Katie Gordon

Core Chemistry

Current Events 2

February 22, 2015

Winter holds eastern U.S. in icy grip with record lows

Stanglin, Doug, and Doyle Rice. "Winter Holds Eastern U.S. in Icy Grip with Record Lows."

USA Today. Gannett, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2015/02/20/winter-weather-cold-snow-record-temperatures/23728379/

The article “Winter holds eastern U.S. in icy grip with record lows” focuses on the current weather conditions in the eastern part of the United States. The article first starts off with talking about how the eastern temperatures have been in an all time low, with below zero temperatures in states like Minnesota who had a temperature of 42 below on February 20th. The article brought up the record breaking temperatures. For example, New York City’s temperature of 2°F on that Friday, has broken the 7°F record low in 1950."An eddy of the polar vortex is leading to the coldest weather of this recent cold spell, creating a deep layer of bitterly cold air, along with gusty winds," said meteorologist David Hamrick of the weather service's Weather Prediction Center.

Not only does this article affect me, but also everyone in the Eastern part of the United States. People who are living in Boston are greatly affected because most people aren’t able to travel to work or the supermarket safely. Some people in Boston can’t even get out of their houses because the snow from the cold weather has trapped them inside. Also, from these all time low temperatures water from rain or snow automatically turns into ice, causing a great problem with travel. Many accidents have been reported from people who have been driving not being able to stop their cars because they slid on the icy roads. Education is also affected from these temperatures, with great amounts of snow it makes it hard for teachers and students to travel to school, causing schools to close.

This article’s writing style was very admirable, the author allowed the reader to get to the point. Throughout the whole article I was able to understand what was going on, even with little words. The fact that the article holds a map at the end with states with record lows really allowed me to understand through great lengths the weather conditions the east has been struggling with. Overall this article was very well-written and informative.

Researchers Call for More Study of Anesthesia’s Risks to Brains of Young Children

George Daskalakis 2/25/15

Chemistry 9H D Even Mr.Ippolito

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/health/researchers-call-for-more-study-of-anesthesia-risks-to-young-children.html?_r=0

Grady, Denise. "Researchers Call for More Study of Anesthesia’s Risks to Brains of Young

Children." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

In the article, Researchers Call for More Study of Anesthesia Risks to Brains of Young Children, by Denise Grady, explains the risk of children, specifically before four years of age, are at risk after having anesthesia for sedation in a medical surgery. This is a potential concern for young children getting anesthesia, but it has not yet been proven on humans. Several tests have been performed on monkeys showing that anesthesia can kill brain cells, cause behavioral problems, and diminish learning and memory. But, this was evident in the lab monkeys, but not in human life. Dr. Randall P. Flick said, “On the one hand, we don’t want to overstate the risk, because we don’t know what the risk is, if there is a risk...On the other hand, we want to make people aware of the risk because we feel we have a duty to do so.” The main focus of this article is to inform people who have either have infants who have received anesthesia or people who received it at a young age, without alarming them.

The reason I picked this article because I have received anesthesia twice in my life, once when I was 4 months old, another time when I was 6, both for medical procedures. When I first saw the headline and I immediately thought to myself, “Could this affect me?” Then as read through the article and saw the affects it could have on a child, and was sure I have never exhibited those side effects. Even though my surgeries about 10-15 years ago, I still wanted to make sure that I was safe and the anesthesia and no effects on me. Also, I chose this article because there are many young kids who have received anesthesia. The article states that about a million children under the age of 4 have had surgery with anesthesia. Wow! That is an alarming statistic and many children can be affected by this.

Overall, I thought the writing style of the article was well done, I just have a few critiques on the actual context of the article. At first, I seemed engaged in the article, wanting to read more and see what the anesthesia can do to a young child. But all of a sudden, the article said that nothing has been proven yet, honestly, that was a little disappointing. I was expecting parents of young kids experiencing the effects to speak out, BUT NO HUMANS HAVE YET TO EXHIBIT THESE SYMPTOMS. That was a huge let down and took away the excitement I had going into reading this article. Otherwise, it was a great article, and I hope to learn more about the effects of anesthesia on children.

Arms, Cells.. Faces? How 3d Printing is Reconstructing Medicine.

Monty Howell 2/25/15

Chem EF ODD CE 2

Arms, Cells.. Faces? How 3d Printing is Reconstructing Medicine.

This article was explaining about how 3d printers are now capable of being able to print medicine, models for science and cells for surgery and science. Since 3d printers have been used so much now, and that the machine has been so inspirational, scientists worked and figured out how to get 3d printers to print all these new different types of things. Plus, these models that are being printed out are helping in many different surgeries, such as face transplants and heart surgeries. They did this by printing out 3d skulls and hearts.

The importance of this article is significant, as these 3d printers are the future for helping in the field of science, food, and anything you can think of that can be printed. Not only do these 3d printers print out 3d replicas of human parts, but can print out actual stem cells. Also, this definitely improves technology and science in many ways. For example, technology wise, this is one step closer to a better future where everyones going to be using a 3d printer in their house, at their jobs, or maybe even stores.

This article was very well done in my opinion. The article really grabbed my attention whilst searching for articles to do for this assignment. I how the author decided to put in multiple visuals for the readers to see and get a feel of. Also, after I was finished reading the article, the author made me wish there was more for me to read, since it was exceedingly interesting. All in all, this article was great, and I highly recommend someone to read this.

Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA

Core Chemistry

Shannon Hendrick

February 26th, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/science/building-face-and-a-case-on-dna.html

The article, Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA, by Andrew Pollack discusses a newly found way to determine physical features from DNA, called DNA phenotype. This new finding is helpful for investigations at crime scenes when the traditional way of discovering a suspect fails to work. DNA phenotyping will be more precise in finding the suspect because they are able to provide physical traits such as hair, eye color, and eventually other features such as freckles. DNA phenotype is being worked on by many people such as Susan Walsh, an assistant biology professor at Indiana University and Purdue University who stated, “That at least narrows down the suspects”, she is also helping to develop a new system called, HIrisPlex at Erasmus University MC Medical Center. Dr. Walsh, as well as a large DNA company, Illumina are working on finding out more about this system. However, some scientists question how reliable DNA phenotyping actually is. They question if this new system could make the problem worse by invading privacy, or not getting the face completely correct. Another professor, Mark D. Shriver who works on anthropology and genetics at Penn State University stated that their analysis says that some of the images that the given DNA created looked like the donor, while other pictures did not. “This is another of these areas where the technology is ahead of the popular debate and discussion,” said by Erin Murphy, a law professor at New York University. Although some people are worried about DNA phenotype, it is a topic that needs to be further discussed because it could help in the future.

This article talks about a new system that could greatly help the efforts when it comes to crime scenes. “It’s enabled us to actually change the direction we were focused on originally,” said Detective Sergeant Stacy Gallant when talking about a number of cases filed in Toronto from 1980-2014. An example of when this occurred is a case in Louisiana, when the police where looking for a white man, but from DNA they soon found out the ancestry was about 85% sub-Saharan African. This quickly changed who they were investigating for this case. By advancing this new technology, it would better help with how crime scenes are investigated, for now it is not necessary to have to match the DNA from the crime scene to a person they thought was a suspect. Not only could this help with the investigation with crime scenes, it could also be a factor in new findings in science because this system can show what someone looks like with their DNA which could be used for historic events too.

Overall, this article is well written, but there are a few places for improvement. When the author discusses that some scientists question the system of DNA phenotype, it would be better if he includes more about why they feel this way. If he did this it would’ve been easier for the reader to understand why some people feel this way. Another way this article could be improved is to better organize it. Sometimes while reading the article, I did not know if the author was referring to DNA phenotype, or the traditional way of finding DNA at a crime scene, so I had to re-read it multiple times. However, I think this article is well written and I have a better understanding for how they will further take this new system, and how it will help people in the future.

Pollack, Andrew. "Building a Face, and a Case, on DNA." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

Mars Rover Finds Stronger Potential for Life - Current Event 2

Core Chemistry

Oliver Evison

Current Event 2

February 25th, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/science/-stronger-signs-of-life-on-mars.html?ref=science

Mars Rover Finds Stronger Potential for Life

Kaufman, Marc. "Mars Rover Finds Stronger Potential for Life." The New York Times 8 Dec. 2014: n. Print.

The article, Mars Rover Finds Stronger Potential for Life, by Marc Kaufman, touches on how the Curiosity rover may have found more potential for life existing on Mars. For lifeless chemical compounds to organize into something alive, three sets of things must be present. One, there has to be a constant water and energy source. Two, there must be carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, and nitrogen on that planet. Three, there has to be a lot of time in order for the compounds to form something. The rover has found the water and energy sources, and the key elements. Scientists conclude that at least some of the planet must have been habitable long ago. One member of the Curiosity team, Roger Summons, says that, “Findings from that rover and previous missions suggest that early Mars may have been quite similar to Earth.” Interestingly enough, last spring, several members of the team reported the detection of some simple organics that appear to be Martian. The search for water and life on Mars goes back decades and with many missions, but scientists were never certain that the carved canyons and deltas of Mars were results of running water long ago. However, with recent technological advances, the team was able to conclude that the deltas and caverns do indeed show that there was once water there. Hopefully as technology gets more and more advanced, new paths will open on the road to discovering “alien,” life on Mars.

This article holds a significant purpose. That is, sharing with the world if Mars could be habitable if the Earth ever fails and the world population need a new home. As crazy as this sounds, it is not far fetched. No one knows when the world will “end,” but if it did, people want to know if any other planets in the solar system could serve as a place to go. What scientists can be certain of is that the search for life on Mars will be neither straightforward nor quick.

This article was very well written and it included many details with supporting evidence from other sources like Curiosity team members, and other scientists from universities. This article was very informative and produced a lot of facts which flowed well with the overall point of the article. Kaufman does well to introduce new ideas that compare and contrast the original statement about Mars, and by using quotes from Curiosity team members, he brings in more points of view which can help with the reader understanding more about the topic. However, Kaufman could have brought more concrete details on the table to show the other points of view in the argument (i.e. how Mars couldn’t be habitable.) All in all though, Kaufman did a very well job providing information on this current event topic.

Hana Eddib

Core Chemistry

Current Events 2

2/22/15

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/science/hand-of-a-superhero.html?ref=science

Hand of a Superhero: 3-D Printing Prosthetic Hands That Are Anything but

Ordinary

Mroz, Jacqueline. "Hand of a Superhero." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Feb. 2015.       Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

The article " Hand of a Superhero: 3-D Printing Prosthetic Hands That are Anything but Ordinary focuses on a new idea that allows children born with missing fingers, to wear a prosthetic hand and help them live life as normal as possible. Starting in 2013, an online volunteer organization named E-nable started searching for children in need of prosthetic hands and fingers and pairing them up with a free 3-D prosthetic hand created by a member of the organization. This idea allows for a cheaper, and more practical solution in comparison to a normal prosthetic hand that cost thousands of dollars and would have to continue to be replaced as the child grows and develops. Another intriguing factor is that the hands  can be made by practically anyone and they even have assembly tutorials on youtube explaining how to put it on and wear it. The article explains that "more than 50 groups, such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and schools like Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, have created hands for about 500 children." If young children can create these prosthetic hands then clearly it must be something big. The 3-D prosthetic hands are becoming so popular that it attracts medical centers and doctors. The article stated that recently John Hopkins hospital joined in on creating these amazing hands. The article states, "The hospital has purchased a 3-D printer and has begun printing free prosthetic devices for children." They then go on to quote Dr. Albert Chi who said, “Anyone can get one of these hands — it doesn’t matter what insurance or health provider you have.” She later concluded, “To be able to provide such a functional tool for anyone with congenital hand or limb loss, it kind of brings you to tears a little bit.” Kids in need of these hands are so excited at the idea not only to be able to create it to look however they want, but also because it is changing their life forever in allowing them to use both hands instead of just one.

This article was an important read for people all around America. Personally, while reading it I felt proud to be an american and proud to be living in a country that continues to grow and prosper and find new ideas and create new things that can change a human being’s life for the better. This article allows people across the country and maybe even the world to understand how these medical cures and ideas that are being found can help individuals and even save their life. In this case what makes it so great, is that it is a creation that can be built by anyone.

This article was overall well-written and very informative. I enjoyed how the author included many personal stories to show the impact of this prosthetic hand. If I could change anything about the article it would be to include more background information on the 3-D prosthetic hand. The author could’ve included when this idea was found and how the creators came up with it. Overall, this article was thoroughly written and I enjoyed reading about another amazing scientific creation.

Sarah Flanagan February 22, 2015

C Block Odd Mr. Ippolito

Man’s Death Leads to Discovery of New Virus in Kansas

Ellis, Ralph. "Man's Death Leads to Discovery of New Virus in Kansas, CDC Reports." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/health/new-virus-discovered/index.html>.

The article that I read, Man’s Death Leads to Discovery of New Virus in Kansas by Ralph Ellis, describes a 50-year-old man’s shocking death after showing similar symptoms to that of lyme disease. The man, who lived in Bourbon County, Kansas, had been bitten by numerous ticks in the spring of 2014. When admitted into the hospital for symptoms including, “fever, tiredness, rash, headache, other body aches, nausea and vomiting” (Ellis para. 6), the doctors tested him for multiple contagious diseases. They all came back negative. The doctors didn’t know what they were dealing with. It seemed as though he had lyme disease, but the medication they gave him did nothing. So the doctors took a blood sample and sent it to the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to determine what the man was suffering from. Unfortunately the man died from a heart attack due to organ failure 11 days after being put in the hospital. About 6 months after the man died the CDC was able to confirm that it can potentially be a new virus and have named it after the county the man lived in, Bourbon. They believe that the virus is carried in ticks and possibly other animals. Even though they only have the one case in the United States to base their findings off of, the CDC still advises you to be cautious. The CDC thinks that the Bourbon virus is in the same group as other viruses found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, known as thogotoviruses. This would be the first time that a thogotovirus was found in the United States.

This new discovery of a virus never before seen in the United States is very important to the well-being of Americans. This may be the first breakout of the virus, but it could very easily spread throughout the country through tick bites. Luckily, with the help of the CDC and others, doctors are now able to identify the virus and hopefully get the proper help for the patient. The CDC will keep working on learning about this new virus, how it came to the United States, and how to quickly treat it or prevent it. For now they advise that people should, “protect themselves by tick bites by using insect repellents, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, avoiding bushy and wooded areas and checking for ticks after spending time outdoors” (Ellis para. 8).

This CNN article was quite well written but very brief in the things that the author wrote himself. The only thing that I would criticize about this article is that the author summarized the information in a way that seemed hurried. But he was able to get the overall point across. One of the things I thought was a good decision was that he gave many different sources where you could learn more about the Bourbon virus. For example, there was a short video with an interview of a doctor that worked at the hospital where the man was admitted and two links that went into depth about the Bourbon virus. When watching the video and reading some of the things that the CDC explained on their website, I was able to get a better understanding of what the virus really is and what had happened to the man on medical standpoints. Though I didn’t learn much from the actual article, learning about the Bourbon virus was really intriguing.

Core Chemistry

Gabe Morato

Current Event 2

February 22, 2015

Malaria in Widening Area Resists Drug, Study Finds

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/world/asia/malaria-drug-artemisinin-is-failing-across-wider-area-study-warns.html?ref=science

Fuller, Thomas. "Malaria in Widening Area Resists Drug, Study Finds." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.

The article I read called, Malaria in Widening Area Resists Drug, Study Finds, by: Thomas Fuller, is a very interesting article about how malaria in some places is resisting the drug used to treat it. The study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a medical journal, raises the troubling idea that resistance to the drug, artemisinin, might one day severely damage the treatment of malaria, which kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. In the article, Charles Woodrow says that this issue should “focus people,” and, “We have to eliminate these very resistant parasites. The fear is that if we don’t, we would reverse all the gains that have been made” (Paragraph 3). The article goes on to explain that this problem was brought up about a decade ago. It says, “Early signs of trouble with the drug were cited a decade ago by scientists working in western Cambodia. Falciparum malaria, the deadliest form of the disease, was increasingly resistant to treatment with artemisinin,” (Paragraph 5). But, the authors of the study do not know if it is actually becoming resistant, or if our new technology has revealed a situation that had gone undetected. The authors of the study also wrote, “The pace at which the geographical extent of artemisinin resistance is spreading is faster than the rate at which control and elimination measures are being developed and instituted, or new drugs being introduced” (Paragraph 10). The article also states that there is no replacement drug for artemisinin, which makes this resistant strain of malaria particularly dangerous. Fuller also tells us that the resistant strain began in Cambodia, but it has traveled thousands of miles to Myanmar and India. Finally, Fuller states that, “Researchers’ great fear is that resistance to artemisinin will spread to Africa. Ninety percent of the estimated 584,000 annual deaths from malaria occur in Africa, according to the World Health Organization” (paragraph 20).

This article definitely brings forth a issue that can affect our society. Already, almost 600,000 people die every year from malaria, even with artemisinin. If this resistance spreads, the mortality rate would be tremendously higher. It would also take years for doctors to develop another drug that would treat malaria. Also, this resistant malaria has big effects on economies across the world, since many governments are investing in more research and facilities in malaria-ridden countries. I chose this article for many reasons. First, I found the title intriguing, since I thought malaria was treatable. Also, I am interested in medicine, and I wanted to learn more about this type of malaria.

Overall, I thought this article was very well written, but it did have some minor issues. The author did a good job of giving background of the situation, and he started of generally and got more specific. Also, I liked how he broke his information into concise paragraph, like an editorial would. One thing I did not like is that he did not have many outside opinions, only Charles Woodrow and Dr. Voravit. In addition, I would suggest he explains why the malaria is resistant on the chemical level, and why malaria is so dangerous, for readers that are not as familiar with this issue.

Summer Research Opportunity for Female Students

NYU GSTEM (http://cims.nyu.edu/gstem/) is a six-week research internship program.  Students live at home and commute to internship sites for 5 weeks; during this time, girls work on a small project alongside researchers in the mathematical and physical sciences.  

Student orientation kicks-off on July 6th with a week of lectures, workshops, and training sessions where girls collect the necessary skills to navigate a professional research setting. For one day during each of the subsequent weeks, students meet on the NYU campus  to reflect on their progress, receive supplemental skills training, and visit other research facilities on field trips.  NYU GSTEM further supports participants by providing tutors that provide intellectual and emotional support, from helping participants adjust to laboratory work, to peer review and editing support for the required communication pieces. The program culminates on August 14th, when students share a brief paper about their work, and deliver a short oral presentation to their parents, mentors, and peers.

Generous funding from the Sloan Foundation covers the cost of this program except for a tuition fee of $2,750 per student.  Need-based scholarships are available for those who qualify. In addition to these scholarships, students interested in data science may apply for a Winston Foundation Data Analytics Scholarship. Data Scholars will work alongside a mentor to assemble, manipulate, and analyze large data sets in disciplines as diverse as music, economics, astronomy, biochemistry, quantum computing, image processing, education, or machine learning.  For example, students may analyze graduation rates from NYC high schools, predict winning teams based on historical sports scores, or predict the weather based on number taxi cab rides on a given day.  (Please note: We cannot guarantee a particular field of study.)

An active application is now available online at http://www.nyu.edu/admissions/visiting-students/nyu-gstem.html.  A copy of the most recent transcript and one letter of reference will be required of all participants. Applications are due by April 15th; students who apply before the priority deadline of March 15th will receive a decision by April 15th.

A digital copy of our 2015 flyer is attached to this email.  If you would like hard copies sent to your office, please contact us with your mailing address. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Matthew Leingang, Principal Investigator

Christine Keefe, Program Coordinator

Spring Semester Classes Safety Posters

In the first Core Chem Lab the students learn basic chemical safety rules, produce a map of the classroom indicating the locations of all pertinent chemical equipment and safety equipment. Each lab pair also chooses a safety rule to represent in a poster.

"Britain Set to Approve Technique to Create Babies From 3 People"

Eva Cagliostro February 8, 2015

D Block Even Mr. Ippolito

Castle, Stephen. "Britain Set to Approve Technique to Create Babies From 3 People." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Feb. 2015. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/world/europe/britain-nears-approval-of-fertilization-technique-that-combines-dna-of-three-people.html?ref=science&_r=0>.

The article “Britain Set to Approve Technique to Create Babies From 3 People” by Stephen Castle describes the decision by British lawmakers in the House of Commons to allow the in vitro creation of infants by three adults. According to the New York Times article, the procedure would be used to help women with mitochondrial diseases. These hereditary disorders affect the mitochondria, the organelle that create energy for the cell, and leads to a large spectrum of problems in the body, including premature death.

According to Castle, the procedure involves  taking the nucleus DNA from the two parents and combining it with a donor’s mitochondrial DNA in the embryo. The author of the article includes quotes from experts who support and agree with the House of Commons’ decision. Those interviewed believe that this procedure will allow mothers with mitochondrial diseases to have children without worrying about passing down their ailment.  The idea is that the technique will only be used for women who have the faulty mitochondria. However, many others are opposed to the vote because the altering of embryos could lead to “designer babies.” In other words, parents could design their child using the DNA of others.

I chose to write a review of Castle’s article because the altering of an embryo is a monumental scientific breakthrough.  For the first time, a child will have the DNA of three people.. This published piece is important to society because it offers a possible cure for genetic diseases. A mother or father who has a possibly fatal disease can have children without the fear of having a son or daughter who has to suffer the hardships of a hereditary disease. On the other hand, this technique could give the wealthy the option of creating a superior race by handpicking the DNA of the exceptional. This could then lead to a multiple donors parenting a single infant.

The New York Times article “Britain Set to Approve Technique to Create Babies From 3 People” was well written and informative. The style of writing was easy to understand and did not bore the reader. However, there was a large amount of information missing from the piece. Castle neglected to include specific details about the procedure. The subject of the article was extremely interesting, but because the author did not include an explanation of the in vitro creation of these children, the reader is left confused. The author wrote about such a large topic, and did not include a large wealth of information that could influence a reader’s opinion on the matter or help explain the science behind the procedure to them.