American Scientist January-February 2017

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Artificial
Symbiosis
Opposition to
GMOs spurs new
bio-engineering
techniques
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1992 September–October 3
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THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®
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AMERICAN
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Departments Feature Articles
Lebkc['&+DkcX[h'@WdkWhoÄ<[XhkWho(&'-
2 From the Editors

3 Letters to the Editors
6 Spotlight
Insights into human origins r
Nuclear power Q&A r Infographic r
Briefings
12 Sightings
Imaging tiny structures in color
Robert Frederick
13 Computing Science
Computational thinking in science
Peter Denning
18 Science Communication
32
Ending science’s crisis of
complacency 32 Blood, Guts, and Hope 36 The Prospects of Artificial
Matthew Nisbet Treatment of gastrointestinal tissue Endosymbioses
with ultrasound makes it more The use of beneficial microbes holds
22 Perspective permeable to medications that can promise for public health and food
Misinformation in Flint alleviate inflammatory bowel disease. production, but it has trade-offs.
Siddhartha Roy Carl M. Schoellhammer, Robert Ryan Kerney, Zakiya Whatley,
27 Engineering Langer, and C. Giovanni Traverso Sarah Rivera, and David Hewitt
Autonomous vehicles
Henry Petroski
Scientists’ 36 46
Nightstand
51 Book Reviews
Analysis of disasters r Two views
of the game Tetris
From Sigma Xi
58 Distinguished Lectureships,
2017–2018
61 Sigma Xi Today 46 Photoshopping the Universe
Chapter award winners r How Maninpulating images of outer
science should affect public policy space makes them more accurate, not
r Annual Meeting and Student misrepresentative of reality.
Research Conference recap r Register Travis A. Rector, Kimberly Arcand,
for the Student Research Showcase and Megan Watzke
The Cover
Artificial endosymbioses hold promise for transferring their benefits to novel hosts. In mosquitoes, for example, a bacteria of the
genus Wolbachia, which can live in the ovaries or testes of a variety of insects, are under exploration for their potential to cause
population declines or to limit virus transmission in diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. In “The Prospects of Artificial
Endosymbioses” (pages 36–43), authors Ryan Kerney, Zakiya Whatley, Sarah Rivera, and David Hewitt discuss the ways that endo-
symbioses might be engineered and used, as well as the challenges they pose. The authors also point out that, for better or worse, sym-
biotically modified organisms are often seen as more “natural” by the public and given less ethical scrutiny than genetically modified
organisms that have similar uses and benefits. (Cover illustration by Michael Morgenstern.)
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FROM THE EDITORS
AMERICAN
Science in the Post-Truth Era
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T he inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th

president of the United States represents a sea
change for the scientific enterprise. Trump has
claimed, variously, that climate change is a hoax, VOLUME 105, NUMBER 1
vaccines trigger autism, and compact fluorescent
light bulbs cause cancer. These views stand at odds Editor-in-Chief Jamie L. Vernon
with scientific evidence. Many have argued that his Senior Consulting Editor Corey S. Powell
election confirms we have entered a post-truth era, in Managing Editor Fenella Saunders
Digital Features Editor Katie L. Burke
which facts are considered subjective and any infor-
Contributing Editors Sandra J. Ackerman,
mation that conflicts with one’s personal opinion is Marla Broadfoot, Catherine Clabby, Brian Hayes,
justifiably questionable. Anna Lena Phillips, Diana Robinson, David
This sociopolitical moment has arrived even as sci- Schoonmaker, Michael Szpir
ence and technology—institutions that intrinsically Editorial Associate Mia Evans
rely on objective observations of reality—have reached a pinnacle of influence
and usefulness. Science has made it possible to defeat emerging health threats, Art Director Barbara J. Aulicino
overcome diminishing resource availability, ease environmental stress, and ac-
SCIENTISTS’ NIGHTSTAND
celerate economic growth. Survey data show that the public overwhelmingly
Editor Dianne Timblin
supports investments in these areas. Generally speaking, the aims of scientists
and the public would appear to be compatible. And yet scientists are facing mar- AMERICAN SCIENTIST ONLINE
ginalization and suppression from incoming leadership. So what’s going on? Digital Managing Editor Robert Frederick
In some ways it’s not difficult to understand why science has become en-
tangled in the political fray: Science is a powerful tool that disrupts existing Publisher John C. Nemeth
paradigms. And disruption can be unsettling. Groups that benefit from the sta-
ADVERTISING SALES
tus quo feel threatened when new technologies catalyze systemic change, even
BEWFSUJTJOH!BNTDJPSHt
___________
when these transformations mean better health and greater prosperity overall.
Other groups sidelined during earlier transitional periods grow concerned that EDITORIAL AND SUBSCRIPTION
further change, even if it may be very different, will render their circumstances CORRESPONDENCE
all the more dire. American Scientist
Taking either of these perspectives as a starting point, calling scientific intent P.O. Box 13975
into question doesn’t seem a great leap. From there, especially in the absence of 3FTFBSDI5SJBOHMF1BSL /$
other information, the next logical step for some may be disbelief, distrust, and tGBY
disdain. Those who reject climate science may view scientists as part of a global FEJUPST!BNTDJPOMJOFPSHtTVCT!BNTDJPSH
____________ ________
anticapitalist conspiracy. Those who question the safety of genetically modified

PUBLISHED BY SIGMA XI, THE SCIENTIFIC
crops may assert that scientists are colluding with corporations to monopolize RESEARCH HONOR SOCIETY
agricultural markets. President Tee Guidotti
At American Scientist, we recognize the enormous need to help remedy the Treasurer David Baker
current predicament. We are therefore renewing our commitment to sharing President-Elect Stuart L. Cooper
and contextualizing scientific and technological breakthroughs. We’ll strive not Immediate Past President Mark Peeples
only to provide important science updates but also to explain how they fit into Interim Executive Director John C. Nemeth
the bigger scheme of things. American Scientist gratefully acknowledges
We’re aware that these simple acts, performed by a small group of people, support for “Engineering” through the Leroy
won’t be enough by themselves to restore broad-based faith in science, so we’ll Record Fund.
need your help. As we enter a challenging age for science, we’ll be working to
ensure that researchers and technologists have a seat at the table when impor- Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor
tant decisions are made. We’ll also provide ideas and opportunities for you to Society is a society of scientists and engineers,
participate in the process. GPVOEFEJOUPSFDPHOJ[FTDJFOUJmD
In this issue, we are launching Science Communication, a column dedicated to achievement. A diverse organization of members
and chapters, the Society fosters interaction
the effective dissemination of research results to all audiences. In his inaugural
among science, technology, and society;
article, “Ending the Crisis of Complacency for Science” (pages 18–21), Matthew
encourages appreciation and support of original
Nisbet identifies gaps in current science communication channels that alien- work in science and technology; and promotes
ate scientists from the public by failing to accommodate in-depth coverage and FUIJDTBOEFYDFMMFODFJOTDJFOUJmDBOEFOHJOFFSJOH
analysis of scientific topics. Also, in “The Hand-in-Hand Spread of Mistrust and research.
Misinformation in Flint” (pages 22–26), Siddhartha Roy calls on his experience
Printed in USA
dealing with the Flint water crisis to recommend ways scientists can regain
eroded public trust. Together, Nisbet and Roy make a compelling case for scien-
tists to engage with the public at the local level.
We invite you to tell us whether these ideas are helpful for restoring trust and
truth in all our communities. —Jamie L. Vernon (@JLVernonPhD)
2 American Scientist, Volume 105
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LETTERS
Win-Win Textbooks Alas, portable book devices appar- ties at student expense. Our content-
ently do not handle LaTeX or PDFs development model is supported by
To the Editors: well as inputs. However, my third self- extensive peer review and professional
David Harris’s and Mark A. Schnee- publisher firm, Third Millennium, takes editing to ensure that the materials are
gurt’s article “The Other Open-Access PDFs as inputs, so that I could indeed accurate and meet the scope and se-
Debate” (November–December) on self-publish physics texts this way. quence requirements of established
the price of textbooks reminds me of curricula. The finished products are
George Phillies, Professor Emeritus
a decision I made some years ago. I available, free of charge, in a myriad
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
launched a new pair of courses for of online formats, with great flexibility
Worcester, MA
Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Pro- and accessibility, and as low-cost print-
gram in Interactive Media and Game ed volumes that match the quality of
Development. Based on one of my Drs. Harris and Schneegurt respond: traditional textbooks. The digital revo-
hobbies, collecting strategy games, Dr. Phillies’s approach is an excellent lution has heightened the adventure
the two courses in board-game design example of how digital technologies of education, through self-publishing
were unique nationally at the time. As enable producers of content to reach content and open educational resourc-
I designed the courses, I wrote five an audience that was not possible just es. We believe that both models can
textbooks (found as the series “Studies a few years ago. The cost savings for coexist effectively in the market.
in Game Design”). students is an undeniable benefit to so-
I self-published, which meant that ciety. However, the push toward open- Camelot of Mathematics
each book’s release was nearly instan- ly licensing content is about more than
taneous. I wrote two books over a sum- just low cost—it’s also about the rights To the Editors:
mer. They were on sale by that Labor afforded the user of the content. Users Thank you for Dan Silver’s highly
Day. I priced the books to be affordable can adapt, redistribute, and augment entertaining article in the September–
for students. The books, some with our published materials without per- October issue, “Mathematical Induction
lavish full-color illustrations, cost the mission. This level of freedom sparks and the Nature of British Miracles.”
students $4–$6 each. So, most students innovation and broadens accessibility. England in the 1800s must have been
bought the books without complaint. We believe that authors should be a Camelot of mathematics, featuring an
And there also have been library sales. compensated for their work, so under extraordinary population of brilliant ec-
My royalty rate was 70 percent, for the our model authors are paid for their centrics. In future excursions there, you
most part. Self-publication is a win-win intellectual work during production, might look for reasons to include Ada
outcome for faculty and students. but not through a lifetime of royal- Byron, Countess of Lovelace. I know
American Scientist (ISSN 0003-0996) is published bimonthly by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, P.O. Box 13975, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 (919-549-0097). Newsstand single copy
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www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 3
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that ensures that crop diversity may be
maintained in the future, included in the
September–October issue. What about
New Website Design in the Works on the future of energy production saving seeds of endangered wild plants?
Keep an eye on our website in the via nuclear power.
Lane Smith
coming months for the launch of our http://bit.ly/2f0qYYE Stony Brook, NY
updated online design.
http://www.amsci.org Having Faith in Science, Equivocally
In this opinion blog post, digital Editors’ Note:
Scientists’ Nightstand Gift Guide managing editor Robert Frederick The Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores
Our 2016 gift guide covers children’s says: “Unequivocally deny scientific seeds from plants that are wild relatives
books, large-format picture books, results? No, that’s saying there’s cer- of crop plants, to ensure a wider pool of
and nonfiction prose books. tainty when there must be doubt.” potentially useful genetic traits, and some
http://bit.ly/2fPq6Wc http://bit.ly/2fzdCyS of these wild relatives could be endangered.
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Climate Change Communication 101 facebook.com/AmericanScientist vault stores general plant seeds from Sval-
In this blog post, digital features bard, its hosting location; seeds from about
editor Katie L. Burke summarizes the Follow us on Twitter 88 plant species of the region are stored, 20
communication ideas that the climate of which are endangered. However, the Mil-
twitter.com/AmSciMag
change literature has explored so far. lennium Seed Bank in the United Kingdom
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Nuclear Power After Fukushima Read American Scientist
Page 10 Michael Paukner
Watch a Q&A with research physicist using the iPad app
Available through Apple’s App Store Computing Science
M. V. Ramana of Princeton University
Pages 15, 16 Barbara Aulicino
Perspective
Page 24 Barbara Aulicino
she worked on continued fractions and ford, to look into their extant notes, hop-
also maybe on the concept of induction. ing to find evidence that De Morgan The Prospects of
I don’t know how much of that work had taught her about induction. Unfor- Artificial Endosymbiosis
ended up being published. tunately, no evidence of that was found. Pages 37–39 Barbara Aulicino
Nevertheless, Ada Lovelace was a fasci-
Paul Zeiger
nating person. If I ever find a new angle
Boulder, CO
on her life and work, then you can be
sure that I will write about her.
Dr. Silver responds:
Ada Lovelace was tutored in mathemat-
ics by Augustus De Morgan, whose love Endangered Seeds
of inductive learning I detailed in the ar-
ticle. I had asked Christopher Hollings, To the Editors:
departmental lecturer in mathematics I enjoyed reading the book excerpt
and its history at the University of Ox- “Seeds on Ice” about the seed bank
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Spotlight
samples. The date is of particular inter-

Neanderthals Reenvisioned est here because morphological analysis
of the skull fragments, backed up by the
evidence from nuclear DNA sequenc-
New techniques for determining the age of fossils and sediments are ing, puts this population at the begin-
providing insights into human origins. ning of the Neanderthal lineage; thus,
several different kinds of evidence con-
verge at this site to establish when our
The public image of Neanderthals as The talks and posters presented at the congeneric cousins arrived on the scene.
low-browed, hulking brutes is due for 2016 annual meeting of the European Pinilla del Valle, an hour’s drive from
a makeover. We humans sometimes Society for the Study of Human Evolu- the center of Madrid, also contains nu-
like to think of ourselves as quite dis- tion, hosted by Madrid’s Museo Arque- merous well-preserved hominin fossils,
tinct from our extinct cousins, but the ológico Regional, spanned the past two thanks to its composition of karst and
evidence from more and more fossil million years of human evolution. Nean- dolomite, rock types that easily form
sites suggests that Homo neanderthalensis derthals came in for an outsize share of caves. Recently investigated is Desscu-
and Homo sapiens shared many personal the attention, though, perhaps because bierta (“discovered” or “uncovered”)
qualities. We now know, for instance, the Iberian peninsula abounds in Nean- Cave, with a long and narrow galley
that Neanderthals took care of their el- derthal sites. Two of the most intensively whose sediments have been carbon-
derly and disabled relatives, buried their studied of these sites lie in north-central dated to between 38,000 and 42,000
dead in ritualistic ways, and, in certain Spain: Atapuerca (which includes the years ago. At least one spot in the galley
contexts, apparently imbued natural ob- evocatively named Sima de los Huesos, appears to have been used as a hearth
jects with symbolic meaning. Moreover, or Chasm of Bones) and Pinilla del Valle. and also a grave; here Arsuaga and his
these near-humans must have been able The site of Sima de los Huesos is fa- collaborators have found six tooth frag-
to adapt to many different habitats: In mous for its large collection of hominin ments and part of the jaw of a Neander-
the period between about 450,000 and fossils: One stratigraphic layer alone thal child. Nearby, a number of other
40,000 years ago, they left their traces was found to hold several thousand of small hearths contain an array of horn
in locales as far-flung as Portugal, Chi- them, including many skull fragments. cores from aurochs (Bos primigenius) and
na, and the Indonesian island of Flores. Using a new dating technique, a re- bison (Bison priscus), together with ant-
Their adventurousness is matched today search team led by paleontologist Juan lers from red deer (Cervus elaphus). Most
by the boundless curiosity and ingenu- Luis Arsuaga of the Universidad Com- fascinating, a short distance away above
ity of researchers developing new ways plutense de Madrid, has established a a layer of flat stones, the skull of a steppe
to find out more about them. minimum age of 430,000 years for these rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hemitoechus)
was found upside down, with a horn
placed on top of it.
How to explain such a bizarre as-
semblage? In a presentation at the con-
ference, Arsuaga laid out his research
team’s reasoning: “This association
could have been produced by chance,
but we consider this improbable, given
the preponderance of horns; also, the
presence of fire points to an anthropo-
genic origin.” He continued, “Could it
have been subsistence? There is no evi-
dence of human consumption.” As an-
other possibility, it might perhaps have
been functional—but we know Nean-
derthals didn´t use organic substances
such as horn, antler, or bone as raw
material for implements or ornaments.
Moreover, there’s no evidence, such as
partly worked bones or a concentration
of bone fragments, to indicate that this
was a site of industry. To the research-
Sebastien Plailly/Science Source ers who discovered them, these care-
This artist’s reconstruction of a Neanderthal child reflects an emerging sense of Homo neander- fully arranged horns and skulls looked
thalensis as closely similar to modern humans, though more robust in form. The reconstruction, almost like modern-day hunting tro-
by Elisabeth Daynes, is based on fossils found at the Devil’s Tower site near Gibraltar, Spain. phies. Indeed, at 40,000 to 45,000 years
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old, Descubierta Cave may contain

“possibly the strongest evidence yet for
symbolic behavior in Neanderthals,”
Arsuaga concludes—although, he says,
alternative explanations are welcome.
Archaeological finds weren’t the
only kind of scientific development to
be discussed at the conference. Several
groups presented new techniques that
could help archaeologists gather more
data from material already found. In
one presentation, Zenobia Jacobs, of
the University of Wollongong, Austra-
lia, and her colleagues offered a couple
of improvements on the conventional
method of dating fossils by thermolu-
minescence, in which a sample is heated
to release trapped electrons, which can
be used to determine the amount of
time since it was exposed to sunlight.
The new method is the one that Ar-
suaga and his colleagues used to date
samples at Sima de los Huesos, and is
called optically stimulated luminescence.
This technique reveals the erosion and
transport history of individual grains
in a sample, and can tell whether a
given site underwent disturbance at
some point before being excavated
(this would be indicated by a mixture
Tom McHugh/Science Source

of ages within one sample). The age
range of the optically stimulated lu-
minescence measurements made on
quartz grains can even be extended
further back in the past by means of a
related technique, infrared stimulated lu-
minescence, in which measurements are
made on potassium feldspar grains.
Another new technique, in which Neanderthals buried their dead to the accompaniment of rites that apparently varied from one
region to another. In the scene reimagined above (based on a site in Regourdou, France), the
DNA is extracted from sediment sam-
limbs of the deceased man were tucked in and bound as if to inter the body in the fetal posi-
ples, can yield a taxonomic catalogue of tion, whereas a burial site not far from Madrid was found to include many horn cores, antlers,
the plants and creatures that had existed and even a rhinoceros skull, apparently with symbolic significance. Below, a paleontologist
at a given site—most useful when fossil- examines a few of the thousands of bones and bone fragments excavated from the Sima de los
ized remains are too damaged or frag- Huesos site, in Atapuerca, Spain.
mented to provide such information. A
study presented by Viviane Slon, Svante
Pääbo, and their colleagues at the Max
Planck Institute for Evolutionary An-
thropology and nine other international
research institutions, examined DNA
from sediment samples at six sites across
Eurasia; mitochondrial DNA fragments
from five of the sites confirmed the pres-
ence of mammals large and small, from
bears to the now-extinct woolly rhinoc-
Javier Trueba/MSF/Science Source
eros. Slon and her coauthors see great

potential in this technique for tracing
“the past presence of animals and poten-
tially hominins at archaeological sites.”
When it comes to recovering stories of
the past, not only the sites beneath the
ground but the ground itself has much
to tell us. —Sandra J. Ackerman
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First Person: M. V. Ramana

Since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, the nuclear power in-
dustry has been in the spotlight worldwide. M. V. Ramana, a physicist with the Program
on Science and Global Security at Princeton University, and a Sigma Xi Distinguished
Lecturer, studies nuclear power in the wider context of energy production, and looks
at public perception of the energy industry. Ramana discussed the future prospects of
nuclear power with managing editor Fenella Saunders. (A video of the full interview is
available on the American Scientist website.)
How did the Fukushima Daiichi inci- ing steadily. The highest it has been was
dent compare with previous problems in 1996, when it was about 17.6 percent,
at other nuclear power reactors? so there’s been roughly about a 39 per-
On March 11, 2011, a tsunami struck the cent decline since then.
coast of Japan, and as a result, three op-
erating reactors at the Fukushima Dai- Is that because of economics, public per-
ichi nuclear power plant lost cooling. ception, or some combination thereof?
One of the problems with any nuclear I think there are multiple factors go-
power plant is that the fuel, even if you ing on here. Economics certainly plays
shut down the reactor, continues to keep a very important part. Nuclear power
generating heat that has to be contin- plants are expensive to construct. They ing constructed in Georgia and South
uously transported out of the reactor. also take a long time to construct, so you Carolina, cost around $15 to $20 billion
Because that was no longer happen- cannot quickly build up a nuclear power for about 2,000 megawatts of generat-
ing, there was essentially a meltdown, capacity. Public perception has certainly ing capacity, and the cost of electricity
and one result was hydrogen gas being played a part too, though it’s a much from these plants is much higher than
produced inside the reactor. Eventually harder thing to quantify. Also, the world one can expect from most of the alterna-
there was a hydrogen explosion that led has been using far less electricity than tives. Because of fracking, natural gas
to the radionuclides generated inside the had been anticipated in the past. Peo- prices are very low, but renewables have
nuclear reactor being expelled into the ple thought the energy demand would also become extremely cheap in the past
atmosphere. This release then contami- keep growing, and that has not really few years. Electricity from a new nuclear
nated both the surrounding countryside happened around the world. There are plant would cost roughly twice as much
and the Pacific Ocean. many countries where energy consump- as electricity from a photovoltaic farm.
Compared with Chernobyl, Fukushi- tion has been fairly stagnant, including
ma probably resulted in something like the United States. Renewable energy sources are able to
an eighth to a quarter of the amount of have smaller footprints. There has also
cesium-137, which is the most significant What safety updates are being built been some investment in smaller modu-
long-term radionuclide that contami- into new reactors, in light of the prob- lar nuclear reactors, but is scale a factor?
nates, being released. But most of it was lems that occurred at Fukushima? Wind and solar tend to be much more
carried over the Pacific Ocean, so there Most countries around the world modular in their nature of construc-
was not much damage to human health. made some kind of safety assessment tion. Nuclear reactors could also be
There was much, much less radioactiv- of their reactor fleets and of what they more modular, and in fact, the oldest
ity released from Three Mile Island. were constructing. To the extent that nuclear power plants were small ones.
these have been implemented, one as- But there was a reason why nuclear
What is the current state of nuclear sumes that these fleets are going to be power plants became big. They were
power usage in the world? safer, as are newer plants. At the same always very expensive, and the only
The International Atomic Energy Agen- time, I think the question is, can we re- way to lower costs was to take advan-
cy counts about 450 operating plants, of ally be sure that these reactors are not tage of economies of scale. It doesn’t
which 43 are in Japan. Of the latter, only going to have an accident? And there take twice as much concrete or twice as
2 are operating, and it’s not clear how I think the answer is that one just can- many workers to operate a plant that is
many of the ones that are not operating not be sure about this. There’s always generating twice as much electricity. It’s
will ever come back. Most of them were going to be a possibility of an accident, hard to imagine how a small reactor is
shut down after Fukushima. Likewise, regardless of what kind of reactor it is. going to be economically better off.
in the United States, although there are
100 plants, quite a few are scheduled to How are other energy technologies af- How do we compare the risks of a nu-
be shut down over the next few years. fecting the economic viability of nucle- clear power plant disaster with, say, less
ar power generation? visible but potentially disastrous climate
How much power is generated by nu- In the United States, except in a few change from fossil fuel use?
clear plants, compared with all sources? states that have regulated markets, it Comparing risks is always a very tricky
Nuclear power generates about 11 per- makes no economic sense whatsoever business. Nuclear power suffers from
cent of the world’s electricity as of last to invest in a new nuclear plant. A new a particular combination of risks that
year, and this number has been declin- nuclear plant today, such as the ones be- make it very hard for people to come
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to terms with. It’s an unfamiliar risk. a very long time to construct. In Cali- they build their nuclear power plants.
It’s also a risk that is fairly catastrophic fornia recently there was a decision to So far, all the nuclear power plants in
at some given point, as opposed to a shut down the Diablo Canyon plant China have been built on the coast. Prior
small number of deaths occurring year over the next 10 years. The local utility to Fukushima, there were plans to con-
after year, as is the case with fossil fuel will replace it with a combination of struct nuclear power plants inland as
plants. It’s a risk that probably runs renewables and efficiency. That kind of well, near large rivers or lakes, because
across generations. It’s also a risk over a model seems to be much more likely. all nuclear reactors require sources of
which people have very little control. But build a new nuclear power plant to cooling water. This has been strongly
Comparisons between that and, let’s replace it? I don’t think any utility that resisted both by the public as well as by
say, the risks of being in a car accident, has concern about its profitability is go- fairly high-level decision makers. The
cause people to react very differently. ing to make that decision. nuclear industry in China has been say-
When I drive, I know there’s a risk ing, “You don’t have to worry about it.
of an accident, but I also know that if I Does the support of some prominent po- The new designs that we are construct-
wear my seat belt, if I drive within the litical leaders for nuclear power change ing are perfectly safe,” and on the other
speed limit, if I obey laws, if I don’t try public perception of the technology? side, there are people saying, “We still
to drive at midnight on a Saturday night In public opinion polls, if you ask peo- cannot be sure, and we don’t want to
when I’m expecting many more drunk ple whether they support new nuclear risk contaminating our agricultural land
drivers, and so forth, my chances of power construction, their answers very and our rivers with this.”
an accident go down. I have no such much depend on how you phrase the
control over what happens in a nuclear question or which kind of information Is the disposal of nuclear waste taken
power plant, or for that matter, an air- you give them beforehand. If you tell into account when reactors are built?
plane, so I am going to treat those kinds people, for example, that “Nuclear pow- Is waste management planned at the be-
of risks very differently. The numbers er is a well-known way of mitigating ginning of the cycle? I think the answer
then do not mean a lot. climate change. Do you support build- for that has to be no. Whether it’s in the
With respect to climate change, it and ing nuclear power plants?,” you’re more United States or elsewhere, many coun-
nuclear plants share similarities in the likely to get the answer yes, as opposed tries had assumed that within a couple
magnitude and lack of control for indi- to when you ask them, “Nuclear pow- of decades or when they built their first
vidual people, but the differences are er plants cost a lot of money to build. power plant, they would start having
that the climate is seen as something Would you support that?” In that sense, geological waste repositories operating.
with multiple possible solutions, and if you have a lot of prominent people To date that has not happened. We all
people who are concerned about climate supporting nuclear power, that’s going know about the Yucca Mountain pro-
also strongly support things like renew- to help with public perception, but at posal, which has gone up and down, but
ables and energy efficiency. Those kinds the same time, that alone is not going to it’s not operational. There is in fact no
of options do not exist with nuclear. change the picture fundamentally. operational underground waste storage
facility for permanent disposal of com-
How widespread is support for using nu- Is there any connection between mis- mercial radioactive nuclear waste.
clear energy to mitigate climate change? trust of science and experts and criticism Most people thought the problem of
To the extent that people support nu- of nuclear power? setting up a nuclear waste repository
clear power more because of climate I think the vast majority of people who would mean finding a suitable geologi-
change concerns, it’s a very reluctant are concerned about nuclear power also cal site. It turns out that that’s not the
source of support. The people who are quite often know a lot about science, main problem. The main problem is
concerned about climate change also and trust science, and it is the results trying to find a community that is will-
tend to be concerned about nuclear of these science-based studies that lead ing to live near one of these waste re-
waste, the risk of accidents, and so forth, them to be distrustful of predictions positories, with all the risks that come
so they say, “If there is no other option, about how safe nuclear power plants with it. Now they are saying, “Let’s
then perhaps we will go in for nuclear, are. I think in many cases the nuclear start with trying to find a community
but given that we see that there are rapid industry has not served itself well. In that is willing to do this, and then set
advances in renewables and other ways, India, for example, the head of the In- up one of these things.”
then we would rather support that.” In dian Atomic Energy Commission, after
the United States, if you look at the peo- Fukushima, announced that the prob- So is nuclear basically an industry
ple who support nuclear power, it’s cor- ability of a Fukushima-like accident in that’s on the way out?
related very strongly with people who India is one in infinity—zero, in other It’s a risky business to predict the fu-
also deny climate change or who think words. This is the kind of very over- ture. But if you look at the trends, they
that it is not a big problem. confident statement that actually leads do show an industry in decline. At the
people not to trust scientists of that sort. same time, the nuclear industry has high
Is there anything to the argument that levels of political support in different
renewables will take too long to ramp Is such a myth of guaranteed safety countries, so it’s not going to go away
up, and nuclear is the better option be- being propagated in China as well? any time soon either. I think what we’re
cause it’s more established? In China, certainly this battle is going on going to see is something very slowly
I think the argument does not work in a big way. China has the fastest grow- running into the sunset, unless there is
at all. It takes much less time to ramp ing nuclear power industry anywhere in some dramatic breakthrough in the next
up renewable power production, sim- the world, and yet they are faced with decade or two. There are lots of technical
ply because nuclear power plants take the fairly important decision of where challenges still in front of us.
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Infographic
© Michael Paukner / substudio.com
________
The Moon by the Clock: The illuminated portion of the Moon Earth), nearly every 14 days. The “2017 o’clock” Moon calen-
visible to Earthbound observers changes shape as it orbits. Al- dar is graphic designer Michael Paukner visualization of the
though tidal locking with Earth results in the same lunar sur- yearly calendar using inspiration from astronomy. The graphic
face always facing our planet, the Moon cycles through lunar depicts the year’s 52 weeks and 365 days on a clockwise an-
phases that vary in visibility, from 100 percent (when the Moon nual trip around the Sun and shows the dates when the Moon
is full) to 0 percent (when the Moon is new, or invisible from is new, in its first quarter, in its second quarter, and full.
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Briefings
I
n this roundup, digital features thought to be unique to humans. The
editor Katie L. Burke summarizes videos adapted a technique that has
notable recent developments in been used to study false belief in infants
scientific research, selected from reports and that tests whether study subjects an-
compiled in the free electronic newslet- ticipate where someone will look for an
ter Sigma Xi SmartBrief. Online: https://
_____ object or individual. The videos showed
Yang Dinghua
www.smartbrief.com/sigmaxi/index.jsp high-stakes scenarios, such as the actor in
a gorilla suit attacking a researcher, then
hiding in one of two hay bales, then leav-
New Gene Editing Technique ing after the researcher leaves the scene.
The gene editing technique CRISPR has When the researcher returns with a big thought to be an anomalous lineage
rapidly advanced genomic engineer- stick to look for the wayward gorilla, eye of armored, “jawless” bony fish that
ing, but one of its downsides is that it tracking showed that the bonobos, chim- died out as bony fish with modern ver-
can be prone to cut DNA in the wrong panzees, and orangutans who watched tebrate jaws emerged and gave rise to
Professor Osaro Erhabor/Wikimedia Commons
place. A more complicated gene editing the video would spend time looking at subsequent lineages. One of the ways
technique was recently proposed that the hay bale where it had been hiding, that modern vertebrates can trace their
avoids CRISPR’s proclivity for cutting and predicting where the researcher would evolution is the consistency in the jaw
thus has more mistakenly look for it. This study prompt- bones in everything from goldfish to
control over off- ed a debate among primatologists about lizards to humans. But this recent fossil
target effects. false belief and what conclusions were find of a 423-million-year-old placoderm
The technique appropriate to draw from the study. Nev- species, Qilinyu rostrata, as well as a
shows promise ertheless, all seem to agree that it dem- placoderm fossil reported in 2013, Ente-
for treating the onstrates the promise of eye tracking lognathus primordialis, show that there
common genetic methods in animal behavior research and were placoderms that had jaw bones
disorder thalas- the potential for mental continuity be- ancestral to modern vertebrates. These
semia, which tween humans and their close relatives. finds demonstrate an intermediate form
is characterized by low levels of hemo- between the jawless, toothlike plates of
globin in the bloodstream. The method Krupenye, C., F. Kano, S. Hirata, J. Call, and earlier placoderms and the three-boned
could also work for other genetic disor- M. Tomasello. Great apes anticipate that jaw (composed of a maxilla, premaxilla,
ders caused by a single mutant allele. Re- other individuals will act according to false and dentary) of modern vertebrates.
searchers used synthetic genetic material beliefs. Science 354:110–144 (October 7)
called peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) that Zhu, M., et al. A Silurian maxillate placo-
were designed to bind to a particular sec- Deep-Sea Viruses Kill Archaea derm illuminates jaw evolution. Science
tion of mouse DNA where the faulty cod- On the deep sea floor, bacteria are more 354:334–336 (October 21)
ing for hemoglobin resides. Once a PNA abundant than archaea, but the latter suf-
binds there, it forms a bumpy triple helix, fer viral infections twice as often. Nearly Paralyzed Monkeys Walk
an anomaly that a cell’s repair machinery all mortality of these microbes in the deep Monkeys with spinal cord injuries were
will cut away. The second stage of the sea is due to viral infections. Because of able to walk again when a wireless
technique is to deploy a DNA patch with the deep sea’s vast scale—it constitutes implant was placed in their brains,
the correct hemoglobin code that the re- more than 65 percent of the world’s stimulating electrodes in their legs that
pair machinery can insert. The technique surface and more than 90 percent of its recreate signals recorded from their
only worked in a handful of cells, but that biosphere—these archaea–virus relation- brains. The animals regained the ability
was enough to cure thalassemia in mouse ships could have large effects on global to coordinate their legs and bear weight
models. The next step is to check how it biogeochemical cycles. For example, deep-
might perform in humans. sea deaths of bacteria and archaea release
between 0.37 and 0.63 gigatons of carbon
Bahal, R., et al. In vivo correction of anaemia per year. Although little is known about
in ȕ-thalassemic mice by ܵPNA-mediated deep-sea ecosystems, this study is an im-
gene editing with nanoparticle delivery. Na- portant advance in understanding their
ture Communications 7:13304 (October 26) uniqueness and significance.
Jemere Ruby
Great Apes and False Belief Danovaro, R., et al. Virus-mediated archaeal
A new study that involved eye tracking hecatomb in the deep seafloor. Science Ad-
of great apes watching videos of an ac- vances 2:e1600492 (October 12)
tor in a gorilla suit indicated that these on them. Two people with spinal cord
primates can predict another’s behavior Intermediate Jaw in Fish Fossil injuries are now undergoing an adapted
even when they know it is misguided, A new fossil find of an ancient lineage version of this treatment.
which could indicate the ability to rec- of fish is rewriting what we know and
ognize in others a false belief. Such an will teach about jaw evolution in ver- Capogrosso, M., et al. A brain–spine interface
ability is a stage in the development tebrates. The fish fossil is from a group alleviating gait deficits after spinal cord injury in
of a theory of mind, a stage previously called placoderms that has long been primates. Nature 539:284–288 (November 10)
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Sightings
Now In
Color
Even though they are far smaller than
the shortest wavelength of visible
light, tiny biological objects can
finally be imaged in multiple hues. 200 nanometers
Stephen R. Adams et al.
R
ecalling the moment he and his colleagues com- False colors reveal better than ever before the internal
posed their first two-color image of the structures structure of two endosomes of a eukaryotic cell. Biochemists
inside an endosome (a compartment attached to the painstakingly developed a process to tag the vesicle’s
cell membrane that helps sort incoming substanc- proteins and contents with metals so they could be
es), Stephen Adams says his initial response was, “Wow, this identified with an electron microscope and assigned colors.
is a really pretty picture. I wonder what it means?” Until now, electron microscope data could only be translated
Adams, a biochemist at the University of California, into grayscale images.
San Diego, had been working on the project for 13 years.
“Thirteen sounds unlucky, so I like to round up,” Adams
says. It started just after a Christmas holiday during which
his longtime colleague Roger Tsien had spent some quiet took us so long.” The team reported their work in the No-
time thinking about how an electron microscope could vember 17, 2016, issue of Cell Chemical Biology.
image biological samples in color. “He would just pick up “The trick is that we generate a polymer at the site of
concepts from completely different fields,” Adams says, each protein,” Adams says. Then the biological sample is
“and then he’d think ‘Well, what chemistry do we need to placed in a solution, and, one by one, different metals are
achieve this?’” washed over the sample and precipitate out when they at-
Individually coloring an object’s parts makes it far eas- tach to a polymer at the site of the specific protein they are
ier for us to understand how the whole object functions. meant to tag. Afterward, under the electron microscope, the
But even though electron microscopes allow us to see at deposited metals cause distinctive spectra, which are used
resolutions millions of times better than that of our eyes, to identify their locations: Peptides taken up by the endo-
they can’t distinguish where different proteins are located some were labeled with the metal praseodymium (falsely
in a cell, which is necessary to correctly colorize them. So colored red, above). Cerium-labeled proteins (green) show
Tsien’s idea was to chemically tag specific proteins with the location of proteins that start on the outside of an endo-
metals, providing the electron microscope with a distinc- some and then get internalized as “it does this unusual,
tive signal. Tsien, who died in August 2016 at age 64, won inward budding of the membrane,” Adams says.
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for his develop- “Of course, people haven’t been able to look at [the
ments with green fluorescent protein, which is used to internal structure of the endosome] in such high resolu-
tag different proteins with multiple colors in living creation before,” Adams says, “so it’s not like I could just
tures. This work to colorize electron microscope images say ‘Ah yes, it’s exactly as we expect.’” So like with any
built on that knowledge. But the team had to work out a proof-of-concept technique, researchers will repeat their
complicated process to tag multiple proteins in biological work, refine their processes, improve multicolor electron
samples that were headed to the vacuum environment of microscopy, and look for still other ways to verify what
electron microscopy. As Adams explains, “That is what we can now see. —Robert Frederick
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Computing
Science
Computational Thinking in Science

The computer revolution has profoundly affected how we think about science,
experimentation, and research.
Peter J. Denning
A
quiet but profound revolu- infinitesimal intervals. Consider for ex- eliminated the need for wind tunnels
tion has been taking place ample the generic function f over time and test flights. Astronomers similarly
throughout science. The (abbreviated f(t)). Suppose that the dif- simulated the collisions of galaxies, and
computing revolution has ferences in f(t) over time give another chemists simulated the deterioration of
transformed science by enabling all equation, abbreviated g(t). We write this space probe heat shields on entering an
sorts of new discoveries through infor- relation as df(t)/dt=g(t). You could then atmosphere. Simulation allowed scien-
mation technology. calculate the approximate values of tists to reach where theory and experi-
Throughout most of the history of sci- f(t) in a series of small changes in time ment could not. It became a new way of
ence and technology, there have been steps, abbreviated Δt, with the differ- doing science. Scientists became compu-
two types of characters. One is the ex- ence equation f(t+Δt)=f(t)+Δtg(t). This tational designers as well as experiment-
perimenter, who gathers data to reveal calculation could easily be extended to ers and theoreticians.
when a hypothesis works and when it multiple space dimensions with differ- Another important example of how
does not. The other is the theoretician, ence equations that combine values on computers have changed how science
who designs mathematical models to neighboring nodes of a grid. In his col- is done has been the new paradigm of
explain what is already known and uses lected works, John von Neumann, the treating a physical process as an infor-
the models to make predictions about polymath who helped design the first mation process, which allows more to
what is not known. The two types inter- stored program computers, described be learned about the physical process
act with one another because hypoth-
eses may come from models, and what
is known comes from previous models
and data. The experimenter and the the- Scientists who used computers found
oretician were active in the sciences well
before computers came on the scene. themselves routinely designing new
When governments began to com-
mission projects to build electronic ways to advance science. They became
computers in the 1940s, scientists be-
gan discussing how they would use
these machines. Nearly everybody
computational designers as well as
had something to gain. Experiment-
ers looked to computers for data
experimenters and theoreticians.
analysis—sifting through large data
sets for statistical patterns. Theoreti-
cians looked to them for calculating algorithms for solving systems of dif- by studying the information process.
the equations of mathematical mod- ferential equations on discrete grids. Biologists have made significant ad-
els. Many such models were formu- Using the computer to accelerate the vances with this technique, notably
lated as differential equations, which traditional work of experimenters and with sequencing and editing genes.
considered changes in functions over theoreticians was a revolution of its Data analysts also have found that
own. But something more happened. deep learning models enable them to
Scientists who used computers found make surprisingly accurate predictions
Peter J. Denning is distinguished professor of com- themselves routinely designing new of processes in many fields. For the
puter science and director of the Cebrowski Institute
ways to advance science. Simulation is quantities predicted, the real process
for information innovation at the Naval Postgraduate
School in Monterey, California. He is editor of ACM
a prime example. By simulating airflows behaves as an information process.
Ubiquity, and is a past president of the Association around a wing with a type of equation The two approaches are often com-
for Computing Machinery. The author’s views are not (called Navier-Stokes) that is broken out bined, such as when the information
necessarily those of his employer or the U.S. Federal over a grid surrounding a simulated process provides a simulation for the
Government. Email: pjd@nps.edu
_______ aircraft, aeronautical engineers largely physical process it models.
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Aeronautics engineers use simulations from computational fluid dynamics to

model airflows around proposed aircraft. They have become so good at this that
they can test new aircraft designs without wind tunnels or test flights. The first
step is to build a three-dimensional mesh in the space surrounding the aircraft
(above, in this case for the Space Shuttle). The spacing of the grid points is smaller
near the fuselage, where the changes in air movement are greatest. Then the differ-
ential equations of airflow are converted to difference equations on the mesh. A su-
percomputer grinds out the profiles of the flow field and the forces on each part of
the aircraft over time. The numerical results are converted to colored images (left)
that reveal where the stresses on the aircraft are greatest. (Image at left courtesy
of NASA; image above courtesy of Peter A. Gnoffo and Jeffery A. White/NASA.)
The Origins of a Term science. He argued that all scientific formance Communication and Com-
The term computational science, and its disciplines had very tough problems— puting (HPCC) Act passed in 1991 by
associated term computational thinking, “grand challenges”—that would yield the U.S. Congress.
came into wide use during the 1980s. In to massive computation. He and other It is interesting that computational
1982, theoretical physicist Kenneth Wil- visionaries used the term computational science and computational thinking in
son received a Nobel Prize in physics science for the emerging branches of sci- science emerged from within the sci-
entific fields—they were not imported
from computer science. Indeed, com-
Computational thinking emerged from puter scientists were slow to join the
movement. From the beginnings of
computer science in the 1940s, there
within the scientific fields—it was not was a small but important branch of
the field that specialized in numerical
imported from computer science. methods and mathematical software.
These computer scientists have the
Indeed, computer scientists were slow to greatest affinity for computational sci-
ence and were the first to embrace it.
join the movement. Computation has proved so produc-
tive for advancement of science and
engineering that virtually every field of
for developing computational models ence that used computation as their pri- science and engineering has developed
that produced startling new discover- mary method. They saw computation a computational branch. In many fields,
ies about phase changes in materials. as a new paradigm of science, comple- the computational branch has grown to
He designed computational methods to menting the traditional paradigms of constitute the majority of the field. For
evaluate the equations of renormaliza- theory and experiment. Some of them example, in 2001 David Baltimore, No-
tion groups, and used them to observe used the term computational thinking for bel laureate in biology, said that biology
how a material changes phase, such as the thought processes in doing com- is an information science. Most recent
the direction of the magnetic force in putational science—designing, testing, advances in biology have involved DNA
a ferrimagnet (in which adjacent ions and using computational models. They modeling, sequencing, and editing. We
have opposite but unequal charges). launched a political movement to se- can expect this trend to continue, with
He launched a campaign to win recog- cure funding for computational science computation invading deeper into every
nition and respect for computational research, culminating in the High-Per- field, including social sciences and the
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humanities. Many people will learn to be

computational designers and thinkers.
0 > > 1 > > 2 > >3 > ...

> > > 9 > 10
>
What is Computational Thinking?
Computational thinking is generally
defined as the mental skills that facili-
μ 2μ 3μ 4μ 9μ 10μ
tate the design of automated process-
es. Although this term traces back to
As an example of a problem aided by computational thinking, consider a telephone
the beginnings of computer science in
switching office. To determine its capacity, telephone engineers pick a target probability of
the 1950s, it became popular after 2006 overflow—for example, 0.001. They ask: What is the maximum number N of simultaneous
when educators undertook the task of phone calls so that the chances that a new caller cannot get a dial tone is less than 0.001? A
helping all children become produc- random walk computational model yields an answer. The model has states n=0, 1, 2, …, N,
tive users of computation as part of representing the number of calls in progress up to a maximum of N; here N=10. Requests to
STEM education. If we can learn what initiate new calls are occurring at rate M. Individual callers hang up at rate μ. Each new-call
constitutes computational thinking as arrival increases the state by 1 and each hangup decreases it by 1. The movement through
a mental skill, we may be able to draw the possible states is represented by the state diagram above. Telephone engineers define
more young people to science and ac- p(n) as the fraction of time the system is in state n and can prove a difference equation
celerate our own abilities to advance p(n)=(M/nμ)p(n–1). They calculate all the p(n) by guessing p(0) and then normalizing so that
the sum of p(n) is 1. Then they find the largest N so that p(N) is below the target threshold.
science. The interest from educators is
For example, if they find p(N)=0.001 when N=10, they predict that a new caller has a chance
forcing us to be precise in determining 0.001 of not getting a dial tone when the exchange capacity is 10 calls.
just what computational thinking is.
Most published definitions to date
can be paraphrased as follows: “Com-
putational thinking is the thought pro- only to discover that the computer sci- ability to design computations. Design
cesses involved in formulating problems entists did not understand enough fluid includes the dimensions of listening to
so that their solutions are represented dynamics to be useful. They were not the community of users, testing proto-
as computational steps and algorithms able to think in terms of computational types to see how users react, and mak-
that can be effectively carried out by fluid dynamics. The other team mem- ing technology offers that take care of
an information-processing agent.” This bers wound up treating the computer user concerns. Therefore computational
definition, however, is fraught with scientists like programmers rather than design is a more accurate term. It is
problematic ideas. Consider the word peers, much to their chagrin. It seems clearly a skill set, not a body of mental
“formulating.” People regularly formu- that the thought processes of computa- knowledge about programming.
late requests to have machines do things tional thinking should include those of
for them without having to understand skilled practitioners of the field where What is a Computational Model?
how the computation works or how it is the computation will be used. An essential aspect of computational
designed. The term “information agent” All these difficulties suggest that design (or thinking) is a machine that
is also problematic—it quickly opens the the word “thinking” is not what we will carry out the automated steps. But
door to the false belief that step-by-step are really interested in—we want the most computational designers do not
procedures followed by human beings
are necessarily algorithms. Many people
follow “step-by-step” procedures that
cannot be reduced to an algorithm and a a a a
0,1 > 1,1 > 2,1 > 3,1 > 4,1
automated by a machine. These fuzzy
>
>
>
>
definitions have made it difficult for ed-

ucators to know what they are supposed d c d c d c d c d
to teach and how to assess whether stu-
>
>
>
>
>
dents have learned it. a a a

And what “thought processes” are 0,0 > 1,0 > 2,0 > 3,0 > 4,0
involved? The published definitions
say they include making digital repre-
sentations, sequencing, choosing alter- Computational design helps a doctor build an electronic controller for her office, which
natives, iterating loops, running par- consists of a waiting room and a treatment room that holds four people. Patients enter the
allel tasks, abstracting, decomposing, waiting room and sit down. As soon as the doctor is free, she calls the next patient into
testing, debugging, and reusing. But the treatment room. When done, the patient departs by a separate door. The doctor wants
this is hardly a complete description. an indicator lamp to glow in the treatment room when patients are waiting, and another
to glow in the waiting room when she is busy treating someone. The engineer designing
To be a useful contributor, a program-
the controller uses a computational model with states (n,t) where n=0,1,2,3,4 is the num-
mer also needs to understand enough ber of patients in the waiting room and t=0,1 is the number of patients in the treatment
of a scientific field to be able to express room. The indicator lamp in the treatment room glows whenever n>0, and the lamp in
problems and solution methods appro- the waiting room glows whenever t >0. The controller implements the state diagram
priate for the field. For example, I once above. State transitions occur at three events: patient arrival (a), patient departure (d),
witnessed that a team of computational and patient call by the doctor (c). These events are signaled by sensors in the three doors.
fluid dynamics scientists invited PhD
computer scientists to work with them,
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population breeding
0111010 01010 0 1101100110100
1101001110101 0101010110100 0001001110101
>
>
. . .
1101001110101
0 0 0110 011010 0 0111010010100 0001100110100
mutation: cross-over:
selection select and flip select a random
>
one or two position and

evaluate fitness random bits exchange the
two tails
>
>
number of
each member
> >
select a large
subset of
most-fit members
Since the 1950s, various geneticists have experimented with reproduction by mutation and cross-over. A bit-string is modi-
computer simulations of biological evolution, studying how fied by mutation when one or several of its bits are randomly
various traits are passed on and how a population evolves flipped. A pair of bit-strings is modified by cross-over by select-
to adapt to its circumstances. In 1975 John Holland adapted ing a random break point and exchanging the two tails of the
the idea of these simulations to a general method for finding strings. These changes generate a new population. The process
near-optimal solutions to complex problems in many domains. is iterated many times until there are no further improvements
The idea, depicted in the flow diagram above, is to develop a in the most-fit individuals or until the computational budget
population of candidate solutions to the problem, encoded as is exhausted. This process is surprisingly good at finding near-
bit-strings. Each bit-string is evaluated by a fitness function, optimal solutions to optimization problems whose direct solu-
and the most-fit members of the population are selected for tions would otherwise be intractable.
directly consider the hardware of the reasonably think can be computed, can circuit, a set of flip-flop switch circuits
machine itself; instead they work with a be computed by a Turing machine. to record the current state, and a clock
computational model, which is an abstract But Turing machines are too primi- whose ticks trigger state transitions.
machine—basically a layer of software tive to easily represent everyday com- Finite state machines model many
on top of the hardware that translates a putation. With each new programming electronic controllers and operating
program into instructions for the hard- language, computer scientists defined system command interpreters.
ware. Designers are not concerned with an associated abstract machine that The typical artificial neural network
mapping the model to the real machine, represented the entity programmed by is an even simpler model. It is a loop-
because that’s a simulation job that soft- the language. Software called a compiler free network of gates modeled after
ware engineers take care of. then translated the language operations neurons. The gates are arranged in lay-
In computing science, the model most on the abstract machine into machine ers from those connected to inputs to
talked about is the Turing machine, code on the real hardware. those connected to outputs. A pattern of
which was invented in 1936 by com- The models of the Turing machine bits at the input passes through the net-
puting pioneer Alan Turing. His model and of programming languages are all work and produces an output. There is
consists of an infinite tape and a finite general purpose—they deal with any- no state to be recorded or remembered.
state control unit that moves one square thing that can be computed. But we Each signal from one layer to the next
at a time back and forth on the tape, often work with much less powerful has an associated weight. The network
reading and changing symbols. Turing models that are still incredibly useful. is trained by an algorithm that itera-
machines are the most general model One of the most common is the finite tively adjusts the weights until the net-
for computation—anything that people state machine, which consists of a logic work becomes very good at generating
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the desired output. Some people call services allow you to mobilize the cities are unhealthy. The only solutions
this machine learning because the trained storage and processing power you to these problems will emerge from
(weight-adjusted) circuit acquires a ca- need when you need it. In addition, social cooperation among the groups
pability to implement a function by be- we are no longer constrained to deal that now offer competing and conflict-
ing shown many examples. It is also with finite computations—those that ing approaches. Although computing
called deep learning because of the hid- start, compute, deliver their output, technology can help by visualizing the
den layers and weights in the circuit. and stop. Instead we now tap endless large-scale effects of our individual ac-
Many modern advances in artificial in- flows of data and processing power tions, only social action will solve the
telligence and data analytics have been as needed and we count on the whole problems we are causing.
achieved by these circuits. Simulations thing to keep operating indefinitely. Still, computational science is a pow-
of these circuits now allow for millions With so much cheap, massive comput- erful force within science. It empha-
of nodes and dozens of layers. ing power, more people can be com- sizes the “computational way” of do-
When you go outside computer sci- putational designers and tackle grand ing science and turns its practitioners
ence, you will find few people talk- challenge problems. into skilled computational designers
ing about Turing machines and finite But there are important limits to (and thinkers) in their fields of science.
state machines. They talk instead of what we can do with all this comput- Computational designers spend much
machine learning and simulation of ing power. One limit is that most of our of their time inventing, programming,
computational models relevant to their computational methods have a sharp fo- and validating computational mod-
fields. In each field, the computational cus—they are very good at the particular els, which are abstract machines that
designer either programs a model or task for which they were designed, but solve problems or answer questions.
designs a new model—or both. not for seemingly similar tasks. We can Computational designers need to be
An important issue with computa- often overcome that limit with a new computational thinkers as well as prac-
tional models is complexity—how design that closes a gap in the old de- titioners in their own fields. Compu-
long does it take to get a result? How sign. Facial recognition is an example. tational design will be an important
much storage is needed? Very often A decade ago, we did not have good source of work in the future.
a computational model that will give methods of detecting and recognizing
you the exact answer is impossible, too faces in images—we had to examine Bibliography
expensive, or too slow. Computational the images ourselves. Today, with deep Aho, A. 2011. Computation and computa-
designers get around this with heuris- learning algorithms, we have designed tional thinking. Ubiquity Symposium. DOI:
tics—fast approximations that generate very reliable automated face recogniz- 10.1145/1895419.1922682
close-approximation solutions quickly. ers, overcoming the earlier gap. Baltimore, D. 2001. How biology became an
information science. In The Invisible Future:
The Seamless Integration of Technology into Ev-
eryday Life, ed. P. Denning, pp. 43–46. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
There are many problems that cannot Computing at School, a subdivision of the British
Computer Society. 2015. Computational think-
be solved at all with computation; their ing: A guide for teachers. http://www.comput-
____________
ingatschool.org.uk/computationalthinking
________________________
Computer Science Teachers Association. 2011.
solutions will emerge only from social Operational Definition of Computational
Thinking for K-12 Education. http://www.
cooperation among groups. csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/CurrFiles/
CompThinkingFlyer.pdf
______________
Easton, T. 2006. Beyond the algorithmization
of the sciences. Communications of the ACM
49(5):31–33.
Experimental validation is often the only Another limit is that there are many Harvard Graduate School of Education. Com-
way to gain trust in a heuristic. An arti- problems that cannot be solved at all putational thinking with Scratch: Defining.
ficial neural network for face recognition with computation. Some of these are http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/ct/de-
_________________________
is a heuristic. No one knows of an exact purely technical, such as determining fining.html
_______
algorithm for recognizing faces. But we by inspection when a computer pro- Holland, J. 1975. Adaption in Natural and Arti-
know how to build a fast neural network gram will halt or enter an infinite loop. ficial Systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
that can get it right most of the time. Many others are very complex issues Kelly, K. 2016. The Inevitable: Understanding
the 12 Technological Forces that will Shape our
featuring technologies intertwined Future. New York: Viking Books.
Advances and Limits with social communities and no ob- Papert, S. 1980. Mindstorms: Children, Computers,
Computing has changed dramatically vious answers—which are known as and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic Books.
since the time when computational wicked problems. Many wicked prob- Tedre, M., and P. J. Denning. 2016. The long
modeling grew up. In the 1980s, the lems are caused by the combined ef- quest for computational thinking. Proceed-
hosting system for grand-challenge fects of billions of people using a tech- ings of the 16th Koli Calling Conference on Com-
models was a supercomputer. Today nology. For example, the production puting Education Research, November 24–27,
2016, Koli, Finland, pp. 120–129.
the hosting system is the entire Inter- of more than a billion refrigerators re-
Wilson, K. G. 1989. Grand challenges to com-
net, now more commonly called the leases enough fluorocarbons to disrupt putational science. Future Generation Com-
cloud—a massively distributed sys- the upper atmosphere’s protection puter Systems 5:171–189.
tem of data and processing resources against excessive sunlight. Millions of Wing, J. 2006. Computational thinking. Com-
around the world. Commercial cloud cars produce so much smog that some munications of the ACM 49:33–35.
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Science
Communication
Ending the Crisis of Complacency

in Science
To survive the Trump administration, scientists need to invest in a strategic
vision that mobilizes social change.
Matthew Nisbet
A
s newly elected president falsehoods and conspiracy theories, that America’s civic capacity to engage
Donald Trump takes office, similar to his past claims that climate in informed decision-making has been
the scientific community change is a “hoax,” or that childhood overrun by widening income and edu-
faces the likelihood not only vaccination is linked to autism. cational disparities, anxiety over the
of unprecedented cuts in government Some among scientists might dismiss speed of cultural and technological
funding for research, but also of bold the brutal 2016 election and Trump’s change, and critical weaknesses in our
new attacks on scientific expertise as a victory as an aberration and historical mainstream news media system.
basis for policy making and decisions. outlier. The next four years or more will Each of these problems is too complex
Trump campaigned on a pledge to elim- be tough times, they might say, but as for the scientific community to try to
inate as much as $100 million in “waste- has been the case in the past, some ar- manage and mitigate on its own, but for
ful climate change spending,” and there eas of science will thrive, others will the most part scientists and their organi-
have been reports of plans to severely struggle, but ultimately better times zations have watched on the sidelines as
cut funding for NASA and other agen- will come again. They may argue that other sectors of civil society have tackled
cies. For the National Institutes of no major course correction, new way these issues. Yet, in fact, there is much
Health, Trump and the Republican-led of advocating for scientific funding, or that scientists and their organizations
Congress are likely to revisit funding for emphasis on communicating the im- can contribute, and they can do so in a
embryonic stem cell research and to take portance of expertise is needed. manner that remains nonpartisan.
a closer look at restricting gene editing. But such arguments are grossly mis- Over the past decade, many scien-
Major regulations designed to protect guided. The 2016 election should be a tists have enthusiastically sought out
the environment and public health will wake-up call for the scientific commu- communication training opportunities,
also come under fire. Environmental nity and its leaders. We are not living honing their skills at presentations,
Protection Agency rules limiting emis-
sions from coal plants, which President-
elect Trump has called “job destroying,”
may be rescinded; current bans on oil Scientists should help to refocus the
and gas drilling may be lifted; and the
United States’ participation in the his- conversation back to enhanced funding
toric United Nations climate change
agreement may be canceled. Behind for higher education, and related
the scenes at scientific and regulatory
agencies, political appointees are likely
to block or delay other environmental
strategies for lowering costs.
and public health regulations, to edit
or censor scientific agency reports, and
to restrict the ability of federal scientists in normal times. Over the next few media interviews, and social media.
to communicate with the public and years, if there is to be any possible sil- Social scientists have joined the effort,
the media. By way of his speeches and ver lining, it will be that leaders of the systematically studying the “science
Twitter remarks, President-elect Trump scientific community break out of a of science communication,” evaluating
will likely spread dangerous scientific culture of complacency, ending a long- the many factors that shape individual
standing reticence to confront the pro- and societal decisions, and considering
Matthew Nisbet is a professor of communication, found, dire problems we now face. the implications for effective commu-
public policy, and urban affairs at Northeastern Uni- An examination of the deeper trends nication. During the Trump years, en-
versity, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Envi- that have enabled Trump’s election to thusiasm for these activities and new
ronmental Communication. Twitter: @MCNisbet the presidency reveals troubling signs directions will justifiably deepen.
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But each of these tools and insights

remain just tactics, limited in their ef-
fect, if they are not applied and coor-
dinated on behalf of a larger vision of
social change. What is needed is broader
strategic thinking about the handful of
policy goals and investments that sci-
entists can join with others in pursuing
that would have an enduring impact on
problems such as income inequality and
political polarization, and on the threat
they pose to the scientific enterprise.
Tackling Inequality
Consider first the challenge of economic
inequality, particularly how the problem
has manifested itself in recent politics.
The past year has brought wider atten-
tion to the deep anxiety among less-ed-
ucated, predominantly white Americans
about their economic security in a world
that seems to have left them behind.
These anxieties have fueled support
for right-wing populist leaders such as
Trump, as well as extreme distrust of
what they see as institutional elites, in-
cluding scientists and other experts.
The struggles and anxieties of work-
ing class whites are not unique to the
United States and are reflective of
global dynamics and trends. In the May
2016 “Brexit” vote in the United King-
dom, those without a university degree
voted in a large majority to leave the
European Union, whereas the better-
educated individuals in cosmopolitan
London voted to remain. Despite an
overwhelming consensus among ex- Christopher Penler/Alamy Stock Photo
perts that leaving the European Union A protester at a rally opposing the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States
would severely damage the UK econ- holds a sign that responds to the antiscience rhetoric brought out during the campaign.
omy, a leader of the Leave campaign
rallied public support by declaring that forces that some of their advances and Research suggests that support
the “people of this country have had innovations have helped set in motion. among non-college-educated whites
enough of experts.” Trump and his sur- So where to begin? Making public for anti-establishment rhetoric is rooted
rogates expressed similar sentiments higher education more affordable and in more than just economic anxiety, but
during the 2016 election as they railed accessible was a major campaign issue, also reflects racial resentment and anti-
against political insiders in Washington. one that Trump expressed support for, immigration attitudes. It is not just the
Yet, paradoxically, the very success although he did not offer specifics. Re- economy that is changing around us,
of scientists and engineers has contrib- publicans in Congress and across state but also society and culture, challeng-
uted to these conditions. Scientific in- legislatures have also advocated for lowing conceptions of identity. There is no
novations have generated vast wealth ering the cost of higher education, pro- obvious solution to racial resentment
for those professionals at the top of posing several different plans. Scientists and cultural bigotry, but for future gen-
the knowledge economy, just as those and their organizations should join with erations, greater access to higher edu-
same innovations have eliminated mil- leaders of both parties along with others cation will help promote more diverse
lions of jobs among those at the bot- in refocusing the conversation back to interactions and experiences that may
tom, transforming entire industries enhanced funding for higher education start to erode such feelings.
and regions. Those most affected are and related strategies for lowering costs. In addition, the speed of scientific
not only whites without college educa- They can do so by identifying and con- advances and technological innova-
tions, but also many people of color. veying the various policy choices, ben- tion may be directly contributing to
Scientists and their organizations, efits, and trade-offs. This focus should cultural anxiety and unease in other
therefore, have both a strategic and an go beyond just the STEM fields, to em- ways, reflecting concerns that do not
ethical imperative to help society cope phasize the need for affordable higher conform to traditional left or right po-
with the negative effects of globalization, education across majors and careers. litical ideologies.
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have a sense that science poses conflicts

with traditional values and belief sys-
tems. Compared with optimists, mem-
bers of this group score much lower in
terms of educational attainment and
income, are more likely to be female,
and are more likely to be minorities.
With advances in gene editing, robot-
ics, and artificial intelligence, and the
likely return of debates over stem cell
research, scientists and their organiza-
tions will need to effectively address the
legitimate concerns that such pessimists
and others may hold about the social
implications of these advances. Like
past high-profile debates over stem cell
research and cloning, these issues are
likely to play an increasingly prominent
role in our polarized national politics.
National Archives
From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment,
Taking News Local
which studied the natural progression of the disease in African-American males in rural Alabama
under the guise of giving the participants free health care. The subjects were not told that they had
As they rise to broader attention, how-
syphilis, and when effective treatment with penicillin became available in the 1940s, it was with- ever, debates in the national news media
held from the participants. Blood samples were taken (above) as part of the study. The study was over gene editing, stem cell research, cli-
widely reviled when it was exposed, leading to stringent patient consent protocols. Nevertheless, mate change, energy, and other topics
such occurrences have led to lingering distrust of science, particularly among minority populations. too often distort these issues; simplistic
left-right distinctions are made, which
According to one survey analysis, tionately white. Most can realistically are overhyped by some and dismissed
about a third of Americans can be expect that their careers, fields, and as repugnant by others. At national
characterized as scientific optimists. industries will benefit from scientific and regional newspapers, budget cuts
They have respect for the intentions advances and that, as consumers, they and layoffs limit the opportunity for in-
of scientists, and they believe that sci- will be able to afford most innovations. depth coverage and analysis. In recent
ence and technology drive societal In contrast, about a quarter of Ameri- years, innovative for-profit media orga-
progress. Not surprisingly, optimists cans can be classified as scientific pes- nizations such as Vox.com and STAT out
tend to be highly educated and finan- simists. They hold concerns about the of the Boston Globe have been launched
cially well off, and they are dispropor- speed of change in modern life and to help fill the gap at the national level,
expanding ways of covering complex
science-related policy debates, although
such sites have yet to demonstrate their
long-term financial sustainability.
Many more journalistic outlets, how-
ever, are needed in order to restore
America’s civic capacity to engage in
respectful debate about complex prob-
lems and trends and what they mean
for society. The place to start may be in
the cities and regions where, because
of the decline of local newspapers, the
information needs of local residents
and voters are not being met. In these
communities, people lack a trusted local
source of news that can explain, contex-
tualize, and vet conflicting claims and
interpretations. When news consumers
become skeptical of “elite” outlets such
as the New York Times, without other
known sources to trust, it becomes that
Dennis Mook/RGB Ventures/Superstock/Alamy Stock Photo
much easier for them to turn to their
Abandoned storefronts in the small town of Pamplin, Virginia, are indicative of local economies
that have faltered in the era of globalization. This town was the site of a clay pipe factory, now
ideologically preferred outlet, whether a
closed. Many towns in America once relied on a specific industry for their livelihood, and when cable news network such as Fox News,
that industry disappeared, remaining residents felt left behind by advances in science and tech- a talk radio show, an online site such
nology that have enabled others to prosper. The author argues that scientists need to find better as Breitbart News, or a fake news story
ways of addressing such social disparities to restore trust in expert institutions, including science. circulated on their social media feeds.
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Todd Bannor/Alamy Stock Photo

Protesters (left) and supporters (right) of genetically modified foods now turn to ideologically biased sites, or to social media streams tai-
often have websites or other news sources that selectively support lored to their preferences, for their information. Restoring local news,
their own views. Without good-quality, local sources of news to re- however, will likely take large amounts of philanthropic funding
place the disappearing newspapers that residents once trusted, many as well as support from nontraditional sources, such as universities.
To begin to meet the information environmental problems and solutions, issues, explain their complexity, and
needs of communities across the coun- articles that can be freely republished by hold those in power accountable, includ-
try, scientists need to join with others in other media organizations. In a second ing scientific institutions.
calling for greater financial investment in example, Yale Climate Connections pro- Mobilizing scientists and their orga-
local nonprofit media. One place to start duces daily 90-second radio shorts about nizations to coordinate their actions on
is public radio stations that are expand- climate change that air on 260 public, behalf of combating economic inequal-
ing their reach by way of digital news university, community, and alternative ity, promoting affordable higher edu-
platforms. Examples of other promising radio stations nationwide. cation, addressing emerging concerns
about scientific advances, and invest-
ing in local nonprofit media are just a
few examples of goals that might define
To meet the information needs of broader, longer-term thinking. The path
forward is ultimately up to scientists
communities, scientists need to join with and their leaders. But to stay focused
on tactical approaches, rather than on
others in calling for greater financial social change, puts much at risk.
investment in local nonprofit media. Bibliography

Drutman, L. 2015. The Business of America
Is Lobbying: How Corporations Became Po-
liticized and Politics Became More Corporate.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
nonprofit ventures include the Texas Tri- But sparking substantive growth Inglehart, R., and P. Norris. 2016. Trump, Brexit,
bune, an online newspaper that runs the in the nonprofit news sector will take and the rise of Populism: Economic have-
largest statehouse bureau in the country. money. Lots of it. In the wake of mas- nots and cultural backlash. Cambridge, MA:
Another endeavor, launched in 2010, is sive layoffs at regional and local news- Harvard University Working Paper. https://
_____
ces.fas.harvard.edu/uploads/files/events/
_________________________
Midwest Energy News, which features a papers, a 2011 Federal Communica- Inglehart-and-Norris-Populism.pdf
____________________
staff of six journalists reporting on the tions Commission report estimated Nisbet, M. C., and D. Fahy. 2015. The need for
transition from fossil fuels to clean en- that somewhere between $265 million knowledge-based journalism in politicized
ergy across Midwestern states. Their and $1.6 billion is needed annually to science debates. The ANNALS of the Ameri-
stories are freely syndicated and repub- fill the gaps in just local public affairs can Academy of Political and Social Science
658:223–234.
lished by newspapers and other outlets. reporting alone, without consideration Nisbet, M., and E. M. Markowitz. 2014. Un-
Many research universities also have of the cost of meeting national needs. derstanding public opinion in debates over
the capacity to launch their own digi- Yet funding agencies and philanthrop- biomedical research: Looking beyond po-
tal nonprofit news organizations, seed- ic organizations make risky investments litical partisanship to focus on beliefs about
science and society. PLoS ONE 9(2):e88473.
ing partnerships between journalism when they devote, for example, billions
Thurber, J. A., and A. Yoshinaka (eds). 2015.
schools and computer science depart- of dollars to research on climate change American Gridlock: The Sources, Character, and
ments, and drawing on the perspectives or biotechnology, or millions of dollars Impact of Political Polarization. New York,
of expert faculty as contributors. For ex- to training scientist communicators and NY: Cambridge University Press.
ample, since 2013 the Institute on the En- funding communication research, but Waldman. S., and the Working Group on In-
vironment at the University of Minne- they do not also invest in making sure formation Needs of Communications. 2011.
Information needs of communities: The changing
sota has published Ensia, a multimedia that major cities and regions across the media landscape in a broadband age. Washing-
magazine featuring originally reported country have full-time, experienced re- ton, D.C.: Federal Communications Com-
stories and commentaries focused on porters who can draw attention to these mission. www.fcc.gov/infoneedsreport
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Perspective
The Hand-in-Hand Spread of

Mistrust and Misinformation in Flint
The water crisis not only left infrastructure and government agencies in need of
cleaning up; the information landscape was also messy.
Siddhartha Roy
I
n the wake of the water crisis in public water source to the Flint River were cheating on such testing by, for
Flint, Michigan, countless Ameri- in April 2014, and then the Michigan example, flushing pipes the night be-
cans are asking: Can I trust my Department of Environmental Qual- fore sample collection to temporarily
tap water? High lead levels in wa- ity (MDEQ) did not mandate feder- hide lead-in-water issues. Residents
ter are being found in homes, schools, ally required corrosion-control treat- of Philadelphia sued the city not long
and daycares across the country; recent ment. This oversight led to increased ago because of such practices. New
investigations by USA Today, CNN, corrosion of lead pipes and fittings. York City vowed to retest water in its
and the Natural Resources Defense Consequently, the blood lead levels in public schools after my advisor, Marc
Council (NRDC) revealed that more Flint’s children doubled after the water Edwards, called out their and others’
than 5,300 public water systems had switch. As the chlorine that sanitizes sampling practices in The New York
lead violations last year. The NRDC water interacted with corroded pipes Times. Regrettably, they have agreed to
warned in a June 2016 report that “mil- and so was removed, the city also wit- only partially fix these problems. EPA
lions of Americans could be drinking nessed one of the worst legionnaires’ expert Mike Schock warns that such
contaminated water—and not even disease outbreaks in modern U.S. testing allows for “wanton experimen-
know it.” This statement agrees with history, causing 12 deaths. This envi- tation on the public.”
a 2015 article in the Journal of American ronmental injustice that endangered In light of such exposés, it is no
Water Works Association that declared families for 18 months was prolonged wonder that many citizens are worried
up to 96 million Americans could be at because the city and MDEQ cheated about tap water. Agencies, including
risk from lead-laden water. This num- on water tests, was hostile to outside the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
ber is not surprising considering the researchers sounding the alarm, and and Prevention (CDC), have continued
6 million to 10 million lead pipes and betrayed the public’s trust by repeat- to put innocent lives at risk as they
the legion of leaded plumbing materi- edly insisting the brown, smelly, lead- have periodically dismissed the seri-
als in our water infrastructure, all of laden water was safe to consume. ousness of lead exposure from drink-
which can leach lead despite optimal The U.S. Environmental Protection ing water, while the water industry
treatment. In his 2006 book, The Great Agency (EPA), as per its Office of In- has taken cover under a weak Lead
Lead Water Pipe Disaster, historian Wer- spector General investigation, had suf- and Copper Rule so that they may
ner Troesken called the misguided de- ficient knowledge of imminent and avoid their obligation to protect public
cision to install lead pipes across the substantial endangerment to Flint resi- health. The Lead and Copper Rule al-
United States between the mid-1800s dents from lead-contaminated water lows 10 percent of homes on a public
and 1980s “a long-running environ- as early as June 2015. Instead of taking water supply to dispense any amount
mental and public health catastrophe.” decisive action, the agency silenced its of lead if the rest are below 15 parts
The Flint water crisis began when a own whistleblower, regulations man- per billion. Ten percent! If a water util-
Michigan state-appointed emergency ager Miguel Del Toral, and did not is- ity is out of compliance, they are re-
manager decided to change Flint’s sue an emergency order until seven quired to “optimize” water treatment,
months later in January 2016. begin citywide lead pipe replacement
The exploitation of loopholes in fed- that often costs millions of dollars, and
Siddhartha Roy is a PhD candidate in the department
eral regulations and the use of faulty inform residents that their tap water
of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia
Tech, where he works with Marc Edwards to research water-sampling methods that mini- is unsafe to drink. Unfortunately, ef-
failure mechanisms in potable water infrastructure. mize the lead collected is not unique forts have often been directed toward
He is the student leader and communications director to Flint. A recent investigation by The achieving compliance rather than min-
of the Virginia Tech research team that helped uncover Guardian found that at least 33 ma- imizing public health risk, so many
the Flint water crisis. Twitter: @H2Oetal jor cities east of the Mississippi River Flints are likely out there.
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Brittany Greeson
After the water crisis, Flint resident Darlene Long (second from left) and her family go to a hotel outside the city once a month to bathe for lon-
ger time periods with peace of mind. Many residents in Flint continue to distrust the water’s safety, even after government and independent
scientists have tested the water and confirmed that it is safe for bathing.
Beginning in August 2015, our Flint agency Coordinating Committee, and “I don’t even give [the water] to my
Water Study research team, led by our team was hired to continue water dog…. I don’t care how many filters
Edwards, along with Flint residents, testing in collaboration with residents, they give us. I don’t care what they
led the early efforts to document the supported by state and EPA funds. This say. How can I trust them again?” This
city’s lead contamination—and sub- declaration of trust by Flint residents atmosphere enabled misinformation
sequent related water-quality issues. was priceless and is illustrated by Flint campaigns that spread harmful false-
Since then, we have spent more than Bishop Bernadel Jefferson’s comments hoods about the water’s quality—for
a year monitoring the response. The to National Public Radio (NPR): “We example, that the distributed lead fil-
city switched back to treated Lake Hu- trust them [the Flint Water Study]. We ters do not work or that lead aerosol-
ron water (from Detroit) in October don’t trust nobody else.” izes in the shower and can harm one’s
2015, and the state and the EPA are Since President Barack Obama de- lungs—to briefly gain momentum.
now working to improve the overall clared Flint a federal emergency in Consequently, a few residents who
water quality. When Flint’s children January 2016, more than $600 million in had previously been betrayed, turned
were finally protected after Governor healthcare, nutrition, and infrastructure against scientifically valid advice no
Rick Snyder’s emergency declaration aid became available. Civil servants and matter who offered it.
in early 2016, we announced the end of consulting firms have been indicted, and
our investigation. lead pipes are being replaced across the The Public’s Search for Answers
Soon thereafter, Flint residents city. Progress has been slow for Flint citi- The imperfect nature of scientific
spray-painted “The Block,” a promi- zens: After 30 months, unfiltered water knowledge was encountered in the
nent concrete slab that residents use in Flint is still not safe to drink. water crisis and sometimes even ex-
as a community bulletin board, on a As the Flint water crisis unfolded ploited. At other times, there were le-
cold morning in January to send a mes- in 2015 and early 2016, the decline in gitimate concerns. For example, the
sage to the government: “You want public trust was palpable: People dis- lead filters that the State of Michigan
our trust??? We want VA Tech!!!” trusted the city’s water, the distributed and the U.S. Federal Emergency Man-
Because of this demand, later that lead filters, and any messaging from agement Agency (FEMA) distributed
month Edwards was invited to serve on government agencies. As resident Ken- around the city are rated to remove up
Governor Snyder’s Flint Water Inter- neth Glover told the New York Times, to 150 parts per billion of lead, where-
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as several Flint homes had 200 Some Flint residents didn’t

lead levels that were some- know who to trust and under-
lifetime risk (per 100,000)

times 10 or even 100 times standably wanted to test their
150
higher than that in their tap water for themselves rather
water. Citizens and relief than rely on the word of sci-
groups were apprehensive 100 entists or government agen-
for many months, and a May cies. As they and concerned
2016 poll by Target Insyght/ citizens in other towns turned
MIRS News found that 70 50 to online sources and social
percent of residents did not media for support and infor-
trust government assurances mation, some of the content
that the filtered water was 0 they found was harmful. For
se
e
safe. The EPA stepped up to
t
example, several YouTube
wa ted
in
in
en
id
ea
Fl
Fl
ic
r
in la
id
te
su
this challenge by testing fil- and Facebook videos misuse
is
ts gu
in
cc
td
i
s’
s’
ra
m
uc re
ire
ire
ar
ters at more than 200 taps— a common water measure-
o
ca
od m
he
na
na
f
pr fro
h
m
some of which were dispens- ment—total dissolved sol-

on
on
at
m
fro
by r
de
fro
n ce
gi
gi
ing lead levels as high as ids (TDS)—and claim that it
le
le
th
tio can
h
a
at
m
g
de
in
4,080 parts per billion—and shows that water filtered us-
de
fro
ct
ra
h
found that the filters effec- ing certified lead filters is still
ec
at
nt
de
nf
co
si
tively brought lead below 1 not safe or that even bottled

di
potential source of sickness/death

part per billion every time, water distributed in Flint has
which matched the findings The lifetime risk of contracting cancer due to chronic exposure to high lead levels. TDS meters
some regulated disinfection byproducts such as trihalomethanes
of our previous research. cannot measure lead in water,
is much lower than the recent risk of Flint residents contracting
Although the scientific legionnaires’ disease, a serious waterborne illness, when they which requires sophisticated
uncertainty here was re- were being served by the Flint River (April 2014–October 2015). analytical equipment, and
solved, has this information The lifetime risk calculated for total trihalomethanes here is based they are not a standard for
increased public trust in the on several inherently conservative assumptions, and likely over- water safety in general or lead
filters? In the absence of ac- estimates individual risk. (Data from the Flint Water Study, In- in particular. Instead, they
curate survey data, public stitute for Highway Safety, CDC, and engineer Joe Goodwill of quantify water conductivity
trust is hard to quantify. Lo- Saint Francis University. For more information, see _________
http://joeontap. or net concentration of dis-
cal media outlets, however, com/#153454559929.)
___________ solved solids, such as essential
emphatically communicated minerals, salts, and metals.
the safety of lead filters with mixed re- uncertainty about the rashes’ cause led These videos spread quickly on so-
sults. Some residents have repeatedly to a scenario in which we only could cial media among citizens. One video
told us and the media that they don’t be compassionate and share residents’ viewed more than 17,000 times since
trust filtered water. frustrations but could not provide a sci- January 2016 strangely asserts that the
Scientists also stepped in to develop entifically robust answer. higher the number displayed on this
safety information when residents re-
ported incidences of skin rashes even af-
ter Flint switched back to Detroit water.
There is a dearth of studies specifically
tying environmental, genetic, psychoso-
matic, and placebo factors to such skin
problems. As per the CDC, the preva-
lence in school-aged children of atopic
dermatitis, the most common type of
rash, is at most 20 percent. A CDC-led
dermatologic investigation concluded
in August 2016 that rash incidences
were indeed high, clinically severe, and
chronic when Flint was served water
from the Flint River but were lower af-
ter the switch back to Detroit water, and
that these later rash cases were less se-
vere and acute and in some cases were
probably unrelated to the water. This
Xuyen Mai of the University of Massachusetts

Amherst samples water in homes in Flint,
Michigan, with Virginia Tech’s Flint Water
Study to make sure disinfection byproducts
were below federally regulated thresholds.
(Photograph courtesy of the author.)
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“water tester,” the worse the water is. cols to prevent contamination. Because dangers of bathing or showering.
Considering that the World Health Or- of the unexplained skin ailments that Ironically, this increase in easily pre-
ganization classifies water with TDS some Flint residents were suffering, ventable disease underscores the value
under 300 parts per million as “excel- many were worried that the water was of chlorine disinfection for public water
lent,” the video, which states that wa- not safe for bathing. An explanation systems. Nonetheless, the fear of the
ter with TDS of 103 parts per million and the ability to find their own an- water is still real for residents. Students
is “horrible,” is both alarmist and pro- swers were rightfully attractive to peo- at Northridge Academy in Flint, for
foundly misleading. Although these ple. This drive can be good: It is what example, told us during an outreach
hoaxes were addressed online and in led residents to collaborate with our visit in November 2016 that they still
the news, the videos often circulate team and sample their own tap water avoid taking showers because they are
again among worried citizens. in August 2015—the results of which, scared. The local media’s initial lack of
A more damning example relates as one resident told me, were “empow- scrutiny of scientific-sounding claims
to Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo’s ering.” But trust voids are often a per- from nonscientists gave the potentially
nonprofit Water Defense: Their op- fect breeding ground for groups such dangerous misinformation some cred-
portunistic, irresponsible intervention
in Flint, in which commercialization
of a new product was cloaked as hu-
manitarian science, preyed on an al- Flint citizens understandably wanted to
ready traumatized population’s fears
and impaired efforts to rebuild public test the water for themselves rather than
trust in the safety of the city’s water for
bathing and showering. After President
Obama’s emergency declaration, Ruf-
rely on the word of scientists. As they
falo’s group arrived in Flint in Febru-
ary 2016, armed with a green sponge.
and concerned citizens in other towns
Because the sponge indiscriminately
absorbs disinfection chemicals reacting turned to online sources and social media
with organic matter in the water, air,
and its own material, measurements for support and information, some of the
from it are not reliable. Such measure-
ments about disinfection byproducts content they found was harmful.
(DPBs) are not comparable to any estab-
lished health standards for measuring as Water Defense to capitalize on ram- ibility. Because our team related to the
them. DBPs (such as chloroform) are an pant fears. In a YouTube video, Water public’s exasperation with the govern-
unavoidable consequence of chlorine Defense’s Scott Smith began making ment after the water crisis, and because
disinfection; they form when chlorine, outrageous claims that Flint’s water our attempts to privately reason with
which is routinely added to water to was worse than 62 disaster sites he had Water Defense proved futile, we felt we
kill microbes, reacts with naturally oc- visited, including oil spills. We were had the moral obligation to call them
curring organic matter. They are found dumbfounded when Ruffalo claimed out publicly on our website.
in tap waters across the United States. on CNN that DBPs in Flint’s water
DBPs are suspected carcinogens and could originate from corroded lead and The Price of Impugning Pseudoscience
are heavily regulated as an acceptable galvanized iron pipes, which defies the One of the bizarre experiences of wad-
chronic exposure risk in public water laws of chemistry. There are still gaps in ing into the mists of misinformation is
because, although they are undesirable, the current knowledge of DBPs, includ- that bad actors and conspiracy theo-
the alternative of not chlorinating water ing which specific contaminants are rists usually respond to suggestions
would increase the acute risks of sick- formed and which should be regulated that their messages are misguided with
ness and death from waterborne dis- based on greatest health risk. There are accusations about the ethics or credibil-
eases (such as cholera and legionnaires’ no legitimate grounds, however, for ity of those who question them, even if
disease). Indeed, the World Health Or- this group to take up disinfection by- they lack the evidence for such claims.
ganization emphasizes in their manual, products specifically in Flint. The media, especially The Huffington
Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, Water Defense’s false explanations Post and Slate, eventually fact-checked
that “disinfection should not be com- for the skin rashes gave many mis- both sides, conducted independent in-
promised in attempting to control distrustful and traumatized Flint families vestigations into Water Defense’s op-
infection byproducts.” High levels of an explanation that, no matter how portunism, and published opinions
DBPs were a legitimate problem when flawed, was satisfying. But avoiding from credible outside scientists. In
Flint’s water source was the Flint River, bathing because of Water Defense’s contrast, prior coverage had portrayed
but their levels have dropped well be- misleading claims has had serious con- Water Defense’s claims as scientifical-
low federal standards after the switch sequences for Flint residents. Indeed, ly legitimate. People’s distrust in the
back to Detroit water. a spike in gastrointestinal diseases, government was so high that a few in
Measuring DBPs is much more which is often symptomatic of poor turn mistrusted us because some of our
complicated than tossing a sponge in sanitation, was witnessed in May 2016 measurements showing the improve-
the bathtub. It requires expensive lab and could be attributed in part to Wa- ment in Flint’s water were funded by
equipment and precise sampling proto- ter Defense’s false warnings about the the EPA, even though we had also self-
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funded the earlier water testing in Flint New York Times: “It’s difficult to convince pling trip to Flint in November 2016, a
that originally exposed the agencies people once they’re aware that it has family was wary of letting us into their
involved in the crisis. been unsafe that it is now safe…. The home for water testing because they
Our team then enlisted the help of messenger that says the water is safe mistook us for the EPA, but once we
Dave Reckhow, a pioneer in disinfec- can’t come from the state government. explained who we were they could not
tion byproduct research, and his ex- They’ve already ruined their potential to have been more kind and welcoming.
ceptional team from the University of be someone who can be trusted.” Although scientists are justifiably
Massachusetts Amherst. They orches- How can scientists contribute to wary of being seen as advocates, I con-
trated independent testing in May 2016 building informed publics and em- tend that they should stop considering
in Flint and found disinfection byprod- powering them to differentiate be- their work as inherently neutral, but in-
uct levels to be “pretty average” with tween facts and fiction? Our scientific stead see their broader societal contexts
and make central to their scientific en-
deavors principles of ethics, transpar-
If there are more Flints out there, as ency, and service to humanity. Training
scientists in disciplines such as com-
many suspect, we will need to continue munity engagement, science commu-
nication, and ethical conduct alongside
sound science will help them quickly
building and sustaining trust between and successfully navigate these tricky
situations. In the aftermath of an envi-
scientists and local communities. ronmental disaster, it’s not just the en-
vironmental problem that needs to be
cleaned up. The information landscape
“nothing out of the ordinary.” Their work and advocacy in Flint, alongside can also become messy, and keeping it
findings were corroborated by testing residents, showed how science can be clean takes vigilance.
from the EPA, the CDC, and research- used for the public good and conceiv- If there are more Flints out there,
ers at Wayne State University. All these ably garner their trust. Based on my as many suspect, we will need to con-
efforts ultimately discredited Water experiences in Flint, I can testify that tinue building and sustaining trust
Defense. No major media outlet has community-engaged science requires, between scientists and local commu-
covered their sponge claims since then. first and foremost, a commitment to nities. The Flint model of collabora-
Even so, such damages are difficult respecting the public, their experi- tive and community-engaged research
to repair and can exacerbate down- ences, and knowledge. An unassum- can be modified and incorporated
ward spirals in mistrust. Many Flint ing openness in addressing scientific into contemporary academic training.
residents have altered their bathing queries, sharing data, and mentoring These skills and strategies can empow-
habits (for example, some have found citizen groups (both online and in er scientists to demonstrate their com-
alternate bathing locations such as ho- community meetings) will ensure a petence and restore trustworthiness,
tels and portable showers, and others sustained partnership in which both thereby earning the trust necessary to
have reduced bathing times or are only parties can mutually benefit and build thwart future misinformation cam-
using bottled water, shower-head fil- trust in one another. During a sam- paigns, such as those seen in Flint.
ters, and so on) because they cannot
bring themselves to trust the water.
One family described to us the sheer
joy of taking 30-minute showers while
out of town, drawing a sharp contrast
to their cumbersome bathing at home
using bottled water. Personal expe-
riences with, and fears of, the water
trump all scientific studies. The road to
rebuilding trust is long and hard.
Staying Vigilant
The government at all levels failed the
people of Flint. A resident told us she
believes her family had been “left to
die.” Others have expressed perpetual
guilt over having given their children
contaminated water. Many continue
to work with the laudable conviction
that they will not rest until justice and
reparations have been served. Laura Sul-
livan, a professor of mechanical engi-
neering and Flint resident and activist,
summarized the current problem to the
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Engineering
Setbacks and Prospects for

Autonomous Vehicles
Self-driving cars seemed ready to keep going ahead, but some recent incidents
have slowed their development.
Henry Petroski
I
n 2015, the future of self-driving, pared to take over control of the car, as guidelines for autonomous vehicles in
or autonomous, vehicles looked he was supposed to have been ready to the following months.
bright and virtually within reach. do at all times. This first known fatal-
I described their status in The Road ity involving an autonomous vehicle Hard-Won Cultural Acceptance
Ahead (July–August 2016), an excerpt naturally led to considerable reflection In spite of the Model S tragedy, the
from my 2016 book The Road Taken: The and recrimination about the status of autonomous vehicle is already a real-
History and Future of America’s Infra- the technology, its future as a business ity, but it is not yet something fully de-
structure, as of the time the book had endeavor, and its regulation. The Na- bugged or commonly encountered (or
gone to press in the fall of 2015. Earlier tional Transportation Safety Board, recognized) on our streets and high-
that year a computer-controlled Audi known for its involvement in determin- ways. That is likely to change within
Q5 successfully made a 3,400-mile trip ing the cause of airplane crashes, elected a matter of years or decades, depend-
from San Francisco to New York City to investigate the accident, joining forces ing not so much on the technological
without human intervention for 99 with the Florida Highway Patrol and development of computer-controlled
percent of the time. And Tesla’s all- the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad- automobiles and trucks as on external
electric self-steering and self-braking ministration; the group of agencies is factors, such as urban infrastructure,
Model S sedan was coming onto the expected to announce a draft of revised jurisdictional regulation, and public ac-
market. The road ahead for the auton-
omous vehicle looked smooth, indeed.
All that changed in early summer
2016, when a front-page story in the
New York Times reported that the own-
er of a Model S equipped with Tesla’s
self-driving Autopilot feature had been
killed in an accident. A driver had been
using the beta technology while alleged-
ly watching a movie as his car was driv-
ing itself down a Florida highway, and
neither the driver nor the car detected
that a tractor-trailer truck traveling the
other way was making a left turn across
the lanes ahead. The computerized
Tesla evidently could not distinguish
the white side panels of the trailer from
the brightly lit sky in the background,
and the preoccupied driver was not pre-
Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Profes-

sor of Civil Engineering and a professor of his-
tory at Duke University. His most recent book is
Delphi Automotive
The Road Taken: The History and Future of
America’s Infrastructure. Address: Box 90287, This inside view of an automated Audi Q5 during a cross-country trip shows the driver’s hands
Durham, NC 27708. off the wheel and a dashboard screen depicting the car’s sensor readings of its position in traffic.
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guide torpedoes and rockets. Around

the middle of the 20th century, General
Motors and RCA teamed up to develop
autonomous highway systems employ-
ing radio communications to control
speed and steering. Prototypes of such
systems, in which magnets located in the
vehicle followed a steel cable embedded
in the road, were tested in the 1950s.
Today, roads do not need buried ca-
bles, physical tracks, or curbs to keep
autonomous vehicles in their lane and
away from nearby vehicles. Rather, op-
tical cameras can track road and lane
markings and watch traffic in adjacent
lanes. Radar mounted on a car pre-
vents it from colliding with a vehicle in
front of it. The signals from the radar
The Guardian and a multitude of sensors carried by a
A British recreation shows how in some cities early “horseless carriages” were required to follow self-driving automobile are processed
a person waving a red flag in order to warn of the vehicle’s approach. by an onboard computer, thus making
alterations to the physical layout of a
ceptance. In this regard, this potentially ing to Christmas gives the tune more street or freeway unnecessary, as long
innovative means of transportation can verisimilitude. And although snow in as lanes are properly marked and the
be expected to experience obstacles not late November is certainly plausible in markings are maintained so that they
unlike those that accompanied the in- northern states, especially in the early are visible to the camera.
troduction of the motor vehicle itself, 19th century when New England was These and other technologies have
upon which were imposed rules and still in the so-called Little Ice Age, the become familiar to automobile drivers.
regulations that did not hobble the white and drifted stuff has come to be Perhaps the earliest form it took was
horse. For example, in some cities early more commonly associated in a wider cruise control, whereby the speed of
automobiles had to follow at a walk- geographical region with late Decem- a vehicle could be set by the push of a
ing pace someone carrying a red flag or ber. Thus both culture and technology button, even as the vehicle went up and
lantern to herald the vehicle’s approach. can adapt to changing times. down hills. The latest adaptive cruise
Before there were horseless car- Early automobiles did not know control systems not only hold a preset
riages on the road, there were, of the way to Grandfather’s or Grand- speed on the open road but also can
course, horse-drawn carriages, wag- mother’s or anyone’s house. Indeed, in slow down a car to keep it a respectful
ons, and sleighs. That the reins could the nascent years of motorized travel, distance from the car ahead and even
be dropped and control turned over autos were less likely than horses to bring it to a full stop when traffic ahead
to their motive power has been me- make it through the snow or the ensu- calls for it. Signals from lane-sensing
morialized in, among other pieces of ing mud when the snow melted on dirt cameras can cause beeping warnings
writing, the familiar holiday tune that roads. There exist numerous images when a car wanders out of its lane
begins, in its original metric form, of horses pulling cars out of the mud without signaling first and, in the most
in the early 20th century, when there sophisticated systems, can steer the car
Over the river, and through the wood,
were increasing calls for better paved back into its lane automatically. Even
To Grandfather’s house we go;
roads on which wheeled vehicles rid- self-parking cars are now widely ad-
The horse knows the way to carry
ing on primitive rubber tires could gain vertised, which automate the process
the sleigh
traction. It was obvious frustrations of parallel parking once the driver com-
Through the white and drifted snow.
and downright faults with early hard- pletes the initial alignment of the car.
Like technological artifacts, pieces of rubber tires, cranked starting mecha-
literature can evolve over time in re- nisms, hand-operated windshield wip- A Grand Challenge
sponse to a variety of external influenc- ers, and the like, that drove the devel- All of the basic technology for a self-
es, including changing social, cultural, opment of pneumatic tires, the electric driving car has been in place for some
and commercial interests and mores. starter, and automatic wipers. Self-driv- time, much of it the product of the U.S.
This poem, by the American novelist, ing cars were the stuff of science fiction, Department of Defense and automak-
poet, abolitionist, and women’s rights if they were thought of at all. ers investing in the development of ar-
activist Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880), The gyroscopic motion of a spinning tificial intelligence systems. As early as
was originally published in 1844 under bicycle wheel did enable early cyclists to the 1980s, a Mercedes van (because cars
the title, “The New-England Boy’s Song ride hands-free, and automatic pilots for with their limited cargo space could not
about Thanksgiving Day.” Today, many airplanes have also relied on the prin- accommodate the size of the computer
people know this verse as a Christmas ciple of the gyroscope. During World equipment needed at the time) drove
tune, in which the horse knows the way War II, increasingly radio, rather than itself for hundreds of miles on the high-
to Grandmother’s house. The change gyroscopic or mechanical constraint way. In 2004, the U.S. Defense Advanced
of specific holiday from Thanksgiv- control, was the technology of choice to Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
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issued a Grand Challenge, with a $1

million prize, to teams working on au-
tonomous vehicles. The 150-mile course
through the Mojave Desert stymied the
robot entries that year, none of which
even reached the course’s 8-mile mark.
Nevertheless, the challenge was reis-
sued the next year with an increased top
prize of $2 million. Five vehicles com-
pleted the course; the winner was a team
from Stanford University, followed by
two entries from Carnegie Mellon Uni-
versity that came in second and third; an
insurance company placed fourth; and a
truck manufacturing firm came in fifth.
The Grand Challenge changed in
2007, and the new course, known as
the Urban Challenge, was only 60 miles
long, but entrants had to obey all traf-
fic signs and signals and drive through
traffic. In order of finish, six academic
entrants completed the course: Carn-
egie Mellon; Stanford; Virginia Tech;
Massachusetts Institute of Technol- “America’s Independent Electric Light and Power Companies” by H. Miller
ogy; a combined team from Pennsyl- An advertisement from 1957 depicts cars of the future driving themselves. At the time, autono-
vania State University and Lehigh Uni- mous cars were envisioned to use magnets to follow a buried steel cable, and radio signals to
versity; and Cornell University. (For detect surrounding traffic. Modern cameras and software have replaced the need for such systems.
more on the results of and incidents
during this competition, see “Leave 2015 study by the global management process, to a single city to assist it in de-
the Driving to It,” Computing Science, consulting firm McKinsey & Co., au- fining the nature of a “Smart City“ by
November–December 2011.) The results tonomous cars can be expected to re- becoming the first in the nation to fully
of the grand challenges demonstrated duce automobile fatalities by about 90 integrate innovative technologies—self-
that the Defense Department goal of percent by the middle of this century. driving cars, connected vehicles, and
having a third of military vehicles drive Having all vehicles on the road smart sensors—into its transportation
themselves by 2015 was realistic. fitted with equipment that con- network. In March 2016, the seven fi-
nects them via the Internet of Things nalist cities (of 78 entrants) were an-
On Real Streets through wireless technology is al- nounced—Austin, Texas; Columbus,
In the meantime, other autonomous ve- ready an expressed goal of the U.S. Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Kansas City,
hicles began to take on the self-imposed Department of Transportation, which Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
and perhaps greater challenge of negoti- announced in 2014 a plan to require Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco,
ating real-world urban streets on a day- such technology in the not-too-distant California. The winner was Columbus,
to-day basis. Google has been the most future. New cars are expected to have which had raised an additional $100 mil-
widely known self-driven competitor such equipment factory-installed; ret- lion from private partners, including up
in this category, with its Street View cars rofitting older ones with the appro- to $10 million from Smart Cities Chal-
providing data—including imagery tied priate transmitter is expected to cost lenge cosponsor Vulcan Inc., which was
to satellite coordinates—of most every approximately $350 per vehicle. As formed in 1986 by Microsoft cofounder
traffic signal and situation in the world part of a research and development Paul G. Allen and his sister Jody.
on which its autonomous-vehicle algo- program at the University of Michi- What successful smart cities of the fu-
rithms can practice. gan Transportation Research Institute ture will look like depends upon many
Automobile companies are already in Ann Arbor, volunteers are already factors, including regional traditional
gearing up for the final push towards testing transmitter-equipped vehicles practices, but one thing that will be nec-
completely hands-off driving. Shortly in actual traffic conditions. Future cars essary, at least in the short term, is to
after the Audi cross-country achieve- and trucks similarly equipped can be recognize the fact that traffic will consist
ment, Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief ex- in constant electronic contact with one of a mix of technology-equipped and
ecutive officer, promised a fully au- another and with their infrastructural unequipped vehicles. Short of banning
tonomous vehicle by about 2020. In environment and so keep their ap- vehicles from other places, whether
2017, General Motors is expected to propriate distance, properly yield and autonomous or conventionally driven,
introduce technology in its Cadillac stop at intersections, and respond to such outsider vehicles will need to be ac-
line that will allow no-hands driving. emergency conditions, such as chil- commodated by leaving much of the ur-
Other manufacturers have their own dren chasing a ball into the street. ban infrastructure in place. Thus streets
plans and schedules to offer no-hands The U.S. Department of Transporta- and intersections will look normal to
and no-feet features incrementally on tion will award up to $40 million, subject the conventional driver—with standard
their near-term models. According to a to the vagaries of the federal budgeting traffic signs and signals, lane markings,
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Tesla Forum user puzant with assistance from mathwhiz

In June 2016 the driver of a Tesla Model X claimed that the car suddenly accelerated on its own Still, questions remain. Will driverless
while parking. Tesla’s review of the car’s logs later showed that it had not been in either Autopilot cars be programmed to be patient or ag-
or cruise control mode before or during the time of the crash; the investigators concluded that the gressive in traffic? Many conventional
cause of the accident was driver error. But such incidents demonstrate the lack of trust of autono- automobiles now have a switch that the
mous vehicles, even among early adopters of the technology.
driver can flip to operate the transmis-
sion in a sport or economy mode, but
and the like virtually unchanged—but egated to the passenger seat and gener- will the displaced human driver be able
with autonomous and other rethought ally providing a safer and more relaxed to throw a switch to choose the mode
methods of transportation integrated driving experience even in the worst of in which an autonomous car will pro-
into the old fabric. Only when there has visibility conditions. ceed? Will such decisions be made by
been a near-universal conversion to the automobile or software engineers, or by
smart model might the old infrastruc- Contingency Plans their managers, or by corporate boards?
ture be completely replaced by the new. Naturally, the promise of a utopian Will all autonomous vehicles have to be
But depending on the nature of the driving future has its doubters and de- programmed to detect which mode is
development of self-driving technol- tractors. Skeptics worry about whether governing surrounding vehicles, in or-
ogy, the new may not look that different software developers are properly an- der to properly anticipate what they will
from the old anyway. For example, au- ticipating every possible contingency. do in various situations? And how will
tonomous vehicles now depend on lane What will happen when a computer- a driverless vehicle deal with a yellow
markings being sharply defined in or- controlled automobile stops behind a traffic light when it is in the “dilemma
der to recognize them for what they are. truck double-parked to make a deliv- zone,” too close to stop safely but not go-
Unless there are to be wires or cables ery? Will the self-driving vehicle “think” ing fast enough to clear the intersection
embedded in all streets and highways, that it is waiting for the light to change, before the light turns red? (See Engineer-
thus regressing rather than advancing or will it recognize after a period of time ing, May–June 2016).
to a truly wireless mode, the street and (how long?) that the truck is stopped And how will the conversion to be-
road markings will have to be main- for another reason, because traffic is still ing a smart city affect a municipality’s
tained, and at a higher level than they moving in the adjacent lane? The fact practice of dealing with potholes each
typically are today. This could be a pos- that Volkswagen and other car makers spring? Will the fascination of city traf-
itive byproduct of the new technology: could develop software that could de- fic engineers with the new technology
Our pavements would look freshly tect whether a vehicle was on a tread- divert their attention from the ordi-
painted and their markings easy to see mill in a laboratory being tested for nary? Will streets be sharply marked
even for the conventional driver’s eyes emissions or on the open road could with white and yellow lines that au-
in poor weather and lighting, thereby reassure even the harshest skeptics that tonomous vehicles can “see” clearly,
providing reassurance to the person rel- software can be deviously smart. but left to deteriorate over time to the
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point where the crumbling pavement be, it can also be flawed. Perhaps a bug them, which could possibly constrain
will be impossible to paint a straight will creep in when an update is issued, their adoption to the extent that their
line upon? Will this situation occur be- putting a car into an undesirable loop full potential cannot be realized. One of
cause funds for routine pothole filling, of circling a block surrounded by one- the reasons that the motorized Segway
repair, and repaving have been divert- way streets. And if an empty autono- personal transporter did not become
ed to support the new technology? mous vehicle is involved in a fender the successful enterprise it was hoped
It will be very tempting for city bender or worse, who will be respon- to be was that there was no uniformity
councils and other municipal govern- sible? Should it be the absent driver, the among municipalities about whether
ing bodies to concentrate on the new to driver sitting hands-free in the driver’s the self-balancing device was a scooter
the neglect of the old. Self-driving cars seat or the passenger seat, or the soft- capable of being ridden on sidewalks or
can encourage business development a motor vehicle confined to the street.
in downtown areas, because they could The experience of the Segway, coupled
all but eliminate parking problems, as Will the fascination with the much greater promise of the
workers could be dropped off by their
cars, whose problems it would then be
of city traffic self-driving car and the clout and sav-
vy of its manufacturers and backers,
to find parking spaces. Being without a engineers with the makes it unlikely that autonomous ve-
driver or car-pooling passengers, the car hicles will suffer the same fate.
will be free to park in the most remote new technology of But their success, at least in the short
areas, where spaces are more plenti-
ful and perhaps even free. When the
smart cities divert term, will depend to a large extent on
how well they interact with the infra-
workday’s end is approaching, riders their attention structure now in place and behave in re-
could summon their driverless vehicles al-time traffic. The fatal May 2016 crash
through a smartphone app to pick them from ordinary of the self-driving Tesla S sedan was fol-
up at a prearranged time and place any- maintenance? lowed a few weeks later by a nonfatal
where in the city. What a human conve- rollover accident on the Pennsylvania
nience and time saver! However, with Turnpike involving a Tesla Model X
convenience often comes overuse, and ware developer? Does a driverless vehi- sport utility vehicle, which was said by
cities allowing such practices could find cle need a driver’s license? Does it need the driver to have been on Autopilot,
their traffic volumes growing beyond a special license plate? In 2012 Nevada but this claim has not been confirmed
the capacity even of computers to man- issued to Google a plate bearing the by Tesla. About a week later, a second
age it. Gas usage could also skyrocket, symbol for infinity, making it the first accident occurred in Montana, involv-
if automated cars had to drive hours self-driving car to be registered as such. ing a Model X that went off the road and
away to find parking. Will other states follow suit? crashed through a guardrail. Such inci-
There is no telling where the federal dents have made considerations about
Legal Bindings government, not to mention individual autonomous vehicles more immediate
What about fundamental legal ques- states and cities, will come down on than theoretical, but Tesla has said that
tions such as, Who is the driver of a questions of autonomous vehicles and it has no plans to disable the Autopilot
driverless car? As good as software can the special regulations that may bind feature, which it never claimed made its
cars drive autonomously. The driver has
always been expected to be ready to take
over in an instant. At least for now.
Selected Bibliography
Boudette, N. E., B. Vlasic, and A. Kurtz. 2016.
U.S. safety agency investigates another
Tesla crash involving Autopilot. New York
Times July 6, page B1.
Petroski, H. 2016. The Road Taken: The History
and Future of America’s Infrastructure. New
York: Bloomsbury.
Petroski, H. 2016. Why cities aren’t ready for
the driverless car. Wall Street Journal April 22.
Ramsey, M., M. Spector, and J. Bach. 2016. Tes-
la has no plans to disable Autopilot feature
in its cars. Wall Street Journal July 12.
Spector, M., and I. J. Dugan. 2016. Tesla draws
scrutiny after Autopilot feature linked to a
death. Wall Street Journal June 30.
U.S. Department of Transportation. 2016. U.S
Transportation Secretary Foxx announces
seven finalist cities for Smart City Chal-
lenge. March 12. http://bit.ly/1TY2EnY
Vlasic, B., and N. E. Boudette. 2016. A Tesla
Wikimedia Commons driver using Autopilot dies in a crash. New
A Lexus is retrofitted with technology that allows it to be part of Google’s fleet of driverless cars. York Times July 1, pp. A1, B5.
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Blood, Guts, and Hope

Treatment of gastrointestinal tissue with ultrasound makes it more permeable to
medications that can alleviate inflammatory bowel disease.
Carl M. Schoellhammer, Robert Langer, and C. Giovanni Traverso
I
t is 2 a.m. You wake up with sear- The day before the colonoscopy, you ence of blood, and the need for frequent
ing pain in your abdomen and have to prepare by drinking liters of bowel movements. Even worse is the
you have the intense and urgent a salty, horrible-tasting solution. The social stigma associated with such a de-
need to use the bathroom. But doctor explained that this would help bilitating disease, which makes living a
you go back to bed thinking it was empty your bowels so that the phy- normal lifestyle almost impossible.
probably something you ate. sicians will be able to examine your
However, you are woken up again intestine. You are doing your best to Living with a Chronic Disease
at 6 a.m. by the same mind-numbing choke down the solution, but it is the Inflammatory bowel disease encom-
pain and again race straight to the bath- worst tasting drink you have ever had. passes two subtypes, based on where
room. You now know something is And you still have two liters to go. the inflammation is located in the GI
wrong. And it is completely unexpected, In the morning your best friend tract. The most prevalent subtype is ul-
because you are generally healthy. You drops you off at the hospital. Before cerative colitis, in which the inflammation
exercise and eat right, you get enough you know it, you are lying on a cold, is present in the distal colon and rectum
sleep. What could it possibly be? You de- hard table, in only a gown, and feeling and affects the outermost layer of the
cide you have to make an appointment sleepy from the anesthesia. tissue (an inflammation of this region
with your doctor in the morning. When you wake up you are lying in with similar symptoms, called acute coli-
In the doctor’s office, you explain a room. A few moments later, the doc- tis, can be brought on by a bacterial or
the situation but insist that you are tor enters and begins reviewing your fungal infection, but this illness usually
healthy and take good care of yourself.
The doctor begins some tests: poking,
prodding, listening, and looking. You
are uncomfortable and nervous.
Nearly 60,000 individuals each year are
The doctor informs you that you need
a colonoscopy, which will require prepa- diagnosed with inflammatory bowel
ration, light anesthesia, and someone
to drop you off and pick you up. The disease, a chronic illness that affects
procedure is scheduled for Friday. All
week, you experience the same nightly almost 2 million individuals in the
ordeal, and now it also has begun hap-
pening during the day while you are at
work. You have to sheepishly run out of
United States alone.
an 11 a.m. meeting to use the bathroom.
Only now, you are also noticing that
there is a little blood in the toilet. colonoscopy with you. They found clears up after one round of treatment).
significant inflammation of your co- Crohn’s disease, the second type, is char-
lon, and that is what is causing your acterized by inflammation affecting the
Carl M. Schoellhammer is a Quinquennial Fellow abdominal issues. entire thickness of the GI tissue and can
in Robert Langer’s laboratory at the Koch Institute You have just been diagnosed with occur in any part of the GI tract from the
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where inflammatory bowel disease, as are mouth to the anus. Ulcerative colitis and
he received his PhD. He was the winner of the 2015 nearly 60,000 individuals in the United Crohn’s disease are not mutually exclu-
Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Inventor Prize States each year. This chronic disease sive; many patients have both types.
and the 2016 National Collegiate Inventors Com- affects almost 2 million individuals in Patients with this disease experi-
petition, and was named a 2016 Forbes 30 Under
the United States alone. The disease is ence life-altering symptoms that have
30 in Healthcare. Robert Langer is the David H.
Koch Institute Professor at MIT and holds more
characterized by inflammation of the a tremendous negative effect on their
than 1,100 issued and pending patents worldwide. gastrointestinal (GI) tract. And the in- quality of life. Worse, onset and diag-
C. Giovanni Traverso is an instructor of medicine flammation leads to injury of the or- nosis typically occur in one’s 20s, which
at Harvard Medical School and a gastroenterolo- gan, impairing its function. As a result, means that patients must live with
gist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Email for symptoms can include significant ab- these symptoms their entire adult life.
Schoellhammer: cschoell@mit.edu
_________ dominal pain, diarrhea with the pres- Our colons are responsible for absorb-
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catch: The enema or suppository has to

be retained in the colon overnight.
Our GI tract is covered in a thick
mucus layer that helps to protect the
tissue. When drugs are administered
to the GI tract, the mucus layer can be
somewhat of a barrier to the drugs.
The drugs must slowly make their way
through the mucus layer before they
get to the tissue. That’s why enemas
and suppositories must be retained for
many hours, to give the drugs enough
time to get through the mucus and
start entering the inflamed tissue so
that they can have a beneficial effect
and reduce the inflammation.
Because of the need for extended re-
tention, patients are typically instruct-
ed to administer the enema before bed,
because lying down can make retain-
ing the enema easier. After emptying
their bowels and lying down, patients
then take a small applicator that looks
like a large eyedropper and inserts the
tip in the rectum so that they can in-
fuse the fluid. They must then stay ly-
ing down for as long as possible.
The entire regimen is a precari-
ous and uncomfortable experience
that must be endured every night
for weeks or even months at a time.
And when patients are suffering from
active disease and are experiencing
urgency and frequent bowel move-
ments, they need the medication the
most, but that’s when retention is al-
most impossible.
As a result of ineffective treatment,
70 percent of patients are diagnosed
as having uncontrolled disease. This
sustained, recurring injury and in-
flammation eventually destroys the
colon, and 20 percent of patients end
up needing to have parts of their co-
lon surgically removed.
Science Photo Library The increasing severity of the disease
A colored x-ray of the abdomen of a 30-year-old man with an extreme case of ulcerative colitis over time is enabled by poor control of
shows inflammation and ulceration of the colon that causes diarrhea, blood in the stool, and the disease when it is first diagnosed,
severe abdominal pain. The disease can be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, but these which is predominantly a result of dif-
are often difficult for patients to hold in the colon for enough time to have an effect. As the
ficulties with retention of the enema,
disease progresses, surgical removal of the colon is sometimes required.
resulting in little therapeutic delivery
to the site of inflammation. What these
ing a significant amount of water. When options involves trying to get large patients need is a method of delivering
this water is not absorbed, it leads to doses of anti-inflammatory medica- the anti-inflammatory drugs directly
diarrhea, incontinence, and frequent tions directly to the affected site. For to the site of inflammation without the
bowel movements, potentially up to 20 ulcerative colitis, in which the inflam- need for retaining the enema. Such an
times a day. It is difficult to imagine be- mation is present in the distal colon and option could potentially enable greater
ing able to live one’s life the same way rectum, treatment regimens often in- control of their disease, and would al-
after diagnosis, given that patients have clude the use of medicated enemas and low self-administration of their treat-
to constantly manage their symptoms suppositories, which are administered ment on the go instead of being lim-
and plan activities around their disease. at home by the patients themselves. If ited to at-home application when lying
As is the case for most inflammatory these treatments are strictly adhered down, and thus would lead to a signifi-
conditions, the first line of treatment to, they can be effective. But there is a cant improvement in quality of life.
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shown that low-frequency ultrasound,

with a frequency below 100 kilohertz,
is most useful, because of a phenome-
non known as acoustic cavitation. When
ultrasound waves travel through flu-
id, the varying pressure gradient can
spontaneously grow small bubbles in
the fluid. These bubbles oscillate and
grow in size because of the oscillating
pressure field produced by the ultra-
sound. Some bubbles actually grow
so large that they can no longer sup-
port themselves, and they implode
in a phenomenon known as transient
cavitation. In this case, the surrounding
fluid rushes into the previously empty
space of the bubble, creating a microjet.
CNRI/Science Source These microjets are tiny, powerful
A light micrograph taken of a thin, stained tissue section of the mucosal lining of a human streams of fluid that travel at very high
colon affected by ulcerative colitis shows one of the ulcers (center top) that give the disease its velocities. When these jets hit tissue,
name. These breaks in the lining of the organ fail to heal and become inflamed. they can painlessly and temporarily
make it more permeable and propel
Speedy Delivery cal enhancers could actually “propel” therapeutics directly into the tissue.
The problem of how to achieve ultra- the medication into the tissue. As a result, we have investigated the
rapid delivery is an interesting and Our work has focused specifically use of ultrasound for ultrarapid drug
challenging question that we have on the use of ultrasound to achieve delivery in the rectum.
been tackling in our laboratory at the this ultrarapid delivery. Ultrasound
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. is a pressure wave, similar to sound Ultrasound Enablers
Our research has focused on the use of waves, but with a frequency above our We created a prototype device capable
physical enhancers to potentially enable limit of detection, which is approxi- of administering an enema while si-
ultrarapid delivery of drugs locally to mately 20 kilohertz. multaneously emitting low-frequency
the GI tract. Physical enhancers are Most individuals are familiar with ultrasound through the enema, to in-
technologies that help drug delivery the use of ultrasound in the clinic for duce transient cavitation within the
using mechanisms not limited to pas- imaging. Ultrasonic imaging uses inner walls of the rectum.
sive diffusion. A traditional enema, for very high frequencies, typically above We have tested this device in mul-
example, is delivered by the natural 1 megahertz, to visualize structures tiple animal models, including both
diffusion of the drug through the thick within the body. For drug delivery ap- rodents and pigs. Rigorous safety and
mucus layer lining the GI tract. Physi- plications, our group and others have tolerability studies were performed to
ensure that tissues would abide the
treatment well. We tested single ad-
ministration, and also daily adminis-
tration for up to five weeks. We then
analyzed tissue health by observing
tiny tissue samples imaged using a mi-
croscope. Our observations found no
evidence of damage to the tissue lo-
cally. Moreover, we looked at potential
injury to all internal organs and found
no evidence of any adverse effects.
We also analyzed the potential for
bacteria in the gut to inadvertently cross
the tissue layer while it is made more
permeable by the ultrasound, and to
get into the bloodstream, but we found
no evidence of this happening. Indeed,
the microjets that are formed as a result
of the ultrasound treatment are much
A wave of ultrasound traveling through a fluid causes oscillations in pressure that can cause
smaller than even the tiniest bacteria. In
bubbles to form and grow. When these bubbles become too large to sustain themselves, they
can suddenly implode, creating a microjet of fluid, as seen at the center of this collapsing addition, even more aggressive proce-
bubble. These tiny streams of liquid may be microscopic, but they move at very high veloci- dures—such as tissue biopsy collection
ties. When the microjets hit tissue, they can temporarily make the tissue more permeable to over the course of a routine colonoscopy,
medications. In the gastrointestinal tract, the microjets can help medications get around which can result in significant tissue
protective layers of mucus to treat inflamed tissue. (Photograph courtesy of Lawrence Crum.) injury—are well tolerated and rarely re-
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SCIMAT/Science Photo Library
Mesalamine is an anti-inflammatory drug used Macroscopic (top row) and microscopic (bottom row) views show ultrasound for the treatment of
to treat inflammatory bowel disease, because it ulcerative colitis. Treatment is started by inserting the enema syringe into the inflamed colon (left),
acts locally in the large intestine. It seems to in- and an enema is instilled simultaneously with low-frequency ultrasound that causes cavitation
hibit the production of inflammatory substanc- bubbles (middle left), which implode and drive microjets of drug (blue) into the inflamed tissue.
es from certain immune cells. Its formula is After treatment, the device is removed and the drug begins to reduce inflammation (middle right).
C7H7NO3, with carbon shown in teal, hydrogen After a course of treatment, inflammation is resolved (right). (Image from C. Schoellhammer et al.,
in green, nitrogen in blue, and oxygen in red. Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery 13:1045, reprinted with permission of Taylor & Francis.)
Bibliography
Ultrasound was found to significantly Danese, S., and C. Fiocchi. 2011. Ulcerative
colitis. New England Journal of Medicine
365:1713–1725.
enhance the benefit of the treatment, and Kappelman, M. D., et al. 2007. The prevalence
and geographic distribution of Crohn’s
even completely removed signs of the disease and ulcerative colitis in the United
States. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatol-
ogy 5:1424–1429.
disease in animals receiving it. Nelson, D. B. 2003. Infectious disease com-
plications of GI endoscopy: Part II, exog-
enous infections. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
57:695–711.
sult in complications. In mice, we further taneous use of ultrasound further un- Neurath, M. F. 2014. Cytokines in inflamma-
profiled cytokines, molecules that can derscores the rapidity of delivery of tory bowel disease. Nature Reviews Immu-
act as danger signals to immune cells, the mesalamine into the tissue, where nology 14:329–342.
in tissue, and we observed no change it can begin reducing inflammation. Polat,, B. E., D. Hart, R. Langer, and D. Blank-
in type or amount of cytokines present More recently we have begun ex- schtein. 2011. Ultrasound-mediated trans-
dermal drug delivery: Mechanisms, scope,
after ultrasound treatment. ploring the delivery of more complex
and emerging trends. Journal of Controlled
We tested the therapeutic benefit of therapeutics, such as DNA and RNA. Release 152:330–348.
the treatment in a mouse model of GI These molecules hold great promise Karagozian, R., and R. Burakoff. 2007. The role
inflammation, by conducting an ex- but have posed significant challenges of mesalamine in the treatment of ulcer-
periment in which we compared treat- to creating therapies. In part the limi- ative colitis. Therapeutics and Clinical Risk
ment with standard enemas using the tations include the delicate nature of Management 3:893–903.
anti-inflammatory drug mesalamine, these molecules and their susceptibil- Schoellhammer, C. M., et al. 2015. Ultrasound-
mediated gastrointestinal drug delivery.
with treatment using the mesalamine ity to degradation, as well as the need Science Translational Medicine 7:310ra168.
enema in combination with ultra- to get this material not just into tissue, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa5937.
sound. Ultrasound was found to sig- but into specific cells within the tissue. Sandborn, W. J., et al. 2009. Colectomy rate
nificantly enhance the benefit of treat- We have observed promising results on comparison after treatment of ulcerative
ment, and even completely removed the delivery of naked, unencapsulated colitis with placebo or infliximab. Gastroen-
terology 137:1250–1260.
signs of the disease in those animals RNA locally into the GI tracts of animal
receiving ultrasound. models, something that has not been
Mesalamine enemas alone were reported to our knowledge. The ability
found to have no therapeutic benefit to potentially deliver a broad-range of
compared with animals receiving no therapies without the need for tedious For relevant Web links, consult this
treatment, an observation that has pre- formulation development might enable issue of American Scientist Online:
viously been reported in mice; this re- a new treatment paradigm for GI-based
http://www.americanscientist.org/
sult is because gastric exit times are diseases. Enabling more efficacious issues/id.124/past.aspx
very rapid in these animals, reducing treatments that can successfully be used
the time of absorption. The tremen- by patients would open a new door
dous benefit observed with the simul- into an often overlooked set of diseases.
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The Prospects of Artificial

Endosymbioses
The use of beneficial microbes holds promise for public health and food production,
but has trade-offs that are not yet fully understood.
Ryan Kerney, Zakiya Whatley, Sarah Rivera, and David Hewitt
I
n the engineering of biological defend against herbivores; in insects, as genetic modifications, even though
systems, it can be said unequivo- their presence or absence may deter- naturally occurring endosymbioses are
cally that art imitates nature. mine gender or population structure, known to have had large and sweep-
Nearly all efforts to control hu- and they are often needed for special- ing effects on ecology and evolution in
man health, the environment, and ized diets; they allow many lineages to the past. Although we are not arguing
agriculture involve the appropriation manufacture their own food through against these new applications here,
of evolutionary processes. These pro- photosynthesis or chemosynthesis; and we believe that it is useful to put the
cesses typically originate through in- within our domain of life (eukaryotes), ethical contrasts between SMOs and
cremental changes in the genome that they are the origin of the organelles GMOs into perspective.
are sustained and promoted through that manufacture energy storage mol- Surprisingly, the study of artificial
natural selection in descendant lineag- ecules through photosynthesis (chloro- endosymbioses has a long history.
es. Recombinant DNA technology and plasts) and convert this energy for use However, an appreciation for the im-
more recently genome editing help us in our cells (mitochondria). Indeed, plications of early research from the
imitate these genome-level changes in chloroplasts and mitochondria are 1930s has emerged only recently.
engineered systems. However, the dra- examples of just how successful and
matic evolutionary innovations that game-changing endosymbionts can be. A Pioneering Artificial Endosymbiosis
are attributed to singular beneficial The power of endosymbioses to lead Biologists still know little about how
endosymbioses, in which a mutual- to innovations has not escaped the at- new endosymbioses become estab-
ist microbial cell inhabits a host’s cell, tention of modern bioengineers. The lished, a point that intrigued the great
are also worthy of imitation. For ex- establishment of a novel symbiont in an invertebrate zoologists Ralph and Mil-
ample, researchers are studying how otherwise naive host has the potential to dred Buschbaum when they set up a
to engineer endosymbiotic bacteria to radically alter the host cell physiology pioneering artificial symbiosis in 1934.
control mosquito-borne viral diseases, in many ways, without directly affect- The Buschbaums knew that many
tweak nitrogen-fixing microbes to help ing the host genome. These approaches protozoans, jellyfish, corals, and flat-
crop plants, and treat macular degen- have a range of applications, which in- worms were able to survive without
eration, just to name a few projects that clude public health, agriculture, medi- feeding because of their algal symbi-
are under way. cine, and basic research. As biologists onts, which make food through photo-
Endosymbioses have arisen inde- better understand these relationships, synthesis. In some instances, such as
pendently many times in nature. They the potential grows for people to move in giant clams, these algae live inside
are essential for many plants, which endosymbionts from one organism to specialized tissues, but not within the
use them to take up vital nutrients or another to transfer or establish novel cells, of the host. However, the major-
benefits in a new association. ity of these unique invertebrates har-
Ryan Kerney and Zakiya Whatley are both assistant While genetically modified organ- bor intracellular algae (often belonging
professors of biology at Gettysburg College. Kerney isms (GMOs) are often highly con- to the genera Symbiodinium or Chlo-
works on the cellular mechanisms of acquiring and troversial, the prospects of co-opting rella, or to “blue-green” cyanobacteria).
maintaining an algal endosymbiont in the spotted symbiotic relationships are apparently These photosynthetic cells reside in-
salamander; Whatley works on biofilm forma- more ethically palatable. Pedro Gundel side cells of their host and provide
© Michael Plewka, _______
plingfactory.de
tion and mechanisms of DNA replication. Sarah and colleagues coined the term sym- simple sugars, lipids, or amino acids
Rivera is an undergraduate biology student in the biotically modified organisms (SMOs) in
Gettysburg College class of 2018 and is a research Many marine invertebrates, such as this hy-
2013 to describe artificial fungal endo- dra, have coevolved with endosymbiotic al-
assistant in Dr. Kerney’s laboratory. David Hewitt
is a consultant who works with local and state
symbionts (endophytes) in grasses, gae that produce food for the host. As biolo-
governments and nonprofit organizations on land even though by that time the approach gists better understand these relationships,
management and related public health issues; he is had already expanded to other appli- the potential grows for moving endosymbi-
a research associate at the Academy of Natural Sci- cations. To date, SMOs have not en- onts between organisms to transfer or estab-
ences. Email for Kerney: _____________
rkerney@gettysburg.edu. countered the same ethical scrutiny lish their benefits in a new association.
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Pioneering invertebrate zoologists Mildred and Ralph Buschbaum (left and right, respectively) scriptive research on these rare para-
were the first to create an artificial endosymbiosis in the lab by demonstrating that such rela- sitic Chlorella infections, and the mecha-
tionships can be induced in vertebrate cell cultures. (Photographs courtesy of Vicki Pearse.) nisms that cause this alga to become
harmful are currently unknown.
that are generated through photosyn- 1937 paper in Physiological Zoology a But as the Buschbaums’ and others’
thesis. The algae in turn benefit from “marked” effect on the growth and work on Chlorella demonstrates, the
the host’s carbon dioxide and nitroge- “health” of both partners, and that re- line between mutualist and parasite
nous wastes, and from the intracellular sult was later quantified by growth can be vague. The development of any
refugia, making these interactions measurements. The co-cultured algae endosymbiosis includes the trade-offs
mutualistic endosymbioses. The Busch- were greener and more abundant than of burden and benefit, as well as the
baums were also aware that similar controls, and the mixed vertebrate unique evolutionary trajectory of an
algal associations were not known for tissue cultures remained healthy for endosymbiotic microbe. These merit
vertebrates. So they decided to form twice as long. The Buschbaums also close scrutiny as artificial endosymbio-
an artificial symbiosis in the lab with noted something entirely unexpected: ses are increasingly employed in many
cultured vertebrate tissue explants and Embryonic chicken fibroblasts, which novel applications—and some are
the unicellular green alga Chlorella. are cells derived from connective tis- already in use, often under outdated
The Buschbaums’ co-cultures of sue, “occasionally took up” the algal regulations for preventing unintended
Chlorella with chicken and amphibian cells in culture. This adoption created environmental or health consequences.
cells revealed an apparent benefit to not only an “artificial symbiosis” but
both partners. Although the exchange an artificial endosymbiosis in cells that Control of Mosquito-Borne Diseases
of metabolites was not measured, the otherwise have no business acquiring Some of the most encouraging re-
Buschbaums did describe in their foreign microbes. These fibroblasts had search on artificial endosymbioses in-
reduced fat stores and “appeared to be volves mosquitoes. The use of a bacte-
much healthier” than controls. This rial endosymbiont called Wolbachia in
uniquely engineered endosymbiosis novel mosquito hosts is rapidly being
appeared to replicate both the recipro- developed to control several infectious
cal benefits as well as the intimate cel- diseases, including dengue, Zika, chi-
lular associations found in marine in- kungunya and, to a lesser extent, ma-
vertebrates and microbial protists (for laria. There is already a tremendous
example, Paramecium). However, their amount of basic research on Wolbachia,
experimentally derived endosymbiosis primarily because they have unique
was a first for vertebrate cells. abilities to spread through a host popu-
The Buschbaums had stumbled lation by manipulating genders. This
upon a discovery that was not fully ap- common symbiont of many species
preciated until many decades later. Lit- of insects and nematodes can be a re-
tle is known even today about the rules markably well-tolerated “reproductive
of engagement that establish coopera- parasite” or even a mutualist, depend-
tive, rather than parasitic, intracellular ing on the particular Wolbachia strain
interactions. Even the Chlorella algae and its host. Wolbachia lives inside the
In the Buschbaums’ experiments, the unicel-
lular green algae in the genus Chlorella (col- they used to form their artificial sym- cells of its hosts’ organs, often in the
ored green here) were occasionally taken up by biosis can occasionally become para- ovaries or testes, and it can be trans-
cultures of embryonic chicken connective tis- sitic in rare cases of sheep, dog, gazelle, mitted to all offspring of an infected fe-
sue cells, as shown in this image from the bi- or even human infections reported in male. The bacteria also often abort the
ologists’ 1937 paper in Physiological Zoology. the medical literature. There is only de- development of offspring from infected
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normal inheritance gene drive inheritance Wolbachia inheritance
only male infected with Wolbachia:

No offspring.
Female aborts the eggs.
0% chance
inheritance of repair
inheritance of conventional altered
a gene drive: only female infected, or both male
gene: Single copy inherited from
Altered gene also and female infected with Wolbachia:
transformed parent. Fifty percent
contains mecha- cut Wolbachia-infected offspring.
chance of transmission.
nism to convert
the unaltered copy
50% inherited from ~100%
other parent. More chance
chance than 50 percent
chance of
> 50%
transmission. chance
altered wild gene Wolbachia-

gene type drive infected
Under normal, Mendelian inheritance, an altered gene allele will only be passed on to 50 percent of offspring. But recent developments in
gene-editing technology have generated “gene drive” inheritance. In these lines the altered gene has the ability to copy itself into the match-
ing, unaltered chromosome. This change makes the altered gene spread rapidly through a population. Endosymbiotic bacteria of the genus
Wolbachia also control their own rate of inheritance. Wolbachia bacteria are maternally inherited. Wolbachia-infected males that mate with
unifected females result in offspring that never fully develop. But Wolbachia-infected females that mate with uninfected males result in all
offspring inheriting the endosymbiont.
males mating with uninfected females ful SMOs have also been established endosymbioses exploit the unique bi-
through a process called cytoplasmic with the related Aedes albopictus and ology of Wolbachia and its relationship
incompatibility. Both of these effects the malaria host Anopheles stephensi (al- with the host insect.
promote the rapid spread of Wolbachia though with limited inhibition of the Depending on the bacterial strain
infection throughout a population. malaria parasite). employed, the Wolbachia–A. aegypti
Although Wolbachia infections have Australia has seen two successful artificial endosymbiosis results in a
been found in other mosquito spe- releases of Wolbachia SMO mosqui- shortened life span for the female mos-
cies, there is no native infection in the toes to control the devastating viral quitoes (and to a lesser extent for the
dengue-transmitting species, Aedes disease dengue. These efforts began male ones) or a decreased ability to
aegypti, or most malaria-transmitting with multiple small-scale trials in 2011 harbor or transmit viruses such as den-
Anopheles species. By microinjecting and expanded to a city-wide trial in gue. Subsequent studies have shown
Wolbachia cells into mosquito embryos, Townsville, Australia, in October 2014. that Wolbachia infections limit the trans-
Australian researcher Scott O’Neill This trial was followed by expansion mission of the Zika and chikungun-
and his team have produced artificial to other Queensland sites. Wolbachia- ya viruses as well. The virus control
endosymbioses with multiple strains infected mosquito projects are cur- mechanisms are not well known but
that are sustained as these maternally- rently under way in Brazil, Colombia, appear to occur inside the host cells.
transferred intracellular symbionts are Indonesia, and Vietnam, where this Endosymbiotic Wolbachia organisms
passed down from one Aedes aegypti pathogen and related viruses present a rarely share this space with viruses in a
generation to the next. Similar success- more pressing problem. These artificial mosquito or in other insect hosts. This
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likelihood of virus Cayman Islands, Brazil, and Panama

transmission that use sterilized GMO males. With
a small trial proposed in Florida, they
virus Wolbachia absent Wolbachia present have recently focused on public edu-
cation and outreach. However, their
Zika ~70 percent 0 percent reception hasn’t been universally posi-
tive. On November 8, 2016, residents
Chikungunya 61 percent 20 percent
of Key Haven in Monroe County cast
referendum votes against the use of
sterilized GMO A. aegypti to control
Dengue 100 percent 63 percent dengue and Zika in their area. Even
after the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis-
Endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria can be used to control viral diseases, because their pres- tration (with support from the Centers
ence reduces the likelihood that an infected mosquito will transmit a virus. (Data from: for Disease Control and Prevention and
Aliota, M. T., et al. 2016. Scientific Reports 6:28792; Aliota, M. T., et al. 2016. PLOS Neglected the Environmental Protection Agency
Tropical Diseases doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004677; and Bian, G., et al. 2010. PLOS Pathogen [EPA]) found no significant environ-
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000833.) mental effects of using genetically mod-
ified mosquitoes, there was a split vote.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control
is apparently due to resource competi- community outreach and transparent District of Monroe County recently ap-
tion for ions or lipids, as well as some ecological testing was essential for the proved the release of genetically modi-
intrinsic inhibition of viral replication adoption of the SMO dengue-control fied mosquitoes despite local opposi-
through a currently unknown mecha- system. By all accounts these efforts tion in Key Haven, the initial proposed
nism. Although there is some evidence were a thorough assessment of poten- release site. The board has decided to
for an up-regulation of the insect’s im- tial off-target impacts and an example continue with the release at currently
mune response when Wolbachia organ- of vital community engagement. undetermined sites in the Florida Keys.
isms are present, experimental models The acceptance and use of Wolbachia A second approach to controlling Ae-
in the fruit fly Drosophila suggest that in mosquito vector control has several des mosquitoes uses artificial Wolbachia
the bacteria take a more passive role in direct parallels with GMO approaches infections that mimic the sterile-male
reducing viral load. toward the same ends. However, the approach. In 2015 the company Mos-
In Australian neighborhoods ethical considerations for each ap- quitoMate from Kentucky test-released
where Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes proach have been weighed differently Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes in
were released in 2011, the bacteria’s in public opinion and regulatory over- Los Angeles. When they mate with an
frequency in resampled mosquitoes sight. Currently, both avenues are un- uninfected female, their offspring fail
was as high as 90 percent. Still, it is der exploration either to limit a mos- to develop, so they are effectively ster-
too early to know what effect wide- quito’s ability to transfer a pathogen ile. Florida appears to be more open
spread Wolbachia infection will have or to sterilize male mosquitoes and to this SMO approach than it is to the
on the long-term rate of dengue trans- release them into a wild population. release of Oxitec’s GMO mosquitoes.
mission. Researchers are monitoring Such control efforts are not without The EPA granted an extension of their
these initial releases closely in hopes precedent. From the 1950s through the Experimental Use Permit for Wolbachia-
that the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes 1970s, the release of x-ray–sterilized infected A. aegypti in September 2016
are not at a selective disadvantage to males effectively controlled the screw- in Monroe County, and the mayor of
local uninfected populations and that worm, a devastating parasitic maggot Miami-Dade said that mosquito control
their virus-suppressing effects contin- in humans and livestock. Subsequent had already contacted the University
ue over multiple generations in these sterile male eradication programs of Kentucky to conduct a trial of ster-
novel wild hosts. Results to date have have been used against multiple insect ile SMOs as part of the state’s Zika re-
been encouraging, since no dengue pests, including mosquitoes. sponse, according to the Miami Herald.
outbreaks have occurred in these areas Genetic modifications of A. aegypti Use of Wolbachia offers an alternative
since the releases. have led to the development and re- to another promising but even more
However, in advance of releasing lease of male mosquitoes that are ef- controversial genetic control technique.
Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, O’Neill fectively sterilized GMOs. This process Mosquitoes can be genetically modi-
and his colleagues completed exten- requires a dominant lethal gene cluster fied to become worse hosts for a hu-
sive testing to measure the ecological in male mosquitoes. These male mos- man pathogen. However, spreading
impacts of the mosquitoes with Wol- quitoes then pass on their lethal gene these modifications through wild pop-
bachia on regional food webs, as well cluster to all of their offspring, so that ulations is difficult. Establishing them
as the their potential to transmit the none end up living. Because these lab- in a population requires a gene drive
bacteria to other arthropod or human reared mosquitoes competitively breed that will create transmission rates high-
hosts. Both were determined to be neg- with females once they are released er than those of Mendelian inheritance.
ligible. They also addressed commu- into the wild, the high numbers of un- The most prominent recent advances
nity concerns through focus groups, viable offspring result in a profound in gene drive technology exploit a
thorough interviews with identified crash in the population. sequence-specific DNA targeting
stakeholders, and telephone surveys Oxitec is a company with success- mechanism in bacteria called CRISPR-
of random community members. This ful mosquito-control campaigns in the Cas9 (CRISPR stands for clustered
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regularly interspaced short palindromic

repeats). This technology has revolu-
symbiotically genetically
tionized precision genome editing. In
modified organisms modified organisms
the CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive approach,
the introduced DNA on one chromo- endophyte
some (say, from the father) contains
Cry gene
the ingredients to manipulate DNA on
the matching chromosome from the
mother. Both the foreign transgenes
that mediate CRISPR-Cas9 editing and
those that affect the transmission of plant genome
diseases are transferred from one par-
ent’s chromosome to the other. This re- herbivory resistance
sults in 100-percent transmission of the
transgene, which eventually spreads nitrogen-fixing bacteria
through an entire population.
nitrogenase genes
A recent National Academies of Sci-
ences conference focused on ethical
concerns regarding the use of gene
drives to spread transgenes in wild
populations. Although the mecha- plant genome
nisms are different (and more specif-
ic), the ability of a gene drive to self- nitrogen fixation
propagate is similar to the ability of
viral infections to spread. The National arbuscular mycorrhizae
Academies of Sciences urged extreme cspB gene
caution in the development of these
techniques for fear of off-target ef-
fects. For instance, it is unclear wheth-
er these self-propagating transgenes
would have the ability to jump into plant genome
new nonmosquito genomes, including
potentially our own. drought tolerance
The Wolbachia approach to control-
ling A. aegypti transmission of viruses
has similarities to, as well as dramatic
differences from, the gene-drive ap-
proach. Maternal inheritance in Wolba-
chia organisms and their ability to es-
sentially induce sterility when infected Naturally occurring endosymbionts are integral to the functioning of some plants and could
males mate with uninfected females be harnessed to improve crop performance. Fungi that live in aboveground tissue called endo-
phytes can secrete chemicals that improve herbivore deterrence. Bacteria and fungi in plant root
means that they are similarly capable
cells can fix atmospheric nitrogen and aid in water retention, respectively. There are genes that
of spreading through a population can also provide these benefits, sometimes with much greater control over potential off-target
extremely rapidly. Despite advances, effects. And in some cases, potential symbiotically modified organisms (SMOs) also require
gene-drive technology will likely be genetic modification for an endosymbiosis to work in a new host. Nevertheless, some SMOs
held up by ethical concerns for the are already on the market with little resistance, whereas GMOs face greater ethical scrutiny.
foreseeable future, whereas Wolbachia-
based mosquito control is already in ranted, there remains room for caution. the most successfully infectious bacteri-
use. In A. aegypti, Wolbachia infection is Wolbachia-containing mosquitoes are re- um known. However, Wolbachia species
a comparable substitute for gene driv- productively less fit than the wild-type have coevolved with their native hosts.
ers to control transmission of these vi- mosquito and could be vulnerable to Whether the bacteria maintain the same
ruses. However, to date, similar Anoph- competition and prone to eventual loss types of relationships with novel mos-
eles mosquito SMOs have exhibited in the wild population, in which case quito hosts remains to be seen.
limited success in reducing the trans- multiple releases might be required. In
mission of malaria through Wolbachia addition, the persistence of Wolbachia’s Symbiotically Modified Crops
infection. Unlike the Wolbachia SMO, antiviral effects has not been evalu- Controversy surrounding GMOs and
the CRISPR-based gene drive approach ated through any longitudinal study. their effects on human lives is most
to malaria control using antibody trans- This persistence may be limited by the prominent in agriculture, where there
genes has great potential, although continued evolution of the Wolbachia is already widespread use of genetically
projects using this approach are cur- bacteria, the virus pathogen, or the modified crops, including soy, corn, and
rently also held up by ethical concerns. mosquito host. Because of Wolbachia’s cotton. Transgenes from distantly relat-
Although the current excitement maternal inheritance and ability to ed organisms confer resistance to herbi-
about the Wolbachia intervention is war- spread through a population, it is likely cides or diseases, generate insecticides,
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The Gray Area Between Parasitic and yield increases or decreases of aboveground plant biomass,
depending on which pair of partners was in play. The rela-
Mutualistic Relationships tive benefits of the endosymbiotic partner change through
manipulations of their co-culture conditions, through host–
S
ymbiotic relationships change over time, and biolo- symbiont specificity, or over subsequent generations. There-
gists will need to understand and manage that change fore, maintaining artificial endosymbioses over time may be
if people want to put such relationships to deliberate problematic, because both strict resource codependence on
use. One of the biggest challenges is that parasitic relation- metabolic byproducts and inheritance of the endosymbiont
ships develop into mutualist ones and vice versa, so that from parent to offspring are likely required for persistent
relationships that at first seem useful can end up countering beneficial associations.
the human intent. Longitudinal studies of symbiotic and So how can a mutual exchange relationship be main-
parasitic interactions reveal some of these transitions. For tained? The consideration of new innovations should focus
instance, the classic work in the late 1970s of Kwang Jeon on the features of consistently beneficial endosymbionts
from the University of Tennessee demonstrated a transi- (such as mitochondria and chloroplasts). Intracellular mi-
tion from parasite to obligate mutualist in bacteria infecting crobes that consistently benefit their hosts tend to be “pris-
single-celled amoebas over multiple generations. Although oners” of the host cell microenvironment. This relationship
the selective pressure for the transition from parasite to mu- may be maintained through ensuring transmission from
tualist is not clear, the amoeba hosts not only began to tol- one generation to the next, a tight metabolic integration, or
erate their bacterial parasites, but also eventually required potentially the transfer of DNA from the endosymbiont to
their presence for survival. the host with associated genome reductions in the former.
The opposite path, from mutualist to parasite, has been Replicating these features may become a useful tool in en-
correlated with changing circumstances in a different sys- suring stable interactions in engineered systems.
tem. The symbiotic alga Symbiodinium microadriaticum, However, replicating these features in any system would
whose presence is required for the survival of some jelly- not be trivial and would likely require extensive genetic ma-
fish, has been shown to transition from mutualist to para- nipulations. These could be done by knocking out essential
site depending on the mode of symbiont acquisition. A genes from the microbial symbiont (such as an endophyte
Symbiodinium alga that is passed down from one genera- or a nitrogen-fixing bacterium) and inserting those genes
tion to the next ends up being beneficial, but when algal into the host genome (along with components that would
strains are transmitted between host jellyfish of the same target them to the microbe). There are several fascinating
species, they can potentially be parasitic. Similarly, biologist examples of convergent gene transfer in sap-feeding insects.
John Klironomos at the University of Guelph showed that Similar engineered transfers could tether the microbe’s
different mycorrhizal plant–fungus combinations could metabolic needs to the host genome’s survival and success.
protect from drought, or—potentially— cular mycorrhizae, are fungi that enter algal blooms and oxygen depletion in
help provide micronutrients to improve the plant root’s cell walls, where they aquatic ecosystems. Because nitrogen
human well-being. These approaches can shift nutrients from soil to the plant, is already abundant in the atmosphere,
continue to be under intense public and in turn gain carbohydrates made but not in a form that most plants can
scrutiny, with many detractors con- by those plants. Finally, endophytes, use, nitrogen-fixing symbionts reduce
cerned with off-target effects on ecosys- which are fungi that live in leaves or the required amount of applied fer-
tems or on human health, as well as other aboveground plant tissues, are tilizer by making the plentiful atmo-
commercial concerns regarding intel- also widespread and critical to plant spheric nitrogen usable to their hosts.
lectual property rights and agricultural ecology, with effects on water manage- Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are already a
industry consolidation. Given the ongo- ment and resistance to herbivory. All major component of modern agronom-
ing arguments surrounding GMOs, a three categories of these symbionts ic systems. Unlike Wolbachia, nitrogen-
potential role in agronomic technology are critical to ecosystem functioning fixing bacteria are not inherited but
for SMOs could be a less resisted path across an astonishing breadth of bio- instead are acquired from the environ-
to feeding the world safely and sustain- logical communities, climatic regimes, ment through the roots, thereby confer-
ably. But SMOs may help address public and levels of human impact in rural, ring nitrogen-fixing capability to alders
fears without affecting actual risk. suburban, and urban habitats. All are and legumes, and are thus a major rea-
Naturally occurring bacterial and currently used extensively in modern son that leguminous cover plants are
fungal endosymbioses are integral to agricultural systems. These symbionts’ used extensively on crop fields.
the functioning of agricultural eco- uses can supplement or even replace Establishing nitrogen-fixing bacteria
systems and already provide opportu- the role of genetic modifications that in novel hosts could significantly re-
nities for engineered systems or poten- have potential for expanded capabili- duce nitrogenous fertilizer application
tial for transformative advances. One ties, including genetic modifications to and subsequent increased burden of
of the leading areas of research focuses the symbiont or genetic and symbiotic nitrogen on adjacent and hydrological-
on nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in- modifications to one host. ly linked ecosystems. However, novel
side the roots of legumes (and alder Nitrogen-fixing bacteria can help to host–symbiont pairing would likely re-
trees) and “fix” atmospheric nitrogen allay one of the most environmentally quire extensive genetic manipulations,
into biologically available forms of this impactful practices of modern agricul- because the establishment of intracel-
essential nutrient, such as ammonia. A ture: the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, lular, bacterial nitrogen-fixers requires
second group of endosymbionts, arbus- which can lead to runoff that causes complex signaling between both sym-
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biont and host. The factors involved,

which include bacterial signaling pro-
teins such as nodulation (Nod) factors
that specifically activate host signaling
pathways (called SYM pathways), are
under intensive research and may pro-
vide inroads into nonlegume uptake
of symbiotic bacterial nitrogen-fixers
through genetic modifications to either
the bacteria, the plant, or both. These
plants would then be regulated under
the same governmental oversight as
other genetically engineered plants,
thereby reducing the “non-GMO” ben-
efit of those SMOs.
Several applied fungal endosymbio-
ses are already commercially available
in agriculture. Numerous strains and
communities of mycorrhizae (some The only known naturally occuring endosymbiosis in vertebrates is a mutualism between the
kinds live inside plant cell walls; others green alga Oophila amblystomatis and embryos of the salamander Ambystoma maculatum.
live outside them) are available com- (Image courtesy of Roger Hangarter of Indiana University.)
mercially for use in residential and ag-
ricultural use, with different products and a low-oxygen microhabitat that corrhizae or nitrogen-fixing bacteria,
marketed for specific applications (for would likely be difficult to replicate which are acquired from the environ-
example, lawns, pastures, or ecological and may come at a significant cost to ment each generation, the grass endo-
restoration). Like nitrogen-fixing bacte- the host plant. phytes are passed down maternally
ria, mycorrhizae are also acquired from These hurdles have led many re- once established. However, a down-
the environment. Their artificial sym- searchers to focus on a strict GMO ap- side to their use is that they can be-
bioses are established by inoculation— proach to acquired nitrogen fixation. come parasitic and cause “choke” dis-
that is, the microbial organism is ap- Although that approach has its own ease in the host plant.
plied directly to the surrounding soil unique set of challenges, it is argu- GMOs may present a false dichoto-
or the plant. However, the efficacy of ably more precise and practical than my with SMOs. Many endosymbionts
controlling mycorrhizae varies be- the many modifications required for require genetic modification in their
tween strain and application. Not all SMO acquisition. Although SMOs may genome or in that of their target host
mycorrhizal interactions are equivalent pose risks and benefits similar to those prior to their use. For example, endo-
(for example, some can reduce plant of GMOs, artificial nitrogen fixation phyte strains can be genetically engi-
biomass). The inoculum source and its through SMOs likely will take longer neered or selected for reduced toxic-
ity to livestock. Similarly, the potential
acquisition of nitrogen-fixing bacteria
Genetically modified organisms would require extensive genetic modi-
fications to a novel host to successfully
may present a false dichotomy with enable their profound and needed en-
vironmental benefits.
Some of the valid concerns about
symbiotically modified organisms. GMOs may well carry over to SMOs.
Concerns about off-target toxicity of
pesticides produced by a transgenic
associated local adaptation both play to develop and will have less accuracy plant may also be applied to endo-
roles in how well mycorrhizae affect than a solely GMO-based approach. phytes that produced anti-herbivory
the desired plant growth. Artificially introduced grass en- toxins in grass. Concerns about the “es-
Mycorrhizae and nitrogen-fixing dophytes are already commercially cape” of highly competitive genetically
bacteria both trigger the host cell’s available that can lead to more effi- engineered plants that could then be-
conserved symbiotic signaling (SYM) cient water use in pasture grasses and come weedy, such as those raised in re-
pathway, which results in periodic to reduced herbivory on such grasses sponse to development of glyphosate-
calcium concentration increases in the through the symbionts’ release of al- resistant bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera,
nucleus and eventually symbiont ac- kaloids, thus moderating the need for a commonly used turfgrass), could
quisition. This common host response applied insecticides. Given that anti- be applied to a grass imbued with a
suggests that the artificial acquisition herbivory compounds may affect live- particularly adaptive endophyte. Con-
of nitrogen-fixing bacteria may only stock, strains that are not toxic to sheep cerns about the use of mycorrhizae and
require minor modifications in plants and cows have been developed for ag- nitrogen-fixing bacteria with novel crop
that harbor intracellular mycorrhizae. ricultural use. Endophytes are easy to or pasture plants could include their
However, nitrogen-fixing bacteria also apply—the inoculum just needs to be potential to reduce biodiversity with
require specialized transport systems added to the plant stem. Unlike my- minimally diverse agroecosystems, as
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not brought about by direct human in- similarities with the uptake of “algal”
tervention), the general lack of genetic Symbiodinium by coral hosts, although
engineering involved, and the ease of Oophila algae produce only a limited
their application, the use of SMOs can photosynthetic benefit. Perhaps be-
be seen as “natural” in comparison cause there are so few close natural
with GMOs. However, “natural” does analogs, artificial endosymbioses may
not imply “without risk,” because not be as readily accepted in verte-
many of the concerns that are raised brates as they are in agriculture.
for GMOs may apply to SMOs as well. Nevertheless, there have been sev-
eral attempts at establishing an arti-
Vertebrate Artificial Endosymbioses ficial endosymbiosis in vertebrates
Most efforts have focused on plants using novel partners, much as the
and invertebrates, because that’s Buschbaums did in their experiment.
where many known examples of Such approaches in the laboratory are
endosymbiosis occur. However, fol- mostly focused on introducing various
Engineered endosymbioses in vertebrates are lowing the work of the Buschbaums, types of algae into cell cultures.
under intense research. One recent labora- artificial endosymbioses have recently Few attempts were made immedi-
tory success is the modification of the genes
been extended to vertebrates as well. ately following the Buchsbaums’ ex-
that produce invasin and lysteriolysin so that
Although endosymbioses appear periments to replicate their “invigo-
the cyanobacterium Synechococcus (red) can
enter and bypass digestion mechanisms in a in many branches of eukaryotic life rating” artificial symbiosis. In the late
vertebrate cell, in this case a mammalian en- (meaning all organisms that keep their 1970s Dennis Taylor from the Univer-
dothelial cell. (Image from Agapakis, C. M., DNA in a nucleus), there is only one sity of Miami had similar success with
et al. 2011. Towards a synthetic chloroplast. known example of a mutualist natu- co-cultures between photosynthetic
PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018877.) rally entering vertebrate cells to form marine flagellates and fish explants
a symbiotic interaction. Cells of the or chicken-cell cultures. The topic has
these plants still would likely be plant- green alga Oophila amblystomatis enter only recently been revisited by synthet-
ed in fields that contain few or only one tissues and cells of the spotted sala- ic biologists working on experimental
species or strain. mander Ambystoma maculatum during systems. These attempts have included
Given the ubiquity of these symbiot- the amphibian’s development. The genetically modified cyanobacteria
ic relationships in nature (relationships acquisition of this alga has several (Synechococcus sp.). Similar unmodified
Initial Successes of Organelle Transfer to cloning but occurs before fertilization. A donor provides
their mitochondria through eggs that have had their nu-
cleus removed. The mother then provides a “pro-nucleus”
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any artificial endosymbioses require the transfer from her own unfertilized egg, which is microinjected into
of a mutualistic microbe from one species to an- the donor’s egg prior to in vitro fertilization. The resulting
other. Yet biologists still do not fully understand embryo, and eventual individual, has a genetic composi-
how and when these transfers can be made without causing tion from three parents: the nuclear DNA from the sperm
unintended dysfunctions. Nevertheless, even the transfer and egg nucleus donor and the mitochondrial DNA of their
of organelles with endosymbiotic origins, such as mito- egg donor. The first baby born through this experimental
chondria, has been surprisingly promising. Although they therapy was recently announced. Still, potential effects of
evolved from endosymbionts that became integrated into unmatched mitochondrial and maternal genomes remain
cells of some eukaryotes, mitochondria and chloroplasts are uncertain and raise concerns about imprecise integration
considered organelles rather than endosymbionts because between the mitochondria and nucleus.
of their extensive genomic and physiological integration Surprisingly, the initial acquisition of the bacteria that
with the host cell. Both of these endosymbiont-derived or- gave rise to mitochondria, as well as that of the cyanobac-
ganelles retain their own highly reduced circular bacterial teria that gave rise to chloroplasts, each occurred only once
genomes. Their DNA encodes for several proteins involved in the history of eukaryotic life (with the arguable second
in organelle replication, metabolic processes, and the pro- origin of the photosynthetic organelles known as plastids
duction of organelle-specific ribosomes. However, most of in the amoeba Paulinella chromatophora). Despite many sub-
the organelle’s original DNA has been transferred to the sequent associations of eukaryotic, plastid-bearing endo-
host’s genome in the cell nucleus. symbionts, and occasional bacterial endosymbionts, true
The persisting organelle genome has a tight integration organelle acquisition has been exceedingly rare. Modifying
with its host cell, making organelles unlikely candidates for organelles or establishing new organelles in novel hosts
simple swapping experiments. But that is just what medi- may similarly be exceedingly difficult because of the extent
cal researchers and even clinicians are doing. This sort of of genomic integration required for these associations. Ini-
exchange, combined with in vitro fertilization, could prevent tial organelle acquisitions did not occur in modern eukary-
mothers with mitochondrial genetic disorders from passing otes; rather, it took place between 1.0 and 1.8 billion years
them on to their children. ago (depending on the analysis) with the extraordinarily
Inborn genetic errors in mitochondria can be detected in different organisms that were our distant ancestors. How-
a mother before she has children and potentially corrected ever, to date, transplants of these organelles between close
through a nuclear transplantation technique that is similar relatives appear to be tolerated with surprising efficiency.
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Synechococcus organisms are capable of much lighter environmental footprint. tide level are, from an individual cell’s
establishing an artificial endosymbiosis Other “futuristic” possibilities include perspective, less consequential than
with paramecium hosts after their nat- the delivery of metabolites that aug- accommodating a foreign microbe.
urally occurring algal symbionts have ment host-cell physiology through ge- There is no reason to expect a priori
been removed. In vertebrates, however, netic manipulations of an endosymbi- that a foreign endosymbiont will obey
the genes from human pathogens that ont itself. The creation of a microbial the same rules of interaction as a na-
produce invasin and listeriolysin were delivery service into diseased or aber- tive association. The latter has invari-
introduced to Synechococcus to enable rant cells could lead to targeted cellular ably resulted from a co-evolutionary
its cellular entry and to bypass intra- therapeutics without germline manipu- process that can often result in dra-
cellular digestion mechanisms. These lations or the use of modified viruses. matic genomic integration. However
transformed bacteria were shown to Additional possibilities outside of in engineering, as in evolution, pro-
enter and live in human cells in culture, photosynthesis and drug delivery found changes can occasionally be a
resulting in the first human cell–algae abound. For example, artificial endo- “good” thing, regardless of precision.
endosymbiosis. symbiosis could allow grazing animals Again caution is warranted, and we
Although this work is still explor- to eat plants that they currently cannot need to evaluate individual technolo-
atory, artificial endosymbioses have digest. The insect gut microbiome in- gies. SMOs should not be seen as nec-
exciting potential for medical treat- cludes microbes that aid in wood diges- essarily more or less risky than GMOs
ments. For example, putting algae tion, sap feeding, and blood feeding, in any sweeping categorization.
cells into human eyes could stave off tasks often attributed to intracellular Of key importance is the expecta-
age-related macular degeneration, a bacterial symbionts. Expanding the di- tion that artificial symbionts will have
leading cause of impaired vision in the gestive abilities of livestock could also consistent effects on their hosts. Basic
United States. Following the work on help sustainably repurpose fallow lands research on symbiotic associations has
Synechococcus, researchers discovered and reduce the competition for land be- paid tremendous attention to the estab-
entry of the algae Nannochloris eukaryo- tween grazing livestock and crops. lishment and maintenance of mutual-
tum into human cells after screening istic associations. Reciprocal exchanges
11 algal strains for their ability to enter The Trade-Offs of Symbioses can often result in “cheaters” infiltrat-
cultured eye (retina) tissue. This entry Artificial endosymbioses have the po- ing transient mutualistic associations.
reduces expression of vascular endo- tential to dramatically alter host cell Meanwhile, permament endosymbi-
thelial growth factor, which can treat physiology, organismal biology, and otic associations have recently been
many forms of macular degeneration, ecosystem functioning without directly described as establishing a “symbiont
and also increases cell viability. Unlike manipulating the genome. This poten- prison” for an intracellular microbe
Synechococcus (a bacterium), N. eukaryo- tial has already been realized or is rap- that becomes dependent on its host.
tum is a eukaryote, as its name implies. idly advancing in numerous systems. The latter may be preferable in SMOs
It was isolated from a saltwater tank This rapid adoption is occurring in part for maintaining a consistent, and con-
in the former Yugoslavia in the early because public acceptance and regula- trolled, intracellular relationship.
1980s and has been maintained in cul- tory oversight of these approaches are The one guarantee of artificial endo-
ture for more than 30 years. Phycolo- distinct from acceptance and oversight symbioses is that they will continue
gists (algal scientists) were initially in- of genetic modifications through ge- to evolve with or without our inter-
terested in its uniquely small size (2–5 nome editing or use of recombinant vention. Maintaining an endosymbi-
micrometers) and simple structure. The DNA technology. This difference in re- otic mutualism requires more than the
“voluntary” ability of N. eukaryotum to ception is apparent in the far greater in- accidental cellular fusion discovered
enter human cells also reveals a latent tensity of debates surrounding GMOs, by the Buschbaums, because the re-
potential of microbes to interact with compared with those surrounding ciprocal costs and benefits need to be
vertebrate cells, including human cells, SMOs. Modifying symbioses may ap- both established and maintained. As
in unexpected ways. This association pear to be more “natural” than use of Charles Darwin wrote in The Origin
did not require genetic manipulations those other technologies, which can of Species by Means of Natural Selection:
of the symbiont or host and suggests imply to many a reduced level of risk “Natural selection cannot possibly
that more vertebrate endosymbioses or an increased level of quality. How- produce any modification in any one
may exist without our knowledge. ever, the line between “natural” and species exclusively for the good of an-
What other value is there in an artifi- “artificial,” as with so many distinc- other species.” Instead SMOs will al-
cial endosymbiosis of vertebrates, aside tions, becomes less clear as we under- ways require, to varying extents, some
from the potential to treat macular de- stand more about the methods and degree of compromise.
generation? One futuristic possibility is outcomes of individual technologies.
in the field of “synthetic” meat produc- SMOs can, arguably, result in more
tion from cultured muscle precursor dramatic physiological changes to
cells. Current attempts at cultured meat a host cell through a less controlled
production require animal feedstocks. modification than occurs with genetic For relevant Web links, consult this
However, artificial photosynthetic sym- engineering. The transfer of an endo- issue of American Scientist Online:
bionts could potentially lead to meat symbiont is a less precise manipula- http://www.americanscientist.org/
cultures that can generate their own tion than altering a genetic code, be- issues/id.124/past.aspx
food from sunlight, creating a guilt-free cause an entire organism—not just a
product that doesn’t require butchering single gene or limited set of genes—is
of the feedstock and that would have a introduced. Most changes on a nucleo-
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Photoshopping the Universe

Astronomers produce beautiful images by manipulating raw telescope data, but
such processing makes images more accurate, not misrepresentative of reality.
Travis A. Rector, Kimberly Arcand, and Megan Watzke
W
hen people interact with that what we are seeing is real, and literally make the invisible visible. All
cosmic images, nearly all that these fantastic cosmic starscapes astronomical images are translations of
of their first questions are are places that truly existed. These im- what the telescope can see into some-
about authenticity: Are ages are of real objects in outer space. thing that our human eyes can see. But
the images real? Is this what I would They aren’t creations of a graphic art- how is it done? This is a question that
see standing next to this? In a world ist’s imagination. But how a telescope has challenged astronomers and astro-
made surreal with the magic of science- “sees” is radically different from how photographers for decades. Many peo-
fiction special effects and digital image our eyes see. Telescopes give us su- ple have developed and refined tech-
manipulation, there is a need to know perhuman vision. In most cases they niques to take the data generated by
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professional-grade telescopes and turn the next step is converting the data into much greater than for your eyes. Dy-
them into color images. Along the way grayscale images. (Usually the tele- namic range is defined as the ratio of
we’ve worked to develop a visual lan- scope’s camera can’t see color—that part the brightest object in an image to the
guage to better convey an understand- comes later.) In these images, every pixel faintest. It turns out that 256 shades of
ing of what these pictures show. has a numerical value between zero and gray are usually sufficient for our eyes
Once telescopes collect astronomi- 255. Zero is pure black, whereas 255 is in differentiating brightness levels. But
cal data, they need to undergo a se- pure white, and everything in between telescopes can do much better. There-
ries of additional processing steps to is a shade of gray, with lower numbers fore, if we want to look at the data as
turn them into color images. This is being darker. This numeric value has to an image, we need to translate what
where programs such as Adobe Photo- be a whole number, but when the data the telescope sees into something that
shop come in. Unfortunately, the word come off of the telescope, each pixel has a works for our eyes. Each chunk of data
“photoshop” has become a verb to de- numeric value that indicates how much
scribe manipulating an image, and of- light hit that pixel, and that value does
ten in a negative or devious way. Nev- not have to be a whole number. So we Travis A. Rector is a professor of physics and astrono-
ertheless, Photoshop and other image must use a mathematical function to con- my at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Kimberly
editing software are used to make as- vert the actual value of the pixels into the Arcand directs visualization efforts for NASA’s
tronomical images without any nefari- range of zero to 255. This is often referred Chandra X-ray Observatory, at the Chandra X-
ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Megan
ous intentions or outcomes. to as the scaling, or stretch, function.
Watzke is the public affairs officer for the Chandra
The numeric values of the pixels X-ray Observatory. Excerpted with permission from
From Data to Image can be used, for example, to precisely Coloring the Universe by Travis Rector, Kimberly
After calibrating data from a telescope measure the brightness of a star or Arcand, and Megan Watzke, published by the Uni-
(or telescopes, as often data from more the temperature of gas. Also, the dy- versity of Alaska Press. © Travis A. Rector, Kimberly
than one are used to make an image), namic range for a telescope is usually Arcand, and Megan Watzke. All rights reserved.
NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI
This image of the center, or core, of our galaxy was

produced from nine data sets: Four from the Spitzer
Space Telescope show far-infrared in red, two from
the Hubble Space Telescope show near-infrared in yel-
low, and three from the Chandra X-ray Observatory
show x-rays in blue and violet.
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(the data set from each filter, energy is separately fine-tuned to better bring takes more time than the rest of the
range, or waveband) is converted into out the detail in the bright and dark image-making process.
its own grayscale image with a scaling areas. Next, each layer is then given a What are some of the defects that are
function. Often, astronomers choose a color, and then the layers are stacked removed? Sometimes cosmic rays, as-
different scaling function for each data together to produce the preliminary teroids, and satellite trails are not fully
set to highlight the detail in the darker color image. Photoshop lets astrono- removed during the data processing.
and brighter areas of each image. Once mers combine as many layers as they They appear as specks or streaks in the
you have a grayscale image for each wish, which allows for complex imag- image. A common problem found in
data set, the next step is to combine es to be made. This is especially useful visible-light images is called a charge
them to create the color image. when we create images with data from bleed. Because each pixel is collecting
multiple telescopes. electricity created by the light that hits
Enter Photoshop it, we can think of every individual
Many people think of Photoshop as Cleaning the Image pixel as an electricity bucket. If a bright
an image manipulation program de- Photoshop is also used to “clean” the object, such as a star, is observed for
signed to change what a picture looks image, to remove defects from the im- too long, the electricity it generates will
like—think of magazine covers show- age that are not real. The defects are “spill out” of the pixels near the center
ing celebrities who don’t seem to age. false vestiges that appear in the image of the bright star and spread into ad-
But it does much more than that. In because of how the telescope or cam- jacent pixels. We can use Photoshop
particular, it’s useful for combining era functions. It is similar to removing to remove these bleed defects. If we
multiple grayscale images to create a the red-eye effect from photographs don’t, it would look like laser beams
single color image. Each grayscale im- taken with a flash. When we remove are shooting out of the bright stars,
age is loaded as a separate layer. The artifacts from an astronomical image, which is definitely not happening. An-
layers are shifted, rotated, and rescaled we do so carefully, so as not to alter other instrumental effect, called diffrac-
so that the images are aligned. The the actual structure. This process can tion spikes, is noticeable in bright stars.
brightness and contrast of each layer be difficult and tedious. Often this step These diffraction spikes are not caused
NOAO/AURA/AUI/NSF; Local Group Survey Team and T. A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage
An image of a nearby irregular galaxy,

called Barnard’s galaxy (NGC 6822), com-
bined data from five broadband filters
and two narrowband filters, and shows
wavelengths for ultraviolet (purple),
infrared (red), blue (light blue), red (or-
ange), and other visible wavelengths
(green). Emissions from hydrogen ions
are also red, and oxygen ions are blue.
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by the camera, but by the telescope it- The planetary nebula NGC 6302 was
self. As light enters into the telescope, imaged with data from six broadband
filters, each assigned a different color.
it is slightly spread out (or more pre-
The camera—Hubble’s Wide Field 3—
cisely, diffracted) by the structure that
uses ultraviolet and visible light, but the
holds up the secondary mirror at the filters isolate emissions from oxygen,
top of the telescope. The light spreads helium, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur.
out along the structure, causing bright
stars to appear to have lines sticking
out of them. Unlike charge bleeds,
the diffraction spikes are usually not
removed from the final image. Since
the telescope itself produces the spikes
(and not the digital camera), these arti-
facts have been present in astronomical
images for as long as such images have
been made. They can therefore help
function as a visual cue that tells your
brain that you’re looking at an astro-
nomical image. In fact, they serve this
purpose so well that artists sometimes
put diffraction spikes in their drawings
or paintings of bright stars.
Another defect that astronomers
occasionally have to remove is a no-
ticeable ring around very bright stars.
If a star’s light is intense enough, it
can reflect off of optics inside the tele-
scope and camera and produce a halo
NASA/ESA/the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
around the star; these are known as

internal reflections. Astronomers find
these reflections particularly challeng-
ing to remove because they are often
large and can overlap structures in the
image that we don’t want to change.
They can also have complex shapes
that vary depending on where the star
is in the image.
Many astronomical images are cre-
ated when several smaller images are
Pulsar B1509-58 was imaged using x-
combined. And this can create another rays from Chandra (gold) and infrared
need for editing. These multipanel (red and blue) from the Wide-field In-
images are made when the telescope frared Survey Explorer (WISE). Color
looks at one portion of the sky (called choices for nonvisible wavelengths
a pointing) and then moves to look at can be simply a matter of astrono-
another, adjacent portion. Or there can mers’ aesthetic preferences.
be more than one detector inside the
instrument. For example, the Kitt Peak
National Observatory Mosaic cam-
era in Arizona has eight detectors, so
each pointing produces eight images.
Variations in the sensitivity of each de-
tector are removed when the data are
calibrated, but not perfectly. This can
leave seams along the locations where
the images overlap, or gaps if the im-
ages don’t align properly along the
edges. The brightness of each image
NASA/CXC/SAO/JPL-Caltech
can be fine-tuned in Photoshop so the

seams or gaps are virtually undetect-
able. Small gaps can be filled in with
additional data from other observa-
tions and then blended in with the rest
of the image.
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This image of Cygnus X-1, a binary

star system where a black hole is in
orbit around a massive star, shows an
umbrella-shaped jet of gas ejected from
the black hole. Artifacts from the tele-
scope’s optics, such as halos around
stars, had to be removed in processing.
T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)
What Not to Do galaxies by manipulating their pro- servations, size and rotation of the
What’s just as important a question portions or aspect ratio. As tempting image, the location of the object, and
in processing images is what do we as it may be, filter effects that modify the people involved in completing the
not do with Photoshop. Our goal with the structure are generally not used. observations, processing the data, and
each image is to show how a telescope Sometimes an image might be slight- making the image.
(or telescopes) sees a celestial object. In ly sharpened to counter the blurring Using a specially developed image
many cases, we also want to illustrate effects of stacking multiple images metadata standard, called Astronomi-
a new scientific result. We assign col- together. But that’s pretty much the cal Visualization Metadata (AVM), this
ors to each filter in a way that aims to only such manipulation that is used. information can also be embedded into
be pleasing to the viewer and intuitive Adjustments to color, brightness, or the image. AVM is an easy way to learn
to understand, adding to the informa- contrast are done to the entire image; about the details of an image. It also
tion the image conveys. For example, for example, we don’t brighten one allows you to do cool things, such as
it can be distracting to make images of part of the image so it stands out more. show where the object is located in the
purple or green stars because stars are If one star looks brighter than another, sky using software such as Microsoft’s
normally red, orange, yellow, white, that’s because it really is brighter. We WorldWide Telescope or Google Sky.
or blue (as seen through visible-light might rotate or crop an image to high- For many observatories, including all of
broadband filters). Likewise, unusual light key details. We don’t, however, NASA’s telescopes, you can also down-
colors for recognizable objects, such deliberately crop to remove or hide a load the raw data from their archives.
as spiral galaxies, can be distracting. particular object so as to change the The principles we follow produce
For less familiar images, such as an scientific narrative. an image that is scientifically valid
x-ray image of the area around a black An essential part of the scientific and show real objects in space as seen
hole, there is more flexibility in the col- process is to be explicit when de- by our telescopes. But there is a sub-
ors used. Undoubtedly, unusual colors scribing how an experiment is done jective, creative element as well to
such as bright greens can help attract or how a conclusion is reached. That producing images. Although many
attention to an image. But garish colors way other scientists can recreate your scientists are reluctant to think of
can also distract from the overall point. experiment and analysis to see if they themselves as artists, there is nonethe-
Strong colors can also affect the lon- achieve similar results. Because these less some artistry involved in making
gevity of the image; that is, you might images are often used to illustrate sci- an appealing astronomical image.
enjoy an image but is it something that ence, we adhere to the same principle
you would want to print and hang when describing them. Most astro-
on your wall? Will it look as good 10 nomical images from professional ob- For relevant Web links, consult this
years from now as it does today? servatories include details about the issue of American Scientist Online:
Another item on the “don’t” list in- observations used to make an image.
http://www.americanscientist.org/
cludes modifying the actual structure This information details the telescopes, issues/id.124/past.aspx
in the image. We don’t add or remove cameras, and filters used, number and
stars. We don’t enlarge or slim down lengths of the exposures, dates of ob-
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S c i e n t i s t s’
Nightstand
tion of the critical nature of regula-

tion, the role of citizen science, and
The Scientists’ Nightstand, Deconstructing the important part played by cultures
American Scientist’s books
section, offers reviews, review Disaster and institutions in mitigating risk.
Although we’re accustomed to defin-
essays, brief excerpts, and more. THE CURE FOR CATASTROPHE: How ing the critical juncture of a disaster
For additional books coverage, We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural as the moment the event affects local
please see our Science Culture Disaster. Robert Muir-Wood. 368 pp. residents, in reality some of the most
blog channel, which explores Basic Books. 2016. $29.99. important decisions happened long
how science intersects with other before, when decision makers set safe-
LOVE CANAL: A Toxic History from
areas of knowledge, entertain- ty standards and building codes and
Colonial Times to the Present. Richard
ment, and society: implemented recovery frameworks.
S. Newman. 328 pp. Oxford University At the local level, residents can and
americanscientist.org/blog Press. 2016. $29.95. should participate as active partners in
/scienceculture.
__________ formulating disaster mitigation plans,
C
asual observers of catastro- instead of being passive recipients of
phe continue to distinguish them. Everyday citizens can collect,
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE between human-caused and analyze, and interpret data critical for
THE TETRIS EFFECT: The Game natural disasters, but in either case their own health and survival. For ex-
That Hypnotized the World. consider them to be unforeseeable, ample, participants in a global Web 2.0
By Dan Ackerman. r TETRIS: out-of-nowhere events. Two recent project called Safecast share measure-
The Games People Play. By Box books—Love Canal, by Richard New- ments of environmental radiation and
Brown. man, and The Cure for Catastrophe, by other pollutants. Finally, local resi-
page 54 Robert Muir-Wood—might change dents can create safety cultures that re-
some minds. duce disaster risk, while governments
Although oil spills and train de- set up institutions to smooth recovery
ONLINE railments that release hazardous sub- processes and ensure equity.
stances are clearly the unintended Newman’s well-written, deeply re-
Our 2016 gift guide, including
results of societal choices, other well- searched book tells the full story of
STEM book recommendations
publicized catastrophes generally the chemical disaster at Love Canal,
for readers of all ages:
understood to be “natural” disasters a suburban neighborhood of Niagara
americanscientist.org/
should be seen in the same light. The Falls, New York. Newman, a histo-
bookshelf/page/science-gift-
___________________
flooding of New Orleans during Hur- rian specializing in environmental
guide-2016
_______
ricane Katrina, for example, or the and early American history, begins
18,500 deaths from the compounded the story centuries before Love Canal
disasters in Tohoku, Japan, in Febru- became synonymous with ecological
ary 2011, or the deaths of 5,000 school catastrophe. He describes the initial
children in China following the 2008 Western exploration of the area during
Box Brown, Tetris. First Second, 2016.
Sichuan earthquake—these events the 17th century, then focuses intently

were not so-called acts of God. (The on the dreams of late-19th-century vi-
term is still used in contract law to sionary William Love, for whom the
designate an unanticipated calam- canal was named. Love envisioned
ity.) In the 20th and 21st centuries, generating electricity for a planned
poor political and economic choic- model community (to be called, nat-
es have compounded the effect of urally enough, Model City) by har-
natural events and put people unnec- nessing the power of water drawn
Jim Mackanochie, who pioneered essarily at risk. from nearby Niagara Falls through
flight simulator technology, was an These two books tell very different engineered waterways.
early fan of the game Tetris. stories about disaster, but in the end When that exercise in futuricity
they mutually reinforce our recogni- fell apart, it left behind a clay-lined
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Located behind a warning-bedecked fence by against the weak regulation that had
the time this 1978 photo was taken, the 99th allowed the disaster to happen in the
Street School had opened in 1955. It represent- first place and not content with small-
ed a second construction attempt, positioned
scale measures (such as limited evacu-
30 yards north of the original site. The rebuild
occurred after the original school’s foundation
ations), residents reached out to find
sank into a chemical pit. From Love Canal. regional and national allies.
Political action around the Love Ca-
absolve them of liability. The board nal event, which is readily classified
agreed to the stipulation, but failed to with “human-made disasters,” gained
follow through. After using some of steam just when public attention was
the land for two schools in the early beginning to galvanize around issues
1950s, the school board sold unused of environmental justice. Newman
land to housing developers in the shows how national political figures
late 1950s, despite renewed warnings used Love Canal as a policy window
from Hooker Chemical executives through which they could develop the
and attorneys. Comprehensive Environmental Re-
Things went downhill from sponse, Compensation, and Liability
there. Paint peeled off homes. Chil- Act of 1980 (or CERCLA, known more
dren played pop rocks, throwing colloquially as Superfund), which
phosphorous-laced stones at the pushed responsibility back onto pri-
ground after discovering the rocks vate developers. Even firms such as
would explode on impact. People Hooker, which had followed the rules
complained of foul odors and dying when it disposed of the chemicals,
vegetation. One family, the Schroed- were liable to help clean up the site
ers, found that its sunken fiberglass later. Eventually all of the residents
swimming pool had risen from its from Love Canal, even those not liv-
Penelope Ploughman, August 1978/SUNY, Buffalo usual position by two feet, pushed up ing directly over the disposal sites,
canal that was ideal for the area’s by chemicals flooding into the ground- were moved out, and the area was off-
next phase of use: answering the water. A number of residents noticed limits for decades as it was remedi-
electrochemical industry’s need for health changes in their families, in- ated. Despite the tremendous public
a dumping ground. In 1942 Elon cluding seemingly high numbers of concern about this environmental di-
Hooker, civil engineer and captain miscarriages, respiratory problems, saster, epidemiologists and scientists
of industry, began entombing some and cancer. As the community lost the have drawn mixed conclusions from
22,000 tons of chemical waste in the rhythms of normal life, the women peer-reviewed health studies of for-
premade canals. It was a legal move who lived there, led by people such as mer residents. Some scientists, such
at the time, as no laws covered toxic Lois Gibbs, mobilized into a grassroots as cancer researcher Beverly Paigen,
waste disposal (or worker safety, for movement in the 1970s. Pushing hard argued in the late 1970s that residents
that matter) in the first half of the
20th century. Chemicals placed in the
ditch included benzene, dioxins, and
10 other known carcinogens. Sealing
the dump in 1953, Hooker Chemi-
cal Company officers believed that
as long as the site was left alone,
the clay would prevent any waste
from escaping.
Yet the local school board was al-
ready eying the land in 1952, and the
next year it purchased the site for $1
from Hooker Chemical. When the
school board had first approached
Hooker about the property, the com-
pany dutifully warned them about
the site’s hazardous contents. New-
SUNY, Buffalo
man notes that Hooker officials also

pressed for assurances from the board
that, should plans for a subdivision
move forward, “mention of the chem-
ical dump . . . would be included in Photographs of the cleanup efforts in Love Canal underscored the severity of the problem, and
all subsequent transactions between images of the thousands of barrels of toxic waste removed from the site proved especially sym-
the city and developers, and then be- bolic. As author Richard S. Newman notes, “Suddenly, activists did not have to explain chemi-
tween developers and homeowners.” cals’ hazards; pictures of the toxic landscape circulated widely. This disaster iconography would
This, Hooker officials hoped, would remain a powerful part of the Love Canal story for years to come.” From Love Canal.
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clearly suffered adverse health effects.

But studies carried out by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in
the early 1980s using blood samples
found almost no chromosomal aberra-
tions between residents and nonresi-
dents. As with the Chernobyl disaster,
outsiders cannot absolutely agree on
the scope of the damage to those ex-
posed to toxic chemicals.
The Love Canal story illuminates
several broader issues, including the
concept of putting areas considered of
lesser “quality” into service for dispos-
able land uses or as sacrifice zones for
industry. When embarking on contro-
versial new projects, developers and
bureaucrats alike regularly look for
land that has already been degraded
or poorly used. The story also under-
scores the need for citizen advocacy
and pushback on land-use plans. As a
SUNY, Buffalo
diverse group of scholars—from polit-
ical scientist Greg McAvoy to anthro-
pologist Hugh Gusterson, and includ-
ing myself—have argued, opposition Love Canal resident and community activist Lois Gibbs met frequently with state and federal
that used to be pejoratively labeled government officials, such as New York Governor Hugh Carey, as captured in this news photo-
“not in my back yard” (or NIMBY) graph. The grassroots movement that emerged out of the fears and frustrations of local residents
typically catalyzes better public policy. became a vital component among a combination of bottom-up and top-down political efforts
Muir-Wood’s narrative is choppier that eventually led to the area’s evacuation, cleanup, and remediation. From Love Canal.
than Newman’s, and it breaks from
the linear sequence common to his- Japan, during the March 11, 2011, tsu- reduce casualties. Nations, however, do
torical and academic writing. Instead, nami. There, a professor had devel- not need money to save lives: Cuba’s
the author adopts a science journalism oped educational programs to convey proactive civil defense program has re-
approach, skipping from disaster to lessons learned from some successful duced hurricane casualties to close to
disaster, time period to time period, to evacuations immediately preceding zero. Rather than relying on high levels
get his point across. Throughout the the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. of government spending, Cuba uses
book, he builds on the argument that Although a number of regions, in- public education, good communication
disasters are political: “Disasters con- cluding Chile, San Francisco, and Wel- systems, and community mobilization
sume wealth, depreciate land values, lington, New Zealand, have invested in to prepare the nation for storms.
and threaten governments. . . . From
Simón Bolívar to Fidel Castro, leaders
have understood the need to outwit Regulatory and market choices well before the event
catastrophes in order to maintain their
authority.” Among other things, the
create the necessary conditions for disaster.
political sphere affects the nature of
the built environment as well as the upgrading their building infrastructure, The book points out that although
accepted level of risk tolerance. “Di- Muir-Wood argues that we all too often the insurance and re-insurance mar-
sasters are determined,” Muir-Wood construct buildings to withstand only kets are often held up as examples of
observes, “by what we build, where the latest disaster. This approach can how to mitigate damage, private insur-
we choose to live, how we prepare, be especially hazardous in areas prone ance is actually playing a diminishing
and how we communicate warnings.” to multiple kinds of catastrophe—for role in the United States. Instead, the
He then links a variety of catastrophes example, earthquakes and wildfire, as federal government is paying more
over time and regions, with examples in certain parts of California, or earth- and more of the compensation pro-
ranging from a Renaissance-era earthquakes and typhoons in Japan. vided to victims of disaster. As I have
quake in Portugal to modern-day ca- Especially among developing na- observed in my own research, there are
tastrophes such as the 2010 Chilean tions, where regulation is weak and other ways to reduce damage: Social
earthquake and the 2011 Japanese construction often unsupervised, capital and social ties are critical, with
earthquake and tsunami. we see the same problems: “bad de- neighbors often serving as emergency
He illustrates how some low- sign, bad execution, bad reinforcing, first responders, and local nongovern-
cost mechanisms—such as disaster- bad concrete.” Muir-Wood finds that mental organizations saving lives and
response education—have shown suc- wealth and urbanization—that is, off- accelerating recovery. Although rein-
cess in communities such as Kamaishi, shoots of economic development— forcing existing cohesion and building
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new social networks takes a great deal into an international bestseller generat-
of time, these tactics are generally far
cheaper than physical infrastructure Soviet Blocks ing billions of dollars? Thereby hangs a
tale—and 30 years on, two books have
projects. In the end, to reduce casual- THE TETRIS EFFECT: The Game that appeared to tell it. The Tetris Effect, by
ties and improve response, a bottom- Hypnotized the World. Dan Ackerman. technology journalist Dan Ackerman,
up, grassroots disaster culture will 272 pp. Public Affairs, 2016. $25.99. and Tetris, by Ignatz Award–winning
need to work side by side with top- cartoonist Box Brown, hit bookstore
down, forward-thinking institutions TETRIS: THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY. Box shelves within months of each other.
willing to enact substantial change. Brown. 256 pp. First Second, 2016. $19.99. Yet each ushers readers along a distinct
No government pronouncement or and enlightening path.
W
plan will be effective without buy- hat is it about Tetris? How The story behind the pioneering
in from local residents; at the same did this inspired little game, game Tetris is complex, spanning the
time, neighborhoods and communi- which started out as a piece worlds of technology, psychology, en-
ties rely on the resources held by the of freeware designed to run on the Rus- tertainment, politics, and business.
central government. sian ɗɥɟɤɬɪɨɧɢɤɚ 60 Microcomputer Still, the core narrative is in some ways
Both books recognize an important (Electronika 60 in English), transform familiar. A videogame phenomenon
lesson that economic historian John
Singleton offers in his recent book Eco-
nomic and Natural Disasters Since 1900:
Disasters—even those typically cat-
egorized as unpredictable—happen
during times of crisis. Although we
typically notice only a crisis’s trigger
moment and its tragic aftermath, in
reality regulatory and market choices
well before the event create the neces-
sary conditions for the problem. And
so the cycle continues. Whether by fill-
ing in marshland, developing coastal
properties, or disposing of waste in
convenient but unsustainable ways,
we continue to place ourselves in
harm’s way.
Yet as time moves on, more tools are
available to predict and mitigate risk.
Muir-Wood recounts how in the wake
of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which
pushed nine insurance companies
into bankruptcy, insurers developed
catastrophe models based on “100,000
years of synthetic catastrophic histo-
ries”; they used these models to cal-
culate insurance prices and establish Box Brown, Tetris: The Games People Play. First Second, 2016.
how much to hold in reserve in the
event of a year of serious losses. As
Muir-Wood points out, “The technol-
ogy that protects the markets can also
protect people.” “Political leaders,” he
adds, “will increasingly be expected to
account for latent disaster deaths and
losses before they happen.” This kind
of modeling is, in a sense, just another
way to learn from the past. Sharing
and contextualizing disaster narra-
tives are others. Hopefully Love Canal
and The Cure for Catastrophe will help
readers think more carefully about the
downstream consequences of our of- The original version of Tetris was designed for an Electronika 60 computer that had no graphics
ten shortsighted choices. capabilities; gameplay elements were constructed using text characters. A small band of friends
worked with creator Alexey Pajitnov to enhance the game’s look. Author Box Brown explains,
Daniel P. Aldrich is professor and director of the Secu- “Together they developed a graphical version of Alexey’s game that ran on MS-DOS. . . . The
rity and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern game fit on a 5.25-inch floppy disk.” This version was free and, given the popularity of the oper-
University. Twitter: @danielpaldrich. ating system it used, it was shared widely around Moscow. From Tetris: The Games People Play.
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emerges maybe once or twice a decade: had Tetris existed, it could easily have simply allowed a player to arrange
It appears to come out of nowhere; been the most addictive and popu- the tetrominoes freely in a rectangle,
then all at once everyone seems to be lar game for the 2600. But that didn’t were dull and static. But a moment
playing it. Pac-Man, Myst, Farmville, The happen of course, because no one had of inspiration changed the playing
Sims, Angry Birds, and Candy Crush are thought of a game anything like Tetris. experience entirely: Pajitnov added
among a short list of games that be- The one who did think of it was time pressure. Tetrominoes would fall
came household words, acquired hun- Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian comput- one after another from the top of the
dreds of millions of players, and gener- er scientist who was supposed to be screen; whenever tetrominoes were
ated billions in revenue. When Tetris working on artificial intelligence proj- rotated and nudged into place to fill
exploded onto the gaming scene in the ects. Instead, he kept thinking about a 10-block row of the grid, that row of
late 1980s, it did all these things too. At how to make a computer version of blocks would disappear, freeing space
the same time, its impossible simplicity the beloved pentominoes game he for more blocks and enabling the
made it stand apart. grew up playing. Pentominoes are game to continue a little longer. This
The game of Tetris has no luscious puzzle pieces, each composed of five mixture—a spatial puzzler intensified
artwork, no characters, no story, no
social features, no set of painstakingly
hand-crafted puzzle levels. The game- Something about Tetris makes it fit like a key into the
play is nothing more than this: Seven
blocks, arranged in a handful of pre-
lock that is the human mind.
determined shapes, descend one by
one onto a 10-block by 20-block grid squares presented in one of 12 differ- by time pressure—turned out to be
as a player tries to rotate the shapes ent configurations. But the notion of addictive. Pajitnov could hardly stop
neatly into place, making room for recreating these classic wooden puzzle playing. When he showed the game
more. Gradually the shapes fall faster, pieces within a computer game was a to his colleagues, they were skeptical
then faster yet until the grid fills and little overwhelming. Then it occurred at first. Yet one by one, they too found
the game ends. That’s it. to Pajitnov that he could simplify the themselves caught in the compulsion
The game was invented in 1984, but pieces into tetrominoes, which would loop that Tetris generates in almost ev-
there was no technological reason it have only four squares each, for a total eryone who plays it.
couldn’t have been created years ear- of seven unique pieces. He set to work What exactly makes Tetris so com-
lier. The Atari 2600, for example, recreating the game, but early versions pelling is a matter of much debate. For
leased in 1978, was a powerful enough (fashioned under the less appealing example, in his book Brown addresses
system to run a game like Tetris—and title “Genetic Engineering”), which the question through a discussion of
New from the bestselling author of The Physics of Wall Street
Is the key to the next era

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"
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it has been officially translated onto

more than 65 computer game plat-
forms, including mobile phones. And
although there have been hundreds
of attempts to add new features, rules,
and twists in an effort to improve the
game, not one of them has lasted. In
every case, the new rules and features
make for a version that is less elegant
and less captivating than the original.
But the game’s uniqueness is only
part of the tale. Because the game’s
creator was a government employee
of the Soviet Union who crafted the
game on the job, using his employer’s
computers, Tetris itself belonged to the
Motherland. When word of the game
trickled out to the West, career bureau-
crats found themselves pitted against
envoys from an array of technology
companies vying for the game’s inter-
national commercial rights. Fitting to-
gether the many individuals involved
in the worldwide spread of Tetris is a
bit of a Tetris game itself, involving sci-
entists, inventors, entrepreneurs, cod-
ers, government agents, and market-
ers from Russia, Hungary, the United
Box Brown, Tetris: The Games People Play. First Second, 2016.
States, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

In The Tetris Effect, Ackerman tells
the story as straightforwardly as pos-
sible, introducing the key individu-
als and unravelling the complex tale
of the game’s invention and spread.
Initially shared for free, a copy of Tet-
ris found its way to Hungary, where it
was discovered by software distribu-
tor Robert Stein, who sought out the
first distribution license for the game.
Unfortunately for Stein, vagueness in
his licensing contract and confusion in
communicating with the Soviet gov-
ernment, the owner the game, left the
Alexey Pajitnov, a computer scientist and the creator of Tetris, found himself fascinated by the
door open for others (including Atari
intersections between psychology, art, and games. In Box Brown’s telling of Tetris’s origins, Pa-
jitnov enjoys discussing the role of games with a close colleague. “Games aren’t just an escape,”
and Nintendo) to receive competing
Pajitnov exhorts his friend, “not just there to keep us busy during idle hours. Puzzles and games licenses, or at least to think they had.
reveal a lot about psychology and human behavior! They imitate the mind! They inform life!” What follows is a dramatic story in-
From Tetris: The Games People Play. volving multiple competing software
companies, each grappling for control
Bluma Zeigarnik and Kurt Lewin’s re- constant stream of immediate closed- of a piece of software so simple that
search on how certain kinds of tension loop feedback hooking unconscious it can be coded with just 1 kilobyte of
stimulate the prefrontal cortex. Acker- triggers into the waking mind.” javascript, but that seizes and holds the
man first discusses the pharmatronic Whatever the cause, something human mind in a way that had nev-
(or, mind-altering states induced by about this particular game makes it er been seen before. Who would win
interaction with technology) qualities fit like a key into the lock that is the the battle for Tetris was a matter of not
of various technology experiences, human mind. It is not simply a matter only persuasive personalities, but who
such as “the dopamine hit upon re- of puzzle pieces, time pressure, and could best deal with the reality that in-
ceiving a new ‘like’” on social media, gradual progress alone; many games ventions such as the Nintendo Enter-
before homing in on Tetris’s rhythm have these, yet none have had the ad- tainment System and the Game Boy
and timing: “The pharmatronic ef- dictive staying power of Tetris. It has were redefining what the term comput-
fect of Tetris is better explained by the remained popular for decades, holding device even meant. Each new inven-
hypnotic rhythms of the game and its ing the Guinness World Record for the tion blew previous contracts to shreds.
simple, geometric patterns, with the most ported videogame, meaning that Ackerman deftly weaves together these
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stories of invention, legal wrangling, As an artist, Brown also brings a

and savvy salesmanship. Along new dimension to the story: the game
the way he shares asides about the of Tetris as a work of art. He makes a
many psychological studies that persuasive argument throughout the
have brought Tetris into the lab and book for viewing games as art and
what they have taught us about the their creators as artists. As such, Pajit-
human mind. Researchers have, for nov’s puzzle game has reached a rar-
example, used the game to study en- efied status. A revolutionary work,
ergy consumption in the brain and to “Tetris was essential to the develop-
explore possible therapies for treatment of the art form. These puzzle
ing post-traumatic stress syndrome. pieces,” he observes of the tetrami-
Brown’s book Tetris tells the same noes, “have become canon.”
story in a radically different way, The books differ on certain points
conveying the game’s history in (for example, Brown submits that
the style of a graphic novel. This Pajitnov had no real desire to make
approach may seem counterintui- money from his game, whereas
tive, especially for a story in which Box Brown, Tetris. First Second, 2016.
Ackerman suggests otherwise), but
much of the action takes place in Many companies Robert Stein approached about Tetris they complement each other nicely.
meeting rooms and in front of com- rejected it, finding it too different from existing games. Just as two stereoscopic images help
puter screens. Yet I found Tetris to be us see a three-dimensional picture,
one of the most inspiring works of pects are glossed over. But in presenting together these two books provide
videogame history I have ever read. a tale of multiple cultures, dynamic per- a depth of insight impossible to gain
Most stories of game development sonalities, and interlocking puzzle piec- from just one point of view. I read
center on genius and success. As a es, the graphic novel format has many Brown’s book first and found that it
game developer myself, however, I advantages. It is far easier to grasp the served as an excellent lead-in to Acker-
can tell you that the actual work isn’t evolution of the game by seeing illustra- man’s more detailed work.
like that. Game development is lonely tions of prototypes, and seeing the faces Pajitnov’s Tetris has been with us
and difficult, and Brown’s book cap- of the many individuals involved in the for a generation, yet these books show
tures this perfectly. But it also shows story makes it much easier to keep track how it continues to mystify and sur-
that success comes from persisting in of who is who. Moreover, Brown has a prise us. And given how easily the
your passion to create something won- knack for illuminating the motivations game continues to transfer to new
derful, even when (especially when) of his real-life characters. Arguably the technologies, it will likely be with us
it seems crazy to the rest of the world. true hero of Brown’s story is Gunpei Yo- for generations to come.
The book’s format, as well as Brown’s koi, creator of the Game Boy. Without his
uncluttered style, prevents this version unceasing spirit of invention, the world Jesse Schell, author of The Art of Game Design, is
of the story from going into the detail of of both videogames and mobile devices a video game designer and professor of entertainment
Ackerman’s book, so some complex as- would be much less advanced today. technology at Carnegie Mellon University.
Statement of ownership, management and circula- during preceding 12 months, 60,536; no. copies of lished nearest to filing date, 0. D3. Free or nominal
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Sigma Xi
Andrew Cleland, John A. MacLean
Sr. Professor for Molecular Engineering
Innovation and Enterprise, University of
Chicago
Distinguished Lecturers 2017–2018
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or the 79th consecutive year, Sigma Xi
presents its panel of Distinguished Lecturers as an
opportunity for chapters to host visits from out-
standing individuals who are at the leading edge of Lisa Cook, Associate Professor, Depart-
science. These visitors communicate their insights ment of Economics, Michigan University
and excitement on a broad range of topics. 5IF*EFB(BQJO1JOLBOE#MBDL&YQMBJOJOH
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The Distinguished Lecturers are available from 8IFSF%JE"MMUIF"GSJDBO"NFSJDBO*OWFO-
July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018. Each speaker has con- UPST(P 1 (
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sented to a modest honorarium together with full (SPXUI&WJEFODFGSPN"GSJDBO"NFSJDBO
payment of travel costs and subsistence. 1BUFOUT m 1 ( 4
Local chapters may apply for subsidies to support

expenses related to hosting a Distinguished Lecturer.
Applications must be submitted online by March 1,
Susan Coppersmith, Professor of
2017 for funds to be available the next fiscal year. Physics, University of Wisconsin–
Additional support for the program comes Madison
from the American Meteorological Society and the 'SPN#JUTUP2VCJUT"2VBOUVN-FBQGPS
National Cancer Institute. Lecturer biographies, $PNQVUFST 1 (
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contact information, and additional details can be $PNQVUFS6TJOH4JMJDPO2VBOUVN%PUT 4
found online under the Lectureship Program link

at www.sigmaxi.org or by email to lectureships@
_________
sigmaxi.org.
Judith Herzfeld, Chair James Costa, Executive Director, High-

Committee on Lectureships lands Biological Station, and Professor of
Biology, Western Carolina University
Application Deadline: March 1, 2017 0SJHJOPGUIF0SJHJO"1SJNFSUP$IBSMFT
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Edward J. Hackett, Professor of An- Peter MacLeish, Chair and Professor,

thropology, Arizona State University Department of Neurobiology, Director
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and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Chemist, National Institute of Standards
Technology and Technology
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June Pilcher, Alumni Distinguished Herman Sintim, Professor of Chemis-

Professor of Psychology, Clemson try, Purdue University
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Security, Princeton University
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Lucy and Lily (P) The Committee on Distinguished Lectureships has
also selected René Lopez, Associate Professor of
Physics and Astronomy, University of North Caro-
lina at Chapel Hill, and Katherine Spielmann,
Professor in the School of Human Evolution and
Social Change, and Associate Director of School
of Sustainability, Arizona State University, for the
Sally Seidel, Professor of Physics,
2017–2018 panel of Distinguished Lecturers. Talk
University of New Mexico
titles and additional details can be found online at
%JTDPWFSJOH/FX1BSUJDMFT8IBU1BUUFSOTJO www.sigmaxi.org/programs/lectureships or by
/BUVSF.JHIU5FMM6T"CPVUUIF4USVDUVSFPG
emailing lectureships@sigmaxi.org.
__________________
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__________________________
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r5IF3PMFPG*OTUSV-
mentation in Particle Physics Discovery (G,S)

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January-February 2017
Volume 26
Number 1
Sigma Xi Today A NEWSLETTER OF SIGMA XI, THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HONOR SOCIETY
Announcing the From the President

Chapter Award
Winners How Science Should Affect Public Policy
Chapter of Excellence Awards have Interpreting science to address social needs is one of
been bestowed on the following Sig- Sigma Xi’s most challenging functions, and our role
ma Xi chapters for exceptional chap- in informing public policy, in particular, is growing.
ter activity, innovative programming, We aim to improve and go beyond the stereotypes
and true community leadership dur- of the science guru or the “horse whisperer” who
ing 2015–2016. Nominees for chapter speaks in special, interspecies language.
awards were chosen by the regional Decision makers, such as representatives in Con-
and constituency directors based on gress and Parliament, expect to receive in context the
technical knowledge that makes for better decisions.
chapter annual reports and winners The context about which decision makers are con-
President Tee L. Guidotti
were selected by the Committee on cerned is not scientific: It is political and economic.
Qualifications and Membership. Contemporary studies of science policy begin with Roger A. Pielke Jr.’s
1. University of Michigan book The Honest Broker (Cambridge University Press, 2007). The “honest bro-
2. Rice University ker” is expected to provide accurate, neutral, and contextualized knowledge
3. A tie between Southern Illinois in a way that the decision maker can understand without having a technical
University-Carbondale and Gen- education or background. The Science and Technology Policy Fellowships
eral Motors R & D Center from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are
based on this concept. The honest broker must always guard against abus-
Chapter Program of Excellence Awards ing trust by insinuating personal opinion and conviction under the guise of
have been bestowed on the following strict objectivity, thereby becoming a “stealth advocate.”
chapters for organizing and/or host- Even so, there is nothing wrong with science advocacy, as long as motives
ing an outstanding program during and opinions are not concealed and the debate is grounded in evidence.
(Pielke does not make this clear in the book.) Advocacy informs the public
2015–2016.
sphere in policy development, expert legal testimony, program design,
1. Mayo Foundation for programs budget priorities, and risk management. Indeed, advocacy for a position or
that promote STEM education and interpretation is how science itself moves forward.
recognize STEM teachers Pielke mentions two other models, but they are theoretical and have es-
2. University of Maryland for the tour sentially no viable role. The “pure scientist” model does not work in policy,
of the James Webb Space Telescope because scientific knowledge for policy requires contextualization. The
at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight “science arbiter” model, which limits the role of the scientist to advising on
Center questions already asked and resolving disputes, assumes that the relevant
3. University of Florida for a group questions are already formed and articulated.
visit to a special presentation at the Scientists don’t hold expertise in the form of only facts. Just as important
Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa are conceptual frameworks, limitations of method used, interpolation in
Fe College missing evidence, correcting for known biases, and the ineffable sense of
skepticism when a finding or conclusion is implausible. These intangibles,
The following chapters are recog- which belong to what Michael Polanyi called “tacit knowledge,” are reflect-
ed in the depth and experience the science expert brings to giving advice.
nized for initiating the most new
Science informing public policy involves a complicated and often fraught
members in 2015–2016: Brown Uni- relationship between the scientist and the decision maker based on trust,
versity, Washington University, communication, reciprocal comprehension, and skepticism. That is what
Princeton, Ohio State University, makes the ability to effectively articulate and advise on science for policy
Fordham University, Georgetown a special skill distinct from research skills and technical scientific commu-
University, Worcester Polytechnic In- nication. Being an effective science advisor requires skills that have to be
stitute, University of Michigan, Uni- learned. Leadership in Sigma Xi is an excellent way to develop these skills.
versity of California-Berkeley, Texas
A & M University, Cornell Universi-
ty, Lehigh University, North Carolina
State University, Harvard University, Tee L. Guidotti
and Vanderbilt University.
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ANNUAL MEETING AND STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Professional and Student Researchers Gather in Atlanta

The 2016 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference,
held November 10–13 in Atlanta, Georgia, was an energizing gathering
for Sigma Xi chapter leaders, teachers, science supporters, and students.
The Annual Meeting featured leadership workshops for chapter del-
egates. Delegates voted on changes to the Society’s constitution, most
notably to add the word “honor” to the Society’s name: Sigma Xi, The
Scientific Research Honor Society. They also voted to create
the opportunity for kindergarten through 12th grade
students who have presented a local science fair
project and received a letter of recommendation
from a science, technology, engineering, or math
teacher to become Sigma Xi explorers. Sigma Xi
explorers may form Sigma Xi explorer clubs, to
be mentored and led by members of a Sigma Xi
chapter in compliance with local school jurisdic-
tion policies. Sigma Xi explorers will be affiliated
with a local Sigma Xi chapter that is in good stand-
ing where possible in person or virtually. Delegates
also voted to allow the Assembly of Delegates to be con-
vened every other year if warranted at the Board of Directors’
discretion, instead of every year per the previous policy.
The agenda included professional development sessions on critical is-
sues in research. Participants heard keynote lectures from Sigma Xi’s 2016
award winners, including the first Gold Key Award recipient, Norman
Augustine, the former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corpora-
tion. A new component was the STEM Mixer, a networking session.
Approximately 115 students presented research posters in the Student
Research Conference. Top presenters in each research area within the high
school, undergraduate, and graduate divisions were awarded a medal, a
$130 prize in honor of Sigma Xi’s 130th year, and nominations to join Sig-
ma Xi with their first year of membership dues provided by the Society.
All presenting students received nominations to join Sigma Xi, and induc-
tion ceremonies were held for 18 students. The District of Columbia Chap-
ter continued its tradition of sponsoring the Student Choice Awards. The
first place $200 award went to Amara Thind of University of California,
Irvine. John Nemeth selected Shambhavi Badi, a high school student from
Plano East Senior High School in Plano, Texas, for his Executive Director’s
Special Award for her excellent science and science communication skills.
Photos by Robb Cohen Photography & Video and Cristina Gouin-Paul.
From top left: Jan Achenbach of Northwestern Univer-

sity, on right, selected Matt Ford, a Northwestern PhD
student, to share $10,000 that comes with Achenbach’s
Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Scientific Achieve-
ment. Each received $5,000. Ford’s money comes in the
form of a Grant-in-Aid of Research.
Meli’sa Crawford, a graduate student from Arizona

State University, presented a research poster during
the Student Research Conference about her study on
changes in male rats’ intestinal microbiota induced by
high fat diets.
Delegate for the SUNY at Purchase Chapter Susan

Letcher, Membership-at-Large Director Vijay Kowtha,
and Chair of the Committee on Qualifications and
From left: Asegun Henry of Georgia Institute of Technology, Mohammad Khan at Membership Emma Perry at the Annual Meeting.
Emory University School of Medicine, Brion Bob with the U.S. Department of En-
ergy, Suzanne Ffolkes with Research!America, Lisa C. Richardson of the Centers Adam Kunesh, an undergraduate student at the Universi-
for Disease Control and Prevention, and Randall Guensler of Georgia Institute of ty of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses his research
Technology led a panel discussion about how policy decisions made at the federal poster with Walston Chubb Award for Innovation win-
level affect scientists. Other sessions focused on science communication, mentor- ner Akhlesh Lakhtakia of Pennsylvania State University.
ship, STEM career options, entrepreneurship, and diversity in research. Both have done research involving nanotechnology.
62 Sigma Xi Today
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PROGRAMS
Registration Now Open for the 2017 Student Research Showcase

Researchers often find it difficult to talk
about their projects with friends and
relatives who are not in the same re- Key deadlines
search field. Those who are able to ef-
for the 2017
fectively communicate their work to a
broader audience are at an advantage Student Research
in terms of communicating the value of Showcase:
what they do to the public, to superiors
at school or on the job, and to organi- r 1SPKFDUEFTDSJQUJPOBQQSPWBM
zations that could provide funding to and registration deadline:
support a project. Sigma Xi’s Student February 22, 2017
Research Showcase is a unique oppor-
tunity for high school, undergraduate, r 1SPKFDUTVCNJTTJPOEFBEMJOF
and graduate students to develop their March 22, 2017
communication skills through multime- in digital conversations with present-
dia. Held annually, this online science ers through their websites. r &WBMVBUJPOQFSJPE
communication competition allows stu- Participants find discussion with the April 3–10, 2017
dents to showcase their research on a judges and the public helpful in better
website they build. The competition is understanding their research. “I’m re-
open to all research disciplines. ally excited about trying to bridge the
Presentation websites contain three gap between the scientific community Sigma Xi members are encouraged
main components: an abstract, a tech- and a broader audience,” said Luka to volunteer as judges.
nical slideshow, and a video to intro- Negoita, the 2015 graduate division
For more information on the Student
duce the project and its relevance to winner, when asked about his moti- Research Showcase, visit https://www.
________
the research community and society. vation to participate in the showcase. sigmaxi.org/meetings-events/student-
_______________________
The video component challenges par- Participants compete for awards of up research-showcase.
____________
ticipants to present their research to to $500 in high school, undergraduate,
a general audience. During the re- and graduate divisions. The winner of
view period, more than sixty Sigma Xi the People’s Choice Award is selected Sigma Xi Today is
edited by Heather Thorstensen
members volunteer as judges to evalu- based on a public vote and receives a and designed by Spring Davis.
ate students’ submissions and engage $250 award.
Watch Live Science Talks on YouTube

Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturers are sharing their re- derstanding of heavy quark bound states. These studies
search through broadcasts on YouTube Live. Watch the increase understanding of the strong force, one of the
live events online, and log in with your Google, Gmail, four fundamental forces of nature. The group’s work re-
or YouTube account to ask questions quires that they collect and analyze data
during the broadcasts. Mark your cal- at the Large Hadron Collider and other
endar for this upcoming session. experimental facilities.
What’s on the Front Lines of For the link to watch this live broadcast, visit
Discovery for Particle Physics? http://community.sigmaxi.org/events/calendar.
Recent broadcasts have covered nuclear pow-
January 10, 3:30–4:15 PM EST er, sleep’s role in well-being, wetlands, and
Distinguished Lecturer Sally C. Seidel how math can be applied to predicting
is a faculty member of the University of crime. For recordings of these broadcasts,
New Mexico’s Collider Physics Group, visit ___________________
https://www.youtube.com/user/
whose primary goal is an improved un- Sally C. Seidel AmSciMagazine/videos.
______________
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CHAPTERS AND GRANTS
Sigma Xi Welcomes Returning Chapters

Sigma Xi is happy to report that some Sarosh Patel of the University of
chapters that had lost their good standing Bridgeport Chapter in Connecticut also
status are starting to return to the Society. named networking as a critical reason
Since January of 2016, approximately 10 to bring Sigma Xi back to campus.
chapters have begun the process to return “We wanted to give our students an
to good standing and some have already opportunity to network,” he said, “and
completed it. Four representatives of such also to get them into the process of
chapters attended the Sigma Xi Annual grant writing and getting seed grants
Meeting in Atlanta in November. They so that they can establish their work
shared why they are interested in reacti- and apply for higher levels of fund-
vating their chapters. ing.” He also mentioned that member-
Lauber Martins of the Andrews- ship is an honor.
Whirlpool Chapter in Michigan said Katharine Cammack, representing
that a major reason he and others were the University of the South Chapter
interested in revitalizing their chapter in Tennessee, noted that networking Sarosh Patel of the University of Bridgeport
was to be able to take advantage of the through Sigma Xi is particularly valu- Chapter , on left, became a Sigma Xi member
networking opportunities that Sigma able because it brings researchers from during the Annual Meeting. He is helping to
Xi can provide to students. various backgrounds together. return the chapter to good standing status.
“We have the focus of preparing these “You get a lot of different types of
students for grad school,” said Martins. researchers doing a lot of different as the sole research society on campus,
“And if you involve them in research types of things. And it’s one of the but rather to lend more funding and
and involve them in a network, their only times when you’re in a particular support to research initiatives.
work will be better and it will be a plus discipline that you get to branch out,” “We wanted to reactivate our Sigma
on their application for grad school. It’s she said. Xi chapter because we wanted to aug-
very important that they have good, According to Daniel Gleason of ment and advance existing programs
quality research and are involved with Georgia Southern University, the goal within our institution that are involved
people who do the same thing.” of the chapter there is not to compete with undergraduate research,” he said.
Call for Grant Applications

Undergraduate and gradu- U.S. citizenship and Sigma Xi membership are not
ate students are invited to required to apply. Approximately 75 percent of the
apply to Sigma Xi’s Gants- funds, however, are restricted for use by Sigma Xi’s
in-Aid of Research (GIAR) dues-paying members or by students whose project
program by March 15. The advisor is an active member.
application will be available In last year’s spring grant cycle, 124 students in 10
by January 15 on Sigma Xi’s countries received grants totaling $108,038.
website at https://www.
___________
sigmaxi.org/programs/
___________________
grants-in-aid/apply.
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Support the Grants-in-Aid of Research
The program provides
Centennial Campaign
up to $1,000 each to stu-
dents in most areas of sci- The Grants-in-Aid of Research program will
ence and engineering. Designated funds from the reach its centennial year in 2022, thanks to
National Academy of Sciences allow for more funding donors and funds from the National Academy
in certain research areas. Astronomy research projects of Sciences. A five-year countdown kicked
can receive up to $5,000, and vision-related projects off at the recent Sigma Xi Annual Meeting in
may receive up to $2,500. Atlanta, Georgia. If you would like to sup-
The grants may be used to pay for travel expenses port student research by donating to the pro-
to or from a research site or to purchase non-standard gram, go to https://ecommerce.sigmaxi.org/
laboratory equipment that is needed for a specific re- ecom/#Donate.
___________
search project.
64 Sigma Xi Today
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Join the Sigma Xi

Affiliate Circle
Sigma Xi invites everyone

who is interested in science
or engineering to join its
Affiliate Circle.
Affiliates receive:
t A subscription to Sigma Xi’s
magazine, American Scientist
t Sigma Xi’s newsletter
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platform
t An opportunity to subscribe
to Sigma Xi SmartBrief for the
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FUEL YOUR
CURIOSITY
APRIL 7 & 8, 2018
WALTER E. WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER IN WASHINGTON, DC
Mark your calendars for the 5th USA Science & Engineering Festival.
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Get Seed Money for your Sigma Xi Chapter

Have an Idea Apply Get a Grant

2 From the Editors

FROM THE EDITORS

T he inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th

anticapitalist conspiracy. Those who question the safety of genetically modified

2 American Scientist, Volume 105

ARMENIA & the REPUBLIC of GEORGIA We invite you to travel

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 3

issue’s Spotlight report, features an in- scientist/

terview with aerospace engineer Billy

4 American Scientist, Volume 105

Complete Touch Board Experiment Kit

PhiTOP #3155648....$19.95 Pendulum Wave Model #3155204....$39.95

samples. The date is of particular inter-

6 American Scientist, Volume 105

old, Descubierta Cave may contain

Tom McHugh/Science Source

eros. Slon and her coauthors see great

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 7

First Person: M. V. Ramana

8 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 9

© Michael Paukner / substudio.com

10 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 11

Stephen R. Adams et al.

12 American Scientist, Volume 105

Computational Thinking in Science

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 13

Aeronautics engineers use simulations from computational fluid dynamics to

14 American Scientist, Volume 105

humanities. Many people will learn to be

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definitions have made it difficult for ed-

dents have learned it. a a a

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 15

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one or two position and

16 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 17

Ending the Crisis of Complacency

18 American Scientist, Volume 105

But each of these tools and insights

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 19

have a sense that science poses conflicts

20 American Scientist, Volume 105

Todd Bannor/Alamy Stock Photo

investment in local nonprofit media. Bibliography

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 21

The Hand-in-Hand Spread of

22 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 January–February 23

as several Flint homes had 200 Some Flint residents didn’t

lifetime risk (per 100,000)

some of which were dispens- ment—total dissolved sol-

tively brought lead below 1 not safe or that even bottled

potential source of sickness/death

Xuyen Mai of the University of Massachusetts

24 American Scientist, Volume 105

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