YSM Issue 94.1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOL. 94 ISSUE NO. 1
More articles online at www.yalescientific.org
& https://medium.com/the-scope-yale-scientific-magazines-online-blog
COVER
20
A R T
I C L E
12 Up in Flames
Anavi Uppal
Climate change has caused forest fires to increase in frequency worldwide. Yale researchers gain surprising
new insight into how forest fire emissions evolve and what that could mean for human health.
14 The Nsp1 Protein: COVID-19’s Secret
but Fatal Weapon
Britt Bistis
Yale scientists find a critical SARS-CoV-2 protein involved in COVID-19 disease progression.
17 The Unfinished Puzzle of Alzheimer’s
Disease
Rayyan Darji
Researchers from the Yale Alzheimer’s Disease Research Unit have investigated the relationship
between two key hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in living people.
www.yalescientific.org
Out of the Blue
Alexa Jeanne Loste
Billions of years ago, complex chemical reactions transformed nonliving molecules into the first living
organism on Earth. Yale geophysicists find evidence to support a theory that could explain how.
6 NEWS
From Cells to Thermodynamics • Elisa Howard • 8
22 FEATURES
Robotic Theory of Mind • Veronica Lee • 24
XCL1: Two Folds Are Better Than One • Madison Houck • 26
SPECIALS 31
Scope: How Close is Too Close? • Sophia Li • 32
Alumni Profile: Owen Garrick MD '98 • Xiaoying Zheng • 35
Science in the Spotlight: Black Mirror, Discriminatory Design, and “The New Jim Code” •
Selma Abouneameh • 36
March 2021 Yale Scientific Magazine 3