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