Blogs

Facial recognition science is a very interesting and is a field relatively little known by the public. Firstly, research of facial recognition by humans has been performed, and the question asked was "What kind of biases are there that determine ability to recognize faces and identify their characteristics?". Susan Mason examined how age corresponded to ability to identify faces and recall names connected with the faces based on age similarity between the subject and the example. She found that people were more likely to recall the names and recognize faces as familiar of people who were similar in appearance to themselves, namely age being a factor in facial similarity between subject and example. This means that older people recognized and recalled the names of other elderly people in the experiment more often than they did younger people, and vice versa for younger people. (Mason)

Now this is all relative to the human ability, but with modern technology we no longer have to rely on the human capacity. Software has been developed to interpret faces and characteristics, identify key features, and assign a name and gender to a face. There are draw backs to this unperfected science, however. University of Colorado Boulder's Lisa Marshall published an article examining the ability and inability of this technology. Many different softwares are coming out that are able to accurately identify age and gender, amoung cisgendered people. That is, born females and males that identify with their gender are categorically matched to their genders more than 95% of the time. However, when the aoftware attempts a gender identification for trans and nonbinary gendered persons, the data does not look as good. This idea of rendering the gender identify of an individual by a photo completely falls apart when their characteristics and identity do not align for the software. (Marshall)

Mason, Susan E. (1986) Age and gender as factors in facial recognition and identification, Experimental Aging Research, 12:3, 151-154, DOI: 10.1080/03610738608259453

Marshall, Lisa. “Facial Recognition Software Has a Gender Problem.” CU Boulder Today, University of Colorado Boulder, 9 Oct. 2019, www.colorado.edu/today/2019/10/08/facial-recognition-software-has-gender....

The control of the thyroid hormone levels in the blood is maintained by the HPT axis. The HPT axis is known as the hypothalamic-piutuitary-thyroid axis and it depends on three things: the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the thyroid gland. Low levels of thyroid hormone cause the hypothalamus to release TRH, thyrotropin-releasing hormone. This then causes the pituitary to secrete TSH, thyroid-stimulating hormone. This then signals for the thyroid gland to secrete both T3 and T4, which are both types of thyroid hormones. Both T3 and T4 act as a negative feedback loop on both the hypothalamus and the pituitary. This means that a high level of thyroid hormone in the blood will not cause the hypothalamus and pituitary to release TRH and TSH, respectively. The whole system together acts to maintain the balance of thyroid hormone in the blood of an organism.

A well-documented indicator of climate change effecting the ecosystems is flowering times of plants. Earlier flowering times have resulted from the changing climate and one of the species affected by this phenomenon are cranberries, Vaccinium macrocarpon, native to Massachusetts. The increase in global temperature has changed the phenology of this species which has left it vulnerable. This has major implications to cultivators of cranberries whom have been largely used to sustain a growing population of people. This change in phenology can be seen using the documented times of cultivators spraying flowering cranberry bud with fungicides. Ultimately, cranberry flowering times is a well-documented event that casts insight on how climate change can affect flower phenology and crop yield of a major food source in the North Eastern United States.

It is amazing as to how much information can be packed into our genes. Starting from our physical traits to having the ability to perform higher cognitive functions, it is all governed by our genes. The more you dig deeper into the structure of the gene, the more impossible it seems. DNA exists in the form of a helix and then it is further coiled to pack a great amount into a nucleus. The helix consists of two strands that run parallel to one another, but in opposite directions. One strand is known as the sense strand and the other one is anti-sense strand. Sense strand is usually used for mRNA transcription when making proteins. Each strand is made up of a series of nucleotides: cytosine, guanine, thymine and adenine. Each nucleotide is attached to a phosphate group and a deoxyribose sugar. The nucleotides have specific structures that are similar to one another: cytosine and thymine are the pyramidine bases, while adenine and guanine are the purine bases. The nucleotides have a base pairing rule through which they pair to one another on the two strands: adenine pairs with thymine, and cytosine pairs with guanine. DNA is also self-replicating. When in need of new strands, DNA helicase (an enzyme) breaks the bond between two strands and free nucleotides make new bonds with the two old strands. This process gives rise to two new sets of DNA strands. DNA then forms its helicase again. The process is much more complex and involves other factors. 

Recently, one of my teammates got a concussion as she tripped and fell and banged her head against a hard couch. This resulted in her having a moderate concussion in which she needs to be absent from school for a week and refrain from any physical acitvity. I wanted to to focus my writing on concussions today as it is something I have not done much research on. Concussions are brain injuries that result in a temporary loss of brain function. It alterates your brain function, and sometimes the patient will not be aware of what day it is, at severe cases what year it is. A concussion can affect many things such as memory, reflexes, balance, speech and muscle coordination. More  than 300,000 concussions are sport related, usually being Hockey or Football. Additionally, it is very common in soccer as they can bonk heads with another player, or even on the ground after a hard fall. Symptoms include headaches, an inconsistancy of thoughts, and difficulty looking at a screen. Unfortunately, concussions are hard because once you get a single concussion, you are prone to get another one very easily. Thankfully, rest is key, and doesn't need any further medications. Recurrent concussions can however be unsafe, and can result into Chronic traumatic encelphalopathy, also known as CTE. 

Microtubules in plant cells are responsible for a series of structures and processes absent from animal cells. In plant cells, microtubules stack at the cell cortex as parallel loops. These loops act as the tracks on which cellulose synthase moves while it synthesizes cellulose microfibrils. As such, the cellulose microfibrils are produced parallel to the cortical microtubules. Disrupting either of these processes results in isotropic growth. Next, during cell division, cortical microtubules will accumulate into a band around the nucleus known as the preprophase band (PPB). The PPB dissolves before spindle assembly leaving behind division markers that label where the cell plate will join the cell wall. Lastly, microtubules play another important role in plant cell division during the formation of the phragmoplast. The phragmoplast is a complex of microtubules, actin, and vesicles that is generated after nuclear separation and serves as the cytokinetic mechanism of plant cell division. To generate the cell plate precursor to the cell wall that will eventually divide the new plant cells, microtubules are arranged parallel to one another pointing towards the region demarcated by the division markers. Along the microtubules are transported vesicles containing callose that will fuse to form the cell plate, growing it until it reaches the pre-existing cell wall. This mechanism generates a precursor cell wall made of callose that will eventually be replaced with cellulose. Additionally, the formation of the cell plate involves production of primary plasmodesmata due to the presence of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The ER blocks the cell plate in certain areas generating holes in the cell wall that will become the primary plasmodesmata between the newly divided cells.

Earthquake detection is no new technology. In fact, the first known seisometer was built in 132 CE by a Chinese astronomer by the name of Zhang Heng (1). However, simply detecting an earthquake is not enough to fully inform response teams, local leadership, and citizens. In real-time analysis of earthquake sequences, it is not currently possible to differentiate aftershocks from foreshocks-sequences that prelude larger events. However, Gulia and Wiemer have introduced a new technique that can differentiate these sequences in real time (2). This relys on data gathered from 58 other sequences, and testing these against one another (2). What results is a 95% confidence classification (2) that can help local leadership and first responders save lives.

(1) Rigg, J. (2019, August 8). The ancient earthquake detector that puzzled modern historians. Retrieved October 15, 2019, from https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/28/backlog-zhang-heng-seismoscope/?gucc....

(2) Gulia, L., & Wiemer, S. (2019). Real-time discrimination of earthquake foreshocks and aftershocks. Nature, 574(7777), 193–199. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1606-4

Lebanon is currently crying as there are massive forest fires occuring and it is very unspoken of. It started in the Blazes, and it started in Lebanon's western mountains.  Heavy smoke was seen over Beirut and the city of Sidon. This was the worst fires that Lebanon has been in the history of its' fires. The areas most heavily affected were in the Chouf and Metn regions, in the lush Mount Lebanon range, Greece is responding to the wildfire by sending two planes. Additionally, there is heat waves, and this is abnormal for October in Lebanon. 

One important difference between Egyptian and Sumerian religions is the use of animals in godly figures. Sumerian gods took the forms of human beings entirely without much reference to the animal world. In ancient Sumer the gods of people were people, thus many lessons could be learned from the hierarchy of the gods by the people. If the gods had inequality, the people should too. In ancient Egypt, the gods took the bodies of humans with the heads of animals found in Egypt. Each animal god was an interpretation of the animal in real life and had its characteristics. A falcon man was the god of the sky, the god of wisdom was a baboon man, and the god of ‘the returning land after a flood’ was a crocodile man. However different these religions may have been, they both used human figures as their gods. The Egyptians added animals, yet they kept most of the god human. I believe this was done to keep the gods familiar and relatable while still holding immense power.

Post-apocalyptic societies in literature often bring out violent behavior in human characters. Dystopian novels are often based off violence between others, whether it be violence between government and citizens, or violence between citizens amongst themselves. Desperate times call for despite measures and bring out acts of vehemence and desperation. Two novels that really bring out this theme of violence during post-apocalyptic events are Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, and The Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood.  Both novels are about a dystopian society after a post-apocalyptic event and they both show violence, but in different ways. In both novels, violence is used to control people with fear. Even in a society that is falling apart, there is always someone trying to assume control. The control is gained through fear that is induced by violence. Desire to have things is another leading driver of violence in these societies. People become desperate and will do anything to gain what they do not have. Such acts of violence include cannibalism, rape, murder, etc. It seems that when humans are put into desperate situations they become violent over basic needs such as food, clean water, companionship, sexual desires etc. Although each novel has different types of dystopian societies, in both cases citizens are not getting basic needs and commit acts of violence to get those needs