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. / The One America Movement is a nonprofit, bridge-building organization founded after the 2016 presidential election. The organization is committed to combating toxic polarization all over the country. On January 27, 2019, One America organized a meeting in South Jordan, Utah in which Latter-day Saints and Jews came together to foster empathy for the other faith. This thesis reports on the on the interfaith event and explores the science behind it and other conflict resolution strategies. Touching on neuroscience and social psychology, this thesis addresses how we come to define empathy, why and when we fail to express it, and how we can hope to recoup it. / by Diego Arenas. / 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 20-22). / In July of 2016, the New Zealand government announced plans for Predator Free 2050, the biggest predator control effort ever undertaken in the country-and perhaps the world. Predator Free 2050 is a government-sanctioned goal to eliminate rats, stoats, and possums from New Zealand. Since New Zealand has no native land mammals, its bird species are poorly adapted to withstand predation from the mammals that have been introduced since humans first arrived on the nation's shores. The country is now home to nearly 170 native bird species, most of which are declining and considered at risk or threatened after years of predation by invasive mammals. 93 of these species are endemic, found nowhere else on the planet. Predator Free 2050 builds on years of conservation efforts to reduce predator numbers and provide safe spaces for bird populations to recover, including the successful elimination of mammalian pests on islands and fenced-in sanctuaries around the country. Birds are a critical component of the nation's cultural identity and the government hopes that Predator Free 2050 will protect New Zealand's rare birds. However, it's not yet clear whether this goal is feasible and some of the methods used to wipe out pests have been controversial. The difficult decisions being made in New Zealand right now reflect the challenges and conflicts that arise around the world when wildlife protection requires significant changes and sacrifices. / by Brittany Flaherty Payne. / 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 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, 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