Caroline Brashear
Mr. Ippolito
Core Biology
January 31, 2017
The article, “New Prospects for Growing Human Replacement Organs in Animals,” by Nicholas Wade, introduces the idea of growing human stem cells in pig embryos to be later used for human transplant, which has recently been successful for the first time. In order to do this, stem cells must be collected from a patient’s skin for the new organ to grow in a large animal like a pig, which will later be harvested and transplanted into the patient. A beneficial aspect to this approach is that since the organ will be made of the patient’s cells, there would be little risk of immune rejection. These human-organ-growing pigs are examples of chimeras, which are animals composed of both their own cells and that of a human, created by implanting human stem cells into an early pig embryo. The author also highlights some negative outcomes that could result from this process, which include the possibility of the human cells being incorporated into a pig’s brain or reproductive system, humanizing the animal in an undesirable way. All in all, to achieve the goal of growing human organs for transplant in a way that addresses ethical concerns about chimera research will require several years of development and testing, but it is achievable in the future, considering new techniques that allow human cells to be channeled into organs of interest and excluded for tissues such as that of the reproductive and brain.
I chose this article because it discusses a scientific breakthrough that could help many people in the future who are in need of organs. Currently, approximately 76,000 people in the United States are waiting for transplants, so new methods to help people in need are necessary.
This article was well-written, as it was easy to follow and each concept introduced was thoroughly explained. The author also did a good job of providing background information regarding prior trials of this method being tested, including previous successes and failures in the experimentation of this process. Additionally, the author provided quotes from biologists and their teams to provide the reader with an inside perspective. Although, one way the article could be improved would be to condense the information into less lengthy paragraphs and get the point across faster without including unnecessary repetitive explanations. Ultimately, it provided me with new in-depth knowledge on an interesting subject that will hopefully bring new success to the medical field.
Citation:
Wade, Nicholas. "New Prospects for Growing Human Replacement Organs in Animals."The New York Times. N.p., 26 Jan. 2017. Web. 31 Jan. 2017.
Jay Burstein
ReplyDelete1/12/16
Mr. Ippolito
Current Event 14
"Mars Mission Astronauts Could Experience Brain Damage, Study Says." CNN. Cable News
Network, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2017. .
My fellow classmate Kirsten Ircha wrote an extremely insightful and great review on, "Mars Mission Astronauts Could Experience Brain Damage, Study Says." Furthermore, Kirsten does an excellent job with a few aspects. For example, Kirsten does a great job with stating the negative effects of astronauts going to mars. Through this, I have a better understanding of the article. Also, I liked how Kirsten talked about the proposed situations to tackle this problem because of instead of just stating the downsides, she talks about the solutions to help this problem and it shows, there is a positive route at the end of the tunnel. Lastly, Kirsten's connection to society is spot on and is a great and true connection. Because of this, I can also have a better understanding of this insightful review.
While Kirsten's review is great, there are a few minor flaws. One is that some of her sentences are either too long or too short. She can very easily fix this by shortening her sentences so that they are precise and goes to the point that she is trying to make. In other words, her sentence structure has to be a little bit more consistent so that way, the flow of the review can be smoother. This review is still great despite this problem but if she fixed this flaw, the review will go from great to excellent. Also, another flaw is that she did not state what ancient supernovae which is the believed to be the harmful particles cause. She can easily fix this by giving at least a one sentence definition of ancient supernovae and if she did this, not only would I have understood the article better but it would have made it for an excellent review as well.
I enjoyed reading Kirsten's review very much and it was very informative. Moreover, it made me more aware of the future of this environment. After reading this, I learned and realized that a stabilized environment and solar system is vital to a sustaining society. Hopefully, more people can become aware of this huge problem in our society and, I hope that our government will soon make an effort to tackle this crisis before time runs out.
Julian Thomet
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Bio IH/ Current Events 1
02/01
Citation:
"Mars Mission Astronauts Could Experience Brain Damage, Study Says." CNN. Cable News
Network, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2017. .
A former biology student, Kirsten Ircha, wrote a response to the article "Mars Mission Astronauts Could Experience Brain Damage, Study Says." Her response does many things well. For starters, she summarizes the article in a way that is easy to understand for all. She explained what the problem with traveling to Mars would be (cell and tissue damage), as well as what would cause this damage (charged particles in space). Furthermore, Kirsten also explains what effect this would have on the astronauts (they would experience anxiety and depression). Another thing Kirsten did well was her use of quotes from the article. This allowed the reader to get a sense of what the article was like, and it included useful information about her topic. Kirsten followed this up by answering a question that most readers would ask themselves: Why have other astronauts not been affected by the particles? This explanation made the article easier to understand. Finally, Kirsten did a good job connecting the article to present day society. This is good, because, often times, it is easy to lose interest in a scientific article, and a connection to our world helps to make the article relevant in the reader’s mind.
There were, however, a couple of improvements that could have been made. For one, Kirsten switched back and forth between very basic vocabulary, which took no effort to understand, and strings of complicated words, which had to be read three times over before being understood. The solution to this is very simple: All Kirsten has to do is distribute her complex words throughout the review more evenly. The second thing which Kirsten could have improved upon is her explanation for what is currently being done to remedy the problem she mentions in her review. Although she mentioned a proposed solution in one sentence, she then moved on to the next idea, which leaves readers hanging, wanting to know more about the progress of these ideas, or what other ideas are possible. The solution is just to add the aforementioned items into her article.
One of the most illuminating moments in Kirsten’s review came when she explained how this problem may affect our ability to explore space, possibly to find a new, inhabitable planet to live on. Once Kirsten connected it to the fact that the Earth is rapidly becoming less inhabitable, I realized that this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed quickly. I realized that we, as a people, are running out of time before we have to find a solution to the problems facing our planet today, whether they include finding another planet or not. If our future does include having to find another planet, then this problem will become more and more relevant. The review of this article helped me to understand how important space travel is being affected, and even hindered, by the existence of certain conditions in space.
Catherine Faville
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Bio H/ Current event 1
"Mars Mission Astronauts Could Experience Brain Damage, Study Says." CNN. Cable News
Network, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2017. .
In the Core biology current even created by Kirsten Ircha, she discusses the article “Mars Mission Astronauts Could Experience Brain Damage, Study Says” from the cable news Network. The article describes the negative effects that could happen with astronauts traveling to mars. It said that the astronauts could have problems with memory, making decision skills and others, this derives from the radiation galactic rays that would be received on the way to Mars. Kirsten does a good job of going into very vivid detail of the exact mental disabilities that astronauts could receive traveling to Mars. Kirsten also as well did a excellent job of breaking the article down into the key components of the article, and not going into wordy and unnecessary detail, her details explain in depth the down sides of space travel. Kirsten described the quote from Charles Limoli, she broke down his quote describing exactly what would cause these mental illnesses, after citing the quote she analysed and assessed how the charged ions destroy cell tissue in the body and how this factor would affect the nine month trip to mars. The article also described how humans have to eventually learn to fix or understand the radiation in order to keep the human race alive long enough before resources on planet Earth run out. Along with many of these important facts in the article, Kirsten adds throughout her statement a source and sense of her own thoughts and personality, making her current event really her own and showing she truly understood the topic she chose.
Her piece is well done, however I believe there is room for her improvement in her writing. I would have liked to maybe get additional information on how or if the astronauts who went to the moon were affected by these cosmic waves, if they weren't affected or had very little effect, why would that be. Along with maybe her personal opinion or connection on how we as a society could possibly slow down or fix the fast population growth until scientist have discovered the pros and cons of a long space mission. Lastly really assessing the information in order for her readers to get a better knowledge of understanding of what she is trying to lay across. I chose to comment on this particle article because I have always been fascinated with space, because it is slowly expanding, making the it fun to try and learn or discover the unknown. After reading this It gave my outlook on space exploration more meaning, giving me the impression that further human space travel should be postponed until scientist understand the disadvantages or harm it could cause are explorers.