Contents Introductory Letter y From MURJ Editors 3 Science News In Review A look at the latest Science News. 4-7 Technolog f Features Journal o h e 150 MIT Innovations in the Past 150 Years 9-33 Nobel Spotlight: Professor Richard Schrock, MIT Chemistry Department Researc Institut e s 33-34 Reports Who is sustainable? Nicole Bucala An analysis of the apparent achieve- ments of social democracies and welfare states to promote sustainable behavior and foster greater usage of renewable Undergraduat Massachusett MURJ energy technologies. 43-52 Volume 21, Spring 2011 MURJ Contents Letters MURJ Volume 21, Spring 2011 UROP Summaries MURJ Staff Massachusetts Institute of MIT Energy Club Massachusetts MIT Undergraduate Technology MIT Undergraduate Institute of Research Journal murj.mit.edu Research Journal Technology UNDERGRADUATE www.mitenergyclub.org RESEARCH JOURNAL Volume 21, Spring 2011 Layer-by-Layer (LbL) Assembly on Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels Editors-In-Chief Margaret Lloyd May 2011 May 2011 Omar Abudayyeh Ana Lyons Dear MIT Community, Dear MIT Community, Evelyn Wang We are proud to present Issue 21 of the MIT Undergraduate On May 2nd of this year the price of a barrel of oil Layout Chief Research Journal (MURJ), a biannual publication that showcases dropped by $1.51 due to a random exogenous event – the Ivana Lucero the groundbreaking undergraduate research being done across death of Osama bin Laden. According to the Wall Street campus, across disciplines. As always, the breadth of questions Journal this price adjustment reflected the new confidence Senior Editors and hypotheses being examined by students is unparalleled; that markets had in ‘greater stability in the Middle East Naren Tallapragada 36-37 in this issue, we learn about the future of sustainable energy and Central Asia’ due to the event. This interpretation can Akansh Murthy as accessed by different social states, microgel-mediated nucle- be easily critiqued just as an oil trader’s ability to quantify Features Editors ation, and novel labeling techniques in the brain. These pieces, security improvements can. Another, more insightful, Fangfei Shen Enhancing the Nucleation of Aspirin Using Polymer as well as others in the issue and online at murj.mit.edu, are interpretation of this event can be summed up as follows: Sarine Shahmirian Microgels of Designed Chemistry the newest ideas and technologies to join MIT’s long history of The energy sector is a huge highly interconnected system News Editor Zeina Ali Siams creation and innovation. of markets, technology, and massive infrastructure, there- Cecillia Wang This spring is especially exciting for our community, as fore singular events matter. MIT celebrates its sesquicentennial. In our features section, we Here at MIT we are primarily concerned with the pur- Copy Editors highlight some of the most interesting research and inventions suit of disruptive endogenous events - the development Elizabeth Bearrick Ivana Lucero produced in the past 150 years by MIT professors and students – of new energy technologies, systems and management Tiffany Peng with some surprising finds – as well as delving into the life and strategies (along with better understanding and deal- Jin Stedge times of the Chemistry department’s most recent Nobel Prize ing with high-impact exogenous events). While the long winner, Dr. Richard Schrock. As we take time to reflect on the term effect of exogenous events may decay, the on-going New Media Editor 38-39 Cynthia Chen achievements made by our peers and professors over the past influence of new technological breakthroughs can con- century and a half, we are confident that the next 150 years will tinue to reverberate in very profound ways. It is through News Staff bring even more triumphs in science, technology, the arts, and technological innovation that the utilization of so-called Esha Atolia Nonparametric Estimation of Gasoline Demand Anna Ho society, and hopeful that MURJ will be reporting these discover- unconventional gas reserves has been opened up in the Scott Landers Anubhav Sinha 39 ies firsthand. past few years; this technological development will have Pratiksha Thaker MURJ is a collaborative effort by an extraordinary team of lasting influence on the natural gas market (and as conse- Research Staff dedicated and hardworking students, and we would like to quence the domestic electricity industry).This typifies the Esha Atolia thank our executive board and department members for their lasting impact of the research enterprise, in which, we at Aditya Kalluri time and effort this semester. We would also like to thank the MIT delight. Vinati Kaul Neuronal Labeling in Ventral Tegmental (VTA) by Viral Joy Lee Gene Delivery through Cre-dependent targeting in vivo UROP department, the Office of Undergraduate Advising and The ethos of the student energy community is to Hayden Metsky Academic Programming, MIT Student Activities Office, and approach energy issues with 'fact-based analysis', and Nicholas Swenson Tiffany Peng 40 the MIT Publishing Service Bureau for their continued support. UROP students exemplify this. We are honored to have Pratiksha Thaker Finally, a special thank you to the authors for sharing their been asked to write an introduction to this bi-annual Features Staff research with us and the larger community. We hope you enjoy collection of UROP students’ innovative work. It would Anna Ho come as no surprise to us if something truly disruptive Pratiksha Thaker the issue! Mobolaji Williams Quantifying Promoter Strength through GFP Expression came out of the work in the pages that follow. in E. coli Sincerely, Contributors Sincerely, John Berman Tim Chang Svetlana Chekmasova 41 Scott Jenkins Jessie Li Josepher Li Christian Perez Omar Abudayyeh Ana Lyons Evelyn Wang Production Advisor Addison Stark Guillaume Fernet Publishing Services Bureau Co-Editor-In-Chief Co-Editor-In-Chief Co-Editor-In-Chief TPP '10, 2 PhD Sloan MBA '11 Printed at Universal Millenium No material appearing in this publication may be reproduced without written permission of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Co-President MIT Co-President MIT 77 Massachusetts Avenue the publisher. The opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors and are Energy Club Energy Club Cambridge, MA 02139 not necessarily shared by the editors. All editorial rights are reserved. PSB 07-02-0097 3 Volume 21, Spring 2011 MURJ Science News in Review Science News in Review MURJ Volume 21, Spring 2011 Science News In Review Thunderstorms Make Antimatter hen we hear the word “anti- the above air. While Cell Phone Usage May Be Linked to Altered Brain Activity Wmatter”, we often think of most of the gamma rays something foreign and beyond end up colliding with ontrary to popular belief, tion levels in areas of the brain phone radiation frequency is rela- the scope of our regular lives. electrons and accelerat- Ccould using cell phones actu- nearest to where the right phone tively low, many scientists are now However, recent observations ing, some gamma rays ally be good for us? In a recent was positioned. curious if altering brain activity indicate that antimatter is not as transform in an electron study conducted by the National This study raises several ques- through the use of cell phones is distant from us as we believe. and a positron (the anti- Institutes of Health, researchers detrimental or beneficial. Many matter equivalent of the tions regarding the health effects In January of 2011, scientists obtained data that suggest that less medical groups have been propo- electron) when passing of electromagnetic radiation emit- at NASA saw something that had than one hour of cell phone use nents of the safety of cell phones by nuclei. Since the elec- ted from cell phones. While cell never been seen previously: thun- can accelerate brain activity. for quite some time, but numerous tron and the positron’s derstorms producing beams of doctors have supported the idea of source was a gamma ray, In the study, 47 subjects were antimatter above Earth. Using using headsets as a precautionary they are highly energized. each given two cell phones which the Fermi Gamma-ray Space measure. Even though this study were placed next to each ear. In the Telescope, newly-produced Following the Earth’s presents new data, many have said control experiment, both phones gamma rays could be measured magnetic field, the posi- that the link between cell phone were in “off” mode, and no unex- and observed. Gamma rays are tron may collide with a Thunderstorm with lightning striking the Earth. usage and brain activity would Credit: http://allaboutweather.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ pected brain activity was observed. produced when antimatter collides normal particle at some need to be further investigated in Thunderstorm.jpg In a subsequent experiment, the with normal particles, a process point and become anni- order to assess the impacts of cell cell phone near the right ear was which annihilates both the anti- hilated, as described phone-induced brain stimulation. set on a mute call. Surprisingly, matter and the normal particle. previously. This anni- This discovery will be useful —R. Kumar after 50 minutes, positron emis- It is believed that this occurs dur- hilation can be seen using the in determining the mechanism Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/ sion tomography- (PET-) scans Cell phone use has become so prevalent that Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. behind TGFs and in understand- the possibility of beneficial aspects can have a 22/cellphone-use-tied-to-changes-in-brain- ing terrestrial gamma-ray flashes performed on the subjects indi- major impact on society. activity/?ref=research (TGFs). Alternatively, the positron may ing what specifically it is about cated increased sugar consump- Credit: Kristen Murphy, Associated Press collide with an electron on the To produce antimatter, elec- these thunderstorms that allow Fermi spacecraft and the resultant tric fields present at the top of them to make antimatter.