World Ocean Systems Undermined by Climate Changes in 2100

I read the article “World Ocean Systems Undermined by Climate Changes in 2100.” This article explains the new study that describes a full chain of events of changes that could affect humans and ocean systems in the year 2100. Earlier discoveries on ocean systems focused mainly on the amount of acid and the warming of the oceans, but the ocean biogeochemical changes triggered by the manmade greenhouse gases are being ignored. The biogeochemical cycle is the flow of chemical elements and simple substances between living organisms and the physical environment. This cycle is being hindered by manmade greenhouse gases, which are ultimately hurting the environment. Scientists say that almost all of the world’s ocean surface will be impacted greatly due to the intensities of ocean warming, acidification, and reductions in oxygen and productivity. The greenhouse gases that are hindering the biogeochemical cycle is potentially hurting our environment now and in the future. Author Camilo Mora says, “The consequences of these co-occurring changes are massive-everything from species survival, to abundance, to range size, to body sixe, to species richness, to ecosystem functioning are affected by changes in the ocean biogeochemistry.” To continue, human ramifications are likely to be very massive-food chains, fishing, and even tourism of countries could be impacted largely. Millions of the world’s poorest people rely on the ocean for food, jobs, and revenues, which could all disintegrate very rapidly.

I liked reading about this article. When I was flipping through the choices of articles, this one caught my attention instantly. As I was reading it I became a little confused with context, but as I read on, it made more sense. I believe this article is important because it gives us insight to how our own works could potentially harm our world and oceans causing problems with food, jobs, and resources later on in the years. I realized that whether this takes place in modern times or in 100 years from now, we are contributing to whatever may happen and therefore; we need to fix it as well
. http://www.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=6053

Skull Fossil Suggests Simpler Human Lineage

Ted Forst

AP Biology

I read the article, “Skull Fossil Suggests Simpler Human Lineage” by John Noble Wilford in the New York Times.  The article is all about how the discovery of a 1.8 million-year-old skull, called Skull 5, may completely change previous ideas about human ancestors. The original belief was that modern day humans came from a long line of distinct species like the Homo habilis and the Homo erectus.  The information discovered from this new skull suggests that these distinct species may in fact all be variations of one species.  In our world today, people from around the world look very different.  This article suggests that the same thing would be true millions of years ago.  Our ancestors most likely differed from each other depending on their location.

Skull 5 was originally discovered in 2005, and after eight years of studying it, a group of scientists led by David Lordkipanidze was able to determine this revelation in human ancestry.  The group called Skull 5 “the world’s first completely preserved adult hominid skull.”  The skull had a long, apelike face, big teeth, and a small case for its brain.  In fact, the braincase was about one-third of the size of those of modern human beings, which also disproves that larger brains were necessary for the hominids to leave Africa, as the skull was found in the Republic of Georgia.  The discovery that proves all of these beliefs is that four other skulls were found near the site of Skull 5.  These four other skulls lived around the same time as Skull 5 and in the same area.  The interesting thing is that they differed no more than any five modern humans or chimpanzees.  This means that they were one species, which led the scientists to the conclusion, based on the minimal variation, that there was also a single homo species at that time in Africa too.

Skull 5 also shows what the species was like 1.8 million years ago.  It was deduced based on surrounding bones that the hominids were short, but able to walk long distances standing upright.  In their report, Lordkipanidze and the other scientists wrote that Skull 5 “provides the first evidence that early Homo comprised adult individuals with small brains but body mass, stature and limb proportions reaching the lower range limit of modern variation.”

I think that this is a really great article, as it completely changes our thinking about our ancestors.  I had little knowledge about the topic before reading the article, and I thought that John Noble Wilford did a great job simplifying the material, making it easy to understand while keeping it interesting.  

Rosetta: 100 Days for Comet-Chasing Mission to Wake-Up

Rosetta: 100 Days for Comet-Chasing Mission to Wake-Up http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131011111111.htm

      This article shares information about the comet chasing orbiter Rosetta. Before it gets into the details of Rosetta’s mission it explains what the importance of comets are, and that is they are the source of Earth’s water. It also explains how studying comets can help us realize how the solar system evolved. Rosetta was launched on March 2, 2004 and has been orbiting Earth and other planets since. In July 2011 Rosetta was detected near Jupiter, 800 million kilometers from the sun, and it was put into “deep-space hibernation”. Deep-space hibernation gives the orbiter a chance to keep stability and to absorb as much sunlight as possible. Ever since 2011 the orbiter and the comet it is following has been approaching the center of the solar system which means Rosetta can finally come out of hibernation and land on the comet. Scientists say that Rosetta is supposed to wake up on January 20th, 2014 at 10:00 GMT. But before it can land it has to send many signals back to Earth and various parts have to be checked. Once everything is working and scientists have received the signals they can start getting pictures and information which is expected the following May. If Rosetta is clear to land it can finally start sending information back to Earth.
   
        Rosetta affects humanity because it will be the first time that anything has attempted to land on a comet. If it lands it can send panoramic pictures of its surroundings and it can perform many experiments finding out what comets are made of. Matt Taylor, one of ESA’s Rosetta project scientists says, “This unique science period will reveal the dynamic evolution of the nucleus as never seen before, allowing us to build up a thorough description of all aspects of the comet, its local environment and revealing how it changes even on a daily basis.” If Rosetta is able to come out of hibernation, next spring, a lot of information will be sent back to Earth. Some of the information includes, as stated in the article, “Rosetta will also make important measurements of the comet’s gravity, mass and shape, and will make an initial assessment of its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere, or coma...and analyze how it interacts with the Sun’s outer atmosphere.” This shows how much beneficial information Rosetta can provide us with.
     
      I thought this article was very informative but I wish it gave more information one what it has been doing in space for all this time. It explains how it went into hibernation in 2011 and how it photographed meteors in 2008 and 2010, but what was it doing from when it was launched till then? I also wish this article gave information of how much longer Rosetta is expected to be in space, because it hasn’t even landed and it’s been in space for almost 10 years and it isn’t even that close to the comet yet. One last thing that I didn’t like about the article was I actually found a spelling mistake, which made the whole article seem less professional to me.

Could This Be The End Of Cancer?

Chrissy Simon

Could This Be The End Of Cancer?

Shari Baker was diagnosed with stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer in 2005. To combat the cancer, she began searching for a clinical trial and through the International Cancer Advocacy Network, she learned about cancer vaccines. In May 2006, she traveled to the University of Washington and received a vaccine injected into her upper arm. Over the next five months, she got five more shots. Today, scans detect no cancer anywhere in her body. Researchers have a good idea of how the vaccines worked because of studies done by scientists on lab animals and cells in petri dishes. First, the vaccine contained fragments of a molecule called her2/neu. This molecule encourages the growth and propagation of some breast cancers when it is suspended on the surface of tumor cells. Baker’s immune system treated the stream of injected her2/neu like an invading army and counterattacked. Next, cells called CD4, acted like biological Paul Reveres, sounded the alarm, and stimulated white blood cells called T cells. The body’s Minutemen activated reinforcements called cytotoxic T cells, which invaded Baker’s tumor. Finally, the T cells destroyed the tumor cells in Baker’s breast as well as her spine.

            I think that this article is extremely important to society. After decades of hopelessness, scientists have hit on a potential cure that few thought possible a couple of years ago. If they succeed, cancer vaccines would change future treatments. They could end the need for chemotherapy and radiation. Both of which can have horrific side effects, which tumor cells often become resistant to, and which often do not help cure the disease much. Vaccines could make these treatment options a thing of the past and could make cancer as preventable.

            The article does a good job of explaining how the vaccine works in a way that the average person can understand, using analogies from the American Revolution. Also, the author provides numerous examples of different vaccines that are being tested. The article also does of a good job of explaining the importance and significance of the information it presents. However, there are some areas that the author of the article could have improved on. For example, the author does make some assertive statements without explaining why. For example, when the author discusses radiation and chemotherapy treatments and because the side effects could be so detrimental, some alternative practitioners recommend against it, the author states,  “Following that advice can be fatal.” The author does not explain why that could be the case.  In another part of the article, the author writes, “cervical cancer vaccines….target cancer causing viruses; most cancers aren’t caused by viruses.” The author does not explain the contradiction included in the sentence. The article is packed with many facts and examples. However, at some points, it seems that the author may have included too much information to convince the reader about the importance of the cancer vaccine. Overall, however, I really enjoyed reading the article and learned so much about a possible cure for cancer.

Citation: "Could This Be The End Of Cancer?" Newsweek. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. <http://mag.newsweek.com/2011/12/11/could-this-be-the-end-of-cancer.html>.

Link: http://mag.newsweek.com/2011/12/11/could-this-be-the-end-of-cancer.html

"Plenty of Water, But Little to Drink" Review by Abigail Roesser

Abigail Roesser

AP Biology

Current Event

            I read the article, “Plenty of Water, but Little to Drink” by Cornelia Dean in the New York Times. The article is about how even though most of Earth’s surface is covered with water only 5% of it is fresh water, which is mostly tied up in sheets that we cannot reach because they are so far underground. Then the author proceeds to discuss how this causes us to draw more water from underground aquifers fasters than the aquifers can refill. Aquifers are a body of permeable rock that can contain or transmit groundwater. The problem with the small amount of water that we do have is often polluted by sewage, industrial waste, and parasites, which makes natural water under the ground unsafe to drink. The author backs this information up by including information from James Salzman’s book “Drinking Water” where Salzman discusses how 1 in 70 Americans due of a waterborne diseases before the age of 70. The author also includes information about how water is critical to economic, social, and cultural development for thousands of years. She provides support for this by saying, “Steven Mithen tells us in “Thirst.” An archaeologist at the University of Reading in England, Dr. Mithen covers a vast portion of the ancient world: water storage in ancient Sumeria, the terra cotta pipes of classical Athens and the aqueducts of Rome, the “hydraulic city” of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the water-allocation policies of the Maya.”

            This article is very important to our society today because clean water access has been an issue for many other countries. For example, in many countries thousands of people don’t have access to clean water and that causes them to die from drinking dirty water filled with parasites and diseases. This article draws attention to a large issues that is growing as the population grows and hopefully will lead people to help solve the problem. One thing that we can do to prevent this problem is to come up with new technologies of cleaning water or conserving more water.

            I really enjoyed reading this article because the author made it very clear and detailed of the issues of water. The article was really good about giving background information on the issue. And I also like how the author included information from books and other scientists. However, I thought that the article could have discussed some more solutions for the issue rather than discuss the problem. Overall, I thought that the article was very informative.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/science/earth/four-books-explore-humans-relationship-with-water.html?ref=science&_r=0

Pancreatic Cancer: Chemo Drug Gemzar Improves Survival Rates

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267085.php

 

MacGill, Markus. "Pancreatic Cancer: Chemo Drug Gemzar Improves Survival Rates." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International Ltd, 09 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

 

            The article, “Pancreatic Cancer: Chemo Drug Gemzar Improves Survival Rates,” written by Markus MacGill, reports that patients, who are treated with the drug gemcitabine six months after having surgery to remove pancreatic cancer, will survive longer. Gemcitabine is a chemotherapy drug marketed in the US under the name Gemzar. Authors conclude that gemcitabine results in a 24% improvement in survival. Researchers found that, in addition to pancreatic surgery removal, the use of gemcitabine improves the overall absolute numbers of people surviving five years. Specifically, 10.4% of patients survive for five years while not being given gemcitabine, while 20.7% of patients survive for five years while being treated with gemcitabine. Furthermore, there was a 4.5% increase in the 10-year absolute survival rate when taking gemcitabine. Helmut Oettle, of the Berlin University Hospital Charité in Germany, investigated whether gemcitabine improved overall survival rates as well as freedom from disease progression. Thus, patients who had their pancreatic cancer fully removed by surgery participated in this investigation. The patients entered the study between July of 1998 and December of 2004 from a variety of hospitals located in Germany and Austria. 354 patients had been analyzed with 308 having cancer relapse. However, after analyzing their data and comparing them to those who only received observation, researchers have concluded that the adjuvant use of gemcitabine for six months led to an increased overall survival as well as disease-free survival.

            According to the article, “…pancreatic cancer is responsible for 227,000 deaths worldwide every year, and is the eighth most common cause of death from cancer” (MacGill 2013). Having the availability of a drug that will increase overall survival as well as disease-free survival, is helpful and incredible. Gemcitabine is also licensed for use in advanced ovarian cancer, metastatic breast cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer has become so common; although scientists do not know all the reasons why cancer occurs, they do know that cancer can be due to heredity, diet, hormones, chemicals, environment, radiation, and viruses or bacteria. Gemcitabine can benefit many people and open the door to more research in the field of oncology.

            The article was interesting and educational. It connected to me because my grandmother passed away from pancreatic cancer. Therefore, while reading the article, I was siding with the author, thinking that gemcitabine is useful. However, the author should have also pulled in the other perspective, how the drug can be harmful. MacGill should have included the side-effects or any negative sides of the drug.            

Shinya Yamanaka, and John B. Gurdon- were awarded the Nobel Prize

Two scientists- Shinya Yamanaka, and John B. Gurdon- were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for conducting research, and laying down the foundation for regenerative medicine. The general idea is to rebuild tissues in our bodies built from its own cells. Adult cells are assigned to a specific function, and cannot assume any new ones but while they were originally stem cells, they had the ability to turn into any type of cell. In 1962, Dr. Gurdon made a break through when he extracted the nucleus of a frog cell from a mature intestinal cell that had already been “assigned” a function. He inserted the nucleus containing the frog intestinal cell DNA into a frog egg that had had it’s own nucleus removed. The modified egg cell showed signs that the egg was able to reprogram itself and assume the duties of a young intestinal cell, although he had no idea how. 44 years later, Dr. Yamanaka discovered in 2006 that just four genes could achieve reprogramming of a cell. He used this technique to turn back time, changing a mature cell back into its original stem cell form. They were called induced pluripotent stem cells. From there, they could be made to assume any other type of cell with a specific task or tissue in mind.

This research is important in the field of medicine as certain parts of our body contain cells that cannot undergo mitosis once maturing, or only can undergo mitosis few times. One example is patients with conditions such as Alzheimer’s. They cannot regenerate parts of their brain necessary to function properly.  Scientists hope that with the discovery of these iPS cells, we will be able to use them in therapy, and provide patients with stem cells to develop into certain cells they may need. In the case of a patient with Alzheimer’s, it would be brain cells. This sounds particularly interesting to me because it offers a solution to so many diseases we once couldn’t treat properly because we couldn’t do anything about the core problem. Now, with proper research, the possibilities could be endless. We might even be able to grow entire organs for people who need an organ transplant, and even make it specialized to a specific patient who has particular needs, such as a rare blood type.

I liked the article for its short summation of the achievements of the two scientists. However, I wish it went a little more in depth as it also included a lot of backstory, which I felt didn’t have anything to do with the discoveries that the article was supposed to be discussing. The portion where they were explaining the experiment with frog cells confused me for a bit, although I was eventually able to figure me out. It was of reasonable length although for more visual learners, a video and several pictures would have helped a bit more.

Wade, Nicholas. "Cloning and Stem Cell Work Earns Nobel." NYTimes. N.p., 8 Oct. 2012. Web.

I read Zoos Aim to Ward Off a Penguin Killer by Donald G. McNeil. The article is about how malaria, the disease carried by mosquitos, is one of the largest killers of penguins living in zoo habitats. Since penguins mostly live in either the very hot or very cold weather, so they are not exposed to mosquitos. Most other animals have built up at least some sort of resistance to malaria from the exposure to mosquitos. But when penguins are moved to warmer regions where mosquitos are popular, they have almost no immune to fight against the disease, which in turn kills them off. So, many zoos have been trying to help these penguins have a better habitat within the zoo and/or immunize and treat them. For example, in Central Park Zoo, the King penguins are kept in a refrigerator type environment that is completely sealed. The temperature is so low in the room that even if a bug were to enter, it would quickly die. Other zoos have vets “bleed” the penguin, which means that when the animals first arrive to the zoo, they give blood that can be tested for malaria. Then a malaria pill is given to them, similar to the one us humans take.

                This article/news is very important to the world because it could cause for depletion in the population of many different kinds of penguins. This would be sad because it could eventually lead to penguins becoming an almost extinct species. However, this is good information for the public to know when thinking about the effect of changing a penguin’s environment. Though zoos are great for people to see animals, we, as a community, have to learn to take special precaution for penguins in particular. With the new technology today, hopefully scientists can help penguins start to become immune to malaria.

                I thought the author did an excellent job in writing this article. He did use many persuasive appeals to drag he reader in, but he also had some good points that made me think about how our desire to have zoos can have harmful effects. I learned a lot about the safety of penguins in reading this. But it also made me sad to realize that many have died due to a disease that is hard to detect.

 

McNeil, Donald G., Jr. "Zoos Aim to Ward Off a Penguin Killer." New York Times. New York Times, 6 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/science/earth/zoos-aim-to-ward-off-a-penguin-killer.html?ref=science&_r=0>.

Current Event - Plenty of Water, but Little to Drink

Plenty of Water, but Little to Drink

The article “Plenty of Water, but Little to Drink” was an interesting article by Cornelia Dean that explains the situation of water on our planet. As we all know most of the world is covered with water however less than 5 percent of the water is fresh. Water is also trapped in ice sheets and in large quantities underground. The article explains that since water is not always in the place it is needed, we humans, have dug tunnels and built pipe lines to bring water to populated areas from their original resting place under ground or in mountain ranges. As of now we are using more water than can be replaced. Much of public water is also contaminated with “by sewage, industrial waste, parasites, and other contaminants.” Mr. Salzman, a teacher at Duke who teaches environmental studies, believes that if water were privatized, even in poor regions, then the water would not be as contaminated. By privatizing water it becomes a responsibility for the person or community to keep it clean. It also ensures that water is not wasted through unnecessary means. Studies have shown that it takes an incredible amount of water to produce and ship small goods. For example, “it takes 22.8 gallons of water to produce, package, and ship a single egg. A pound of beef requires 183 gallons.” Water is the most valuable resource on the planet. It may be that clean water will soon no longer be a natural right for people.

            Water is an important issue in our world today. With the rise in population more and more people will need access to clean water, especially in third world countries. Countries have already started arguing over water and it is not unlikely that a war over water will break out over the next fifty years. People need to find ways to try and conserve water more. It is simple, take shorter showers or don’t leave the facet on while brushing. Simple measures like these on a large scale can go a long way. Water is essential for life and scientist believes that life cannot exist without water. This is pretty good reason to not waste water!

            I thought the article was a well written informative article. It referenced a number scientists and their studies of water, showing that Cornelia Dean did her research before writing the article. It was easy to read and helped explain the importance of clean water, especially in a world where the population continues to grow exponentially.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/science/earth/four-books-explore-humans-relationship-with-water.html?ref=science

Ceramics/AP Biology Sculpture

E. Weir used her biological knowledge in her Ceramics class to produce this object d'art to represent the mitochondria. The dark blue "ovoid" portion is the outer membrane of the organelle. The orange/yellow "wavy" area within represents the inner membrane of the cristae of this organelle. The arches or arms extending outward represent the cell cytoskeleton (microtubules) which allow cell organelles to move through the cell's cytoplasm.

3 Win Joint Nobel Prize in Medicine

                I read the article “3 Win Joint Nobel Prize in Medicine,” by Lawrence K. Altman. The article discusses how this Monday three scientists, James E. Rothman of Yale University; Randy W. Schekman of the University of California, Berkeley; and Dr. Thomas C. Südhof of Stanford University, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. They discovered how cells transport large molecules in an organized fashion, delivering the molecules where they are needed, when they are needed. Each scientist developed a little piece of the puzzle to solve the mystery of how cells organize their transport systems. As stated in the article, “Dr. Schekman discovered a set of genes that were required for vesicle traffic. Dr. Rothman unraveled protein machinery that allows vesicles to fuse with their targets to permit transfer of cargo. Dr. Südhof revealed how signals instruct vesicles to release their cargo with precision.” All three scientists come from different backgrounds with different educations, a diversity that allowed them to research cell transport in different ways and with different focuses. Their diverse methods led them to their key discovery.

                This article is important to our society because it is a great example of how an increase in the diversity of the educations and backgrounds of scientists who are working together can greatly benefit the scientific community. It allows them to bounce ideas off of each other and ultimately discover things together that would have been much harder, maybe even impossible, to discover on their own. This is important to us because it shows us how much more productive it can be to work with others who have different ideas from our own. Diversity can be very beneficial in the scientific community. In addition, this article is significant to the AP Biology students at Bronxville because we recently learned about the cell and all the functions of the organelles.

                A criticism I have of the article is that it was not very interesting. Most of the article just talked about the three scientists and where they went to school and got their Ph.D.s. While their backgrounds are interesting and somewhat relevant to the article, I would have found it more interesting if the author had talked more about the science behind their discovery and how this could have an effect on science in the future.

Altman, Lawrence K. "3 Win Joint Nobel Prize in Medicine." New York Times. N.p., 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/health/3-win-joint-nobel-prize-in-medicine.html>.

Lake That Turns Animals to Stone? Not Quite

     In the article, “Lake That Turns Animals to Stone? Not Quite,” the author, Marc Lallanilla exposes this serene lake in Tanzania that is the source of some of the most fantastic photographs ever taken. In these photos, it looks as though living animals have summarily turned into stone, however, that is not the case. The alkaline water in Lake Natron has pH as high as 10.5 and is so caustic it can burn the skin and eyes of animals that aren’t adapted to it. The water’s alkalinity comes from the sodium carbonate and other minerals that flow into the lake form the surrounding mountains. Despite these deceiving photographs, the animal didn’t turn into stone and die after coming into contact with the lake’s water. This lake can actually support a complex ecosystem of salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, flamingos and other wetland birds, tilapia and the algae on which large flocks of flamingoes feed. The photographer, Brandt, who is famous for capturing these wonderful photos claims, “I unexpectedly found the creatures washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron

      No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but the water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds.” This photographer took these dead animals and repositioned them to make them look as if they were living. He claims that he made them “reanimated, alive again in death.” Sadly, the serenity of Lake Natron and its flamingo population are threatened by a proposed hydroelectric power plant on the Ewaso Ngiro River.

     Although I found this article to be very interesting and different to learn about, it was not informative enough. For instance, the author never exposed to the reader what the real cause of the animals’ death was, and that left a very big gap in the overall story.

 http://www.livescience.com/40135-photographer-rick-brandt-lake-natron.html Lake That Turns Animals to Stone? Not Quite." LiveScience.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.

Hitting Pay Dirt on Mars by Kenneth Chang

In the article, Hitting Pay Dirt on Mars, written by Kenneth Chang, tells how a once assumed ordinary volcanic rock from Mars turned out to contain a small amount of water. First found in September of 2012 by the Mars rover, Curiosity, the large chunk of rock appeared to be basalt, but when the first chemical compound results came back, the elements contained in the rock appeared to be more terrestrial than any others ever found outside of the Earth. However, the rock type is not common on our planet, but rather only found on volcanic islands like Hawaii. It was discovered that water was contained in the rocks because when a scoop of its dirt was heated in a lab, water vapor was released. All of the water that was found was contained in glass like particles rather than crystallized minerals. Although the test was only done on a small sample, if all of the rocks surround it have the same composition, each cubic foot could contain up to a couple pints of water. The discovery of the presence of water on Mars changes scientists views of the plant, what used to be regarded as a “dry desert planet” now has water. Knowing that water is currently present on the surface of Mars sparks the idea in scientist’s minds that microbes could be drinking this water, but none have been found yet. However, there is s problem with this theory because perchlorate molecules have been found in multiple places on Mars’ surface, and its presence cause organic molecules to “disintegrate into simple carbon dioxide,” disproving the possibility of having life on Mars. 

This article is important to our world because humans have always had a fascination with finding other life forms on other planets, specifically Mars. With the discovery of currently present water, the possibility of the building blocks for life to be in existence makes this theory one step closer to being proven. With our world’s growing population and limited resources and space, the possibility of another plant that can withstand life has always been tempting to researchers. I chose this article because I found it interesting, especially since I had always been taught that there was a chance for a past presence of water on Mars, but now it is known that there is some. 

Although this article was written very well, I think that it lacked in explaining some of the more basic concepts which would have increased the understanding of the article. I also think that the mention of the presence of perchlorate at the end of the article, contradicting much of what was said above was quite confusing and could have been worked more fluidly into the piece. However, Chang did a very good job of expressing new and upcoming information of Mars to people who could have previously known very little. 

Chang, Kenneth. "Hitting Pay Dirt on Mars" New York Times. 30 Sept 2013. 6 Oct 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/science/space/hitting-pay-dirt-on-mars.html?pagewanted=all>

New Small-Molecule Catalyst Does the Work of Many Enzymes

http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/1003enzymes_MChristinaWhite.html

I read the article “New small-molecule catalyst does the work of many enzymes” by Diana Yates. The article explains talks about how researchers at the University of Ohio created a man-made catalyst that, unlike an enzyme, can alter the chemical profiles of multiple types of small molecules. This catalyst can be used to speed the discovery of new drugs. Enzymes are synthesized for the purpose of changing the profiles one type of molecule. This is an obstacle for pharmaceutical drug researchers. If it has been discovered that one molecule in a large compound can be changed to alter the compounds effects, a normal enzyme will not alter the compound, since it cannot change other parts of the compounds. For the compound to be changed, the entire molecule must be re-synthesized, which can take up to a month for just one compound. With this new catalyst is able to alter multiple molecules, allowing the process to take only half an hour. The lead researcher behind the creation of the catalyst, Professor M. Christine White, has made a similar catalyst before that had gone after most electron rich carbon-hydrogen bond, but the new one is a much greater improvement, as it goes after the most electron rich bond that is least encumbered by other atoms. This improvement allows the catalyst to change the targeted molecule without destroying the entire compound. The improvement also allows the researchers to computationally predict what bonds will be affected and in what order. The molecule has not been perfected to work on all C-H bonds, but is being altered to hopefully achieve this.

            This new catalyst is important not because of what it can do, but how quickly it can do it. With the new catalyst, changing specific molecules in a compound have been changed from taking an entire month to taking only half an hour. It will allow for vital pharmaceutical research to be done quicker and more efficiently. The catalyst at the moment has limited uses, but will further research it will be expanded to work on all bonds in the future. The catalyst also represents the way man can create something better than what nature designed. On a chemical level, the catalyst is better than a natural enzyme, as it can work with multiple types of molecules.

            The article, although it was written rather well, can use some improvements. For example, the article does not talk much about the chemical processes, such as how the catalyst determines which molecule is targeted or how the catalyst knows to replace C-H bonds with C-O-O bonds. This added information will allow to be understood on a more scientific level. Despite this, the article is still very informative.

Yates, Diana. "New Small-molecule Catalyst Does the Work of Many Enzymes." Illinois News Bureau. University of Illinois, 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Oct. 2013. <http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/1003enzymes_MChristinaWhite.html>.