Music seems to be a common factor in every one's lives nowadays. No matter our background we all have tunes we tend to listen to when we're stressed out and need to relax a bit. Over the years, the method of listening to our music on-the-go has changed tremendously. Around the time I was very young, I could remember the Walkman was a hot gadget that allowed people to listen to tapes on the go. Of course like all young kids do, I broke mine within a couple weeks, and didn't miss it too much.
Now with modern technology and creative engineers, music can be carried in large quantity, but is encased in a sleek compact player known as the iPod. What made me choose the iPod was it's popularity in almost every age group, household, or just flat out setting I've been in. After being on my third iPod myself, I figured it to be something to research on and see where this product came from and possibly see where it could be going.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
-Image Analysis-
The image above shows Claudia Mitchell, the first female to receive a prosthetic arm that is solely manipulated by her thoughts. What's special is not the bionic arm itself being displayed, but the sense that Claudia isn't ashamed of her new arm. Even though it will never be the arm she was born with, she looks to embrace it as if she had been born with it. Not only does the prosthetic arm allow her to do more normal activities with ease, but it actually seems to make her feel more confident as her normal self now.
After looking at the image, it gave me a sense of pride of being who I am no matter what my current situation may be. An even greater feeling is that people who lost limbs, or are disabled in any physical way has hope now to maintain a more normal life through prosthetics.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
-Top 10 Science Stories from Discover Magazines top 100 list-
80. Robots Evolve And Learn How to Lie
This article is very interesting in the sense that it speaks of robots functioning as humans. The thought of an actual machine having human feelings and judgement is sort of eerie, but at the same time beneficial. The possibilities of robots being able to function as humans would be a breakthrough in our medical fields for people with physical disabilities if there were someway of combing the robotic limbs with the human body. Maybe Irobot could be a reality someday....?
33. How to Erase a Single Memory
As seen from the title, neurologist, one in particular, has been experimenting with erasing certain memories from the brain. Joseph LeDoux, a neurologist in New York, conducts experiments on removing certain memories from the minds of rats in his lab. Since rats can't speak I find it hard to actually understand whether or not his experiments show any signs of success or just irritation. If there is progression his studies, then he would ease the minds of many troubled people.
60. Diamonds From Outer Space
As most guys do for birthdays and Christmas days, they're running to stores buying diamond rings for the one they call their own. Geologist Stephen Haggerty and his crew discovered what they think to be diamonds from outer-space. The makeup of the diamonds lack traits that are made naturally from the earth's core. Through tests and studies, the diamonds show traits that they're from interstellar space and their physical state only reinforces that theory. Hopefully a Diamond meteor falls in my back yard.-(Not too big though.)
2. Reawakening the Dormant Mind
Most of us college students forgot quickly the word "sleep" midway into our first semester on our college campuses. Well for a majority of unfortunate people, they're getting sleep by the years - literally. Coma patients remain in a mental mind state unknown to doctors and are unresponsive to their family and friends for long periods of time. While many doctors are not fully aware of what's actually going through the patients' mind, tests show that there is still activity in their dormant sleep. Luckily, loved ones won't have to suffer those tough visits to their dormant family member for long. A team of neurologists composed of Nicholas Schiff, Ali Rezai, and Joseph Giacino successfully awakened a man from a six year coma and left his family forever grateful. The success in this teams work will not only affect this single group of people, but many coma patients and their families around the world.
71. Tooth IDs Famed Egyptian Queen
From the sharp eye of an Egyptian general, Zahi Hawass combined a small molar on a box to an unknown mummy in one of Egypt's museums. What was then an unknown mummy was then found out to be an Egyptian Queen named Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut, a powerful queen dressed masculine and ruled with the same manner. From stories and Egyptian historians can tell, she was said to be obese and may have died of diabetes. Needless to say, her tooth has been saved to tell her story of her long rule over Egypt.
85. Semi-Identical Twins Discovered
While most twins are thought to made from an egg splitting and developing in the woman, another theory has been brought to doctors attention. Recent twins had looked to be made from two sperm cells fertilizing one female egg, then splitting to cause twins. While one of the offspring remained to be a healthy boy, the other twin, a female, had grown both male and female sexual reproduction organs. The further study of the twins could better help doctors point out children who may have sexual organ disorders before they actually occur.
36. Space Tourism Survives Fatal Blast
Since most of us are not employed with NASA, we do not have the privilege of exploring space and its mysterious plain. All the average human being can do is simply imagine. Well, a private company feels that shouldn't be the case anymore. Virgin Galactic, a private owned space shuttle company is funding a program to now provide space shuttles for outer space tourism. Although it would seem like making space-travel another honeymoon, or vacation, it could also be used to help educate younger students on space and it's vast wonders.
43. Human Genome Reveals Signs Of Recent Evolution
Humans, according to scientists, have thought to have evolved over time to adapt to their surroundings. Physical demands were needed more in prehistoric times due to the lack of technology in the world, which put more of a physical demand on the human body due to the lack of technology. Scientists claim that throughout the years, we have evolved in more mature, civilized beings with a higher intelligence than before. What is shocking, is that recent studies have shown that the human body is still evolving. Studies have shown that the skin, hair, and certain genes that fight disease have all become resistant to damage in most of the human beings studied. This observation could give us hints as to how the human body works fighting disease and maturing as a whole.
83. Why Loneliness Is Bad for You
Some people choose to live solo lives. Others for some reason, can't understand why they're lonely in the first place. Either way, studies performed by Steve Cole of UCLA and his crew show that lonely people tend to be sick more than those who have an active social life. Loneliness, an emotion, somehow affects the bodies immune system and weakens its defense against sicknesses. The tie between emotion and the bodies physical state is said to "fill in the gray area" of what doctors think to cause some illnesses.
8. Can Vitamin D Save Your Life?
Eating the correct foods is vital to living a healthy life. some people take pride in what they put in their bodies and try to maintain balanced meals throughout their day. What nutritionists recently found out, is Americans lack Vitamin D, which turns out to be a vital element in a persons overall health. Also, vitamin D shows signs of helping "cure cancer" and rickets in how it reacts with the human body. Not enough information is given to help prove that theory, but scientists in Boston University are working toward that goal.
This article is very interesting in the sense that it speaks of robots functioning as humans. The thought of an actual machine having human feelings and judgement is sort of eerie, but at the same time beneficial. The possibilities of robots being able to function as humans would be a breakthrough in our medical fields for people with physical disabilities if there were someway of combing the robotic limbs with the human body. Maybe Irobot could be a reality someday....?
33. How to Erase a Single Memory
As seen from the title, neurologist, one in particular, has been experimenting with erasing certain memories from the brain. Joseph LeDoux, a neurologist in New York, conducts experiments on removing certain memories from the minds of rats in his lab. Since rats can't speak I find it hard to actually understand whether or not his experiments show any signs of success or just irritation. If there is progression his studies, then he would ease the minds of many troubled people.
60. Diamonds From Outer Space
As most guys do for birthdays and Christmas days, they're running to stores buying diamond rings for the one they call their own. Geologist Stephen Haggerty and his crew discovered what they think to be diamonds from outer-space. The makeup of the diamonds lack traits that are made naturally from the earth's core. Through tests and studies, the diamonds show traits that they're from interstellar space and their physical state only reinforces that theory. Hopefully a Diamond meteor falls in my back yard.-(Not too big though.)
2. Reawakening the Dormant Mind
Most of us college students forgot quickly the word "sleep" midway into our first semester on our college campuses. Well for a majority of unfortunate people, they're getting sleep by the years - literally. Coma patients remain in a mental mind state unknown to doctors and are unresponsive to their family and friends for long periods of time. While many doctors are not fully aware of what's actually going through the patients' mind, tests show that there is still activity in their dormant sleep. Luckily, loved ones won't have to suffer those tough visits to their dormant family member for long. A team of neurologists composed of Nicholas Schiff, Ali Rezai, and Joseph Giacino successfully awakened a man from a six year coma and left his family forever grateful. The success in this teams work will not only affect this single group of people, but many coma patients and their families around the world.
71. Tooth IDs Famed Egyptian Queen
From the sharp eye of an Egyptian general, Zahi Hawass combined a small molar on a box to an unknown mummy in one of Egypt's museums. What was then an unknown mummy was then found out to be an Egyptian Queen named Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut, a powerful queen dressed masculine and ruled with the same manner. From stories and Egyptian historians can tell, she was said to be obese and may have died of diabetes. Needless to say, her tooth has been saved to tell her story of her long rule over Egypt.
85. Semi-Identical Twins Discovered
While most twins are thought to made from an egg splitting and developing in the woman, another theory has been brought to doctors attention. Recent twins had looked to be made from two sperm cells fertilizing one female egg, then splitting to cause twins. While one of the offspring remained to be a healthy boy, the other twin, a female, had grown both male and female sexual reproduction organs. The further study of the twins could better help doctors point out children who may have sexual organ disorders before they actually occur.
36. Space Tourism Survives Fatal Blast
Since most of us are not employed with NASA, we do not have the privilege of exploring space and its mysterious plain. All the average human being can do is simply imagine. Well, a private company feels that shouldn't be the case anymore. Virgin Galactic, a private owned space shuttle company is funding a program to now provide space shuttles for outer space tourism. Although it would seem like making space-travel another honeymoon, or vacation, it could also be used to help educate younger students on space and it's vast wonders.
43. Human Genome Reveals Signs Of Recent Evolution
Humans, according to scientists, have thought to have evolved over time to adapt to their surroundings. Physical demands were needed more in prehistoric times due to the lack of technology in the world, which put more of a physical demand on the human body due to the lack of technology. Scientists claim that throughout the years, we have evolved in more mature, civilized beings with a higher intelligence than before. What is shocking, is that recent studies have shown that the human body is still evolving. Studies have shown that the skin, hair, and certain genes that fight disease have all become resistant to damage in most of the human beings studied. This observation could give us hints as to how the human body works fighting disease and maturing as a whole.
83. Why Loneliness Is Bad for You
Some people choose to live solo lives. Others for some reason, can't understand why they're lonely in the first place. Either way, studies performed by Steve Cole of UCLA and his crew show that lonely people tend to be sick more than those who have an active social life. Loneliness, an emotion, somehow affects the bodies immune system and weakens its defense against sicknesses. The tie between emotion and the bodies physical state is said to "fill in the gray area" of what doctors think to cause some illnesses.
8. Can Vitamin D Save Your Life?
Eating the correct foods is vital to living a healthy life. some people take pride in what they put in their bodies and try to maintain balanced meals throughout their day. What nutritionists recently found out, is Americans lack Vitamin D, which turns out to be a vital element in a persons overall health. Also, vitamin D shows signs of helping "cure cancer" and rickets in how it reacts with the human body. Not enough information is given to help prove that theory, but scientists in Boston University are working toward that goal.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Attack Of The Clones
Attack of the Clones
When most people hear the word “clone”, they think of maybe a science fiction movie such as the Star Wars films, or some other image that the mainstream media portrays it to be. The thought of “making” a copy of oneself is by far a stretch of the imagination for most in society. Copying persona CD’s and DVD’s are a task for most as it is! Little do most people know, the ability to clone a living organism has been done in animals, crops, and almost in humans. Cory Nelms, a classmate of mine finds cloning a controversial but beneficial practice that could maybe save lives and cure certain chronic diseases. Read on.
Scientists have been investing plenty of their time and efforts working towards successfully cloning animals, and crops to better supply our ecosystem with a surplus of food to consume. Although most people don’t know it, we consume plenty foods genetically engineered with the methods used to clone other organisms, like animals. Although genetically engineered foods are not rejected in our stores or by our people, the act of genetically copying humans, or the term “cloning”, is widely rejected and feared amongst most our people and the government. Like most great breakthroughs, cloning humans has both great advantages, but scary disadvantages as well.
Although I have my own opinions on whether it should be legalized and practiced in our science labs, I wanted to get a second view opinion from my fellow peers on the issue. Read on.
The controversy with cloning humans has actually been around longer than people know. In late years, organizations have made claims to have actually cloned a person, but never have been able to supply proof of their success. Others claim that their works have succeeded, but just kept private to keep clones’ identities safe. Because it’s a diverse subject to talk about with so many pros but also so many cons, the subject has yet to be resolved legally in our court system. Either way, society wants to know what the outcome would be of this bold act of mankind.
After interviewing a peer of mines, Cory Nelms of New Jersey, I got to hear a second response to a “gray-area” topic in politics and ethics. When asked if cloning was right/ethical or not just for the sake of it, there were plenty of responses that could have went both way. “Cloning people takes away from the actual human/natural way of reproduction. If people were to stop reproducing naturally, then the world itself would change as a whole“ which I agree with. The word “natural” would have a new meaning if cloning were to be legalized in our country. People wouldn’t have children born to be their natural selves. Children would be engineered or copied as if they were a crop planted in a plain field. The diversity in physical traits in humans wouldn’t exist like they do today. The very flaws we have actually distinguishes us as unique people in its own way. Also since they are “copies” of ourselves, then who is to distinguish who if the clone were to commit horrible acts on others unaware of the circumstance? Would the clone be considered an actual person and given actual human rights under the constitution as we all are given? It brings about question after question when it comes to the negatives of cloning.
Like negatives of cloning, pros to cloning are vast.
Cloning can not only be as cosmetic as people make it to be, but can and should be used for medical purposes for ourselves. Many illnesses and defects could be cured with the aid of cloning humans. Most people suffer from fatal diseases that could be cured if cloning was allowed in our country. Allowing scientists to keep organisms to create a clone of yourself would allow them to keep “spare parts” just in case yours were to go wrong. “To save the life of a family member, most definitely. If it came to life and death, yes I would.” Like Mr. Nelms, others would like to be able to save the life of their family members who need major surgeries, such as heart transplants or donating kidneys to their relatives who need them. With cloning, the body parts are not taken from a living human but are stored for future use, a “spare” you could say. As proved with animals and crops being cloned, it helps to better produce goods at the same rate, but guarantees a good healthy product.
Although humans are more complex than animals and plants, the outcome is thought to turn out the same.
When most people hear the word “clone”, they think of maybe a science fiction movie such as the Star Wars films, or some other image that the mainstream media portrays it to be. The thought of “making” a copy of oneself is by far a stretch of the imagination for most in society. Copying persona CD’s and DVD’s are a task for most as it is! Little do most people know, the ability to clone a living organism has been done in animals, crops, and almost in humans. Cory Nelms, a classmate of mine finds cloning a controversial but beneficial practice that could maybe save lives and cure certain chronic diseases. Read on.
Scientists have been investing plenty of their time and efforts working towards successfully cloning animals, and crops to better supply our ecosystem with a surplus of food to consume. Although most people don’t know it, we consume plenty foods genetically engineered with the methods used to clone other organisms, like animals. Although genetically engineered foods are not rejected in our stores or by our people, the act of genetically copying humans, or the term “cloning”, is widely rejected and feared amongst most our people and the government. Like most great breakthroughs, cloning humans has both great advantages, but scary disadvantages as well.
Although I have my own opinions on whether it should be legalized and practiced in our science labs, I wanted to get a second view opinion from my fellow peers on the issue. Read on.
The controversy with cloning humans has actually been around longer than people know. In late years, organizations have made claims to have actually cloned a person, but never have been able to supply proof of their success. Others claim that their works have succeeded, but just kept private to keep clones’ identities safe. Because it’s a diverse subject to talk about with so many pros but also so many cons, the subject has yet to be resolved legally in our court system. Either way, society wants to know what the outcome would be of this bold act of mankind.
After interviewing a peer of mines, Cory Nelms of New Jersey, I got to hear a second response to a “gray-area” topic in politics and ethics. When asked if cloning was right/ethical or not just for the sake of it, there were plenty of responses that could have went both way. “Cloning people takes away from the actual human/natural way of reproduction. If people were to stop reproducing naturally, then the world itself would change as a whole“ which I agree with. The word “natural” would have a new meaning if cloning were to be legalized in our country. People wouldn’t have children born to be their natural selves. Children would be engineered or copied as if they were a crop planted in a plain field. The diversity in physical traits in humans wouldn’t exist like they do today. The very flaws we have actually distinguishes us as unique people in its own way. Also since they are “copies” of ourselves, then who is to distinguish who if the clone were to commit horrible acts on others unaware of the circumstance? Would the clone be considered an actual person and given actual human rights under the constitution as we all are given? It brings about question after question when it comes to the negatives of cloning.
Like negatives of cloning, pros to cloning are vast.
Cloning can not only be as cosmetic as people make it to be, but can and should be used for medical purposes for ourselves. Many illnesses and defects could be cured with the aid of cloning humans. Most people suffer from fatal diseases that could be cured if cloning was allowed in our country. Allowing scientists to keep organisms to create a clone of yourself would allow them to keep “spare parts” just in case yours were to go wrong. “To save the life of a family member, most definitely. If it came to life and death, yes I would.” Like Mr. Nelms, others would like to be able to save the life of their family members who need major surgeries, such as heart transplants or donating kidneys to their relatives who need them. With cloning, the body parts are not taken from a living human but are stored for future use, a “spare” you could say. As proved with animals and crops being cloned, it helps to better produce goods at the same rate, but guarantees a good healthy product.
Although humans are more complex than animals and plants, the outcome is thought to turn out the same.
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