Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-36). / [Spoiler alert:] On January 18, 2000, a meteoroid 4 meters in diameter hit the Earth's atmosphere and exploded over the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. The size of the fireball and the contrail that it left behind caught the attention of meteoriticists, who suspected it was a carbonaceous chondrite. Amongst the public, however, reactions to the event were varied, and conspiracy theorists emerged, claiming that the meteor had been a failed weapons test conducted by the United States military. A week after the fall, outdoorsman Jim Brook discovered black meteorites on the frozen surface of Tagish Lake, in northern British Columbia. He kept the stones pristine: frozen and untouched-a first for any meteorite fall. He made his discovery known to a few scientists only after they agreed to confidentiality, and those scientists confirmed that he had found a carbonaceous chondrite. Alan Hildebrand and Peter Brown put together an expedition to recover more fragments of the rare meteorite, interviewing eyewitnesses to reconstruct the trajectory of the bolide, but recovery efforts were hampered by deep snow. A second expedition returned in the spring when, for a short window, the fragile chondrites were exposed on the melting lake ice, and collection was successful. The secrecy surrounding these expeditions contributed to the idea that a cover-up was taking place; that the meteorite was not real. But scientific analysis, conducted by Mike Zolensky and many others, has proven otherwise. The Tagish Lake Meteorite appears to be a new type of meteorite, with ties to CI and CM type chondrites, possibly from the D type asteroids. It has the highest concentrations of carbon observed in any extraterrestrial sample, and an abundance of presolar grains. Rich in extraterrestrial organic compounds and containing distinct hollow organic globules, the primitive meteorite has brought a mini revolution to the field of meteoritics. It may help us understand the beginnings of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth. The story of the fall, recovery and the study of this meteorite highlights the necessary uncertainties of the scientific method, and the relationship between science and the general public. / by James Scott Berdahl. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-46). / Clinical decision support is an emerging type of healthcare information technology that aims to actively guide doctors' decision-making processes. In its various forms, it can help physicians design treatment regimens, regulate dosage, avoid potentially harmful drug interactions and allergies, order preventative screenings, and even establish a diagnosis. This project is a journalistic investigation of this new technology, its applications, and its effect on the medical profession. It examines two decision support systems, Partners Healthcare's clinical reminder system, and Logical Images' product VisualDx, in order to explore the potential for these technologies and how their use may change the practice of medicine. Through extensive interviews of experts in medicine, healthcare IT, and healthcare policy, it considers the major problems in implementing decision support, with emphasis on how the technology may affect doctors' autonomy, and how physicians' financial and professional incentives may influence how it is used. / by Joshua Feblowitz. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2010. / "September 2010." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-37). / Organic food is growing in popularity, enjoying a 15 to 20% increase in sales, yearly, since about 1997, according to the Organic Trade Association. Organic produce makes up about 2% of the United States' total food sales - and because it doesn't rely on synthetic pesticides or herbicides, some view it as more environmentally friendly than its conventionally grown counterpart. But it's a complicated way to farm. A truly organic method of farming, according to Sir Albert Howard, the British grandfather of organic methods, uses crop rotation, compost as fertilizers, and grows a plethora of produce. Organic produce is expensive to grow in this way, and it hits consumer pocketbooks with a wallop. Produce from large-scale organic farms is less expensive, but those large-scale farms do not challenge the way food has been grown, says University of California - Santa Cruz professor Julie Guthman. They grow in monocultures, like conventional farms, and use large amounts of organic fertilizer and pesticides. They also take advantage of migrant labor. And after this, customers can expect to pay up to 50% more for an organic diet compared to a conventional one, according to Consumer Reports. If we eventually switch over to a more sustainable way of growing our food, we could, says MIT agricultural historian Deborah Fitzgerald, experience the gentrification of our food system. / by Morgan Sherburne. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-29). / There are conditions on the Earth that are completely inhospitable to humans. Macroscopic life forms in these conditions are extremely rare. Microscopic life forms, however, thrive. They are called extremophiles. One subset of extremophile called the acidophile live in acidic environments, at time even more corrosive than battery acid. Acidophiles are microbes, and live together in hugely diverse ecosystems. Each species of acidophile fills a different niche. They survive in high acid environments using a number of methods, including a highly active proton pump, or five-ring structures called hopanoids that are imbedded in the cell membrane, among others. Acidophiles can be applied to many human questions. They are used in the process of bioremediation as applied to acid mine drainage sites. They are also useful in biomining. Because of their ability to flourish in near-otherworldly conditions, they have particular interest in the field of astrobiology, the search for extraterrestrial life. / by Stephanie M. McPherson. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-25). / In the 1960's, psychedelic drugs were a part of not only popular culture, but also cuttingedge psychology research. Scientists were studying these drugs in the hope of understanding and treating various psychological and societal ills; but as psychedelics got caught up in the counter-culture, they fell out of favor with the public, and practically vanished from the research world as quickly as they'd appeared. Now, decades after they all but disappeared, psychedelics are making a comeback. Focusing primarily on research with psychedelics to treat post-traumatic stress disorder as well as anxiety and depression associated with terminal illness, this thesis examines the researchers who've brought psychedelic medicine back from the brink and the work they're doing to explore the potential within these complex and controversial drugs. / by Lauren N. Maurer. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2016. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 24-26). / The potential of electricity to improve the brain has captivated many. Electrical gadgets attract the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated, the scientist and the charlatan. Over hundreds of years, people have tried everything from shocking away headaches with live torpedo fish, to bombarding patients' brains with so much current that their bodies convulse. A more innocuous technology has since emerged: transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS. All it takes to build is a small battery, two wires, two electrodes, and salt water. The idea is that by priming the brain with a mild electrical current, an incoming stimulus would be easier to process. In other words: less mental effort to learn something new, like recovering from a stroke or improving ski jump performance. Three primary communities are interested in tDCS today: do-it-yourselfers, clinical researchers, and neurotechnology companies. They want it for different reasons, and yet they are still wary of one another. But tDCS, in all of its simplicity, is actually not so simple-and neither is the human brain. What makes it so appealing to so many people of so many different backgrounds? How does it work? And does it deliver? / by Madeleine Margaux Phares. / S.M. in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-27). / This thesis is an investigation of the vomeronasal organ, which senses pheromones. It traces the use of the organ in land-dwelling vertebrates, and suggests evidence that the organ is vestigial in humans and Old World monkeys. Possible explanations for the loss of the vomeronasal organ in these groups are described and evaluated. Notably, the development of tri-color vision may have replaced pheromones for sexual selection in these lineages. This may explain the human proclivity for visual information over pheromonal cues. / by Siri Lefren Steiner. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2006. / "September 2006." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-42). / The wandering buffalo of Yellowstone National Park are the subject of a heated debate in the western United States. The animals carry a disease called brucellosis, which infects both buffalo and cattle and has economic consequences for ranchers. Some ranchers fear that buffalo, as they migrate out of Yellowstone in search of forage, will transmit the disease to cattle around the park and jeopardize their financial well-being. The Park Service and other government agencies have tried to control the situation by exercising a lethal form of boundary control for buffalo, though other wildlife species are unregulated. Animal advocates dispute the agencies' tactics. Native Americans wonder why the buffalo are entirely under agency control. The park has become somewhat of a war zone, where the groups quarrel throughout the migratory season. Their disagreement is about much more than the animals themselves, taking root in even older and deeper conflicts. Yet despite the tangled nature of the problem, there may be room for negotiation and eventual resolution. / by Susan L. Nasr. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-44). / Typically, if scientists want to study animals in the wild they rely on field observations by eye. If they want to track those species to know where they are, where they are going, and how they behave, then researchers may capture and tag them. These methods, however, are difficult if not impossible for rare and hard-to-see species like whales in the ocean, elephants under a forest canopy, or birds at night. Sound gives scientists a new way of knowing what is swimming, roaming, and flying where. And some scientists are using these sounds for conservation, to identify the habitats animals need to survive and to protect the animals from human activity. Of course, as with any new science, there are unanswered questions. The uncertainties are especially profound in the ocean, where researchers know little about how marine creatures hear. Scientists are still searching for answers, but now they have a new way to find them. / by Elizabeth H. Quill. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-42). / Listening to lung sounds, feeling the pulse, observing posture and gait-these are just a few of the examinations that doctors perform on their patients. A physical exam exists for every organ, from the brain to the bones of the feet, each carried out with the physician's senses. For thousands of years, humans had been solely responsible for this exam ritual, until the emergence of diagnostic equipment-CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, echocardiograms, mammograms, and more. In some cases, these devices replaced the physical exam. But in areas of the world where technology is unavailable, and even in places where it exists, many physicians and healthcare professionals cannot or will not to cede their tasks to tools. Their goal: to maintain an environment in which technology and the learned senses can coexist; an environment in which the physical exam remains an integral part of medicine. / by Allyson T. Collins. / S.M.in Science Writing