By Satenik Ayrapetyan
When they were 12, four young friends in the San Fernando Valley who loved science decided to enter a contest that required competitors to answer this question about robotics: How do you help astronauts when they are in orbit?
Years later, the young inventors’ answer was to create a pair of “portable light therapy” glasses – glasses designed to reduce the astronauts’ abnormal circadian rhythms, the natural pattern a human body follows over a 24-hour period that dictates when to sleep and when to rise.
Our circadian rhythms have evolved over eons to be timed with the natural light-dark cycle of the day and night, and that rhythm is set by light sensors in our eyes.
But in outer space that rhythm is undone.
Astronauts don’t experience the natural cycles of physical and mental changes that quietly unfold in the body in a 24-hour period.
Seven years after that initial question, “How do you help astronauts when they are in orbit?” the four San Fernando Valley friends presented at the NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop on Jan. 27 for the second year in a row.
Last year they made waves as the first high schoolers to present at the workshop.
Their invention initially gained a spotlight when it won first place at the 2018 Lego League competition.
“It was a little intimidating at first,” said Harrison Bressler, 17, one of the teen inventors, who lives in Encino. “But as we walked around the contest we realized how the community is and doctors from all over the areas were helping us, giving us comments on our research.”
In space, astronauts’ sleep cycles are thrown off due to the difference in day and night cycles, which can lead to health issues, such as fatigue.
Their invention, the pineal gland simulator and regulator — or “Pinacal” — simulates the effects of sunset and sunrise in order to stimulate hormones, which in turn causes astronauts to experience a regular 24-hour circadian rhythm, even in space.
“The light mimics the sunrise at the desired wake time and dims down at the desired sleep time,” said Aaron Massachi, 17, one of the young inventors who lives in Calabasas. “It allows your brain to slowly tell your muscles to shut down and tell your muscles to get ready for bed at the end of the day.”
The students – Bressler, Massachi, Ben Robitshek and Jack Tajkef – have worked on the project since they were in middle school at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School.
Now attending de Toledo High School, a private Jewish high school in the West Hills neighborhood in the Valley, the four friends continue to refine their invention.
“Originally, it was a hat,” Robitshek, 18, who lives in Woodland Hills, said of the group’s invention. “But now it’s a pair of glasses. (It shines) a light into the eyes, which helps stimulate the pineal gland, which is responsible for the production of melatonin and serotonin. It will help people wake up during tough sleep cycles and it can help be a supplemental to the wonky schedules people experience.”
In 2022, they patented Pinacal.
Kathy Reynolds, the student inventors’ former sixth-grade science teacher, has served as their longtime mentor for the project.
“I am more amazed at their maturity and their ability to be very articulate about the research,” Reynolds said. “I’m really proud of them.”
The group sometimes runs into issues with funding and testing. When looking for volunteers to test Pinacal, they often have to consider issues such as caffeine intake and pre-existing conditions that could affect the volunteer and the outcome of the project.
Tajkef, 17, who lives in Encino, said, “We factor in how much coffee you drink, just as an example. There’s so many different contributing factors to your sleep schedule.” He added, “It’s very hard to find such a diverse group of data from such diverse ages and backgrounds.”
The four scientists are still teenagers, so they also have to work within their limited budget. Their work was largely self-funded until they received a $15,000 grant from the NASA California Space Grant Consortium in March 2024.
Along the way they realized that the Pinacal glasses can help anyone who works odd hours – not just astronauts.
“Over the testing cycle we realized that a lot of your life is affected by your sleep cycles,” Massachi said. “Your temperature and melatonin levels are correlated with many other hormones secreted by your body. We realize that sleep is a very important aspect of the human body and is something we want to help.”
As the students get ready to present at the NASA workshop in Galveston, Texas, during the Jan. 27-28 conference, they say they are eager to make connections with other scientists.
“We have been exposed to a really broad intellectual community because of this (invention),” Massachi said, “meeting with scientists from across the world who have broadened our understanding and passion for science.”
Starting from its humble origins as an entry in a LEGO competition that was meant to answer a question, the students now hope Pinacal will improve the lives of many.
As Pinacal continues to grow and change, the group of young scientists hopes to have the invention adopted by NASA and address the initial problem that started their journey: how to help astronauts in orbit.