12W Note from the Editorial Board
Dear Reader,
Today’s generation of college students grew up with many of the Disney classics of the 1990’s. As you have already seen from the cover, Disney’s The Little Mermaid inspired this hydrophilic issue of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science. Get your swim trunks and your flip-flops, because we’re about to splash into the world of science!
Water has been an active area of research in numerous fields. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists are interested in the plants and animals of the sea, earth scientists have studied how our earth has changed topographically, and meteorologists continuously monitor the weather and potential hurricanes that sweep across the oceans onto the land. Additionally, chemists hone the natural products of the sea and medical researchers look for novel compounds that may be useful in treating disease. Tourists, too, enjoy everything the great beaches of the world have to offer.
Clearly, many appreciate water in its vast glory. In this issue, DUJS writers cover a wide spectrum of scientific fields in their water-based research articles. Scott Gladstone ’15 discusses the possibilities of harnessing certain chemicals from small ocean critters that can be used effectively as medicine, Yoo Jung Kim ’14 takes a tour through history to describe the birth of sonar in the context of wartime, and Chelsea Myles ‘15 describes the various types of oil spills that have plagued our waters for many years.
Claire Arthur ’14 explains eutrophication—a state in which water is very high in nutrients from runoff that results in increased growth of plant life—in the context of the Gulf of Mexico, followed back-to-back with Rui Shu ‘15’s article on phytoplankton in our waters. Medha Raj ’13 and Prashasti Agrawal ’13 each discuss aspects of how the modern industry has compromised the abundance of fish and other aquatic animals in their respective articles.
Danny Wong ’14 details the effects of increased carbon emissions on the coral reefs around the world, Daniel Lee ’13 explores the origins of and current practice of cryogenics, and Sara Remsen ’12 recalls Professor Robert Maue’s discussion in Biology 14 (Animal Physiology) on the mammalian diving reflex, using Maue’s anecdote of the Weddell seals in Antarctica as a jumping off point.
Daniel Lee ’13 also had the opportunity to interview Dartmouth’s own Carol Folt, Dean of the Faculty, Acting Provost of the College, and formerly a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. His interview includes Folt’s own research on mercury pollution, her path to becoming a scientist, and where she sees both women in science and Dartmouth itself going in the next 30 years.
As always, we feature three research articles submitted by Dartmouth undergraduates. In their Biology 53 course, Kali Pruss ’14, Ellen Irwin ’14, Emilia Hull ’14 researched the effects of temperature and phosphorus on Anabaena. Alejandro Luperon ’12 summarizes his own research on Unexploded Ordnance, undetonated weapons that still could explode. Lastly, for her Psychology 50 course, Marietta Smith ’12 researched three drugs that have the potential to remediate the effects of alcoholism.
We hope you enjoy this stimulating and nautical issue of the DUJS!
Sincerely,
The DUJS Editorial Board