YSM 85-3

NEWS
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FEATURES
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Letter from the Editor
Amasia: The Next Supercontinent
Supercomputing
Intelligent Buildings
"Kracking" the KRAS Code
Making Your Own Luck
New Definition of Autism: From Flexible
to Few
Cryogenic IR Spectroscopy
Elegant and Simple: Understanding the
Interaction Between MDA5 and Viral
RNA
Q&A
Pharmacology
Study Drugs and Neural Enhancers
Biochemistry
The Marijuana Receptors
Health
What am I Eating? The Infiltration of
Genetically Modified Foods
Medicine
Limiting Embryo Implantation
Bioethics
Selling Sex... Cells
Biology
Let Them Eat Cake: More to Obesity
than Just the Extra Calories
Science Education, Part II
Sizing Up Science at Yale
Book Review
The Aha! Moment: A Scientist's Take on
Creativity
Undergraduate Profile
Darren Zhu, B.S. '13
Alumni Profile
Dr. Edward Cheung
Neurology
Left Brain, Right Brain:
An Outdated Argument
www.yalescientific.org
contents
April 2012 / Vol. 85 / Issue No. 3
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Using Placebos in
Research: Ethical or Not?
The use of placebos in clinical research
trials has been a hot-button issue in
bioethics for decades. Bioethicist and
Yale Professor Dr. Robert Levine
believes that placebo in research is ethical,
but only under the right circumstances.
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The Healing Art of
Meditation
Meditation has been believed for
thousands of years to have healing
powers. Now we are beginning to
understand how meditation affects the
brain. Dr. Judson Brewer of the Yale
Medical School has shown meditation
decreases activity of the parts of the
mind associated with self-referential
processing and mind-wandering.
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One of the Many Quirks
of Quantum: Perpetual
Motion and Never-Ending
Currents
Yale Professors Jack Harris and Leonid
Glazman put to rest quandaries surrounding
the existence and nature of
non-dissipating quantum currents.
Rooted firmly in quantum theory and
zero-point motion, these tiny currents
are on the vanguard of our knowledge
of perpetual motion.
ON THE COVER
Machine Morality: Computing Right and Wrong
Yale researcher Wendell Wallach considers the ethical, technical,
and legal difficulties of creating machines that are capable of moral
decision-making.
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Wolves and Wolfpacks:
The Chase is On
Science and Religion:
Reality's Toolkit
April 2012 | Yale Scientific Magazine 3