YSM Issue 86.3

NEUROSCIENCE
Acetylcholine receptors
unlock clues to the
biochemical basis of
depression
THE NATION’S OLDEST COLLEGE SCIENCE PUBLICATION
April 2013 Vol. 86 No. 3
GENOMICS
“Serendipitous”
discovery leads to
replication of viral
infection process
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanoscale hybrid
cells harness energy
from surrounding
light and motion
PAGE 8 PAGES 12-13
PAGES 32-33
April 2013 Volume 86 No. 3
Editor-in-Chief
Publishers
Managing Editors
Articles Editors
News Editor
Features Editor
Copy Editors
Online Editors
Production Manager
Layout Editors
Arts Editor
Webmaster
Multimedia Editor
Advertising Manager
Distribution Manager
Subscriptions Manager
Outreach Chair
Special Events Coordinator
Staff
William Zhang
Qiaonan Zhong
Elizabeth Himwich
William Gearty
Spencer Katz
Contributing Writers
Sophie Janaskie
Cristal Suarez
Andrew Deveau
Smita Shukla
Mahbuba Tusty
Yale Scientific
M A G A Z I N E
Established 1894
Jessica Hahne
Karthikeyan Ardhanareeswaran
Stella Cao
Li Boynton
Renee Wu
Terin Patel-Wilson
John Urwin
Alyssa Picard
Rebecca Su
Grace Cao
Dennis Wang
Walter Hsiang
Jason Young
Jessica Schmerler
Carrie Cao
Christina de Fontnouvelle
Chanthia Ma
Jeremy Liu
Seung Yeon Rhee
Aurora Xu
Alex Co
Deeksha Deep
Naaman Mehta
Savina Kim
Kevin Boehm
Jiahe Gu
Tierney Larson
Blake Smith
Margaretta Midura
Jared Milfred
Yigit Yorulmaz
Zoe Kitchel
Brendan Shi
Renusha Indralingam
Advisory Board
Sean Barrett, Chair
Physics
Priyamvada Natarajan
Astronomy
Kurt Zilm
Chemistry
Fred Volkmar
Child Study Center
Stanley Eisenstat
Computer Science
James Duncan
Diagnostic Radiology
Melinda Smith
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Peter Kindlmann
Electrical Engineering
Werner Wolf
Emeritus
John Wettlaufer
Geology & Geophysics
William Summers History of Science & History of Medicine
Jeremiah Quinlan
Undergraduate Admissions
Carl Seefried Yale Science & Engineering Association
The Yale Scientific Magazine (YSM) is published four times a year by
Yale Scientific Publications, Inc. Third class postage paid in New
Haven, CT 06520. Non-profit postage permit number 01106 paid
for May 19, 1927 under the act of August 1912. ISN:0091-287.
We reserve the right to edit any submissions, solicited or unsolicited,
for publication. This magazine is published by Yale College
students, and Yale University is not responsible for its contents.
Perspectives expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of YSM. We retain the right to reprint contributions,
both text and graphics, in future issues as well as a non-exclusive
right to reproduce these in electronic form. The YSM welcomes
comments and feedback. Letters to the editor should be under
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information. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication.
Please send questions and comments to ysm@yale.edu.
F R O M T H E E D I T O R
The Human Population Explosion
Population is measured by statistics, marked by numbers. Demographics can be plotted
on number-based pyramids; births and deaths can be charted on line graphs. The U.S.
Census Bureau website provides an up-to-date estimate of the number of people in the
world at the click of a button. We have no trouble regulating records of populations, but
do we have any means of controlling population growth itself?
Since the Industrial Revolution began in the West during the late 1700s, advancements
in technology, sanitation, and public health have continually lowered death rates around
the world, causing population growth rates to skyrocket. This sudden, exponential
growth of the world population is often described as an “explosion” — a term that,
at first glance, connotes anything but control. In many cases, explosions are associated
with violence, feelings of danger, the atrocities caused by nuclear bombs and terrorism.
However, in other contexts, we have learned to regulate explosions, directing when they
should happen and when they should stop: chemistry lab experiments, fourth-of-July
fireworks, cartoon characters who comically mishandle dynamite and spring back to life.
The occasions and implications of explosions, as well as our level of control concerning
them, vary greatly. But all explosions have in common the same general process: starting
suddenly, spreading quickly, permeating their surroundings, and effecting change.
Welcome to Issue 86.3 of the Yale Scientific. This issue will explore “The Human
Population Explosion,” from a wide range of perspectives, highlighting advancements
in technology and medical care, various human population phenomena, and the larger
picture of how human population dynamics fit into ecosystems and compare to other
species. Our goal for this issue is to provide an accurately complex picture of population.
The problem is that population does not stop to pose for pictures; it is constantly
moving and growing and changing. By the time this issue is released, there will be new
data available on populations around the world. There will be newer, more up-to-date
statistics, pyramids, and line graphs. The button on the U.S. Census Bureau website will
refresh to a webpage that estimates a new, much higher number than it did when the
pages of this issue left the press. But there is a thought that comforts the staff of the Yale
Scientific as we attempt to capture such an elusive subject in print. It is the same thought
that comforts the human population as we grapple with our own dynamic growth. As a
publication and as a species, we have commissioned the same photographer to capture
population and provide us with snapshots of what is happening and how we should
respond. It is a photographer that is constantly moving and growing and changing at a
rate equally exponential to the human population: science.
Yale Scientific
Established in 1894
AILMENTS OF A GRAYING POPULATION
How public health is shifting to accomodate the elderly
Decoding
Depression
African Sleeping
Sickness
PAGES 14-17
Hybrid Energy
Harvesters
Jessica Hahne
Editor-in-Chief
About the Art
The cover, designed by Arts Editor Chanthia Ma, depicts
the progression of age using a photo montage. The collage
portraiture begins with the top of a toddler’s head and ends
with the chin of an elderly woman (images adapted from the
photography of Danny Santos II, River Bend Lodge, The
Children At Risk Foundation-Brazil, and Mamy Factory). The
white facial frame creates cohesion among the photographs,
suggesting that the well-being of graying populations is in
direct contact with that of younger generations. Contributing
artists for this issue were Katiya Jindachomthong (page
12), Spencer Katz (page 14), Jessica Schmerler (page 18),
Rachel Lawrence (center spread), Renusha Indralingam (page
23), Casey McLaughlin (page 26), Jason Liu (page 29), and
Qiaonan Zhong (page 32).