SCIENCE & TECH
Meet the Editor
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My name is Carlee Earnhart and I am the editor of Science and Tech! I am Currently a Senior here at CCHS, And I am part of the school's Robotics team, Band, and Orchestra. I am super exctited to write for the journalism staff!
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The Expansion Of AI: Developments of Cancer Treatments |
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By Naiah Sirrine
Student Life Editor Artificial Intelligence has been a leader in scientific developments, with updates such as Chat GPT and many other sites making life easier. Artificial Intelligence has been making revolutionary advances in the field of health, specifically cancer. Chris Jones is spearheading such projects, in compliance with Benevolent AI. The goal is to fight an incurable childhood cancer. So far, studies in mice have had up to 14% success rate. Brandon Smith, a senior and lover of science, stated, “Any advancement to save lives is amazing. I am so glad AI can be used in such a positive way.” This new combination of drugs is meant to target a certain mutation that is extremely common in children with cancer. This drug was recently used in an experimental trial, and all 18 are currently in remission. Dr. Diaz, a leading physician, exclaimed, “I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer.” AI is not only making advancements in the world of health, but also in the public sphere as well. Chat GPT has become increasingly popular as a faster means to knowledge. You can ask it anything, from making a workout plan to finding a recipe. However, new controversial ways of using it have come to light. Many college and highschool students have started to use it to write papers. One such anonymous student stated, “I recently wrote a whole essay using chat GPT. I edited it a little, and my teacher couldn’t tell.” With this new AI, however, measures have begun to come out against such actions. One viral Tiktok depicts a girl getting a zero, the reason being “AI use detected.” As influential and helpful as AI can be to health and to the speed of knowledge, it is dangerous to replace your own work with it. Remember the Artificial in artificial intelligence. Posted 3/27/23 |
Top five new AI technologies
1. Natural language generation 2. Speech recognition 3. Virtual agents 4. Deep learning platforms 5. AL-optimized hardware https://mindmajix.com/artificial-intelligence-technologies |
Silicon Valley Bank Collapse: Everything You Need To Know |
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By Jake Anderson
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
These Are The Companies That Will See The Greatest Impacts From The Silicon Valley Bank Collapsing…
-Roblox -Roku -Acuityads Holdings Inc -Applovin Corp -Lantronix Inc -Alkami Technology Inc -Stitch Fix -Circle -Blockfi -Payoneer Global Inc Source: www.reuters.com |
In the tech industry, many startup companies were heavily invested in the Silicon Valley Bank. Unfortunately, on March 10, 2023, things changed for the worse when there was a massive run on the bank, and the bank began to crumble. Unable to provide back the money to all the companies, the Silicon Valley Bank failed.
There was a combination of many poor decisions on the bank's part that led to its collapse, as well as many economic and timing factors that were very unfortunate for the bank. Over the past couple of years the Silicon Valley Bank bought billions of dollars worth of Bonds from the United States Government. Typically, these types of investments are safe; however, the value of those investments fell when the government raised interest rates. CNN reported, “The Fed has been aggressively raising interest rates since 2022 to combat rampant inflation.” Due to the bank losing money, companies with money in the bank began withdrawing their deposits. CNN reported, “On Wednesday, SVB announced it had sold a bunch of securities at a loss, and that it would also sell $2.25 billion in new shares to shore up its balance sheet. That triggered a panic among key venture capital firms, who reportedly advised companies to withdraw their money from the bank.” Since people were withdrawing money, the bank had to sell the bonds they had purchased to be able to give customers their money back, and lost about half of what the bank paid for the loans. This caused a run on the bank and people were scrambling to take their money out of the bank. The government will insure up to $250,000 of money that you had invested in a bank if it fails. This means that individuals who invested in the Silicon Valley Bank and did not pull their money out will most likely be reimbursed by the government. A student at Corner Canyon who wished to remain anonymous stated, “It’s nice to know that if I had money invested in that bank I would be safe.” However, big tech companies that had invested lots of money or all of their money will only receive $250,000 back and will have lost the other part of what they had in the bank. An anonymous student at Corner Canyon said, “That sucks for those big tech companies since they can’t get all their money back.” This could cause major issues for companies that will not be able to run payroll and pay their employees. It will be interesting to see how companies are able to recover from this collapse. Published 3/15/23 |
Urban Greening: The Urbanization OF plants |
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By Melody Hanks
Editorial Editor
Editorial Editor
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I, like many people, feel anxious over the state of the climate and how we can balance the fast growing urbanization and the pollution dumped onto the planet. While researching how people are trying to become more carbon neutral, I came across something that interested me. Urban greening: a solution to the pollution in cities, destruction of ecosystems, flooding, and much more.
In simple terms, it is a way of making cities greener with architects and city planners integrating nature into building designs. It can include anything from large foliage hanging from skyscrapers, to rooftops being small ecosystems for birds. From AnsGlobal they state “ These installations pump vast amounts of oxygen into the air around them, as well as absorbing equally vast amounts of carbon dioxide which would otherwise harm the people around it.” Clearing air pollution is important for easy living, especially for Utah where most have to stay inside during the winter because of the air quality. Urban greening would be a big help! From the zoology teacher Fravel, she said “The most important thing for these to work and help ecosystems is to use native plants. Not just decorative ones, but using plants that would benefit the animals that need them.” Locally, bees are suffering due to habitat loss. Incorporating native flowers and shrubs into these designs would help the bee population rise again. Promoting the growth of these plants would balance all that was destroyed when the cities were built and could have a huge positive impact on the environment. I believe that this could solve many issues we have if every city across the globe used urban greening. BBC earth states “These projects from all around the globe show just how possible it is to incorporate nature into every cityscape. Some of these ventures are large-scale, while others have a far more localized impact – but all are innovative and inspirational ways to give the whole planet a helping hand, even in the most urban of environments.” For too long it has been man against nature, but now we can truly be balanced; and possibly negate the damage that has been done. Posted 3/13 |
NO WHERE TO LIVE: THE DEVESTATING AFFECTS OF HABITAT LOSS |
The orangutan, Collared nightjar, Puerto Rican robber frog, and Honduran white bat; the species listed above who have suffered extreme habitat loss
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Information credit: National Geographic |
By Lily Hersch
Mind and Body Editor “We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves.” This quote from the Notorious B.I.G is ever relevant to our world. In fact, with something you likely wouldn’t expect; habitat loss. With increasing global demands on the environment, consequences are starting to emerge. Not only the environment itself, but its inhabiting species. This is bad news, for everyone and everything.
The planet’s biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates in human history. This refers to animals, plants, and much more. Species with habitat loss of over 50% since 2001 include the Honduran white bat, Puerto Rican robber frog, Collared nightjar, and orangutans (who have lost 80%!) Whether you are an animal lover, hater, or midbetween-er, you need to care about this. More than 75% of global food production relies on biodiversity, and with its decline, several foods will start becoming extremely limited or even extinct. Such as, but definitely not limited to, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and Dutch Bros drinks. Yeah, I’m hitting where it hurts. Some nations have made attempts at change, including ones that attended the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference. Unfortunately, the United States was not present due to its non-membership. Though, what attending countries did propose was safeguarding 30% of the world’s environment by 2030, known as 30x30. Yet, as said by Pamela McElwee, an environmentalist, “You have to tackle the underlying drivers; otherwise, you’re only dealing with half the problem.” Meaning, 30x30 essentially says we can destroy 70% of the world; just not the other 30%. How is that beneficial long-term? Vanessa Fravel, CCHS biology teacher gives us an example that hits close to home: “The property between Pioneer street and Fort Street that was a farm and fallow natural fields for decades has recently been purchased to build housing and businesses. The disruption of the 50+ acres has displaced countless species, including at least 3 raptor families that have nested and hunted in that area for multiple generations. Without nesting sites, these crucial predators will need to find new territory; without the raptors present, the mice and rats will relocate into people’s homes and gardens if they can.” If we cannot create a solution that deals with the direct factors causing this environmental detriment, we cannot hope this destruction will decline. If we as people are not willing to change how we live, hope for the planet’s future will only grow in urgency. Posted 2/24 |
