Find a story
by admin ~ September 4th, 2011. Filed under: Uncategorized.For this assignment, your task is to find a biology related story in the popular news. (You can be generous in your definition of popular.) Please (1) Post a link to the story, (2) Briefly describe why it caught your eye, and (3) write one paragraph on what you think about the trustworthiness of this story and how you may go about verifying the claims presented.
September 4th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/study-animals-moving-north-15-feet-5-metres-184106594.html
This story claims that animals are on average moving towards the poles at a rate of 15 ft per DAY. This caught my eye because it seems pretty far fetched; how are they adapting to fast – to new food, homes, etc? The original data comes from Science, which has an excellent reputation, and looks at data on many different animals (2000 species). I’m going to find the original Science article and see if this news story is exaggerated.
September 7th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
I had decided to look into microbiology and any stories happening recently in the world when I came across this article about a one time influenza vaccine. Though I have heard of research on the subject being carried out, several numbers and statements in the article struck me as rather large or vaguely worded as if the article had a hidden agenda to cause readers to question the safety of current vaccines and await the ‘super-vaccine’ and it’s cure-all properties. I may peruse some more renowned scientific publications on this subject, as well as ask some family friends in health care who may have better educated knowledge of this.
September 7th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/30/science-black-death-bacteria.html
When I read the title of this article, it was highly intriguing to see that scientists still had not found the cause of the Black Death until now – the plague is very well known and therefore I assumed that a lot of scientists were researching on it. My initial question was answered when the article mentioned that the actual bacteria Yersinia pestis were extinct and scientists could not find any sample of it. Although it seems like “confirmation (of the theory)” would better fit the title than “identification,” it certainly seems like one of the most highly controversial questions was answered and therefore deserves as much credit as this article gives.
September 7th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
On September 5th, the Scientific American website posted an article originally from Nature entitled “Electrified Bacterial Filaments Remove Uranium from Groundwater.”
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=electrified-bacterial-remove-uranium-groundwater)
The article describes research studying how a species of bacterium (Geobacter sulfurreducens) can gain energy by reducing uranium, decreasing the metal’s solubility. I found this article interesting because of the possible applications in bioremediation. Could this bacterium’s technique also allow heavy metals to be removed from the environment?
The article does a good job of separating the research that has been done from speculative applications, which allows me to better evaluate if I feel the claims are plausible. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a reputable journal, which lends credence to the trustworthiness of the information. However to verify the accuracy of the reporting, I would need to read the original article as well as related literature.
September 7th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
This story displays research on the bacteria “Clostridium sporogenes” which may lead to a cure for solid tumours in cancer patients. This article was interesting because I want to study Radiology (specializing in cancer research) in the future. The researchers from the University of Nottingham and the University of Maastricht believe that these bacteria are aerotolerant organisms. I have suspicions on whether the lack of oxygen of tumour cells will allow the bacteria to grow in/destroy only them or whether mutations will occur, allowing the bacteria to grow in/destroy living cells also, even though oxygen is present. I will read some more articles on the topic now and when the tests are run in 2013 I will also be reading those articles for further knowledge on the subject.
September 7th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/09/07/technology-cold-cases-hair-analysis.html
As supported by the article, a simple strand of hair could reveal one’s daily habits in chronological order. This fact caught my eye through sheer interest. It is fascinating to discover that the things we do on a daily basis are secretly documented the whole time by hair through the chemical elements transmitted from the food and water that we consume. Furthermore, different hydrogen isotopes found in hair are claimed to be reflective of geographic locations. With the additional support of hair growth, a natural property allowing hair to retain all past information, this investigation could surely provide an in-depth look into the cold cases that police are trying to solve. This article comes from CBC News (Technology & Science section), a popular and reputable source for daily findings and reports. As this is a very recent article, I will continue to keep an eye on how valid this finding actually is by confirming through any relevant reports released in the future.
September 7th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
This article written in “Science Daily” claims that a new saliva test can accurately measure and asses the number of carcinogens stuck to a person’s DNA in one’s saliva, which can allow for early cancer detection. This captured my immediate attention because we all want an opportunity for an easy, early, and affordable cancer test but it seems illogical that just the few discrepancies on the DNA in saliva can predict the imminent outbreak of cancer. The article itself does not exactly explain how a mass spectrometer can measure the instruments and the article is very careful to use the word “could” when describing how the DNA flaws lead to cancer tests. This research is obviously in its early stages and is completely unreliable at this point. In order to test he validity of this, I would research what a mass spectrometer does and how it can measure these “DNA adducts”. Also, I would go directly to the source and read the information in Dr. Chen’s paper on this potential breakthrough and see if the two sources corroborate.
September 7th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110831155326.htm
Sorry I hadn’t attached the link to the previous comment.
September 7th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article2432995.ece
This story claims that Geobacter bacteria are capable of cleaning up uranium contamination and generating electricity in the process. It also claims that researchers in Michigan have identified the mechanism the bacteria use and developed an engineered strain which can do this more efficiently. This caught my eye because I’m interested in alternative energy and nuclear power. I was quite dubious at first (I’d never heard of the newspaper I found it in, and wasn’t sure if it was at all reputable), but I found an extended version of the story directly from the university the research was done at.
http://news.msu.edu/story/9741/
To verify this further, I would find the article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and other articles supporting the claim that “the ability of Geobacter to immobilize uranium is well-documented.”
September 7th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/334056/title/In_the_dark%2C_cave_fish_follows_its_own_rhythm
The Somalian cave fish follow their own daily clock of 47 hour cycles set by food rather than sunlight. As a result of living in dark caves for millions of years, these fish have lost their eyes, scales and coloring. The article claims that in a laboratory test the cave fish did not respond to the light and dark cycles. However when the scientists replaced the faulty light sensing proteins in the cave fish cell with ones from zebra fish (a type of fish that responds to light and dark cycles), the cave fish’s clock started responding to light and dark. This caught my eye because unique animals interest me and the idea of replacing a couple of proteins in a cell to counteract the adaptation these cave fish have gone through seems unbelievable. I will look online for more information on the Somalian cave fish and zebra fish to confirm if the laboratory experiment done by the scientists is possible.
September 7th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
The article I found states that scientists are trying to keep endangered species from becoming extinct by saving their stem cells. I was attracted to this article because I was fascinated to learn of ANOTHER way in which stem cells are being used. I was also skeptical in how successful it would be, since there are only seven of these rhinos left in the world, so it might be too late to save this species.
I am trusting of this article, seeing as it is in the popular science news source “Scientific American” and “Nature” magazine. From my understanding of stem cells, the scientist’s goal seems realistic and legitimate. It is also comforting to see the opinion of someone who finds the idea of saving endangered species with stem cells to be a “stunt.” This shows that it isn’t just one-sided information. To verify the claims presented in the article, I would look for scientists doing similar work and see how their work compares to that of the scientist in this article. If there are many scientists doing the same research, then that would also strengthen the validity of this article.
September 7th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14788046
This article describes a breakthrough reported by three separate research teams on the chemical structure of New Delhi metallo beta lactamase (NDM-1). NDM-1 is an enzyme found in certain bacteria that breaks down carbapenem antibiotics used to fight infection. They derived the chemical structure through crystallization and x-ray spectroscopy. Using this structure, scientists can modify antibiotics to be less susceptible to NDM-1.
It caught my eye because of a troubling poster I read on the bus last week. The poster was advising people to avoid overusing antibiotics to slow the onset of bacterial immunity. The poster bothered me because I felt that investigating ways to slow the spread and development of bacterial immunity should be more of a priority among scientific researchers if media was already being produced that was promoting the dangers of antibiotic overuse.
The fact that the data was reported by three separate research teams in China, Canada and the UK solidifies it’s validity to me. The news article also links to one of the papers, published in Protein Science. By reading through the abstract of the paper, or possibly accessing it through UBC library resources, I could see the number of peer-reviewers and verify the soundness of the science presented. I could also look at the reputation of the journal within which the paper was published to see where it ranks among other scientific literature sources.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/210115/20110907/somalian-cave-fish-blind-body-clock-circadian-rhythms-biology-evolution.htm
This article tells us that the blind Somalian cave fish are able to maintain steady biological patterns (e.g. sleeping and eating patterns) despite being completely deprived of light. Apparently, they operate on “a roughly 47 hour cycle” that is determined by food intake rather than sunlight. The article also states that researchers also compared the circadian cycle Somalian cave fish with that of the Zebra fish. Unlike the blind Somalian cave fish, the Zebra fish operate on a regular, 24-hour, circadian, light-governed rhythm (this information was given in the article). Researchers found that while the biological rhythms of the Zebra fish and the Somalian cave fish were completely different in natural conditions, they matched when both species were deprived of all other stimuli except a regular, matching feeding schedule.
I was drawn to reading this article because of its title made absolutely no sense to me when I read it. At first, I had no idea why “blind cave fish” would ever have anything to do with “human body clocks”. The confusing title compelled me to find out exactly what was going on in this author’s head.
Apparently, the study was conducted by an international team of scientists, consisting of researchers from Germany, Spain, and Italy. This convinced me that the information presented in this article was almost certainly legitimate and valid. Also, the article referenced the original journal publication of the study. I compared the information of the news article with that of the original journal publication, and they matched 100%. However, in my opinion, the author did a rather poor job of translating the journal article for the media. The original publication has a very clear flow of ideas and is easier to understand, while the news article takes multiple reviews to fully comprehend.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-news/genetic-engineering-breeds-a-cancer-fighting-virus/article2150529/
This article says that a virus that selectively targets cancer cells was tested for the first time on humans by the doctors in the Ottowa Hospital Research institute. It claims that the virus will only harm cancer cells and of the 23 patients who were injected with the virus many had their tumors begin to shrink. This article caught my eye because it looks like a possible step forward in the fight against cancer. I think this article is reliable because the results were initially published in the journal “Nature”, and the Globe and Mail is a well known and reliable newspaper. To get the full story and exact details of this article you could go to the Nature journal’s website and read the story there.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2011/08/30/hm.bloodclots.in.women.cnn?hpt=he_mid
The title of this video, “Being Sedentary Can Lead to Blood Clots”, caught my eye; I like to minimize the use of my muscles, which this video suggests is very dangerous. Of course I know physical inactivity leads to health problems, but this still came as a bit of a shock.
This video from CNN seems to be based on reliable sources: a testimonial from a doctor (Dr. Marla Schumann) is included, and the narrator also mentions that “the study looked at seventy thousand women enrolled in the famous Nurses’ Health Study”. While the video sounds very trustworthy, I would nonetheless have to research to be certain of its credibility. I would look to the article published by the Nurses’ Health Study scientists, and see if there are similar studies done by other reliable sources that arrive at the same conclusion.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
http://www.dailycal.org/2011/08/30/team-doubles-efficiency-of-converting-seaweed-into-biofuel/
This is an article that discusses how seaweed is broken down into sugars then fermented to produce ethanol, an alternate fuel source. Considering the economy and the rising gasoline prices I see everyday, this topic caught my attention, especially when it noted that the process of creating ethanol with seaweed has been great accelerated with a new strain of yeast. Furthermore, I feel creating an alternate source of inexpensive biofuel would appeal more to the mass public as the prices of hybrid cars and electric cars are still fairly hefty compared to regular gasoline engine cars.
Although this article was published in a student-run newspaper, it is still trustworthy as the newspaper is reputable and has a long history. However, to verify its sources, I would look into the original study that was published in “the August issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology” while researching online for other similar discoveries and or studies by other scientists.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
This article describes possibility of wide spread rare diseases due to the increase in children fathered by the same sperm donor. In the US one sperm donor may farther as many as 150 offspring, the article claims that this increases odds of accidental incest between half sisters and brothers. I chose this article because I found it shocking that one person could possibly father so many children and also wondered why that the US government has not put a legal limit in number of children conceived per donor.
After reading this, I found the likelihood of an offspring having children with his or her half-sibling very improbable. The population of USA is over 300 000 000 thus if you do the math, the possibility of accidental incest is highly unlikely almost impossible. Sperm banks keep track of how many children each sperm donor conceives and there is regulation in the process for women who wish to have children through artificial insemination. Also since sperm donors are given identification numbers, and the family have knowledge of these numbers, it is fairly easy to avoid accidental incest and the possibility of passing on genetic disease. I would redirect these claims and concerns to cryobank since they facilitate every insemination and have records on all artificial inseminations. The possibility of meeting a half-sibling conceived by the same donor may also be estimated through data collected by USA statistics. Lastly the plausibility of increased disease can be researched through a geneticist or through science papers published by The National Human Genome Institute.
September 7th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06donor.html?ref=science
This article describes possibility of wide spread rare diseases due to the increase in children fathered by the same sperm donor. In the US one sperm donor may farther as many as 150 offspring, the article claims that this increases odds of accidental incest between half sisters and brothers. I chose this article because I found it shocking that one person could possibly father so many children and also wondered why that the US government has not put a legal limit in number of children conceived per donor.
After reading this, I found the likelihood of an offspring having children with his or her half-sibling very improbable. The population of USA is over 300 000 000 thus if you do the math, the possibility of accidental incest is highly unlikely almost impossible. Sperm banks keep track of how many children each sperm donor conceives and there is regulation in the process for women who wish to have children through artificial insemination. Also since sperm donors are given identification numbers, and the family have knowledge of these numbers, it is fairly easy to avoid accidental incest and the possibility of passing on genetic disease. I would redirect these claims and concerns to cryobank since they facilitate every insemination and have records on all artificial inseminations. The possibility of meeting a half-sibling conceived by the same donor may also be estimated through data collected by USA statistics. Lastly the plausibility of increased disease can be researched through a geneticist or through science papers published by The National Human Genome Institute.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-06/icelands-power-down-below
This article is about Iceland using geothermal energy as a way to bailout the government from debt. This caught my eye as I have never heard of a country turning to a green energy source for a financial bailout; especially using a project that is this massive. Usually we, as people, look to other countries or familiar and well known industries to aid us financially. Instead, this government went in a completely new direction. It made me question why more countries aren’t turning to green energy.
This article seems believable as Popular Science is a well-known magazine and seems to have well documented this process, including names of researchers and project bases. As well, Iceland’s tourist website describes the geothermal energy being used in everyday life.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110902-transparent-mouse-mice-embryos-brains-fluorescent-science/
This article explains a new chemical capable of turning body tissue transparent. It caught my eye because transparency would allow us further discoveries in bodily organs – especially the brain. It also got me thinking about animal experimentation, since mice were used to test this new and poisonous chemical.
In terms of trustworthiness, National Geographic is an award-winning magazine (won the National Magazine Awards,
an award solely for its written content) which is widely used in science classrooms. To verify the authenticity of information, I will find the original published study and compare the news story to it.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
This story claims a “fact” that babies resemble their fathers more than their mothers. This caught my eyes because it runs contrary to my ideas. Personally,I think babies resemble their mothers more than their fathers because when sperm fertilizes an egg to form a zygote, the majority of cytoplasm in the egg is retained. Therefore, the genetic information in the cytoplasm of the egg is passed to the next generation. So babies resemble their mothers more than their fathers. Considering that the article is from Scientificamerican, I am going to find some other information to justify which one is more reasonable.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Weird… my website didn’t attach.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=could-stem-cells-rescue-endangered-species#comments
September 7th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090731132919.htm
This article discusses how there are “genetic parasites” called “transposons” that will disrupt the genome and cause cancer if allowed to proliferate. The news is that researchers have found that a system of “piRNAs” in germ cells in fruitflies and mice inhibits the transposons activity and helps protect the germ cells.
The article caught my eye because of its title “Even DNA is subjected to attack by PARASITES”. After seeing a horrific story in the news about a malaria endemic a few years ago, I have always been interested in parasites and how they work. Parasites scare me. Naturally, the title drew a mixture of fear and fascination.
I feel that the research found on the Science Daily is reliable—since the website claims to have won many awards and is a news source for people around the world. The fact that the site is English (I assume American) and the research mentioned in the article is from a prestigious German institution (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich) is a signal to me that the research is pretty trustworthy. With 34 Nobel Laureates associated with this university, any studies it publishes should have been carefully researched and reviewed by experts. Meanwhile, English-speaking professionals would have scrutinized the study again when it was translated into English. However, if I am still unsure of the reliability, I would still be able to go through the original study myself or read critics’ review of the study.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/science/Study+coral+lead+sunburn+pill/5334019/story.html
The article that captured my interest states that in the near future, humans will be able to protect themselves by eating a pill based upon compounds formed by algae and corals used to protect themselves from ultraviolet rays. Moreover, the ultimate goal of this research on corals and algae is to transfer this process into crops of countries where agriculture suffers from harsh dry weather; thus, developing countries will be able to produce more food. My interest was triggered by this article because it highlighted how science, to be more specific-biology, can be directly applied to our daily lives and invent something outstanding, as well as help people in need around the globe.
In my opinion, I believe that this article is trustworthy and the statement about UV protecting pills is quite a promising possibility that may come true in a few years. The research is run by a formal educational institute in England, therefore the data must have been carefully collected and studied. Although much has been discovered, it will take many tests to see if the compounds are safe to be used on humans, so I will continue to check on the progress of the research that is made available to the public.
September 7th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-is-average-iq-higher-in-some-places
This article introduces the readers the idea that the evolution of IQ may have resulted in prehistoric humans moving out of their origin and being forced to attempt to unfamiliar territories. After the introduction, the article states that scientists and researchers see a strong correlation between IQ and infectious diseases. Hence, they propose that infectious diseases does not only detriment childhood IQ and result in lower adult IQ, but it is the main cause of lowered adult IQ.
This article caught my eye because Steven Hawking once said that “I have no idea [what my IQ is]. People who boast about their IQ are losers.” I suppose Steven Hawking did not believe that simply reducing a man’s intelligence into a single figure could indict any human intellectual ability. I believe an IQ test only shows a small part of a person’s intelligence and should not be abused to segregate others or create social hierarchies. However, the article is still interesting to me because people are always concerned about their own IQ.
The Scientific American contains a lot of links of their sources to support the claims that adult IQ can be affected by infectious disease during a person’s childhood and that it is the primary cause of lowered adult IQ, so this article seems to be trustworthy. However, the article suggests that most of the research claim is based on the United States of America education system because it is standardized and compulsory. I am also confused by the second last paragraph that suggests that genetics may not play a primary role in influencing IQ when the article previously states that human IQ may have had evolutionary origins determined by how far they were from human origin, the Sub-Saharan Africa. The research should outline their definition of human IQ and the experiment should be done in other nations with standardized and compulsory education systems to test and strengthen their claim. I would research more on the concept of human IQ, read the journals cited in the article and see if there other factors are more significant in influencing the human IQ before believing the claims of this article.
September 7th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/08/26/139967220/vitamin-a-supplements-save-kids-lives-researchers-say
A story on vitamin A would not generally catch my attention but it did today because it was not related to politics/finance/something I do not understand. I track approximately ten news feeds on my RSS reader so articles tend to build pretty quickly. Going through my backlog, this science-related article was the lifeline in an otherwise sea of dull confusion.
By including the exact number of trials in the opening paragraph and having the first link direct the reader to the British Medical Journal—a legitimate source—NPR begins to build credibility. While the article extolls the benefits of vitamin A by using sources like a lecturer from Oxford in addition to the BMJ, NPR seems more trustworthy when they provide other perspectives on the effectiveness of vitamin A supplementation programs. The link to a journal publication by a professor of Cornell putting forth the view that vitamin A is a short-term fix shows that some effort and research has been done. By not taking a one-sided stance on vitamin A and providing evidence in the form of journals and direct quotes from professors, NPR successfully created a fairly trustworthy seeming article.
To verify the claims presented, I would examine the paper in question for details such as how they conducted their trials, number of subjects used, etc. I would also look for other similar studies on not only on BMJ but other medical journals such as http://www.cmaj.ca and http://www.nejm.org. Naturally, the journals’ reputation for accuracy and precision would also be taken into account. I would also research into the people whose quotes were used in the article for any bias or motive that would cause them to promote or discredit the use of vitamin A.
September 7th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Please replace “vitamin A” with “vitamin A supplements.”
(My apologies! I copy and pasted from the wrong version of my document)
September 7th, 2011 at 11:12 pm
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-09/05/panda-poo-fuel
“Panda Poo Considered as Next Step for Biofuel Production”
This story, based on a presentation at a recent ACS (American Chemical Society) national meeting, claims that bacteria within the digestive tracks of giant pandas can act as effective degraders to break down lignocellulose, tough carbohydrate found in wood chips, grass, and crop waste. Such application may facilitate the development of cellulosic biofuels without compromising crop production. Consuming mostly bamboos, giant pandas, with these bacteria also found in termites, are able to convert 95% of plant biomass into sugar; this process is also done without onerous settings such as high pressure and temperature required for current mechanism of biofuel production.
I find this article intriguing that the ongoing attempts of discovering alternative and sustainable energy sources have such a twist, shining the spotlight onto one of the endangered species of the world and conservation of biodiversity. Since ACS is the world largest scientific society, its reputable background gives solid proof of its trustworthiness. However, I am skeptical about the idealistic image portrayed in the article. What are the name and other properties of this bacterium? Does its application have any drawback in an industrial level? Thus, I am furthering my knowledge of this discovery while assuring its legitimacy by getting access to the original paper by Dr. Ashli Brown as well as the comments from other professionals regarding to such matter.
I love pandas.
ACS press release:
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_028097&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=c0f6608d-1ce3-4ab6-a27f-1c5fd2a1406d
September 7th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110726/Substances-found-in-cigarette-smoke-damage-blood-vessels-endothelial-cells.aspx
This story describes the conclusion David Bernhard drew from his research on cigarettes. Dr. Bernhard claims cigarette smoke contains substances that will lead to permanent damage of the endothelial cells. Cell damage usually doesn’t lead to permanent damage thanks to autophagy (process of digesting and recycling damaged cell components). However, the cigarette smoke causes this digestion to constantly occur and inflammation. I plan to read up on some of the results of other researchers as well as keep an eye out after
When I went to China during the summer, I was surrounded by smokers everywhere. Even restaurants had no policies against smoking indoors and I found this article in the hopes of getting my cousin to quit smoking. Halfway through the article, I realized that he did not have the English skills to understand the article and I didn’t have the Chinese skills to translate it, but I finished reading it out of curiosity.
Although cigarettes do cause many harmful effects, the absence of research data and even the name of the specific component causing reaction leaves some room for doubt. On the other hand, various research by different researchers show a connection between cigarette smoke and the endothelial cells and the details of the study are released in the specialist publication of “Cardiovascular Research”. I plan to read up on some other research on the endothelial cells and cigarette smoke as well as keep an eye out for that edition of “The Cardiovascular Research” and check up on Dr. Bernhard’s presentation after the 9th Congress of the International Society for the Prevention of Tobacco Induced Diseases.
September 7th, 2011 at 11:28 pm
This article claims that the microalga Botryococcus braunii naturally produces triterpene oil which is comparable in hydrocarbon content to petroleum gas. Although the energy-producing process of the microalga is too slow to be of any value, researchers at the University of Kentucky have isolated its oil-producing gene and genetically engineered yeast that expresses a similar oil but at a faster rate. This offers the possibility of a long-sought commodity—a renewable replacement for oil and coal shale. After treatment using transesterification, the natural oils produced by these microalga-yeast hybrids, from recycled CO2 waste from burnt coal, are claimed to produce significantly less greenhouse gases than petroleum.
I chose this article because I was interested in learning more about the new and innovative techniques that are developed to both generate clean energy and conserve it. This is an exemplar of the interdisciplinarity of devising solutions for today’s issues. Generating biofuel, especially from miniscule organisms, seems to be a far-fetched but fascinating idea.
The findings of this research are published in both the “Scientific American” and “BioEnergy Research,” two excellent journals. However, further reading and analysis of the theory, methodology, and experimental results of this research project must be done in order to determine the trustworthiness of the claims. I wonder whether the biofuel blend would perform just like traditional fuel without modification of the engines. It is interesting that the article also discusses the Aquatic Species Program established in 1978 in the United States to push for nation-wide energy independence. The main focus was to produce biodiesel from high lipid-content algae. The idea of generating biofuel seems to have arisen long before our time.
September 7th, 2011 at 11:29 pm
This is the source website: http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/green-screen/microalgae_the_next_big_thing
September 7th, 2011 at 11:30 pm
(hm? where is my post?)
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-09/05/panda-poo-fuel
“Panda poo considered as next step for biofuel production”
This story, based on a presentation at a recent ACS (American Chemical Society) National Meeting and Exposition, claims that bacteria within the digestive tracks of giant pandas can be act as effective degraders to break down lignocellulose, an extremely tough carbonhydrate found in wood chips, grass, and crop waste. Such application may facilitate the development of cellulosic biofuels without compromising crop production such as corn, soy beans, and sugar. Consuming mostly bamboos, giant pandas, with these bacteria also found in termites but in a significantly greater quantity, are able to convert 95% of plant biomass into sugar; this process is also done without onerous settings such as high pressure and temperature required for current mechanism biofuel production.
I find this article intriguing that the ongoing attempts of discovering alternative and sustainable energy sources have such a twist, shining the spotlight onto one of the endangered species of the world and conservation of biodiversity in general. However, I am skeptical about the idealistic image portrayed in the article. What are the other properties of these bacteria? Does its application have any drawback in an industrial level? Thus, I am furthering my knowledge of this discovery while assuring its legitimacy by getting access to the original paper by Dr. Ashli Brown as well as the comments from other professionals regarding to such.
I love pandas.
press at ACS
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_028097&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=8339067e-fb9f-4488-bed8-b09fc25386bb
September 8th, 2011 at 12:55 am
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110831205914.htm
This article states that consumption of potatoes reduces blood pressures of those with obesity and high blood pressure. This article drew my attention as it seemed counter intuitive, as the first word that came to my mind upon hearing the word ‘potatoes’ was french-fries, which are infamous for being the ‘unhealthy junk food’. Does the term ‘potatoes’ include french-fries? – red-skinned potatoes? – white potatoes? The article indicates that the experimented potatoes were the purple potatoes that were microwaved, and states, “red-skin potatoes and white potatoes may have similar effects”. It also describes that the purple potatoes were consumed with no extra flavours (butter, margarine, sour cream etc), implying that the effect may be negated unless consumed in specified manner. As the assumption is made and as these specified methods of consumption are rare, more experiments will be required with various cooking methods, as well as different types of potatoes, to make this finding more applicable and less misleading. I will have to keep an eye for the results of further experiments held by the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) State Cooperative Potato Research Program to verify and clarify the claims.
September 8th, 2011 at 1:02 am
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/sad-monkeys
This article caught my interest because it discusses the correlation between diet and mental health (namely depression) in monkeys and I’ve always been interested in psychology. The monkeys were put on a diet of mostly fat and cholesterol. Depressed monkeys were found to have higher cholesterol and lower high-density lipoprotein (and higher amounts of Omega-6). Because of the similarities in monkeys and humans, this article is also a good warning to us that what we eat affects both the mental and physical health significantly. This article is published in Psychology Today, a credible magazine, and it cites the source for its content. I will read the literature to verify the information presented as well as find other scientific articles regarding this theory.
September 8th, 2011 at 1:02 am
http://www.livescience.com/15647-elephant-problem-solving.html
The article “Little Elephant Shows Big Brains” by LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh demonstrates how smart an elephant can be with the example of a 7-year-old elephant named Kandula using tools to get unreachable objects. This story caught my eyes because usually the elephants we see in the zoo do not use tools to help them achieve convenience. Knowing to use tools represents wisdom. Even though elephants are considered intelligent animals, relative to other animals, we rarely see elephants having the skill of “spontaneous problem-solving”, as stated in the article. Therefore, it is possible that elephants have the ability to think “insightfully” like humans do under certain conditions. If it is possible to figure out under what circumstances elephants would behave this way, there might be a more detailed statement on the structure of animal brains and how they function.
It seems like there is no evident research proving that elephants can think cleverly. However, this behaviour was caught on tape by the staff of Smithsonian National Zoo. The validity of this article still needs to be checked by either gaining information from research relating this topic or from experts of this subject field.
September 8th, 2011 at 1:21 am
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-als-study-20110822,0,3524095.story
“Breakthrough,” the first word of the title, caught my attention. The word carries with it profound implications for the past, present and the future. This LA Times article discusses the breakthrough discovery of the cause behind amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The article claims that this milestone discovery will be significant in developing treatment for Alzheimer’s, a subject close to my heart, so the article had even a greater emotional appeal to me.
The trustworthiness of this article is upheld by, first, its appeal to qualified authority (Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine research team). The article also cites Amelie Gubitz, a research program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders andStroke, who “said the Northwestern study was a big step forward.” This suggests that this study is approved and supported by the scientific community. Also, LA Times has been awarded 37 Pulitzer Prizes, which, to some extent, attests to the paper’s reputation and reliability. Although this particular article is a Chicago reporting, I have found numerous other articles, not just limited to US papers, reporting the same discovery of the Northwestern team. Therefore, there is a lesser concern for the subjectivity of the report. To render greater veracity, I will need to revisit the original study and check its own references to see if the study is triangulated by other pieces of research.
September 8th, 2011 at 1:55 am
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-longest-lived.html
“Blue zones,” regions of the world where people live the longest, include Japan, Sardinia in Italy, and Costa Rica. In Buettner’s work, The Blue Zone: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, he outlines the reasons why people tend to live longer in these “zones.” According to his findings, a Costa Rican male who spends less in healthcare lives longer than an average American male. In addition, while Canada has maintained high life expectancy, the life expectancy in America may decrease over the years due to obesity and unhealthy living habits. Furthermore, the key to living longer is to adopt and to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This topic interests me as many ignorant people refuse to adopt a healthy lifestyle and instead, rely on various health products that claim to lengthen one’s life. I agree with Buettner’s statement that there is no secret to longevity. National Geographic is a well-known dependable source and the author has included related sites to support this article. I will look through these links and other dependable sites to verify the claims presented.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:17 am
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/09/06/microbes_generate_electricity_while_cleaning_up_nuclear_waste.html
This article begins with stating how researchers in the university of Michigan have discovered that geobactor bacteria are capable of producing electricity while breaking down nuclear waste . I found this piece of news particularly interesting as this may provide a new alternative source of fuel. Not only will obtaining electricity by this method be cheap, it would also help make our environment a lot safer. These geobactor bacteria are able to break down nuclear waste that has leached into the soil rendering our environment a lot safer. These bacteria immobilizes the nuclear material too and prevents them from entering the soil. Especially in sight of the recent nuclear dump by Japan I see this as a very good to quickly halt the nuclear pollution and generate electricity along the way. I view this news source to be reliable since this was published on a notable biology news site , in addition the university of Michigan has been well known for it’s research work ,ranking 3rd nationally by the National Research Council for the quality of it’s research program. Also, the researchers of this project have already conducted successful experiments showing the effectiveness of these bacteria in cleaning up a nuclear mill in Colo.
September 8th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14788701
This story is about a specific plant that scientists claim has evolved a specific bird perch. It caught my eye because it appears to be a very absurd theory, since most other plants attract animals through smells and color. If this method works for this plant, wouldn’t have other plants adapted as well to this method, or a method relatively close? It seems farfetched that one single plant can grow a perch to give birds a foothold on which to sit. This story comes from BBC news Science and Environment. The researchers are from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. If I were to actually look into the original paper, I may be able to find if other plants have also evolved in this way.
September 8th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
This article discusses a new lung cancer combating vaccine called CimaVax-EGF created at Havana’s Center for Molecular Immunology. I was intrigued by this article because I found it ironic that a country who is famous for its cancer causing cigars would be one of the first to discover a lung cancer vaccine. I found the article very skeptical as it provided little detail as to how the vaccine actually functions. The only description given of the vaccine’s function states, “it can turn aggressive later-stage lung cancer into a manageable chronic disease by creating antibodies that do battle with the proteins that cause uncontrolled cell proliferation, researchers say.” This leaves the reader wondering what proof researches have of the vaccine’s success. The article fails to present any specific scientific data and ends by stating that over 1,000 Cubans have already been tested by the vaccine, but researchers are still waiting to determine the success of the vaccine. The article left me with feeling unsure as to whether I should feel optimistic about the new vaccines validity. If anything it gave me the impression that the vaccine is still in its early stages of testing. I would further test the validity of the vaccine by searching the internet for more highly regarded science resources that present definite scientific proof of the vaccine’s success. The fact that the article fails to provide any outside sources leaves me feeling even more doubtful.
September 8th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14811580
The article “Dark matter hinted at again at Cresst Experiment” written by Science and Technology Reporter Jason Palmer for BBC News describes recent discoveries of dark matter at an experimental laboratory in Italy. This article interested me due to my curiosity in the workings of outer space, and my hope to be further informed on the subject. In the article, the Cresst Laboratories of Italy were said to have spotted 67 different events in their detectors that would support the existence of dark matter, or more specifically Wimps (weakly interacting massive particles). After reading the article, it became more apparent that these pieces of evidence were in fact not as concrete as insinuated but actually strong suggestions that were still shy of being formal discoveries. The author of the article also seemed to feel that these findings were somewhat incredulous, stating that “most explanations [for dark matter] have been refuted by experiments” in the past. From this article, I’ve drawn the conclusion that at this point in time dark matter exists mostly through the process of elimination, seeing as there is no evidence that it truly exists other than the fact that certain phenomena’s have not been able to be explained by particles that are known to man. Although dark matter is a truly fascinating idea, I feel there is a need for more concrete evidence before it can be considered a legitimate finding.
September 8th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14811580
The article “Dark matter hinted at again at Cresst Experiment” written by Science and Technology Reporter Jason Palmer for BBC News describes recent discoveries of dark matter at an experimental laboratory in Italy. This article interested me due to my curiosity in the workings of outer space, and my hope to be further informed on the subject. In the article, the Cresst Laboratories of Italy were said to have spotted 67 different events in their detectors that would support the existence of dark matter, or more specifically Wimps (weakly interacting massive particles). After reading the article, it became more apparent that these pieces of evidence were in fact not as concrete as insinuated but actually strong suggestions that were still shy of being formal discoveries. The author of the article also seemed to feel that these findings were somewhat incredulous, stating that “most explanations [for dark matter] have been refuted by experiments” in the past. From this article, I’ve drawn the conclusion that at this point in time dark matter exists mostly through the process of elimination, seeing as there is no evidence that it truly exists other than the fact that certain phenomena’s have not been able to be explained by particles that are known to man. Although dark matter is a truly fascinating idea, I feel there is a need for more concrete evidence before it can be considered a legitimate finding.
September 8th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14788701
On September 6th Jennifer Carpenter published an article in BBC News titled “Plant has evolved a specialist bird perch.” This article caught my eye because of my interest in species adaptation and evolutionary botany. The article discusses research done to investigate the peculiar vertical stem of a South African plant, which researchers suspect had evolved to encourage cross-pollination by sunbirds. The findings were made public in the Annals of Botany journal, which is published through Oxford University Press, a highly legitimate source. The abstract of the investigation shows that observational studies were done on a number of different populations of the flower, in varying geographic locations. In areas with a greater sunbird population, the perch-like stem of the plant was longer and more developed. While it is important to acknowledge that there are numerous variables that could influence the development of these plants as their locations vary geographically, the research and article seem reliable due to the large number of populations observed and legitimacy of the publisher.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
https://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2011/08/16/janet_stanford_genetic_variants_prostate_cancer_.html
This article caught my eye because of the connection to a project I did in high school on radiation oncology. The mentor I worked with discussed how with the advancement in technology, more and more men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer. In most cases however, the cancer will never become severe enough to have an impact on their daily life. Therefore, patients that have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are usually monitored first, instead of being treated right away. If what the article suggests is true, this discovery will make knowing which patient needs treatment much simpler.
I believe that this article is trustworthy because the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, which both led the study and published the article, is quite famous worldwide. The article also includes a short description of the patient sample their research is based off of and has a few statistics too, which gives the impression that the researchers have spent a reasonable amount of time investigating this. The fact that they first used patients from Seattle, then ones from Sweden, suggests that a thorough job was done to make sure that their discovery did not only apply to a certain area. However, I will have to wait for additional research to be done and released before I can confirm whether the claim is true.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Could my first post be rejected and accept my second one instead? I realized I did not even mention what the article talked about. Sorry for the hassle.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
This story claims that an old research done six years ago shows that curing high blood pressure becomes faster for diabetic patients when they visit their physicians more often. I was puzzled but also became very curious when I first discovered this news because I thought this was very obvious. As I progressed on, however, I was stunned by the supporting data in the article because patients who experienced face-to-face interactions with physicians more often than others were cured of high blood pressure faster than I ever imagined! For example, patients who visited their physicians every month or less had their blood pressure return to normal more than eight times faster than those who didn’t on average! Although the data seems to be doubtful because it sounds too good to be true, it is undeniable that the supporting data has merit because the research had been extensively done for five years including more than 5000 patients and the source is from the American Heart Association, a well-established non-profit organization founded almost a hundred years ago. I will confirm the original sources from the American Heart Association and look for other research papers or documents that support the numerical values of the data presented in this article.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-global-crab-threat-antarctica.html
This article claims that king crabs are moving towards the West Antarctica peninsula because of the global warming. My eye was caught by this story because I was surprised that the global warming actually benefits us. As the number of king crabs increase, the price of them will decrease, and people around the world will have more chances to taste how delicious they are.
It’s quite often to see the articles about how global warming has caused animals to move to other places, so this story is somewhat reliable. However, I will find some more information on the king crabs’ habits and their favorable ecosystem to see the trustworthiness of the story.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Hi, Thomas- I only see the one…
September 8th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
https://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2011/08/16/janet_stanford_genetic_variants_prostate_cancer_.html
This article caught my eye because of the connection to a project I did in high school on radiation oncology. The mentor I worked with discussed how with the advancement in technology, more and more men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer. In most cases however, the cancer will never become severe enough to have an impact on their daily life. Therefore, patients that have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are usually monitored first, instead of being treated right away. This article suggests that a positive blood test for at least four of five inherited genetic variants can be a sign of potentially severe prostate cancer. If what the article suggests is true, this discovery will make knowing which patient needs treatment much simpler.
I believe that this article is trustworthy because the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, which both led the study and published the article, is quite famous worldwide. The article also includes a short description of the patient sample their research is based off of and has a few statistics too, which gives the impression that the researchers have spent a reasonable amount of time investigating this. The fact that they first used patients from Seattle, then ones from Sweden, suggests that a thorough job was done to make sure that their discovery did not only apply to a certain area. However, I will have to wait for additional research to be done and released before I can confirm whether the claim is true.
September 8th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Sorry for the double post. My first one doesn’t have the link to the article…
September 8th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100525/Researchers-examine-relationship-between-visiting-primary-care-physician-and-effect-blood-pressure.aspx
Triple post… I’m getting used to this site.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/09/01/ben.gurion.u.researchers.identify.gene.leads.myopia.nearsightedness
This article describes the causes of nearsightedness. This caught my attention because I, myself, am very nearsighted and I find it satisfying to be able to finally understand my eye problems. According to the article, myopia (nearsightedness) is mainly hereditary and is caused by a defect of the gene LEPREL1. This gene encodes an enzyme that is crucial for the final alterations of the collagen in our eyes. With defective LERPREL1, active forms of this enzyme are unable to be created leading to the formation of abnormal collagen. Due to this, the eyeball becomes elongated so light beams that enter will focus in front of the retina, rather than on it, causing nearsightedness. The article is orginally from American Associates, Ben- Gurion University of the Negev which is a reliable source so the information presented is most likely accurate. However the research of LEPREL1 is still in its early stages and further studies will be done to verify its significance in the development of myopia.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:26 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110907132106.htm
This article in Science Daily reveals new fluorescent DNA probes used to monitor activity of transcription factors. Researchers would previously use RNA or protein, and the process involved was laborious; transcription factors would have to be individually isolated whereas these DNA probes seek out the molecules of their own accord. A professor from the UC Santa Barbara expects this technological advance to lead to new cancer drugs and methods of screening (transcription factors play an integral role in monitoring cell division/development and thus tumors).
The sources seem fairly reputable. Science Daily’s piece was based off a research article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and several researchers and professors from UCSB contribute their thoughts. The writer clearly used the word “cancer” in the title and at the end of the article to sustain the audience’s interest and keep up hope; it was this and the mention of DNA, my area of interest, which drew me in. The process is still in its early stages so further research and extensive testing/clinical trials would be required to truly validate its worthiness.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
I came across a brief article titled “Antibiotics May Be Permanently Altering the Guts of Humanity” by Clay Dillow at:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-09/antibiotics-may-be-permanently-altering-our-friendly-gut-microbes
I was immediately interested in the topic because of the current speculation on the true benefits of antibiotics due to the developed cultural dependency on such drugs. I have also thought that many people are far too reliant on antibiotics and take pills as soon as they get sick. However, seeing that the first article was more of a summary of the real article by Martin Blaser, I followed a few links to the original. Which is well, because Martin’s recommendation to “reduce the use of antibiotics during pregnancy and childhood” had become “consider not giving antibiotics to anyone other than very young children and pregnant women.”
As for Blaser’s article, it had many interesting comments on the discrepancies between the microbiomes of subsequent generations and the effects of various common antibiotics. However, most of the statistics in the article had no reference that I could see, and were few and far between. Also, whenever I read an article related to the pharmaceutical industry I cannot help but wonder just what powers are at work behind the message being sent. Blaser’s recommended remedial methods for overusing antibiotics could be just as much of a scam as many believe the antibiotic industry to be already. To determine the validity of the story, one would need to research various studies of the effects of antibiotics on the beneficial bacteria in the human body and the supposed increase in susceptibility to various diseases that results. Individual research on examples cited by Blaser, such as the effect of amoxicillin on H. pylori in the human body would also help to verify his article.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20110901/gene-bacteria-resisting-antibiotics-110831/
This story is about the discovery of an antibiotic-resistance gene in bacteria having existed for 30,000 or more years. The article states that antibiotic-resistance genes were found in bacterial DNA found in frozen 30,000 year old soil in permafrost in the Yukon and may be passed to antibiotics currently used in medicine. This article caught my eye because of the importance of antibiotics in the process of curing diseases and illness and due to my personal interest in the medical field.
Considering that the story is from a well known and trusted news source (CTV News) and is sourced from the international science journal Nature, I would consider this article to be trustworthy. It is still important to continue to ask questions regarding the article, as the article does not provide specific details and the research is ongoing. The research conducted is also based mainly in the Yukon and has not been conducted in other regions. Following the progress of this research and finding similar stories on various scientific journals and news sites and finding more accurate and detailed evidence and reports is a method I would use to try to verify their claims.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/shark-week-four-futuristic-technologies-inspired-by-sharks.php
This link caught my eye because it was in the JGI (Jane Goodall Institute) monthly newsletter, but also because I am extremely interested in biomimicry and find sharks to be extremely beautiful, yet fearsome and misunderstood, creatures. I think this story is trustworthy, not only because I frequently read the treehugger website and it was on the JGI newsletter, but also because I have heard of this research before. I have heard of scientists studying shark skin for a number of different reasons. Also, the article includes other links to articles, websites, videos, and pictures. It quotes other articles, lists organizations and scientists researching these initiatives, and even has a video from CBS. However, some of the numbers in regards to how much fuel or money can be saved seem a bit extreme or far fetched. To further verify the claims, I would read the articles and websites linked, and even google some of the scientists or organizations that are doing the research themselves.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4741340.stm
This article describes Michel Siffre’s experiment in 1962, where he lived underground in a cave for 2 months. He was isolated from the outside world: his assistants could not initiate contact with him, but he would alert them of his waking, eating and sleeping times- for the purpose of investigating chronobiology. He discovered that his “daytime” ranged from 40 hours to just 6, and that his perception of time seemed to have ‘slowed’. (scroll down to Dr. David Eagleman’s part!!)
I actually heard about this news a long time ago, and it “caught my ears” because I because I had always wondered how much the human body, or other organisms, relies on the movements of the earth around the sun. How could we determine “time” without outer space for reference? If we lived underground and were able to survive and adapt to the environment, and it is true that our “days” become longer, how would our lifespan be affected? Would we then look back to our 24 hour days and 80 years or so life span, and be reminded of creatures whose life consists of only one day after their final stage of evolution? I had many questions, and this article piqued my interest.
I found many different websites describing this story, including one that contains an interview with Michel Siffre about his underground experience. Also, this version of the story was found on BBC NEWS, a renowned and reliable source. I have also done a simple background search on Siffre and Dr. Eagleman, and they are both scientists with many accomplishments, and have backgrounds that are related to this story. However, I wonder if 2 months is enough time for the effects of Siffre’s normal sleeping habits accumulated over a lifetime to completely fade, and for observations and sleeping patterns of significant reliability and consistency to form. However, putting these details aside, the fact that this experiment did take place is trustworthy, since many other people were involved in recording the results, and this story is covered in many websites of various forms on the internet. I would first confirm the authenticity of the event by searching for any papers that may have been written on this experiment, read and analyze any observations taken during the experiment before deciding the significance and trustworthiness of the claims made in this article. Or maybe, one day, I could try this out myself and see if I can recreate the same results over a great time period.
September 8th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/science/12obsalt.html?ref=biologyandbiochemistry
This article describing salt infusion research on tadpoles caught my interest because it describes how the use of salt infusions on tadpoles can help to regenerate lost limbs. Naturally, tadpoles can re-grow tails on their own, but it does explain in the article that this ability diminishes with age. However, I am skeptical of the validity of this claim, simply because the method has only been used on tadpoles, and appears to be in initial stages of research. I do believe that the article is trustworthy, yet it offers limited information on the research being done for human use. If this was developed for humans, it would offer amazing medical advancements, and could possibly be used to help re-grow damaged tissue and limbs. Before trusting the article, I’m going to look into other possible advancements in the area, and verify if this research is indeed moving towards the ability to re-grow human tissue.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
This article states that Circadian Clocks are evident in fish that have lived isolated for 2 million years under the Somalian desert in complete darkness. It caught my attention because I’ve always been fascinated by the intricate similarities embedded within our genes between completely different organisms like the cavefish and humans, despite all the differences to the eye.
This article is published in “Science Daily” which is an excellent source and it included a link to their journal which is published in “PLoS” with detailed notes of their experiment including methodology, graphs collected during the study and experimental results. Its publication in 2 highly reputable sources, along with access to a detailed list of the researchers involved in the study, clearly dated information and carefully analyzed data, I feel confident in the article’s validity.
In order to verify its claims I would further read any similar researches done on different species (as this article states that it studied on one species of cavefish) or of another study with a different way of conducting the experiment and compare the results.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep/05/young-blood-rejuvenates-old-brains
This news article suggests that it might one day be possible to rejuvenate aging brains through the use of proteins found in blood. The new study from Nature shows that some proteins present in the blood of young mice promoted the growth of new brain cells in old mice. This news article caught my eye because the brain is a highly complex organ that we still do not entirely understand, and therefore any credible new research on methods to alleviate declines in brain functions is fascinating for me.
The news article is from The Guardian, which is a reputable international newspaper with a large readership. Considering the fact that it makes no exaggerated claims but rather only suggests possible future benefits if the research proves to be true, the article seems trustworthy. Furthermore, the original study was published in Nature, which is one of the world’s most cited scientific journals. However, this is still new research and so besides reading the original scientific article in Nature, I would also look at similar articles from reputable sources to verify the research results.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
http://www.globalnews.ca/health/chickenpox+vaccine+doctors39+group+says+canadian+kids+should+get+2+shots/6442475685/story.html
My first reaction upon discovering this article was of weariness and scepticism—it seems as though new discoveries claiming the need for yet more drugs or shots are becoming more and more common. Thus, I found it obligatory to give the article a read. Personally, I believe that many public conceptions about what is ‘good for you’ are false due to poor communication between the scientific world and the common household. Therefore, I was rather sceptical regarding the report ordering for yet another vaccination shot. The article concentrates mostly on the consequences in those rare cases in which a single vaccination does not immunize an individual, or about the few people who may suffer complications from the relatively harmless disease. However, it does not explore the concept of allowing kids to obtain immunity through an actual infection despite it being an extremely effective method of developing said immunization. I am sure there are lots of reason why doctors would prefer an immunization against a natural infection, but the article does a fairly vague job of describing their reasoning. Without the reason behind the logic, many parents may panic and have their children immunized without understanding the true benefits and risks with immunization that Dr. Marina Salvadori speaks of. I found it necessary search different webpages to read about the benefits and risks associated with each type of immunization—induced and natural—before I could decide whether vaccination would be the optimal choice.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/09/08/science-sediba-hominin-fossil.html
This is an article about the fossils of Australopithecus sediba, a human like species discovered in 2008. As human, we often question about how our species came to be. Every discovering of a human-like species stirs up a lot of attention and public imagination. I found it interesting that Au. sediba’s pelvis are human like while the brain remains relatively small, which disagreed with a previous hypothesis that the pelvis shape evolved because of the need to deliver babies with larger brains. This shows that existing ideas about how a certain species evolved may be proved wrong and replaced with new explanations.
The story seems quite believable. The research is conducted by scientists in South Africa, Canada and the United States. I think it is more difficult to fake results when so many scientists from different countries are involved in the project. In addition, the paper was published in Science, a reputable journal. However, I am skeptical of the claim that making tools “is not necessarily something that requires the huge cognitive leap that we think it might” The article did not mention any tools found by archaeologists excavating the site. The only prove that Au. sediba used tools was based on the shape of their hands. Having certain structure does not mean a species can perform a task associated with that structure.
To verify this story, I visited the science magazine website. The papers listed on the site covered topics from hand structure, pelvis structure to foot and ankle. These are the same area of research mentioned in the article I found on CBC.ca and showed that the news story is based on the research done on the subject.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:49 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14730608
The article that aroused my interest claims that the virus, named JX-594, can selectively target cancer cells via bloodstreams throughout the body. Furthermore, this significant discovery is regarded as a milestone in developing the treatment of hard-to-treat cancers like mesothelioma. I was fascinated with this article because it implies how Biology can be applied to our daily life, achieving considerable progress in making it possible for curing uncontrolled-growth cancer and brings fresh hope to millions of cancer suffers around the globe.
The article was posted on CBC News, a reputable media across the world, which makes the article trust-worthy. The article also cites John Bell, a professor at the University of Ottawa, who believed that “someday, viruses could truly transform our approach for treating cancer”. This suggests that the article was supported by field experts. However, few data was collected in the article, which makes me skeptical about the veracity. How safe is this type of virus? Does the virus have any side-effects in human bodies? To verify the authenticity, I will check related news among different papers and videos. As this is a new biological approach, I will trace any relevant reports released in the future to confirm its validity.
September 8th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/08/ancient-fossils-question-human-family-tree/?hpt=hp_bn1
This article interested me because only a few years ago, genetic evidence was found that suggested that many homo sapiens have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, which was considered a breakthrough because scientists believed that Neaderthals had little or nothing to do with the evolution of homo sapiens. This recent article suggests that we may have another previously unknown early ancestor, the Australopithecus sediba, again changing our thoughts on the evolution of homo sapiens as well as the origin of the Homo genus.
I think the article is fairly trustworthy because CNN is a reputable new reporter. They not only drew conclusions from the original article that was published in Science journal (a reputable source) but also sought other professional opinions to present an article that looked at several possibilities. CNN did not just report the hypothesis that the original study suggested but also the views and arguments of other scientists. In fact, they explicitly state how no conclusion can be made without further evidence. In order to fully understand the article I would read the actual paper in Science to see how accurately CNN presented their claims. I think further research is needed on other skeletons found in the same region as the two Australopithecus sebida skeletons upon which these suggestions were made.
September 8th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110908104001.htm
This article from Science News daily researchers at US Agricultural Research Service have discovered a part on bovine chromosome 20, called quantitative trait lotus (QTL), is likely the cause for pinkeye, foot rot and bovine pneumonia, the three most prevalent bacterial diseases that affect feedlot cattle’s health. The researchers also believe this discovery will help improve food safety and reduce economical losses.
This article interests me because besides sciences, cooking is another thing that I really love. Therefore I pay close attention to news that talk about food safety.
This research was conducted by researchers of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was also indicated that the results from this research were published in the Journal of Animals Science (official journal in American Publication about animal science). Therefore I would consider this news article to be trustworthy.
The researchers say that identifying the responsible genetic marker QTL will help to produce cattle with increased disease tolerance. I will read the original research results from Journal of Animals Science. I will also follow up on any of the future test results, to see whether the number of diseased cows actually decreases. Although it didn’t state in the news article, but I would suppose that in order to increase cattle’s disease tolerance, the scientists and researchers have to make certain changes to the cattle’s genes. Will this create more problems? Such as a new disease that’s even harder to cure, a new defect in the cattle’s body system.
Definitely going to follow up!
September 8th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110830213627.htm
This article in the Science Daily describes the new discoveries of a compound that is found in sea coral that can prevent the organism from UV damage. This particular article caught my eye because I took a trip to Taiwan this summer, in which around the island inhabits many different types of coral reefs, and I began to take interest in them.
The article claims that: “We are very close to being able to reproduce this compound”; however it does not state that experiments of these UV protecting compounds has been made or tested on humans or crops. As far as the research goes, this topic may only be in the hypothetical stage, and may require more years of research to verify. To further verify the claims presented in the article, I will look further into Dr. Long’s papers and his presentation of this theory. As well as gather more information on coral reefs and the chemical compounds that can deflect, or absorb, UV rays.
September 9th, 2011 at 12:28 am
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829070555.htm
The issue about whether chocolate is good or bad for you has been going on for awhile. In this recent article from ScienceDaily, chocolate consumption is claimed to be beneficial to your heart’s health. I find this article interesting because I personally LOVE chocolate and my parents would consistently discourage me from consuming too much, claiming that it’s bad for my health and that I’ll eventually become obese. I feel that this report is reliable because the findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Paris, the largest medical meeting in Europe. (The ESC also published 7 world’s leading journals on cardiology.) The article also stated that further studies are still needed to test whether chocolate actually causes the reduction of heart problems so I will have to follow up with conclusions from subsequent tests.
September 9th, 2011 at 12:35 am
The article ” Fighting Cancer With Scorpions? ” written by Chris Kilham, emphasizes on the role of natural substances in curing cancer. While chemotherapy and radiation treatment attack all the cells, scientists have found that the poison of a highly toxic scorpion can grow inside tumor cells without infecting the normal healthy cells. On the other hand a team of scientists lead by professor Nigel Minton from the University of Nottingham in Britain have used a bacteria called Clostridium sporogenes to cure brain tumors. The important fact about this bacteria is that it’s anaerobic and can grow in solid tumors of brain, breast and prostate.
The title of the article attracted me as I believe that we’ll soon be able to cure cancer while decreasing its side effects through these findings as researchers are working on it all over the word ( e.g. Cuba’s lung cancer vaccine ).
The article seems to be credible as it was published in the fox news by Chris Kilham who teaches ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has been researching in twenty different countries while publishing fourteen books. Other than that the article includes useful information like the title of the universities and the name of the leading professors which can lead me to the original paper.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/08/fighting-cancer-with-scorpions/
September 9th, 2011 at 9:43 am
Whoops! The llink was missing in my first post.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1052836/The-super-vaccine-protects-types-flu-LIFE.html
September 9th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/infant/infant-health/improper-swaddling-may-damage-your-babys-hips/article2158644/
Drawn to this article by the evident power of ignorance to evoke disaster, I soon recognized the evident prevalence of biology. The human body proves an inescapable reminder of the mechanisms of life. Funnelling from the minute microcellular components, such as nitrogenous bases, to the major metabolic process, cellular respiration for instance, the body allows endless studies of life. In the article “Improper Swaddling may damage your baby’s hips,” from the Globe and Mail newspaper author Tralee Pearce describes the necessity of blanketing new born babies correctly. Being “frog-like,” in shape means that the physiology of the new born human demands flexibility of movement for the hips. The article draws evidence from research that investigates Native American and Turkish wrapping methods. Hip dysplasia, ultimately ramifying arthritis, becomes evident as the risk of improper swaddling. As claimed, the dysplastic risk increases by 20 percent under the Aboriginal and Turkish Methods. Due to the ambiguity regarding the research group, I began to question the credibility of this source. Further retrospection illuminated other vague areas; only the statement “according to recent figures,” accompanied the statistic of hip dysplasia affecting one percent of North American newborns. Where are these figures? Who are these researchers? Such questions challenge the article’s reliability. However, further investigation on the part of the reader would likely produce more concrete evidence. Turning to current day medical journals or medical databases could reveal more believable statistics through case studies. Therefore, due to the nature of the Globe and Mail as a resource, being nationally if not internationally renowned but also a quick source of the news for those with harried mornings, details must be selectively chosen. For those inspired to learn more, the expansive resource that is the internet could hold answers.
September 9th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-skill-better-than-rudolphs
This article from Scientific American reports that a study has shown reindeer have evolved to see UV light, which improves their ability to see patches of lichen, their food source, and wolves, their main predators (both of which absorb UV light and therefore stand out against the snow). In addition, reindeer’s eyes are resistant to damage due to UV rays, a trait which the article suggests could lead to advances in treating light exposure-related vision loss in humans.
This article caught my attention because although I was aware that certain animals have better vision than humans, it surprised me to learn that reindeer can actually see a wider spectrum of light than we can.
The study mentioned by the article was originally published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, a credible peer-reviewed source. However, very few details of the original study are included in the article. For example, the article makes no mention of the technique used to determine that reindeer see UV light. As well, the article makes a link between resistance to UV damage to reindeer’s eyes and possible future treatment of human sight loss, a claim that seems rather bold considering it is based on only one study (especially since the study focuses on reindeer’s ability to perceive UV light rather than on the lack of damage to their eyes). I tracked down the original research article, and found that it included very specific details on technique, and no mention of human eye treatment possibilities, making it sound far more plausible than the Scientific American summary. To further examine the study’s claims, I would research other articles published about the study as well as other studies that corroborate its results.
September 10th, 2011 at 11:24 am
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/05/cystic-fibrosis-gene-treatment-funds
This article caught my eye as it talks about a gene treatment for cystic fibrosis. After reading the title, I started to wonder what it takes to develop a treatment for genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. I was also interested in discovering if there are any possible side-effects and usefulness of the treatment. Although the development of the treatment is not yet completed, the successes that have been seen in the program led the article to claim that the program “had reached the final stages of drug development.” I think the story can be trusted for a variety of reasons. The article is written by Robin McKie who is an editor in science. In addition, McKie has displayed an understanding of the process that took place in order to reach the stage that the program is in now as he has previously written an article on the program. McKie has provided a number of quotes in his article. In one of the quotes from the article, a professor mentions that the program has run a number of trails to test the treatment, and that the treatment has helped many people with cystic fibrosis. Further research on the treatment can determine the reliability of the information given in the article. As the project is done by “the UK’s three main cystic fibrosis research groups,” I can verify the claims by gaining further knowledge about the people involved in the project and their backgrounds. Since this program has been running for a number of years with more than eighty scientists involved, there should be more articles that look into the treatment, so I can research more detailed information about the treatment.
September 10th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
This article about “obesity turning body fat toxic” caught my eye because of the misconceptions in research regarding metabolic syndrome in obese people. In most experimental results, findings suggest obesity triggers visceral fat, which produces proinflammatory cytokines that are linked with metabolic syndrome. However, Graham S. Hotamisligil of the Harvard University of Public Health claims that fat clusters under the skin, called subcutaneous adipose tissue, can also play a major role. In order to investigate this, Ishwarlal Jialal and his colleagues, of the University of California Davis Medical Center, ran a test on 65 obese patients and discovered a host of macrophages in the subcutaneous fat. These macrophages are known to eliminate invading cells, but in this case, they were seen conspiring with the fat cells in order to create many proinflammatory cytokines.
I find that the research done in order to claim that subcutaneous fat being harmful to the body is well supported by the evidence discovered by Jialal’s team. Research papers such as the July 12 Journal of the American College of Cardiology have also ran another test that showed similar results. In order to verify the claims in this article I would read the article “Adipose Tissue Dysregulation in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome” from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, which shows the results from the experiments in detail. I would look at possible errors present in the experiment, such as not having a large of sample of obese patients or a lack of trials taken. As Alyssa Hasty of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine states “The new data open up the idea that maybe we should revisit subcutaneous fat as a major player in the metabolic consequences of obesity.”
September 11th, 2011 at 12:43 am
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110906181543.htm
sorry the link was missing from my first post.
September 11th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
“Fossils revise human evolution theories”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/09/08/science-sediba-hominin-fossil.html
This article on the CBC news website describes a pair of extremely well preserved, two million year old skeletons found in 2008 that could contradict much previously assumed about human evolution. Paired with the headline was a picture of one of the skulls found, which was extremely eye-grabbing and was what caught my attention.
It was after watching the video that was paired with the article that I questioned how accurate the written piece was. While the article was very insistent that Australopithecus sediba was very likely a distant relative of man’s, the video suggests otherwise. The expert that the publication brings in for a comment first states his excitement for the discovery, but then later goes on to say that most of his colleagues and he himself don’t believe that this species actually is an ancestor of the Homo genus, but instead a separate relative which died off. So while the actual information in the story is reliable, and comes from a reputable source, sensationalism in journalism can make for bias. If one were to verify the article, they could first go to the Science magazine website, which is quoted in the CBC article. Also, the university that found the ancient bones would have also released an article, and it would have a very different perspective.
September 11th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110909091219.htm
This article talks about a research study on the preferential responses of the neurons in the amygdala of those who are exposed to pictures of animals over pictures of humans or buildings. This article caught my eye because of a task we had to do in the scavenger hunt yesterday at Science Frosh – which was to take a picture with a cute dog. Stumbling across this article, I immediately connected it to my experience yesterday in the search of a “cute” dog on the street, and my wonder about why humans can react so strongly to any furry household pet on the street.
The trustworthiness of this article is high, mainly because of how it frequently refers back to the two institutes that created this study: the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and UCLA. Also, there are many quotes mentioned throughout this article from the paper of this study taken from the journal Nature Neuroscience. At the very end of this article, there were two paragraphs dedicated to crediting each of those who were leading the study and each sponsor who supported this study. To verify the claims presented, I can search up the original paper of this study online, since the name of the paper and the names of those who did this study were mentioned as well as the publishing date and the name of the online journal. The trustworthiness of the mentioned laboratory process of this study is also high because near the very beginning of this article, there was an entire paragraph dedicated to summarizing the whole procedure of what transpired throughout the study. The article also goes on from there to taking quotes from the paper about the results of this study and their findings about the amygdala. Based on my experience from previous high school science fairs of finding research papers on Google Scholar, I can easily find the original research paper mentioned with the information given in this article.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14844053
I was simply browsing about the BBC Science and Technology website and the headline “Rhythm of Life for Blind Fish” caught my eye. It turned out is was about the sleeping habits and circadian rhythm of fish living in Somalian caves. Given we are all university students and will shortly be fighting with our circadian rhythms, though hopefully not too much, I thought this was a really interesting article. The article comes from the BBC, which is considered to be a fairly trustworthy organisation in its own right, and the possible veracity of this article is corroborated by the fact that it is actually a summary of an open access journal research article, to which they link directly. Therefore it is actually quite easy to determine how accurate it is in its presentation of the facts. From skimming the article, it seems to be quite an accurate story indeed.
September 11th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001136
This article caught my eye because I am interested in the nervous system, and discovering new ways to repair life-changing damage. This article talks about a gene network found in fruit flies which guides nervous system repair. It talks about different ways to effect cell regeneration around the site of damage to the nervous system, also with the ability to stop so that extra growth or tumours are not formed. I found it very odd that they chose to do their study on fruit flies, however, I find their claims very exciting because it could possibly lead to new medical advancements in repairing human spinal cord injuries if the same gene network is ever discovered in humans.
This article appears to present valid facts. I feel this article is trustworthy because the claims it makes are all tied back to lab tests or different experiments performed by the research team. The information it states is not based solely off one observation or one experiment, instead, the claims are after “a series of… experiments,” carried out by a team of researchers. Also at the top of the webpage before you even read the article it states the author, where she works, and where she’s from. I take this as a sense of pride in her article/study, opposed to some outrageous article posted by someone without ownership or references.
I believe this article is a review by Janelle Weaver on the findings of the research team led by Alicia Hidalgo, a neuroscientist at the University of Birmingham. The facts Weaver presents in her article closely mirror the findings of Hidalgo’s research team on their discovery of the gene network in fruit flies. Weaver explains different occurrences in the study, and reports the facts seemingly without bias. I believe the article and its findings to be legitimate.
September 11th, 2011 at 10:32 pm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tibet-was-cradle-of-evolution
The story I chose to investigate claims that prehistoric Tibet’s snowy mountains and harsh climate gave rise to organisms that were specially adapted to life in a snowy clime up to one million years before the Ice Age hit the earth. As a result of the adaptations these organisms made in such a harsh winter climate, they were in a prime position to spread across Asia and thrive once the Ice Age hit 2.6 million years ago. The article bases this claim on the recent discovery of a 3.7-million-year-old species of rhinoceros (dubbed Coelodonta thibetan) in the Tibetan mountains that had a “snow shovel” of sorts on its head (formed by an abnormally flat horn) that would have enabled it to brush away snow to reach vegetation.
This article caught my eye because I have been incredibly interested in political geography recently, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn something new about the region of Tibet. Furthermore, none of my classes ever really covered the prehistoric era in any way, and I felt this could help fill in some of the massive gaps in my knowledge of that era.
In order to verify the accuracy of the article’s claim that the region acted as a true “evolutionary cradle” for species that would have gone on to thrive during the Ice Age, I plan to conduct research into any past discoveries of organisms that were adapted to snowy, wintry climes in manners similar to the rhino’s “snow-shovel” head. Unfortunately for the article’s credibility, it does not actually list any similarly-adapted species that have been discovered in Tibet, which casts doubt on its claim that pre-Ice Age Tibet was an “evolutionary cradle” that produced animals ready to thrive during the Ice Age. Furthermore, the article’s idea that Coelodonta thibetan would have thrived during the Ice Age is merely an assumption, as no fossils of the species that date back to the time of the Ice Age have been discovered; the claim appears to be based purely on the fact that other species of wooly rhinos were in fact alive during the Ice Age. At this point, it appears as though the researchers who put this claim forward may be on to something, but at this point the idea appears to lack sufficient hard evidence to make it anything more than a hunch.
September 11th, 2011 at 11:59 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/31/science-antibiotic-resistance-bacteria-permafrost.html
This article on the CBC news website describes research that found genes causing antibiotic resistance in 30 000-year-old soil bacteria.
The article fascinates me because it suggests that antibiotic resistance in disease-causing bacteria is not solely caused by human overuse of antibiotics, as the widely-held belief states, but is instead a natural phenomenon that was beginning to occur before humans began using antibiotics. The medical significance of the research could be dramatic, since it could lead to a new strategy in fighting the spread of antibiotic resistance in dangerous bacteria.
The author of the article seems to go to great pains to emphasize the reliability of the original research. The article describes how the researchers made sure to take samples of soil bacteria that were frozen deep in Yukon permafrost, and that DNA tests found no modern animal DNA in the soil. This is reassuring regarding the trustworthiness of the article, because it shows the researchers’ attention to detail and to maintaining the validity of the research. However, where the article slips in its believability is in the conclusions it draws from the research. The article winds up by suggesting that the antibiotic-resistant genes found in the soil bacteria were likely the only source of antibiotic resistance in all modern bacteria. This conclusion seems incredibly generalized for a study that only examined one type of bacteria from one time period. I suspect the research paper itself is more cautious, and that the author of the article is merely trying to give significance to the findings, so that the article is interesting enough to be published; only a look at the conclusions in the original paper will show the research’s actual reliability.
September 12th, 2011 at 12:12 am
This science experiment describes people’s ability to resist temptation from different desires. The title “Willpower Endures” caught my eye but when I read the article I was slightly disappointed. This is because the data was not consistent that many errors may have taking place. The first experiment was conducted on 400 children placed in a room with a marshmallow. If they were to resist their temptation they would receive another marshmallow after 15 minutes; while some did others didn’t. After 40 years only 59 of the original subjects were tested and the results were that those who resisted when he/she was a child resisted when he/she was an adult, from temptation. Even though experiments were done with the brain to relate different parts to how the brain functions, the conclusive notion that willpower endures is insufficient. The difference between a child’s mentality and an adult’s mentality, who has gone through 40 years of life experience is so great that the relationships between the two experiments lie uncertain. On the other hand, the data may suggest that the brain will follow the same thought process throughout life, giving humans a unchangeable fate.
September 12th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/334000/title/Obesity_can_turn_body_fat_toxic
Sorry the link was missing with my earlier post!
September 17th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Sorry for the late reply. I forgot about this assignment until now. XD
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/09/15/researchers_discover_a_switch_that_controls_stem_cell_pluripotency.html
This article caught my eye because it mentions something about a “switch” in stem cells. It made me think that it may be possible to somehow “flip a switch” and turn an ordinary cell into a stem cell. However, after reading through the article, I don’t think it did a very good job of explaining the mechanism of this “switch” clearly. The article says that a process called alternative splicing allows mRNA to be spliced in different combinations. The researchers found that this process is active in stem cells, but silent in specialized adult cells. The article attempts to explain exactly how alternative splicing regulates pluripotency, or the “stemness” of stem cells, but the explanation is very confusing. I have more background knowledge in biology than the general population, but even after reading it a few times I wasn’t sure if I completely and correctly understood what it is trying to explain. The second half of the article discusses several possible applications for this knowledge, which is reasonably easy to understand, but it does not make the first half any better.
This study is led by Professor Benjamin Blencowe of the Departments of Molecular Genetics and Banting and Best Department of Medical Research in the University of Toronto. The research team also collaborated with Professors Jeff Wrana and Andras Nagy in the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital. Their findings were published in a scientific journal called Cell. However, since this article does a less-than-ideal description of said findings, its validity and accuracy are debatable. To verify the claims of this article, I would read the original article in the journal Cell, as well as look up Professor Blencowe and his research.
September 18th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
At first the story caught my eyes, because it was about some berry growing in Nova Scotia, which is where I am from. But after I read more about it, I became interested about the claim that Cassells (a British financial consultant and managing director of LaHave Forest) made to Halifax Chronicle Herald Newspaper: “our want is to make Lunenburg County the centre of the haskap berry industry, just as Oxford is the blueberry capital of Nova Scotia.” It would be very interesting to see this actually come true. Further in the news, the editor, Steve Mertl mentioned that besides North America, this berry also grows in Japan and Russia. For Nova Scotia to beat all the farms in North America that cultivate this haskap berry, Japan, and Russian in order to become the Center of Haskap berry industry, it takes a lot of financial support, organization and stability. I hope that is not just Cassells getting excited in front of the news, and hopefully they can take advantage of LaHave’s 243 Hectares of land in Nova Scotia.
Some other interesting facts about these haskap berries is that apparently they have three times the level of antioxidants from the wild berries, they have two times more vitamin C than oranges, they grow on a land where the soil is build up with no chemicals, but of only animal compost. But I would also like to know who did research and where did the research take place about the level of antioxidant and vitamin C in these berries.
This news was posted on Yahoo! News, and they are pretty up dated for most parts. But the individual bloggers update and post the news and hence, one must be careful when reading news on this website. It is nevertheless a great start to read about interesting, new facts and discoveries, but to certify the validity, a reference and research in other sources must be made.
September 18th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/pass-nova-scotia-haskap-berry-vodka-good-201647219.html
September 19th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110919171340.htm
this article claims that yawning helps to cool the human brain.
I was skeptical after reading the title of the article, because I simply could not see the correlation between yawning and thermoregulation.
Even after reading through the article, I was not convinced. One of the researchers, a certain ‘Omar Eldakar’, was quoted in the article to be ‘a postdoctoral fellow’, which altogether does not sound professional in any sense. Rather, a little fishy. This leads me to question the credibility of the article.
Moreover, the process of how the research was conducted was not documented in detail. Sources of error might have affected the results of the experiment. There was also no direct indication of statistics and data.
Personally, after reading through the brief description of how the research was conducted, I believe that there were many factors that were not controlled throughout the experiment, which could all affect the frequency of yawning in people.
To validate the findings of the research, I would start out by listing the sources of error, and then try to find out how exactly the research was conducted by personally interviewing the researchers mentioned in the article.
November 29th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/11/21/tweaking_a_gene_makes_muscles_twice_as_strong.html
This article claims that by changing a gene that suppresses a natural muscle-growth inhibitor researchers have made “super strong high endurance ” mice and worms. This article caught my attention because I am interested in whether this genomic change could be done in other organisms, as well as the possible side effects. The popular article says that this project was a collaboration between researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and two Swiss institutions. I think this discovery is likely true because it provides direct quotes of researchers and a link to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies’ website, although this popular source may not provide all negative side effects to this gene change. To verify the trustworthiness of this article I could search for the original publication on the Salk Institute for Biological Studies’ website.
November 30th, 2011 at 12:26 am
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-news/excessive-heading-in-soccer-may-lead-to-concussion-like-injury-study/article2253421/
This article claims that heading in soccer can lead to concussion-like symptoms in the brain. This article caught my attention because I play a lot of soccer and I am very skeptical of the claims of this article. This article says it is based upon the study of Dr. Micheal Lipton, from the Albert Einstein College of medicine in New York, and it was based upon MRI’s to examine the brains of 32 amateur soccer players, and cognitive tests on each subject. Near the end of the article it admits that the 32 subjects is a very small sample number to base a conclusion upon. This popular article is from The Globe and Mail which is a well known source, and I think it probably accurately summarizes the study. There is no link to the original article to verify the the claims of the made by the popular source, but there are lots of scientific articles available that have been published on the effects of to the brain that this article could be compared to.
November 30th, 2011 at 12:29 am
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-nutrition/leslie-beck/prolonged-bouts-of-sitting-increase-cancer-risk/article2229466/
This article says that sitting for long periods of time increases the chances of getting cancer. This article caught my eye because I am skeptical that sitting can increase the chances of cancer. I found this article in The Globe and Mail which is a fairly credible news source, however I think they might have exaggerated the cancerous effects of sitting. The article was written based upon what a journalist heard at the American institute for Cancer Research annual conference, which is not the most reliable source of information. It would be difficult to verify this information because this article was based on what a journalist heard in a conference rather then being based on a scientific publication. The fact that this article is not based on an available publication decreases it’s credibility