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ike Mc P lean wn ,V to ir e g g i r n o i a e 2 G 2 1 8 0 2 2 3 8 the spectator VOLUME IV ISSUE II THE MADEIRA SCHOOL January 2019 There Might Be Hope for Honeybees: Researchers Develop a Vaccine to Help Honeybees Rachael van der Linden ‘21 provokes the same response to an immune response that fights can result in the death of as few pesticides, habitat loss and so Assistant Editor (Fall) bacteria in bees as Freitak had against the bacteria. as 10,000 bees during winter, on, but diseases come hand esearchers have developed found in moths, and the two American foulbrood, and as many as 60,000 bees in in hand with these life-quality Ra vaccine for honeybees developed a vaccine for bees while it has been better con- the middle of summer, a signif- problems.” While it will likely that protects them against that would cause their immune trolled in the past century than icant number to have to exter- be many years until this vac- American foulbrood, a disease systems to respond to the in years before, still poses a minate, considering that bees cine, called PrimeBEE, hits the which is largely considered to American foulbrood bacteria. significant threat to bee popu- pollinate around a third of the markets, the possibility of the be a death sentence. Though A bee is vaccinated by lations. The disease causes lar- food in the United States. technology has provided much the vaccine only protects bees ingesting the American foul- vae to turn dark brown in color “Even improving their hope for beekeepers whose col- against American foulbrood, brood bacteria mixed with a and the hive to give off a rotting life a little would have a big ef- onies are dwindling and for the one of the vaccine’s creators, sugary solution that attracts the smell, and usually the only way fect on the global scale,” Freitak future of the honeybee popula- biologist Dalial Freitak of the to contain it is to burn the en- stated in a press release. “Of tion in the U.S. University of Helsinki, has Many experts are also tire beehive and any tools that course, the honeybees have stated that she hopes the vac- hopeful that the technol- came into contact with it. This many other problems as well: cine will make bees more resil- ogy used in the foulbrood ient in harsher environments. vaccine might be adapted Many experts are also hopeful to protect bees against that the technology used in the foulbrood vaccine might be other diseases, as it could adapted to protect bees against prove to be helpful in other diseases, as it could prove fighting the numerous to be helpful in fighting the problems facing the hon- numerous problems facing the eybee population. honeybee population. Freitak, the author of the study, found that when a bee. From that point, the bacte- moth is exposed to a bacteria, ria is bound to the vitellogenin it is able to pass a resistance to protein and carried to the bee’s that bacteria on to its offspring. eggs, which then prompts an Freitak met with fellow Uni- immune response to the bacte- versity of Helsinki researcher ria to be present in the bee’s off- Heli Salmela, who was at the spring. As the baby bees devel- time studying the protein vi- op, their immune systems are tellogenin found in bees which able to recognize the foulbrood bacteria as a threat and trigger A swarm of honeybees. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: Seeing Farther into the Past Than Ever Before Gabby McClellan ‘20 Webb Space Telescope honors the spectroscopy. Hubble can see into is shifted into the “redder” end of to see these earlier light sources, Spring Editor contributions of James E. Webb, the near ultraviolet and infrared the spectrum). Because the uni- allowing them to expand their tanding with an impressive the administrator of NASA from spectrum, and its breath-taking verse has been expanding since knowledge on the conditions of S21-foot diameter, the James 1961 to 1968 during the era of the images of celestial objects and far- its birth 13.7 billion years ago, the the universe just after the Dark Webb Space Telescope proudly Apollo program. away galaxies engender feelings of first light of the cosmos (which Ages. dons 18 hexagonal mirrors coat- Although the James awe and curiosity from viewers. formed about 100 million years The JWST will orbit the ed with shiny gold beryllium that Webb Space Telescope weighs But despite Hubble’s versatility, after the Big Bang, following what Earth from 930,000 miles away, combine to form its large prima- about half of the Hubble Space the James Webb Space Telescope, which is much farther than Hub- ry mirror. In December of 2016, Telescope, it is much larger in originally planned for construc- The JWST is designed for ble’s 340-mile-away orbit. Al- the National Aeronautics and area. Hubble has been recording tion during the late 1990s, will spectroscopy deep in the though this massive distance will Space Administration (NASA) images in the visible spectrum of allow scientists to see farther into infrared spectrum of light, make repairs on the new telescope light since its launch into Low- the universe’s past than ever be- extremely difficult, JWST’s infra- announced its plans to begin test- and this technology is ing this new telescope as Hubble’s Earth orbit in 1990, enabling fore. red technologies require exceed- gargantuan successor. The James wide-field and low-resolution The JWST is designed critical for astronomers in- ingly cool temperatures, therefore for spectroscopy deep in the in- terested in learning about it will be able to use a single large frared spectrum of light, and this shield to block the Sun, Earth, technology is critical for astrono- the universe’s infant years. and Moon’s heat and light at this mers interested in learning about distance. When the telescope is the universe’s infant years. As one is known as the ‘Dark Ages’) has launched, its 18 mirror segments, looks into the night sky, he or she spent incredible periods of time too large to launch when they are is looking into the past; light from traveling through vast distanc- fully assembled, will unfold once stars and other cosmic objects can es of space to reach Earth’s tele- in space. Even though NASA has take very long periods of time to scopes. Scientists require special delayed the JWST’s launch twice reach Earth, so this light is “old infrared telescopes to see this very due to minor constructional is- light.” The ability to see even far- early light because the space be- sues, it is scheduled for launch in ther into the past than Hubble’s tween Earth and the light’s origins March of 2021. Scientists around current capabilities, however, is has stretched with the expanding the world eagerly await its first made possible by a physics phe- universe, causing the light to also images, and many stargazers alike nomenon known as the redshift stretch into longer wavelengths. are excited to see the results of of light, in which a light source With the improved infrared capa- this $10 billion undertaking. The James Webb Space Telescope’s eye-catching gold frame will dwarf Hubble in moving away from an observer bilities of the James Webb Space diameter. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. increases in wavelength (the light Telescope, scientists will be able EDITORIAL 2 been a home for us for so hold in your hands is the cul- community. We cannot wait The Spectator long, and while we mination of years of practice to see how much more The YN’S KOR feel ready to grad- and work. Our freshman year, Spectator will grow. Let The Staff R N TH E uate, we find Under the Shell was published Spectator be an outlet to voice A R Kathryn Fronabarger ‘19 ourselves on stapled together papers your opinions. Let it be a place K YeaLim (Elsie) Jang ‘19 clinging handed out after CMT. Now to have difficult but necessary Letter Alisa Lai ‘19 to old we have printed our first full conversations. And let be your Jakie Ayers ‘20 memo- color issue (on real newsprint home like it has been ours. Safiyyah Bennett ‘22 ries and might we add!). It feels almost Michaela Joyce ‘22 from the wishing surreal that next year we will Taylor Miller ‘22 we had not be in the basement of Milan Umana ‘22 just a schoolhouse 1 or in the publi- Betty Xu ‘22 little cation lab, furiously trying to Lilian Xie ‘22 EDITOR bit more put out the next issue. But we time before know The Spectator will be in Contributing Writers: it all ends. good hands. Theresa Carr '19 E This is our Looking forward into Krysten Scott '19 very- final issue as the not so distant future, our Grace Frerichs' '20 Gabby McClellan '20 one knows editors of The Spec- time at Madeira is coming to new years are Anna Blackmon '21 tator. It feels… weird. This a close. We will have to find Carina Karp '21 supposed to bring new begin- publication has been with us new traditions, new class- Ms. Dowd nings. It is plastered on every all through high school, and mates, and a new place to call blog, magazine, and “inspir- we’ve learned so much from it home for the next four years.

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