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Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Growing Use of Technology in Society Today By Neha Singh Volume 3 Issue 1 November 7, 2022 Image provided by GoodCore Are you becoming more dependent on your devices, just like most people in our society today? Do you find technology more helpful? Has artificial intelligence actually made your life easier? Do you use facial recognition instead of remembering your passwords? Are driverless cars the future you want? Although technology is really useful and helps us in our daily lives, is that a positive thing? Using facial recognition instead of remembering passwords is easier and more convenient but it decreases a person’s memory capacity. Before the advent of our advanced technology, we used to be able to memorize most passwords, but now most people can’t even remember their email passwords. Technology has affected mostly everyone but especially teenagers since they typically use new technology faster and more than adults do. However, do you know about the plus sides of technology in society? Artificial intelligence is now being used in medicine and medicinal research. With complex computer algorithms, computer chip implants can be used to advance people’s cognitive skills. With gene editing, we’re able to reduce the serious risks or development of health conditions in babies. Additionally, with robot exoskeletons, we can increase people’s muscular strength for lifting in manual labor jobs with built-in artificial intelligence systems. Is this really best for our society? Many people have different opinions about where technology should be used. Should we depend heavily on technology in the medical field as well? Or should it only remain for our entertainment, communication, and other daily life tasks? According to a Pew Research Center poll, 46% of United States adults think facial recognition technology is good for society, whereas 56% of United States adults think computer chip implants are bad for society. In the same poll, 30% of United States adults think gene editing is good for society and 30% think it is bad for society, whereas 42% of United States adults are unsure whether robotic exoskeleton is good or bad for society. Could this be due to a lack of knowledge regarding technology among the general population? Artificial intelligence is a fairly new concept in society, and we still don’t know everything about it. Although it is controlled by different computer algorithms, there isn’t always someone monitoring the technology, so anything could go wrong at any given moment. Technology is not 100% reliable, and this can be seen in our everyday lives. How many times has your phone died when you needed it? Or did your computer crash? Or do you have no service? Or the program or application you’re using is taking too long to respond? Although artificial intelligence is different and works through computer algorithms, crashes or hacks can still happen, so is technology really that good for our society today? BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Editorial Back to Sections It’s Okay to Have Friends Jasmine Roberts Volume 4 Issue 4 May 29, 2024 Image Provided by Annie Diep Mental health problems are among the greatest concerns for Gen Z. Maintaining one's mental health is imperative to the mobility of the self; it is the self-care be fore facial soaps and painted lips. Excessive self-diagnosing and negative outlooks on life among Gen Z contribute significantly to mental health concerns. The negative moments of a person’s life are often labeled as “trauma”, even when said “trauma” does not correlate to the scientific studies of how trauma operates. Has mental illness now become trivialized from the point of view of those who are genuinely impacted by it? Is it now “normal” to suffer? Does being happy mean that there is no substance within you, that you aren’t “deep”? Realistically, the world can be bitter and disappointing, and enforcing ideas of loneliness or solitude on social media apps and each other can compound the problem. It’s vital that Gen Z young people engage with each other and find healthy ways to cope with the ever-changing world and learn to perceive the world with more optimism. If subliminal messages say much, it is known that drilling negative ideas into the core of the mind will have detrimental impacts. It's okay to touch grass and breathe fresh air, and it’s okay to be that happy person who smiles at a squirrel eating a nut. It’s okay to live in your own little world as time moves on and the flowers in your tiny garden grow. However, please stay informed about wars and famines, and question the system, but don’t forget to do it with a smile and as open a mind as possible. Entering adulthood has its challenges, so let’s not take for granted the time of gold we have now before that gold becomes iron and rusts away. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Snow: The White, Fluffy Killer By Matteo Somma Volume 1 Issue 4 January 20, 2021 Image provided by AccuWeather On December 17th, 2020, here on Long Island we received 5 to 6 inches of snow. Naturally, as children - or even adults, we leaped outside into the snow. Whether to play or shovel, we had some type of interaction with the white fluff. But what many don’t realize is that snow is toxic and might be putting your health at risk. Earth's temperature rises every year rise due to the burning of fossil fuels, car exhaust, nuclear waste, to name just a few. 3.3 million people die from air pollution every year alone. These toxic chemicals seep into the air, polluting our atmosphere where clouds form. The chemicals suck up the water and air in evaporation, creating toxic chemical clouds. As the clouds release rain/snow/sleet/hail, those chemicals come down into Earth's surface, being greeted by the open tongues of children. Tons of little children every year ingest the snow from the ground, and some families even make snow ice cream. While in small doses it causes little to no harm, large consumptions and long-term exposure to snow can be deadly over time due to the numerous chemicals such as methane, gasoline, fossil fuels, and car exhaust. Surprisingly enough, short-term exposure can also cause sickness and infection. Now you might be asking: How does snow cause infection? Well, it's very simple. We live in the suburbs where many of us don’t have much property. Chances are much of the snow on your property has been touched by a snow boot, shovel or snowplow, all of which are non-sanitary and have touched dozens of surfaces, which can lead to infection. All in all, just keep this in mind the next time you’re looking to dine on some fresh snow. I would opt for some water or ice cream instead, which is much safer and much more delicious. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles News Back to Sections Day of Silence 2022 By Eva Grace Martinez Volume 2 Issue 6 April 14, 2022 Image provided by GLSEN Hi everyone! My name is Eva Martinez, and while I am an editor here at NORTH STAR, I am also president of Valley Stream North’s LBGT+ affinity group: The Alliance. The primary goal of The Alliance is to make North a safer space for all students by creating a safe space for its LGBT+ students. Although we have many events throughout the year, such as the participation in the Social Justice Summit, in my opinion, no event is more impactful than the Day of Silence (DOS). Started by a group of students at the University of Virginia in 1996, the Day of Silence has grown into a national student lead movement in high schools and colleges all across America. Organized by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, the DOS is a day for allyship and represents the silencing power of homophobia. This year the day took on extra meaning for North’s Alliance, as many also felt that their silence was an act of protest against Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” a.k.a. the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill. From a personal standpoint, it is inspiring to see an increase in students participating in the DOS; however, it is still an incredible challenge. During the DOS, all participating members were instructed to refrain from: talking, texting, using social media, miming, or any other method of non-verbal communication. If any of our readers know me in person, they also likely know one other thing about me: I do not ever stop talking. With the added limitation of not being able to communicate non-verbally, I knew I was in for a rough one this year. My primary feeling throughout the day was frustration; being unable to communicate in any way made a large portion of my daily tasks incredibly difficult, and I found myself left with questions in class that I simply couldn’t ask for clarification on. Additionally, several students kindly asked why I was not speaking. However, all I could do was show them my card, which simply says "How can you help end the silence?” Also, to the person I bumped into in the hallway, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude; I just wasn’t allowed to apologize verbally. Yet, my frustrations represented the true point of the DOS. Homophobia, and its impacts, whether socially or legislatively, have a significantly negative effect on LGBT+ students. When those students feel afraid, they may find themselves excluded from the ease of interaction enjoyed by others. Overall, the DOS is a challenging but meaningful event. I encourage those who have any further questions to stop by our next Alliance meeting after the break: Monday, April 25th, room 309. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Art & Culture, Polaris Back to Sections Crack A Smile Nora Chery Volume 4 Issue 1 November 6, 2023 BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Polaris Back to Sections The End Annie Diep Volume 5 Issue 1 September 20, 2024 Image Provided by Elaine Ching What does a story mean by ‘The End’? How can we know what exactly is ‘The End’? What is ‘The End’? Why do these simple words, ‘The End’ invoke such intense emotions? Why do these simple words, dictate my mind's destination? Is ‘The End’ for a scholar a B in their carefully formed A’s? Is ‘The End’ for a woman when their hair starts to grey? Is ‘The End’ for a mother when they lose what keeps them at bay? Is ‘The End’ for a creative when they’ve lost their way? Is ‘The End’ for a daughter when they disobey? BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles News Back to Sections Former President Donald Trump's Conviction Sahar Ali Volume 5 Issue 1 September 20, 2024 Image Provided by White House Historical Association On May 30th, 2024, former president Donald Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former president in United States history to be convicted of criminal charges. Falsifying business records is considered a felony in the State of New York, which makes the former president a convicted felon as a result of his actions. But what did Trump do that led him to this position? Former President Trump is notorious for the many actions that he took during and after his presidency, most notably the January 6th riot at the Capitol, in which thousands of Trump supporters protested the results of the 2020 election. The 2020 election was between Democrat Joe Biden and former president and republican Donald Trump, the outcome being a victory for the Democrats. Following the election, Trump made many public statements regarding the outcome of the election and proceeded to claim that voter fraud was involved, causing Trump supporters to gather at the Capitol and protest for their president whom they perceived to be the rightful president of the country. Trump openly spread false statements and made multiple attempts to revise the results of the 2020 election. Not only did Trump influence the storming of the Capitol, but he had also been impeached twice, making history as the only president in the United States to be impeached more than once. Trump was victorious in the 2016 election, as he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton. However, according to CBS News, Trump’s conviction originated from a “hush money” payment that was made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star to keep quiet about her claims that she engaged in intimate activities with the former president years before the 2016 election. “But the actual charges that Trump faced were far less salacious and dealt with the comparatively mundane paperwork that was generated when he reimbursed Cohen for the payment” (CBS News). True to form, the former president would deny the claims by stating that the statements made by Daniels are false. However, according to BBC, giving a person hush money is not considered illegal; the reason he was convicted was because Trump claimed the $130,000 payment was for legal fees. Along with that, Trump made claims regarding the outcome of the 2020 election that were concluded to be false as he attempted to overturn the decision of the election. According to CBS News, New York election laws make it unlawful for “any two or more persons to conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means,” which is what Trump did as he attempted to quiet Daniels but also claimed that the money was for legal fees, which as we know, was not true. But with the power and position Trump holds, it is unlikely that he would have to face jail time. Legal experts believe that a fine would be the most Trump has to face. Even with such a big felony on his name, it is very likely that the public will see Trump run in the 2024 election later this year as he meets all the criteria to be president which, according to CNN include, being a natural-born citizen, above 35 years of age, and living in the US for at least 14 years. SOURCES: What was Trump convicted of? Details on the 34 counts and his guilty verdict - CBS News   Two weeks since Trump’s New York guilty verdict: What have we learned? | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera   A guide to Donald Trump's four criminal cases ( bbc.com )   Can Trump still run for president? Can he still vote? | CNN Politics BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Advice Back to Sections Be Aware and Stay Focused By Jeselys Naylana Vazquez Volume 2 Issue 4 February 10, 2022 Image provided by Google.com Wow! The fall semester is already over, and now our spring semester schedule has begun. Our lovely and hardworking teachers have been rocking it away in putting up our final grades into the school portal, so we should take the time this week to reflect and focus on what we need to work to do well and succeed in the grade we hope to accomplish. We may be unsatisfied that we didn’t reach our goal for the grades we wanted or satisfied with what we earned, but it isn’t too late to improve. Don’t think you can’t because we’re getting closer each day to the end of the school year and you don’t have time to make a change because it is never too late to take a step and own up to it. On February 4th, our report cards came out, so I hope you took/will take the time to look over them and ask/ask yourself, “Is the best I could do, or could I try harder next time?” Then you can figure out what you need to focus on, and what you need to do for yourself to increase your average. Also, always remember: It’s your choice; if you feel you can do it, then do it! Don’t underestimate your power of wisdom and intelligence. Well, I have a spring semester to catch, and so do you, so see you there! BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Records Broken By Matteo Somma Volume 1 Issue 3 December 16, 2020 Image provided by the Weather Channel As we all have noticed, 2020 has been a whirlwind - for example with the COVID-19 virus growing by the day and the social injustice citizens have been experiencing recently. But what many aren’t looking at is the growth of natural disasters around the world which have been breaking records. As the record-breaking hurricane season just recently ended here on the east coast, we felt the wrath. It started around halfway through May, over half a month before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. The season began with the two tropical storms: Arthur and Burtha. Burtha slowly died off into nothing, but Arthur had other plans. Arthur started on May 14th just off the coast of Cuba. As the system headed towards the straits of Florida, it slowly died down to a tropical depression. Two days after the storm tuned down into a tropical depression, it cranked up winding towards the Outer Banks, NC. After crashing towards the banks, it slowly depreciated into nothing as it turned back toward Cuba. Six out of the 30 named tropical storms, hurricanes, cyclones, or depressions were categorized as major hurricanes, while in 2019 we had only half of those numbers. The worst was the hurricane named Laura. Laura caused 10-12 billion dollars of damage, in comparison Superstorm Sally, which caused 8-10 billion dollars of damage. The way a hurricane forms is when moist, humid air passes over warm water. From there, the humid air is pushed upward with warm ocean water as well as forming storm clouds. As the clouds rise, it begins to rotate forming a hurricane. The recent rise in warm waters all over the earth causing all these hurricanes over the Atlantic is due to global warming. The hurricane is roughly 300 miles long on average with an eye and surrounding thunderstorms. The eye of the hurricane is relatively calm and spans anywhere from 20-40 miles across. Churning through 2020 has often been nightmarish. The hurricane season officially ended on November 30th, 2020, with no new storms forecasted or on their way as of our publication date. This season saw double the average number of storms, with 12 named and 6 total hurricanes, while this year we had 30 named storms and 16 hurricanes. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Pi — It’s Waaaay More Than You Think! By Elyas Layachi Volume 2 Issue 5 March 28, 2022 Image provided by New Atlas Introduction March 14th of every year is the date all mathematicians and math-lovers yearn for: Pi Day. Its name comes from the number its date creates: 3.14, the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi. It’s an endless number, and while we use pi in our math classes, do we really know what the number is, its origin, and its uses in the real world? After reading this article, you will know everything there is to love about pi, in addition to a few fun facts! Brief History of Pi British mathematician William Jones is responsible for giving the value pi a Greek symbol, but the actual number comes from centuries of secular thought and experimentation. According to exploratorium.edu, the number has been around for almost 4000 years, with the ancient Babylonians (1900 – 1680 BC) being the first to try to find pi’s value. They calculate the area of a circle by taking three times the square of its radius, which gave pi a value of 3, but they approximated it to 3.125. In the same period, the ancient Egyptians found the area of a circle using a formula and produced 3.1605 for their pi value. However, it wasn’t until Archimedes of Syracuse that pi was accurately calculated. He was one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world, and, simply put, he used the Pythagorean Theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2) to find the area of a circle and the value of pi. Although he did not find the exact value of pi, he knew he was close, and produced a value between 3 and 1/7th and 3 and 10/71. Today, Syracuse is known as the creator of pi. Pi Uses Today What an interesting history! It’s crazy to think that it took the world’s most renowned mathematicians and minds, along with centuries of thought, to produce merely an approximation of the real value of pi. You may ask, what’s the importance of all this? I’m never going to need pi in my life, so why is it such an important number? Well, depending on what profession you’re thinking of pursuing, you will most likely need pi. Astronomers need pi for estimating the sizes of planets, architects and construction workers need pi to design buildings, pi was used to calculate the size of your car wheels, and even plumbers need pi form piping and tubing! Furthermore, sports manufacturers need pi to determine the amount of material needed to make a basketball or soccer ball. Anything that involves circles, cones, spheres, and cylinders needs pi. Fun Facts about Pi Pi is the most recognized mathematical constant in the world, with scholars considering it “the most important and intriguing number in all of mathematics.”1 Since the exact value of pi can never be calculated, we can never find the accurate area or circumference of a circle.2 Since pi is an irrational value, computers have been used to calculate it to more than 22 trillion digits!3 Conclusion I hope you guys learned something new about pi! I sure did, just from doing research for this article! So the next time you see pi on a math test or in class, take a second to appreciate the value of the number, the centuries it took for its value to be discovered, and its many uses in society. Happy Pi Day! BACK TO TOP