VOLUME 134: WINTER 2018
Researchers invent ‘microbubblers’ to destroy harmful bacteria
Tap water filter aims to remove potentially harmful pharmaceuticals
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TECHNOSTAFF
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Technograph editor Molly Zupan Assistant Technograph editor Serina Taluja Editor-in-Chief Abby Paeth Managing editors Gillian Dunlop Rachael Bolek Bercham Kamber Designer editors Cindy Om Toni Pantone Cassidy Brandt Copy chief Alexandra Greulich Assistant copy chief Ella Schindler Writers Zack Fishman Ava Traverso Aaysuh Aggarwal Molly Nguyen Co-publishers Kit Donahue Melissa Pasco Contact (217) 337-8345 technograph@dailyillini.com
Infants show ability to recognize distinctions between social powers PAGES 4,5
Researchers invent ‘microbubblers’ to destroy harmful bacteria PAGE 7
Tap water filter aims to remove potentially harmful pharmaceuticals PAGES 8,9
Study reveals climate change, hurricane size go hand-in-hand PAGES 10,11
CAPSat revolutionizes space research PAGE 13
Capturing an absence of light: First black hole to be imaged in 2019
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SERINA TALUJA | ASSISTANT TECHNOGRAPH EDITOR very single person on the planet begins his or her life the same way: as babies. As adults, we can look at babies and describe them as sweet, innocent or cute. However, we unfairly overlook the intelligence that babies possess. In a recent study done by Dr. Renée Baillargeon, a professor of psychology at the University, it was revealed that 21-monthold infants could actually make distinctions between individuals who are leaders and those who are bullies. The distinction between a leader and bully was key to this study, and this distinction lies in the type of power these characters possess. “One type of power here is respectbased, like what you would find in a boss or supervisor. That’s the type of power a leader possesses. On the other hand, someone like a tyrant has fear-based power over people, and this would be a bully-type of power,” Baillargeon said. The goal of this study was to determine if babies could to make this distinction
between the two different types of power that are commonly held by authoritative figures. While this distinction in power types has been studied extensively in adults, there have been very few studies done on infants. “This experiment was designed by reflecting on the link between the concepts of authority and expectations of obedience,” said Dr. Luca Surian, professor of psychology at Università degli Studi di Trento and the second author of the paper produced by the study. The experiment relied on animations designed by the paper’s primary author, Dr. Francesco Margoni, doctor of developmental psychology at Università degli Studi di Trento. “This experiment aimed to study infants’ understanding of social power,” Margoni said. These animations depicted cartoon characters running around in a field playing with a ball. Next, a new and different character was introduced to the scene, and in different versions of this animation, the new character was a leader, a bully or a
friend. After the initial introduction of the character and the establishment that they were a leader, bully or friend, the babies were shown a new scene where the cartoon characters were again playing with a ball outside. The new character then came onto the scene and directed the playing individuals to go to bed. The playing characters would go inside of their house, and then the new character would leave the scene. In different versions of each movie, the individuals would either stay inside the house and obey the given orders or disobey and go back outside to play. Each group of babies was shown two animations: one to establish the character, and one to show the individuals following the characters’ order or not. Understanding if the babies could recognize the difference between fear-based and respect-based power relied on being able to tell what the babies were predicting would happen in each scene and their reaction to what happened. “The way we measure if babies see what they are expecting to see, if what they see matches their predictions, that is, is through a staring measurement,” Baillargeon said. “It is based on a natural human tendency to stare at things we find odd or peculiar for longer than something we were expecting. For instance, if you see something that’s unexpected, you look at it longer, you examine it and you question it and try to figure out why it didn’t behave the way you would predicted it would. The same thing happens with babies.” Using this staring measurement, the group could tell if babies expected the individuals to obey or disobey each type of character after they had given an order and then left the scene. “The results were really what we were hoping for,” Baillargeon said. “To be honest, I was not confident the results would come out so nicely,” Surian said. “Although our results were exactly as our hypothesis predicted, I was still quite surprised by the whole thing.” The study found babies expected the individuals to obey the leader when they gave orders, even after they had left the scene. “The leader has a more legitimate power, so the babies expect the individuals to obey the orders they are given,” Baillargeon said. With the bully character, on the other hand, it’s a completely different story.
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Dr. Luca Surian, professor of psychology Babies have no expectation for what the individuals will do when the character gives an order but leaves the scene. The reasoning here seems to be if the character with fear-based power gives you an order but they are not there to enforce it, the individuals do not necessarily need to follow it. “However, if the bully stayed on the scene, the babies clearly expected the individuals to obey the bully in order to avoid harm,” Baillargeon said. These results were consistent in test groups of 21-month-olds in both Illinois and Italy, further strengthening the idea that the ability to distinguish between social powers is understood by babies on a large scale.
“The results were as predicted by the ‘rich competence hypothesis’: The hypothesis that predicts that children develop the ability to distinguish a social power based on coercion, or bullism, and a social power based on acknowledged authority, or leadership, at a young age,” Surian said. This study has a lot of potential to impact future studies of the way babies perceive the physical, moral, psychological and social worlds. As more knowledge of babies’ perception is uncovered through studies such as this one, our knowledge of how to teach them about the world around them is sure to expand as well. taluja2@readtechno.com
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ZACK FISHMAN | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER iofilms, or surface-sticking clusters of bacteria, cover everything from bathroom floors to medical devices and are a major cause of hospital infections. These collections of dangerous cells are tough to crack and require thorough scrubbing to be removed, but what if they live in spaces too small to reach? A team led by University researchers has invented a possible solution they call “diatom microbubblers,” or tiny, cylinder-shaped particles that generate oxygen bubbles to move around and break up biofilm. As detailed in a paper published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, these objects lodge themselves in biofilm before creating lots of bubbles, which expand and dislodge the bacteria. “If you simply pour Clorox (on a biofilm), it’s not going to work right,” said Hyunjoon Kong, professor of bioengineering. “Biofilm limits the transportation of these molecules, so the Clorox may not have gone into the matrix easily.” But once the bacteria are dislodged by the diatoms, a hydrogen peroxide-based antiseptic like Clorox can kill them much more quickly. This is especially useful in eliminating bacteria colonies that may be hiding in tiny scratches or holes throughout bathrooms or hospitals. “To sterilize needles and other medical devices, you need to remove the bacteria and other organisms in
that medical device,” said Jun Dong Park, University postdoctoral student. “Medical devices are very small, so you cannot physically remove the bacteria; we may use this kind of diatom microbubbler to remove those bacteria.” To create the microbubblers, the team took porous, silicate-based skeletons of dead diatoms — a type of single-celled alga — and treated them with a manganese dioxide coating, which generates oxygen bubbles when in a hydrogen peroxide solution. The bubbles would accumulate before being expelled out one end, propelling the diatom through the solution like a microscopic jet ski. The researchers then aimed the treated diatoms at biofilms in small crevices. “They can penetrate the thick biofilm and make a bubble inside to break down the biofilm,” said Yongbeom Seo, University postdoctoral student. The diatoms would continuously produce bubbles, which grew in size and pushed against the bacteria until the biofilm shattered and the hydrogen peroxide sanitized the entire sample. Over several tests, the researchers demonstrated a hydrogen peroxide solution mixed with diatoms was significantly more effective at sanitizing a biofilm sample than the antiseptic alone. Several members of the research team see great humanitarian potential in this result. “Biofilm can cause foodborne dis-
ease, where $8 billion are used every year,” Seo said. Kong said biofilms pose threats in other contexts like heat exchangers, airplane fuel tanks and shower heads. Seo said the involved materials are generally harmless for both the environment and humans — the silicate cell is unreactive and the manganese is biocompatible — but the team plans to further test the efficacy and safety of its diatoms. The researchers see potential in their invention beyond effective sanitizing. Seo said he wants to further study microscale collisions involving the diatom, while Park is interested in using the diatom as a tool to investigate other materials and mixtures. “If we put the diatoms in a solution, it can be considered an active particle, and by analyzing the active motion of the diatom, we can get the information about viscosity and elasticity,” Park said. An extensive team of researchers executed the development of diatom microbubblers. Involved members came from the University, the National Institute of Aerospace, NASA, the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology. zbf2@readtechno.com
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RACHAEL BOLEK | MANAGING EDITOR FOR ONLINE ap water: It’s a norm in households around the world, and people don’t often give it a second thought after turning on the faucet. However, what happens when the water that comes out is contaminated? Dipanjan Pan, associate professor in bioengineering at the University, is working on a way to remove those contaminants — pharmaceuticals — from tap water using a specialized filter. The filter is separated into four layers, each of which serves a different purpose in removing contaminants. The primary part of the research has been on the first layer, which contains a carbon compound that collects the pharmaceuticals from the water. It’s been labeled a pharmaceutical-nano-carbo-scavenger, or PNCS. This has evolved from Pan’s previous work, which focused on cleaning up crude oil after spills. A similar science was used: A particle would capture what needed to be removed. In the case of crude oil, the particle would “capture all the hydrocarbon” that was present in the oil, and once that happened, it would form clusters that could then easily be cleaned up. Pan called the particle used in the tap water a second-generation particle. “It’s kind of a very expected and logical extension of our previous oil spill work,” he said. “The particle that we used for oil spill remediation, (it’s) the same type of particle but with a different shell around it that is capable of capturing all these materials,” Pan said. There are three other layers in the filter. The second contains activated charcoal, which removes heavy metals. The third is fine sand, which removes small impurities. Finally, the fourth is sand granules, which removes larger particle-sized contaminants. Pan does not work alone on this research. There are seven other researchers involved in the project, one of whom is Wei Zheng, senior research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center who joined the project in 2015. Zheng said Pan’s part of the team focuses
primarily on nanoparticles, whereas his own team works on “emerging contaminants,” which are chemicals detected within drinking water that have currently unknown effects on human health. The research currently focuses on three different drugs: carbamazepine, gemfibrozil and triclocarban. Carbamazepine (commonly known as Tegretol) is medication used to prevent and control seizures; gemfibrozil (commonly known as Lopid) is used to lower fats; and triclocarban is common in bar soaps, according to RxList. According to the research, the PNCS is capable of removing more than 99 percent of the gemfibrozil and triclocarban, and more than 70 percent of the carbamazepine found in tap water. “What we are showing is that after the treatment ... some of these drugs are completely taken from the (water),” Pan said. “They are completely scavenging, and (there is) greater than 99 percent removal.” While the removal of the actual pharmaceuticals is important, the research also prioritizes ensuring that the removal process is equally safe for humans and the environment. “These particles are biodegradable, and that gives a unique opportunity to utilize these particles,” Pan said. “They can be degraded by certain kinds of enzymes that are present in our bodies.” Including the biodegradable particle in tap water removal means that once the water passes through the filter, the pharmaceuticals will be removed and there will be no negative effects on humans through exposure to the particle itself. This is in contrast to the use of toxic and environmentally harmful materials in oil spill-cleaning procedures, which was the catalyst for this project. “They would put some material in a plane, and they would start spreading it all over the oil spill,” Pan said. “It’s really causing harm to the sea life.” Using biodegradable particles in the filter avoids a similar problem. So, how do these pharmaceuticals end up
in tap water in the first place? Pharmaceuticals enter tap water primarily through people flushing them once they’re unused or expired. “This is not a proper way of disposing those materials,” Pan said. “Those (pharmaceuticals) can end up in soil, and from there it can come back to the drinking water source.” The Food and Drug Administration currently recommends flushing 15 different types of medication after use, including drugs like morphine, methadone and oxycodone. According to its website, the “FDA believes that the known risk of harm … to humans from accidental exposure to certain medicines, especially potent opioid medicines, far outweighs any potential risk to humans or the environment from flushing these medicines.” The FDA published a paper in 2017 analyzing the risks associated with its 15 recommended flushable drugs. According to the results, “these medicines present negligible risk to the environment.” However, the FDA said “some additional data would be helpful for confirming this finding for some of these medicines.” According to Fatemeh Ostadhossein, graduate student in bioengineering at the University and one of the team members, there are many pharmaceuticals that may be risky. “There are about 3,000 different substances used as pharmaceutical agents with concern surrounding them about their effect on the drinking water, development of bacterial resistance and effect on the natural ecosystem,” she wrote in an email. While the 15 recommended flushable drugs are not the focus of the research right now, Pan sees a future where the science behind the filter could expand to include more than just the currently tested drugs. Pan said he ideally wants the filter to become a household item. “We think that in the next couple of years, we can kind of take it to the next level,” Pan said. “The next thing could be that we
start scaling it up and we try to see how the performance of these materials are working at a very large scale because that would be a very critical thing to test.” The paper documenting this research was recently accepted by the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, which is published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. “We want to see how new materials can help us solve some of these burning issues in today’s society,” Pan said. “At the same time, we just don’t do something just for the heck of it. We want to do something that is meaningful and that would have a long-lasting effect on mankind.” rbolek2@readtechno.com
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AVA TRAVERSO | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER lorence, Helene, Leslie and Michael: These are the names of the four hurricanes that have occurred in 2018. The rate of severe weather occurrences has appeared to be on the rise over the past few years. The rapidly growing danger is becoming a concern for more and more people, and society is desperate for solutions. To comprehend why storms are getting larger and more perilous, a look into recent weather patterns is crucial. A study from the Insurance Information Institute aids in putting the strength of these recent storms into perspective. The study first cites there were 147 deaths due to hurricanes in 2017 alone, almost four times more than the 36 deaths recorded in 2016. The study also states, “The 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season was the
first time that three Category 4 hurricanes — Harvey, Irma and Maria — made landfall in the United States and its territories in one year.” Based on this study, a frightening trend begins to emerge in the pattern of severe tropical storms. The strength of these storms has been noticeably increasing, and it is important to understand the specific science behind episodes before society can appropriately respond in the future. The stakes are higher than ever with a deadly combination of dense coastal populations and the unpredictability of storm strength. Dr. Deanna Hence is an assistant professor who works with the University’s atmospheric sciences department within the School of Earth, Society and Environment. Her work has helped shed light into the scientific minutiae of tropical storms. Specifically, her field of research most
There were 147 deaths due to hurricanes in 2017 alone, almost four times more than the 36 deaths recorded in 2016. recently involved finding out how severe tropical storms, such as hurricanes, affect human populations. Hence’s work will help further our understanding of the increase in strength of
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recent storms. Hence first tried to explain how climate change is expected to change these storm phenomena. “One thing that I have to think about is that as these larger-scale atmospheric patterns change with climate change, that does affect when and how and where those weather systems happen,” Hence said. “Like with tropical cyclones, for example, as the oceans warm up and as sea levels rise, both how tropical cyclones behave and their impact through more storm surge are predicted to change with the climate.” “The biggest thing that is thought about in terms of the storm size mostly has to do with the things that would help the storm be stronger; such as low vertical wind sheer, high ocean temperatures, things like that,” Hence said. The complexity of storm systems and climate-changing factors has caused research in predicting storm strength to be much more difficult. The science behind hurricane research is
relatively new, however, and there are still many things scientists are still trying to figure out. “One of the things that makes it the most difficult to forecast their intensity is that we are still trying to understand how the storms interact with these larger-scale atmospheric processes,” Hence said. “As we have had experience with Hurricane Michael, for example, where the storm got way more intense than anything we were able to predict, those are the kinds of problems, like what led to Michael being able to intensify so fast? Was it something within the storm? Was it something within the environment? It’s those intensity changes that are still our weakness when it comes to prediction,” Hence said. An important factor to note within the relationship between climate change and hurricanes is that climate change often increases the intensity of these storms, but not how often they occur. “In the U.S., the major hurricane that hit
Houston last year — Hurricane Harvey — was about three times more likely to be that intensity due to the fact that the climate has changed,” said Dr. Donald Wuebbles, Harry E. Prebble professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. “Changes in climate are already showing us a significant impact on hurricane intensity. Not on hurricane number, however … We never have expected the number of hurricanes to increase, only the number of intense hurricanes to increase.” It is more important now than ever for the field of tropical storm study to place a heavier focus on studying atmospheric sciences in order to gain a greater understanding of how to prevent future devastation. Moreover, it is important that society takes steps to become more educated and aware of the causes and disastrous effects of climate change. avat2@readtechno.com
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AAYUSH AGGARWAL | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER live in a world where space research has become a goal for multiple corporations. From Elon Musk’s SpaceX project to Lockheed Martin’s Orion spacecraft, unravelling the mysteries of the world beyond the exosphere has taken precedence over other scientific research, and justifiably so. Earth has sustained human life for over 100 millennia; eventually, there will come a time when our species will have to bid farewell to this planet and migrate to a new one. This is where our generation’s effort in space exploration will pay dividends down the line. Bringing humanity closer to a goal of heightened understanding of the universe is the CAPSat mission: a project that is being brought to completion by University programs like the aerospace engineering department, industrial and systems engineering and the physics department. The CAPSat is a CubeSat that aims to solve or improve the capabilities of larger satellite systems in the future. So, what exactly is a CubeSat? A CubeSat is essentially a miniaturized satellite for space research that is typically very light and compact. What makes the CAPSat unique from other satellites in its market space is its capacity to house three scientific instruments. Eric Alpine, senior in Engineering and lead project manager for the mission, said the CAPSat is revolutionary in its own right. “The CubeSat is a 3U system, which is relatively small for the number of science instruments that it supports. It really is a first of its kind,” Alpine said. The three-payload system is integral to CAPSat functioning. Responsible for the pointing payload technology is James Allison, professor in Engineering. “Controlling the orientation of a satellite in space is often overlooked, and a lot of the current pointing technology has reliability issues,” Allison said. Another vital role of the pointing payload is its ability to capture images
efficiently. “It’s an enabling technology if you want to see farther into space, hold pictures for longer periods of time or get better exposure,” Allison said. The CAPSat also uses two other technologies, namely the cooling and annealing payloads. The cooling system aims to alter the physical and chemical properties of the satellite and ensures that its circuits are able to adapt to the spatial environment around them. This leads to greater ductility and easier workability for the bus manufacturing team of the project. Furthermore, the annealing payload is particularly interesting since it uses a single photon technique to extend the lifetime of sensors important to quantum entanglement experiments. This is a fascinating development, and researchers from the University and Bradley University are currently working on optimizing this process. Long gone are the days when fuel was the primary source of energy in satellites. Most spacecraft today have solar arrays that allow them to directly harness energy from the sun, hence minimizing costs and leading to more efficient research. The CAPSat deploys two panels, one of which integrates five arrays in total. Describing the solar array incorporation process, Alpine said, “The fact that we’re able to use arrays in a CubeSat is testament to how hard the CAPSat team has worked over the past few years.” Overseeing a team of roughly 20 people, Alpine describes his group’s involvement. “We make design decisions, purchase parts for elec-
tronics boards, review said designs, perform environmental testing to ensure survivability in the space environment, oversee payload assembly and integrate the satellite system,” Alpine said. As the go-to person for project development, Alpine said his role has evolved from when he first started on the venture. “My main responsibility is ensuring that every possible component fits, communicates and operates as to satisfy the scientific objective,” Alpine said. “If this is not the case, I must apply resources to ensure that any technical complications are corrected.” Although the CAPSat was meant to be launched in June 2018 by NASA, the deadline has been extended to October 2019 due to some minor setbacks. “The design and development of a mission is really a team sport where everyone has a role to fulfill, and if we lose one of those roles, it will jeopardize the mission," Alpine said. Alpine is confident in his team’s progress overall and hopes to advance space research at the commencement of the project. “Everyone I work with is passionate about space systems and the mission at hand. They drive the system closer to success each day,” he said. aayush3@readtechno.com
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MOLLY NGUYEN | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER t’s an exciting time for astrophysicists as our working knowledge of outer space expands and our ability to visually capture its greatest wonders grows as well. The first image of a black hole is soon to be captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, which is a large collaboration of nearly 200 scientists from around the world. According to the Event Horizon Telescope Organization, it is creating a black hole “silhouette” using instrumental effects to create the output for imaging and analysis. Once the organization is confident in the accuracy of its procedures and analyses, these images will be publicized. Among this science council, Dr. Charles Gammie of the University’s Department of Physics specifically creates numerical simulations of black holes that are useful in selling the idea of this project to various funding agencies, including supportive private foundations. These simulations are being used to interpret the data collected within the collaboration. Gammie joined the faculties of physics and astronomy in 1999. His research focuses on star and planet formation, accretion physics and black holes. He is a leader in the computer simulation of astrophysical plasmas. The concept of “capturing the image of the first black hole” can be difficult. The EHT is not directly taking a snapshot of a black hole, because it itself does not emit any light. “There is a bunch of gases that fall into the black hole, mostly hydrogen and helium that are falling in from the space between the stars called interstellar medium,” Gammie said. “As these gases are falling in and swirling around the black hole, they are compressing close to each other. This creates very high temperature between a billion and a trillion Kelvin. All the electrons and protons and helium nuclei move around very quickly, around the speed of light. In doing so, they give off radiation.” To further understand where the image is taken, Gammie explained the concept of escape speeds, which is the speed threshold
at which an object can escape the gravitational influence of a mass. For a black hole, the threshold is the speed of light. If an object that is close to the speed of light is within appropriate proximity of a black hole, it could be captured and never escape. Due to this, the EHT needs to take images off the region of space around the black hole, called the event horizon. The EHT takes these images using a network of radio antennae that are stationed all around the world. “The observatories have figured out how to point the telescope with pretty good accuracy. So one can type in a number and the telescope will slew to that point and observe at the appropriate wavelength,” Gammie said. “So the appropriate wavelength corresponds to around one millimeter radiation. So 230 GHz is the frequency and, you know, to put that in some more sensible terms, 5 GHz is (the frequency of) your microwave oven.” Because of this very high frequency, the experiment requires locations that are very high, where the air is dry. One of these key sites is at the top of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii. So far, there have been six observatory sites located in Hawaii, Arizona, Mexico, Chile, the South Pole and Spain. The collaboration is hoping to expand to the Alps and Greenland, too. At these observatory sites, there are campaigns that happen every spring. This season is best because that is when the sources are above the horizon and visible from all the sites. During that one week, three to seven nights are spent observing, depending on the weather. For example, “if it rains in Chile, which is very unusual, we won’t be able to observe. Or if it snows in Hawaii, which is not that unusual up on Mauna Kea, we’re also out of luck,” Gammie said. To get an idea of how the images are exactly created, Gammie explained the successful observing run in 2017. In April 2017, there was a set of data that was recorded at each site. “Each site takes the data and records it on
a disk drive. So there’s a big rack full of disk drives which are designed to operate at altitude, and then those disk drives get shipped to one of the facilities,” Gammie said. There are two facilities, one in Massachusetts and one in Bonn, Germany. They each look at different parts of the data. Eventually, the data is combined in a computer software to make an image. It takes quite a bit of time; the 2017 run is still processing. The simulations that Gammie is involved in creating are being used to interpret the data that is currently being discussed within the collaboration. Around February 2019, this information is predicted to be published in a scientific paper, arousing a lot of press attention to the first image of the black hole. Within the astrophysics field, the EHT project would help reach the long-standing goal of observing a black hole. These findings could “lead to images of strong gravity effects among the event horizon, and to the direct detection of dynamics near the black hole as matter orbits at near light speeds.” This would ultimately lead more enhanced studies on the “general relativity in the strong field regime, accretion and outflow processes at the edge of a black hole, the existence of event horizons and fundamental black hole physics,” according to the EHT website. mxnguyen@readtechno.com
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