AAS Moscow - Penguin Press - Issue 02 / December 2020-2021

Environment 

4 

6 

Meteor 

Shower 

Meatless 

Burgers 

Technology 

7 

8 

AI in 

2020 

Video 

Gaming 

Industry 

News 

9 

11 

BLM 

Movement 

History of 

Instagram 

The Penguin Press 

Issue XXV The AAS Student Newspaper December 2020 

Christmas Around the World 

Rachel Nam 

Journalist 

The time of year has come 

for trees to be decorated and 

hung with baubles, carols to 

be played on the streets, and 

gifts to be given. Although it 

originated from Christianity, 

Christmas has come to become 

one of the most celebrated 

holidays globally every year. 

According to Greetings Island, 

a holiday custom card website, 

Christmas is one of the top 10 

biggest holidays in the world. 

Some popular traditions are 

decorating Christmas trees with 

ornaments, giving presents, and 

baking gingerbread cookies. 

A snowy winter day with a 

crackling fireplace, a little 

before the new year, is what 

most people depict this special 

day as. However, despite the 

common belief that Christmas 

is always on December 25, in 

a cold season, some countries 

celebrate Christmas on different 

days, even in different manners. 

One familiar example 

is Russia, the very country the 

AAS community is in. In Russia, 

the holiday is celebrated as 

Orthodox Christmas on January 

7th, a little after the beginning 

of the new year. This is because 

the Russian Orthodox Church 

uses the old Julian calendar to 

mark holidays instead of the 

Gregorian calendar that many 

other countries use. Another 

interesting fact about Christmas 

in Russia is that it was once 

banned: during the time of 

the Soviet Union, Christmas 

was officially banned from 

1929 to 1991 due to it being a 

religious holiday. Christmas 

trees were turned into ‘New 

Year trees’ starting from 1935, 

and New Year celebrations 

became grander instead. 

For countries located 

in the southern hemisphere, 

~ December 2020 // Page 1 ~ 

Christmas is a summer holiday. 

Having opposite seasons to the 

northern hemisphere, people 

in countries such as Australia, 

New Zealand, and South Africa 

enjoy a hot holiday season. 

Instead of fir trees, they use 

palm trees and green bushes 

to show their Christmas spirit. 

Many people in these countries, 

especially in Australia, head 

outside to beaches or camping 

sites for celebrations. Sandmen 

can often be spotted instead 

of snowmen. In addition to 

English traditional foods such 

as roast meat and pudding, 

seafood dishes are popular 

Christmas dishes in Australia 

and New Zealand. In Mexico, 

local artisans create papiermâché 

piñatas with small 

presents for children hidden 

inside. The children then hit 

the piñatas until they open, 

revealing the toys and candy.

Christmas 

Christmas Around the World 

Christmas traditions in some 

places are uniquely different 

from others. In Japan, KFC 

(Kentucky Fried Chicken) 

is a popular Christmas food. 

Ever since December 1974, 

when KFC Japan promoted 

a ‘Kentucky for Christmas’ 

campaign, it has become part of 

the holiday traditions. In some 

parts of Europe, Krampus, St. 

Nicholas’ demonic counterpart, 

is believed to come on 

December 5 to swat children 

with bad behavior and take 

them to his lair. In Germany, 

a pickle-shaped ornament is 

hidden among other decorations 

on the Christmas tree - being 

the first to find the pickle is 

considered as good luck. And 

in the town of Christmas, 

Florida, Christmas is celebrated 

year round, and streets such 

as Bethlehem, Cupid Street, 

and St. Nicholas Avenue are 

named after the holiday-theme. 

This year, it will be 

difficult for Christmas and New 

Year to be the way it was for 

the past years, as going out for 

holiday celebrations is not as 

easy as it was before. All the 

same, spending time with family 

at home will still be a wonderful 

way to spend the festive season. 

Covid-19 

How is the COVID-19 vaccine made? Is it safe? 

Eunho Cho 

Journalist 

Last week, on the 8th of 

December, the United 

Kingdom (UK) hospitals 

initiated their vaccination 

program for the people. 

Although the government and 

the medical companies claim 

that the vaccination is safe 

for injection, concerns still 

remain regarding safety issues. 

Vaccine is a substance 

used to stimulate the production 

of antibodies and provide 

immunity against one or several 

diseases. The main purpose of 

vaccination, essentially, is to 

teach the body the way to fight 

against the disease. Likewise, 

the process of vaccination is 

to inject a weakened virus 

to the body to activate the 


immune system to be ready for 

fighting that particular disease. 

Precendently, the vaccine 

development process took about 

10 years, consisted of analysis of 

the disease, three clinical trials 

(to about 10 people, 100 people,

How is the COVID-19 vaccine made? Is it safe? 

and 1,000 people respectively), 

and earning approvals from 

the government. However, the 

vaccine for COVID-19 was 

developed within nearly one fifth 

of this conventional duration. 

For each respective 

clinical trial, the duration 

required is at minimum a year 

and a half. Nevertheless, the 

vaccinations that are being 

injected in countries such as 

the United Kingdom, United 

States, and Russia, have not 

been devoted to an adequate 

length of time for each 

clinical trial, raising concerns 

regarding potential side-effects. 

To the people who 

are concerned about being 

vaccinated, professor Stephen 

Evans says that no safety is 

absolute - it really depends 

on the context. Moreover, he 

claimed that there are at least 

10,000 pages of materials of 

data, including laboratory 

tests, animal tests, clinical 

tests, and the document on 

Pfizer’s vaccination which has 

shown to successfully reduce 

the number of COVID-19 

cases by 95%, leaving only 

relatively mild side effects, 

such as headache and chill. 

It is clear that both the 

concerns of clinical trials 

and professor Evans’ opinion 

are valid to a certain extent; 

hence, it is necessary to take 

adequate time to consider 

all the factors before making 

a choice about taking the 

COVID-19 vaccination. 

Environment 

Nature’s Christmas Lights 

Covid-19 

Seobin Kim 

Journalist 

Lighting up streets and venues 

with bright LED decorations and 

delicate ornaments, Christmas 

is arriving with joy and glee 

of the refreshing start of a new 

year. It has become a norm 

for people to travel with their 

beloved ones for Christmas; 

last year statistics showed a 

breaking record of 115 million 

Americans alone traveling for 

Christmas. Unfortunately, this 

year’s Christmas travels are 

expected to be limited due to 

the COVID pandemic. The 

American statistics confirmed 

that the number of people 

traveling for the holiday has 

already decreased by 69%. 

While it seems risky to travel 

to places with a concentrated 

population, there are places 

that are “hidden gems,” 

known to only a few tourists. 

The Aurora Borealis, 

often referred to as “the 

northern lights,” is one of the 


most remarkable astronomical 

phenomena occurring in the 

night sky, generated by the 

collision of solar gas from the 

sun and the Earth’s atmosphere. 

The broad spectrum of aurora 

lights appearing in the dark 

sky is known to be the most 

dazzling representation of 

nature’s fabulous beauty, and 

many people include “seeing 

the aurora” to their bucket lists. 

Due to oversea travel 

restrictions, the most popular 

aurora observing tour sites

such as Tromso, Norway or 

Yukon, Canada could be limited 

options. However, there are 

places in Russia where people 

can see the aurora just as clear 

as any tour sites mentioned 

above. Here are a few options: 

Murmansk (Мурманск) 

is located on the Kola Peninsula 

(Кольский полуостров) in the 

far northwest of Russia. The 

place is very popular among 

tourists wishing to enjoy 

winter sports such as skiing, 

snowboarding, and visiting 

traditional Sami villages. 

The best spot to observe the 

northern lights is the village 

of Teriberka (Териберка) 

which 120 kilometers 

Environment 

Nature’s Christmas Lights 

from the center of the city. 

Arkhangelsk (Архангельск) 

is also a northern city that lies 

in the Arctic Circle along with 

Murmansk. The aurora covers 

up the night sky above the 

city, but for tourists wishing 

to have a better look, they are 

recommended to travel a little 

further to the northern part of 

Arkhangelsk Region. The best 

time to visit Arkhangelsk for 

the northern lights is: the spring, 

autumn equinox, and the winter. 

Last but not least, 

Petrozavodsk (Петрозаводск) 

is the capital of Karelia, where 

there are small towns such as 

Kem, Belomorsk, and Solovki 

Island in which tourists can 

The Meteor Shower 

get the best atmospheric 

photos of the northern lights. 

As the northern lights appear 

over Lake Onega, it creates 

the most magnificent and 

beautiful sight for pictures 

of wonderful memories. 

Philip Pullman, the author 

of the Subtle Knife, quotes in 

his book “The sight filled the 

northern sky; the immensity 

of it was scarcely conceivable. 

As if from Heaven itself, great 

curtains of delicate light hung 

and trembled.” For the coming 

Christmas, seeing the christmas 

lights of nature itself lighting 

up the night sky like a welldecorated 

Christmas tree would 

be a worthy experience to have. 

Dayeon Jung 

Journalist 

A few weeks ago, countless 

meteors shooted across the sky. 

More specifically, the 2020 

Geminid meteor shower peaked 

on the evening of December 

13th and continued until the 

next day. This year’s shower 

was particularly special because 

its peak overlapped with a 

nearly new moon, allowing 

even the fainter meteors to be 

clearly seen due to the dark 

sky and minimal moonlight. 

Interestingly, it is known that 

the Geminids shower strikes 

every year between the 4th and 

17th of December for reasons 

nobody is aware of. Although 

the process of creating a 

meteor shower still “remains 

a mystery,” as David Jewitt, 

an astronomer at UCLA, said, 

at least people do know some 


fundamental information about 

meteors and meteor showers. 

First of all, the meteor, also 

known as a shooting star, is a 

phenomenon whereby comets, 

dust from asteroids and the 

solar system, are drawn into 

the atmosphere by the Earth’s 

gravity and burned by friction 

with the atmosphere. They 

appear in various colors such 

as white, yellow, and green, 

influenced by the presence

Environment 

The Meteor Shower 

of traces of metals like sodium 

and calcium. The countless 

number of meteors that fall on 

the Earth for a day, which can 

be seen with the naked eye 

for less than a few seconds, 

is closely related to a meteor 

shower, a phenomenon in which 

many meteors pour down the 

sky, resembling rain. As meteor 

showers are the residues of 

comets and asteroids, various 

materials that have leaked from 

the celestial bodies remain at the 

site of passing when they enter 

the inner orbit of the Earth in 

an elliptical orbit. Accordingly, 

whenever the Earth periodically 

orbits around the Sun and passes 

through the locations where 

comets or asteroids have passed, 

the Earth attracts the debris into 

the atmosphere. This debris 

eventually becomes meteor 

showers which are visible to the 

global population. Then, how 

do astronomers name these? 

As meteoroids collide with the 

atmosphere, other meteoroids 

from the same direction seem 

as if they are radiating from 

one point, called a radiant 

point. The meteor shower is 

named after the constellation 

of the area in which the radiant 

point is located; the Geminid 

meteor shower, the Leonid 

meteor shower, and the Orionid 

meteor shower are famous 

examples of this. To focus 

specifically on the Geminid 

meteor shower, it is formed by 


a stream of debris left by the 

asteroid 3200 Phaethon, first 

observed in 1826. According 

to NASA, Geminids travel 

78,000 mph (35 km/s), which 

is over 1000 times faster than 

cheetahs, approximately 250 

times faster than the swiftest car 

in the world, and over 40 times 

faster than a speeding bullet. 

Lastly, for the readers 

who were not able to see 

Geminids in person, NASA 

Meteor Watch Facebook Page 

uploaded wonderful videos 

of broadcasting a live stream 

of the shower’s peak. For 

those who are willing to see 

the next meteor shower, the 

Quadrantids shower 2021 can 

be seen on January 2nd and 3rd.

Environment 

Environmental Pollution in the Arctic 

and its Biological Impact on Wildlife 

Doehyun Lee 

Journalist 

It has been over a year since 

the first case of COVID-19 has 

been confirmed in Wuhan City, 

China, and since then, its impact 

has been overwhelming. The 

virus has spread among 73.6 

million people and took away 

1.64 million lives. However, 

while COVID-19 has been 

gaining all the spotlight of mass 

media, humanity has failed to 

keep in mind another global 

issue: environmental pollution. 

While National Geographic 

revealed that CO2 emissions 

have been slightly reduced by 

the decreased human activities 

during the pandemic, the gravity 

of ocean pollution has become 

unignorable, making matters 

worse for most people, who 

are already suffering mentally, 

physically, and economically 

due to COVID-19. The 

increased consumption of 

face masks, gloves, and other 

personal protective equipment 

has resulted in enormous 

volumes of trash. Furthermore, 

the increased frequency of 

food take-outs and delivery 

services has correspondingly 

increased the amount of plastic 

waste. As a result, the number 

of plastic waste discovered on 

the shores has significantly 

risen over the past few months. 

French environmental nonprofit 

organization Opération 

Mer Propre (Operation 

Clean Sea) founder Laurent 

Lombard pronounced that 

the numbers of masks may 

even surpass those of jellyfish 

in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Among the vast ocean, 

the arctic has been considered to 

be one of the greatest victims of 

ocean pollution for a long time 

already. The level of damage 


has become more serious today, 

with extreme levels of pollution 

steadily ruining the arctic’s 

ecosystem. Animals are exposed 

to the threat of swallowing 

microplastic or big chunks of 

waste, which can eventually kill 

them or cause serious damage 

to their organs. The arctic is the 

habitat of numerous endangered 

species, including the wellknown 

polar bear and some 

other unfamiliar bird breeds. 

In fact, last July, Dr. Amstrip, 

chief scientist of Polar Bears 

International, claimed that polar 

bears will go extinct by 2100, 

after experiencing a failure 

of reproduction from 2080.

Environment 

Environmental Pollution in the Arctic 

and its Biological Impact on Wildlife 

The numbers may not seem 

alarming, but the extinction 

process has already been rapidly 

progressing and could easily 

be worsened by unexpected 

variables, such as this pandemic. 

The extinction of a single 

species is extremely critical 

to the environment because it 

leads the whole ecosystem to 

go through a domino effect. 

In other words, one extinction 

leads to another, eventually 

collapsing the ecosystem 

since all organisms are 

interdependent on each other. 

Once the polar bears disappear, 

species such as the arctic 

For decades, burgers have 

been one of the most popular 

and delectable food choices 

all around the world. Its meaty 

patty, fresh vegetables, and 

even just the burger’s visuals 

captivate the taste buds of the 

entire population. Recently, 

however, a popular food trend 

has been rising and gaining 

wolves will rapidly increase 

since they have no predators 

limiting their population. 

This results in a significant 

imbalance in the population 

within the ecosystem. Along 

with the massive increase in the 

number of wolves, the number 

of their prey will decrease, thus 

continuing this vicious cycle. 

This way, one extinction can 

greatly impact the ecosystem 

pyramid by creating a chaotic 

situation and leaving a deep 

scar in the environment. 

To prevent the collapse 

of the arctic, immediate action 

is required. Now is the only 

mass attention from the media: 

the Vegan Burger. This food 

is famous for only including 

natural ingredients, as it only 

uses plant-based products. 

This burger’s main purpose is 

to reduce the consumption of 

animal products, help save the 

environment, and appeal to 

vegans and vegetarians. The 

manufacturers of these new 

burgers claim they offer the 

same taste as the beloved meaty 

burgers, but it is questionable 


time to realize the gravity of 

pollution and make a plan to slow 

down ocean contamination. If 

nothing is done, the COVID-19 

pandemic will turn out to be 

just the beginning of a chain 

of chaotic events. As the health 

pandemic unfolds into a deeper 

stance, the world has already 

entered an economic pandemic; 

an awaiting disastrous 

environmental pandemic will 

only make things worse. Unless 

humanity notices the urgency of 

pollution issues, it is inevitable 

that the human race will soon 

face the impending tragedy. 

The Truth About Meatless “Burgers” 

Seungjae Cho 

Journalist 

whether these plant-based 

burgers actually provide the 

society with the environmental 

and health benefits that 

they seem to call for. 

Replication of meaty burgers 

- vitamins & minerals 

Surprisingly, the vegan 

burgers are said to consist of 

vitamins and minerals that 

are absent in normal vegan 

diets that help enhance their 

nutrition. For instance, some 

common meatless burgers,

Environment 

The Truth About Meatless “Burgers” 

such as the “Impossible 

Burger” and the “Beyond Meat 

Beyond’s Burger,” possess 

vitamin B12 and Zinc that are 

commonly found in meaty 

burgers. As the burgers contain 

essential plant nutrients from 

soy, peas, and mung beans, they 

are an excellent source of Zinc, 

Iron, and protein for vegans. 

Furthermore, some burgers also 

include whole grains, legumes, 

and lentils, which provide 

adequate fiber and nutrients. Not 

only can plant-based burgers 

offer a healthier alternative to 

burgers, but it could also be 

a gateway for meat-lovers to 

switch to a vegan or a vegetarian 

lifestyle that would help save 

the animals on Earth. However, 

there are more factors that 

suggest that the consumption 

of meatless burgers might not 

be the best choice for both 

vegans and meat lovers alike. 

Are vegan burgers a 

healthier alternative? 

Although these burgers 

may mimic a few flavors 

found in real burgers and help 

improve the environment and 

the wellbeing of animals, it 

has detrimental effects on the 

human body. According to 

Harvard Medical School, the 

average vegan burger contains 

severely high amounts of 

saturated fats. There is a small 

price to pay for replicating 

the beef and turkey burgers. 

The chart below conveys 

how the “Impossible Burger” 

and the “Beyond Burger” 

compares to the meaty burgers. 

~ December 2020 // Page 8 ~

Developments of Artificial Intelligence in 2020 

Seoyoung Kim 

Journalist 

2020 has been a harsh year for 

everyone due to the pandemic 

that has spread throughout the 

world. The pandemic has caused 

many schools to close down 

and has led many employees to 

work remotely. Consequently, 

this has caused great damage, 

especially to the economic 

and environmental sectors. 

But what about Artificial 

Intelligence (AI)? How has 

AI changed and developed 

throughout the year 2020? 

In 2020, the use of AI in 

supermarkets and restaurants 

changed significantly due to the 

Covid-19 crisis. The number 

of kiosks in supermarkets 

has increased due to safety 

measures to combat the virus. 

Many people started to use 

self-checkouts instead, and 

the number of self-service 

kiosks increased automatically 

not only in supermarkets but 

also in several restaurants. 

Additionally, scientists have 

also developed AI skin that 

detects temperature, tactile 

sensations, and mechanical 

simulations just like human 

skin using ion conductors. 

Additionally, throughout 

this year, AI applications 

in healthcare improved. 

Increasing data accuracy and 

real-time diagnostics revealed 

AI’s ability to detect breast 

cancer and other diseases in the 

early stages. Many scientists 

are planning to use AI in 

medical tools such as X-rays or 

MRIs, increasing the accuracy 

of medical machines. Many 

scientists this year have also 

tried to enhance AI chatbots 

since previously, they were 

not able to comprehend human 

communications even with a 

large database. However, many 

scientists in 2020 have predicted 

that AI chatbots would soon 

match human conversation, 

aided by their enhanced memory 

capacities. Scientists are also 

predicting that AI would be 

used in marketing for business, 

where it would manage realtime 

user interactions and 

satisfy clients. In 2020, AI 

has also been prepared to be 

integrated into cybersecurity 

by tracking and improvising 

algorithms. Scientists are also 

predicting that in the future 

AI would be used to identify 

and prevent cybersecurity 


Technology 

and the system’s vigilance. 

Many scientists and people 

are looking forward to AI 

development in 2021 as well. 

One of the AI aims of 2021 is 

to detect and solve common 

their own IT problems without 

any human guidance. The 

world is expecting COVID-19 

to continue in 2021 as well, 

so people are developing AI 

that can work by themselves. 

Moreover, it is predicted that 

digital data would be at higher 

risk of being hacked and AI 

would provide help securing 

it. It is predicted that AI will 

spot fake digital activities or 

transactions like criminals 

in 2021. Scientists are also 

looking forward to facial 

recognition technology. They 

hope to identify facial features 

from images or videos and then 

compare them with the database. 

There are mixed reactions 

to artificial intelligence as 

it is replacing some of the 

human jobs, making people 

concerned that there would 

not be enough workplaces for 

people in the future, leading to 

an age of artificial intelligence. 

However, many people are 

also looking forward to the 

development of artificial 

intelligence as time passes.

Technology 

The Perception of the Video Gaming Industry 

Jan Karpiuk 

Journalist 

The Video Gaming Industry 

(VGI) is commonly regarded 

as the manufacture of 

entertainment for kids 

and teenagers. This public 

premise is supported by the 

polls conducted by major 

newspapers such as ‘The 

Guardian’ and ‘The New 

York Times’. The studies 

illustrated that 89.6% of the 

subjects viewed video games 

as ‘irresistibly addictive’ 

while 75.5% agreed that video 

games are the primary cause 

of ‘domestic violence’ which, 

according to scientists such 

as Simon Conway or Pierre 

Chambon, “could not be 

further from the truth.” From 

the scientific perspective, 

video games are equally as 

addictive as TV series, books, 

and texting, which means 

that objectively, there is no 

basis for the supposition 

or presumption that video 

games are more harmful 

than the mainstream ways of 

entertainment. Nevertheless, 

it is clear that the wide public 

audience perceives the VGI 

as an inferior branch of 

entertainment to movies, or 

books. Another reason for 

this is the incorrect perception 

of video games as a medium 

that predominantly targets 

youth. This misconception 

stigmatizes the industry and, 

in the eyes of the wide public, 

automatically makes anything 

and anyone related to the VGI 

less mature. The data, however, 

debunks those claims: in the 

USA, 48% of video gamers 

are between the ages of 18 and 

34, which means that roughly 

every second game enthusiast 

is an adult. A similar trend is 

present in most countries and 

illustrates that the tendency 

to perceive the VGI as an 

inherently childish or primitive 

medium of entertainment is 

incorrect. Even the ‘financial 

argument’ is in the favor of the 

VGI as an ‘average American 

spends twice as much on video 

games and consoles than on 

movies.’ Specifically, the 

Music industry is generating 

about 16 billion dollars a 

year; the Movies industry 

is outputting three times as 

much in the form of 49 billion 

dollars a year; meanwhile, the 

VGI outcompetes all of them 

and engenders 101 billion 

dollars a year. It is clear that 

the VGI brings twice as much 

profit as the movie industry, 

is also equally as addictive 

as TV series or books, and 

has gamers that are mostly 18 

years old and above. Despite 

these unequivocal pieces of 

evidence, the majority of 

the public still wrongfully 

perceives the industry as 

‘inferior’ to other branches 

of entertainment and hence 

stigmatizes it. Nevertheless, the 

gaming industry proved to be 

capable of superb storytelling 

and idea conveyance, equally 

as effective as movies and 

books. In these times of 

COVID-19, the VGI is 

becoming less stigmatized as 

it is becoming more popular 

than ever due to common 

quarantines and self-isolations. 


The Chang’e 5 Moon Lander Mission 

Polina Slipchenko 

Journalist 

The closest celestial 

object to Earth, the Moon, 

has always been the center 

of curiosity and mystery. 

Throughout history, there has 

been a constant and unanimous 

urge to explore the bright light 

in the sky. So, with the help 

of technological progress and 

innovation, humans came closer 

and closer to the Moon by first 

investigating the atmosphere 

and then outer space. On the 

4th of October, 1957, the 

Soviet Union launched the first 

artificial satellite to orbit Earth 

- Sputnik 1. Four years later, 

on the 12th of April, 1961, Yuri 

Gagarin became the first man 

to fly into outer space. Soon, 

with the growing global interest 

and advancement in space 

exploration, countries began 

to direct their efforts towards 

reaching the Moon. On the 13th 

of September, 1959, the Soviet 

Union successfully launched 

Luna 2, which became the first 

human-made object to reach 

the Earth’s satellite. 10 years 

later, on the 20th July 1969, 

the United States’ Apollo 11 

became the first crewed mission 

to land on the Moon. Today, 

space exploration has turned 

into a prominent industry that 

greatly impacts the whole world. 

Recently, one of the 

biggest members of the space 

exploration industry, China, has 

launched its 7th mission probe 

as part of the Chinese Lunar 

Exploration Program. On the 

23rd of November, the samplecollecting 

Chang’e 5 moon 

lander was successfully sent on 

its expedition. Six days later, 

on the 1st of December, the 

mission probe touched down 

on the near side of the Moon. 

The probe’s landing spot is a 

volcanic mound called Mons 

Rümker. Over the past few days, 

the Chang’e 5 moon lander was 

able to collect two kilograms of 

surface materials and put down 

the Chinese flag. Currently, 

the machine is making its 

way back to Earth with new 

resource samples to analyze. 

The Chang’e 5 moon 

lander mission is a crucial 

step for the space exploration 

industry. The success of the 

mission is not only a sign of 

immense progress but is also a 

completion of one of the four 

phases of lunar exploration that 

China began in 2004 and is 


Technology 

currently going through before 

sending a crew to the Moon. The 

probes landing back on Earth 

concludes the 3rd phase, which 

was set up to gather samples of 

the Moon’s surface. The data 

and observations obtained from 

this flight will be valuable in 

determining the success of the 

4th phase of the Exploration 

Program, in which China will 

examine the lunar south pole and 

prepare for a crewed expedition. 

However, the most 

outstanding part of this mission 

is that the resources delivered 

by the Chang’e 5 moon lander 

will be the newest and freshest 

materials to arrive since the 

Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission 

in 1976. These samples will give 

scientists a better understanding 

of the current state of the Moon 

as well as the development of 

its environment. Long Xiao, a 

planetary scientist at the China 

University of Geosciences, 

states that the lunar resource 

material is going to “absolutely 

add new knowledge of 

the history of the moon.” 

Moreover, since the probe 

collected surface material from 

the Mons Rümker volcanic 

formation, the specimens will 

give scientists a better idea of 

the Moon’s volcanic activity.

The Chang’e 5 Moon Lander Mission 

The tested material will explain 

the formation of craters that 

make up the Moon’s landscape 

and potentially even support 

the hypothesis of recently 

active volcanoes that could 

have formed these structures. 

China’s Chang’e lunar mission 

is one of the many programs 

that are currently planned 

and completed around the 

world. Organizations such as 

NASA, SpaceX, ISRO, ESA, 

Roscosmos, and many more 

are designing expeditions to 

the Moon and beyond. With 

the help of innovative engines 

and advanced computer 

systems, mission probes are 

set to explore the farthest 

celestial objects of the solar 

system. Similarly, NASA plans 

to implement the developed 

technology into the creation 

of long-term crewed missions 

on the surface of the Moon. 

As space exploration advances 

and missions begin and end, 


Technology 

humankind gains access to 

the immense knowledge and 

information that the universe 

has to offer. This knowledge 

provides humans with the 

ability to completely alter 

the world in which they live. 

Therefore, it is necessary 

to assess the capabilities of 

technological advances and 

ultimately make a positive 

contribution to both society 

and the environment. 

Black Lives Matter, the Main Headline of 2020 

Soeun Kang 

Journalist 

Black Lives Matter is one of 

the biggest social movements 

in US History. The movement 

has been conducted globally 

via both online and offline. 

Owing to the anti-racism 

movement, many people 

started to advocate for various 

reformations of policies 

on racial discrimination. 

The movement’s main 

purpose is to protest against 

racially motivated violence 

such as police brutality 

and systemic racism. 

The history of the Black Lives 

Matter movement goes back to 

July 2013 in the United States. 

The founders of this movement 

were black activists: Alica 

Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and 

Opal Tometi. The movement 

started initially with the use of 

hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on 

social media and was further 

promoted as the activists 

created an online platform to 

provide the basic principles 

News 

and goals of the movement. 

The devastating incident in 

2012, the shooting death of 

Trayvon Martin by George 

Zimmerman in Sanford, 

Florida, not only shocked the 

general American citizens at the 

time but strongly sparked the 

Black Lives Matter movement. 

Trayvon Martin was a 17-yearold 

African-American, 

and George Zimmerman 

was a neighborhood 

monitoring coordinator.


When making reports to the 

police, Zimmerman stressed 

the suspects’ races, making 

speculations against black 

people. After observing 

Martin walking to the Twins 

Lakes to see his relatives, 

Zimmerman reported to the 

police that Marin’s behavior 

was suspicious. Martin, 

completely unarmed, was later 

murdered by Zimmerman’s 

gun shooting after a physical 

fight. Zimmerman was arrested 

and investigated at the police 

department of Sanford for his 

murder. Although guilty of a 

murder, Zimmerman claimed 

in his trials that he acted in 

self-defense. Such intolerable 

behaviour enraged the advocates 

of Black Lives Matter; and 

furthermore, the deaths of 

Michael Brown and Eric Garner 

in 2012 motivated more people 

to participate and increased 

the scale of the movement. 

The Black Lives Matter 

movement continued in 2020. 

News 

Recent statistics show that 

there are more than 4700 

protests in the United States, 

and the number of participants 

of the demonstrations in 2020 

was estimated to be between 

15 million and 26 million. 

The controversial issue that 

acted as a stimulation for the 

massive demonstrations was 

the death of George Floyd. 

African-American Floyd 

was killed by a Minneapolis 

white police officer Derek 

Chauvin on 25th May 2020. 



Chauvin had Floyd handcuffed 

and had his neck pressed hard 

against the ground for an 

unreasonably long period. The 

scene of Floyd pleading to 

Chauvin that he cannot breathe 

and being ignored reflected 

the ongoing police brutality 

against black people in the 

US to the world. The video of 

his final sentence “I cannot 

breathe” is still widely shared 

on social media, continuing to 

trigger massive demonstrations. 

On the next day, protests 

stemming from Floyd’s 

death rocked Minneapolis 

and other cities. Hundreds of 

people flooded by expressing 

their outrage and sorrow for 

Floyd and the need to abolish 

racist police brutality. Some 

demonstrators vandalized 

police vehicles, clashed with 

police officers, and set fires. The 

demonstration spread to other 

States including Los Angeles, 

Philadelphia, and Memphis. 

Numerous people converged 

to march to Civic Centers and 

even National guards activated 

to settle the confusion. 

The protests in Atlanta and New 

York were much more violent 

than the other ones. Several 

people threw debris towards the 

police. In some states, the police 

had to shut down a portion of the 

street temporarily. The activists 

of Black Lives Matter organized 

campaigns and programs to 

provide the principles publicly. 

the #1 photo-sharing platform 

in the world. Nonetheless, it 

is paramount to explore the 

application’s influential history 

in order to better understand 

the revolutionary impact it 

has obtained on a global scale. 

In 2009, Kevin Sysdrom, a 

29-year-old Stanford University 

graduate, founded an app 

named Burbn. Not only did 


News 

Finally, Derek Chauvin was 

arrested for the third degree 

of murder and second degree 

of manslaughter by the FBI. 

Since 2013, the social 

media hashtag movement 

#BlackLivesMatter with a 

picture of the black square is 

still crowding out on Instagram 

and Twitter. Many famous 

celebrities and influencers also 

showed their support of the 

Black Lives Matter movements 

by posting the black square 

with hashtags as well. Social 

media also played a significant 

role to coordinate the support 

against police brutality 

and broadcast messages 

about the related incidents. 

10 Years of Instagram: How did it become 

the #1 photo-sharing application in the world? 

Chiara Cassina 

Journalist 

Following Instagram’s release 

on the IOS platform 10 years 

ago, the social media giant’s 

success and popularity have 

grown exponentially. With 

over one billion monthly active 

users, Instagram has become 

the application allow users 

to post their plans, but it also 

allowed them to share photos 

with other users, an aspect 

that would later revolutionize 

the social media industry. 

Following Instagram’s release 

on the IOS platform 10 

years ago, the social media 

giant’s success and popularity 

have grown exponentially.

10 Years of Instagram: How did it become 

the #1 photo-sharing application in the world? 

With over one billion monthly 

active users, Instagram has become 

the #1 photo-sharing platform 

in the world. Nonetheless, it 

is paramount to explore the 

application’s influential history 

in order to better understand 

the revolutionary impact it 

has obtained on a global scale. 

In 2009, Kevin Sysdrom, a 

29-year-old Stanford University 

graduate, founded an app 

named Burbn. Not only did the 

application allow users to post 

their plans, but it also allowed 

them to share photos with other 

users, an aspect that would later 

revolutionize the social media 

industry. In 2010, while attending 

a party, Sysdrom presented 

the prototype of Burbn to two 

representatives from Baseline 

Ventures and Andreessen 

Horowitz. Within two weeks, 

Sysdorm managed to amass 

500,000 dollars in order to fund 

his noteworthy venture. He was 

also able to gather a team to gain 

more support, ultimately deciding 

that Burbn would become an 

app primarily focused on photosharing. 

After fine-tuning the 

app, renaming it, and fixing 

minor bugs, the team provided 

a select number of people with a 

beta test in order to observe the 

app’s compatibility with real-life 

users. On October 6th, 2010, they 

finally launched the Instagram 

app, attracting 25,000 thousand 

users on the first day alone. Within 

the first three months, Instagram 

hit one million users: a clear 

sign of what was yet to come. 

As the application flourished, 

investors from around the world 

began to take notice. In 2011, 

Twitter made a formal offer 

of approximately 500 million 

dollars in stock, which Sysdrom 

refused. In April 2012, Instagram 

was released on the Android 

platform, further contributing 

to the ever-increasing user tally. 

That same month, Facebook made 

a momentous offer of one billion 

dollars in cash and stock, with 

the terms ensuring that Instagram 

would remain independently 

managed. Shortly thereafter, 

Facebook purchased the social 

media platform altogether. 

However, controversy began to 

materialize in 2012 following the 

changes made to Instagram’s terms 

of service. The new terms granted 

the app the ability to sell user’s 

photos to third parties, an aspect 

the public did not necessarily 

agree with. Following public 

outrage, Instagram eventually 

overturned the debatable 

changes made to the terms. 

Despite this small conflict, 


News 

however, Instagram continued 

to grow – it was introduced 

on Amazon Fire devices 

in 2015 and was launched 

on Microsoft Windows 

devices the following year. 

In late 2019, Instagram 

introduced its mission to combat 

misinformation. Accordingly, 

the app began to provide users 

with daily information regarding 

the Covid-19 pandemic. Such 

imperative measures by Instagram 

represent how the app is not 

only a source of entertainment 

in modern society but rather an 

integral part of the global news 

industry. By revolutionizing 

the definition of social media 

and testing the boundaries 

of innovation, Instagram 

has fabricated unfathomable 

supremacy over today’s 

technologically driven world. 

Although Instagram has 

experienced a great deal of 

change throughout the years, 

its simplicity and ability to 

adhere to what the users want 

has granted it an immeasurable 

amount of fame and influence. 

The app has not only united 

people and nations throughout 

the globe, but it has also provided 

the world with a consolidated 

ground in which opinions are 

free to be voiced and heard.

Other 

Monthly Club Interview: GIC 

Vietnam is a country that 

heavily relies on tourism for 

one of the main parts of their 

economy. Unfortunately, due 

to the ongoing pandemic, this 

main sector is suffering heavily. 

Moreover, there has been heavy 

flooding, not allowing many 

people to live their normal lives. 

In fact, there is flooding that fills 

up entire floors in some regions 

and hurricanes have torn off the 

roofs of buildings, destroying 

the houses of many people. 

Furthermore, within these 

flooded regions, many people 

who live in underdeveloped 

regions are incapable of fixing 

much of this damage, meaning 

that they will be stuck in this 

situation for a long time. The 

executive of the Global Impact 

Club Maria Costa joined us on 

an interview to explain what 

efforts are being made currently 

for the sufferings in Vietnam. 

Of all of the events going on in 

this year, why did it come down 

to GIC focusing on these floods? 

Around two years ago, GIC 

was asked to come up with a 

discovery week trip that was 

service learning based, allowing 

students to have fun but also 

contribute to the community they 

visit. Around this time, a senior 

student named Ellen Mcdonald 

learned about the Blue Dragon 

organization and reached out to 

them to create a trip. While the 

trip never materialized due to 

the pandemic, Blue Dragon was 

already a known organization 

to work with. Furthermore, 

the floods in Vietnam were 

fairly unknown, and it was 

important that there was a 

light shone on it so that the 

people could understand what 

was going on in these regions. 

For students participating 

in GIC, how different is 

this charity compared to 

those of previous years, or 

is this relatively similar to 

what GIC does regularly? 

As a group, GIC values 

sustainability and continuity 

as much as possible, believing 

that it is important to not just 

make one single contribution 

and then leave but to further 

develop these initiatives. 

Furthermore, with the 

number of factors all going 

into making Vietnam a hazard 

zone, this initiative quickly 

became one of the most 


significant things they did. 

What stood out about Blue 

Dragon, that made it a 

more viable organization 

to support, compared 

to other ones already 

working in Vietnam? 

Blue dragon has been very 

responsive to contact made 

by GIC, and often it is hard to 

find organizations so willing 

to work with people under the 

age of 18. The situation is not 

much better with them living in 

a completely different region 

so far away from Moscow. 

Even with this, however, 

Blue Dragon has gone out of 

its way to remain in contact 

with GIC. Furthermore, Blue 

Dragon is a highly authentic 

organization, as they have 

a profound and long lasting 

effect on the communities 

they support. In Vietnam, this 

is evident as there are stories 

of Blue Dragon educating 

impoverished children in 

these regions and supporting 

them throughout their lives to a 

point where many of them end 

up working for Blue Dragon 

in order to do things for others.


News 

What GIC has already 

been able to do for Blue 

Dragon, and what as of 

yet needs to be done? 

Regarding what we have 

already been able to do, I 

think this will be one huge 

step towards much more work 

to do. We are still in the quite 

early stages of the initiative, 

as it’s only been a week since 

we introduced this to our 

community. We made one of 

the subsections of our website 

on the AAS website about 

the situation in Vietnam to 

simply inform people about it. 

Being informed and aware of 

a situation is crucial, as it is 

important to know what you are 

doing and how you can help. 

With this amount of money 

being raised for Blue Dragon, 

what do you expect can 

be accomplished with the 

amount we are supporting? 

So far, 1000 dollars have been 

raised for the organization. 

According to Kim, the 

representative of Blue 

Dragon, some of that money 

will go to different parts of 

the organization, such as 

education; however, because 

the issue has continued to 

develop and evolve with certain 

areas having had the severity 

of the situation increase, Kim 

said that a large portion of the 

donation will go to the most 

immediate issue, so sometimes, 

that will be fixing a roof, other 

times it will be rebuilding a 

wall or a house,but we want to 

contribute as much as possible 

to the education of the children 

of Vietnam, as according to 

Kim, their education has the 

more long term impact, as these 

children will be able to pursue 

a career in their futures, and 

fully develop as individuals, 

and citizens of a society. 

This is all done so that people 

like us can contribute something 

meaningful to other groups, and 

so that these people don’t have 

to start from the beginning. 

What were the biggest 

challenges that GIC faced 

while organizing this 

charity fund? How did 

your club deal with them? 

Because these times are rather 

confusing and have made 

communication difficult, many 

people are at a loss of what is 

going on, and what to do about 

it. Because of this, the most 

difficult endeavor was to make 

sure that everyone within 

this community was properly 

informed about this. Pages and 

other forms of communication 

have been set up on the 

AAS Website, to accomplish 

this. An assembly was held 

to better communicate the 

severity of the situation, and 

work with the Inter-Club 

Council has allowed for better 

coordination across the entire 

school. Oftentimes, it has also 

come up to people having to 

post on their social media as 

a way to communicate. While 

speaking about this with the 

resources given was difficult, 

such measures were able to 

give this initiative enough 

momentum to begin advancing. 

As a club executive, would 

you say that your work, as 

well as the work of other 

members, proved to be 

sufficient in accomplishing 

the set goals, or have there 

been limitations, that 

could not be overcome? 



News 

Due to the severity of the 

pandemic, and the loss of 

easy communication, as one 

of the executives of GIC 

has stated that it has been 

difficult to constantly work to 

accomplish these goals, with 

her role as a senior, taking up a 

lot of time and responsibility. 

However, even then, she 

believes that her commitment, 

as well as the commitment of 

all other members of GIC, 

will be able to pull through, 

and accomplish the rest of 

the goals they set up to do. 

As a student body, what can 

you as an executive in GIC 

recommend us to do, other 

than donate to this charity? 

Simply donating money, 

which still is important and 

helpful, however, to the 

organization does not reach 

the significance it should. It 

is often hard to find important 

events within the media that 

are not overshadowed by the 

political or physical state of 

the world, so simply staying 

informed on these crises 

and informing others on 

what it does also goes a long 

way to helping our cause. 

For how long are you 


planning to focus yourselves 

on any future initiative 

regarding these floods, before 

moving to different issues? 

This initiative has been in the 

making for weeks by now, 

and we hope to receive all 

of the student donations by 

the time of the break, as it is 

likely that the cause will lose 

its momentum by then. The 

charity page will remain open, 

however, and money will go 

immediately to Blue Dragon. 

The main priority is to keep 

attention on this topic for as 

long as possible in the eyes of 

the AAS community and staff 

as this is our most important 

fundraiser for the year. 

GIC is a very committed club 

and one with a noble agenda 

that is worth looking into. 

Vietnam is a country that 

has heavily suffered from the 

effects of this pandemic and 

the storms, and each donation 

can vastly improve the living 

standards for these people. To 

support GIC’s missions, visit 

https://www.justgiving.com/ 

fundraising/aas-moscow, 

and make your donations.

AAS Moscow - Penguin Press - Issue 02 / December 2020-2021

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