lgiron's blog

            Eating oily fish such as salmon, has many health benefits. Eating the fish can help prevent or lower one’s chances of cardio vascular disease, stokes, cancers such as prostate and breast cancer, and age related illnesses such as vision loss and Alzheimer’s. Eating these fish also has many good fats that we need. However, many do not get the right amount of these oils and fats in their body, mainly omega-3 fatty acids. In a research conducted by Harvard University, they have claimed that a deficiency of these fatty acids are one of the 10 top causes of death in the United Stated, taking almost 100,000 lives a year. There is a supplementary pill that can be taken to aid those who do not eat enough of these acids, it is called fish oil pills. Taking these pills as directed can help in many ways. It has been proven to reduce ADHD, which was found to significantly improve children with relentlessness, aggressiveness and overall academic performance. Another benefit is that it reduces other behavioral factors such as anxiety and depression. Most importantly, in a scientific study, it has proven to prevent and even kill certain cancers such as colon, prostate and breast cancer. If taken throughout their life time, women were shown to have a significant decrease in risk of breast cancer.

            The Zika virus has had its uprising the past year. This virus spreading through mosquito bites, sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, and most importantly from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Last year, the Zika virus was struck fear into soon-to-be parents. This virus affected those who were pregnant, however the main problems arose with the babies that the mothers gave birth to. The newborns would have major birth defects including partially collapsed skull, damage to eye, limited joint movement, brain damage and most importantly, decrease in brain size. However, researches have further developed a study in which this virus can actually be used to suppress or even treat deadly brain cancers.

            In a study, scientists infected human and mice cells with the Zika virus. In both cells, the virus killed stem cells as thought, however the ones that were killed were ones that would go on to become an aggressive type of brain tumor, the highlight was that it left the healthy cells unharmed. The virus did not infect normal brain tissue, with this, they conducted more research, infecting mice with cancer and observing. Half of the mice infected with cancer were treated with the virus and the other left untreated. The mice who were treated with the virus had tumors that either shrank or grew at a slower rate, therefore living longer, half of them living over six weeks, compared to those untreated who died within two weeks. Further development of this research could bring viable and effective treatment plans to those who are infected with certain brain cancers, however more research is needed to find the effects of this potential treatment option to confirm if it is a reliable treatment option.

            Last year, the Zika virus was struck fear into soon-to-be parents. This virus affected those who were pregnant, however the main problems arose with the babies that the mothers gave birth to. The newborns would have major birth defects including partially collapsed skull, damage to eye, limited joint movement, brain damage and most importantly, decrease in brain size. However, researches have further developed a study in which this virus can actually be used to suppress or even treat deadly brain cancers. In a study, scientists infected human and mice cells with the Zika virus. In both cells, the virus killed stem cells as thought, however the ones that were killed were ones that would go on to become an aggressive type of brain tumor, the highlight was that it left the healthy cells unharmed. The virus did not infect normal brain tissue, with this, they conducted more research, infecting mice with cancer and observing. Half of the mice infected with cancer were treated with the virus and the other left untreated. The mice who were treated with the virus had tumors that either shrank or grew at a slower rate, therefore living longer, half of them living over six weeks, compared to those untreated who died within two weeks. Further development of this research could bring viable and effective treatment plans to those who are infected with certain brain cancers, however more research is definitely needed to find the effects of this potential treatment option.  

            I took introduction to statistics my freshman year here, in this class we learned about probability, random variables, binomials/normal distributions, central limit theorem, hypothesis testing and linear regression. I don’t remember a whole lot since it has been a couple years since I touched this material, however I do remember probability and binomial/normal distribution. Probability comes into play in our everyday lives and has crawled into some of the classes I have taken recently. One being physics, I remember learning about probability in physics in the end of 131 with the probability a certain energy will be located within certain pods in a device or container. We used the same equations as in statistics to figure out the probability of the locations of these energy pockets. Binomial/normal distribution I remember the bell curve which was symmetrical and would give distribution that naturally occurs in situations. With the symmetrical bell shape, this would say the majority of the situations would gather near the middle and fewer of the situation would land in both extremes of the curve. Portions of this curve were divided into standard deviations, and would travel left or right from the center by one standard deviation at a time from the mean.

In the beginning of December, New Horizons (one of NASA’s space probes exploring the universe) took an image of a group of stars called the “Wishing Well” as well as objects from the Kuiper Belt which is the farthest from Earth that an image has been captured (almost four billion miles away). Assuming the lenses in the camera used by the spacecraft were very high­tech, it should contain both converging and diverging lenses. These lenses work together to create a real, inverted, negative magnification, clear image. In the future, New Horizons is set to explore more of the Kuiper Belt and other objects out in deep space. Many do not know the inner workings of telescopes and how we build telescopes to be able to magnify images of distances more then four billion miles away. Lenses are in our every day lives, they include classes, phones, televisions, and more. Each designed differently for their different purposes, but all taking to account reflection, refraction and the reation of an image. 

In Spring 2018, as a part of the Writing in Biology Course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, students in the class were given a project to create methods to a multi-panel figure. Following the creation of the methods, and creating our own original figure while keeping the figure private, Professor Brewer shared these methods with a classmate whom was to follow these methods to create a replicate multi-panel figure. Once complete, the replicate figure was uploaded to a course website where the original was then posted to compare the differences between the original and the replicate figure. Observable differences between the original and the replicate of this multi-panel scientific figure was clear. Differences including size of the figure, images, borders and map, labels presence, angle of which the images were taken, orientation of the images, and range map. These differences contributed due to software use, capabilities, knowledge and experience, as well as physical stature and positioning during photography. Unclear methods to be the underlying cause of each of these differences. Together, these differences leading to the clear and observable differences between the original figure and the replicate figure.

There were some very significant differences between my figure and the figure that was replicated of mine. The first significant difference is the size of figure itself. The original figure being 2000x2000 pixel and the replicate being 300x200 pixels. In addition to the whole figure itself, each image itself in the multi-panel figure has much smaller dimensions in the replicate. Visually, size of both overall figure and individual images have a great difference. There was also much more white space between each image in the replicate than in the original figure that was used to divide each image in the figure.

Another major difference was the labeling of each image. In the replicate, there was an absence of labels in each image to distinguish them from one another. Meanwhile in the original, it contained image labeled, A, B, and C on the upper left-hand corner of each image to identify each.

A third major difference would be the difference in the images themselves. For image “A”, there was a difference in the angle or orientation at which the image was taken, both vertically and horizontally. Vertically, the replicate was taken at a much higher angle, taken at a close birds-eye-view. Horizontally, the replicate was taken in a direct line of sight as oppose to the original which was taken further left. The distance of the image taken relative to the plant was also greater in the replicate. For image “B” there were angle and distance differences as well. The vertical image angle of the replicate was directly above the flower, the original was lower in angle. The horizontal image angle is most noticeable. The replicate was taken at a horizontal 90-degree difference than the original. The distance, similar to image “A” was further in the replicate than the original.

The range map differences were quite noticeable as well, including the size, range, and color. The size of the range map in the replicate is much smaller as they included both North America and South America whole. In the original, it is focused primarily on South America where the plant range is limited to. The range of the plant on the replicate includes most of the Caribbean to include Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The original does not extend the range through the Caribbean. The range map itself in the replicate has a white background as oppose to the original which has the original light grey color background.

Mars

            The fourth plant from the sun, Mars, has been something scientists at NASA have been gaining information on for the last few years. Dating back to the Romans and Greeks, they have named this bloody colored planet based on their God of war. Its red color is due to the rust of the iron-rich minerals that are very abundant on the planet. Like Earth, it contains an atmosphere, although thin, but is significant enough to mean there is flowing liquid water on the surface which has been confirmed. Mars is also home of the largest volcanoes in the solar system, one of which is 370 miles in diameter, in comparison, enough to cover the entire state of New Mexico. Compared to Earth, the climate of Mars is much colder due to its distance from the sun. The average temperature reaching negative 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but also has the ability to reach negative 195 degrees Fahrenheit as well as 70 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to its temperature, it is also 95% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, and 0.13% oxygen. The temperature, atmospheric make up and distance have been the key concerns with manned exploration on mars, however NASA has been able to unmanned space crafts to gather more information on the planet as years go by. With this, they hope to be able to send a manned mission to mars by 2030, this being a one-way trip as the trip takes seven months to reach Mars which would deplete resources quickly disabling the return of the astronaut.

At first thought, many just think exercise is important to fitness. However, exercise is an activity that has many more health benefits to it. Not only does it boost your physical fitness level, but physical fitness also reduces your risk of getting disease as well as increases the longevity of your life. As directed by standards, the guidance for adults is to get moderate cardiorespiratory endurance training for 2.5 hours a week or vigorous cardiorespiratory endurance training for 1.25 hours a week. In addition to getting cardiorespiratory training, they also advice to target your major muscle groups, such as pectorals, hamstrings, back etc. which is to be targeted 2-3 times a week. Physical activity is something many do not make time for but also do not know the impact that is has on your wellness and health, not only your fitness. Finally, physical activity also benefits your mental health, it is proven that physical activity reduces mental illnesses such as depression. This being said I think that everyone should get out and do physical activity. As someone who exercises twice a day for a total of 3 hours, I can personally confirm all of these facts.

Transparent plastic optical lenses have been used for years as they are manufactured at a low cost and can be created into any shape and are one of the best sources to focus light. However, scientists are trying to make them even better. The downside of using this inexpensive material is that is still reflects light, much more than glass. This is because the index of refraction of plastic is 1.5 as oppose to the air which is 1.0. This means that the lens still reflects about 8% of the incoming light. Researchers are trying to create a later on top of this plastic that reduces the reflection, not only to improve studies but also every day technologies such as cameras and headlights. In result, they have created a coating that reduces the refraction index to 1.1, offering a near transparent transition to air. This will reduce the effects of light rays in cameras, which we have all fallen victim to when trying to take a picture facing the sun.