Are we living on a disk?

Posted on October 2, 2016 by | 2 comments

Have you ever thought about accepting any other shape but a sphere for the Earth? Recently, a friend of mine started talking about the Flat Earth Theory  and it sparked his curiosity. That got me thinking about looking in to this theory and evidence, if any.

Surprisingly, there is still a small amount of people that believe the almost ancient theory that Earth is a flat disk, known as the flat-earthers. They believe that Antarctica surrounds the perimeter of the disk as a wall to prevent people from going over the ‘edge’ and that the Earth is the centre of the universe. Not only does this just sound wrong, this theory has been disproven. But, it is interesting and crazy to think about how some people stray from the information we have always been taught.

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Flat Earth view Credit: Wikipedia

Flat-earthers manipulated what a NASA engineer stated about the danger of the Van Allen belts, saying that no humans can pass the belts. Despite all of the evidence people refuse to believe a trip into space was made. This report expands on the science behind the radiation belts and how Apollo went through them.

My confusion and annoyance as to why this theory is still believed is heightened because there is intangible evidence, such as observations from non-science background believers. If all the pictures from NASA weren’t enough evidence to discredit the Flat Earth theory, lets revisit a few more reasons.

Lunar Eclipses 

〉A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the plane of the Earth’s orbit and the Earth casts its shadow upon the Moon, which is rounded- only caused by a spherical object.

Lunar Eclipse Credit: Wikipedia & Tomruen

Gravity and Equations 

〉Isaac Newton discovered the force of gravity and tested it everywhere it could be tested and found that the force of gravity was constant on the planet, further strengthening the reasoning as to why the Earth is round.

〉The equation for determining force of gravity F= GMm/r^2 uses the Earth’s radius (which already assumes the Earth is spherical) has not been disproved for thousands of years which gives no arguments for flat-earthers.

Time Zones 

〉the reason time zones exist is that one region is completely dark versus an area that is completely lit which occurs while the Earth is in orbit and one side is facing the Sun versus the other facing away.

→versus flat-earther’s spotlight theory which wouldn’t allow for time zones as the Sun rays are considered to be parallel on all surfaces.

Although there is no legitimate reason for anyone to believe this theory, it definitely is astounding to think about why the flat-earthers believe this theory and why the theory is still considered so many centuries after all of this concrete evidence surfaced. It adds to how media can be manipulated and words can be interpreted into something completely different when science isn’t understood or explained to all audiences. Seems an Astronomy lesson may be due for them. (or two)

 

»Nikeisha Dass

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We Found Life in a Hopeless Place

Posted on October 2, 2016 by | 2 comments

What characteristics come to mind when one imagines a planet capable of supporting life? One would probably think of modern-day Earth: with our nice liquid water, plate tectonics, and comfy atmosphere, it’s a pretty sweet place to live, 2016 US election cycle notwithstanding. But there’s no denying our dear mother Earth has mellowed out over the years: the geological era spanning Earth’s infancy – lasting from the time of its formation approximately 4.6 billion years ago to around 4 billion years ago – is called the Hadean eon (after the Greek god of the underworld), and for good reason. During this period, the Earth’s crust was unstable, its surface was partially molten and constantly bombarded by other celestial objects, and its atmosphere was thick with gases toxic to most organisms today.

An artist's concept of the young Earth being bombarded by asteroids.

Artist’s impression of Hadean Earth. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab; Attribution: CC BY 2.0

Scientists long believed that the beginning of life on Earth could not have occurred during this hellish, inhospitable period of the planet’s history – that Hadean Earth was too molten, too devoid of liquid water to support life. The beginning of life was instead speculated to have occurred 3.8 billion years ago, within the Archean eon (the geological era directly following the Hadean) during which Earth had cooled such that the crust and by extension, liquid water oceans, could actually exist in a form stable enough to allow for life to form.

That is, until 2015.

Analysis of 4.1-billion-year-old zircon crystals – in other words, originating from the Hadean era – though preliminary, has cast doubts on the depiction of early Earth as being desolate and lifeless.

Jack Hills, Australia - where the Hadean zircon crystals were found. Image Credit: NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on Landsat data provided by the Global Land Cover Facility

Jack Hills, Australia – where the Hadean zircon crystals were found. Image Credit: NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on Landsat data provided by the Global Land Cover Facility; Attribution: Public Domain

You see, these zircon crystals act as miniature time capsules of sorts – they captured some surrounding material during their formation that was then preserved as impurities in the crystals. Upon studying the contents of these impurities, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles discovered something startling – a form of carbon almost exclusively associated with organic matter, specifically photosynthetic life. The kicker? Researchers have concluded that the carbon is even older than the 4.1-billion-year-old zircon that houses it.

So what does this mean for our understanding of Earth’s history, as well as life and its beginnings? Well, for geologists, these “traces of life” might indicate that the Hadean era may not have been as fire and brimstone as once believed – that Earth might have cooled down earlier than previously predicted. For biologists, these traces might indicate that life can be supported in conditions harsher than once thought possible. For yet others (particularly those interested in extraterrestrial life), the possibility that life could have arisen on Earth so soon after its formation invites thoughts that are excellently summarized by the reaction of another scientist in the same field of study: “if life arose relatively quickly on Earth … then it could be common in the universe.”

~ Kimberly Truong

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Ludela: a Controllable Candle

Posted on October 2, 2016 by | 3 comments

We all know about Smart phones and their benefits; now there is a Smart candle! A company has invented Ludela, a controllable candle, to allow people to use candles in their daily lives with less danger and inconvenience compared to regular candles. But, is Ludela all that great?

A Ludela Candle. Retrived from http://www.newsyy.com/chuangyiliwu/191.html

A Ludela Candle. Retrived from http://www.newsyy.com/chuangyiliwu/191.html

The reason why Ludela is a smart candle is that it can be controlled by the Ludela app on phones. One can light or extinguish the candle by tapping on a smartphone. Also, the app allows the user to control multiple candles, and there is a scene mode in the app. A person can choose the scene that he/she wants, such as the relaxation mode or dinner mode. Furthermore, if one wants a mode that the app does not provide, the user can set the brightness that is preferable.

The Ludela candle is well designed, so it always looks like a new candle, and the wick is not visible. It is covered by a shell, and the company provides different colors of shells to allow people to choose their favorite colors. Also, the shell is changeable, so one can have different colors of candles. There are some electronic boards between the shell and the wax, which is 100% natural and refillable. The main idea of these electronic boards is safety. They scan the environment before ignition, and they have a password to protect the candle light. If the candle falls off the table, it will extinguish automatically.

Shows how it light the Ludela Candle. Rretrive from http://www.ityears.com/smart/201609/19485.html#

Shows how it lights the Ludela Candle. Rretrive from http://www.ityears.com/smart/201609/19485.html#

Despite the claimed benefits, I do not think this candle is entirely safe because it still has a real flame. People may still burn their hands accidently, as with regular candles. Moreover, hot wax is still a dangerous issue. People will get hurt if the hot wax spills out.  The product has not been released yet into the market, so the disadvantages of the candle are not well-known yet. It may not work as well as the company describes.

Do we really need this candle? For some time now, there have been plastic and entirely safe candles, which are battery-powered. There is no real flame or hot wax to worry about. Furthermore, although Ludela is a creative product, the company may have had to do many tests to find suitable materials for the candle, a process costing a lot of money. A post on TechCrunch states that startup companies should consider the opportunity cost before starting a venture. People may not want to buy this candle since the plastic flameless candles are safer and not expansive, under $10.

According to a News18 report, the Ludela candle will be available on the market in early 2017. People can pre-order it at a price of $99 from the Ludela website.Other than the new technology, time will tell if consumers will pay the high price for a still dangerous flame and hot wax. Personally, I do not believe the candle is worth the price.

-Zhongkai He

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Robots build after cockroaches will save lives

Robots build after cockroaches will save lives

Cockroaches. They are not nice or fluffy and spotting them indoors means trouble. In our minds, cockroaches are associated with mold, dirt, and cavity and they are in fact suitable carriers for diseases such as E-coli and salmonella. However, behind its repugnant appearance there is one of the most fascinating creatures living in our environment.

They are thought to be the world oldest pests and legend has it that they will survive the nuclear apocalypse. During their long evolutionary history, cockroaches have developed high degrees of resistance to environmental risks. Their population experiences a rise in the hot seasons and despite the efforts of pest control companies, cockroaches often become gradually resilient to pesticides.

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cockroaches can stand pressure up to 900 times their weight

The extraordinary physique of the cockroaches have inspired scientist in developing robots that can potentially save many lives. The flexible nature of cockroaches’ bodies enables them to swiftly squish throw crevices of only two pennies (one tenth of an inch) wide. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have produced a prototype robot modelled after cockroaches’ physique that can be released into the cracks and vents of rubbles after an earthquake to quickly locate survivors.

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Cockroaches’ locomotive abilities let them move as fast as five feet per second, allowing them to squish through gaps and cracks by reorienting their legs to one side. Moreover, cockroaches are highly resilient against extreme pressure and they can stand up to 900 times of their body weight. This enables cockroaches to survive crashes under the rubble, making them strong and yet agile. Robots designed by researchers at UC Berkeley, which were modeled after cockroaches, were named CRAM for compressible robot with articulated mechanisms. The shell of the robot can be compressed by up to 20 lb and its unhinged legs allow it to move under compression.

 

So cockroaches amazing capabilities are not only inspiration for urban myths, they inspire scientists, too.

 

Sadaf Yadegari

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Posted on September 26, 2016 by in Biological Sciences, Science Communication, Uncategorized

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Is it our Fault? Fracking leads to Seismic Activity

Underneath the surface, there are many fractured cracks in the Earth’s crust, called faults. Naturally, these cracks would cause instability but with the overlying rocks above and rocks side by side acting as opposing forces, frictional resistance is formed, preventing fault movement. If this friction is ever counteracted the fault will slip, leading to seismic movement and threatening populations on Earth.

Fault Movement

Fault Movement

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) negates this necessary friction when a high pressurized liquid is injected into the surface causing rocks to fracture in order to extract petroleum and natural gas. Following fracking, all the waste fluid must be safely eliminated so the chemicals do not infiltrate the surface drinking water. To be cost-efficient oil companies created concrete covered disposal wells a few meters below the surface to drill the wastewater into for permanent storage. The drilling of this wastewater counteracts this natural friction and causes separation between fault lines, leading to further seismic movement. As long as fracking and the fracking waste disposal system continue the faults will grow more unsteady, so a new method for oil extraction is crucial. In the United States the majority of seismic movements are triggered by waste fluid drilling disposal, however, in Canada less water is used in the extraction of oil so more earthquakes are driven by fracking.

Hydraulic Fracturing Process

Hydraulic Fracturing Process

New research shows an undeniable correlation between fracking water disposal drilling and earthquakes recorded in Western Canada’s oil region, Alberta and British Columbia since 1985. The results showed that 90% of earthquakes over the magnitude of 3.0 on the Richter Scale (which measures the severity of earthquakes) were linked to nearby fracking operations, while only 5-10% of earthquakes were generated from natural causes. Although only 0.3% of fracking operations included in the study were associated with severe earthquakes, a large abundance of magnitude 1.0 – 2.0 earthquakes have occurred. These may seem harmless, but for every small earthquake there is a higher rate of seismic activity and a greater probability that a massive, extreme earthquake will be triggered.

Showing the proximity and correlation between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing sites in Alberta

Showing the proximity and correlation between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing sites.

Seismologists have been attempting to keep deep injection sites far away from fault lines. However, as the oil industry grows there will be a continuous struggle to find area that will not affect plate tectonics. Further studies and computer simulation are able to give us  insight into how injections affect fluid pressure and how this increase in pressure leads to destabilizing the fault line. Nevertheless, the best solution is a new method of oil extraction, because soon fracking and wastewater disposal drilling will lead to much bigger earthquakes and man-driven environmental disasters.

-Jenna Carpenter-Boesch

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Posted on September 26, 2016 by in Issues in Science

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Randomness

Posted on September 26, 2016 by | 3 comments

What method would you use when you are asked to provide a random number? A random number generator and a coin flip are two very common ways used to determine outcome for many different situations. Some believe they are just as random as the other, and the randomness of each result is roughly the same. Studies have shown they might not be as random as some may believe them to be.

There are two fundamental types of number generators:  Pseudo-Random Number Generators (PRNGs) and True Number Generators (TRNGs). PRNGs are the most common type of generators find within our computers which uses different mathematic algorithms to output an outcome. On the other hand, TRNGs use unpredictable physical pheromones such as atmospheric noise which is radio noise caused by natural atmospheric processes to generate numbers. Bitmaps are pixels, each with a number representing its colour depth. If we generate two bitmaps using the outputs for each of the number generators as its pixels’ colour depth, we would get the following images. A clear visual pattern can be seen on the bitmap produced using PRNGs.

randbitmap-rdo

Bitmap generated by RANDOM.org. Image from https://www.random.org/analysis/#visual, published under non-commercial use license.

randbitmap-wamp

PHP rand() on Microsoft Windows. Image from https://www.random.org/analysis/#visual , published under non-commercial use license.

In comparison, coin-flipping is not actually a random event. If every initial condition in a coin toss is known, such as the exact force acted on the coin, the exact location of the force acted on the coin, the mass of the coin and the distance it travels before landing, the result of the flip can be calculated before it happens. Researchers have built a coin flipping robot that can make a coin land heads up one hundred percent of the time, proving that a coin toss is not a random event at all.

coin-flipping-robot

coin-flipping machine, Image from http://epubs.siam.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/pdf/10.1137/S0036144504446436, published under the personal and noncommercial use license.

Some may argue that humans are not robots and the outcome of a toss by a human should be random. Are they random with a 50% chance of getting tails? It turns out that our natural flips are not random either. Researchers have used a coin flipping robot and high-speed cameras to determine the factors that decide which side a coin will land on. They concluded that in a natural flip, the chance of a coin coming up on the side it started on is about 51%. Further studies have been done on December 2009 in Canada showing that the result of hand coin toss could be manipulated up to a 68% on any untrained participant.

Different methods used in generating numbers will lead to outcomes with different degree of randomness. Therefore, keep that in mind when facing situations where a “random” event is needed  and pick the best method to your advantage.

-Hongyi Li

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Life Beyond Earth

Posted on September 25, 2016 by | Leave a comment

When looking at the starry sky, have you ever thought that the Earth may not be the only place in our solar system that sustains life? To find out this, people never stop exploring the outer space and life beyond Earth:

The first message that human sent to extraterrestrial creatures is known as Arecibo message, which was used to celebrate the re-establishment of the Arecibo radio telescope in 1974. In 2014, NASA outlined its plan of searching life outside of the Earth in the next decades. 

Arecibo_Message

Arecibo message. The first message that human sent to outer space. Image by Wikimedia Commons. Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Arecibo_message#/media/File:Arecibo_message.png

However, the universe is bigger than we can imagine. To narrow down the searching range, we need to know what kinds of conditions that a planet or moon is required to sustain life. According to Dr. Dave Brain, there are three conditions of sustaining life in a planet or moon.

Three Conditions

Energy On the Earth, life can obtain energy directly from the sun and creatures live underground or deep in the ocean can get energy from their unique chemical reactions. In our solar system, it is easy to find planets and moons that provide energy sources to life.

Food All the nourishments that life on the Earth requires are formed by only six chemical elements: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur. These elements can be found on most planets and moons.

Liquid Water Liquid water is the hardest condition to meet. Having liquid water is not simple as it seems to be for a planet or moon. It relates to many other factors of the planet or moon, such as atmosphere and magnetic field.

YouTube Preview Image

Ted Talk. What a planet needs to sustain life by Dave Brain. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RTkZaX1cH0

Possible Planets and Moons

Dr. James Green, NASA’s director of planetary science, gave his guess on possible planets and moons in the solar system that possibly fit the three conditions above and they are Mars, Titan, Europa and Enceladus. Considering the distance from the Earth, Mars is the most appealing one.

Mars On September 28, 2015, NASA confirmed that there is liquid water exists on Mars. Adding with the pervious findings that scientists observed and Curiosity, NASA’s Mars Rover provided, Mars became the first planet beside the Earth that meets the three conditions of life. On October 11, 2016, current American President Barack Obama set the goal of sending people to Mars by 2030s. New searches on Mars are ongoing and maybe one day, we can find life beyond Earth on Mars.

YouTube Preview Image

Ted Talk. 3 moons and a planet that could have alien life by James Green. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1sbSJK1LiI

-Yiwei Liu

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Why haven’t we found HIV vaccine yet?

Posted on September 25, 2016 by | Leave a comment

In 1984, after the cause of AIDS was discovered, US Health and Human Services Secretary announced that a vaccine for HIV would be available in two years time. Three decades later, more than eighty clinical trials and over thirty prospective vaccines to date, the virus is still winning!

Why is it such an impossible task to create an effective vaccine against HIV? A task that seems to have disheartened many researchers from striving to find the solution to a persistent pandemic! Without a cure for AIDS, a vaccine is the only way to slow it down; it has wiped out over 30 million people world wide and has over 34 million people currently living with HIV. Therefore, with millions of dollars being allocated to HIV vaccine research annually, why is a breakthrough still lacking?

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Normally, vaccines are composed of a harmless form of the virus or parts of it such as surface proteins; these stimulate immune cells to produce compounds known as antibodies that bind a small part of the virus component called an epitope; the attachment deactivates the virus preventing it from invading healthy tissues and causing disease. Vaccines also activate immune cells that kill infected cells.

However, this type of vaccine, successful in controlling more than 30 most contagious illnesses, is defective when it comes to HIV. This is because HIV, like the common cold virus, undergoes numerous errors when replicating it’s DNA. Therefore, HIV’s epitopes are very prone to changing. Due to the high specificity of antibodies and “killer” cells, viruses that have changed epitopes cannot be deactivated by the same antibodies and “killer” cells. This property of HIV makes it very challenging to create an effective vaccine. Despite being weakened, using live HIV as a vaccine is also gravely concerning; it could possibly evolve into a virulent form as the virus is constantly mutating (changing). HIV particles are also by nature very different despite being incredibly mutable. This is because they descend from numerous ancestors. For an effective vaccine to be created, its breadth should be large enough to account for all HIV variants.

Another setback in the development of HIV vaccine is the fact that AIDS recovery is rare; vaccines are usually geared to mimic the immune response generated by our bodies after infection and recovery from the subsequent disease. In the case of HIV, the body cannot develop this immunity as HIV attacks immune cells. Lastly, HIV integrates its DNA with ours and becomes a part of us! This gives “killer” cells a hard time detecting infected cells where virus assembly takes place. These factors among others are what have stalled HIV vaccine development. But that does not mean a vaccine is impossible.

Despite the difficulties, no need to worry! We all possess an intangible, non-medicinal vaccine that undoubtedly has the highest success rate in preventing HIV infections so far; the will to take preventative measures as HIV isn’t easily transmissible. Learn more on how to protect yourself here.

-Jane Wanjiru

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The Atmosphere of Earth Is Leaking Oxygen

Posted on September 25, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Although oxygen composes 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere, oxygen levels are not stable. Through analysis of air bubbles caught inside ice cores (core samples of ice taken from ice sheets or glaciers) in Greenland and Antarctica, Princeton University researchers determined that oxygen levels dropped 0.7% over the past 800,000 years.

A sliver of Antarctic showing air bubbles trapped within it. Image from http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/pages/about/.

A sliver of Antarctic showing air bubbles trapped within it. Image from http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/pages/about/, published under the Creative Commons license.

The full research article was published in the September 23 issue of Science journal. While the researchers are not sure why the oxygen drop occurred, researcher Daniel Stolper believes that it is due to the increase in global erosion rates. Erosion is the process in which earth is worn away, often due to processes like rain or wind. Grinding of rocks by glaciers (large bodies of ice that move under their own weight) results in erosion, and the growth of glaciers over the past tens of million years has increased Earth’s erosion levels.

Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)

Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), published under the Creative Commons license.

How does erosion relate to oxygen levels? Erosion would expose increased pyrite and organic carbon to the atmosphere.

Pyrite from Tuscany, Italy. Image by Didier Descouens, published under the Creative Commons license.

Pyrite from Tuscany, Italy. Image by Didier Descouens, published under the Creative Commons license.

Pyrite, colloquially known as “fool’s gold” for physically resembling gold, reacts with oxygen and removes it from the atmosphere. Organic carbon has been found to do the same thing.

In terms of immediate impact on Earth, the drop is trivial because of how slow it is. Organisms have had time to adapt to the change in atmospheric oxygen. However, atmospheric oxygen levels are linked to climate change and how organisms evolve, so understanding its trends is important. For example, changing oxygen levels can alter how living things adapt, and from an evolutionary standpoint, declining oxygen levels would prefer individuals and species who are more efficient with their use of oxygen.

Understanding oxygen levels can also be the key to understanding long-term weather trends, and further research could determine if there are any links between this observation about oxygen levels and the global warming crisis that we are facing today.

In addition, understanding the processes behind the declining oxygen levels and observing how living things have adapted to it over time could help humans understand what is needed for a habitable environment. With continued efforts to build a feasible human settlement in Mars, having a better grasp of what is needed for life on Earth would be important if humans are ever to colonize Mars. As lack of atmospheric oxygen is one of the major obstacles to life on Mars, understanding how living things on Earth react to lower levels of oxygen could allow for potential ideas on how to survive in Mars’ low-oxygen conditions.

Photograph of Mars by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image by NASA.

Photograph of Mars by the Hubble Space Telescope. Public domain. Image by NASA.

Therefore, although these findings do not have an immediate impact on Earth, they carry big implications both for humanity’s future and understanding our planet’s past.

-Jasper Yoo

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Cutting too quick?

Posted on September 19, 2016 by | Leave a comment

In 2015 the number of cesarean sections (c-sections) were at a whopping 32% of all births- this is almost double the number of c-sections performed in the 90’s! It is important to note that the risk factors that warrant doctors to perform an emergency c-section are not also on the rise. C-sections are being more and more often performed on low risk pregnancies, inherently putting both baby and mom at a higher risk of complications. The graph below show’s the maternal morbidity rate of women by method of delivery. It is evident that c-sections have a much greater risk than vaginal births!

screen-shot-2016-10-11-at-7-00-52-pm

So if risk factors leading to c-sections are not on the rise and a c-section puts a mother at a higher risk of complications, why is the prevalence of c-sections so high? Lets take a look at some of the possible reasons:

Technology Electronic fetal monitoring begins once a pregnant woman enters the hospital. It tracks the babies vitals and can detect signs of distress. As the only way to really assess the babies safety, it’s a great tool. However, there isn’t extensive research on how to interpret the readings and there are many false positives, leading to more c-sections than probably necessary.

Decline in VBAC V-what? Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. Once a woman has her first cesarean birth- warranted or not-  there are complications involved in a subqequent vaginal birth. This means that a mother who delivers via cesarean will most likely have to deliver by c-section for all subsequent births. This is a positive feedback loop, definitely contributing to the rise in c-sections!

Control  Usually women have the choice of which birthing method they prefer. For some, it is as simple as wanting to choose the day and the doctor that delivers their baby- control only a c-section can give you. While this should still be taken into account, it probably isn’t a huge contributor to the rise in c-sections, as  a recent study found that only 10% of all c-sections were elected procedures.

Commercialization Is it possible that society is turning the most basic and beautiful reproductive right into a business? In a recent study – whose results are shown in the graph below-  it was found that the majority of c-sections occur from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8am and 5pm. Hmm… that’s convenient.  Could the number of c-sections be on the rise because the labor and delivery doc wants to get home in time to eat dinner?

screen-shot-2016-10-10-at-5-52-47-pm

Regardless, it is important that a woman knows her options when she is in the delivery room and it is equally as important that doctors are making the best choice on behalf of the mother, who is in arguably her most powerful and vulnerable state. Whatever factor, or more likely combination of factors, is responsible for the increase in c-sections, it is critical that we don’t lose sight of the most important thing: the safety of both mother and baby.

-Steph Schaupmeyer

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