the stu-dents and then do a followup to see how the media is involved on a current issue. That year, I decided to make it about climate change. I showed them a documentary and asked the students to talk about how the media was covering the issue (climate change) and students were saying, “It’s terrible, [the media’s] not covering anything.” So they drew me into this idea of environ-mental protection, they were the ones that came up with the ideas on what to do regarding the problem, and one of the ideas was to have club about environmental protec-tion. When I started asking how many people would come to meet-ing, I found it was going to be over 90 people, and several parents even volunteered. I began to feel that we could actually change things with so many people. At first, I wasn’t really an environmentalist; it was the students who drew me into it.

"OVER 90 PEOPLE"

“RAISING MORE AWARENESS”

Ozone, or O3, is a key part of the

atmosphere, protecting the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. The ozone layer, however, has been thinning since the late 1970s due to man-made chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which release chlorine and bromine. These gases deplete ozone molecules in the upper atmo-sphere. Originally, they were used in agriculture as pesticides, but by using them, humans unknowingly greatly reduced the atmosphere’s ozone layer. After scientists made this discovery in 1987, countries around the world agreed to the Hel-sinki Treaty (1989), promising that they would no longer use CFCs.

tion : people must work together to make an

covery of glo- impact. The dis-

to is the idea of studying Earth as

ing now

gether, progress is made — so why

4 Interview with Ms. A Morgan Stevenson-Swadling, VI 5

there is a city named Basel, the third most populous city in Switzerland, with a population of about 200,000. On April 15, 1707, Leonhard Euler was born there to a pastor’s family. With his father as a pastor of the Reformed Church, and mother as a daughter of a different pastor, his life was set to continue the family “tradition” of being a pastor. How-ever, by chance, Euler was tutored by Johann Bernoulli, a member of a family of great mathematicians, and a great mathematician himself. And so, Euler soon followed the call of mathematics instead of God. He enrolled at the University of Basel at the age of 13 and quickly gradu-ated at 16 with a master’s degree in philosophy. After college, howev-

At about the same time when Euler was growing up, Peter the Great was establishing the Imperial Rus-sian Academy of Science in Russia, because he was envious of his royal friends in other European countries. Peter wanted to show that the Rus-sians were also skilled in science, and thus created his academy. He invited scientists from everywhere to be in the academy, two of whom were the Bernoulli brothers. In 1727, one of the Bernoulli brothers

vacancy in the aca-demy. On May 17 of that year, Euler was

invited for a spot in the Mathemat-ics Department in the Russian Acad-emy, and quickly packed his belong-ings and moved to St. Petersburg. Little did he know, Russia would become his second home. It was a wise move at the time, since there were not many jobs for mathemati-cians in his native Switzerland, unless one were a Bernoulli. Though enjoy-ing his life in Russia, Euler moved to the Berlin Academy in 1741, due to the turmoil from the Seven Years’ War. He would live in Berlin for another 25 years. Euler eventually moved back to Russia in 1766, where he died in 1783. His tomb is in the St. Alexander Nevsky Monastery, one of the handful of foreigners’ tombs among the native Russians.

Euler has left his footprint virtually everywhere one looks. In his life-time, he published about 800 works ranging from articles of a few pages to hundred page b o o k s . O n average, he p r o d u c e d one article every week (compare this to that of a normal scientist, who might take months to

years to publish one article). Al-though Euler’s eyesight was bad, it did not interfere with his work. In-terestingly, when he lost his eyesight, his productivity actually increased. As quoted upon losing the use of his right eye, he said, “Now I will have less distraction.” By 1766, he was completely blind. However, his math-ematics work did not stop. With as-sistance from his family and servants, he continued to work until the day he died. After his death, hundreds of articles were published posthu-mously from his notes for 50 years. He published more while deceased than most scientists publish when alive. To date, there are more than seventy volumes already published, and more are still being prepared. Each volume costs hundreds of dol-lars and is as thick as a textbook.

seventy volumes,hundreds of

articles Published

Math GeniusLeonhard Euler:

6 Duy Nguyen, II

Given all of these contributions, Eul-er is still not as well known as some

delves into history, he or she will find that there are many interesting figures who deserve the spotlight. Newton and Einstein have dominat-ed the spotlight for too long, and it is time to explore some other old faces.

On the banks of the Rhine River,

er, he found himself without a job.

died and left a

This is unfortunate, since as one scientists (Newton, Einstein, etc.)

You may ask yourself, what is buoyancy? Well, buoyancy is the upward force caused by a water-like fluid. Basically, it is why things float. Something that is often related with buoyancy is density. Density determines if things float or not. The density of an object is the object’s ratio of mass to volume. Buoyancy is an important part of the design of many water-based objects.

The Greek mathematician Archimedes. who lived from 287-212 BCE, discovered how buoyancy works. While doing research, Archimedes found out that an object is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the water displaced, or moved, by the object. This concept is now called the Archimedes Principle.

There are different types of buoyancy: positive buoyancy, when an object floats in the water;

negative buoyancy, when an object sinks; and neutral buoyancy, when an object hovers in the water. If the object weighs more than the weight of water it displaces, it will sink. However, if it is lighter, then it will float. It is not the size or shape that determines

weight and weight of the water it displaces. This explains why large boats can float while small bricks

sink in a matter of seconds.

For example, if you put a block of wood in the water, the water will rise. If you

measure the amount of water that the wood

wooden block’s volume. If you put in two pieces of pine or oak wood that are the same shape and size, the oak wood would sink a little lower because it is heavier. If you increase the density of something in water, it will sink lower and lower in the water.

Did you know that volcanologists actually knew that Mount St. Helens was going to erupt before it happened?

s north face opened up in two places, creating fissures.

Volcanologists were able to use reflective targets inside those openings and lasers on another mountain nearby to record any seismic changes. The equipment started showing “volcanic tremors” in late March and all through April and May. This told them that there was a large swelling between the fissures that was growing more and more each day and that the magma below the surface of the mountain was pushing up and bulging out.

On the morning of May 18, 1980, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded. David A. Johnston, a volcanologist working for the U.S. Geological Survey, was recording this activity. He knew this earthquake was significant and radioed the U.S. Geological Survey: “This is it!” Unfortunately, he was right, and a massive volcanic eruption followed the earthquake. Johnston became one of the 57 people within the direct blast of the eruption who lost their lives.

This eruption had a huge impact on how volcanologists study volcanoes. Volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest

are now monitored at a facility set up in honor of Johnston: The David A. Johnston Cascades

located in Vancouver, Canada. They are working with two other U.S. Geological Survey groups in Hawaii and Alaska. These survey groups are now able to provide important data on volcanic activity in the U.S., as well as volcanic data on other countries that are within the Pacific Ring of Fire.

ARCHIMEDES’ epiphany

-David Qian, VI

-Connor Stowe, vi

A seismograph at the University of Washington was set up in early March 1980 to measure earthquake activity in the Cascade Range, where Mount St. Helens is located. Later that month, there were several earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 4.0 on the Richter Scale, which were located on fault lines beneath Mount St. Helens. On that very same day, the first eruption occurred, sending steam and ash 6,000 feet into the air. A portion of the mountain’

David Qian, VI & Connor Stowe, vi 7

if an object sinks; it is the comparison of the object’s

displaces, you would find that it is equal to the

Volcano Observatory,

buoyancy

VOLCANOLOGY

T H EThere is no doubt that deathis a devastating and tragic sub-ject.

unrestricted $200,000 grant.

“We’re talking about whether aged pets will benefit, and that’s a good model for a human pop-ulation,” says David Harrison, who studied the effects of ra-pamycin on mice. Hopefully, re-search on rapamycin will be the next step for the advancement of human biology and medicine.

Fortunately, the researchers at UW will be able to car r y out the research with an

Some lethal side effects

In the case of pets, a pet owner lives with the awareness that his or her beloved pet will eventually succumb to old age

there is a drug that could slow down the aging process of pets. Numerous studies have shown that yeast, worms, flies, and mice, all causes of death in pets, can be affected by a drug called rapamycin, delaying age-associ-ated diseases and stretching life

estingly, the drug is also applica-ble to mammals, including hu-mans. While the specific details on how the rapamycin acts as a life-slowing agent are unclear, the most probable theory is that rapamycin retards, or slows down, aging in cell growth. Ra-pamycin derives its name from Rapa Nui, the Easter Islands, where it was found in bacterial metabolite. The bacteria secrete rapamycin into the soil to delay fungal growth and to consume nutrients. Recently, scientists atthe University of Washington (UW) have been planning toconduct experimental research to determine whether rapamy-cin affects dogs. The goal of this research, as one scientist noted, is “to study the normalaging process of dogs, as well as the long-term effects of ra-

pamycin and also how the drug functions in canines,” and it is open to the participation of dog owners nationwide. Matthew

researchers at UW, believes that if the research is successful, the results can be linked to the longevity of human life because dogs suffer heart and kidney diseases similar to humans. For humans, however, rapamycin is known for its lethal side effects, such as causing a viral infection of the brain. Despite this, it is prescribed as an anticancer drug by doctors. Today, rapamycin is off-patent, resulting in the reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to invest their funds in its research and development. In addition, human trials require a great amount of dedicated time and many expenses.

8 John Kim, II

Kaeberlein, one of the several

“ANTI-AGING”D R U Gbefore he or she does. However,

spans up by forty percent. Inter-

The BLS Garden & Scavenger Hunt

Cultivation of a Healthy Environment:The BLS Garden

Scavenger HuntThe first person to answer all of the following cor-rectly and email responses to catapultasciencebls@gmail.com will receive a $10 gift card:

Daniel Sherman, II

For example, kale, a vegetable grown in the BLS Gar-den, as well as all cruciferous vegetables (plants of

chemicals known as glucosinolates. An enzyme, found

hydrolyzes these glucosinolates into isothiocyanates, a group of chemicals that protects animals from the neo-plastic characteristics of many carcinogens, increases effectiveness of the antioxidant defense system, and allows for detoxification of harmful materials in the body. Plants are the richest source of hundreds of mi-cronutrients and phytochemicals, which boost the im-munological powers of the body. The BLS Garden is trying to raise awareness of this information, critical to the wellbeing of all people. By eating vegetables more frequently, not only does one’s body begin to func-tion more efficiently, fight sickness faster, and protect against disease, but also one’s sense of taste does, in fact, adapt to find the healthy vegetables more appealing.

mental initiative, a small group of students constructed an organic vegetable garden near BLS’s main entrance. The Garden cultivates its three planting beds to grow numer-ous vegetables, herbs, and fruits throughout the spring, summer, fall, and early winter. Over the four years of its existence, about six to ten members work weekly to main-tain it, care for the vegetables, and produce as great a yield as possible for BLS and the Longwood community. The BLS garden was created for the purpose of promoting sustainable, efficient, and urban agriculture. Today, poor agricultural practices, including over-fertilization, use of monocultures, and application of destructive pesticides, have resulted in environmental degradation and insalubri-ous conditions for humankind. With the greater use of ur-ban agriculture, as the BLS Garden exemplifies on a small scale, dependence on such large-scale farms, which en-dorse and utilize these practices, would diminish. Further-more, the BLS Garden desires to promote a more healthy population, one built upon a diet rich in plant materials. Although many individuals shrink from consum-ing vegetables because of their unpalatable taste, the science of nutrition is supplying increasingly more evidence that many of America’s most devastat-ing medical problems, such as hypertension and heart disease and cancer, can be alleviated or remedied with a diet rich in vegetables and other plant matter.

1) The equation on the front cover of this issue is attributed to a mathematician, who was born in this city.2) Rapamycin, a recently discovered drug, derives its name from this cluster of islands.3) YouthCAN’s annual summit is held here.4) Countries agreed not to use CFCs anymore after a treaty in 1989 in this city.5) This country administered a recent survey about the consumption of turtle eggs.6) In 1972 and 1973, Massachusetts introduced turkeys from New York into this region.7) This many percent above fifty are afraid of snakes in the United States, according to a survey.

9) Catapulta seeks “to _____ interest in the sci-ences.” 10) This category was chosen by the most people as the element of sci-fi they find most interesting.

Brassicaceae or Cabbage family) contain a group of

in the Brassicaceae cell walls, known as myrosinase,Four years ago, as part of Boston Latin School’s environ-

8 ) The Brassicaceae f ami l y is also known as th i s.

“Destruction of civilization: There

are so many ways that the human race can de-

stroy itself, which are scientif-ically possible, yet still seem like fiction. This shows how far the human race can advance, and

what science can do.”

-Masha Leyfer, V

“I feel that time travel has the most interesting elements

and twists to it. It would be interesting to see someone

who’s supposed to be dead appear in the present.”

-Lina Liu, II

“I find the destruction of civilization most inter-

esting because there will be

and a science fiction book about it could actually happen in the future. Also,

find it interesting to read a prediction of what would happen when civili-

zation is suddenly taken away from us.”

-Clair Fu, V

“I definitely like de-struction of civilization the most, because of the

suspenseful and dystopian atmosphere.”

-Carina Layfield, V

-Kelly Zang, IV

“Extraterrestial intelligence is my

favorite sci-fi element because it is intriguing to

consider the fact that other life forms may live in

our universe.”-Lily Yang, V

“I personally am partial to time travel, because I enjoy trying to wrap my head around

the concepts that are connected to movement in time and space: what will

be changed each time you go backwards or forwards, why the things have changed, how they affect people, and what would be dif-

ferent if you hadn’t interfered with the natural order of things and the way in

which they were meant to hap-pen.”

-Imogen Watts, IV

apocalypse?”-Peter Choi, V

[Destruction of civi-lization] because it shows our rise and fall in life and

the extent technology should go

interesting topic.”

“Time travel is extremely fascinating because it’s the

one constant in our life that we humans don’t expect to change.

Time should be linear but if people could go forward or go backwards in time a lot of questions arise: Would we have to

face consequences if we could fix our mistakes in time? What are the reper-

cussions of time travel? Is there a predetermined future? Are there multiple timelines?”

-Julia Pan, I

catapulta asked:

Most interesting Sci-Fi Element?

YOUAnswered:

Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Destruction of Civilization

Cloning

Mysteries in Outer Space

Time Travel

Destruction of Civilization

Cloning

Mysteries in Outer Space

TimeTravel

ExtraterrestrialIntelligence

a day when civilization will end,

humans have been civilized for so long; I

Shemar Stewart, IV

could be cooler than the zation because what

to, and since it’s just an “Destructionof civilization is

the most interesting of these elements for me because it is a problem that deals with the very direction

to go."that humanity is going

“Destruction of civili-