Samantha Huss
Mr. Ippolito
D Block Odd
9 November 2016
Current Event 7
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016. <https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/07/us-military-successfully-tests-electrical-brain-stimulation-to-enhance-staff-skills>.
The article, “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills,” by Ian Sample, focuses on new advancements in unconventional technology within the military. Specifically, electrical brain stimulation used to help keep soldiers and staff alert, awake, and productive while working in high stress situations. These waves, when sent through the human body, help to keep staff clear minded and stable during high pressure situations. The waves work by sending five weak electrical currents through the skull and directly into parts of the cortex. This helps neurons to fire throughout the brain and, by doing so, help to improve cognitive ability. The electrodes have no known negative short term effects. However, it is unsure of whether there could be long term effects on the users. Furthermore, the ideas and tools needed to complete brain stimulation are available to the public. Its sail is currently unregulated, and this could prove to be very dangerous as it is unsure of the effect of the waves when handled by non professionals. The brain waves, although helpful to improve certain tasks, such as those which are performed in the military, may have a damaging effect in the long run. No tests have been able to confirm or deny this possibility, so it is unclear if they are safe to use.
The electrical brain stimulation, although intended to help, could hurt our society as well. It is open to the general public, and, because of this, could be very risky. Although it is safe when administered by a professional, it is potentially very dangerous if the waves are incorrectly administered. Also, the long term effects are unclear, and it could be harmful to people who use this technology. There are, however, some positive effects which it could have on our society. It was designed to help our military carry out important tasks more efficiently and successfully. If used correctly, it could be very beneficial in doing this and by extension helping to defend and protect our country. On a smaller scale, if used correctly and proven to not have long term negative effects, it could eventually be helpful to everyday citizens. The same benefits could be provided for people who need to complete hard tasks or stay focused for prolonged periods of time.
After reading this article I found that it was very informative and helped teach me a lot about electrical brain stimulation. The author did a great job of remaining neutral throughout the piece and did not choose a side nor write with bias. One thing I would have changed was the way which the author structured the article. It seemed to not flow very well and I found myself having to go back through the article to fully understand some of the points which were made. In order to change this, the author should have grouped together his arguments with more sufficient evidence to back his claims. Overall, this article was very informative and taught the reader a lot about the potential benefits and risks of electrical brain stimulation.
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
ReplyDeleteMy fellow classmate Samantha did a nice job writing her review on, "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills".
In this review, Samantha does a very good job with a few things. As an example, her summary is excellent as well as her hook statement in the beginning of this review. Because of this, I was motivated to keep on reading this review. Another aspect of the review which I thought was very good was how she talked about the electrical brain stimulation and its benefits as well as its non benefits. From this, it made me understand the review a lot better and what she was talking about. Moreover, one other thing that I liked about her review is how she stated the brain stimulation's original purpose which is to help our military be more efficient and successful when carrying out crucial tasks. Because I found out about the design's original intension, I gained a better understanding of the electrical brain stimulation and the story behind this scientific design.
Although Samantha's review is well written, there are a few flaws that could have made this story better. For example, I wish that she could have explained more about the non-benefits and it's effect on people that use it. Although Samantha stated how it can have a negative impact, I wish she could have talked about what the negative impacts are that it could have on the user. She could fix this error by including the negative impacts that this stimulation has. If she did this, the review would have not only been more detailed but it would have made this review a little bit more understandable as well as insightful. Another flaw that I found from this review is that she did not really discuss the research process in great depth. What she could do to fix this is by including information such as where this research was taking place or how many years did it take before the scientists reached their conclusion as well as who were the scientists that conducted this research. If she did this, I would have had a better understanding of this review and the review would have been much better by including these types of critical facts.
As a result of reading this review, I learned about a new scientific device that can enhance one's focus when doing hard tasks. Before reading this review, I never thought that there was a device that can do such a thing. From reading this well written piece, I hope that more research can be done to make this electrical brain stimulation more valid. Also, I want other people to be aware about the stimulation and the potential that it has on our society. Overall, this piece is very well written and this electrical brain stimulation is making me more excited about our future and it shows that we have a bright future ahead of us.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteQuin Madden
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
D Block Odd
9 November 2016
Current Event 7
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/07/us-military-successfully-tests-electrical-brain-stimulation-to-enhance-staff-skills
Samantha did a great review on “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills,”. Samantha did a great job of explaining the article and she gave distinct details that helped give insight on how the waves on the brain actually works. I liked how she gave example on how it is bad for you and good for you. This made the reader think that she wasn't bais about the topic. She also said why they were doing the test and that is very crucial.
Even though she had a great review, there are still things that could have been in her current event review. I wish she had quoted the test more, so we could actually see what the researchers are saying and not just what Samantha is saying. If she added qoutes it would give the reader the reassurance that what she is saying really exist. Samatha should add 2 more sentences on why the discovery is so important and add quotes.
In conclusion, I thought this article was very interesting, samatha had a great summary, and review on “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills,”. I find that this new invention could help a soldier to stay alive in a high stress firefight. I also found it interesting because my dad was a marine and I have a good family friend who is a marine right now, This was be life changing for soldiers.
Tommy Purdy
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Biology D-Odd
14 November 2016
Current Event 7
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills
My classmate, Samantha Huss, made a very good review on the article, “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills.” One thing she did that was very well done was her summary. Often summaries are long and tedious but Samantha’s isn’t too long and it still gets all of the most important information down. For example, she says, “The waves work by sending five weak electrical currents through the skull and directly into parts of the cortex. This helps neurons to fire throughout the brain and, by doing so, help to improve cognitive ability.” This proves that the summary is very good because she says only the what and the why which is all that should be said in a summary. Another aspect of her review done well is her relevance paragraph. Samantha brings up important reasons that should be taken into consideration before releasing such a risky stimulation to the public. She says, “it is potentially very dangerous if the waves are incorrectly administered.” By saying this and many other things, she makes the reader think of the possibilities of what can happen if the brain stimulant goes wrong, which it very well could. Another aspect done well on the article was her opinion on how the article was. She said, “One thing I would have changed was the way which the author structured the article.” This proves that she thoroughly read the article because she would not have known to say that if she hadn’t read it thoroughly. This means that Samantha’s review is reliable and trustworthy.
Even though Samantha’s review is mostly good, there are some parts that could be improved on. One aspect that could be made better was her opinion. Though she does say the negative and positive effects of the stimulant, she never says how she feels about the use of it and its possible release to the public. Without her opinion, the article feels slightly empty because it is always interesting to hear someone else's point of view. She could fix this by saying how she feels about the brain stimulant; this would make the article much better. Another aspect of the article that could be better is her explanation on what she learned. All Samantha says is, “After reading this article I found that it was very informative and helped teach me a lot about electrical brain stimulation.” This feels like a cliffhanger; she says that she did learn but not what she learned. Samantha could easily fix this by saying what she learned so that the reader would understand much better.
After reading Samantha’s review, I now have a much better understanding on on the future of brain stimulants. Originally, I had no idea what they did. Now however, I know that they make the users of it calm and better at what they are doing in high stress situations. I chose Samantha’s review because I am interested in brain modifications that could potentially make the user a lot more effective at what they are doing. I started not knowing much but now brain stimulants make a lot more sense. After reading this, I now think that brain stimulants could be very useful to society because they can increase how well people do their jobs.
ReplyDeleteFor my Current Event Comment I am going to be critiquing my fellow classmate Samantha Huss’ Current Event. In her Current Event she does a very good job of bringing up both sides of the argument. When she talks about the helmets that could help the soldiers she also brings up the point the helmets could have unknown side effects. If she did not bring up the other side of the argument her current event would not be accurate. Another thing that she does well is that she sums up what the article said very well and did not miss out on any information. This is important because it makes it so the reader does not have to do any additional work. She also was very consis with her writing by using vocabulary words to shorten her sentences. This makes the reading experience more pleasant because the reader has to read less.
Although Samantha did some very good things in her essay she left out some things. For example she did not use any quotes from the article she used. Using quotes from your source help connect your essay to the article. This creates a better feeling of connectivity with the reader. This problem can be fixed by adding a quote or two from the article where you need them. Another problem she had is that she went into how this invention could be used for people who are not in the military which I though was very interesting and I would have liked her to elaborate. She could solve this problem by simply writing down what purposes this invention has outside of the military.
From what Sam wrote I picked up that these helmets can help people focus under high stress situations. I chose her Current Event because I am interested in high tech military equipment. This helmet means that science is closer than ever to understanding the human brain which is incredible. Maybe when i am older there will be a cap that will completely rid me of stress.
Thomas Bender
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Biology
11/14/16
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/07/us-military-successfully-tests-electrical-brain-stimulation-to-enhance-staff-skills
The current event written by Samantha Huss about the new form of electro shock therapy that is being implemented in the military, is quite good. In this review, Samantha demonstrates a good amount of knowledge on the subject at hand. She seemed to have thoroughly understood the material of the article. Another fantastic thing that could be seen in this review was that Samantha gave and explained two alternating points of view on the new technique that is being implemented in the military. This was done by explaining the short term effects, than transitioning over to the uncertainty associated with the long term effects of the technique. By doing this, Samantha addressed very well, the fact that the technology is in fact dangerous. This addition was important because it shows that the technology is not yet perfect, and can still be improved.
Although the review was fantastic overall, it did have some problems, such as the fact that the description of how the technology works, is a bit vague. This could have been solved by referring back to the article and adding in more in depth facts of how the technology works. Another shortcoming of the work is that Samantha does not address any of the possible long term effects of the technology of the people using it. This could have been fixed by adding a sentence about the possible long term effects of the technology.
Although this will probably not change my life, it has taught me a lot about the ambitions of the military and about how willing people are to blur the lines between science fiction and reality.
Kirsten Ircha 11/19/16
ReplyDeleteBiology 10H Current Event #8
Citation:
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff
Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016. .
Samantha Huss wrote a very insightful review on “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills,” by Ian Sample. This article explained how electrical brain stimulation can be utilized in order to keep soldiers and staff awake, productive, and alert under high pressure or stressful situation in the military. Samantha elaborates on the function of these stimulation stating, “The waves work by sending five weak electrical currents through the skull and directly into parts of the cortex. This helps neurons to fire throughout the brain and, by doing so, help to improve cognitive ability.” Currently, no known short term side effects exists through this treatment and it is open to the general public. This review was extremely well written and had clear word choice. This made the reading go by very quickly, as I was very interested and engaged. Also, Sammantha had a very understandable summary of the original article, allowing the reader to fully understand the basic information surrounding the topic. Lastly, the article chosen for the review was picked wisely, as the topic is not widely known, yet very intellectually stimulating. I feel the topic choice allowed the review to captivate the reader.
Although the Samantha's review was done well, a couple of areas could be improved. To start, I found a few spelling errors throughout the work. This issue was very minor and couble be easily fixed through editing or peer editing with a friend. The only other minor issue of the review pertained to sentence structure, as I felt some of the phrases seemed almost identical or repetitive. In the future, editing, or again peer edit, could allow some of these sentences to be changes slightly to have a better flowing review.
The review makes me very hopeful for the future of aiding everyday Americans as Samantha states, “On a smaller scale, if used correctly and proven to not have long term negative effects, it could eventually be helpful to everyday citizens. The same benefits could be provided for people who need to complete hard tasks or stay focused for prolonged periods of time.” The thought of this technology being able to help individuals with focusing issues is very positive and can improve the quality of life for these people. Bases on this review, I can have optimism that other great minds will create more advanced technologies to help many other struggling individuals of this nation.
Bridget Sands
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Core Bio 10 H
11/22/16
Citation and Hyperlink Found on Review:
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff
Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
.
I read my classmate Sam’s review on how Electrical Brain Stimulation and how it enhances staff skills within the military. One thing that Sam excelled in creating the seriousness of the topic at hand. She explained how although the military already is hard at work, the brain stim will help the solder stay alert, awake, and productive. By mentioning this, an image of a soldier at battle comes to mind, and if they were to fall asleep or start to deteriorate mid-battle, it would not be good. Another thing that Sam mentioned that was good to include both the good and bad effects of the brain stim. She notes, as mentioned early, that the stim will make the brain and soldier more alert, awake, and productive. However, she also mentions that there might also be a downside to the stim, such as long term effects that are unknown (because testing has not gone that far) that may be damaging. Finally, Sam shined in the explanation of how the brain stim works. She explained every piece on it, so it makes sense. She says, “Specifically, electrical brain stimulation used to help keep soldiers and staff alert, awake, and productive while working in high stress situations. These waves, when sent through the human body, help to keep staff clear minded and stable during high pressure situations. The waves work by sending five weak electrical currents through the skull and directly into parts of the cortex.”
Although Sam’s review was excellent, there were some areas in which she struggled. She could’ve taken her research to the next step by trying to continue her research, to see if any other articles had mentioned negative effects of the stim, which she had mentioned were unknown. She also could’ve continued her research could’ve explained how it could help in other ways besides in the military. Also, in her review Sam did not use direct quotes. By doing this she would’ve made her paper more reliable, instead of just paraphrasing.
When reading Sam’s review, I had an “ah-ha moment”. This was when I learned that brain stim was a thing, and could be used for the military. Prior to reading her review, I only knew of stim that was used to help different bone injuries. I was also shocked to hear that it could help in the military, because of how hard it is for soldiers overseas to access supplies.
Zach Flangos
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Biology
11/21/16
Current Event 8
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016. .
For my current event comment, I read my classmate Sam’s report on the article “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills” by Ian Sample. There are many things that Sam did well on when covering the article she had reviewed. One aspect of her review that I thought was done excellently was Sam’s ability to talk about the main idea. She was able to give me a great explanation on what she was analyzing. Another example of good work that I saw in Sam’s report was her use of vocabulary. Throughout the review, she was able to keep me interested in reading on through her usage of words and sentences. Lastly, I found that Sam did a great job at giving enough detail. She was able to write a great amount about what she had read, this shows that she was passionate about her topic and could give a great amount of detail.
Although I found that Sam did a wonderful job with her report, there are a few things that she could have improved upon. One of the improvements that Sam could have made was properly punctuating her review. Even though they are minor mistakes such as indenting the start of a paragraph, it is still crucial. Secondly, I believe that Sam could have written a bit more about the technology itself that is used to make soldiers stay active and working. I would have liked to learn about what specific devices the military uses.
Despite the fact that what I learned in this review will not change any perception on the way I live, I was able to absorb a great amount of knowledge on new technology our military is using to improve their soldiers abilities. I was even shocked when I learned about how electric brain stimulation can cause a person to stay mellow and focused during a high pressure situation. This can positively impact a soldier since they are always in momentous situations.
Alex Doukas
ReplyDeleteOctober 29, 2018
Bio Current Event
Mr. Ippolito
Sample, Ian. "US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.
.
For my current event comment, I read the article “US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills” by Ian Sample. This article depicts the advancements in unconventional technology within the military. It describes the electrical brain stimulation used to help keep soldiers and staf alert while working with high stress situations. The ideas needed to complete brain stimulation have been proposed to the public so they are aware of what is going on. The author also described brain waves and its effect on society and what is going on with them.
Overall, I think that Samantha did a good job explaining and going into detail about this specific topic which gives the reader further research and insight about what is going on in regards to this topic. Samantha could have brought in outside perspectives about the topic, not just sold facts. It would have given the reader a better understanding and perspective from other people's opinions. I think that that was the only thing that Sam could have improved on because it is important to include opinions and quotes from outside figures or someone involved in the project.
Samantha did a great job explaining the different things the Military is doing and the great detail about brain stimulation. I think that this was a great topic to choose and Samantha gave great detail about the topic itself and why it is important. It gave me great insight about the topic and I didn't really know much, if not at all about brain stimulation so when I read about topics i am not particularly familiar with, I find it that much important and interesting.