Science
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
by tom xi
Science has developed at an amazing speed for the past thirty years, and numerous new findings have been revealed to humans. With this drastic change in the human pool of knowledge, many of the theories and definitions that have held “true” or appropriate for a very long time, have turned out to be fallacy one after another. The most well-known example is Einstein’s refute on Newton’s law of physics. Just like in the world of Physics, the field of Biology has gone through changes as well, and the definition of “living” in the field of Biology has became increasingly difficult and controversial with the additional knowledge we have gained over the past several decades. Continue reading »
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
by RyanB
- Shanghai, China before and after Earth Hour
On Saturday, March 28th, more than 1,000 cities in over 80 countries observed Earth Hour 2009. Starting at 8:30 PM, cities and towns around the world shut off the lights to promote climate change awareness and action. Started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, Earth Hour has grown tremendously in the last three years. The event was sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund.
- Earth Hour 2009 in Toronto
Although there are many advocates of this event, there are also many people who criticize it. Many question how much energy is saved in only one hour of shutting the lights off, arguing that the planning and promotion of the event causes enough environmental harm that it offsets the benefits of Earth Hour. However, the sheer number of people involved in the event guarantees that much more energy is conserved because of the event than is used. Also, Earth Hour is more of a symbolic demonstration, with millions of people around the world telling world leaders that we need to do something about the climate crisis. As UN’s Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said, Earth Hour has the potential to be “the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted.”
With Earth Day 2009 coming up on April 22, we are facing possibly the most serious environmental crisis ever. As the population grows, we need to use more resources, much of which are nonrenewable and result in emissions of greenhouse gases. As climate change worsens, an environmental movement is beginning around the world, and world leaders including President Obama are making it one of their top priorities. However, recent events are suggesting that we may have less time to act than we originally thought. For example, in 2007, a large portion of Arctic sea ice (about 40%) vanished. Even with climate change, scientists predicted in 2004 that this would not happen for another 50 or 100 years. Along with this, we are seeing increases in occurrence and severity of droughts, floods, and storms around the world, as well as decreases in agricultural yields due to the changing climate. On a statistics website called Worldometers.info, you can actually see the average global temperature increase. Also, the amount of Carbon dioxide emissions this year goes up about 1,000 ton every three seconds. These statistics and recent events make it evident that we are facing a serious threat to our population and that urgent action is necessary.
Arctic sea near Svalbard
Millions of people simply shutting the lights off for one hour was a powerful message that gained worldwide attention. Clearly, Earth Hour 2009 was a much needed wake-up call to politicians and citizens around the world that we need to get serious about stopping climate change. This event is one of the largest public demonstrations ever, and has the potential to become increasingly influential in coming years.
Although we do not realize it, several of our everyday actions impact the environment. We are also affected by the environment everyday as well, and all of us experience the effects of climate change. Although many people will disagree with me on this, I believe that climate change is the most important problem we face today, because whether we realize it or not, it impacts every aspect of our life. It is affecting our food supply, rain cycles, ocean currents, sea levels, biodiversity and human health, as well as other aspects of our earth . Its impacts will only increase over time, but there is hope. There is a movement happening right now as concern about climate change grows. Renewable energy technology is being developed, windmills and solar panels are being installed around the world, and people are voicing their concerns on climate change. American colleges are reporting a dramatic increase in interest in renewable energy technologies and environmental science. Individuals, corporations, schools, and organizations are moving towards sustainability. This is one of our greatest opportunities to prove what the human race can accomplish while working toward a collective good. One person at a time. One light at a time. One goal: protecting this beautiful place we call home.
(Note: if you want to see more pictures of Earth Hour, there are some outstanding pictures at Boston.com
photo credit: Earth Hour Global
photo credit: Denmar
photo credit: Kenyai
Photo Credit: Pip_Wilson
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Sunday, February 1st, 2009
by fwanchang
My father, as a teenager, was one of the first people in Korea who were qualified to teach recreational scuba diving. “My life before marriage was all about scuba diving”, he told me, and that passion I have inherited from him. Because of my father’s exceptional interest in underwater life, I grew up to be a swimmer, scuba diver, and a person who cared a lot for marine ecology. In fact, although I admit that my father’s influence and persuasion existed, I once thought to become a marine biologist and tried to “prepare” myself by reading books, watching documentary films about underwater world. Due to this interest of mine, I can proudly say that I do have more knowledge in marine ecosystem than most of my peers and I know that the recent happening depletion of fisheries can be a more serious disaster than most people think.
Like any other ecosystem, underwater ecology is a world which is very complicated and co-dependent system. What if the fisheries are completely depleted? Micro-organisms that are food to all the fishes will grow and the common phenomenon known as “red tide” occurs. Not to mention the larger predators who feed on fishes as well, sharks, for one, cannot survive without abundant supply of fishes. Up to this part, most people would know. But it does not end here. Due to the increase of microorganisms, water temperature will rise and cause “el nino” which provides not suitable environment for the local organisms and population of fishes and others will decrease even more. Under the surface, the current that flows along the underwater cliff will change and destroy all the coral system that are not used to the new flow of current. It is bad enough that beautiful underwater coral garden does not exist anymore and it gets even worse when broken pieces of the corals flow into shiny, golden, beaches. Fisheries and the beauty of coral and beaches, we take advantage of the marine system so much. If they are gone, the impact on our life is predictably large.
Being a person who is able to appreciate the aspects that underwater life gives us, I cannot stand that I will not be able to feel all the things that I have got from marine life anymore. It is a big problem, fisheries depletion is, but it can be stopped by a little thing – stop the overfishing now. It is a chain-reaction that fisheries depletion to become a disaster and it truly can be prevented if we put on the first button right.
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Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
by bencrenca32
Are we invincible? It’s a mindset that people on Earth posses. We seem so strong and civilized compared to the other meek planets. How could anything happen to the planet that has produced life? Well, people have to realize that we are just that, another planet. Let’s look just at our solar system. There are 8 planets, 169 moons, 5 dwarf planets and over 100.000.000,000 stars. The Earth is a mere speck in the solar system. Now take a look at the universe, which has over 300 planets and more that have yet to be seen. The number of stars is way to many to count. Nothing distinguishes our planet when we look at the big picture. Life does not last forever. Although seen as wack jobs by many, people such as Nostradamus and the Mayans have predicted “End of the World Theories.” It just may be that the earth sooner rather then later, becomes a history lesson in a far away society. We need to be conscious of what is happening, before it becomes too late.
Nostradamus is a 16th century French astronomer/philosopher that has been made famous by his four lined poems called quatrains.
These quatrains have supposedly predictions to major events in the past few centuries. Here is an example of his prediction of 9/11:
“Earthshaking fire from the centre of the earth will cause tremors around the New City.
Two great rocks will war for a long time, then Arethusa will redden a new river.” (Century 1, Quatrain 87)
Read this carefully. “Fire from the centre of the earth” can be translated into fire at the World Trade Center. “The New City” can be seen as New York. “Two Great rocks” , could be the Twin Towers. Although vague, he has written many like this, which leads skeptics to believe that he may have been honestly found something in the stars.
His “end of the world” quatrains and the Mayan’s calendar ending in the year 2012 has raised questions through the years. Nostradamus has predicted wars will be raged throughout the world which will trigger the end of times.
“In the year 1999 and seven months
From the sky will come the great King of Terror.
He will bring back to life the King of the Mongols;
Before and after war reigns.”
One may see this as preposterous. We know that no doomsday occurred in 1999 since we are all still here. Yet, in 1999 something did happen. On May 7th 1999, as NATO was bombing Yugoslavia, they “accidentally” hit the Chinese embassy killing three people. The bombs can be seen as the King of Terror from the sky. The King of Mongols, a fearsome Chinese leader that yearns for revenge. China has surpassed the US as the most powerful country on earth since 1999. Could they still be upset about the 1999 events? Wars across the Middle East have already begun to take place. Could a major world war between the two super powers be in the near future? Only time will tell.
The Mayans have their own unique predictions. Some will question why we should believe in what an ancient civilization says. Well, for centuries we have used the Mayans calendar. This calendar has been accurate and gave us a sense of time with the changes of night and day and the seasons. Yet this calendar ends abruptly December 21st 2012. The end of times predicted by the Mayans. It is the day of the winter solstice and the first time in 26,000 years that the sun and the “Black Hole” will form a galactic alignment while in line with Earth. The Mayans believe that this will cause major disruptions on Earth. Also it has been discovered that an asteroid called
Nibiru is headed towards our planet expected to be visible in the year 2012. Is it possible that that the government is trying to keep this under wraps to avoid global panic? Asteroids have hit the earth and destroyed life before. Why can it not happen again? We can never be so sure.
If you do not believe in the writings and findings of the Mayans and Nostradamus, there are scientific findings that back up the “end of the world theory”. It is based on something very small. It has to do with bees. Bees are disappearing an alarming rate. It may be do to global warming or cell phones but no one really knows. All we know is that the honeybee population has decreased dramatically. You may look at this and ask, “Why is that a problem? Bees are nothing but a nuisance.” They are so much more however. Bess pollinate more then one third of the worlds crops. If they become extinct, a chain reaction will take place. First, plants eaten by animals will die off due to a lack of pollination. These animals then begin to die off as well because they will have nothing to eat. Humans and other animals eat some of these animals. The food chain will be thrown off. Now that the food supply is shortened, we need to be more careful with it. Most likely food will not be given to third world countries that are in dire need of it. These countries will literally starve to death and disease rates will sky rocket due to malnutrition, birds and bugs carry diseases. They eventually will make their way over to other countries and thus creates a serious epidemic. Never thought the bee could be this important huh?
So to answer my first question, we are not invincible. We are merely lying in wait.
Photo Credit: dierk schaefer
Photo Credt: Planet Tyler
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Saturday, January 10th, 2009
by AmandaMa
Automated anesthesia was one of the ideas mentioned in the New York Times “A Year in Ideas 2008” article. The automated anesthetic was given the name “McSleepy” , not to be confused with the character “McDreamy” from Grey’s Anatomy, which is where the named was inspired from. Automated anesthetic has many great qualities, including being safer than the way anesthesia is commonly used today. Not only is it safer, but it also saves hospitals significant money because there would be less of a need for as many anesthesiologists. This is because the “McSleepy” actually monitors the patient and administers the amount of anesthetic by itself.
You might ask what is the point of “McSleepy” if we already have anesthesiologists to do the work already? Although it is a good question, you must realize the type of schedule that an anesthesiologist has. An anesthesiologist must monitor the patient every so often and make sure that the patient has the right amount of anesthetic. Too little or too much could turn out to be detrimental, so the anesthesiologist must limit the amount of patients that they are caring for. With “McSleepy” an anesthesiologist could work with more patients which not only speeds up the surgery process but ultimately saves the hospital money by not having to hire as many anesthesiologists.
Although the McSleepy is a great idea and an amazing step forward in technology, it could make it harder for future anesthesiologists to find jobs. With the economy the way it is right now, that could be a bad thing for aspiring anesthesiologists. The technology could possibly be perfected in that an anesthesiologist position might not exist anymore.
Photo Credit: selva
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