YSM Issue 86.4

November 2013 Volume 86 No. 4
Editor-in-Chief
Publishers
Managing Editors
Articles Editors
News Editor
Features Editor
Copy Editors
Online Editor
Production Manager
Layout Editors
Arts Editor
Webmaster
Multimedia Editor
Advertising Manager
Distribution Manager
Subscriptions Manager
Outreach Chair
Staff
Zoe Kitchel
Brendan Shi
Elizabeth Himwich
William Gearty
Jiahe Gu
Contributing Writers
William Ge
Somin Lee
Taryn Laubenstein
Sophie Janaskie
Payal Marathe
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
Chanthia Ma
Carrie Cao
Christina de Fontnouvelle
Nicole Tsai
Jeremy Liu
Seung Yeon Rhee
Aurora Xu
Alex Co
Deeksha Deep
Naaman Mehta
Kevin Boehm
Emma Graham
Tierney Larson
Blake Smith
Ahmed Ansari
Ariel Ekblaw
Ethan France
Cathy Ren
Stephanie Mao
Edward Kong
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.
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Perspectives expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the
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Please send questions and comments to ysm@yale.edu.
F R O M T H E E D I T O R
Frontiers of Exploration
Exploration is without scope. It can encompass sparks of revolutionary invention
or revealing reexaminations of known fact. It can take us soaring up through clouds
and stars or deep down into the darkest depths of the ocean. It can be embodied by
Viking voyages hundreds of years past or even by a mission much closer to home: the
matriculation of modern-day university students.
On August 23, 2013, 1,359 Yale College freshmen bustled into new dorm rooms for
the very first time, greeted their suitemates, unpacked their suitcases, and settled in for
the long-haul. For many of these students, freshman year will be a bumpy ride. The
beginning of any journey can often be the longest, rockiest stretch of the road. But it can
also be an experience of excitement, of growth, and of great discovery.
Welcome to Issue 86.4 of the Yale Scientific. Thanks to our new freshman contributors
as well as our returning writers and artists, this issue’s articles will investigate a wide range
of scientific “Frontiers of Exploration,” from the microscopic inner workings of synapse
formation, to the far-away formation of stars. Two issues back, we published a collection
of articles on the theme “Limits and Breakthroughs,” focusing on the value of landmark
scientific discoveries. Our hope in this issue is to present a more panoramic perspective
on scientific research by covering news in science not just in terms of its end-results, but
in terms of the clever inquiry and exploratory work that goes into finding those endresults.
At a time when funds are few and far between in the United States, many scientists
who once had access to all the tools they needed to uncover and explore their way
to discoveries are starting to come up short. (See the article “Sequestration Cuts into
Scientific Research” on page 27). Now more than ever, the cost of scientific exploration
is steep. But its benefits are priceless, yielding improvements that sweep across society,
from cheaper health care alternatives to more efficient technologies.
Unexplored frontiers can be daunting, even for the boldest of explorers. Whether the
frontier in question happens to be a first year of college or a free market economy, it can
be difficult to maintain a steady direction forward in the face of obstacles. But science is
all about discovery through trial and error. With the common compass of science guiding
us onward, scientists and societies alike are empowered to strive toward discovery, to
delve into the unknown, and — perhaps most importantly — to find value in the process
of exploration along the way.
Jessica Hahne
Editor-in-Chief
About the Art
The cover, designed by Arts Editor Nicole Tsai, utilizes images
captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Array (ALMA), detailed in the article on page 8. A star chart
depicting the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails) was
overlaid on a second image of a rich region of dust clouds
and star formation in the southern constellation of Vela.
Images were provided by Yale Associate Professor Héctor Arce
and the European Organization for Astronomical Research in
the Southern Hemisphere. Contributing artists for this issue
were Rachel Lawrence (pages 4, 18), Lining Wang (page 12),
Lindsey Stavola (page 15), Nicole Tsai (pages 20-21), Casey
McLaughlin (page 23), Audrey Luo (page 25), Annelisa
Leinbach (pages 28-29), and Grace Pan (page 36). We would
like to correct the mispelling of an artist's name in Issue 86.3's
"About the Art": Kantiya Jindachomthong.