Science in My Mind

S N C 2 D 5 - A

M r s . M a c D o n a l d

1 s t P e r i o d

1 s t S e m e s t e r

Raun Damani

SCIENCE JOURNAL

Water on Mars

Curiosity was launched up into space and it successfully landed on the great desert we call Mars. The

launch and the landing were all over the news for a week or so until it all died off. As I was looking for

an idea of what to research for I remembered that we now have a piece of metal with wheels

somewhere on Mars.

1I decided to hit the inter-webs for some new news about

Curiosity and its findings. I stumbled upon two articles about

finding a, bedrock that once used to be home to a “fast

moving” stream of supposedly water. The two articles are

from usatoday.com and npr.org and suggest that the smooth

pebbles on the bedrock could only have been smoothed by

water. It is believed that the water was moving

approximately 3 feet per second and was about ankle or hip

deep. One of the articles stated that there are 3 necessary things needed for life…water, energy such as

the heat from the sun and last but not least “organic carbon” is needed. It going to be a while before we

drill into those rocks to further investigate, but for now Curiosity is going to continue its expedition to

Mount Sharp.

After reading all this I decided to scroll down to the comments section to see what others thought

about this. One comment that caught my eye was made by a user named Raising Eyebrows on npr.org

stating “I hope that someday we find evidence of an ancient civilization on Mars. And I want their final

recorded message to be: Due to global warming, we're moving to the 3rd planet." I found this hilarious

but it was then that I realized that how do we actually know that the liquid that was flowing thorough

that stream was water. I scrolled further down and saw many people had the same concern and many

also said since we are exploring a crater on mars how do we even know that the stuff we’re finding is

even from Mars, for all we know it could have been left over from the crater.

That’s when the big question hit me. Why the crater? Why are we

exploring the crater and not some other part of this huge planet? The

solution to my question came from cosmomagazines.com. This huge crater

had a name; it’s called the Gale Crater and looks like Australia from above!

The theory behind placing the rover in the crater is that first if there ever

was water on Mars then it would’ve pulled in and filled the crater with

water creating a sort of lake. Secondly, now that all the water has dried up

we can see years of history my examining the sides, walls and mountains of

the crater by studying the rock layers. The last argument is that from far it

looks like the crater contained some sort of clay or sulphate minerals that formed due to a wet

environment.

Many questions still remain such as how do we know the liquid was water? Or is this really Mars or just

the State of Arizona with a scale shot of pictures? We can only hope for the best.

Over the Phone

Therapy is a practice conducted by therapists for a long time. Therapy can relate back to the olden days.

Before being a therapist was a career it was done by any average friend, person or bartender. Studies

show that talking about your problems and having others listen to them help you get over your

problems or at least calm your mind down enough allowing you to think of a reasonable solution. We all

need therapy at one point or another and receive it without noticing.

Many go to therapists to talk about their problems who help them search

deeper for the cause or root of the problem or write their findings and

report to a family member or friend on how to help the other.

No one can call themself a therapist and open up an office now-a-days.

You need a degree and certification to preform cognitive therapy and

through multiple courses you will learn how to evaluate and cure the

patient. Cognitive therapy is usually conducted in a quiet room with the

patient and is face-to-face. But due to new research reported on

sciencedaily.com it is said therapy for various problems conducted over the phone is just as effective and

is much, much, much cheaper. The new price and the accessibility of the service makes it rather easier

for many people to receive the therapy they need to continue living better and healthy lives. The price

drop is an astounding 36.2% drop per session. With the recent downfall of the economy therapy is

more than ever needed against patients and with the new cut down on prices will help many receive

treatment. In Britain it is said that mental illness effects one in every four persons in Brittan. The

National Health Services also known as the NHS spends more on mental health than it does on cancer,

heart disease, stroke and asthma put together.

Upon reading this article I decided to research what different types of therapist

are there. I found that there are many different types of therapists besides

cognitive therapists out their providing therapy for many different problems and

issues that many of us face. Some of the more popular types of therapists are

listed below that I found from careercruising.com:

“Speech-Language Pathologist- Helping people overcome communication

problems…everyone from a child with a stutter to an older person who has suffered a stroke.

Bereavement Counsellor- Help people cope with the death of a loved one.

Recreation Therapist-Sports, arts, and other recreational activities can be very effective forms of

therapy.

Respiratory Therapist- Help people with breathing problems like asthma and emphysema.

Radiation Therapist- Health care professionals who use special radiation treatments to help people fight

cancer.

Occupational Therapist- Helping people with mental or physical limitations lead independent and

productive lives.

Physiotherapist- Prescribing exercises, stretches, and other treatments to help patients deal with

physical injuries or infirmities.

Massage Therapist- For medical reasons or simple relaxation, massage is a very popular form of therapy.

Art / Music Therapist- Using the creative power of art or music to help people deal with physical,

emotional, and psychological problems.

Marriage and Family Therapist- Advising individuals, couples, and families.

Physiotherapy Assistant- Helping physiotherapists treat patients who have suffered a loss of mobility.”

Cinnamon Challenge

youtube.com is a great source of entertainment and news. It’s a site filled with millions of “youtubers”

and viewers not to mention the millions of videos. YouTube alone has brought many concerning issues

to the eyes of millions causing humanity to rise up and make sure justice is being served where it should

be. It has also showed us thousands of kids, teens, adults and seniors choking on a spoonful of cinnamon.

The cinnamon challenge (link to videos) is a challenge that many try but

fail at. It consists of taking a tablespoon of cinnamon and swallowing it

without coughing, sneezing or throwing up. There are thousands of

videos showing people trying to do the cinnamon challenge. These videos

provide a lot of people with an afternoon worth of laughs. My interest in

the challenge developed when I saw a peer at school trying to complete

the challenge and failing. As funny as this was I struck with a question…why is it so hard to do the

cinnamon challenge?

My questions were answered by a video on YouTube from a channel called “scishow”. A video by the

name “The Science of the Cinnamon Challenge” explains why it is so hard for us to do the cinnamon

challenge and why we shouldn’t try to do it either.

Our mouth produces approximately a liter of saliva a day. At any given time there’s less than tablespoon

of saliva in our mouth. Cinnamon is a powder desiccated from cinnamon tree bark. This means one of

the main components of the spice is cellulose which makes it water resistant and resistant to the

enzymes humans produce. This makes it hard for us to swallow and as an added bonus when our brain

realizes that our mouth is water proof it starts taking necessary actions and forces us to take gasps. The

cinnamon then goes down our throat through the pharynx, larynx, trachea and down to our lungs. Once

in our lungs the cinnamon infiltrates the soft tissues and

alveoli causing inflation, ammonia, or if not and scarring of the

lung tissue. Also, don’t forget choking to death and not to

mention that cinnamon contains a large quantity of coumarin

which can cause liver disease.

So why put ourselves through the agony and pain of

swallowing a spoon-full of cinnamon when we can watch

others do so. On a side note cinnamon is a very popular spice

used in many things such as cakes, cookies, disserts, cereals,

fruits, beverages and many dishes in general. According to spiceadvice.com “Cinnamon has been popular

since ancient times. Egyptians imported it from China in 2000 BC. Romans believed Cinnamon was

sacred, and Nero burned a year's supply of the spice at the funeral for his wife. Finding Cinnamon was a

primary motive of world exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries.”

Belugas at Their Best

NOC is the name of a white beluga whale at the

National Marine Mammal Foundation. Sam

Ridgeway works with the National Marine

Mammal Foundation and with NOC. In the most

recent issue of Current Biology an article that

caught the attention of many eyes was about a

beluga whale making a human like voice.

This beluga whale has tried to mimic the voice of

humans without undergoing any training on the

topic what so ever. Whales and dolphins have

been trained to match durations of human voices

and to match computer generated whistles but never to mimic human voices. The recording shows that

the whale’s sounds have a rhythm similar to human speech.

NOC along with other whales and dolphins has been in the presence of humans at aquariums and such.

There have been reports of whales making human like noises

but they were never recorded and kept for further study until

now! Whales often have high pitched voices but this whale’s

rhythm had been altered several octaves lower than typical

whale sounds which made it much closer to human voices.

The most interesting and exciting fact is that whales make

sounds through their nasal tract not the larynx like humans.

For the whale to make such sounds he had to change the

pressure in his nasal tract and make adjustments to many

muscles while inflating the vestibular sac in his blowhole. In

other words what this whale did wasn’t an easy act.

The sounds show vocal learning by the whale and show great advancement. The confusing issue is that

NOC passed away 5 years ago unfortunately and the noises were first discovered in 1984. Where was

all this information 30 years ago and why are we just hearing about it? This is great news and would have

been more helpful if it was published before NOC passed away so further studies could be performed?

Also can we replay this recording to other whales and try to decipher their response to it.

Permafrost that’s not “so” Permanent

Almost as much as 44 billion tons of nitrogen and 850 billion tons of carbon are stored in artic

permafrost and in the frozen ground. All this could be released due to global warming and thawing of

the artic poles. What we are looking forward to is a devastating future where the amount of carbon this

planet could almost double. The effects of the nitrogen and carbon releasing, affect each and every one

of us on many different platforms.

The story on ScienceDaily explains that the release of carbon and nitrogen that is held within the

permafrost could worsen global warming and impact

many of our lives. Water resources and climate change

are only the beginning of the difficulties we might face.

The countdown to the next century or so is a scary one

and could bring more horrible findings than this,

The nitrogen and carbon cycles are two of the most

important cycles on this planet and could drastically

change the way we live our lives. The nitrogen cycle consists of nitrogen from our air and within our

atmosphere finding its way into our soil. May that be through the organisms in the sea, plants fixing

bacteria or plane old rain and lightning. The soil nitrate is taken up by plant roots and is transferred to

plant and animal proteins. Afterword the dead organisms and faeces undergo another step in the

nitrogen cycle and are put back into the soil through ammonium salt and nitrifying bacteria. Onwards

the bacteria are denitrified in boggy soil and, the

nitrogen is released back into the atmosphere. The

carbon cycle with certain similarities and differences is

like the nitrogen cycle. Carbon is taken from our

atmosphere and is stored in soil, sediments, and ocean

surfaces or deep within the ocean through carbon

dioxide exchange and photosynthesis. Carbon is released

back into the air through carbon dioxide exchange,

burning, respiration, decay and burning of fossil fuels.

The release from the permafrost may have the potential to alter the planets habitability. It’s hard to

believe that something that was frozen thousands of years ago could come back and affect us right now

in our present day lives. We can all try to reduce our contribution to global warming and slow the

process of the artic permafrost melting. This relates to my grant proposal subject in many ways. My

group’s idea to have a nitrogen powered car could reduce emissions and give us an excellent way to

make use of the nitrogen that surrounds us. Our history and this planets history taunts us and now it’s

our choice to see how we take care of it.

Aerospace Engineer

Recently Felix Baumgartner made a jump from a helium balloon

in the stratosphere. Making this jump Felix was able to break the

sound barrier and multiple world records. There is a lot of

training and prep put into a project like this by thousands of

people for this challenge to be successful.

Although there are many people with many different profession

helping out to make this project successful one that struck out at

me is an aerospace engineer.

An aerospace engineer’s main tasks are to design aircraft bodies or parts, to create new engines and

propulsion systems, develop electronic guidance and vehicle control systems, test designs with

computer simulations or models, and to oversee the manufacture of aerospace or aeronautical vehicles

and parts. They work for aircraft manufactures, engineering firms, government agencies and research &

development companies. They will often work in office spaces using computers and creating or reading

blueprints unless they are out on the field testing designs in labs at airfields or in wind tunnels. Cutting

edge technology is often involved and deadlines are crucial. Simulations and tests are performed often

and can come with a lot of stress.

The career comes with 4 levels. Level one is considered as an engineer in training or EIT. You would

roughly make 40,000 to 50,000 a year and would require a bachelor’s degree in an associated subject

and registration with provincial or territorial licensing board. Your job would include you performing

general engineering analyses under supervision of a licensed engineer, also working to solve problems

with other engineers and researchers.

Level 2 is a professional engineer and earnings range from 50,000 to 80,000 dollars a year. You are

required to have 2- 4 years of experience as an EIT and successful completion of the exam. You job

would require you doing more complex analyses with less supervision and taking on larger more

complicated design projects also supervising the work of EITs.

Upon 5-10 years of experience as a professional engineer you can move up to a senior engineer after

obtaining a graduate degree. The job pays 65,000 to 100,000 dollars and requires you to review the

work of other engineers. You would also be responsible for staff and planning new design concepts and

assigning responsibilities.

The final level is supervisory engineer. After pocketing 10 or more years of experience, a graduate

degree in engineering or business administration and being involved in major engineering programs and

tasks. Earnings would look like 75,000 to 110,000 dollars and you would be responsible for decision

making, regulating engineering policy, evaluating new designs, liaising with other departments and

carrying out departmental administrative functions such as budgeting.

Paintballs in Space

I recently watched a movie about a huge asteroid hurdling

towards Earth threatening to destroy all life. I decided to

research different theories we as a species have come up with

to save ourselves from such catastrophic events occurring.

There were many ideas such as hitting it with a nuclear bomb

or a large air craft but these ideas did not guarantee our safety

and cost too much to fail.

I came across a video made by a student at MIT about his idea

of saving us all from an unfortunate event as described above.

Sung Wook Paek is a graduate in MIT’s department of

Aeronautics and Astronautics. He says that if we were to send a spacecraft with pellets of paint powder

and launched it timed correctly we could save the planet. The initial force of the pellets would move the

asteroid of course and if we launched two rounds one to cover the front and one to cover the back of

the asteroid we could possibly double its reflectivity. From there on the sun’s photons would deflect the

asteroid even more.

The idea and concept won a completion sponsored by the United Nations’ Space Generation Advisory

Council. The asteroid Apophis was used as a theoretical test case. Apophis is a 27-gigaton rock that may

come close to Earth in 2029 and then again 2036. It has been estimated a good 5 tons of paint would be

needed to cover this particular asteroid.

This idea is much safer and cheaper than

other ideas and would require the pellets to

be made or formed in space due to the

potential damage that might occur during the

trip outside of earth. Even though this would

require us to plan ahead of time it is still an

excellent plan. We would need to hit the

asteroid with pellets of paint ant 20 years

ahead of schedule if we were to pull the

asteroid off its earthbound course.

The idea is considered highly at the moment due to its creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Many say

the solar radiation idea is similar to Messenger, a spacecraft orbiting mercury that has solar sails which

help propel the spacecraft with solar radiation, reducing fuel needs. But this solution provides more uses

than pushing the asteroid of course. Since the asteroid will be a pale white 27-gigaton rock in space it

will be easier to track and see from telescopes.

The thought of a 27-gigaton rock hurling at us is scary but its reality. I’m glad to see that there are

solutions out there and hope for a safe future.

World’s First GM Babies

Cloning is a very controversial topic. Many are pro cloning for various reasons in the field of scientific

research and development but there are also many people that are against cloning. Many say that cloning

is morally incorrect and wrong and they state that we are manipulating creation and life; a supernatural

force that should not be messed with.

A topic very close to cloning that is just as controversial is GM creations, products, or life. GM in this

context does not stand for “General Manager” or “General Motors” but rather means Genetically

Modified. I saw this article on the Daily Mail UK and it struck me as very interesting. Not only because,

this is an exciting monument or milestone in the multiple fields of science but also because, I have been

very interested in the science and technology of GM agriculture.

Whether we realize it or not we are put in front of genetically modified creations almost every day.

Almost all of our foods from vegetables to fruits are now grown artificially and to grow them at a

quicker rate, have them stay “good” or have longer expiry dates, and to put more vitamins or nutrients

in them we have to modify the genetic compounds.

30 successful genetically modified babies were born in the USA recently. Now by genetically modified

babies I don’t mean babies with super strength or an IQ of a billion and one. In this experiment women

who could not conceive received extra genes from a female

donor before they were fertilized. In result when two of the

conceived children had there DNA tested it showed genes

from 3 parents; 2 female and 1 male. Not to be forgotten the

reason the topic of GM children is frowned upon or shunned

up in the scientific community is because it is possible to

create a human with super strength or intelligence. Even

though a human race with super strength or intelligence would

further humanity and could possibly save our kind from

catastrophic danger or come up with cures to many diseases

and find a way to reduce global pollution it cannot be trusted.

For all we know this new race oh humans could have other

ideas such as dictatorship or war. There are simply too many

“what ifs”. Many believe that these 30 conceived children are a sign of us going down the wrong road of

humanity and could cause problems in the future.

This is truly great news that these mothers who could not conceive are now, loving caring parents but

we still wonder if this was and is the right thing to do. There is no telling how the offspring of these

children will turn out. Time will only tell us.

Radiation Protection

Nuclear power plants produce 20% of America’s power not to mention the

nuclear bomb was a key contributing factor toward the defeat of the

opposition in World War 2. Nuclear energy finds its way into our lives one

way or another. Many of our neighbours to the south live within ten miles

from an operating nuclear plant where radioactive waste is produced almost

3 Million individuals. We are continuously frightened by the thought of being

bombarded with nuclear bombs; we have to consider what we would do

besides evacuating to protect ourselves and loved ones.

The United States Department of Defence has been recently thinking about the same question, what

would we do? Radiations suits are too expensive and aren’t efficient enough. The answer that is now

reality is Ex-Rad Pills. These pills can be taken orally and will help the average human survive a lethal

dose of radiation either from a bomb or power plant accident. The drug would be taken after or before

exposure according the US National Library of Medicine and io9. Studies with mice have proven that

mice that were given a dosage of the drug had a higher survival rate than the mice that were not given a

dosage when exposed to gamma radiation. Humans were also given this pill to test side effect and none

were observed but no radiation test have yet to be done.

The way this pill protects us from exposure to radiation is by suppressing protein p53. Protein p53

triggers cell death. Ex-Rad deals with the way our cells deal with DNA damage. This type of pill or

power has been seen in the science fiction world for years

from an average citizen saving the world or a villain surviving

his own threats. Coincidently in the game Fallout a pill like

Ex-Rad called Rad-X is used to withstand the effects of

radiation.

Is this a bad sign… one could ask why the Department of

Defence would suddenly need such a pill. Is this a pill that

will be sold over the counter to all or distributed to all of us

for free? Could this pill be given to soldiers who will soon

have new weapons that possess such threats? How long

would the effects of the pill last? And, are there alternative

uses for this type of technology? We are talking about stopping cell death, aren’t we? There are just too

many unanswered questions, to explain everything.

Or is this a good thing… are we just preparing for the worst. We have to realize that many countries

now have nuclear power. Many of them are using this power to create weapons. Who knows what the

future holds in store for us?

Fish Feet

Late with technology evolving we as a race are continuously progressing, discovering and changing the

world as we know it. It’s incredible and unimaginable how we have changed and how our creations in

fields of technology and science have changed.

Hundreds of millions years ago a wild species had taken over the

land and roamed this very plant. Yes, I’m talking about dinosaurs.

It’s believed that this extinct species evolved from sea life

growing feet and walking on land. We have done the unthinkable

and have grown legs on fish. For all we know it’s just a matter of

time before I go to my local zoo and see a baby t-rex in a cage.

The main ingredient or reactor to this change (giving legs to fish)

is caused by a gene cluster called HOXD13. “This gene cluster is

responsible for morphogenesis in multicellular organisms”

according to gizmodo.com Essential HOXD13 is a gene the controls and determines our body structure

such as the shape and number of fingers we all have. Serious limb abnormalities originate from the same

gene if it is damaged. On the other side this gene can also be linked to the growth of limbs.

The recent research by the Pablo de Olavide

University in Spain concludes that HOXD13 can also

be given to zebra fish to form their fins into limbs that

mock those in tetrapods. Tetrapods are a superclass of

animals that have four feet and include all living and

extinct amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Upon

further research we have noticed the round shapes

look like those of lobe-finned fish. These fish are the

precursors of amphibians.

A new theory states that a mutation in fish such as

these may have triggered the activation or jumpstart of

the HOXD13 gene resulting in animals jumping from sea to land, and the evolution from creatures in

the sea to walking and flying species out of the sea.

This could lead us to asking for a glass of wine and fish legs at fancy restaurants or to the process of

evolution and recreating extinct species. We could possibly have our very own Jurassic Park in the

future where we experiment on these animals and see if we can control these creatures better than the

people in the movie did.

This is truly a great finding and could be potentially used in repairing limbs in human bodies after

horrible accidents, or it could be used to help those born with deformities by giving them the necessary

limbs. That is if we find a way to control this gene correctly and properly.

Sparkling Toilet Seats

We’ve all heard the saying that toilet water is cleaner than tap water but

what about toilet seats. As it turns out toilet seats are one of the cleanest

places in our homes. This is odd because they are even cleaner than our

sponges and cutting boards, but we don’t prepare food in the toilet?

The truth is toilet seats are made to be resistant to bacteria and are easy to

gleam causing them to be one of the cleanest or the cleanest items in our

homes even though that’s where we dispose of our waste that is filled with

bacteria. Just to compare the average cutting board contains two hundred

times more fecal bacteria, a dish towel has twenty thousand and the very

tool we use to clean our dishes the sponge has two hundred thousand times

more.

Now these things aren’t dirty or at least we don’t think they are,

just because they are used to clean and are kept in clean spaces

does not mean they are virtually clean. Fact is that the nicks and

nooks in these objects described by scishow on YouTube are

good at harbouring bacteria and at hiding food in deep crevasses

for the bacteria to feed off of.

By fecal bacteria I don’t mean bacteria from our waste that we

leave in the toilet. The bacteria trapped in these objects are not

from human feces but are from the feces of animals we eat. The

tissue, blood and meat itself of the animals contain many germs

and bacteria like e coli in beef and etc.

The truth remains that our livestock is not kept in the cleanest and safest environments. Vegetarians and

vegans have it good here case they spare themselves much of this disgusting bacteria but not all of it.

This does not mean we are all going to die by sponges but it’s something to be aware of.

Also it could be the fact that our toilets are unnaturally extremely clean for the reason that we use

them…unless others have other uses that is. There are solutions to keeping yourself and you sponges

clean like for example you could soak your sponge a little before warming it up for two minutes in the

microwave to kill the bacteria and germs that may consist on them and to keep your sponge smelling

nice. But for further confidence do not worry because I our bodies know how to deal with low levels of

bacteria and science &technology have found many ways of determining bacteria in our food before

selling them to us.

Cytotechnologist

In the many fields of science there are many careers and opportunities for us to explore. Out of the

many careers there is one that involves a lot of time looking into a microscope and preforming tests.

The career I’m talking about is cytotechnologist. A cytotechnologist examines cell samples under

microscopes to look for signs of cancer or other diseases.

Some of the daily core tasks include mounting cells on slides and

staining them for further observation, such as examining the shape,

colour, and size. Using results to track and create reports on

computers. If abnormal results are found then you may be

required to work with pathologist to make a diagnosis. All of this

work would be done in hospitals, private labs, health clinics, cancer

detection centres, research facilities, and universities where you

would be employed. The general are would have to be well lit and

clean. Timings usually span to 30-40 hours a week or a standard 9 to 5 schedule on weekdays. A lot of

this time is just spent observing under a microscope and recording findings.

To begin in a career like this you would require a bachelor’s degree in cytotechnology or a diploma in

addition to any other professional certification required by the employer. The entrance requirement at a

minimum is a high school diploma to a bachelor’s degree. You would have to be able to concentrate for

long periods of time at once when running tests and examining. Other important attributes and abilities

include being detail-oriented, decisive, independent work skills and communication skills.

A sample career path would go as follows:

Cytotechnology Student

Unpaid

• A high school diploma

• Enrolled in cytotechnology bachelor’s degree or diploma

program

Working in a lab under the supervision of a fully qualified

cytotechnologist; assisting with the preparation of samples;

examining cell samples under a microscope; assessing and

recording the results under supervision; reporting abnormal

results to the pathologist.

Cytotechnologist

$40,000 to $65,000 a year

• A bachelor’s degree or diploma in cytotechnology

• Preferably certified (required in some provinces)

Helping physicians collect sell samples; preparing samples for

examination by mounting and staining specimens; examining cell

samples under a microscope; assessing and recording the results;

reporting abnormal results to the pathologist; possibly assisting the

pathologist with the final diagnosis.

Senior Cytotechnologist / Lab Supervisor

$50,000 to $70,000 a year, or more

• At least 5 years of experience

Performing all of the above duties; supervising other

cytotechnologists; taking on administrative duties such as

preparing budgets and policy documents.