Personalized Cancer Treatments From Just a Blood Sample

    The article that I read was “Personalized Cancer Treatment From Just a Blood Sample,” written by Lauren Gravitz. In this article the overall idea of curing cancer is expressed. Many people do not realize that before a patient needs a treatment to hopefully help stop their cancer, they need a diagnosis. For most cancer patients this can be the hardest part of the process. Cancer cells most normally break off and flow through the person’s bloodstream, therefore the best way to catch these cells would be through closer looks at a patient’s blood. However, blood samples have mainly been used for small medical tests in mostly healthy patients because the samples can be so hard to glean specific information from. Recently however, scientists have conducted experiments in which blood samples can become filtered to separate cells, then cells with abnormalities can be marked and targeted. Doctors can then spot the abnormal cells much faster and more deeply research those cells for a quicker, and more accurate diagnosis.
           
             Cancer is unfortunately one of todays most common diseases and a major causes of tragic death in people ranging in age from babies, to fully grown adults. In this article a new research about the treatment of cancer is expressed and explained. The information within this article is very important to humanity especially today. Everyday people are battling cancer and it is amazing to know that people are actually making progress to help those in need. The research in this article can help save lives and this makes it extremely relevant to humanity.

              I personally really liked this article, and found it not only informative but enjoyable to read and write about. Lauren Gravitz, the author of this article really wrote this well, I think, she had the article sectioned for easier comprehension. I think she did a good job summarizing a really difficult topic and making it understandable. Although this was a relatively easy article to read, some of the medical terminology I was not really aware of. This is probably just because I am not really informed as much in this field. Overall I thought this was a great article.



  http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2014/02/21/personalized-cancer-treament-from-just-a-blood-sample/#.UwwWXiis2FI

A Forensic Approach to a Sidewalk Nuisance

CHEM- IH                                                                                                                        Morgan Frayne
Current Events #2                                                                                                                          2/25/13

Works Cited:

Yardley, Jim. "A Forensic Approach to a Sidewalk Nuisance." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/world/europe/a-forensic-approach-to-a-sidewalk-nuisance.html?ref=science>.

A Forensic Approach to a Sidewalk Nuisance

This article is about Naples, Italy. Currently, Naples is having a financial debt crisis, the crime rate has been high, and they are having a serious sewage crisis. Of all the problems Naples is having, the government has decided to focus on dog doo. Another one of the big problems there is excessive dog doo on the streets. The government has tried everything from mailing it back to the owners to make them start cleaning it up, publically shaming the dog owners, and offering free Wi-Fi to people who clean up after their dogs. All of these attempts at breaking the habit have failed, so the government of Naples has decided to take a different scientific approach. The government used its tax money to build a database for dog’s DNA so that whenever dog poop is found in the street, they can take it back to the database and have it tested. When the dog in question is found, the owner gets fined about 500 euros (about $685.) The government hopes this new approach will work, and that $27,000 that they’ve invested in this new project will all be worth it.
I this article is important because once the process of DNA testing will become more refined, it will become more advanced, cheaper, and maybe more areas will start to use the same method to track down people who litter. Plus, this will probably lead to technological advancements in the field of scientific DNA testing, which could make it easier to analyze crime scenes and make the police departments job easier.
I think this article was extremely informative and well written. The author did a great job of keeping the reader interested and gathered information from both sides, which is very important. I really enjoyed reading this article because the topic was very interesting. Also, although it only talks about Naples, this news pertains to a lot of people because this idea could lead to big things around the world.

Age 21 Drinking Laws Save Lives

"Age-21 Drinking Laws save Lives, Study Confirms." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

Some people want to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to its original 18. Research continues to show that this law that is in affect now saves lives. The studies shown, are associated with lower rates of drunk-driving accidents among young people. It seems they also lower other hazards of heavy drinking including suicide, dating violence, and all the harmful acts that take place when people are under the influence.

         Personally, I feel more comfortable knowing that there are stricter laws for drinking age. It has been proven that the mind hasn’t fully developed until the age of 21. So, these underage drinkers are putting their minds and lives in harm before they are fully developed. Not only does under age drinking affect the drinker, but it affects those around them.   

         I thought the article was very informative, and showed me that underage drinking is a big concern in the US. I enjoyed how they gave lots of quantitative information. For example, “ 36 percent of college students said in the past two weeks they'd engaged in heavy episodic drinking (five or more drinks in a sitting, sometimes called "binge" drinking). That compared with 43 percent of students in 1988, the first year that all U.S. states had an age-21 law.” I am happy that I picked this article because it helps me gain knowledge of what is going on in the world around m

Is the Cold Really Cold?

            An alarm goes off and it is a Monday morning and I realize that I have to go to school. So I go through my daily routine and realize that the high today was only going to be 22 degrees (F). But hopefully it is warming up, right? I read an article called Freezing Out the Bigger Picture by New York Times author Justin Gills. Turns out that the earth is warming up and that the cause of the entire country in an artic blast is not caused what you might think. The reason why it is so cold is because of global warming, not at all what you might have expected. Scientists say this because in combination of the hot weather in London (hot for winter that is at 50 degrees F) and the cold weather in Minneapolis might be “a consequence of climate change” which is caused by global warming. Another piece of evidence shows that a storm like this has not happened in 40 years, which suggests that the past winters have been mild ones without much snow or temperatures going down.

            This impacts all of us. Like I said before, I have to get up and walk to school every day. It is much easier to accomplish a simple task like walking to school during the spring and fall than it is during the winter, especially this year. With temperatures so cold and snow piling up, it’s almost impossible. But how can we stop such a thing from happening? Well we could start by helping to slow the process of global warming. Because all previous winters storms were mild, this one is the big one and it will affect everyone in the country until the spring time where things start to warm up.

            Overall, I thought the article was very interesting. It had an interesting topic that relates to what is happening nationally today, and it also had key information as to why it is happening as it is. Even though these two points are excellent there are some cons. For one the author didn’t exactly give the information to you in an organized way. It took me a while to figure out the meaning and what he was trying to explain. In the end though, I figured it out. This is my only complaint with the article and I found it very informative otherwise.

Gillis, Justin. "Freezing Out the Bigger Picture." NewYorkTimes. Newyorktimes.com,

10 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/science/freezing-out-the-bigger-picture.html?ref=science>.

A Catalog of Cancer Genes, or Just a Start

Catherine Cain                                                                                                     Chemistry

2/9/13                                                                                                            Current Event

The NY Times article, A Catalog of Cancer Genes, or Just a Start by Carl Zimmer, describes how over the past 40 years, scientists have been able to identify a large catalog of cancer genes. In 2005, the National Institutes of Health created a program called the Cancer Genome Atlas to try to speed up the process of discovering new cancer genes. Just recently, a gene-targeting drug was found for lung cancer based on this database. However, now that this project is coming to a close, many scientists have been asking the question: where does cancer research go next? This is because it is now evident that it would take 10 times the research that has already been completed to find most cancer genes. Scientists usually compare healthy cells to cancerous cells in order to identify genes. However, this method usually misses most of the genes, according to scientists like Dr. Eric Lander, Director of the Broad Institute. He and his colleagues found 33 more genes that could play different roles in cancer in a part of the genome previously studied. This research led Dr. Lander to the conclusion that scientists are only a small fraction of the way to finding all genes that are responsible for cancer. Some scientists think that instead of wasting research funds on more identifying genes, society should spend money on discovering new therapies. Still others think that this form of genetic research should be used only on the most common cancers.

            The research in this article could have a very big impact on the health of humanity. This is because the route that scientists take in their research of cancer will determine when and whether a cure is ever found. For many people, curing cancer is the difference between life and death.

            I mostly enjoyed reading this article. However, it did get a bit confusing at certain points, because the author was talking about very complex genetic science. At the end of the article, there was even a side bar stating that in the original version, the author himself got the facts mixed up! Overall, I thought it was a very interesting article and really gave me more incite into cancer research.

           

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/science/a-catalog-of-cancer-genes-thats-done-or-just-a-start.html?_r=0

Caribbean Islands Agree to Swap Diesel Power for Renewable Source

Kate Braumuller                                                                                  2/9/14

Even D                                                                                                Mr. Ippolito

Cardwell, Diane. "Caribbean Islands Agree to Swap Diesel Power for Renewable Sources." New York Times. New York Times, 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

I read an article called, Carribean Islands Agree to Swap Diesel Powerfor Renewable Sources, in the New York Times on 2/6/2014.  The Carribean islands have very high electricity costs.  Many islands like Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia, and the Virgin Islands have recently been switching from diesel generators to wind and solar energy to reduce costs and help the environment.  This transformation is because of the Carbon War Room. Richard Branson established the Carbon War Room organization, which is meant to help the environment.  Its goal is to help 10 islands in the Carribean switch from diesel to natural resources. David Crane, chief executive of NRG, said, “What we’ve learned in the renewable world is everyone wants to save the world, but very few people want to pay more for energy.”  St. Lucia has put up solar panels on buildings; Aruba has built wind farms; the Virgin Islands are going to use plants to turn waste into energy.  The Carbon War Room hopes to not only influence the Carribean Islands but the US also.

If every country switched from diesel to natural resources, our environment would improve significantly.  The reason that changes like this have not developed in other countries is that it is expensive to switch. In the Carribean, unemployment is high, and the change from diesel to natural resources provides more jobs.  Not only will the switch help the environment but it will help the economy as well.   We see more of the attempt to help the environment every day, with solar panels and wind farms.  If we could increase the use of natural resources to produce electricity and move away from the use of dieselfuels, the world’s environment would change.

I thought the article was very well written and understandable.  It was a very interesting how one man, Richard Branson, had the idea and interest to help the environment and start a foundation.  He influenced 10 islands to help the environment, and probably more to come.  The article gave good examples of what the foundation had achieved, like how St. Lucia put solar panels on buildings.  I think the article could have been longer and described a few particular instances in which the switch to natural resources was made, how much it cost initially, how much pollution decreased because of the change and how many actual jobs resulted from the change, but overall the article was very interesting and well written.