Mark+Garland

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Post 1-

I am hoping all of you have heard of the viral video that displays a man at Yosemitebear Mountain who see's a "double rainbow" and gets so excited he breaks down into tears. The video itself is hilarious but I started thinking what is a double rainbow and is it worth all this excitement? The video gives a clear image of what a double rainbow looks like and also the excitement that comes with it. media type="youtube" key="OQSNhk5ICTI?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

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A normal rainbow is formed by light rays reflecting off a concentration of raindops. When you see a rainbow you may notice that the sun is always behind the rainbow, the reason being that the light reflecting off the water drops and is being illuminated thus forming all the beautiful colors. This is why you only see a rainbow after rain. A double rainbow is formed in a similar way. When a normal rainbow, or "primary" rainbow is formed on some ocaisons not all the energy from the ray escapes after it reflects once. When this occurs it is reflected a second time to create the double rainbow, also known as "secondary" rainbow. The secondary rainbow always has the opposite order of colors due to its second reflection. It is possible to have more then two reflections but you will never see this in normal circumstances. So if any of you are fortunate enough to see a double rainbow and not break down into tears because of the excitement, consider yourself lucky!

Nussenzveig, H. Moyses, "The Theory of the Rainbow", //Scientific American// 236, 116, 1977

Studys have shown that people with strong emotional bonds are much more willing to explore the world, are much better decision makers and are generally happier people.
 * The Benefits of Being a Moma's Boy!**

Starting with the willingness to explore, this has been observed all over the animal kingdom. Scientists have noticed this in monkeys, humans and even spiders. The closer we are to our mothers the more willing we are to try new things and take risks. This can continue all the way into adulthood. A mere phone call with your mom can change your mood completely!

A study was in in //Physcological Science// that showed undergraduate students choosing between safe bets and risky gambling and between safe bonds or a risky stock investment. During the experiment the experimenters patted the subjects on the back while giving them verbal instructions. Both male and female subjects that were tapped by a female showed much better decision making and judgement then the people tapped by a male. This shows the influence a female can give on your decision making.

Your mother can also be a great method of stress relief. Some students at the University of Wisconson conducted a study with girls between the ages of 7-12. They gave them a series of math and public speaking exercises. After the study was done half the girls got to call their mothers and the other half got to hug their's. After they found that the girls who talked to their mothers on the phone released just as much oxytocin (horomone that can cause anxiety) as the girls who got to hug their mothers. Both groups also had smililarly low stress levels. This may show why people call their mothers when they're feeling down.

Your mother was the first person to hold you when you were born, and this bond can last an entire lifetime!

jabr, FJ. (2010). All about my mother: how touch helps us take risks. Retrieved from []

Recent studies have shown that noise pollution under water has risen quite dramaticly. The noise level accross the earth has been increasing in amazing amounts. Noise has doubled every decade for the past 50 years. Some scientists say that there is no area in the ocean that is not affected by noise pollution. This is bad news for animal species like whales who rely on accoustic environments. The fear is that very soon, whales will have no place to go.

The problem is that sound travells much better under water. So with oil drilling and large ships passing it can cause quite a disturbance for our underwarte friends. Low frequency noises (sounds you or I cannot hear) produced by ship propellors travel remarkable distances. When these sounds bounce around under water it interferes with whale communication.



To put this in perspective, the noise pollution for whales is like for us to live in constant heavy fog. There is not much you or I can do to help these whales. But to stop all the noise pollution cruise ships and other large cargo boats should be put on a course that will not affect the whales accoustic areas. So next time you're enjoying yourself so very much on your fancy cruise ship, think about how much the whales are suffering! Then try and have fun...

Grossman, EG. (2010, October 22). Noise reduces ocean habitat for whales. Retrieved from []

I would like to start off with the fact that my christian background has no influence on my views on stem cell research and all that I will discuss are personal opinions.

For my project I played the part of a Jewish person presenting his views on stem cell research, after I looked into what they believed on the topic I really did not have much of an issue on what they had to say. They had good morals, did not encourage killing babies and were just out to save a life, even though I feel if we suddenly found the cure for cancer, it would cause pandamodium accross the globe and the human population would go through the roof. This I must say I strongly agree with. I think that no human life should be sacrificed so some wierdo german scientist in his basement can see what he can do when he breaks open an embryo. I feel that all stem cells should either be used for the use of saving a life or for advancing in medical uses for stem cells. Also I think the whole 40 days, 4 months before its alive is all bull poop. I would only feel bad for something if I could reconize is it as a human being.

Time to break down each method of extraction and how I feel about each one. Starting with existing stem cell lines:

Personally I feel this is fine, not that I think extracting stem cells from an embryo or essentially killing it is wrong I feel that if we dont have to waste them we shouldn't. This is a good reliable ever expanding source of stem cells without the controversy of using an embryo. These lines should be protected and conrolled to not be wasting these gems we call stem cells.

Next I will touch on excess embryos from IVF. I feel if IVF has them, we need them. Under no circumstance should an embryo be discarded or basicly thrown in the garbage. If "killing" them is wrong then throwing them in the garbage is terrible. The consent of the donor on this matter should not be necessary, I for one would never order my little eggs to be thrown out when they could potentially save lives around the world.

Next is excess IVF for reasearch only. This I am okay with, like I said I dont find using the embryo to be much of an issue as long as it is for a good cause. If this research is in the good will of a human being trying to save other human beings then all the power to you! But any creepo with a lab underground should never get their hands on our little pre mature babies. If this research is worth killing a potential life I think its worth it. To put it to scale; its one potential life to save a potential millions of lives.

Finally I have come to sommatic cell nuclear transfer. The two types are COMPLETELY different. I will start with therapeutic. This I think is wonderful, if you can grow skin for a burn victim for example then thats great! Nobody should have to sacrifice their bum skin. I think if we keep advancing in this field we could potentially grow organs for transplants and not have to use organs from donors.

Next is the SEM through reproductive cloning. I think this is absolutely sick. If any wierdo feels comfortable growing another human being then he has to be seriously messed up in the head. I can't imagine seeing this weird mutated "human". It makes me sick to my stomach! It benefits us in no way (although if we got really good at it we could make a military and that would be sweet). It is a waste of stem cells and it is inhuman on all levels.

So those are my views, in my opinion they are not very controversial, but if you disagree please feel free to tell me and I'd be happy to elaborate on my thought process.

Post 4-
This wikispace is going to kill me. As easy as it sounds to just go one once a week and put up a post I find it very demanding. I consider myself to be a procrastinator and I have no trouble admitting it. Although I am not proud of it I just seem to have adopted a lazy gene from one of my ancestors who obviously put things off also. So for this post I would like to talk about the science of procrastination.

Why do people procrastinate? Some scientists say, and I'm sure some procrastinators will agree that they enjoy the rush of getting things in at the last minute. They see this as a challenge and almost fun. Some scientists have said that procrastinators have a fear of "accurate performance feedback". They site a fear of rejection or failiure and also the qualities that come with being a perfectionist.

Another major problem is procrastinators have a major problem with estimating the time to complete something. It starts at two weeks and can quickly come down to that last night right before. Some studies have been done by scientists that prove procrastinators for the majority of the time have alot less stress then non-procrastinators. Throughout the majority of a college term the scientists monitored the stress levels of the students and found that, the non-procrastinators had a constant level of stress while balancing their work. The procrastinators were free of stress aslong as a due date was not near. The low level of stress can show many benefits like a lower chance of getting ill and over all a happier person.

I am not recomending procrastination, especially in a level 1 class where you can be swamped with homework faster then you can beg for mercy. But for specific people procrastination can be a good thing and a prefferable way of getting assignments done.

Tham, IT. (1999). The science of procrastination. //2//(1), Retrieved from []

Post 5-
How many friends do we really need? Studies by Robin Dunbar of Harvard have shown that we really cannot handle many. He has done studies with many species of birds which have a relative results. Birds, like the Lune for example; mate for life and have much larger brian sizes in comparasin to thier bodies then birds who are permiscuous in large colanies.

His studies have shown that a human should have up to a maximum of 150 relationships at one given time. This includes family members, good friends, neighbors even brief aquaintences. Some scientists believe this is what gave humans our large brains. If you have too many relationships going at once it can be hard on your brain and stress you out.

Bures, FB. (2010, November 19). How many friends does one person need?. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mind-reviews-how-many-friends

Post 6-
Benefits of eating boogers-

I think everyone can agree that at some point in our lives, be it in early child hood or even to this day have picked our nose with our fingers. Now that we've established that I think we can take it a step further and say that atleast once that booger that came out on our finger has somehow ended up in our mouths, for experimental purposes of course.

Nose picking today is seen as a dirty habit and is discouraged among our youth which I do not argue with; it is socially unacceptable. But has anyone looked into the benefits of picking your nose/eating your boogers? the answer is yes. A lung specialist named Dr. Friedrich Bischinger has looked into the topic. All our noses contain cilia inside of them. The job these cilia are meant to do are use the mucous the are covered in to trap and catch any dirt comming through the nose and stop it from getting into the lungs. You're probably thinking now that if we pick our noses, won't we have no protection from dirt? Well this is true, but after a while the mucous gathers so much dirt that it becomes dry and crusty forming our wonderful nutritious boogers. Blowing your nose usually does not get rid of these pesky little problems. So of course the best solution is to stick your index, pinky middle finger which ever you perfer; and bring that booger out of there!

After the booger has been evacuated, then comes the hard part. What do you do with it? Do you rub it on your pants? Flick it away? Well a very possible solution to this is to eat it. The benefits of eating these boogers are much like a vaccine. The boogers have many germs in them and the germs are usually quite close to death. Sound framiliar? The boogers help strengthen your immune system by creating these antibodies all from that friendly little booger!

So next time you come to the dilema and don't know what you should do with that green ball. Take a trip back to your child hood (or for some maybe just a few hours ago) and pop it in your mouth. The benefits could be quite surprising!

Stephenson, JS. (2007, Febuary 8). Benefits of booger eating. Retrieved from []

Post 7-
In 2008 a asteroid broke apart in the earth's atmosphere and scattered itself all over the desert. Since then scientists have been studying these rocks. After much examination they found evidence that may support the theory of life in other parts of the solar system. They also found something which was a little bit of a mystery, they found amino acids. We, as a class know amino acids as an important part of the fabrication of protiens. Every single lifeform, including humans is made with protiens. Amino acids are the building blocks of protiens and protiens are the building blocks of life. So, with this new discovery I think it is safe to assume these amino acids were building something far, far away.

The amino acids found on the meteroite were quite special. They are either very rare or non existant on earth. Also, amino acids on earth can only be formed when there is water around. So this could lead to a discovery of alternate ways of amino acid fabrication.

The discovery of this has brought alot more motivation and feul to the fire for scientists who are trying to find life beyond earth. With this one asteroid we can assume or investigate many things which could lead to exciting advances in science!

Muir, HM. (2009, March 23). Amino acids!. Retrieved from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16779-watery-asteroids-may-explain-why-life-is-lefthanded.html

Post 8-
I would like to introduce to you the cutest, dumbest and funniest little rodent you will ever encounter. I will show you their migrating patterns and strange habbits. Firstwill brief you with this video

media type="youtube" key="vF_E10e4Bzo?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

Lemming migration occurs every 25 years in places with few trees and can be found in the arctic and northern reigons of Canada. They are small rodents who migrate in gigantic numbers. The thing that is so interesting about these little creatures is their determination in their migration. As you saw in the video they will go to great lengths to reach their destination. Lemmings can overcome impressive obstacles, they can swim across a river or a lake up to 1km long. They migrate when numbers become too large and food is scarce. Many lemmings die from drowning in lakes or impact from jumping off cliffs. These furry animals have a huge list of predators because their low level of defense. They can be sniffed out by coyotes, picked off by snowy owls. Lemmings are a prime example of lack of evolution and stupidity. They will swim until exhaustion and jump off cliffs blindly. In the end they are cute, furry and fun.

David, DU. (2003, July 23). Migration patterns of a lemming. Retrieved from http://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/treasure-chest-past-forums/the-treasure-chest/2118

Post 9-
I would like to present to all of you the theory of deevolution. Most of us have visions of a highly advanced future with flying cars and robots roaming the streets; but has it ever occored to you that humans may go on a downward slope and de-evolve and become less advanced? Personally I think it's possible. At this point I will be getting a little bit contraversial and do not want to offend anyone. But the theroy is this: The educated people in society generally do not have a large number of children. This makes it so their line of genes becomes less and less because of lack of reproduction and would eventually completely die off. Generally, the uneducated may have children with multiple partners regardless of purpose, marrige or any sort of commitment. This means that the male bloodline (the father) is passing on his genes with several other bloodlines mixing his genes all around to be passed on further and further. In theory this would make many babies with lower IQs. So if you've been following along closely you will be able to pick out the moral of the story. The uneducated will eventually outnumber the educated and we will become a dying breed. Within a thousand years or so if this theory follows through our world will be run by monster truck drivers and rodeo clowns.

I appologize if I offended anyone this is a theory I found on the internet.

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Post 10-
Scientists have long known that humans percieve scent differently. In the olfactory section of the brain have over 400 receptors that eventually mutate over time. When a gene has mutated enough to become a pseudogene then it no longer encodes a functioning receptor. After doing a experiment with 400 people giving them 66 different odors and they were told to mark them on intensity, pleasent or un pleasent. The studies showed that through years of of mutation that almost everyone has a olfactory blind spot. This means that some smells you do not pick up at all!

Spinney, LS. (2010, January 20). You smell flowers, i smell stale urine. Retrieved from []

=﻿FINALLY DONE :D=