lgarneau's blog

Usually, temperatures in the 20s and 30s don’t seem that warm but for the northernmost city in Alaska, they are abnormally high for the month of March. The artic has been experiencing temperatures 36 degrees above normal when compared to temperatures from the past three decades. These temperatures have serious implications for humans who live there. It is hurting the economies by making fishing and crabbing done on ice essentially impossible. People have been falling through the ice and died. The melting ice also has an impact on pavement and structures too because it causes the frozen soil to shift.

The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is apart of the large mackerel shark species. The shark can be found in the surface waters of all of the major oceans. Known for their large size, females are 20ft, as opposed to males who are 11-13ft. A 2014 study stated that great white sharks can live 70 or more years. This makes the great white shark one of the longest-lived fish known to this day. The great white shark only has one natural predator, known as the killer whale. However, their altercations are extremely rare.

The purpose of the study was to see if root tolerance to high soil temperature is related to short term/long term respiratory acclimation in response to higher temperature by comparing two variants of the same species with different heat tolerances. The hypothesis is that A. scabra, the C3 plant that can withstand high temperatures, will be able to acclimate their respiration to the change in temperatures better and will be able to control carbon expenditure for a longer-term. The other plant, A. stolonifera will not be able to withstand the higher temperatures for as long.

The relationship between root growth rate and root respiration is said to be by maintaining low root respiration rates (low maintenance cost) high-temperature adaptation and root survival is possible for many species of plants. The Q10 ratio is the temperature sensitivity of respiration. It is essentially the ratio of respiration rates per 10 degree Celsius increase in temperature. Long term exposure to temperatures can result in respiratory acclimation which is essentially the adjustment of respiration rates to compensate for temperature change. There is not a lot of data on root acclimation at higher temperatures and this may suggest that the root respiration acclimation varies between plant species.

It is important to understand how roots respond to temperature because roots are important in the regulation of plant adaptation in high temperatures. High temperatures are often limiting to the growth and productivity of plant species. There has not been a lot of research done in terms of root growth/survival mechanisms at high temperatures and therefore how they function under these stressful conditions is not widely understood. They decided to choose the two species because they are both Agrostis species however, A. scabra can withstand high heats whereas A. stolonifera cannot. A. scabra is a C3 plant which has been growing in very high temperatures in Yellowstone National Park. Since it is able to grow in these high heats, scientists believe that there are mechanisms in the root survival of this species that are not understood.

A new study reports that viruses lying dormant inside the body can be reactivated in space. These viruses have the potential to make the already high-risk environment even more dangerous. The effects of spaceflight on the immune system have been studied for over 20 years. They believe that stressful life situations can cause lowered immunity and can lead to viral reactivating.

The world is currently in the middle of the second deadliest Ebola outbreak. More than 1,000 people have been infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo since Augst 2018. It has killed approximately 2/3rds of the people it has infected, 629 people to be exact. Ebola works by being transmitted through bodily fluids and can enter the perosn’s body through cuts in the skin or through mucous membranes. Symptoms include exhaustion, aches and pains, vision problems and stomach pain. In most patients, Ebola escalates rather quickly usually to the point of a hemorrhagic fever which leads to bleeding, organ failure and sometimes death.

In a recent study, scientists discovered a relationship between depressive symptoms and a decline in cognitive function during midlife. Sussex psychologists analyzed data from a child development study that followed 15,000+ babies from birth through adulthood. The psychologists found that the increased depressive symptoms were a strong indicator of a linear decrease in memory function in older adults. The psychologists recommended in order to protect future memory function that mental health interventions need to be promoted in younger adults. Although these scientists found associations between depressive symptoms and cognitive decline before, it was the first time they were able to find this relationship represented in a large amount of data.

In a 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask benzoin (0.503 g) and ethanol (4.0 mL) was added and swirled until dissolved. Sodium borohydride (0.1 g) was added with a microspatula over five minutes. Mixture was gently swirled for 20 minutes. Mixture was cooled in ice-water bath. Water (5.0 mL) and 6 M HCl (0.3 mL) was added. Water (2.5 mL) was added 15 minutes later. Product was collected via vacuum filtration. Solid was washed with ice-cold water and dried on filter for 15 min. Crude yield and MP determined. Crude material (1.5 mg) was reserved for TLC. Crude solid was recrystallized from acetone with 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask. Melting point and percent yield was determined. Benzoin, recrystallized product, and crude product was dissolved in ethyl acetate in three vials. TLC plates was spotted and run in 9:1 CH2Cl2:ethanol in capped chamber until 1 cm from top. Spots viewed under UV light and marked.

Eating local honey seems like it would not do much for someone who has allergies, however, a recent study proves this to be wrong. Volunteers with seasonal allergies were told to eat a tablespoon of local honey every day or told they were eating a tablespoon of honey every day when in reality, they were eating cornstarch and artificial flavoring. The results showed that the people eating the real versus fake honey had no difference in their allergies. The effects of the honey were a placebo. However, scientists are not convinced that honey has the same effect as artificial. Scientists believe that there would be a significant difference when comparing the type of honey. Meaning, local honey versus commercial honey may have drastic effects on people with allergies.