Silent Spring - Rachel Carson

Silent Spring was a book written by Rachel Carson in 1960-something. It detailed how the use and over-use of pesticides, mainly DDT, can directly and indirectly cause the decimation of the environment. This book was so critically acclaimed that it is believed to be basis for the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Because of this, Rachel Carson has been referred to as, in some people's opinion, nothing less than the modern day Gaia. She has single-handedly notified the world about the real destruction that was occurring in nature and the real consequences that were forming from the destruction. Her efforts have banned the use of the formerly-thought-of-as-safe DDT and have attracted attention towards other potentially dangerous pesticides.

However, her book mainly illustrates the effect that pesticides have on environment and wildlife. She also discuss their effects on humans, but only on humans who live in countries who can fund this type of pest control. Those who live in poorer countries are subject to disease that is transmitted through pests. If these people want relief, they must use mosquito nets provided to them by non-profit organizations and other methods that don't involve the use of pesticides. It has been thought of as unfair for those who use the mosquito nets to not be offered the choice of controlling their environment like their western hemisphere counterparts and to use pesticides.

Nail Gun Safety

So apparently, there is concern about people in the US not knowing the safety precautions associated with the use of a nail gun upon purchase. Duke University conducted a study where researchers posed as consumers who were buying nail guns. They asked sales associates about how to use a nail gun as safely as possible to avoid injury. The majority of the employees either gave incorrect information to the researchers (75%) or didn't know anything about the nail gun at all (59%).

When I read this article, I was shocked to see the statistics surrounding the study. If this many people did not know any of the safety measures to take when handling nail guns, the number of nail gun-related hospital visits are going to increase. Also, if they didn't know any of the precautions to take when using a nail gun, what about other, more dangerous, home improvement tools? I think that in addition to knowing where certain items are in the store, the newly-hired employees should also be trained in the correct use of the tools to inform the consumers who are purchasing them.

The article can be viewed here:
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/hsn/nailgunsoftensoldwithoutsafetyadvicestudy

What is Life?

Some characteristics of organisms that are considered "living" are:

the ability to reproduce/create viable subsequent generations
the ability to gain and use energy
the ability to undergo evolution in response to their surroundings

among other characteristics. With the case concerning viruses and proteins, it is debatable whether or not to call them alive or not. For sure, a living organisms has a set list of characteristics that labels it as being alive. However, with proteins and viruses, not all of the conditions may be met in order to label it as being one-hundred percent alive. For example, a certain type of virus might be composed of subunits that could be not defined as the traditional "cell". The similarities could or could not be convincing enough to consider them to be one in the same.

Three Diets for Three Blood Types

Hmm, okay, so apparently, there is a specialized diet out there that conducts how you eat based on your blood type (A, B, O, and AB). According to Wikipedia, the diet was developed by a physician named Peter D'Adamo who claims that the one of the most important aspects in effective weight loss is eating certain foods according to what blood type you have. In his book, he also discusses the evolutionary tree of blood types, how they have developed over the years, and what types of people were likely to have certain blood types.

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure: How to Train Your Dragon

JUST KIDDING! :D! How to create water marble nail art

Materials: cup, bottled water, nail polish (preferably more than one color), orange stick, scotch tape, determination

1. Fill the cup about 3/4 full with the bottled water. The water MUST be filtered, so no tap water.

2. Tear off 2 5cm pieces of tape. Tape one piece around your finger on the skin just below the bottom of your nail. Tape the second piece on top of your finger so that the skin on the sides of the nail are covered.

3. Open the nail polish and drop a single drop of nail polish into the water at a time. If using more than one color of nail polish, it may be preferable to alternate the drops. More techniques come with more practice.

4. Once the desired amount of drops are in the water (for the first time try between 2-4 drops, no more than 5), use the pencil-like end of the orange stick and drag the nail polish along the surface of the water. Different designs can be made with more practice.

5. Once the desired design is drawn, take the finger with the tape on it and dip it into the water nail bed first. Leave the finger in the water.

6. Use the orange stick to skim the surface of the water around your finger to pick up any excess nail polish from the water.

7. Remove your finger and shake off any excess water to reveal the design. Let dry. Once dry, remove tape.

Mitchondrial Eve

Sooooo, this is a diagram (from Wikipedia) illustrating the concept behind mitochondrial Eve. Basically, in each of our cells, there is more than just nuclear DNA floating around. There is also DNA present in the mitochondria of all cells. In nuclear DNA, the components originate 50% from both parents; however, with mitochondrial DNA, all of the DNA is traced back to the maternal donor. All mitochondrial DNA in everyone is linked back to their mothers. So with that idea, it can be deduced that if the m.DNA linage is traced back far enough, a single donor of the m.DNA can be found, who scientists have named mitochondrial Eve. All of our m.DNA comes from her, so because of her and many mutations that have occurred to the m.DNA among the years, we have become who we are today.

This article from the PBS network explores with more depth about the topic, including dates as to how long ago can the m.DNA linage be traced.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/neanderthals/mtdna.html

Five different person types that have all originated from mitochondrial Eve include (described by flavors of ice cream :D!):
Frozen Yogurt
Vanilla
Butterscotch
Coffee
Dark Chocolate

Sorry about that, but I really couldn't think of a way to word the types by what region of the world they originate from! Sorry! :)

Halophile

Sooo, a type of organism that can withstand and thrive in the harshest of environments is called an extremophile. Halophiles, in particular, are able to flourish in environments that have a very high concentration of salt. One example of a halophile is Chromohalobacter beijerinckii, which can be found in salted beans. The bacteria is rod-shaped and is approximately 0.4–0.6 μm by 1.8–2.5 μm. Google Images was being a butt and didn't want to give me a picture, so if requested I could draw a picture... or not... :)