Jails Hope Eye Scanners Can Provide Foolproof Identification System for Inmates

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/28eyes.html?ref=science

Jails Hope Eye Scanners Can Provide Foolproof Identification System for Inmates

There is always the possibility of human error, as all humans are imperfect, and sometimes mistakes can have huge impact. Recently, as well as in the past, there have been instances of jailbreaks, where inmates have pretended to be a soon-to-be-released cellmate and have escaped from jail. In an effort to end such deception, the Federal government, more specifically the Justice Department, is awarding grants worth $500,000 to the National Sheriff’s Association. This money will be distributed to almost 50 jails across the country to fund the purchase of eye, or retina, scanners. Retinas are the innermost coat that lines the interior of the eyeball, containing various layers of photoreceptive cells that are directly connected to the brain. Every person has a unique retina pattern, and light reflects differently off them; the scanners use this fact to identify an individual. Though this biology-based technology was created 10-15 years ago, the scanners still remain rare because of their cost. However, since you get what you pay for, this technology is also much more efficient and effective than dated technologies such as fingerprinting devices. Results are more accurate and returned faster, and the actual scanning process takes just seconds. Despite the advantages of the iris scan and the database it creates, fingerprinting is still used, and will continue to be used in the future. Iris scanners cannot be used on dead bodies, and privacy issues may limit the use of scanners as well.

This information affects us all because it will help keep our streets safe by eliminating the human aspect of identification. Also, as it said in the article, prisons are often testing grounds for technologies that may be used in the general public, so one day we all may have our retinas scanned before entering public places, such as airports, and it is important to educate ourselves about them.

I thought this article covered a very interesting topic, but could have been more detailed. For instance, it did not go into detail about how the scanners work, and so I had to research the topic myself. I also wish it had asked the opinions of more people and incorporated more quotes into the article.

Puzzle Solved: How a Fatherless Lizard Species Maintains Its Genetic Diversity

Bahnoo, Sindya N. "Puzzle Solved: How a Fatherless Lizard Species Maintains Its Genetic Diversity." The New York Times 23 Feb. 2010

A long time ago, a scientist named Bill Neaves discovered a species of lizard. However, this was no ordinary species of lizard. This kind of whiptail lizard is asexual, which means that a lizard can reproduce all by itself. Us humans, vary greatly from person to person. This is achieved over years of reproduction, but usually only in sexual beings. Mr. Neaves was dumbfounded as to how each lizard could be so different from each other when they are asexual. Now, over 40 years later, we know the answer. Aracely Lutes found out how this happens. Sexual lizard species gets 23 chromosomes from each parent, but in this asexual species, there is only one parent so you would think that the lizards would be missing 23 chromosomes right? Wrong. The mother provides all 46 chromosomes, since there is no father to mix the genes; the baby lizard is a genetic copy of the mother. And since the mother lizards are different from each other to begin with, their “clones” are too.

I chose this article because it shows how diverse and vast nature is. I would have never thought that a lizard could reproduce by itself. Also, this article shows that we need to be more careful with our environment, because if unknown species are to go extinct, then how will we become more intelligent as to our surroundings?

I liked the way that Mrs. Bahnoo writes, but I wish the article was more in-depth. It would have been nice to know what other species can reproduce asexually, or how many of these lizards exist, where they live, etc.

Windows to Space

Duncan Colquhoun                                                                                                           2/21/10     

Chemistry                                                                                                            Current Event

Windows to Space

Ten years after astronauts first used the International Space Station it now has picture windows installed.  The Italian built Cupola has seven large thirty inch windows centered around a central pane.  NASA calls it “the largest window ever built in space.”  Until now astronauts have had to use very small portholes to see outside the station.  This will allow the astronauts to see the stations outside robotic arms and also to see the earth.  The windows were opened for the first time and the astronauts were shown the great African Sahara dessert.  The views brought tears to many of their eyes.  Although many of the astronauts love these knew windows the engineers hate them.  Windows are weaknesses for micrometeorite strikes.  They do admit that the heat load increases which helps with the drastic weather changes.  To address some these of these dangers the windows have shutters.  Many astronauts say that seeing the earth is important to them “it keeps them going.”

                        http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/weekinreview/21patton.html?ref=science

"Crickets Warn Young Before Birth of Dangers of Wolf Spiders"

Bhanoo, Sindya. “Crickets Warn Young Before Birth of Dangers of Wolf Spiders.” New York Times Online. 18 Feb. 2010.

In the article “Crickets Warn Young Before Birth of Dangers of Wolf Spiders”, tests proved that crickets could warn their offspring about the dangers of the outside environment, before they were even born. Crickets leave their young after they are born, so a baby cricket is very vulnerable when danger lurks nearby. This is why it would be incredibly useful for a mother to be able to forewarn her young about predators that could be of harm. An experiment was set up in which a pregnant cricket was placed in an environment where she was stalked by a wolf spider (the spider's fangs had wax on them to protect the cricket). Another pregnant cricket was placed in an environment with no wolf spiders. When the new crickets were born, they were all placed in an arena with a wolf spider whose fangs were not waxed, which meant that the spider could eat the crickets. It turned out the the crickets whose mother had been stalked by the wolf spider survived longer than the others. They could hide for longer and detect when the spider was around, because they sensed its silk and feces. Scientists aren't sure how the crickets could have warned their children about the nearby predators, but there is a theory that some sort of hormone is transmitted between mother and child.

This article is important to society in several ways. One being the fact that people can now get deeper into this topic. We can find out about other animals that may be able to forewarn their prey about danger. This article is important to me because it was very interesting. I never thought that simple crickets could be the base of a very intriguing new discovery.

Overall, the article was very well written. However it could have stressed more about why it's hard to figure out why the crickets can forewarn their offspring. It also could have talked about what kinds of tests would be needed in order to do so.

"Up in the Air, and Down, With a Twist."

Fountain, Henry. "Up in the Air, and Down, With a Twist." New York Times 2 Feb. 2010. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. .

            In this science article by Henry Fountain, “Up in the Air, and Down, With a Twist” the science in the tricks that freestyle aerialists perform, are discussed.  Freestyle aerialists ski and jump high into the air and perform tricks such as twisting and turning in all different directions and landing the jump at the end. Mr. Fountain divulges into the science behind each jump which fits into the category of physics.  The basic ideas of performing the tricks have to do with rotational inertia, momentum, and the force that you take off of the ramp.  Every angle is important so that the skier lands safely and correctly.  This type of skiing is a major event in the Olympics and will be in the coming Olympics in Vancouver.  A freestyle aerialist, Ryan St. Onge is interviewed in the article.  He discusses what he does during the jumps and how he feels afterwards.  Mr. St. Onge says that he barely feels any pain afterwards because almost all the crashes he has, and everyone has, are never that bad.  Mr. St. Onge must keep everything perfect so that physics allows him to do what he wants in the air just by wiggling a little bit or taking off at a certain angle.

            This article is very important to me and to society for variety of reasons.  The article is very important to me because I ski even though I do not do a lot of big jumps.  I now love to ski although I just started last year.  When I read this article it inspires me to become a better skier and to learn how science can help me with my skiing.  This article is also important to society because many people all over the world ski.  Almost all my friends and all my parents’ friends ski, and skiing is making people all over the world fall in love with it.  I chose the article because it was interesting and discussed a topic that I could connect to.

            I like this article a great deal for several reasons.  It takes doing a lot of complicated stuff such as, twisting, turning, and flipping high above the ground into something as simple as a formula for rotational momentum.  Mr. Fountain goes into great depth about the topic and interviews people who have great knowledge on the topic.  I would probably talk to more freestyle aerialists then just one, but overall, this was a fabulous article.

T. Atkins

“Evidence Builds on Color of Dinosaurs.”

“Zimmer, Carl. “Evidence Builds on Color of Dinosaurs.” The New York Times. 4 February 2010.”

Up until last week paleontologists cold not offer clear evidence on the colors of dinosaurs. Last week paleontologists could provide evidence that a dinosaur known as Sinosauropteryx had a ginger and white colored tail. Now though a team of these scientists has published an extremely detailed photo of another dinosaur, they believe they have found its colorings. One particular scientist Dr. Prum and his colleagues took advantage of the fact that feathers of some dinosaurs contain melanosomes- commonly know as pigment sacs. In 2009 it was proven that melanosomes survived for many years in the feathers of birds. The shape and the arrangement of the melanosomes help produce the color of the feathers, so clues about the colors of dinosaurs were found in the melanosomes alone. This outstanding discovery prompted scientists in places such as Britain and China to examine dinosaur fossils that are covered in feather-like structures. Take out the melanosomes and inspect them. Scientists began to work on finding the colorings of a species known as an Anchiornoris, the removed 29 small chips from the animals’ feathers. They found melanosomes in these chips therefore allowing them to figure out its coloring.
This article is important because, though there is clear evidence that these creatures did exist, we’ve never really had a clear image of what they look like. Now that these scientist have discovered these melanosomes in the feathers, we now can figure out what dinosaurs*with feathers* really do look like, which is very interesting. It makes the image of the dinosaur much more realistic because now we have one more clue as to what they really look like. I chose this article because I thought it was very interesting that scientist could figure something like this out, even though dinosaurs existed so very long ago.
I believe that in this article though it was very well written, was difficult to understand at points. For someone who is not a scientist or paleontologist some of the terms in this article were tough to understand, making the article as a whole a little difficult to get. Overall though I believe it gave pretty good insight on how scientist can now figure out how to find the color of dinosaurs.

C. Blatt

Evidence Builds on Color of Dinosaurs

Zimmer, Carl. “Evidence Builds on Color of Dinosaurs” New York Times Online.

4 Feb2010. 

In this article it is stated that some scientists found some more information to what a dinosaur might look like, such as the colors of the dinosaur. Some researchers found that a dinosaur called a Sinosauropteryx had a white and ginger striped tail. The way that these scientists were able to find the color of these dinosaurs is that in the fossils of certain dinosaurs they were able to find these melanosomes, pigment loaded sacs contained in feathers. The shape and the arrangement of the melanosomes help produce the color of feathers, so the scientists were able to figure out some of the basic colors of the dinosaurs by looking at and testing the melanosomes. Because of this discovery more scientists began to investigate the color of many different dinosaurs. Scientists identified some dinosaurs that they believed they could identify the color of because they would choose dinosaurs that’s fossils were covered with featherlike structures. For instance, the Sinosauropteryx had bristles on its skin so the scientists investigated and found that it had reddish and white rings along its tail. This research also may support research showing that birds are dinosaurs. Apparently they descended from a group of bipedal dinosaurs called theropods. Another group of scientists were also working on a similar project. They began to study a 150-million-year-old species called Anchiornis huxleyi, a “chicken sized theropod”. The researchers discovered melanosomes on a fossil of this theropod in 29 “poppy seed” sized chips taken from its body. From its melanosomes the scientists were able to discover that the Anchiornis “had a crown of reddish feathers surrounding dark gray ones, and its face was mottled with reddish and black spots. Its body was dark gray, but its limb feathers were white with black tips.” The color pattern of the Anchiornis was similar to that of some birds today. The scientist believed that the color scheme of the Anchiornis was so extravagant and was used for possibly attracting mates and escaping predators by possibly dazing them with the black and white limb feathers. “The researchers expect many more surprises as scientists look at other dinosaur fossils.”

This article is important to society in multiple ways. One way that it is important is that people are curious about the looks of dinosaurs and if birds could be descendants of dinosaurs. Another way that this article is important to society is that it just shows some of the evolution of different species, but also not very much has changed, older species and modern species are similar in many ways. This article is important to me because I am very interested in all of the characteristics of dinosaurs and the different kinds of evolution. I chose this article because when I saw the title it appealed to me and seemed interesting and when I read the article I was intrigued with the discoveries made by these researchers.

I feel that the way that this article was written was not as well written than it could have been. I also believe that the article does not go into enough detail on any of the species that it described. I think that he really just summarized in only telling the name of the dinosaur or bird, the name of the researchers and what the animal or bird may have looked like and it did not really go into great depth.

"War can sometimes establish unexpected havens for wildlife."

Pearl, Mary C. "War can sometimes establish unexpected havens for wildlife." Discover 3 Feb. 2010: 10-11. Print.