Science Seminar April 3

Science Seminar Series

Presents

Naomi Schwartz

Doctoral student, Columbia University

Understanding the causes and effects

 of fire in the Peruvian Amazon

In recent years, wildfire activity has increased across the Amazon. In the past, fire was very rare there, so these changes could have big effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, and the carbon cycle. Most fires in the Amazon are started by people, either intentionally, through the use of fire for land management, or accidentally. Especially during drought years these fires can burn out of control into nearby forests. Naomi Schwartz is a Ph.D. student in ecology, evolution, and environmental biology at Columbia University. Her work uses a combination of ground and satellite measurements to understand the causes and effects of these fires in the Peruvian Amazon. She is especially interested in understanding the relationships between human activities and fire occurrence, and the effects of fire on secondary forests.

Wednesday, April 3

7 pm

Bronxville High School Auditorium

New Concussion Guidelines Stress Individual Treatment

AP Bio                                                                                                3/19/13

Comment 3/19                                                                        Brooke Bonfiglio

            The article I chose is quite relevant to the new guidelines and restrictions coming into play in all levels of contact sports. This article talks about the precautions that individuals and doctors must take when determining a concussion and its severity. In Belson’s article entitled “New Concussion Guidelines Stress Individual Treatment” his main focus is how concussions are a much more complicated injury than a broken a broken arm for example, and how they must be diagnosed with much more detail because of this. Benson describes concussions as “too idiosyncratic to be categorized neatly.” Idiosyncratic is defined as  “a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group” meaning that the brain and therefore concussions impact on the brain is still a mystery to scientist and doctors. One of the approaches doctors and trainers are taking to make concussions assessments more personalize is not giving one set time when you are safe to return to play, but instead diagnosing each person individually and giving them the ok based on their assessment. Other tools such as, symptom tests, online diagnostics, and balance tests are also used and helpful, however Giza and many other authors on the subject said that they should not be used alone. Recent other revisions were published yesterday in Neurology, a well respected medical journal, and should be implemented by all physicians dealing with concussions.

            This article is important to our culture as some of the biggest sports, such as football and soccer, also hold the highest concussion rates, and scientists and doctors are just recently finding out the long term damage concussions, minor and major, can have on a person for the rest of their life. The NFL and many college programs are changing their diagnostic on players and their revision to play with this recent discovery, and there has even been talk of taking out the kick off from football as it is the most physically dangerous play of the game. It is also important for any person to understand how fragile and sensitive our brain is, and to be know when we are endangering the most important and sophisticated part of our bodies.

            This article I thought was very interesting, however lacked much detail. I think Benson could have included some of the more recent guidlelines that were going to be followed, as they were just recently published in the journal “Neurology.” This would provide the reader with an ability to find a resolution to this problem and would have strengthened the article greatly. I did enjoy how he listed the most dangerous sporst to be football and rugy, followed by soccer. And that women’s soccer and basketball have the highest rate of concussions. 

The Dying of Monarch Butterflies

Aridjis, Lincoln P. Brower And Homero. "The Dying of the Monarch Butterflies." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/opinion/the-dying-of-the-monarch-butterflies.html?_r=0>.

The article, “The Dying of Monarch Butterflies” was quite interesting. This article was written by Lincoln P. Browner, a professor of zoology at the University of Florida. He speaks of the mortality of butterflies, the deforestation of their natural habitat and the affect of herbicides on the butterflies.

In a place called Contepec, in Michoacán, a few hours northwest of Mexico City, every winter, swarms of orange and black butterflies arise from the Oyamel fir forest on Altamirano Hill to look for water. The first time Mr. Browner witnessed this event was in 1977. Today what is left of the beautiful butterfly reserve is almost nothing. The reason for the decline of butterflies as speculated by Browner is the destruction of breeding habitat in the United States due to powerful herbicides and genetically engineered crops, and illegal logging in Mexico’s high-elevation Oyamel fir forests. Because of such serious issues, in 1986, the Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve was founded, but there is still logging present. Tourism is also ruining the habitats of these butterflies. Plant life has been demolished and the pick up of dust is filling the lungs of the butterflies. As stated in the article, When we visited the Piedra Herrada site this February, along with former President Jimmy Carter, a welcome sign on the trail leading to the butterflies read, ‘No more than 20 people in the Sanctuary.’ And yet we counted 24 tourist buses in the parking lot.” Clearly, the park is not being monitored enough.

This demolishment of the Monarch butterflies is terrible. Humans may make these beautiful creatures extinct. Every animal is important to society. As we learned about the food chain, taking one animal and removing it from the equation causes a domino affect of all the other animals in the food chain either at the extreme dying off too, or having to migrate and find another food source.

            Overall this article was written quite well with the exception of a few unclear statements. Hopefully, action can be taken in the future to better preserve the butterfly habitats so that we can enjoy their beauty and also keep them safe. Right now even though there is supposedly monitoring, the butterflies are dying from ecotourism and the destruction of habitat. I also thought the author could have gone more in depth about what he was doing to help the butterflies from decreasing in Mexico. 

Solving the Puzzles of Mimicry in Nature

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/science/solving-the-puzzles-of-mimicry-in-nature.html?ref=science

            “Solving the puzzles of Mimicry in Nature” by Sean Carroll was a very interesting article about the nuances of mimicry and recent discoveries that relate to it.  The article begins by walking the reader through the discovery of mimicry by Charles Darwin, Henry Walter Bates, and Fritz Muller.  Darwin is credited with the theory of evolution with natural selection; however, its acceptance was aided tremendously by the fieldwork by Bates and Muller and Brazil.  Both noticed Brazil to contain a myriad of colorful butterflies, but what interested them most was the way that palatable butterflies would have wing patterns and colors that were nearly perfect matches of other unpalatable butterflies.  They theorized that this was a mechanism of self-defense, as predators would stay away from those they had learned are unpalatable.  Muller went even further as he made the crucial discovery one day that unpalatable butterflies were also mimicking other unpalatable butterflies, which seems quite pointless at first.   Muller saw more deeply, and realized that unpalatable butterflies would be stronger if they were in greater abundance as their unpalatability had to be learned by predators before it would protect them.  Natural selection explains why the different wing patterns would converge, but until recently scientists did not understand how such complex wing patterns could be imitated by different species.  An international team of researchers recently did an experiment to figure out whether the mimicry was evolved from mutations or whether patterning genes were exchanged between species.  By analyzing the DNA sequences in two mimicking species they were able to determine that each species had independently evolved up to 20 different patterns that were strikingly similar in each species, but that in species that are more closely related, color-controlling genes had been exchanged.

            This article has a great deal of connections with the current unit we are doing on evolution and natural selection.  Much of what we have learned in this unit relates greatly to the article that was written today.  I’m sure many of my classmates were as interested in mimicry as I was, but felt the explanation for the striking similarities in species like butterflies to be insufficient without a better explanation.  Therefore, this article was an interesting read and also helps me in understanding evolution a little better.

            I thought the article was, for the most part, quite well-written.  I enjoyed the way the author set the stage for the reader by introducing all the major historical scientific figures that were involved in the discovery and study of mimicry; however, at times, I felt that the author took away from the science in the article by including rather pointless facts such as Muller having six daughters.  Other than that, I appreciated the flow and conciseness of the article, the only other complaint I have is that the experiment that yielded the results about how mimicry comes about was not fully explained in the article and left me with a few questions.

Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content

Strom, Stephanie. "Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/business/grocery-chain-to-require-labels-for-genetically-modified-food.html?pagewanted=all>. 

In the article,  “Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content”, the author discusses the fact that Whole Foods is going to be trying something new in regards to genetically modified foods. Whole Foods Market will become the first retailer in the United States to require labeling of all genetically modified foods sold in its stores.  The president of Whole Foods said that this labeling requirement will be in place within five years and was instated because of consumer demand. According to the president of Whole Foods, manufacturers have seen a fifteen percent increase in sales of products that are labeled. Although there is much support for this new act, there is also opposition; “The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the trade group that represents major food companies and retailers, issued a statement opposing the move. “These labels could mislead consumers into believing that these food products are somehow different of present a special risk or a potential risk,”” It is important to note that the FDA has deemed genetically modified products safe.

            This is very interesting since we have recently been talking about genetically modified organisms and how they should be treated. This is also very important for the future since as we all grow older, food will be changing with us and the way sellers will deal with the changes will be very interesting.

            I believe that this author did a great job with the article. The article covered an issue that is very relevant at this time. Overall I enjoyed this article because I thought it was very informative. 

A Laboratory Grows Young Scientists

         http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/science/intel-science-talent-contest-nurtures-spirit-of-inquiry.html?hp&_r=0

   The article “A Laboratory Grows Young Scientists” is a very interesting article involving high school students just like us. The article is based off of students in nearby Ossining High School, in Ossining, NY. The article is written about a 17 year old senior, Dan McQuaid who is one of the 40 finalists in the nationwide Intel Science Talent Search. Dan is doing research on finding a cure for cancer, but he is one of the first to do so at such a young age. Dan is the first from Ossining to accomplish such a feat, but it doesn’t stop there. Out of the alumni from this nationwide science competition, seven men and women have won Nobel Prizes and 11 have received MacArthur “genius” awards.

            This article is significant to not only my personal life, but also to all of my classmates as well. It is significant because it shows how truly powerful cancer is and how it truly does affect people worldwide. Never would I ever have though that such a complex and lethal disease be researched rigorously in order to help find a cure. Also, this article is also significant because not only does Dan live very near by, but he is just an ordinary kid just like you and me. If somebody as simple as a teenager can study such a complex disease, this should motivate other teenagers around the country to help pitch in and become a leader in their schools, no matter what field.            

            Overall, I think this article was well written. However, I do think that it lacked enough detail to provide the reader with sufficient information on how exactly Dan is looking for the cure, and what exactly he is looking for. It was also a little unclear if Dan is doing this research by himself, or is accompanied by his peers.

“Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content.”

Samantha Past                                                                                     AP Biology

3/11/13                                                                                                c block, odd days

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/business/grocery-chain-to-require-labels-for-genetically-modified-food.html?ref=science

Strom, Stephanie. “Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Mar. 2013.  Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

            The article “Major Grocer to Label Foods With Gene-Modified Content,” written by Stephanie Strom, pertains to Whole Foods Market, the grocery chain, that has recently become the first retailer in the United States to require labeling of all genetically modified foods sold in its stores. Also included in the article is an in depth discussion describing the current issue pertaining to the labeling of Genetically Modified foods in the United States, while Ms. Strom includes both those in favor of labeling, such as A.C. Gallo, president of Whole Foods, and those opposed including Coca Cola and PepsiCo. The article offers an in depth background with regards to genetically modified ingredients, therefore allowing the reader to acquire suitable knowledge with regards to the topic discussed.   As the article describes, “genetically modified ingredients are deeply embedded in the global food supply, having proliferated since the 1990s. Most of the corn and soybeans grown in the United States, for example, have been genetically modified.” While some, including, The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the trade group that represents major food companies and retailers, and Louis Finkel, the organization’s executive director of government affairs, believe genetically modified products to be safe; others believe the opposite and have been working towards a federal requirement to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients, one such person is Gary Hirsberg, chairman of the Just Label It campaign.  Despite various opposition Whole Foods announced it will include its labeling requirements in its 339 stores in the United States and Canada. Whole Foods’ shelves carry about 3,300 private-label and branded products that are certified, therefor resulting in the largest selection of any grocery chain in the country.

            This is article is perfectly suited to what we have been discussing in class, as recently there has been an emphasis in our studies on genetically modified foods. Whole Foods incorporating labeling requirements is an extremely important step for this debate, as hopefully, many other food stores will follow the lead of such a well-renowned, successful store, as Whole Foods. It is important we know what we are eating, and the only way to do that, or at least to broaden our knowledge, is to label our food.

Overall this was an extremely informative article and I enjoyed reading it. The author included both sides of the food labeling debate, therefore enabling the reader to get the chance to learn about the issue as a whole. The author includes various details, and incorporates numerous significant people and companies opinion in order to further balance the article’s information.

Is This Peptide a Key to Happiness? Findings Suggests Possible New Treatment for Depression, Other Disorders.

Alexis Petnuch

University of California – Los Angeles. "Is This Peptide a Key to Happiness? Findings Suggests Possible New Treatment for Depression, Other Disorders." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2013. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307145720.htm>.

            Recently, studies have shown that the release of the peptide called hypocretin, increased when subjects were happy and decreased when they were sad. The study also measured the release of the peptide, melanin concentrating hormone and found that it was released in small amounts upon waking, but increased during sleep. The information collected from the studies explained the sleepiness of narcolepsy, (a sleep disorder causing excessive sleepiness and sudden daytime sleep attacks) and the depression that very often goes along with the disorder. Jerome Siegel, a professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and his team published findings showing that narcoleptics had 95% fewer hypocretin nerve cells in their brains than those who did not have the disorder. Because narcoleptics often experience depression, Siegel’s lab studied the possibility of hypocretin and its link to depression.

            In a current study, researches received their data on hypocretin and melanin concentrating hormone from the brains of 8 patients treated at the UCLA Medical Center for intractable epilepsy. The releases of hypocretin and the melanin concentrating hormone were measured during activities like watching television, eating, and talking to doctors. Upon waking every hour, patients’ moods were charted. The study showed that hypocretin levels were highest during positive emotions, anger, social interactions, and awakening and melanin concentrating hormones were highest during sleep onset and minimal during social interactions.

            The results of these studies showed that the release of these peptides can increase sleep and happiness in individuals. Several drug companies are now working on using hypocretin for use in sleeping pills. It is believed that the use of hypocretin will elevate mood and alertness in humans.  

            I think that article was interesting and showed a possible new drug that can be used in treating a disorder that effects many people all over the world, depression. The article gave a lot of information on studies being conducted, but it was a little confusing as to who was conducting the study. The article bounced back and forth between comments from Dr. Siegel and studies conducted on how the peptides may play a role in narcolepsy and depression; it was just a little confusing at some points.