Current Event 7- Rachel Roberts

Rachel Roberts

3/27/19

Eschner, Kat. “Your Skin's Melanin Can Conduct Electricity, and Scientists Want to Harness It.”

Popular Science, 27 Mar. 2019, www.popsci.com/eumelanin-conduct-electricity.     

For my current event, I decided to read an article titled, “Your Skin’s Melanin Can Conduct Electricity, and Scientists Want to Harness it” by Kat Eschner. The article mainly focuses on a substance known as eumelanin, which is the pigment that colors human skin, hair, and eyes. It has been known for a while that this pigment can conduct electricity; however, not enough to be useful. In its natural form, eumelanin is too untidy on a molecular level to efficiently conduct electricity. Fortunately, an interdisciplinary team of Italian scientists discovered a process that increases eumelanin’s conductivity. Alessandro Pezzella, an organic chemist Italian on the team from the University of Naples Federico II said, “This is the first [stepping] stone of a long process that now can start.” They developed a particular process that organized the molecules in a way that electricity would be able to flow from electron to electron. The process is essentially heating the pigment in a vacuum; it removes the oxygen and water vapor. Without the extra molecules, the pigment becomes much more conductive. Even though this process allows eumelanin to conduct much more efficiently, it is still just a pigment. Its conductivity is much weaker in comparison to metals. However, Pezzella and his team were able to increase the conductivity by more than nine orders of magnitude which allows it to be much more helpful in the scientific field.

Since Pezzella and his team of Italian scientists were able to increase the conductivity of the pigment eumelanin, it can be useful in many more scientific studies. For example, the increase of its ability to conduct caused the pigment to be in a range that is helpful for bioelectronics. Also, organisms including humans do not have any adverse reactions to eumelanin so, it could be used in ways such as to coat medical implants or any other devices meant to go inside the human body. Although it may be a long way off, the ability to use eumelanin could significantly help people who need certain types of bioelectronics and medical implants that may not be available currently.

When reading the article by Kat Eschner, there were many good aspects of her writing.

She explained the information in the article very well. I was able to understand it although I have no previous knowledge on the topic. Also, she integrated the story of finding the process for making eumelanin more conductive into her article while also giving the main details of the research. This allowed me to get a full picture of how important this topic was and how it could affect research, especially in bioelectronics in the future. While Eschner did a good job explaining the research and the story, the article itself could be choppy. There were areas in the article where the focus of the paragraph would flip between two subjects. It often confused me as I wouldn’t know what was being mentioned at the moment. It would be much better if each paragraph had its focus so there could not be any confusion on the topics. Lastly, while her article was grammatically correct, there were several areas where it was very wordy and made me go back and read the sentence multiple times. For example, Eschner wrote, “Eumelanin is much better able to conduct.” When writing articles for a website that is open for anybody of any career or interest to look at, it is much better to stay with more simple syntax and grammar so more people would be able to understand fully.  

Current Event 7

Tenzing Pixley

Core Biology C ODD

Current Event Review 7

Thursday, March 28th, 2019

Overbye, Dennis. “Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/science/stephen-hawking-final-paper.html.

“Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” by New York Times science writer Dennis Overbye ponders on one of the most polarizing questions in science. Is it possible to escape from a black hole? Since the idea was first proposed by acclaimed scientist Stephen Hawking, black holes have been “explored” numerous times in science-fiction media. From Star Trek to Interstellar it seems that they have become a staple of pop culture over the past few decades. However, humanity has never even been inside one, more or less seen one of these fabled calamities.

Overbye begins his essay by going over the storied career of the titular scientist, Stephen Hawking. He writes about how Hawking proposed the idea and how black holes function outside of both space, time and gravity. The author states that “Black holes are objects so dense that, according to Einstein’s law of general relativity, not even light can escape.” Scientist Andrew Strominger has also discovered that there are small light rays emanating from a black hole, allowing for it to possibly be analyzed in the future.

These small light rays, called “soft hairs” by Strominger, are crucial in finding out more information on black holes. Since they warp the perception of gravity, space, time and light, making them virtually invisible, these soft hairs may be the key in figuring out how they work and what can possibly lay inside of a black hole. Due time, once these soft hairs are analyzed, they can provide greater answers for how gravity and black holes operate. They may also debunk or prove many fictitious renditions of black holes in media and pop culture.

All in all, Overbye did a good job conveying his points in the article. I found it to be very informative as I thought that black holes would remain shrouded under a veil of mystique without their workings ever being exposed. Overbye also includes quotes from Stephen Hawking and many other scientists, furthering the context. However, it takes him a while to introduce the new discovery of soft hairs. In fact, this is revealed at about halfway through, causing me to lose my interest to a certain degree until reaching that point.

Fireball over Bering Sea

Will Grant                                                                                                                                     3/20/19
Core Biology                                                                                                                   Current Event 6

          Patel, Neel V. “A Meteor Exploded over the Bering Sea with the Energy of 10 Atomic Bombs.” Popular Science, 18 Mar. 2019, www.popsci.com/bering-sea-meteor-explosion-10-atomic-bombs.

          Reading, “A Meteor Exploded over the Bering Sea with the Energy of 10 Atomic Bombs,” was a pretty scary, yet funny read. The article tells of a 10m meteor entering our atmosphere. This fireball didn't land but it got close. Although small compared to other meteors, it still got pretty close it us. The space rock exploded 16 miles above the Bering sea, or 3 Mount Everest's, on December 18. It did not do any damage to anything as it was over the Bering Sea. The part that scares scientist is the fact we never saw it coming. We didn't know years before, days before, or even hours before, it just happened. With an explosion of 175 kilotons of TNT the explosion was roughly equivalent to 10 Hiroshima's. People now talk of the event as the statistics were released a week ago and nobody besides Siberians and Alaskans knew of the event(and space agencies).

           This is impacts society greatly. If a meteor comes in the future like this one, over New York City in can cause huge amounts of damage without even hitting the surface. This fireball is the second largest fireball since the one over Chelyabinsk 6 years ago. The problem is that scientists are not looking for meteors the size of these ones as they usually do not do anything and just dissipate. This causes them to not even realize that ones like the Chelyabinsk one and this one are getting dangerously close to earth. This has been a wake up call for scientists as a fireball this size that exploded over NYC would kill thousands as buildings would collapse.

            I loved reading this article. Patel is very funny adding puns and funny captions on pictures that made it very fun to read. The information was also very good and Patel used interviews with scientists to explain the problem of this meteor explosion. I actually have no suggestions for the article. I bet there might have been some minor things that I didn't notice, but I felt that there was nothing important to improve on. 

X-Rays Could Provide Crucial Clues in Identifying Domestic Violence

Caroline Hulbert

3.20.19

Bio 10H

Current Event 6

Wetsman, Nicole. “X-Rays Could Provide Crucial Clues in Identifying Domestic Violence.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 6 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/radiologists-identifying-domestic-violence.

In the article I chose to review, “X-Rays Could Provide Crucial Clues in Identifying Domestic Violence,” the author Nicole Wetsman discusses how victims of domestic violence can be identified through the use of x-ray scans. She talks about a study done by Bharti Khurana, the director of Emergency Musculoskeletal Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. After attending a presentation about how often clinicians miss the signs of domestic violence, Khurana conducted a study to identify the injury patterns seen in the scans of victims of intimate partner violence. Khurana’s team began by reviewing the records of 185 patients who had been referred to the hospital’s Intimate Partner Violence support program from January to October of 2016. These cases were then compared to a control group of 555 emergency room patients of similar ages and sexes from the same time period. The study found that patients experiencing domestic violence had had four times as many images taken than patients in the control group. Victims of partner violence were also found to have more obstetric-gynecological problems and facial fractures. Khurana states that radiologists “don’t see the patient or their partner, and don’t have those factors unconsciously coloring their interpretations,” which is important when determining if someone is a victim of domestic abuse. Khurana plans to expand on these findings outside of the emergency department. Her long-term goal is to create a tool to aid and alert radiologists if they are looking at the images of a patient whose injuries were likely caused by partner violence.

This article is incredibly relevant to an issue not uncommon in society. Domestic abuse and intimate partner violence often goes unnoticed, even after victims are admitted to the emergency room. The fact that this study identified injury patterns in abuse victims will make it easier for radiologists and physicians to identify which of their patients are victims of intimate partner violence. Showing these specific injuries would help social workers talk to victims and would be helpful evidence in a court of law if the patient decided to pursue legal action.

There were many aspects of this article that were well-done. The author does a good job including a lot of detail about how and why Khurana decided to start her study. The article also has a large impact on the reader, as it begins by describing a former patient of one of Khurana’s colleagues that was likely suffering from intimate partner violence, however she was dismissed from the hospital. Some information that would have proven useful in the article would have been if the author had included more information about the patients involved in the study, such as how severe the abuse they experienced was and how that may have had an effect their scans. Including statistics and more information about the signs of domestic abuse that clinicians often miss would also be beneficial in contributing to the overall understanding of how important this study is.

Griffin Patterson

3/17/19

Biology odd

Current event 6

Onishi, Norimitsu. “Mozambique Cyclone Rescuers Struggle to Reach Victims in 'Inland Ocean'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/world/africa/mozambique-cyclone.html.

For my current event I decided to read an article by Norimitsu Onishi called Mozambique Cyclone Rescuers Struggle to Reach Victims in 'Inland Ocean'.”  The main idea of this article was to portray how badly this cyclone was to Mozambique but other countries surrounding it as well. As said in the article “ The storm swept across Mozambique on Thursday night before turning inland into neighboring Malawi and Zimbabwe. It is believed to have affected more than 1.5 million people in the three nations. This cyclone unfortunately hit very hard on mainly poor countries in Southern Africa. This caused Mozambique and numerous other countries in Southeast Asia to try to find a new home for them and their families because this cyclone destroyed almost everything in sight. The central point at where the cyclone was creating the worst damage was in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The article stated that” Rescue workers struggled Tuesday to reach areas devastated by a huge cyclone in Mozambique, as heavy rains swelled rivers and further isolated flooded communities in what aid agencies called the worst natural disaster in southern Africa in two decades. While this cyclone is bad at the moment, when it was over the real damage was done. The breaking apart of families and as the article stated” Relief officials warned that delays in reaching survivors could lead to an outbreak of illnesses, including cholera and malaria”. Not only is Mozambique and other African countries in a lot of financial trouble after the cyclone there is also the spreading of disease which can take lives very easily.   

This recent cyclone in Mozambique shocked the world and really got the world thinking about how we can help poorer countries after a huge disaster like this one. Other countries who are financially stable can help financially poorer countries after a huge disaster to get them back on their feet. President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi said  “ The water level has gone down, and people in the lower areas have been moved to higher ground,. But, the displaced were now in desperate need of new shelter, food, clean water and medicine. This is where the more fortunate countries would step in and help get Mozambique get back to normal. This overall shocked the world also because it was the biggest natural disaster in Southern Africa in over two decades. This should undoubtedly get other countries thinking of how they can help these poor countries like Mozambique get back on their feet financially.

Norimitsu Onishi overall, wrote a very strong and intriguing article. The most effective thing he did was use outside sources not only the information presented to him. He got one of his pieces of text from twitter said by the Mozambique governor. He was also very outgoing with his points and really presented them in a way that got me thinking of how bad this cyclone really was. This also got me thinking of how I could help. But,  despite the success in this article there are some things he could work on. For example get information from an actual person who experienced this cyclone because it really will embrace how Mozambique is doing right now. From the eyes of this person, you would be able to tell how bad this cyclone really was on the people. If he would've included insider information from a actual person from Mozambique who experienced the cyclone then the article would have been a little more intriguing.      

“Rabid Animals Don't Always Foam at the Mouth-Here's What to Look out for Instead”

Ava Chiang

3/11/19

Biology Odd / C

Current Event 5

Maldarelli, Claire. “Rabid Animals Don't Always Foam at the Mouth-Here's What to Look out for Instead.” Popular Science, 11 Mar. 2019, www.popsci.com/rabies-virus-symptoms.

For my current event I decided to read an article by Claire Maldarelli called “Rabid Animals Don't Always Foam at the Mouth-Here's What to Look out for Instead.” The topic of this article is on how the symptoms for rabies on animals isn’t always shown through aggressive behaviour, foaming at the mouth, or other stereotypical rabies symptoms. Instead, many animals with th virus “simply act sick and lethargic, while others might simply drool and act more tame than they usually would” or the animal infected could act less nervous around humans “ which can lead to either aggression or docility, depending on the creature.” The article then described rabies symptoms for humans, which is similar to flu symptoms: aches, general weakness, fever, and headaches. After a few days and the virus progresses, it can lead to agitation, confusion, hallucinations, and ultimately death. Modarelli warns readers that though this disease “affects animals all over the world” and is “found in every continent except for Antarctica” animals such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes make up the majority of rabies cases in the US. But according to the “World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S., 99 percent of human cases that turn deadly come from dogs” because pets often act as links between humans and wild animals. Maldarelli concludes that to avoid contracting the virus, people should wash areas bitten by wild animals with soap and water to kill the virus and wash clothes or other items that came in contact with detergent or bleach. The virus needs to enter the body through an open wound or mucus membranes to infect your body but Immediate medical attention is recommended, doctors or other medical professionals can administer a series of vaccines and other medications called post-exposure prophylaxis to avoid contracting the virus. If its a pet that us at risk, than the owner should seek help from an vet to be tested and vaccinated.

This article describes the dangers of rabies and how carelessness when handling wild animals or pets can lead to the death of a loved one or a pet. Though there was only ten cases of human deaths due to rabies in the US, more than 55,000 people are killed by this infectious disease worldwide every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control this is “mostly in Africa and Asia, where access to the vaccine is scarce.” Regardless of medications available, the rabies virus still proves to be deadly and a risk that should be taken care of immediately and with care.

Maldarelli wrote an thorough and powerful article that warns against carelessness when treating diseases, even the ones with medications and vaccines that can cure it. She also encourages people to treat suspicions of infections seriously and cautions against interactions with wild animals. Her article had a fast pace and flowed smoothly, which is its best quality. However, Massarelli's article seemed to be too factual and statistic orientated, which made it seem like an instructions manual on how to treat rabies and doesn’t go with her title. An possible improvement would be inclusion of examples of how rabid animals without stereotypical rabies symptoms harmed humans. By including specific cases, Maldarelli would’ve been able to connect to her readers empathetically and improved the effect of her article.

Current Event 5

Megan Barker 3/11/19

Bio 10H C Odd Current Event 5

Rettner, Rachael. "Why Are More Young People Having Heart Attacks?." Live Science. N. p., 2019. Web. 12 Mar. 2019.

https://www.livescience.com/64945-heart-attacks-young-people.html

In the article “Why Are More Young People Having Heart Attacks?” by Rachael Rettner, scientists explore recent findings which find that adults in their ‘20s and ‘30s are at an increased risk of heart attacks. The article explains how heart attacks are just as lethal as they are in older adults. She describes how in years past, it was extremely uncommon for younger adults to suffer heart attacks. She goes on to explain the study in detail, in which 2,100 heart attack patient cases from 2000-2016. She includes shocking statistics, such as “1 in 5 patients, or 20 percent, were 40 or younger. But for the last 10 years of the study, the proportion of patients 40 and younger increased by about 2 percent each year”(Rettner). After explaining the study, Rettner gives a possible cause for this rise in heart attacks. She states that the cause may be increased substance usage, in drugs such as marijuana. She mentions that the evidence for this is not concrete. She adds that doctors are probably less likely to prescribe medicines such as Aspirins and Statins to younger heart attack victims.

This article is incredibly relevant to society. Younger people are increasingly suffering from heart attacks, and the risks that result from them. The fact that there is a new threat to the health and life of early adults is quite terrifying. Though it is important to know that the risk exists, it is equally important to note that scientists are still unsure of what is causing this increase in heart attacks. Still, this risk is incredibly prevalent in society, as it means that people who thought that they were not susceptible to heart attacks actually are.

This article was very well-written. It used clear structure and vocabulary, and was thus easy to read. Additionally, all of Rettner’s claims were supported by facts and studies. Additionally, the article was concise, but still informative. It did not feel as though Rettner was leaving any information out. That being said, her article still could have been improved. The title, for example, could be more relevant to the article. Her article does not actually answer the question of why more young people are having heart attacks, so it might be more relevant to title it “More Young People Are Having Heart Attacks,” or something of that nature. Additionally, it would have been effective if Rettner put more possible causes of these heart attacks in her article, such as the increase of prolonged stress and anxiety in millennials. This might have added to her article and help readers further understand the topic or possible ways to prevent getting a heart attack. Lastly, the paragraph describing how younger people take less aspirins and statins was unnecessary and did not add much to the article. Thus, the article could have been improved by the removal of that paragraph.

Current Event 5

Ben Davis
March 11, 2019
Core Biology
Current Event 5

Mervosh, Sarah. “An Unvaccinated Boy Got Tetanus. His Hospital Stay: 57 Days and $800,000.”
The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Mar. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/well/oregon-child-tetanus-vaccine.html.

For this week's current event I read Sarah Mervosh’s article, “An Unvaccinated Boy Got Tetanus.” The article was mainly about the importance of getting kids vaccinated to prevent them from becoming infected with life-threatening diseases. The text began by telling the story of a six-year-old boy from Oregon who contracted Tetanus after cutting his forehead on a fence. This was the first time the disease had been documented in 30 years. Tetanus is a very avoidable, as long as you get a proper vaccination. The boy from Oregon could have avoided two months of suffering in the hospital if his parents had gotten him a vaccination. The boy suffered from very painful muscle spasms that could be triggered by noises. The article goes on to talk about the dilemma of parents not giving their kids vaccinations. “Parents who do not vaccinate their children have expressed worries about side effects, concerns over cost, moral or religious objections, and fears that vaccines lead to autism — an idea that has been widely debunked.” Parents not vaccinating their kids has led to a measles outbreak across the United States. Many kids as soon as they turn eighteen begin getting vaccinations that they were deprived of as kids. Deadly diseases such as measles and tetanus are completely avoidable through simple vaccinations. Doctors have said, “When you see someone suffer from this disease, you completely understand why we immunize, this should never happen in our country.” The author is touching on the idea of whether vaccinations should be mandatory

Sarah Mervosh’s article has important implications in today's society. If kids like the boy from Oregon continue to not get vaccinations they will contract more deadly diseases like Tetanus. These diseases will spread to other people who have not gotten vaccinations and then the US will have a large population of sick people. This article also touches on the idea of whether kids should be forced to get vaccinations. As of now the decision to have a child vaccinated is left up to the parents, but I think if the child's life is in danger the parents should be forced to have their kids vaccinated. They believe that vaccines give kids autism has been disproven, so clearly, there is no excuse for kids not to be vaccinated.

Overall, Sarah Mervosh wrote a strong article. The most effective thing she did was talk about a controversial issue through the case of a six-year-old child. The telling of this story created sympathy for the side that kids should have to be vaccinated. No child should have to battle against the deadly disease that is tetanus when there is a clear way to stop it. Another thing Mervosh did well was talk about another disease that has spread as a result of people not getting vaccines. Despite the success of Mervosh’s article, there are some things she could work on. For example, she should have gone into more detail about why parents chose to not have their kids be vaccinated. She did not do a good job of telling the other side of the story. Had she done more research this would have been included in the article.

Chris Aherne
Mr. Ippolito
Current event 4
3-4-19

Saey, Tina Hesman. “Eating a Lot of Fiber Could Improve Some Cancer Treatments.” Science News, 1 Mar. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/eating-lot-fiber-could-improve-some-cancer-treatments?tgt=nr.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/eating-lot-fiber-could-improve-some-cancer-treatments?tgt=nr 

For my fourth current event, I decided to talk about the impact dietary habits have on cancers. As stated in the article "Eating a Lot of Fiber Could Improve Some Cancer Treatments" by science news, a cancer patients fiber intake could prove beneficial to there well being. The article states that a high fiber diet can slow or even reduce to growing size of the cancer. As seen with numerous skin cancer patients. The high fiber intake has also proven to be far more effective when paired with other treatments. "Those who ate a high fiber diet were five times as likely to have a therapy halt the growth of or shrink the tumors as those on low diets." In a more literal sense, the fiber concentration is what births the bacteria known as "Ruminococcaceae", which has proved itself beneficial to most cancer treatments. Only further proving a fiber diets effectiveness. 

This recent discovery shocked the medical and scientific world world for many reasons. First of which is that, cancer is diagnosed to 164 out of 100,000 men and women each year. And since we do not know the cure yet, this new treatment will prove beneficial to all cancer patients. It is not only very easy to do, but it is also very cheap (relative to other cancer treatments) which is essential to its use. Although, this dietary treatment is very new and cannot be deemed beneficial to society yet. 

Science news did a good job writing this article. One thing they did very well was going into great depths about the science behind the fibers effectiveness when dealing with cancer. However, they could have improved on their appeal to the reader. It became evident that there was a lack of rhetorical devices in the story, which just made it hard to read. There was no opinion or passion which made it hard to connect with.