Absent a Moon or Mars, Recreating Space 65 Feet Under the Sea

On Monday, a small crew of six astronauts descended to the undersea laboratory Aquarius off the coast of Florida. In the laboratory, the trainees will practice activities associated with outer space travel, such as spacewalks, crane operation, and handling safety concerns. The program is titled NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO. Ironically, this trip made by the “aquanaut” trainees comes at a very difficult time for NASA as the Obama administration prepares to cut support and finance for the space program. I enjoyed Kenneth Chang’s “NASA Under the Sea” article because it was very well written and easy to understand. I also liked the topic; I find spaceflight and the different aspects of the NASA program very interesting. I also liked the way Chang covered the story, he was very detailed and informative describing the “aquanaut’s” activities.

I do not have many suggestions to make the article even stronger. If I were to add one thing, it would be the viewpoint of critics of NASA and its programs. This would provide a further understanding on the current issue, which is whether or not to continue funding space exploration. Another suggestion I have is to explain more of the simulations that trainees will experience while in the NEEMO base. This would just be to provide more information about the nature of the program.

Overall, I enjoyed Kenneth Chang of the New York Times’ article. It was very interesting and well written. I learned a new fact through reading it. I was unaware of the existence of the underwater training base, Aquarius. It was quite fascinating to learn about its use and the features of NASA training. Overall, I think the article was excellent.

Aine Cain

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/science/space/11neemo.html?ref=science

“What to Do When a Newborn Can’t Hear”

I found the article “What to Do When a Newborn Can’t Hear” to be very interesting. It talks about hearing loss in young kids and the many different effects of it. Nowadays, many babies have their hearing screened in the hospital when they are born. Before babies were screened, the average age for diagnosing hearing loss was about two and a half. It was discovered usually when children had problems with their speech. Hearing loss is actually one of the most common congenital disabilities. It can be genetic but it sometimes develops from an infection. There are many diseases that can harm a developing fetus, such as rubella that could possibly lead to deafness. Now, there are also a variety of different ways to test for hearing loss. For example, otoacoustic emissions can be used. This is where a tiny microphone is inserted into the ear of a sleeping baby to measure the echoes from the cochlea when it is stimulated by sound. It is very important for infants to get follow up screenings as well. The article emphasizes how big of a deal this is and that the earlier hearing loss it detected the better it will be for the kids’ future. Children with hearing loss can receive hearing aids if needed and many go to therapies in order for them to develop properly and be able to speak better.

I learned many surprising facts in this article. First of all, I did not know that deafness in children was a big problem. According to the article two to four babies out of 1,000 are affected by it. Prior to reading this, I also did not know that hearing loss in newborns was often caused by disease, I thought that it was just hereditary. The article also made me realize how important it is for hearing loss to be discovered in a child as soon as possible. The earlier it is detected the better the children will be able to get help and special treatment in order to help them develop. I also certainly did not know that being deaf in one ear could cause as many problems as the article talks about. I was aware that there were treatments to screen babies for hearing difficulties but I did not know exactly what the procedures entailed until reading this.

I liked this article a lot. I think that it was very clear and it also was fairly easy to understand and it was not too wordy and lengthy. I thought the topic was interesting and intriguing and that is why I picked it. I thought it was interesting to learn about the many causes and effects of hearing loss, and also the many available solutions such as hearing aids and speech therapies if necessary.

Dale Bellitto

Signs of Life

Review by Colter Smith

Normally scientists look for aliens by searching for radio waves. The idea is that if people on earth can emit radio waves, maybe other civilizations do too. Then newest project around this idea is called the Allen Telescope Array, which when complete will have 350 satellite dishes that act in concert. However many scientists think this is the wrong approach. Radios are becoming used less and less on earth, so a more advanced civilization could have stopped using radios altogether. A retired physicist has suggested a number of new ideas for finding intelligent life. The first is to look for pollution in atmosphere, such as synthetic materials that would be signs of industrialization or compounds that would mean life, such as a lot of oxygen in an atmosphere. Also, some civilizations may have been around for tens or hundreds of thousands of years. People theorize that a civilization this advanced may have built a shell around their central star to gather as much energy from it as possible, which we may be able to see on a telescope. Also, if the central star of a very advanced civilization began to turn into what is called a red giant, that civilization would try to stop that process if it could. The resulting star would look strange and we might be able to see it on a telescope.

If alien life were to be discovered, it would be the most important human discovery since farming. Intergalactic trade would usher in a whole new era of economic growth and prosperity and bring to this planet things we have never dreamed of. Alien ideas and concepts would blow our minds. Their technology could allow us to do things we had never imagined were possible and could make some of life’s most difficult tasks trivial concerns of the past. Finally it would show us that we are not alone in this vast universe.

I thought this article was quite good. It took fairly complex astrophysical ideas and presented them in a way that was understandable yet still interesting. This article also helped to show what a very complex Alien civilization might look like. Overall, I enjoyed reading it.

A Supersonic Jump, from 23 Miles in the Air

            According to the New York Times. Scientists are now willing to go deeper... or should I say plunge themselves into a dive that has never been attempted before. Fearless Felix they call him, will be attempting to drop 120,000 feet above the earth, going 690 miles per hour. Finally, after free falling for about five and a half minutes he will activate his parachute and become the first skydiver to break the speed of sound and actually live. yeah, nothing too special right? as long as you don't die there's nothing to worry about.

             Surprising facts I learned from this article is the amount of physics involved, including the amounts of research it takes for the various causes. "Plenty of Planes have broken the sound barrier, but transonic humans are a mystery" said Art Thompson. Instead of dealing with a hunk of metal, scientists are dealing with a person in a space suit with a round bulbous helmet, with shoulders and feet sticking out. The worst part about this project is the fact that no one actually knows what will happen to Felix when he goes supersonic, anything can happen. "Felix could slip right through it, but if half of the suits supersonic and the other half isn't, there could be turbulence that knocks him out of control." said a Stratos engineer. The work of this project though is ultimately amazing. More then three dozens of NASA's veterans and the Air Force aerospace industry have been working for three years planning the jump, building a balloon, a pressurized capsule, and also customize an astronaut's suit for Felix. A plus besides aiming records, they were able to do phycological research and  help develop procedures for future astronauts to survive the loss of cabin pressure or an emergency bailout in the stratosphere.

      Clearly, the sky is the limit for this new revelation of Science and have now developed a new limit of what the human body can do. If Felix can make this jump, he will become the first human to ever survive this jump, Best of luck for Felix and his team. 

Emily McCormick

“Exracellular Protein Sensitizes Ovarian Cancer Cells to Chemotherapy”

The article “Exracellular Protein Sensitizes Ovarian Cancer Cells to Chemotherapy” reports that scientists have uncovered critical new details about the mechanisms that modulate the response of ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy. The research, published by Cell Press, helps to explain why many patients develop resistance to the taxane class of drugs and may lead to improve treatment of ovarian cancer. Taxanes are produced from natural resources and some have been synthesized artificially. Taxanes have been used to produce various chemotherapy drugs, and the principal mechanism of taxanes is the disruption of microtubule function, which serve as structural components within cells and are involved in many cellular processes including mitosis, cytokinesis, and vesicular transport. Cancer cells grow and divide rapidly and undergo extensive microtubule-driven restructuring as they proliferate. Taxanes are used to interfere with the dynamic growth of microtubules and undergo extensive microtubule-driven restructuring as they proliferate. Researchers have performed experiments in which they explore the connection between regulation of microtubules and taxane resistance. Dr. James D. Brenton from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute in Cambridge, England and colleagues performed an examination of ovarian cancer in which they tested the transforming growth factor beta, which is a protein that controls proliferation, cellular differentiation, and other functions in most cells. It plays a role in immunity, cancer, heart disease. Their results identified TGFBI as an ECM protein that induces microtubule stability and modulates sensitivity to paclitaxel in ovarian cell lines and in patients receiving paclitaxel therapy. It is now possible that TGFBI could be used as a biomarker for selecting patients likely to respond to taxane therapy. This article is important to what we are doing now in class because it links to cells and cellular processes. It is also very important because it is closer to helping those who have cancer. I liked this article because it was well written and descriptive. It was a little difficult to keep up with because of many of the terms used, and I had to search a lot of things to understand it, but other than that I really enjoyed it.

"Speed Reading of DNA May Help Cancer Treatment"

The article “Speed Reading of DNA May Help Cancer Treatment” reported on how mitochondria DNA can be read to see for mutation that might lead to cancer. In cells, the mitochondria, the part of the cell which creates energy from the sugars we eat and digest, contain small amounts of DNA. These are more efficient to read and scan than the DNA in the cell’s nucleus. Dr. Vogelstein, the main researcher of this project at Johns Hopkins University, found that about 80% of the cancers were from the mutations of the mitochondria DNA. The DNA in the mitochondria has about 16,000 units, while the DNA in the nucleus has about 3 billion units, so the scanning is cheaper and can be done with a smaller sample of blood. The problem with this method is that even in healthy people, the mitochondria DNA can vary from person to person, even by slight differences. Seven out of eight people have slight variations of DNA in the mitochondria. In different tissues, this variation is even greater, so they might be quite different from one another. So, this is a problem in forensics because finding a match of tissue to an individual would be more difficult is they do not know where on the body the tissue came from. This is not a large issue for cancer because the scientists only concentrate on the tumor on the body, which is usually in one location. These methods are still not available to clinics or to the public due to the high cost and also researchers are still trying to make it more efficient for the future.
This article is important to us because if there are new ways to detect cancer and find new ways to treat it more efficiently, then more lives can be saved, as well as more people can be treated at a lower cost. Also, people who already have cancer do not have to go through over-medication or have to do chemotherapy as much since with this new way of reading DNA, doctors can learn if the mutation is now not present in the body, which will save a lot of time. It is important that more people are treated for their cancers because cancer is life threatening, and in today’s world, we need a cure as soon as possible. Also, with this new method, people can be scanned to see if they are more likely to get cancer, as well as see if they have a cancer they do not know about. If cancers are detected early, then the chances of survival are much higher.
In this article, I wish it went more in depth with why the mitochondria has small amounts of DNA, and what kinds of information that holds. Also, I wish it would describe how the DNA is scanned after receiving the sample of blood. I am wondering how the DNA varies in the mitochondria from tissue to tissue, or person to person. This article is very important to people because in the future, more ways will appear to fight cancer, and more lives in the future can be saved.

Scientists See Fresh Evidence of More Water on the Moon

Chang, Kenneth. "Scientists See Fresh Evidence of More Water on the Moon." The New York Times 9 Mar. 2010: D3. Print.

NASA scientists have new information that leads us to believe that there has been a lot of water on the moon this entire time. Last October, NASA engineered a deliberate crash into the moon kicking up about 26 gallons of water.  Scientists have always suspected that water exists in the South Pole because of its larger and deeper craters, but now they are discovering that ice also exists in the craters in the North Pole. In addition to this water in both the poles, scientists have found that there is a very thin layer of water covering most of the surface of the moon.  This tells them that not only does water exist on the Moon, but it is also moving around.  In the North Pole, within 40 craters, each about one to nine miles wide, NASA has estimated about 600 million metric tons of water.  This water is guessed to be up to 90 percent pure, and the water from the South Pole is still being analyzed. 

  This discovery is extremely important because this water can be easily accessed by future lunar excursions.  This water can be used not only for just drinking water, but it can even be broken down into hydrogen, used for fuel, and oxygen for breathing.  Also, the Moon appears to be working in very unexpected ways, which lead researchers to think that other planets and their satellites may still have secrets that have not yet been unlocked.

  I liked this article for many reasons.  First, it was very well written and descriptive.  Also it emphasized the importance of these findings, so that people can understand not only the discovery, but also how it affects the way scientists look at the Moon and other planets.  This article was about an exceptionally important discovery that was just announced, and it was excellent.

Screening May Save Athletes

“Screening May Save Athletes” by Nicholas Bakalar is an article from the New York Times that stresses the importance of screening athletes with an electrocardiogram. While competing, athletes can drop dead due to sudden cardiac arrest. The victims of sudden cardiac arrest are the athletes who have heart conditions and are unaware it. When an athlete is unaware of having a heart condition, they can physically overwork them self which can lead to death. In 2006, a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed the value of EKG screening. Using data from the Italian Ministry of Health, which requires screening for competitive athletes, a study was found that said screening reduced the number of cardiac deaths by 89 percents of athletes from 14 to 35 years old. Needless to say, screening athletes is effective in preventing death, making the cost the only negative aspect of it. Since some find the EKG testing too expensive for the number of deaths it would prevent, the authors of a new study used the estimates from the Italian Ministry of History results and created a computer simulation of how American athletes between the ages of 14 to 22 would be affected by screening. The authors discovered that screening with only a medical history physical examinations saves only 0.56 life-years per 1,000 athletes, costing around $111 per person. Adding an EKG to the screening would save 2.06 more life-years per 1,000 athletes costing only an additional $89. Some experts find the work impressive like Dr. Robert J. Myerberg who is a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Miami. Whereas some experts are dubious about establishing extensive amounts of screening such as Dr. Bernard R. Chaitman, a professor of medicine at St. Louis University. Others have also noted that some might find it discriminatory to screen only athletes and not all children.

This article effects humanity by preventing death. The use of an EKG for screening can save the lives of all athletes who have heart conditions that they are unaware of. Deaths can easily be prevented by taking an EKG. Heart conditions are genetic, but that does not mean that only athletes who are inclined of having a condition should get tested. All athletes should get tested regardless of genetics since it saves lives and it is the only way one will know if they have a condition that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

I enjoyed reading this article because I think EKGs are very important and that all competitive should get tested. It was very informative for people who do not understand the consequences of having heart conditions that they are unaware of having. Since some athletes have died from sudden cardiac arrest, I do not understand why some athletes choose not to use EKGs.

Review by M. Imperiale

Big Benefits Are Seen From Eating Less Salt

According to studies performed by the collaborators at The New England Journal of Medicine, cutting out salt in one's diet can reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke greatly. Their research has found that if everyone were to consume half a teaspoon less of salt each day, at least 54,000 heart attacks and 44,000 deaths would be prevented each year. Scientists are trying to encourage food manufacturers and distributors to decrease the amount of sodium in American food products to allow for the better health of the population. The New York City government has declared its partaking in this movement-- by urging restaurant chains to reduce salt in their products by twenty-five percent in the next five years. As well, the Food and Drug Administration has been considering making it mandatory to have warning labels for foods with high levels of sodium, similar to the warning labels on cigarette packages. A spokesperson added, "we are actively looking at how to improve the nutrition content of the American content." Although, not all scientists agree with this study. Michael Alderman, a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine implied reducing the levels of sodium in one's diet may have negative affects as well-- such as insulin resistance and hormonal imbalances. Trying to get everyone to cut salt out of their diet might be too hard for patients to oblige by according to Dr. Bibbins-Domingo. Most of these physicians mutually agree that smoking is a bigger problem in the US and we should be focusing on preventing this more serious addiction.
This article contributes to our universial knowledge about health. Salt has been said to be a factor of many different physical problems one might face, including the ones mentioned above. My father suffers from Meniere's disease, which, in short, is a type of intense vertigo. To subdue his symptoms, he's had to experiment with his diet frequently. He found his symptoms were the least occuring when he cut salt out of his diet. Personally, I do not know the relation of levels of sodium and vertigo, but in agreement to this article and my father's experience, high levels of salt cannot be good for someone.
I found this article from the New York Times in the Health section. I really liked how it compared the two sides of the presented arguement. As well, the points made from each side of the debate were valid. Although, the article could have gone into more detail about how salt affects your body. I would have benefited from the author explaining the process in which it is absorbed and so forth, and how it affects your day to day activity.

Original Article Posted Below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/health/nutrition/21salt.html?ref=research

Quake Finds Tsunami Forecasts Still Limited By KENNETH CHANG Published: March 2, 2010

James Harrison-Current Event

When a magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred on the ocean floor off Chile on Saturday, there were concerns of a repeat of the 2004 disaster in which a giant earthquake off Indonesia generated a tsunami that killed thousands of people hours later in Sri Lanka and India. In Hawaii, the scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning center expected a dangerous tsunami and called for the evacuation of Hawaii. But the waves there turned out to be smaller than what was initially expected, causing little or no damage. Resulting in the lack of knowledge of the art and science of tsunami forecasting. The reason for the false alarm was that magnitude 8.8 earthquakes can generate equally large tsunamis. If the earthquake occurs in shallower water, the uplift of the sea floor would displace less water, setting off a smaller tsunami. The seismic signals provide some clues, but not definitive information. Just five years ago, there would have been no midocean tsunami buoys between Chile and Hawaii, and forecasters would have been left guessing at the size of the waves until they hit. With the numerous buoys detecting the tsunami scientist could calculate the height of the wave. Dr. Titov said his model predicted the wave heights fairly accurately. This time, there were no deaths, and the tsunami pushed waters, at most, only a few feet above normal. Officials said the decision to order an evacuation in Hawaii, the first since 1994, was the right one given the uncertainties of the models. With time scientist will be able to be very confident in their predictions especially with the increase in the amount of buoys that are in the water.

Tsunami Forecasting is related to science and is important because it helps save lives. With new technology we will be able to predict whether or not a full-scale evacuations are necessary. Also we are lucky that today we have created these buoy’s that can alert the Pacific Tsunami Warning centers because just imagine if we didn’t know there was a tsunami and had a repeat of the disaster in 2004.

The article was interesting in many ways. I like how the article was easy to read and understand but at times it felt very repetitive. I also found it very interesting because this topic can affect the lives of many. In conclusion I enjoyed reading this article and learn what scientists are doing to forecast tsunamis

Evidence That Little Touches Do Means So Much

In the article Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much, Benedict Carey of the New York Times tells us of a new, rather peculiar study. Carey introduces the study with the description of another very similar study. For quite a while, physiologists have researched and examined body language, a unique vocabulary that we as humans may not notice. A smile, a wink, or a sour face we might make at an enemy all have special meanings that we might not be able to explain in words. However, we don’t have to; our body is capable of interpreting body language far faster than we process words. Another subconscious language that we seem to ignore is human touch. A high five, fist bump, or a pat on the back all have special meaning that we might not understand, but our body does. Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Cal Berkeley, tells us that touch is the first language we learn as human beings. He also tells us that touch is “our richest means of emotional expression.” When a student receives a pat on the back from a teacher they are twice as likely to participate in the classroom. Emotion expressed through touch can not only give us confidence in the classroom, but also on the field. A research team from Berkeley, led by Michael W. Kraus, took the study onto the NBA court. Psychologists consider basketball to be a sport where the strongest bonds between players are formed through human touch. After observing each and every team of the National Basketball Association, the Cal team concluded that the two teams that interacted the most using fist pounds, chest bumps, and high fives were the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Coincidentally, these two teams were of the best in the NBA. The two teams who interacted the least through touch were the Charlotte Bobcats and the Sacramento Kings. And these franchises are of course, two of the worst teams in the NBA. Two of the “touchiest” players in basketball were Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh. Bosh of the Toronto Raptors is considered one of the best forwards currently in basketball and Garnett not too long ago led his team to a championship win. “Within 600 milliseconds of shooting a free throw, Garnett has reached out and touched four guys,” Dr. Dacher Keltner said. The secret behind the high five and chest bump is simply the excitement it provides and the stress that it relieves.
Although this research carries well into sports, there is an incredible amount of science in athletics that we often take for granted. After scoring a goal or basket in a close game, players yell, fist pump, and most importantly, make contact with their teammates. Believe or not, that chest bump that you and a teammate connect with exchanges cortisol stress hormones with oxytocin, a hormone that helps create a feeling of trust. When the frontal lobe of the brain is relaxed, problem solving becomes a simpler process and you are able to perform better no matter the task.
The sole problem with the article is that as studied the topic is, the theory is not confirmed. The problem is certainly not with Benedict Carey but rather with the psychologists who have conducted these surveys, interviews, and examinations. There is room to say that this is simply coincidental, but the research seems very convincing. This article was incredibly interesting, especially in the eyes of an athlete. Due to the fact that all I am able to say about the article is that the theory it addresses might be wrong, it is very well presented and researched.

Transplants That Do Their Job, Then Fade Away

At the age of eight months old, young Jonathan Nunez needed a liver transplant because of his acute liver failure. Three years later, the body rejected the transplant by wasting it away until there was nothing left of it. This is exactly what Dr. Tomoaki Kato wanted. In 2006, Kato performed Jonathan’s transplant at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Instead of Jonathan dying like anyone would expect if a liver transplant wasted away, his old liver regenerated. This new and very unusual transplant surgery is only available for children that are eligible. This surgery also helps kids live normal lives without needing to take antirejection medications that can destroy the immune system and set risks for cancer. This new surgery is when part of the diseased liver is taken out and part of a donor liver is put into the body as well, unlike a traditional transplant, where the diseased organ is replaced completely by a new one. At first, the patient must take antirejection drugs, but then overtime they can stop taking it while their organ regenerates and gets rid of the transplant. This process can take more than a year, and in Jonathan’s case, 3 years. Now, working at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, Dr. Kato wants to promote this surgery to get more patients off of immunosuppressant. The surgery was first tried in Europe in the 1990s, and since then there has been mixed results. Kato believes that the key for the surgery is a child, since they have different systems. He has worked on children from ages 8 months to 8 years. Six out of seven of his patients had successful surgeries and his seventh is on its way to taking away the medications. At Kings College in London, England, 20 surgeries have been done between the ages of one and sixteen. These surgeries came out with seventeen survivors, fourteen of them rejuvenating the livers, and one needing a second transplant. Even though this surgery can work, it is very dangerous and is only available to patients more on the healthy side. Jonathan now lives a happy life in Miami, which makes others hopeful, According to Dr. Langnas, “When it works, it’s cool.”

This topic is related to science and it important because it helps save lives, without taking away opportunities from the patient. Even though the process is long and hard, it gives hope to children that they can be saved from acute liver failure. This also has to do with biology with the functions of the body and how it may not always work. The article also mentioned how 525 people under the age of 18 needed a liver transplant in the past year, which means that the world needs to help out one another and find new ways to cure the diseases.

What I thought about the article was that it was very informative, but there were also some issues I had with it. For one, the article was all over the place and was repetitive in some places. Also, it was hard to follow since bits of information were scattered around the article. What I would like to know more about is more statistics as a whole world, and not just for one doctor in certain countries.

"Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age, Study Finds"- Caitlin G

Rabin, Roni C. "Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age, Study Finds - NYTimes.com."

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2010. .

“A rare study that tracked thousands of children through adulthood found the heaviest youngsters were more than twice as likely as the thinnest to die prematurely, before age 55, of illness or a self-inflicted injury.” This was published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. It is one of the largest studies to have tracked children using detailed information on weight and risk factors were gathered such as high cholesterol. Helen C. Looker, senior author of the paper and assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City says, “This suggests that obesity in children, even prepubescent children, may have very serious long-term health effects through midlife — that there is something serious being set in motion by obesity at early ages. We all expect to get beyond 55 these days.”

This article is very important in today society because obesity is a growing problem in the world and especially in the United States. These issues are affecting children unnecessarily. They should not be ruining their lives even before their teenage years. Measures should be taken to cease children eating themselves to death. Hopefully this article will help in that movement.

This article was very informative and it got straight to the point and I liked that. The author used a nice vocabulary that was easy to understand, but at the same time was semi advanced. The paragraph spacing was relatively clear and had structure. The data was obtainable and mostly organized.

Minerals in Mars Point to More Recent Presence of Water

The article called “Minerals in Mars Point to More Recent Presence of Water” is about how scientists are now seeing global mineralogical signs that the planet was wet for the first two billion years of its existence.  An article in the November issue of the journal Geology,  says that scientists working with data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter report that they have spotted widespread deposits of opals and related minerals on the surface of Mars. Opals belong to a class of minerals known as hydrated silicas. The formation of hydrated silicas requires water. The opal deposits lie in areas that appear to have formed only about two billion years ago. And that spacecraft have detected other water-bearing minerals like clays in regions that date back more than 3.5 billion years. The article goes on to say that in July scientists reported that the orbiter had detected vast deposits of the claylike minerals on the older terrains. Images also showed ancient lakebeds with accumulations of the minerals, indicating standing water persisted for thousands of years.  And that the presence of water on Mars has been known for many years; its ice caps, which can be seen from space, are made of frozen water.
    This affects humans in many different ways. For example, if the scientists are able to discover why the water disappear maybe they will be able to bring it back. And once earth is destroyed maybe we could live on Mars. In addition, once we are able to find out where the water went we may be able to discover if anything living lived on Mars. And if they can figure out what happened to the water, then maybe we could use the water here on earth for our daily purposes.
    The article was interesting in many ways. First, I like how the article was  easy to read and understand. In addition, I like how they used scientist to back up their ideas and I like how they used pictures to get their point across. And I like how this topic is current to today. In conclusion I enjoyed reading this article and doing the current event on this article as well.

Chang, Kenneth. "Minerals on Mars Point to More Recent Presence of Water." New York Time 3 Nov. 2009.

Posted by S. Chrappa

“One Bowl= 2 servings. F.D.A May Fix That”

“One Bowl= 2 servings. F.D.A May Fix That” by William Neuman discusses the problems with nutrition and serving sizes in America. The Food and Drug Administration wants to encourage companies to put the nutritional information on the front of food packages. The serving sizes of many foods are too small and unrealistic which makes the calorie count misleading. The F.D.A wants to make sure that consumers make healthier choices and improve their diets.
The F.D.A also wants to set rules to stop manufacturers from highlighting only the good things about their food and ignoring the bad things. For example, some products say “No Trans Fat” in bold but they neglect to mention the fact that there is a lot of saturated fat in the product. Also, the Nutrition Facts on products are often very small print so people have trouble reading it. It kind of almost seems that the manufacturers are trying to hide something.
The serving sizes used today were created in the early 1990s. They were determined by surveys on what Americans were consuming taken in the 1970s and 1980s. These are out of date and nutritionists say the surveys are wrong because often people underestimate the amount that they eat. If these problems are fixed it could help fight obesity.
I thought this article was very interesting. It got the point across and it wasn’t very hard to understand. I feel like it was able to show how crucial this issue is and show that misleading calorie counts and serving sizes are huge problems. Many of the points made in the article were also supported with a lot of detail and statistics. I didn’t really think about this issue before reading this article and the author brought it to my attention. I like how it shows all the positives and negatives of putting the nutritional information on the front of the package. It is also very informative and I like the part in the article where it talks about the potato chips and how ridiculous it is that the serving size is one ounce. I believe that it would be a good idea to change the serving sizes and put the nutritional value information of the front so people know exactly what they’re eating contains and how much.
I learned a lot from this article. I learned to be careful when reading the nutrition facts and to make sure I am careful and look at the serving size etc. I also learned that many manufacturing companies try to trick their customers into believing that they are eating something healthier than it actually is. In general I learned that this is a very important issue because if it is fixed it could help with the huge problem of obesity. It could help because people wont be confused by the nutrition facts and there will be reasonable servings so people will more accurately know the amount of calories and fat they are consuming etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/business/06portion.html?pagewanted=2&ref=health
Neuman, William. "One Bowl = 2 Servings. F.D.A May Fix That." nytimes.com. N.p.,5 Feb. 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2010.
posted by D. Bellitto

“Both Parent’s Ages Linked to Autism Risk”

Rabin, Roni. “Both Parent’s Ages Linked to Autism Risk” NYTimes.com 8 February2010.8 February2010.

The journal Autism Research published a study that has connected the increasing ages of parents to growing rates of autism. Since the 1990s, researchers have observed and analyzed data from 5 million births. 12,159 cases of autism have been noted out of the millions. These cases seem to link the occurrence of autism to the increasing age of the parents themselves. The study reveals that the risk of autism increases 59% when fathers over forty are coupled with mothers under thirty as opposed to pairings with younger fathers. The risk of women aged thirty and older coupled with fathers forty and older only rose 13%. It is also noted that every 5 years added to a mother’s age increases the chances of autism by 18%. Despite these startling trends, many experts are cautious about accepting this information as a reason for the explosion in the rates of autism. “The rise in autism is occurring among children of parents of all ages,” stated epidemiology graduate student Janie Shelton. “We can’t say that the shifting trend of maternal age is responsible for the increased rates of autism.” The new studies also contradict earlier findings related to the subject of parental aging and autism. Previous research demonstrated that increasing paternal age was linked to autism, however maternal age was not a large factor. In the recent studies, scientists have discovered that the difference between the mother’s age and the father’s age actually cause an increase in the risk of potential autism in the child. There is much data to comprehend through these new studies, however, the information that is collected is essential to the understanding of autism. This new research sheds some light on the increasing occurrence of autism, as well as its possible causes. 

For years, the debate of the causes of autism raged, with some blaming vaccines for its occurrence in younger children. This suspicion has recently dwindled, and this study adds even more proof that other factors are to blame. This is extremely important. Autism is a growing phenomenon in many areas, with numbers and statistics sharply increasing over the years. A better understanding of autism may aid scientists in their efforts to prevent, combat, and treat it. From what this research demonstrates, the paternal age seems to be an increasingly important factor in the occurrence of autism. The findings of this study will further science’s understanding of autism which may lead to treatment and prevention in the future.

This article by Roni Rabin of The New York Times proved to be highly informative. The structure was relatively clear and concise, and the data was presented in a mostly organized fashion. Overall, the information was helpful and relevant. At points, the article referenced to other studies and experiments, which made parts of it slightly unclear and confusing. I would suggest adding some data regarding the rising rates of autism throughout the country, and not just in California. This article’s scholarly format and straightforward presentation enhances the reader’s understanding of the issue at hand.