Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 25-26). / In November of 2017, a group of researchers published a paper showing that since the 1980s, insect populations in protected areas in Germany have decreased by over 75 percent. The decline, dubbed by one reporter the "insect armageddon," was widespread, affecting sites on nature reserves across the country. It was also indiscriminate, affecting not just certain species, but overall biomass. In the following years, similar studies from Greenland, Puerto Rico, and locations in North America have also shown declines in number of insect species, abundance, and habitat. These declines have serious implications for ecosystems and for humans, some of which we can already see in effect, and some that scientists can't even predict to their full extent. This thesis will profile a research team in Costa Rica who are using caterpillar-parasitoid interactions to make estimates about insect population health, and explore the reasons for and extent of insect declines and their consequences for humans. / by Eva Charles Anna Frederick. / S.M. in Science Writing / S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 21-22). / In the 1950s, the Gros Michel banana, which was the main variety exported to American supermarkets, was replaced with the Cavendish banana due to Fusarium wilt (also called Panama disease). The disease was caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, and there was no cure. The only solution was to replace Gros Michel with the disease-resistant Cavendish. Now, the fungus is back. A strain called Tropical Race 4 (TR4) has decimated Cavendish plants in parts of Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East over the past few decades. If the disease reaches the Americas, it will have catastrophic effects on the banana industry and on the economies of Latin American banana-producing countries. It is difficult to develop new varieties of commercially grown bananas, which are seedless and therefore sterile. Researchers have developed genetically modified bananas as a possible solution, but acceptance to GMOs varies worldwide, and the process is expensive. Many varieties besides the Cavendish are also susceptible to the disease. This thesis describes the history of fusarium wilt and current efforts to replace the Cavendish while tying in a personal narrative about the diversity of bananas grown in Hawaii, where TR4 has not yet spread. Farmers in Hawaii are worried about the spread of the disease, but many are willing to grow GMOs if they become available to the public; papayas in Hawaii have already been genetically modified since the late 1990s. While a global effort is underway to replace or modify the Cavendish banana, there is no clear solution yet. / by Emily R. Makowski. / S.M. in Science Writing / S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Page 21 blank. / Includes bibliographical references. / Gunrock is a chatbot designed in the likeness of an average 29-year-old woman living in Seattle. Fourteen students from the University of California, Davis, spent spring and summer of 2018 designing and testing the bot. At the end of summer, Gunrock placed first in the 2018 Amazon Alexa Prize, a competition that challenges students to build the best "socialbot," a computer program that talks out loud and engages in "fun, high-quality conversations on popular societal topics." Although Gunrock is rudimentary compared to the conversational ability of a real person, she is also cutting-edge and a predecessor of more advanced systems. Gunrock pulls information from many sources, including Reddit and Twitter comments. As chatbots like Gunrock become more prevalent, their designers must make important decision to determine what chatbots say, which in turn has influence on the user. / by Madeleine Turner. / S.M. in Science Writing / S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Ambler, Pennsylvania, a small town in the suburbs of Philadelphia, was formerly known as the asbestos capital of the world. After production ceased, large amounts of waste were left behind. Once portion of that waste, now known as the BoRit site, wasn't named as an EPA Superfund site until 2009. What follows is an examination of how the site was remediated, and the whether or not the safety of the animals and the resident is still in any jeopardy from the asbestos that remains underground. / by Gina Vitale. / S.M. in Science Writing / S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48). / In 2008, it will have been 25 years since HIV was first isolated from a patient with AIDS. In the early 1980s, when the mysterious disease of the immune system spread across the globe, scientists began a race to find the cause. Through the voices of the men and women involved, this thesis tracks the discovery of HIV from the early outbreak of a deadly epidemic to the design of therapies for a fully-defined disease. When the AIDS outbreak began, doctors and scientists had no idea what was making people sick, and the race to find a cause was a difficult and haphazard process. But it was also a successful one; scientists discovered a definite cause for the disease-the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. However, today there still remain AIDS denialists, people who do not believe HIV is the cause of AIDS. Their beliefs pose the question, why should we trust in science? This version of the history of HIV seeks to answer that question through a particular emphasis on achieving certainty in science, how the steps of the scientific process led to certainty that HIV is the cause of AIDS, through both experimental research and community acceptance. / by Megan R. Rulison. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 28). / Farmacia Viva Indigena, the Living Indigenous Pharmacy, is five hectares of primary forest in the Amazon preserved as an intact library of indigenous plants, many of them medicinally useful, near the river village of Paoyhan in Ucayali, Peru. The library is an indigenous climate adaptation strategy in the rainforest, and an effort to revive the Shipibo-Conibo culture of healing with medicinal plants. The pharmacy was established last year by Alianza Arkana, an NGO in Pucallpa. They have divided the land into sub-parcels, and are categorizing and archiving each of the medicinal plants contained inside. In Ucayali, the main environmental concern is deforestation. Land-use change also changes patterns of rainfall, as water is transported in the atmosphere through aerial rivers. The Living Library is an archive and repository of plants in a rainforest that is rapidly disappearing-an attempt to revitalize and preserve indigenous knowledge systems of medicinal plant life in Shipibo culture. The living library of plants in Paoyhan provides an economic alternative to deforestation. They also hope to attract ecotourism, scientists, and possibly pharmaceutical companies. Making the land useful by extracting medicines is one way of protecting it from loggers who enter legally or illegally. / by Devi Lockwood. / S.M. in Science Writing / S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2019 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 20-21). / In 2009, when Apple released the iPhone 3GS, it was the first accessible touchscreen smartphone. This centralized platform, with its built-in GPS, high quality camera, powerful processor, and continuous connectivity, paved the way for new approaches to making a whole range of activities more accessible and convenient for the blind and visually impaired. Where once a blind person might have filled an entire shopping cart with expensive devices that had very specific functions, they could now get nearly all of those services in one device. But even as the iPhone pushed accessibility forward, every door it opened led to another one bolted shut. A blind smartphone user can access mobile apps and social media platforms, but when those applications are not designed to be interpreted by Voiceover, they hit a brick wall. Full accessibility is still either entirely absent from apps, websites, and new devices, or it is thoroughly misguided. The iPhone blurred the line between assistive technology and mainstream technology. It raised the bar for digital accessibility, adding fuel to the fire of the blind community's movement for inclusive design. / by Emily Pontecorvo. / S.M. in Science Writing / S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 26-27). / Melvin Calvin spent more than a decade answering one longstanding question in biochemistry: how did plants use carbon dioxide to manufacture carbohydrates in photosynthesis? This research earned Calvin a Nobel Prize-an honor that catapulted him to international fame, secured him spots on presidential advisory committees, and got him plenty of textbook mentions. But even though Calvin's claim to fame was his work on photosynthesis, his longestrunning passion project was investigating the origins of life in the universe. Astrobiology efforts peppered his career, from theorizing about chemical evolution to inspecting meteorites and moon rocks to joining the Order of the Dolphin at the first Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) conference in 1961. / by Maria C. Temming. / S.M. in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / That older relative who stays preternaturally sharp long into their 80's or 90's may hold within their skull the secret to understanding how we lose, and keep, our memories. There are many different ways of aging successfully, but a growing group of scientists at Northwestern university and elsewhere are zeroing in on why some people keep the recall you'd expect of a middle-ager well into their 9th and 10th decades. The scientists do everything they can to get to know these the owners of these brains -- their abilities, their genes, and the stories of their lives -- then, when they die, dissect the brains themselves. Will the craniums of these successful "SuperAgers" give science some leverage in the battle against dementia, or even against aging itself? / by Bennett Allan McIntosh. / S.M. in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / For the past four years, Christy Shake has given her son marijuana extract six times a day to ease his childhood epilepsy. Hers is a compelling story that highlights the potential benefits of medical cannabis. But in the wake of antiquated and inflexible federal legislation, anecdotal reports like these are essentially all we have. More than half the states in the U.S. have voted to legalize medical marijuana, as thousands contend it's a viable treatment for a growing list of conditions. Nevertheless, as more and more patients gain access to cannabis, neither they nor their physicians understand exactly what they're receiving from local dispensaries. Patients, caregivers, scientists, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and dispensary growers alike are calling for changes to government policies that restrict research. It's high time to separate politics from science. / by Raleigh McElvery. / S.M. in Science Writing