Thursday, December 13, 2012


Preston Klimley
Earth Science Current Events Report

Plasma Beam Offers New Cure for Cancer

The article that I found was about a new study that showed how plasma, or a gas of electrically charged particles, can be used to possibly cure cancer. The way that this would work would be that the plasma would kill off all of the cancer cells while keeping the healthy ones in perfect condition. Mounir Laroussi who is one of he main people on this new research shared that the rays are amazing and that they are around room temperature so they will not burn holes in anything and you can even touch them with your hand! A study showed that after 10 minutes of treatment over 90 percent of leukemia cells were destroyed. This is great because leukemia is the killer of a third of the children in the world who have cancer. The common methods of treatments have their side effects as must medical procedures do. Two of these are radiation therapy and bone marrow transplants. This cold plasma treatment however is believed to have no long-term side effects. Sending fast paced electrons though gasses such as helium and air creates the plasma for the treatments. The electrons collide the atoms and molecules with such force that the outermost electrons from the gas and the molecules are pulled off. This creates a mixture of both free electrons and ions. It is believed that the treatment causes the cancer cells to kill themselves. Scientists add something called ozone which is an oxygen molecule that is composed of three oxygen atoms. Adding the right amount of this to the cancer cells can push their elevated levels over the top and therefor cause cell-suicide.
This information relates to the people on Earth because there is a very high percentage of the population that has cancer. Can you imagine the lives that could be saved with a risk free procedure that could rid you of the cancer disease? A common conversation has always been that we need to find a cure for cancer because it can save the lives of millions of people on the planet today. Well now we might actually have a cure!
Overall I thought that this was a great article. I loved reading about how it is a huge possibility that we can rid so many people from this terrible disease. I think that only time can show the developments in science and how it has helped the world as we know it. I mean not too long ago cancer was a relatively new disease that people did not know a lot about. The one thing that I would have loved in this article would have been some picture showing how the plasma surgery works. Other that that I thought that it was great. 

Monday, December 10, 2012


Charlotte Reynolds                                                                                                 December 10, 2012
C Even                                                                                                                                Ms. Davies

End of the World Seminar

            After listening to Dr. Scott Calvin’s seminar on the end of the world, I received a different perspective on our country’s dating system. For example, our months and weeks and days are easy to calculate. However, for other people such as the Mayans, their method of tracking the date is much more complex. Mayans have 260 days in one week with names for each year. There are 52 years in their cycle before it repeats again. Although this was a confusing way to keep track of date, it was very accurate. The Mayans used the stars to calculate when events were going to occur. For example, they predicted that something big was going to happen on September 11th. They also had numbers that they thought were interesting. Specifically, number 13 fascinated them. Although it may be a myth, Friday the 13th is known to be an unlucky day. Although our calendars are different in so many ways, their information corresponds with important dates in our calendar.
            Mainly while listening to Dr. Calvin speak, I thought this was an important topic to discuss because many people have different feelings about the world ending. Although I missed the end of his seminar I still found it interesting how December 21st is when people predict the world is going to end. As I discussed the Mayans before, their calendar is the evidence behind this date. Many people fear that their hypothesis will come true because of how accurate their calendar has been in the past. However, Dr. Calvin didn’t seem to be quite convinced. However, know the real scientific facts behind this date is important to society because unlike most of us, certain people tend to panic and sell their life savings preparing to die.
            Overall, I was impressed with Dr. Calvin’s ability to maintain the audiences’ attention while talking about something so complex. It was always easy to wrap my head around the thought that just in a couple days the world could possibly end. However, with more evidence shed on the subject, I was able to better understand the real logistics. Dr. Calvin did a very nice job presenting about this theory and answered all my questions on the world ending soon. Hopefully the Mayan calendar isn’t right this time!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Effects of Hurricane Sandy on Medical Institutes


With Some Hospitals Closed After Hurricane, E.R.’s at Others Overflow
A month after Hurricane Sandy struck New York City, unexpectedly shutting down several hospitals, one Upper East Side medical center had so many more emergency room patients than usual that it was parking them in its lobby.
Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn had 1,100 more emergency patients last month than in November 2011; the increase was mostly attributed to a hospital shut by the storm.
Angel Perez in a makeshift emergency room last week at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, where emergency visits have increased 25 percent.
White and blue plastic screens had been set up between the front door and the elevator banks in the East 68th Street building of that hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. The screens shielded 10 gurneys and an improvised nursing station from the view of people obliviously walking in and out of the soaring, light-filled atrium.
“It’s like a World War II ward,” Teri Daniels, who had been waiting a day and a half with a relative who needed to be admitted, said last week.
Since the storm, a number of New York City hospitals have been scrambling to deal with a sharp increase in patients, forcing them to add shifts of doctors and nurses on overtime, to convert offices and lobbies to use for patients’ care, and even, in one case, to go to a local furniture store to buy extra beds.
At Beth Israel Medical Center, 11 blocks south of the Bellevue Hospital Center emergency room, which was shuttered because of storm damage, the average number of visits to the E.R. per day has risen to record levels. Visits have increased by 24 percent this November compared with last, and the numbers show no sign of dropping. Hospital admissions have risen 12 percent compared with last November.
Most of the rise in volume is from patients who had never been to Beth Israel before. An emergency room doctor at the hospital described treating one patient who said he had been born at Bellevue and had never before gone anywhere else.
Emergency room visits have gone up 25 percent at NewYork-Presybterian/Weill Cornell, which in Bellevue’s absence is the closest high-level trauma center — treating stab wounds, gun wounds, people hit by cars and the like — in Manhattan from 68th Street south. Stretchers holding patients have been lined up like train cars around the nursing station and double-parked in front of stretcher bays.
In Brooklyn, some patients in Maimonides Medical Center’s emergency room who need to be admitted are waiting two or three days for a bed upstairs, instead of four or five hours. Almost every one of the additional 1,100 emergency patients this November compared with last November came from four ZIP codes affected by the storm and served by Coney Island Hospital, a public hospital that was closed because of storm damage.
The number of psychiatric emergency patients from those same ZIP codes has tripled, in a surge that began three days before the hurricane, perhaps fueled by anxiety, as well as by displacement from flooded adult homes or programs at Coney Island Hospital, doctors said.
The Maimonides psychiatric emergency room bought five captain’s beds — which do not have railings that can be used for suicide attempts — at a local furniture store, to accommodate extra patients. The regular emergency room had to buy 27 new stretchers after the hurricane, “and we probably need a few more,” the department’s chief, Dr. John Marshall, said.
The emergency room and inpatient operations of four hospitals remain closed because of flooding and storm damage. Besides Bellevue and Coney Island, NYU Langone Medical Center and the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, both near Bellevue on the East Side of Manhattan, are closed.
While the surge in traffic to other hospitals has been a burden, it has also been a boon, bringing more revenue.
On the Upper East Side, the storm has helped Lenox Hill Hospital, which has a history of financial problems. It took two or three wards that had been turned into offices and converted them back to space for patients. Emergency room visits are up 10 percent, and surgery has been expanded to seven days a week from five.
“We usually operate at slightly over 300 beds, and now we’re at well over 550,” Carleigh Gustafson, director of emergency nursing, said.
Conversely, administrators at the shuttered hospitals, especially NYU Langone, a major teaching center, worry that their patients and doctors are being raided, with some never to return.
NYU’s salaried doctors are being paid through January, on the condition that they do not take another job. But at the same time, they need a place to practice, so NYU administrators have been arranging for them to work as far away as New Jersey until the hospital reopens. Lenox Hill alone has taken on close to 300 NYU doctors, about 600 nurses, and about 150 doctors in training, fellows and medical students.
Obstetricians and surgeons from the closed hospitals have been particularly disadvantaged, since they are dependent on hospitals to treat their patients. Many displaced surgeons have been reduced to treating only the most desperately ill, and operating on nights and weekends, when hospitals tend to be least well staffed.
“I think there’s no question that a lot of people have postponed anything that they can postpone that is elective,” said Dr. Andrew W. Brotman, senior vice president at NYU.
In mid-November, Dr. Michael L. Brodman, chairman of obstetrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center, sent out a memo saying his department had taken on 26 NYU physicians, as well as nurses and residents, but “clearly, that is too much for us to handle long term.”
Since then, 15 of the physicians have gone to New York Downtown Hospital, while Mount Sinai has retained 11 doctors and 26 nurses.
“We are guests in other people’s homes,” Dr. Brotman of NYU said, “and we are guests who have to some degree overstayed their welcome.”




Natalie Knight                                                                                                                       12/13/2012
Current Events #2                                                                                                     Core Earth Science

Hartocollis, Anemona. "With Some Hospitals Closed After Hurricane, E.R.’s at Others Overflow." Nytimes.com. New York Times, 3 Dec. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.

            I read the New York Times article written by Anemona Hartocollis entitled “With Hospitals Closed After Hurricane, E.R.’s at Others Overflow.” This account is one of several hospitals and tells of population influxes as a result of Hurricane Sandy, which hit just five weeks ago. A majority of the hospitals that are still open in New York City have been required to accommodate more patients, making up for the hospitals that remain closed for the time being. Many emergency rooms, including New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, have purchased and began utilizing new gurneys and stretchers, placing them wherever they will fit. In many cases, this includes surrounding elevators and in lobbies. At a different hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center, within the past month there has been a 24 percent daily increase compared to the number of E.R. visits last November. Here, stretchers “…have been lined up like train cars around the nursing station and double-parked in front of stretcher bays.” At many medical centers in which patients are being cared for, some people are waiting 2-3 days for attention, instead of what was before a mere 4-5 hours. However, Hartocollis also highlights the benefits that the storm has had on some medical institutes. In some cases, including that of Lenox Hill Hospital, Sandy has brought in a considerable increase in revenue, along with many new patients. The hospital, which apparently has a history of financial problems, is starting to recover from the recent economic downfall over the past few years by using business to its advantage. Although most doctors have found new hospitals at which to work, considering there is no shortage of patients, some specialty doctors, such as surgeons, are out of work for the most part because operating rooms are being used for patients.
            After reading this article, I was reminded of the long lasting effects that Hurricane Sandy has had. Based on where I live, I was not presently aware of many of the effects of the storm other than the several day power outages for the residents of Bronxville. Now, I realize that the consequences for many people were much more severe than that, including the loss of homes and lives, and much of the aftermath is an ongoing process. It is interesting that the hospitals that I have read about in this article are not just caring for people who were physically harmed by the storm, but also common illnesses and injuries. The article principally addresses the state of care centers for people that need help, rather than why people need help. For this, I enjoyed reading the account because it varied from many of the articles that have been written since the storm.
            I really liked that Hartocollis wrote about both positive and negative sides to the current hospital situation, while highlighting the fact that the negative influence has been greater. She drew information and statistics from a multitude of hospitals and medical centers, however she did not focus a great deal on any of them. I would have preferred if she had gone into detail on one or two hospitals, and specifically told about the trauma some patients are facing, and the struggles the hospitals are enduring in order to meet their patients standards. Other than that, I enjoyed reading the subject matter of the article and appreciated that, even a month after the storm, people are not dismissing it, but are focusing on how to readjust.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012


Nicole Giangola                                                                                      12/05/12
Earth Science                                                                                      Current Events

End of the World Speech from Dr. Scott Calvin

From attending Dr. Scott Calvin’s speech I got a new insight on the rumor of the world ending in 2012.   He opened up the speech by talking about different time increments that people use today and how we don’t have one straight unit like the Mayans had.  We use months, week days, and all different ways to indicate one specific date.  I never thought of our dating system as confusing, I only thought of it as one common universal way, that was easy to understand.   Another thing that Dr. Scott Calvin talked about was the explosion of different stars and objects in the solar system.  He said that they are so far away that they would not have a large impact on Earth that would lead to extinction.  I always thought that stars were close enough to lead to massive issues.  He also mentioned a scale that was used to identify the damage a meteor would cause when hitting the Earth.  He explained that meteors that hit the Earth are relatively low on the scale and with all the tracking information that we have today, if a big meteor was to come around we would know far enough in advance to evacuate areas and take certain precautions.  He basically summed up that we should not worry about the world ending in 2012.
All of this information relates to people living on the Earth today, because it was a rumor that had a lot of people worrying that humans would be destroyed.  With all the technology that scientists have today we don’t have anything to be afraid of.  They can tell when something large is going to crash into the Earth, and if something inevitable is going to happen they can take precautions to stop any long term damage and destruction.  Dr. Scott Calvin really explained everything in detail of how we should not be afraid and how scientists know everything they need too.  
Overall, from listening to his speech I really liked it.  I thought he explained everything very effectively.  He used technology very effectively and only used it when it was needed to explain something or to serve as an example.  I also liked how he seemed really interested in what he was talking about which let the audience connect to him more.   

Ms. Davies cancer presentation


Sean Flanagan                                                                                                            12/4/12
Earth Science I C Block Even                                                                        Current Events
            I chose to attend Ms. Davies’ extremely enlightening presentation on cancer and its possible causes. The PowerPoint presentation that Ms. Davies chose to use to format the lecture was a model example of what one should look like. Ms. Davies was not reading off of the screen, nor were the slides incomprehensible by themselves. She knew her information and used the PowerPoint to highlight her points, not deliver them. Also, Ms. Davies came off seeming extremely knowledgeable about her topic. I could tell that she had firsthand experience in the topic, as she spoke with ease and confidence. Finally, Ms. Davies managed to “dumb it down” enough for a reasonably comprehensive experience for the audience.
            Ms. Davies presented some interesting new information in her cancer presentation. First of all, I find it interesting that cancer is actually a defect in the body’s natural processes. I had no idea that cancer is uncontrollable cell division in the body. I had thought it was some sort of foreign invader, perhaps simply an environmental contaminate. Secondly, I found it interesting that cancer is often the result of the switch off of “suppressor genes” that keep cells from multiplying too much. I did not realize that were so many genes with so many different fucnctions. I thought they just determined physical appearance, blood type, and health conditions.
            In summation, the presentation was well delivered and interesting. However, I would offer a suggestion to Ms. Davies. Although I could understand the broad ideas of the presentation, there were times when it was too technical for me. Other than that, it was very well done. 

Monday, November 26, 2012


What Hurricane Sandy means for the economy


The devastation of Hurricane Sandy is likely to create big distortions — though not lasting effects — in a wide range of U.S. economic measures.

If past major storms and forecasts by economists are a guide, look for industrial production to have taken a dip in October as factories from the Carolinas to New England suspended activity and for housing starts to slow as builders postpone new construction. Retail sales may take a hit but are likely to benefit in November and December, when people buy the supplies they need to rebuild. There could be downward pressure on November employment should some of the employers affected (Atlantic City casinos, for example) be unable to get back to full speed quickly.


The Labor Department’s report on October jobs numbers scheduled for Friday, the last U.S. unemployment report before the election, should be unaffected by the storm because it is based on surveys taken earlier in the month.

Economic activity will slow some in the next couple of weeks because many businesses across the Northeast are shut down. Some will take days to reopen. During the next couple of quarters, there will be an almost perverse boost in overall economic activity, as efforts to clear damage and rebuild houses and businesses add to the gross domestic product.

So far, there are no reliable estimates of the financial damage wrought by the storm, but one pre-storm estimate of $88 billion would imply that rebuilding efforts would add about two-tenths of a percentage point to GDP growth. Although economists generally use GDP as a rough proxy for the overall change in human welfare, this is an area where it fails miserably.

The storm depleted some of the nation’s “capital stock” — houses, stores, and bridges and other infrastructure were destroyed. The country is, in effect, poorer by whatever amount the damage comes to. But the urgent need to rebuild will create jobs and spur economic activity, with the bill paid by insurers and governments.

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, the devastation’s effect on national economic indicators was significant but short-lived. At the time, the U.S. economy was adding nearly 200,000 jobs a month, but that number fell to 66,000 in September 2005 and 80,000 in October 2005. The figure rebounded that November: 334,000 positions were added. (A look at state jobs numbers confirms that the yo-yo effect was driven by employment changes in Louisiana and other hurricane-affected gulf states).

But the economic repercussions from Katrina — in which nearly 2,000 people lost their lives and thousands were left homeless — were fairly unique to those circumstances and can’t easily be used as a precedent for measuring the impact of Sandy. The physical damage to New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas forced thousands of residents to relocate. Katrina also disrupted oil drilling and refining at a key transport node, causing a spike in gasoline prices nationally.

As of Tuesday morning, no major damage had been reported at oil production or refining operations in the areas affected by Sandy. There were reports, however, that many refineries had suspended activity to gird for the storm, so gasoline prices on futures markets rose Monday by nearly 6 cents a gallon for November delivery.

“The supply of petroleum products is being disrupted,” Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics said in a report, “as Mid-Atlantic refiners are running reduced runs, and imports into New York Harbor and other areas are disrupted.”

But rising fuel costs should be short-lived, assuming that refineries can return to normal quickly, as people get back on the roads, airlines resume flights and factories start producing again. Indeed, Schenker argued that due to less demand, the storm would put slight downward pressure on crude oil prices.

One of the reasons it’s so hard right now to predict the economic impact of this major storm is that much of the devastation is without precedent. As of Tuesday morning, trying to determine when the New York subway, airports and tunnels into Manhattan might re-open was a guessing game at best. It’s too soon to know how the economy would react if transport to, from and within the nation’s largest metropolitan area — and its financial hub -- were disrupted for a prolonged period of time.

If there’s a silver lining to be found in past experiences, it’s that sometimes the need to rebuild — to replace older buildings and infrastructure — creates longer-term benefits for communities.

In a 2002 paper published in the journal Economic Inquiry, Mark Skidmore and Hideki Toya analyzed areas that were affected by natural disasters around the world. They found that such events can provide the impetus needed to invest in new and more productive capital.

Think of the intuition this way: Utilities may have resisted investing in underground power lines because of the expense. But after this hurricane, they may be more inclined to bury those lines, significantly reducing power outages during future storms.

That’s one of many economic ripples likely to emerge from the devastation, though it’s perhaps small solace to those who have lost their home to Sandy’s floods.

Irwin, Neil. "What Hurricane Sandy Means for the Economy." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/what-hurricane-sandy-means-for-the-economy/2012/10/30/e6ef95ea-2293-11e2-8448-81b1ce7d6978_story.html>.


Noor Banihashem Ahmad                                                                   November 2012
Current Events #2                                                                               Earth Science

            I read an article about the impact of economy that Hurricane Sandy could potentially have. The article mainly discussed the short-term impacts of our economy, and the author mentioned that everything would probably be running normally within a couple of weeks. The article mentioned that many business across the Northeast are going to be shut down for a couple of weeks after the storm. Industrial production probably will suffer a bit because they have stopped activity temporarily. Housing economy might also start to slow down a bit because of construction workers delaying new construction. Whatever the damage comes to, the country will be poorer because of it. The news is not all bad though, considering that fact the Hurricane Katrina was so much worse. Katrina disrupted oil drilling and refining which made the price of gas to go up. Hurricane Sandy made it difficult for the state of New York to get gas, but it never disrupted the drilling. The price of gas went up 6 cents, but it should go down. Also, because of all the rebuilding that needs to be done; jobs are created. This is an economic advantage. To replace and rebuild can infrastructure can be a benefit for communities in the long run.
            This article is very important to our lives for many different reasons. Because of the dramatic and devastation earthquake, the whole country must suffer. Because of this earthquake, so many people lost their home. Many factories and businesses must shut down for weeks, days, or months. Even though this may not seem like a long time, time is money. If these businesses miss out on a couple of weeks, this could be a huge dip in their profit. Although this hurricane caused many economic sufferings, the news is not all bad. Because of all the rebuilding efforts, it is estimated that two-tenths of a percent will be added to the GDP (Growth domestic product). Also, the rebuilding efforts are good for a community’s infrastructure. It should help them out in the long run. The urgent need to rebuild will create jobs, and this is also a good thing for the job economy. This hurricane affects human life because of the affects it has on a person. This can mean a variety of different things for a human being. A person could have lost their home, or business and this is truly devastating. The price of gas rose 6 cents. Although is this only for a short amount of time, that is still a lot more money per gallon. Another person’s job could be jeopardized because of the need to shut down for a period of time. Hurricane Sandy has made a huge impact on the economy.
            This article was very well written. It gave great explanations of the way the economy would be affected buy Hurricane Sandy. It explained each thing very well and in very nice detail. Another thing that was very well done was the simplicity of the article. I was able to understand what the article was saying pretty easily. I thought the author did a great job at communicating the pros and cons of the Hurricane. The article explained both the good things and the bad things that Hurricane Sandy brought about, and I thought that because of this, it was a lot better. If the author had just put in the cons, I don’t think everyone would have seen a clear picture of what is really going on in the economy post Sandy. The author could have improved the article in some ways as well. In my opinion, the author only decided to focus on the short-term affects on the economy, but he didn’t really focus on the long run as much. He mentioned that rebuilding of communities would be good in the long run, but other than that, he did not mention much about the long run affects. I feel as though if he did this, the article would be even better. All this author must do it give specifics on how the hurricane would be an advantage or disadvantage in the long run.
            

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Liza's Post (Lamont-Doherty Visit!)


Liza Frost
Earth Science Current events
October 9, 2012

            The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory was established in 1949 originally called the Lamont Geological Observatory it was built on the estate of Thomas W. and Florence Haskell Corliss Lamont, which the land was donated to the Columbia University for that purpose.  The Observatory’s founder was Maurice Ewing, a seismologist who studied the solid part of the earth, particularly places that used sound waves to image rock beneath the ocean floor. He was also the first to collect samples of the core from the bottom of the ocean. In 1969, the Observatory was renamed Lamont–Doherty because of a major gift from the Henry Doherty Charitable Foundation and in 1993, it was renamed the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory because of its expertise in the earth sciences. Today, it is a major research component of the Earth Institute at Columbia
            A part of the observatory research and address environmental issues facing the planet, with focus on advancing scientific research to support sustainable development. This research will further the worlds understanding and awareness of sustainable development and will therefore affect many lives of future generations to come. As being a high school student I cannot fully understand the significance of this research but, thinking about solutions to world poverty is an interest of mine and after seeing the observatory which is only open about once a year I have a new appreciation for the work that is being done and thought of everyday.
Observatory scientists are very important to society as they provide a rational basis for the difficult choices facing our generation in the planet’s wellbeing.
Although the lab has had many accomplishments the most major were they created the first definitive evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift. They first explained the role of large-scale ocean circulation systems in abrupt climate change.  They also provided the first evidence that the Earth's inner core is spinning faster than the rest of the planet. They were also the first to study create a global topographic map of the oceans.
            After observing most of the booths that the exhibit had to offer my favorite was the reaction between the soda and mint mentos. First they were placed inside the bottle which caused gas to rush out then when it was poked with a pin, it resulted in a volcanic eruption, although this is a classic experiment done by many people even students, seeing it there on a larger scale and explained more in depth was a more hands on way to learn about volcanic eruptions by using common every day ingredients.
            After visiting the Observatory I feel that I have a better understanding and larger appreciation for the earth and its wonders, and I would like to go back again to visit and pay more attention to detail.