Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too

This article is about the controversy over how extreme a human’s diet needs to be when it comes to being vegan. A vegan is someone who omits all animal products from their diet. Scientists have studied the products that vegans do eat, plants, in fine detail. Researchers of plants are still surprised about the information they observe about plants everyday. Information is being proven by in-depth studying of plants, such as, that they have many qualities that animals do. For example, plants can sense the presence of other chlorophyllated competitors nearby and try to grow in the opposite direction to avoid a conflict. Also, they recognize different wavelengths of light and can listen to chemical signals as well. These qualities are such that we normally associate with only animals. However, these abilities shown in plants are similar to those abilities obtained by animals. But a vegan is still only considered those who do not eat animal product and consume a great deal of plants in their diet.

This article affects not only vegans, but all humans. The consumption of plants/greens is a necessity to all humans. The fact that plants have many more significant qualities than most people know is very interesting, and is something everyone should be aware of.

Overall I think this was a very interesting science article. I would have never thought about how plants have so many qualities that are similar to animals that scientists have discovered. Although, it makes sense that plants do have so many significant characteristics because they are so important to the existence of human life on Earth.

Avatar's Moon Pandora Could Be Real, Planet-Hunters Say

James Cameron’s science-fiction film “Avatar” takes place on the moon Pandora. Though moons like Pandora that can bear life were considered fictitious, NASA’s Kepler mission, which is designed to detect planets that are like Earth, may change this. The atmospheres of planets that contain gases like carbon dioxide, oxygen, methane and water vapor can be studied over time to see if they can be truly inhabited by humans. So far, no Pandora or anything like it has been discovered, but many planets similar to Jupiter have been found. These planets cannot support life, as Jupiter is made of gas, but the moons orbiting them may be able to support life. The Kepler program looks for moons that pass by the host stars, which will lead to an eventual eclipse that can be seen and recorded by the Kepler program technology. Once the moon has been identified by the program, the scientists check to see if it has an atmosphere-if it does, it will absorb some of the star’s light, so it can be seen. Interestingly, Alpha Centauri A, the network “Avatar” takes place in, is a good network for inhabitable planets. However, red dwarf stars are better places to investigate; a potentially inhabitable place is usually closer to the host star. However, the red dwarf stars are so close that one side would receive continuous sun, while the other would have no light at all. This is called tidal locking, and this would prevent any life from forming on these planets.

This article is very relevant because one of the goals of the space program is to find habitable moons or planets which may be similar to Pandora. The new movie “Avatar” brings this idea of life outside of Earth to the forefront. We may be able to use these planets to find alien life, if they are already inhabited. The article’s subject matter was interesting, entertaining, and timely. I also like the idea that the planets from the science fiction movies we watch could be real. We will continue to watch for Smithsonian astronomer and project participant Kaltenegger’s research on alien moons orbiting gas giant planets as potential places where alien life can occur. This data may no longer be referred to as science fiction but just science.

“Case Shined First Light on Abuse of Children”

Current Events Helen Parzick

12/14/09

The article entitled “Case Shined First Light on Abuse of Children” written by Howard Markel, M.D., was very shocking. Before the case of Mary Ellen McCormack,abuse of children was not something that was really thought about as against the law. Thomas and Mary McCormack adopted Mary Ellen, and later after her adoption Thomas died. Mary became very abusive towards Mary Ellen. Neighbors and Investigators became very suspicious about the conduct in the McCormack household. The case was later brought to the A.S.P.C.A (American society for prevention to cruelty of animals) because there was no abuse prevention program for children. In 1874 Mary Ellen went to court testifying about her abuse to the judge and the jury. Finally her mother was put into an insane asylum of some sort and Marry Ellen went to live with the mother and sister of the investigator of her case, Etta Angell Wheeler. This article was interesting because it is an important event in the past that is often forgotten about. This article is not scientific but it is about the health and well being of children. This effects humanity because before this event child abuse programs were not developed and with out this we might never have had the programs we do today.

Citation:

Markel, M.D., Howard. "Case Shined First Light on Abuse of Children." New York Times(2009): n. page. Web. 14 Dec 2009. .

Snowflake Chemistry Could Give Clues About Ozone Depletion

This article explained how snowflakes can show us the state of the ozone layer. All of snow crystals freeze differently depending on the temperature they are frozen at. However, all of them have a thin layer of water around the crystal. This layer of water causes the crystal to expand and contract depending on the temperature of the place where it is formed. The scientist Travis Knepp discovered that the hotter the area is the faster the snowflakes expand from top to bottom. And he analyzed snow flakes and saw that the flakes that are falling are becoming increasingly taller.

This article interested me because it showed that even something as cold as snow can be proof that the world is heating up. Although this does not prove anything new it is another proof of the way we are killing our environment.

Fruit Flies can be Alcoholics Too

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/50640/title/Fruit_flies_can_be_alcoholics_too

By Laura Sanders

Many studies have shown that fruit flies like many humans have a tendency to alcohol addiction. Since Fruit flies are such simple organisms they are an easy way to study the effects of alcoholism without all of the complicated details there are with humans. It shows many major psychological effects along with hurting its coordination greatly, as shown in the video in the link. Studies have also shown that fruit flies prefer alcohol to pure water because when given the same amount of each they finish the alcohol way faster. Then they found that over five days the booze was slurped down increasingly faster. They also found that flies that had been drinking for less time like two days didn’t like strong booze whereas the ones who had been drinking for five days preferred the stronger ones. Even when the alcohol was mixed with something that most fruit flies don’t like the ones who were “alcoholics” still drank it. The last test the scientist preformed showed that once you are an alcoholic you are one for life, they took a fly who had been drinking hard liquor for five days and didn’t give him alcohol for three days, immediately after this dry period the fly returned to it’s peak levels of drinking. While they haven’t yet really discovered anything we didn’t know about alcoholism in the future the fruit flies could help greatly. For example the fruit flies could help scientist discover how to quickly track down the genes of alcoholism.

I thought this article was kind of entertaining but at the same time interesting. I thought the article was very well written and really captivated the reader, plus I thought it was a really good idea to put a video of a drunk fly at the end because it made the reader even more interested.

FRUIT FLIES CAN BE ALCOHOLICS TOO

Anita Devineni and Ulrike Heberlein from the University of California, San Francisco, have done a study on alcoholism in fruit flies. They created a special device for the flies with water bottle type things, on bottle had liquid food that was spiked 15% ethanol and the other bottle just had plain liquid food. The flies had the choice of which to consume, and it was found that the spiked food was consumed a lot faster than the plain food. Over a period of five days the flies preference to the alcohol adjusted, and the more they adjusted the stronger the alcohol could be. Drunken behavior was observed, such as loss of coordination’s and hyperactivity. The flies liked alcohol so much that when the toxic chemical quinine was mixed into their boozed up food they continued to drink it, even though normally they would avoid the chemical. Researchers think that these studies may be useful for the understanding of why Humans are so attracted to alcohol.
I found this article to be rather interesting, because it had to do with alcohol and flies, random but entertaining. The article didn’t use many big words so it was easy to read, and it wasn’t al that long so the shortness factor was quite pleasing. But I felt like the article wasn’t that direct, I mean yes at the end of it I understood the subject and all of the research but it would have been better it if had just been strait to the point of what was going on with these fruit flies and alcohol. It was very interesting that fruit flies can have alcohol addictions just like humans can and I think it is fascinating that scientists can learn about the human addiction from fruit flies.

Another Livestock Drug Endangers Vultures

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/50556/title/Another_livestock_drug_endangers_vultures

This article is focused on the cattle that farmers raise in South Asia and how a pain killer used on cattle affects vultures that live in that area. Since the 1990’s, diclofenec, an anti-inflammatory, has been used on cattle and since then, vultures have been dying off since the drug is poisonous when they eat the cattle carcass. Conversationists recently had tried a new anti-inflammtory drug, kitoprofen. Scientist had just recently given a direct dose of kitoprofen and meals of carcasses from recently dosed cattle. This test was given to the two other species of voltures in Africa; the direct doses given killed the voltures as did the recently dosed carcasses.
Vultures are a vital importance to the farmers that work around that area by eating the carcasses. A local farmer noticed the population of the vultures decreasing too, “Dozens of the birds could clean up a dead animal in 20 minutes. Now you’ve got a rancid cow sitting there for weeks,” he said. Packs of wild dogs have taken the job of cleaning up but the problem with that is the concern about rabies exposed to more people. Since then, India, Pakistan and Nepal have banned the manufacture of diclofenac for animals in their countries. But since diclofenac is used for humans too so the farmers just buy the drug that its packaged for humans and use it on the animals. In North America, farmers have started using meloxicam – which is vulture friendly. The vultures who live in North America however are not as closly related to the ones in South Asia, but scientist are testing it out now.
I thought this article was very easy to understand as well as interesting. Although, I didn’t like that the fact that the article didn’t show the rate at which the South Asia vultures population has been declining. Before I read this article, I never knew that vultures had such an important role in a farmer’s business. I now have a new understanding and respect for the vultures that live in South Asia.