Angelinna Faisca, "The Smart, Agile, and Completely Underrated Dodo Bird."

 Angelinna Faisca 12/16/20

AP Biology

Mr. Ippolito

Anthes, Emily. “The Smart, Agile, and Completely Underrated Dodo Bird.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 8 June 2016, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/06/the-dodos-redemption/486086/

The article that I reviewed was “The Smart, Agile, and Completely Dodo Bird.” This article first starts off with the stereotypical ideas and thoughts of the dodo bird: Clumsy, naive, fat, walking straight into the arms of hungry Dutch settlers. However, this story has been told like that over and over, even hearing it in my younger years in school. However, most recently scientists have learned that this wasn’t the case at all. Emily Anthes, the author of this article, then goes into the origin of the dodo bird. About 8 million years ago, the ancestors of the dodo bird, which is part of the Pigeon family, arrived on a small volcanic island and lost its flight and took a big, flightless bird image, one we are familiar with seeing as we speak of the dodo bird. The first record of the dodo bird was in 1599. After this, in less than a hundred years, the dodo bird died out. To make things especially harder, taxidermies were not something that was done efficiently, so many dodo specimens were not saved, bringing the myths even closer to utter false facts. Going far into the future from 1599, in 1865, a fossil deposit was found, and in the 20th century, only one full skeleton was made. In 2011, a paleontologist named Leon Claessens travelled to the island to thoroughly look through the skeleton, along with two of his students. After printing a 3-D model of each bone, they were able to find that the bones of the dodo bird were made to run through  dense forests and rocky hills. After all of this research, they saw that the dodo bird was not a total useless oddity, as they had found that they had also used their small wings for balance. What was also found was that dodo birds had enlarged olfactory bulbs, which might have enhanced their sense of smell, helping them with finding food sources. Overall, this article goes through  the different factors of the myths that were surrounding the dodo bird, when all in all, it was probably one of the most useful and evolved birds in its time. 

In connection to our current life, there were  so many  things that none of us knew about this bird, especially amongst the myths that we have been told. Which leads to the question, what else can  we learn  about extinct animals? The answer is quite a lot, as the dodo bird has been extinct for over 300 years, yet we are still able to even comprehend what its brain size was and even knowing what its sense of smell was. This leads scientists to wonder and explore what other things they can figure out about other extinct animals and how they could have been beneficial to our current Earth.  

Finally, although I don’t think the article really needed anything, since it was a really  good article in my opinion, I think it could have included images, as it didn’t include any throughout the article, which  just made it seem wordy, and less engaging to some degree. However I thought it was a very good article, as it spoke of all the functions that were questioned about. Overall, Emily Anthes article was very  informative and gave me a lot of information about the myths of the dodo and what the dodo bird was really all about.

 

Maya Brinster 

December 16, 2020 

AP Bio EF Even 

Current Event 9 

“New Tests Identify Early Changes in Alzheimer's Disease before Symptoms Appear.” 

ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 1 Dec. 2020,

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201201203937.htm.

The article “New tests identify early changes in Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear” describes a revolutionary discovery conducted by researchers at the University of Gothenburg that could lead to more effective treatments for Alzheimer's. Previously, scientists knew that the Tau protein, a type of protein that is predominantly found in brain cells, can form clumps of aggregates in the brain during Alzheimer’s and contribute to memory loss over time. However, this abnormality was able to be detected only once the patient experienced clear symptoms of memory loss. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg discovered specific forms of this protein that undergo certain changes, such as the increase in blood or cerebrospinal fluid, during the early stages of Alzheimer’s. They were able to develop highly sensitive techniques to test regular blood samples and measure these changes, and detect Alzheimer’s much earlier than what was previously possible. 

The detection of this abnormality could enable the disease to be detected and therefore treated, much sooner. Dr. Thomas Karikari explains the significance of this study, stating that “The remarkable findings reported in these publications show that the new highly sensitive tools capture the earliest Alzheimer disease changes in the brain in clinically normal people. These tools, therefore, have the potential to advance population screening and clinical trials." Since cognitive issues don’t develop in the early stages of Alzheimer's, a sooner detection could enable a more helpful cure that could halt the disease before any serious change is done to the brain. 

I found this article very interesting and enjoyed reading it. I like how the author explained everything they were writing about with great detail, as it made everything very easy to comprehend. It would have been nice if the author focused a bit more on the impact that this discovery has on future treatments, as this is very important. Overall, however, I really enjoyed this article and am now more optimistic about the future of Alzheimer's disease. 

Willy Swenson

 Willy Swenson

Mr. Ippolito

AP Biology

December 13th, 2020

“Neanderthals Buried Their Dead: New Evidence.” ScienceDaily, 2020, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201209140358.htm. Accessed 14 Dec. 2020.

‌In the article “Neanderthals Buried Their Dead: New Evidence”, the authors explain new evidence discovered on the subject of burial in the Neanderthal communities in France from 41,000 BC. The new evidence comes from an old archaeological dig. Using bones found from 1970, a French and Spanish research team was able to conclude that the bones were indeed buried all those years ago. They concluded this based on three crucial pieces of evidence. The first is that the preservation of the skeleton was better than any bison or animal bones from the same time period, suggesting that there was rapid burial. Also, the dirt layers around the skeleton at the dig site were much older than the surrounding layers of sediment. The last piece of evidence is that the bones were relatively not scattered at all, and much less scattered than animal bones that were buried under natural conditions. While all of these pieces of evidence are important to understand if Neanderthals practiced burial with their dead, more extensive research must be conducted in order to conclude chronology and geographical extension of Neanderthal burial practices. 

It is very interesting to understand if the Neanderthals practiced burial with their dead because we garner a new understanding of how complex the thoughts of Neanderthals were. Burial of the dead is often practiced in well-developed species, such as homosapians. As we inch closer to the mystery of burial techniques of Neanderthals, we also inch closer to understanding this ancient group that coexisted and interbred with our homosapien ancestors. I was initially attracted to this topic because I wanted a break from all of the biological misfortunes and disasters that our World is facing today and learn about something that is noncontroversial. This topic is also interesting to me because I took a DNA test and I found out that I was <2% Neanderthal, so maybe one of my Neanderthal ancestor’s skeleton is still preserved somewhere, buried under hundreds of feet of sediment. 

 Henry Min

Mr. Ippolito 

Ap Biology

12/13/20

Saey, Tina Hesman. “The FDA Has Authorized Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine. Now What?” Science News, 12 Dec. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/fda-authorize-pfizer-vaccine-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic. 

In Tina Hesman Saye’s “The FDA has authorized PFizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Now what?”, the author does a good job over giving an overview of the weeks and months to come. More specifically, Saye goes over all of the steps and precautions the government is going to take when distributing the COVID-19 vaccine. During December, “the vaccine [will start] to be shipped, but won’t have a widespread impact for several months” due to the limited amount of vaccines. Only around three million vaccines will be distributed, and then the next three will be shipped to the same people for their second shots. The next step is for scientists to look for side effects and other health issues once giving a vaccine. Throughout Pfizer’s vaccine trials, the most common side effects were minor fevers, headaches, and fatigue. This is a big factor as “two people have had serious allergic reactions after getting Pfizer’s vaccine” and it has to be fail proof. Another step is figuring out if people who already had COVID-19 need to be vaccinated or not. “A small number of people in the PFizer trial had antibodies in their blood indicating that they had been infected prior to [being vaccinated]”, and this shows that even people who have developed antibodies may need to be vaccinated. After this scientist will decide whether to vaccinate people in the placebo group. The controversy surrounding this is how vaccinating placebo patients will delegitimize their results, and therefore there are some scientists who don’t support vaccinating placebo patients. If everything goes right, then Pfizer will decide if the vaccine is ready for children. They believe that because children develop milder symptoms compared to adults, there is no rush to vaccinate all children yet. Hopefully if everything falls into place, then the FDA should give their full approval for the vaccine. 

I enjoyed reading this article as I am interested in the current state of the vaccine and COVID-19 in general. The author's structure of her article made it really easy for me to understand exactly what Pfizer’s plan is in order for the vaccine to reach as many people as possible. 

Julia Reich

Mr. Ippolito

AP Biology C Even 

11/30/20

Lambert, Jonathan. “These Plants Seem Like They're Trying to Hide from People.” Science 

News, 20 Nov. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/plant-camouflage-people-china-traditional-medicine-fritillaria. 

Jonathan Lambert’s article “These Plants Seem Like They’re Trying to Hide from People” covers the recently evolutionized Fritillaria and its impact on humans and herbivores. The usually bright green plant -- which grows on the tops of Himalayan and Hengduan mountains in southwestern China -- has been grounded into a cough-treating powder for over two-thousand years. The demand for the Fritillaria bulbs is intense; approximately 3,500 of the bulbs are needed to produce just one kilogram of the powder (about $480). Researchers have recently reported, however, that the plant is becoming “remarkably difficult to find.” Its stems and leaves are becoming barely distinguishable from the gray/brown rocky mountains. And it seems, according to Yang Niu, a botanist at the Kunming Institute of Botany in China, that this plant camouflage has evolved in response to humans. Researchers from Current Biology also reported that “Fritillaria delavayi from regions that experience greater harvesting pressure are more camouflaged than those from less harvested areas.” This is significant as the more highly sought areas of harvesting is directly causing the camouflage, proving Niu’s hypothesis that the evolution is due to human activity. Following several hypotheses regarding the evolution of Fritillaria, Yang Niu, his colleague Hang Sun, and Martin Stevens of the University of Exeter in England, tested whether or not humans were driving the evolution of the plants’ camouflage.  They found that at the seven study sites they focused on, “The more harvested, or harvestable, a site, the better the color of a plant matched its background, as measured by a spectrometer. ‘The degree of correlation was really, really convincing for both metrics we used,’ Stevens says.” 

Niu, Sun, and Stevens’ findings are relevant to our society today as the camouflage of certain plants, such as Fritillaria, could lead to a decrease in certain medicines, such as cough-treating powders. Camouflage also has negative effects on the plant, including not being able to be seen by pollinators. As well, the plants that have evolved to protect themselves from herbivores do not seem to be working well. It seems that animals have been biting the plant’s leaves but not consuming it. As well, the gray/brown coloration could impair photosynthetic activity, which would ultimately lead to a decrease in plants and medicines.

Jonathan Lambert’s article was concise and interesting to read. One aspect he did very well was utilizing simple terms so that the average reader could understand the complex ideas throughout the article. One aspect he could improve on is potentially including a personal opinion. He could add his thoughts on what he believes this human driven evolution will cause in the future. As well, he could have included more quotes from the experts on the Fritillaria camouflage and experts on human driven evolution. This would have been very interesting to read and would help his audience understand why the topic is significant. Overall, the article was well done and I recommend any person at Bronxville to read into the subject. 

Measles Has Come Back with a Vengeance in the Last Several Years

 Caroline Hulbert   11.17.20

AP Bio C Even   Current Event 7

Cunningham, Aimee. “Measles Has Come Back with a Vengeance in the Last Several Years.” Science News, 14 Nov. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/measles-cases-deaths-numbers-increase-2019-outbreaks-covid. 

For this current event, I decided to review the article “Measles Has Come Back with a Vengeance in the Last Several Years,” by Aimee Cunningham. The author begins the article with statistics about the measles, stating that from 2000 to 2016, the number of reported measles cases worldwide dropped from 853,479 to 132,490, however cases began to rise again after that. In 2019, 869,770 people had the measles, and around 207,500 people died from it. Cunningham cites an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who states that we have had a safe and effective vaccine for the measles since the early 1960s, making this setback highly upsetting. She also says that in order to prevent outbreaks 95% of a community must be vaccinated with both doses of the vaccine. However, only around 84% of people globally have received the first dose. There are nine countries--Central African Republic, Congo, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, North Macedonia, Samoa, Tonga and Ukraine--where outbreaks of measles have been especially prevalent, making up 73% of the reported cases in 2019. This is due to low vaccination coverage, as well as a lack of confidence in the vaccines, leading to lower vaccination rates. Cunningham also states that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has had a negative impact on infection rates of measles. The economic hardship brought on by the pandemic has increased malnutrition, which increases the severity of the disease. Cunningham concludes the article by describing a new method of vaccination that is in the works. Single-dose adhesive-backed patches could release an array of needles coated with the vaccine to dissolve in the skin. Because these patches would not require the same cold temperature needed for the current measles vaccine, vaccinations would be more accessible and easier to administer. It will take a few years, but these patches would increase vaccine coverage and reduce outbreaks.

This article is very relevant to society today as measles outbreaks increase, either by lack of vaccine coverage or by distrust of the vaccine. Especially with the current coronavirus outbreak, it is now more important than ever to prevent other deadly disease outbreaks, which would be worsened by both the physiological and economic impacts of COVID-19. It is also important for the effectiveness of the vaccine to be expressed toward people in other countries, as well as parts of the US, who do not believe in vaccinations. Their unbacked distrust for the vaccine has deadly consequences for communities.

This article was very well-written and informative about current issues. The author included insights from numerous medical experts in different fields and locations about the rise in measles cases around the world. She also includes a new type of vaccination that may become available in a few years. It would have been helpful for the author to include information about why measles cases are rising. She stated the factors that would lead to an increase in cases, but did not describe why case numbers went down significantly before their sharp increase in 2016. Cunningham began the article with statistics about incidences of the measles. I think that if she had opened her article with something more personal to readers, like a specific story or information about measles cases in the US, it would have made it more personal to readers and helped them fully understand the severity of the situation.

Annabelle Krause - We Still Don't Know What COVID-19 Immunity Means or How Long It Lasts

 Annabelle Krause

AP Bio

11/17/2020

de Jesus, Erin Garcia. “We Still Don't Know What COVID-19 Immunity Means or How Long It Lasts.” Science News, 21 Oct. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-herd-immunity-immune-response-antibodies. 

Some politicians and a few epidemiologists have suggested that herd immunity, or a significant enough portion of the low-risk population getting infected and having immunity, is the proper way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, “around 40 to 60 percent of a population would need to be infected to reach [the point of herd immunity].”  This begs the question, is it worth it to put that significant of a percentage of the low-risk community at risk of COVID-19 complications to reach herd immunity?  Many epidemiologists have argued that, no, it is not worth it and that we must wait for a vaccine before life can go back to normal.  One key reason as to why herd immunity is almost impossible to attain is that we know very little about COVID-19 immunity.  Immunity is “resistance to a disease gained through the immune system’s exposure to it, either by infection or through vaccination.”  And it is attained by having a virus and either having T cells or B cells or possibly both.  T cells are cells that remember the pathogen and trigger a rapid response through the coordination of the immune system to a known pathogen.  B cells produce antibodies which are proteins that allow the body to fight off a pathogen.  When a person recovers from an infection, the antibodies stick around which makes it easier for a person to beat the same virus twice.  These cell responses can result in two different types of immunity: sterilizing immunity, which is rare and guarantees that “the virus never gets a chance to begin replicating and never infects a cell” or the more common partial immunity which triggers a “rapid response that may make the second bout of the disease less severe, or less easily transmitted.”  And, even if a patient does have antibodies, it is unclear how long they last or if they are truly a sign of immunity.  Patients generally have been observed to have been generating neutralizing antibodies, which is promising, but it is still not necessarily enough for protection.  COVID-19 patients also are likely to have T cells which may give them immunity.  But, it is unclear how effective and protective these T cells are.  Some of the general population may also have applicable T cells, called cross-reactive T cells, which are immune cells left over from previous coronaviruses (like the common cold) that help reduce the impact of COVID-19.  But, some T cells could make a person’s reaction to COVID-19 worse by causing a condition called cytokine storm which overstimulates the immune system.  Overall, herd immunity is likely impossible, and the best approach to combatting COVID-19 is waiting for a vaccine and vaccinating a significant percentage of the population.

This article is extremely relevant right now, although it is less relevant than it was a week ago.  Many politicians have asserted that herd immunity would be an effective solution to COVID-19 and allow the United States to reopen its economy fully.  However, the science described in this article has disproved that assertion.  With the development of a promising vaccine, this article is less relevant because an end is (hopefully) on the horizon.  But, it is still important for people to keep in mind that getting COVID-19 does not mean that they are immune and that they should not try and get COVID-19 for that purpose.  It is also a reminder that this pandemic is extremely unknown overall and that even the scientists know very little.

This article was quite easy to understand and succinct in explaining the science.  I appreciated that they explained complicated concepts around immunity in simple terms that made it possible for this very important issue to be generally understood.  I personally would have appreciated if the author had given more of their own opinion and chosen a side more rather than going back on forth on the issue.  I understand that there really is no answer, and as such it is difficult for the author to back one side, but it would have been more clear and had a stronger message if the author had done that.  It also would have been interesting if the author had spent some time considering the political implications of the herd immunity versus vaccine debate instead of presenting only the science.

"Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." - Casey McKhann

 Casey McKhann

Mr. Ippolito 

November 10th, 2020

AP Biology/ Current Event 6 

Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.

 

The large news which came out early last week was the development of a 90% successful COVID-19 vaccine by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Now, another company is coming out with a vaccine which is supposed to be even more effective then the Pfizer vaccine. This company is Moderna. The Moderna vaccine is in its 3rd phase of clinical testing and is proving to have 95% effectiveness. While numbers are yet to be peer reviewed by other scientists, it is promising that the company is having a lot of success with the vaccine. However, there are still lots of questions left unanswered. For example, researchers at Moderna still do not know how the vaccine varies based on the age and race of the recipient. They also do not know if the vaccine makes the carrier of COVID-19 unable to spread the disease once they have been vaccinated. These are all questions which the company hopes to answer in the coming months. The Moderna Vaccine does have benefits over the Pfizer vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70 degrees celsius, this could pose a large problem when trying to distribute the vaccine. The Moderna vaccine solves this issue as it only needs to be stored at 5 degrees celsius. 

This article is more relevant now than ever. COVID cases continue to surge across America as another wave of the virus hits the nation. It is evident that many areas of the country will have to shut down again. A vaccine seems like a very reasonable solution to help solve this issue. The vaccines talked about in the article are the most likely long term solutions to the pandemic. It is crucial that individuals read articles like this one to inform themselves that there is hope for the future that COVID will be a thing of the past. For now, it is important for each individual to stay updated on the pandemic and the advancement of vaccines. 

The article by Erin Garcia de Jesus was written very well. The author did a very good job comparing the vaccines. This allows the reader to create their own decision on which vaccine is more beneficial going forward. The author also did a good job describing the clinical testing phase of the vaccine production. I think the article could have done a better job explaining the earlier stages of the vaccine testing and how long the public should expect until a widespread vaccine is distributed. These would both enable the reader to have a better feeling leaving the article. Overall, I think the article was written very well and described a crucial piece of news. 

 Nate Kim

AP Bio, Mr. Ippolito 

11/13/20

Current Event 7

O’Neill, N. (2020, November 13). Scientist behind Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine makes bold claim: It can stop pandemic. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2020/11/13/man-behind-covid-19-vaccine-says-it-will-bash-the-virus-over-head/

Uğur Şahin, the CEO of BioNTech, has announced that a breakthrough COVID-19 vaccine will end the pandemic. In collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, BioNTech has created a vaccine that they report is 90 percent effective. The vaccine is so effective because it attacks the virus on multiple levels. First, the vaccine hinders COVID-19 from getting into our cells in the first place. If somehow the virus does get into our cells, T-cells (a type of white blood cell) are on standby to eliminate it. Sahin is confident in the fact that the virus “can’t defend itself against these mechanisms.” The virus was 90 percent effective at stopping people from showing COVID-19 symptoms in phase three trials. The product is not yet ready to be distributed to the public. In a closing statement, Sahin firmly stated that he believes his vaccine will be able to stop the virus and end the pandemic.

The arrival of a vaccine is something that the world community has been awaiting for a considerable amount of time. COVID-19 has completely altered the way society functions and social norms. For many, a vaccine and herd immunity signals a return to the way things were before. In the US right now, and in many countries worldwide, COVID-19 cases are starting to spike again. A vaccine of 90 percent effectiveness could make this possible. 90 percent, in the first place, is extremely high. For reference, the flu vaccine, which does a phenomenal job of stopping the spread of the flu virus, is 40-60 percent effective. Let that sink in. The Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine is upwards of two times as effective as the flu vaccine, if they are reporting the truth. If the vaccine really has an effectiveness of this level, it’s almost surefire that COVID-19 is going to be eradicated.

This article does a great job of explaining what has happened and giving the straight facts to the public. The article is not extremely lengthy and it gives the facts in a straightforward manner. On the other hand, the article lacks skepticism. The article doesn’t remind the public to wait for further evidence and research. It speaks as if the vaccine is definitely exactly as reported. For a news article, that is preemptive. At this point, we only know what Pfizer and BioNTech have told us. It would be foolish to assume that the vaccine is exactly as advertised, until we are given new evidence. Also, the article does not provide any context of how effective “90 percent is.” In order to determine whether 90 percent was good or not, I needed to do additional research. Overall, this was a strong article in the facts regard, but it could have been better when talking about the validity of what was claimed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Melissa Marchetti

AP Bio/Mr Ippolito

Current Event

11/10/20

Saey, Tina Hesman. “Some Neandertal Genes May up the Risk of Severe COVID-19.” Science News for Students, 14 Oct. 2020, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/covid-19-coronavirus-neandertal-genes-increase-risk-severe-infection. 

For this week's current event review, I chose to read “Some Neandertal Genes May up the Risk of Severe COVID-19” by Tina Hesman Saey. In her article, Saey describes a recent connection made between neandertal DNA and COVID-19 cases. She first describes the discovery of the link; she notes that scientists recognized a pattern in the chromosomes among severely ill covid patients. Specifically, she describes a stretched 3rd chromosome, a common DNA trait once present in our extinct and distant relatives, the Neandertals. She states that “about half of all people whose ancestors come from South Asia — especially from Bangladesh — carry this bit of Neandertal legacy, this new study notes. So do about 16 percent (not quite one in every six people) in Europe today”(Saey). Dropping those frightening and still ambiguous statistics, Saey also reminds her readers that having a stretch in the 3rd chromosome does not mean covid will kill you if caught. She recognizes that this data is fairly new, and also acknowledges other leading factors in being affected by covid such as age and physical fitness.

Given that we are still in the midst of a pandemic, I’d say Saey’s content is extremely relevant. While many might want to hear other or different news about the virus, new discoveries are being made about covid every day and deserve coverage. While this information is not as groundbreaking as a cure or vaccine, it is still important as we are becoming more familiar with the virus.

In general, I found this article to be very interesting. I appreciated the author's careful explanation of scientific language as it made reading more enjoyable. Additionally, I was impressed by her use of factual evidence to back her claims. However, I worry that this article may trigger paranoia and fear among southern Asians and select Europeans. Although she mentioned she did not intend for anyone to panic over this information, I would advise her to be more careful in writing about such a relevant and current issue.

Hen Island: A Health Crisis Only 20 Minutes From Bronxville

 Hugh Duffy

Mr. Ippolito

AP Biology C Even

11/8/2020

Kelly, Caitlin. “An Island, Untamed and Divided.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 

Aug. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/03henwe.html. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/03henwe.html

Before starting this current event, a contextual point must be made to maintain the integrity of this story. To begin, this article was written twelve years ago in 2008, however this does not take away from the credibility of its information. Additionally, the topic of which it addresses, the health crisis on Hen Island, is still running rampant today, completely disregarded by the City of Rye. Yes, the City of Rye in Westchester, only twenty minutes away. 

“Hen Island” is a small islet found just ten minutes off the shoreline of Rye, New York. As of now, none of the island’s residents live there year-round, and only use the land for vacationing. For years, the City of Rye has disputed the fact that the island lies within their cities boundaries, claiming that it falls under the jurisdiction of New York State in order to avoid hearing further issues regarding the severe health crisis that faces the island. To this day, Rye’s City Council has disregarded litigation against them, making Hen Island a more than current event. So what is the issue on Hen Island? Why is it regarded by many as a health crisis? 

In 2007, environmental inspectors described the island as “hellish”, with its extreme infestation of mosquitoes, alleging further that the island’s residents were poisoning the waters of the Long Island Sound. Ray Tartaglione, a former resident of Hen Island, brought the issues to light in the early 2000’s. He spoke with the Rye City Council, exposing the residents for having used horse troths to collect rainwater for plumbing and drinking purposes. Standing water is what mosquitoes lay their eggs in, making the island a breeding ground. Hen Island had no city water, gas, or electrical lines supplying the residents with modern plumbing or power. Tartaglione described the island as a “museum of 18th century technology.” When health inspectors first arrived on the island in 2013, they were immediately swarmed by mosquitos, claiming they covered their arms, legs, and eventually flew in their noses. Additionally, health inspectors revealed that residents of the island were dumping their sewage directly into the Long Island Sound, only a mile away from the edge of Rye Beach. Mosquitoes can fly up to twenty-five miles a day, and Hen Island was fueling a large spike in the mosquito population of Westchester. Over 15,000 inhabitants of Rye and its surrounding area are exposed to this increase in mosquito breeding, and this issue becomes even more scary in 2014. After reporting the mosquito infestation to health officials, it was tested and revealed that fifteen mosquitoes on Hen Island tested positive for the West Nile Virus. The West Nile virus, is a disease that, similar to COVID-19, is largely harmless to most infected individuals. However in 5% of cases, the virus can cause what is known as west nile fever, which can lead to encephalitis and meningitis, making it highly fatal. It is clear that the thirty-three residents of Hen Island show no compassion nor respect for the people of Rye, and have no plans to modernize their sewage and water collection systems. In the summer of 2017, reports of chickenpox rose drastically within Rye and its surrounding towns, however this spike was eventually credited to mosquitoes. Parents had been calling their doctors claiming their children had chickenpox, when in reality, the children were covered head to toe in mosquito bites. Of these cases, three children were exposed to west nile virus. The City of Rye has yet to enforce change on Hen Island, continuing to claim lack of jurisdiction despite New York courts identifying Hen Island as being within the city's boundaries. 

This article was written well, however I didn’t find it attacked the true issues of Hen Island properly. Of course, the article is technically outdated, but the story itself has been brushed under the rug by Rye’s City Council for years, making it hard to find new information on the topic. Overall, If I had written this article, I would have researched the possibility of a west nile virus resurgence as a result of the island’s poor maintenance, as I had to find other articles which described the issue in full. 

Global-scale animal ecology reveals behavioral changes in response to climate change

 Erin Foley

AP Bio C Block Odd

Nov. 5th, 2020

Current Event #6

“Global-Scale Animal Ecology Reveals Behavioral Changes in Response to Climate Change.” 

University of Maryland, ScienceDaily, 5 Nov. 2020, 

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201105183834.html. 

As of November 5th, scientists have made discoveries concerning patterns and associations between climate change and the behavior of several species, mainly, caribou. An international team including researchers at University of Maryland have been keeping a database of animal movement across the global Arctic and sub-Arctic region, an area that has been experiencing drastic changes to its climate. The archive of movements allowed the researchers to conduct three case studies tracking 8,000 animals across 29 years, making this study one of the largest global ecology studies to date. Researchers found that caribou who make long-distance migrations are giving birth earlier in the spring - roughly tracking rates of warming. On the other hand, of the caribou that do not make long-distance migrations, only the northern sub-populations show similar changes. These different results are confusing to researchers, but beginning to understand them will be crucial to understanding how animals will respond to climate change in the Arctic, especially as Arctic animal populations are starting to decline. Elie Gurarie, an associate researcher in UMD’s Department of Biology, says that "It's tricky to predict how these trends might impact populations... it can be better to give birth earlier, as it gives the calves more opportunity to grow during the summer season. On the other hand, giving birth too early may mean you literally don't have time to reach the optimal calving grounds.” Regardless of whether this behavioral change will help caribou adapt or decrease their evolutionary advantages, the fact that a global movement ecology study was able to be done on this massive scale will help greatly researchers understand the correlation between behaviors and climate change. "This work has given us a baseline to understand the large-scale picture so we can get a sense of how animals and environments are really interacting across species and across space as the environment changes,” according to Gurarie.

This study has major implications on society, especially as climate change begins to amp up in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. According to the Marine Mammal Commission, “The Arctic is warming at a rate almost twice the global average and reductions in Arctic sea-ice and permafrost and changes in weather are increasingly visible”. The effect this has had on arctic populations is devastating. Declining populations of polar bears, moose, caribou, golden eagles and more will have serious consequences for biodiversity and on the global biome. Thus, understanding how animals have begun to adapt to a changing climate is essential, and this study is one of the first where data can span so many species, and across so many years. If caribou are beginning to breed earlier in the spring for some reason connected to the climate, their calves could be at an advantage, as it’s easier for them to find food in the summer. However, if climate change continues, and caribou begin to breed earlier and earlier, they will not be able to finish their migration to  its traditional calving grounds, and their population will greatly decline. Although this change in behavior may sound minuscule and inconsequential, it will prove whether animals will be able to adapt to climate change, or merely go extinct as our planet warms. And this is not only happening to caribou - several different species are experiencing behavioral changes with respect to climate change, and if we don’t begin to understand them soon, we will experience a loss of biodiversity comparable to that of the ice age.

I believe that this article was very informative, and made its significance clear, but there was some substance lost in how many questions were left unanswered. From the beginning, the author related the study to climate change, which tends to quickly draw readers in, as it is a prevalent and important issue. Because of this hook, readers are much more likely to actually care about the behavioral changes in caribou, which otherwise seem obscure and insignificant. Moreover, the authors clearly explained their method of study - the archive of movements - and described its significance, as global studies are much more informative and more commonly used these days, which has allowed researchers to make broader conclusions. Finally, the authors used a number of direct primary sources, including interviews from some of the researchers from the study, giving the reader a sense of security when accepting the articles’ conclusions to be true. However, many questions were left unanswered in this article, specifically, why climate change was forcing caribou to breed earlier. Obviously, this remains a mystery to the researchers themselves, but at least mentioning a few theories would have improved and clarified the author’s argument. Although corroborating theories would have strengthened this article, I did feel that it was greatly impactful, as the effects of climate change on behavioral ecology can be viewed across extremely large populations.

The First Black Hole Image Helped Test General Relativity in a New Way

 Holden D’Avico

Mr. Ippolito

AP Bio/Current Event #6

11/9/20

Grossman, Lisa. “The First Black Hole Image Helped Test General Relativity in a New Way.” Science News, 1 Oct. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/event-horizon-telescope-black-hole-image-einstein-general-relativity.  

For my current review, I chose to analyze “The first black hole image helped test general relativity in a new way,” an article about the theory of relativity and how it relates to our current understanding of black holes and the universe. The author starts by providing a loose description of the theory of relativity and then writes about how Einstein's theory confirms the size of the most recent black hole that was pictured in a distant galaxy. However, the author then introduces a very difficult question: she says, “how much can I tweak general relativity, and still be consistent with the [black hole] measurement,” (Grossman). She introduces this question to help the reader understand that there could be a different theory that is just as good, if not better at describing our universe than Einstein's theory of relativity. The rest of the article describes the findings of a group called the “Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.” The groups conducted a second order test of general relativity in order to rule out other theories of our universe. The group’s findings confirmed Einstein’s predictions and theory. The author then goes on to explain the importance of the second order test as she says, “general relativity has passed every time. But it takes a strong gravitational field, like the one around M87’s black hole, to kick the tests up a notch,” (Grossman). A first order test can be used in our solar system, however, due to the weak gravitational field, in order to perform a second order test, research has to be conducted on a system with a much stronger gravitational field. The second order tests allow scientists to be more confident in their findings based on the theory of relativity. Lastly, the author describes how scientists are constantly trying to find ways to disprove Einstein's theory but it seems as if the theory is full-proof. Einstein’s theory failing would be a huge advancement because it would allow for the confirmation of a new theory or understanding of our universe completely different from our understanding of the universe right now. 

I chose this article because the topic of understanding our universe is very intriguing and also very important. Our understanding of everyday objects and relationships are all based on our own experiences. What I mean by this is that it is impossible to comprehend or imagine something that lies outside of our world: everything we know and understand is either something we have already experienced or seen. For example, it is impossible to imagine a color that hasn’t been discovered yet. This is why blackholes, the universe, and the theory of general relativity is so important. If the theory of relativity is confirmed by researchers such as the ones presented in this article, our understanding of the universe will be confirmed. However, if further research disproves Einstein’s theory, then our understanding of the universe has to be completely altered. The implications of the topics described in this article are of extreme importance because they may change the world and our understanding of it as we know it.

The article I read by Lisa Grossman was very well written. I appreciated the flow and organization of the article as it allowed me to easily follow a very complex topic. The author introduced the theory of relativity, then proceeded to describe its relation to the new photo that was taken of a massive blackhole, and lastly described its importance in comprehending our universe. A suggestion I have for the author is to elaborate more on first-order and second-order tests. The author could have described these complex tests more in depth so the reader could better recognize their significance in proving the theory of relativity. Another suggestion I have for the author is to conclude the article by describing the next step in proving Einstein’s theory. The article abruptly ended with little description of the plan going forward so it would’ve been much more interesting if the author explained what the next step was for the research groups in order to either prove or disprove the theory using blackholes and other objects in the cosmos.