March 2015Issue Five

Chemistry, Biology, and...Origami?? Oh my!By Sara Weidner

Much like Dorothy, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow ventured into the dark andforeboding forest expecting to encounter lions and tigers and bears, so do modern day scientists venture out to discover new and innova-tive ways in which chemistry, biology, and origami are related. Oh my indeed! Of course, chemistry and biology intertwine in their subject matter, but as for the third, how on earth could anyone think to associate origami to the sciences? The answer, unbelievably, is not as convoluted as one might think.

Origami is defined as the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. Originally created as a pastime for children, origami over time grew to be more complex and became the focus of many mathematical concepts. Shane Hansen, a freshman at Moravian college, presented on the topic of origami for one of the Epsilon math talk. His research consisted of relating origami to any real world application and thus, he focused his topic on molecular origami.

While the concept of origami can be associated to both fields of chemistry and biology, it has different applica-tions for each field of science. For example, in chemistry, it is defined as, “the detailed folding and arrangement of atoms in molecules and network solids” (St. Olaf Col-lege). Network solids means that the solid itself can be manipulated and by folding a solid that may have been flat into a 3D standpoint, scientists are able to have it hold and retain information. This can be applied on a nanoscale technological level.

One such example is Hydrogenation-Assisted Gra-phene. Graphene being a sturdy and storage-compatible solid, becomes malleable when it comes in contact with water. By carefully manipulating where the water goes on certain creases, one piece of graphene can be turned into a large box in which storage information devices, or programmable molecular mass uptake, can release, store, and execute the information given to it by a computer. In other words, this box can store and release a large quan-tity of information.

On a more atomic level, when a reaction takes place, the molecules bend and react based on the intermolecular forces and the manner in which they are reacting. This means that in certain reactions, for example, dimethyl (a carbon chain which consists solely of carbon and hydro-gen), can rotate between the two carbon atoms due to a weaker force between the two carbons.

Since there is polarity at certain angles along the chain, it can cause different manners of reactions with other molecules. If dimethyl reacts with water, for example, the hydrogen is going to have an intermolecular bond with oxygen because it has a positive to negative polarity. The shape of the molecule itself can depict how it reacts within itself due to the intermolecular forces. When it bends and contorts itself to react with other molecules, depending on the other molecules’ molecular structure and its own, it arranges angling of atoms between other Continued on Page 2

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Upcoming Sports Medicine Center

By: Danielle HallidayIf you’ve ever driven down West Laurel street and over the railroad tracks towards Wawa, you’ve seen the big empty 24/7 Fitness Club that sits near the intersection. If you’ve ever wondered why no one has taken advan-tage of the 27,800 square foot space, you don’t have to wonder any longer. Moravian College has purchased the building and is partnering with St. Luke’s Univer-sity Health Network to transform it into a combination sports medicine and academic programming center. The future center will be able to provide students with both academic learning and real-world hands-on train-ing to prepare them for a career in the athletic training field.

Moravian is currently developing a master’s program for athletic training that will work in conjunction with St. Luke’s. The program is planned to start in 2016, and the renovation of this building will aid graduate studies in field of athletic training. The roughly 9,000 square feet that St. Luke’s will be leasing from the college will house the sports medicine program that will include primary care sports medicine physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and orthopedic surgeons. Former weight rooms and racquetball courts will be turned into custom designed classrooms, offices and research labs for students and faculty involved in the program, as well as St. Luke’s employees. Continued on Page 2

Meet The StaffReporters:

Editors:Marie Mikols (Editor-In-Chief)Alyssa D’Ippolito (Editor-In-Chief)Danielle Halliday (Copy Editor)Danielle May (Layout Editor)

Kyle Davies, Brianna Marmol, Sara Weidner

Origami Continued: atoms which applies the origami aspect of folding and contorting.

In biology, on the other hand, molecular origami can be applied in a slightly different aspect. The genetic material that forms a protein that allows functions within the cell to occur is based off of the codons that are found in the double helix of the DNA. The codons are specifically matched with a corresponding codon as many might remember from high school biology, A matches with T and C matches with G. One half of the double helix DNA strand is known as a scaffold. The scaffold, in more complex organisms, is correspondent to the cell reproductive cycle and how life in multi-cell organisms continues. In bacteria, there is no double helix and instead contains a single strand, or scaffold. The scaffold is believed to have its own arrangement of codons which is why when a bacteria cell is viewed from a microscope, the actual string of DNA seems to be arranged differently in each bacteria.

The molecular aspect of it means that the codons are searching for a way to connect with each other. It appears that the arrangement for each bacterial DNA strand is different, allowing it to evolve to survive. If scientists are able to discover the reasonings behind why bacteria fold the way they fold, they can then manipulate the bacteria and create different kinds of medications, drugs, etc. outside of using dead bacte-ria and admitting it into the body. Basically, scientists could then create a medication that’s more beneficial to humans.

Therefore, the concept behind origami, (i.e. the folding and arrangement of folds) can be applied to both the fields of chemistry and mathematics in a straightfor-ward manner. For everyone who struggles to understand why and how certain mathematical concepts can be applied in “the real world,” here is the prime example. As Shane Hansen explains, “it’s not so much the sur-face level application of origami that is discussed here, but by understanding the underlying concept of how strategic folds work in origami, you can better under-stand the layout and arrangement of certain molecular structures.”

Sports Medicine Continued:The college is excited to be part of this new experience and President Grigsby has said that they “anticipate the development of the programs to be a mutual benefit that will provide our students with hands on clinical experi-ences” as Moravian builds a complex that will serve as a center of learning for students, and serve the sports medi-cine and physical therapy needs of the community. When renovations are complete, hopefully by December 2015, the facilities will be open to Moravian College students and faculty as well as the general public.

Above: Photo courtesy of http://www.moravian.edu

Fresh Farmers MarketBy: Brianna Marmol

Students who would like to stock up on various organic baked goods and produce should come and visitthe fresh farmers market every Friday morning-afternoon in the Pavilion. In the past, organic baked goods like rolls, bread, muffins, and cakes were featured. There was also organic popcorn and kettle corn, eggs, meat, and a variety of nuts like cashews, peanuts, and almonds. It’s a great way to see if any food offered is to your taste.

There is more good news for people who want healthy food on a daily basis! Moravian, along with having a fresh farmers market, has also incorporated new organic products available in the Blue and Grey Café. Some of these new options available for the taking are the Penn-sylvania Maple Syrup, the Daisy 100% organic flour for eager bakers, the Bowman Mountain Applesauce, the Lancaster County Honey, and a new variety of fruits and vegetables that are delicious. Use a swipe to give these new products a try something healthy and different.

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Life Is Strange ReviewBy: Danielle May

From the creators of the Final Fantasy series, “Life is Strange”, there comes a new decision based game which had its opening release in January of 2015.

The game tells the story of a young prodigy photography student, Maxine “Max” Caulfield, who returns to her hometown in Oregon to attend Blackwell Academy. The school is a prestigious art school where she wishes to continue her study of photography specifically under a famous photographer who teaches there. One day, Max has a strange dream of an impending doom (because lets face it, this is a Square Enix game and they ALWAYS have impending doom in their games). After waking up in the middle of her photography class shaken by her dream, Max stumbles through the rest of her class. At this point the player has the option to look through her journal, her notes, or her camera to get a feel for the unique controls of the game. Her journal will become important later in the game as well as her cell phone messages, as they will

tell the player what they have to do next.After class, Max decides to go to the bathroom to splash water on her face and try to make sense of her strange dream. On the way the player can interact with the other students and take note of the many missing persons’ posters hung up around the school. All of the posters are for a Rachel Amber, who is suggested to become more important in later episodes.While in the bathroom, Max witnesses an interaction between two students, a male student by the name of Nathan Prescott who ap-pears mentally unstable and a girl who is harassing him for money. Max sees Nathan pull a gun on the girl and shoot her, causing her to react and, by mistake, rewind time back to her photography class. Max then decides to save the girl she saw getting shot, resulting in a series of events that I will not state. You’ll have to play the game to find out!

“Life is Strange” is praised for being a very real looking

game meaning the characters are not made to look more beautiful than they should look. It is also praised for it’s real look at high school, showcasing students of differ-ent body types as well as introducing Square Enix’s first LGBT character, which is also suggested to be a romantic interest that the player can choose to have Max pursue. Players of the game also applaud Square Enix for the dia-logue of the characters, commenting that it’s very similar to the thoughts and feelings of an average high schooler with plenty of entertaining one-liners that the fans have quickly grown to love. The only negative feedback was for it’s off lip-syncing.

“Life is Strange” is being released in episodes with a total of five episodes all together. The second episode is to be released in March of 2015. The game is available through Steam for PC and also available via digital download for PlayStation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

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Henry VBy: Alyssa D’Ippolito

The Moravian College Theater Company (MTCT) continued its Friday night play reading series with Shakespeare’s Henry V, performed by Moravian College students with scripts in hand. With a high demand from students to incorporate more plays from Shakespeare, Christopher Shorr, director of theatre at Moravian Col-lege, was able to satisfy that demand while incorporating this year’s InFocus theme of “War, Peace Building, and the Just Society” with Henry V. “Many of Shakespeare’s plays deal with war in many aspects, but Henry V con-tains some of the most famous passages about war,” said Shorr. “It delivers identifiable and relatable quotes to the audience.”

A question and discussion session with the audience followed the staged reading. Portraying war in both a positive and a negative light, Henry V was an effective vehicle to encourage a dialogue surrounding InFocus theme. “This play has historically been produced over the past multiple hundreds of years as something that not only exemplifies the virtues of war and how glorious

it can be, but also shows the horrors of war using some quite sensitive passages,” Shorr said. “I think the play presents quite a nice balance of war.”

In light of modern day events, parts of Henry V may be hard to watch. The stripped-down presentation of the work pushes the audience to deal with the issue of war being an uncivilized act. “When you strip it down, it is just humans killing each other, and when emotions come into play, the rules of engagement cease to exist,” Shorr said.

While keeping to the original text, the performers chose to change the setting of the play; some actors held swords, while others carried guns on stage, making the performance a bit more universal. “I hope this reading will be one more way in which our campus can come together around the idea of war and peace building,” said Shorr. “The arts have a terrific ability to stimulate the audience, to make people think and feel and to dig into a topic on a much deeper level.”

Right: Photo courtesy of http://www.gorila.sk/

Lehigh Valley Steelhawks 2015 SeasonBy: Kyle Davies

In recent years, the Lehigh Valley has become a popular location to start semi-professional sports teams. It began with the Iron Pigs in baseball, the Lehigh Valley Sonic in soccer, and recently the Phantoms in hockey. Perhaps one team that has a tendency to fly under the radar is the Steelhawks, which is part of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL). How underrated are the Steel-hawks? Consider this: in 2014, the Steelhawks were the first of these sports teams to bring a Conference Champi-onship to the Lehigh Valley. The team was one win away from being PIFL champions last season.

In 2014, the Steelhawks started off 4-0 and seemed to be headed for home-field advantage in the playoffs. After struggling in the second half of the year, the team needed to win their last game to make the playoffs. They beat the Richmond Raiders 51-41, then beat the Trenton Free-dom in the conference championship game by a score of 49-38. The Steelhawks then had to face the Nashville Venom, a squad with the best record in the league at 12-2 and a team that they had lost to earlier in the year. The Steelhawks lost by a score of 64-43.

The Steelhawks have a lot to build off of this year as they look to return to the PIFL Championship game. Midway through last season, the Steelhawks made a change at quaterback by starting Shane McSweeny. McSweeny will get a chance to lead the team again this year and defensive lineman Larry Ford returns to the team after spending time in the Arena Football League with the Cleveland Gladiators and Orlando Predators.

Some players have moved on to the NFL such as wide receiver Troy Pascley who is now a part of the New York Giants and defensive lineman, Bryan Jean Pierre, who is a part of the Carolina Panthers organization. Since the Steelhawks are a local team, tryouts are held every year and in the past a few Moravian Greyhounds have joined the team.

The rules are slightly different in indoor football. This is in large part due to the fact that the field is only 50 yards instead of 100 like in the outdoor game. There is no punting and running the football is not common. With so many passing plays, the scores tend to be higher.

The Steelhawks also do a lot in the local community by supporting charities and other organizations to raise awareness for issues such as cancer and children’s groups. The team has also created a program called the 1st local schools with ticket vouchers for academic excellence in school. & Goal Academic Program, which provides students from.

This year the Steelhawks are preparing to make the move from Stabler Arena to the newly constructed PPL center in Allentown. The team begins its season on March 29th Erie Explosion. The following week is a much antici-pated rematch of last year’s championship game against the Nashville Venom. Both those games are on the road, so the Steelhawks make promotions such as “Friends and Family Night,” “Health Awareness Night,” “Salute to Hero’s Night,” “Education Night,” and “Fan Appreciation Night.” After every game, fans have the opportunity to go onto the field, talk with players, and get autographs. For die-hard football fans, supporting the Steelhawks is a way to follow the sport all year around.

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