“Megapixels: This Fossilized Spider's Eyes Are Still Glowing 110 Million Years Later.”

Rachel Roberts

2/14/19

Biology

Current Event 3

Cummins, Eleanor. “Megapixels: This Fossilized Spider's Eyes Are Still Glowing 110 Million

Years Later.” Popular Science, 13 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/megapixels-fossilized-spider-glowing-eye.

For current event 3, I read the article, “Megapixels: This Fossilized Spider's Eyes Are Still Glowing 110 Million Years Later.” by Eleanor Cummins. The article discusses the discovery of two fossilized spiders who were found to have glowing eyes after 110 million years still. It first focuses on how in paleontology, fossil records often have a gap in them. The article says, “The past is like a piece of Swiss cheese. You may get a sense of its two-dimensional rhombus proportions, it's creamy yellow coloring or its waxy texture, but the holes are still numerous. In linguistics, such a chasm is called a “lacuna,” like a missing chapter in an ancient text, or a word that should exist but doesn’t.” This gap is an opportunity for discoveries. Paul Selden, a geologist from the University of Kanas, is the one who found the glowing eyes. Selden and his team noted that most spiders are preserved in amber; however, the spiders, known as Lagonomegopidae found were in Korean shale and were eventually transformed into rock. The cause of the glowing eyes was something called tapetum lucidum. It is a light-reflecting tissue that is often found in other animals such as dogs. Although common, this was the first study to describe the tapetum of the fossilized spider. The discovery made scientists reconsider many other fossilized specimens to find the reflective tissue. The article lastly tells about how the findings highlight gaps in the understanding of spider evolution. Jumping spiders were the next spiders to occupy the area where the Lagonomegopidae lived, however, their eyes were different. Because of this discovery of the glowing eyes on the spider, a new line of research of the evolution of spiders was created.

Cummins’ article brings up the topic of how there are many things to be discovered about the evolution of many animals, including humans. It may seem that the line of development is set, but then a discovery such as the difference between the jumping spiders and Lagonomegopidae made scientists reconsider. If we were to examine more fossils and other parts of ancient animals we would be able to find new additions to the evolution of animals which would significantly impact how our development is seen.

The article was well-written and packed with information that was extremely beneficial to the article. The author’s use of quotes was also helpful as it gave a view from the scientist who found the glowing eyes. However, there was a lot of complex terminologies that were not fully explained and made it more difficult to read the article. Also, if the author added more background information on the topic, it would have been much easier to understand from the beginning.

Current Event

Tenzing Pixley

Current Event 3

Core Biology C Odd

February 14th, 2019

Nuwer, Rachel. “It's Not Genghis Khan's Mongolia.” The New York Times, The New York

Times, 19 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/science/its-not-genghis-khans-mongolia.html?ref=science.

It’s Not Genghis Khan’s Mongolia by Rachel Nuwer of The New York Times is an article which chronicles the lasting effects of climate change on the country of Mongolia. It doesn’t necessarily center on one part of the country such as the capital city Ulaanbaatar, but rather the country as a whole and its climatic history. As of recent times, “Mongolia’s climatic tides have been shifting toward another extreme. A 10-year drought and heat wave from 2000 to 2010, according to the tree ring data, was the most severe the country had had in a millennium.” For a majority of the Mongolian population which consists of nomadic herders and farmers, this signifies bad news as Summers are filled with sandstorms and the winter either brings too much snow or too little. Since 1940, Mongolia’s average temperature has risen 3.8 degrees while winter weather patterns have become more and more sporadic.

This article is not only extremely impactful, but also very relevant on a worldwide spectrum as climate change is affecting many countries as it is to Mongolia. Just like in the dry areas of California, Mongolia also faces many wildfires, something which the government simply just doesn’t have enough specialists to deal with. This also affects the countries people which primarily is made of herders. There, wealth is measured in livestock. So when animals are lost due to a sandstorm, wildfire or drought, this deeply affects the economy of the country.

I found this article to be really informative as it showed exactly how climate change is a worldwide problem. Most of us tend to look at rising temperatures with the mindset of how it can affect America and our day to day lives. By centering the article on a small and not as prosperous country such as Mongolia, it helps to broaden our perspectives. The one critique I have is that the writer can include more on the lifestyle of a Mongolian nomad.

Griffin Patterson

2/13/19

Biology

Current event 3

Grossman, Lisa. “After 15 Years on Mars, It's the End of the Road for Opportunity.” Science News, 13 Feb. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa-mars-opportunity-rover-dead.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa-mars-opportunity-rover-dead

For current event 3 I chose a very interesting and a little disappointing article that revolves around the NASA not be able to try to land on mars very again.  First of all the mars rover was lost by NASA in a huge dust storm on mars. Overall, Opportunity has finally run out of, well, opportunities. After weeks of trying to revive the veteran Mars rover in the wake of a blinding dust storm, NASA has given up on ever hearing from it again. NASA officially stated that they were never trying to fly and go to mars again when they said “I was there with the team as these commands went out into the deep sky,” Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in a news conference at the Jet  Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “I learned this morning that we had not heard back, and our beloved Opportunity remains silent. It is therefore that I am standing here with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude that I declare the Opportunity mission as complete, and with it the Mars Exploration Rover mission as complete.” this statement by the NASA officials is leading towards the fact that they are never trying to go on mars again which is very disappointing. This is disappointing because there are many resources and other things we haven't found on mars yet NASA is going to stop.

When Lisa grossman released this article it overall shocked society and our world. She started off the article telling us the horrible news of that NASA isn't trying to go back in mars. This really affects the US, because we could be the ones that find certain things on mars that could make it habitable. She mentions that they found yet another supply of water which nudges toward the fact that life could eventually live there. The One thing scientists do know is that the Endeavour crater was once yet another watery environment, with chemistry that would have been favorable to life if anything had lived there. Water interacted with the rock multiple times. One of the best pieces of evidence for water at Endeavour crater is this vein of gypsum, spotted in November 2011. Again, our society is very affected by this news and decision making. In the future if we need a place off earth to live and we don't know where to go, mars would maybe be a spot if NASA would go back up there. It is just the fact that not knowing if we could live on mars causes a panic between americans if we need a new planet to stay on way in the future. So, hopefully we would go up there and figure that out now but NASA is putting a stop to it.

Overall, Lisa Grossman wrote a very strong and informational article. She clearly researched on this topic a lot and brought a lot of outside information. Throughout the article she brought positive facts from the last rover on mars. She brought positive facts of what we found on mars and what the rover did for NASA and the USA. Although these are very good facts, she talks about facts the whole article and doesn't talk about her personal opinion. Her personal opinion would have helped in this article because it would have brought outsider information and  not just facts about the river itself. I wanted to overall hear more about how she feels about NASA not going to mars anymore but, this article overall was very good for the explanation of the actions that the rover did and how grateful we should be for all the facts we have about mars because of it.

Ben Davis
February 5, 2019
Core Biology
Current Event 2

Pierre-Louis, Kendra. “Scientists Single Out a Suspect in Starfish Carnage: Warming Oceans.”
The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/climate/starfish-global-warming.html.


For this week's current event I read Kendra Pierre-Louis’ article “Scientists Single Out a Suspect in Starfish Carnage: Warming Oceans.”  The main objective of the article was to educate the reader on the effect that global warming is having on marine life, especially starfish in the Pacific Ocean. Pierre-Louis explained that the starfish have been dying by the millions as a result of a wasting disease that was triggered by an ocean heat wave. The warming of the water was credited to a marine heatwave known as, the blob. Pierre Louis said the blob was “exacerbated by human-caused global warming.” After talking about what is causing the disease Pierre Louis began to discuss who discovered the decline of the starfish and how they are trying to stop it. Drew Harvell, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University has been sounding the alarm about the threat that has faced marine life. In an effort to truly understand what caused the starfish to die Dr. Harvell teamed up with the University of California Davis and compiled data, from citizen-scientists and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Using the collected data they compared the changes in the sunflower starfish population with the changes in the ocean temperature during the outbreak. Overall the disease impacted 20 different species of starfish, but the researchers mainly focus on the sunflower starfish. Pierre Louis explained this stating, “It was especially hit hard and because there was good historical data on its population before the epidemic.” After a thorough investigation, the researchers discovered that the deaths of the other starfish directly match the spreading of heat through the ocean. Pierre Louis ended the article talking about what we can do as a society to stop the dying of marine life and talked about other species that are contracting diseases as a result of rising heat. She said, “There are things we can do to help marine life, Dr. Harvell said. We can replant seagrass beds and protect mangroves, for instance. But, ultimately, we need to stop climate change, she said. The world’s oceans have absorbed more than 90 percent of the atmospheric heat humans have caused by releasing greenhouse gases.” Heat has also been implicated as a trigger in the spread of a fungus that is wiping out frog and toad populations around the globe, as well as in coral diseases. In fact, when corals bleach or lose their symbiotic algae because of warming oceans, it’s typically a disease that ultimately kills them.

Pierre Louis’ article has strong and important connections to today's society. The article mainly talked about global warming's effect on marine life. Global warming is a very hot topic right now as just last week we experienced extremely called temperatures as a result of arctic winds. The cold winds from the artic are a direct descendent of global warming. The release of Pierre Louis comes at a perfect time as it gives more insight into the negatives of global warming. It also makes people wonder if the warming of our climate will cause humans to contract diseases. That being said I think this article may have the potential to make people more environmentally friendly slowing down the effects of global warming.

Overall, Pierre Louis wrote a very strong article. She did a great job interviewing and researching experts on the topic of marine life deaths. For example, her conversation with Dr. Harvell an expert on the topic created a sense of credibility to the article. Another thing Pierre Louis did well was include the other species that were being affected by the rising temperatures. In particular, she talked about toads and frogs. One thing I thought the article should not have included was the story about a class in Kansas who raised money for the research. While this is a heartwarming and inspiring story it did not further my understanding of how starfish are getting being impacted by rising temperatures. Next time Pierre-Louis writes an article similar to this one I think she should focus a lot more on how regular people can make a difference in this problem facing our planet.

“We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again.”

Caroline Hulbert

2.6.19

Bio 10H

Current Event 2

Chodosh, Sara. “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 6 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/kids-get-strep-throat-again.

For Current Event 2, I read the article “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again” by Sara Chodosh. The article discusses scientists’ research to discover what makes some children more prone to recurrent tonsillitis, or strep infections, than other children. The first study to determine this was done by immunologists, pediatric physicians, and infectious disease researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and the University of California, San Diego. Group A Streptococcus is a bacterium that is centralized in the tonsils, causing painful swelling and often a fever. While the infection can normally be cleared up with antibiotics, some children experience recurrent tonsillitis, where the infection continues to recur. Researchers began by gathering two groups of children, one group with recurrent tonsillitis and one group with normal tonsillitis. They then matched similar children to each other and observed various markers in their immune systems to try to find differences between them. The tonsils contain germinal centers that produce immune cells crucial to identifying pathogens. It was originally expected that the children with recurrent tonsillitis would have had more of an immune response and more antibodies against strep. However, it was observed that these children actually had less of a response, suggesting that their germinal centers do not function properly during strep infections and immunodeficiency may play a role as well. Because of these results, researchers looked at the human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, which control immune cells and determine the immune response to strep. It was then determined that the children with the least germinal center responses also often had two particular HLA gene mutations than other children. They concluded that some children are less capable of developing immunity to group A Streptococcus, leading to their recurrent tonsillitis.

Chodosh’s article describes the reason that certain children are more prone to developing strep infections than other kids and the research that led to this discovery. Children with recurrent tonsillitis often miss a lot of school due to their infections and also have to take large amounts of antibiotics. This can lead to antibiotic resistance and harm the gut flora. Because of the newly discovered connection between recurrent tonsillitis and the HLA genes, children can now be screened for these gene mutations, determining if they would benefit from a tonsillectomy.

This article was well-written and easy to follow, despite the many medical terms and ideas. Chodesh explained complex phrases and terminology as they appeared, which made it readable without consulting other sources to understand. However, I wish the author had included more information about the children that were studied and also incorporated more background information about the HLA alleles discovered. Had she included this information as she wrote about it, it would have strengthened her work overall.

"We Are Eating Large Animals Into Extinction" by Marlene Cimons

Will Grant
Current Review
Mr. Ippolito

Cimons, Marlene. “We Are Eating Large Animals into Extinction.” Popular Science, 6 Feb. 2019,
www.popsci.com/eating-large-animals-into-extinction.
https://www.popsci.com/eating-large-animals-into-extinction

Marlene Cimons talks of the Large Animals that we are killing/eating. She references William Ripple who is a professor at Oregon State. Ripple did man studies with animals he calls megafauna. These classify as animals that are the biggest of their species in their respective classes. It is similar to the top two teams in a sports division. They might not be the biggest of all the animals but they are in their class of animals. Ripple classified 300 animals that classify as megafauna animals. Out of these 300, 170 of them are threatened with extinction. Most of these animals are killed by humans and some by global warming hurting their habitat. These animals are killed for trophies and for eating that is highly prevalent in places like Asia and Africa. These studies also show how susceptible these large animals are. Larger animals produce much slowing and require more area for their habitat than that of smaller animals.

There are two major problems of the extinction of these animals. The first is that without these animals we are killing history. Extinction of these animals does not let us study them and also kills our connection to the past. Many animals we see today are ancestors of other prehistoric and cavemen day animals. The second problem with the extinction of the animals in the food chain. The extinction of animals on the top of the food chain would lead to the distortion of an entire ecosystem. For example, if the white shark goes extinct, the fish they eat will grow in population. That will then deplete the entire small fish and plankton population as there are too many fish due to no predator to eat them.
  
        Cimons article is a very intriguing read. She writes very well and explains Ripple's research very well and makes it very easy to understand. The one problem I have is the fact that she only talks about Ripple’s research the entire time. Although his work is very intriguing it would have been nice to see some personal opinions from her.

Conover, Emily. “This Cloud-Zapping Laser Could Help Scientists Create a Quantum Internet.” Science News, 23 Oct. 2018,

Chris Aherne

Current Event Review

Mr. Ippolito

Conover, Emily. “This Cloud-Zapping Laser Could Help Scientists Create a Quantum Internet.” Science News, 23 Oct. 2018, www.sciencenews.org/article/cloud-zapping-laser-could-help-scientists-create-quantum-internet?tgt=nr.

   

    The article I chose to read is an interesting explanation of how we could, as a society, create a secure browsing interface in our internet. Emily Conover, the author of this article, theorizes that, with the help of quantum particles, we could create a stronger faster internet for all. It would be done by sending the quantum particles to satellites and back, completely eliminating the negative aspects whether would have on our internet speeds. This theory would prove very beneficial to all if it could be achieved efficiently and effectively. It would also be  staple in the developments of quantum technologies.

    Although the thought of quantum internet is baffling, but, it would have many positive effects of society. For example, If we take a look at China, who has already sent up a quantum satellite, we now that it is relatively cost efficient and could be the next step for high speed internet everywhere. However, this would have to happen with every country on the world in order to create the highest, most reliable internet. Which is the case of some countries would not be possible because of their financial situations.

    Emily Conover did a good job writing this article, but it could’ve been improved to be far better. For example, she did a great job of creating a steady background from which everyone could about quantum internet. However, she didn't go into depth on the costs of this global project, nor did she explain the logistics of launching this satellite into space. After reading this article i'm still left with lots of questions and Im sure a lot of readers are too.