New Discoveries in the Origins of Light Skin

Alekzandra Thoms

  

It was once believe that light skinned people had existed for more than 40, 000 years; that the latitudes and longitudes had to peak to permit such a thing. But new studies have found that light skin originated only about 7, 000 years ago! It turns out that, in 2006, 7, 000 year old skeletons were found in Spain buried in characteristically Paleolithic way. Years after this discovery, technologies were advanced enough that the DNA from a molar could be tested. Consequently, scientist Lalueza-Fox says that the man had genes for blue eyes, but not light skin. This was surprising to people that a fairly modern Spaniard had dark skin.

After many studies, it was tentatively concluded that dietary changes from the dramatic conversion to agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution had a major part in this huge change in pigmentation. It is believed that their sudden lack in Vitamin – D, as well as their need to synthesize it more readily, played a big part in the loss of pigmentation.

This discovery was quite shocking to me. For all of the white people claiming to be elite to dark skinned people, we didn't even exist until 13,999,993,000 years after the universe came into being - that's 569,993,000 years after the first signs of human life, and we only came into being because we weren't eating right. #america

http://www.livescience.com/42838-european-hunter-gatherer-genome-sequenced.html

Current Event #2

Rj Ambrose 

For this current event I read a very interesting article, called "An Ocean That is no Longer Wild" by Lonny Lippsett. There are many BIG species in the ocean, and many of those bigger spices are being killed in enormous numbers. Last year the estimate shark kill rate was 100 million. Many of the sharks that are caught are used for a very famous sharkfin soup in Asia. The problem with that is that the sharks are only used for their fin, then are thrown in the waste to die. The shark population is taking a great hit because of it, sharks cannot simply reproduce 3 million eggs they can only have around 10 pups. They are starting to do a research project on big fish like sharks, rays, tuna, and swordfish. scientist are putting this experiment together to retain more knowledge on the parts that they play in the underwater ecosystem. Scientist are going to plant an anchor with a tag attached into muscle tissue just below the dorsal fin to sharks, tuna, swordfish, etc.. After a certain amount of time the tag will be released from under the dorsal fin, and will then float to the surface for the scientist to retrieve. Somethings that get tracked during the experiment are basic habitats, average speed, depth that it swims at, and also seasonal change. It is vital that these fish stay healthy and living, they play one of the biggest roles in the ecosystem. They help maintain diversity underwater and we must conserve the diversity that we have maintained. 


This topic affects many different aspects of underwater life. Underwater temperatures will also change causing other species to die. Scientist state that so far the underwater ecosystem is normal, but they predict that within the next ten years ample change will occur. If all of the fish were to disappear the entire environment will be looked at in a completely different way. This is why change is a must, if you want to see big fish in ten years from now.   


This was filled with many negatives and positives. First I am going to talk about the negatives. They did lots of these very expensive experiments on these fish, but they never gave us a clear reason why the fish are being killed. 100 million sharks couldn't possibly be killed just for a soup. They could maybe give us other reason why the sharks are being killed. Now for the positives, I would have to say that the main positive was the information on the experiment. They gave us fantastic detail on the ending results which was super helpful.      


Lippsett, Lonny. "An Ocean That's No Longer Wild." : Oceanus Magazine. Oceanus Magazine, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=178909>.

Current Event #2

             Andrew Harwood


For this current event, I chose to read "Call of the Whales," by Stephanie Murphy. Last fall a team of researchers put two torpedo-shaped underwater robots in the Gulf of Maine. The purpose of this was “to find whales for us,” said Mark Baumgartner, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The robots had digital acoustic monitoring to listen for specific whale calls and to identify which one was which. The labor-intensive work of surveying for whales is usually completed on an airplane or on a nearby ship. Also, during the rough times at sea it is very hard for humans to study the whales extensively. These gliders enable us humans to study the whales much more extensively. Knowing where right whales are helps you manage interactions between them. It can also tell us where the most endangered ones are and where they are migrating to. One of these whales is the North Atlantic Right Whale, and extremely endangered whale that has been migrating off the coast of Maine for quite some time. Now, the gliders themselves have been used for about a decade now. "The vehicles move up, down, and laterally in a sawtooth pattern through the water by changing their buoyancy and using their short wings to provide lift," says Murphy. The gliders are battery powered and are extremely quiet. One would think because they do not want to startle any whales. The gliders take data from the belly of it and can send it by GPS to the nearby station. It is quite spectacular technology. 

I believe that this article explains how this technology can benefit the whales. Specifically, we as humans may not benefit but the whale population definitely will. With the technology of the new gliders, scientists are now able to study these whales much more extensively. This will in turn help them track the whales during the rough season, where tracking seems to be nearly impossible.

I really enjoyed this article for several reasons. I feel that this article provides the reader with a better understanding of whales and their migration. Throughout the article, the reader learned how this new glider works.  I think the article written by Stephanie Murphy teaches us about the latest technology we have today as well. Although, I feel as though I did not learn enough about the actual calls of the whales. Finally, I wish we could learn how to decipher specific calls to see what the mean. Overall, I did really like the article and I would recommend it to any enthusiastic marine biologist. 

https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/call-of-the-whales

Bracing for Carp in Great Lakes, but Debating Their Presence

 Indira Dasgupta                                                                                                                1/17/14

C Block Odd                                                                                                                   Ms. Davies

Citation:
             Wines, Michael. "Bracing for Carp in Great Lakes, but Debating Their Presence" New York Times. 4 Jan 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/us/bracing-for-carp-in-great-lakes-but-debating-their-presence.html?ref=science>

Website Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/us/bracing-for-carp-in-great-lakes-but-debating-their-presence.html?ref=science

Over the decades, it has become increasingly apparent that a fisherman’s worst nightmare as well as a scientist’s is possibly coming true.  And the Asian carp or otherwise known as the silver carp is the cause. Fishermen and scientists despise these fish for a good reason.  Through one drop of water, scientists were able to determine the likely possibility of an invasion in the Great Lakes. Scientist found evidence of remnants of this fish. As indicated by their name they were brought from Asia to maintain algae-ridden fishponds, yet some escaped and these group have fish have been “moving steadily up the Mississippi toward the lakes” since 1976. The reason why the silver carp is viewed negatively is because of reproduction rate and food habit. Although they’re not carnivorous fish, they still would have an equally damaging affect. They are ravenous consumers of plankton, which other fish in Lake Michigan rely on during their life cycles. On top of that they can grow up to 60 pounds, which is major problem since they consume about 10 percent of their body weight. This could lead to overcrowding the native inhabitants of the lake. If this occurs, the native fish population would dwindle causing a huge financial loss in the fishing industry. Yet, whether the positive reading for carp DNA in the Great Lakes indicates there are actually carps is a serious discussion. Timothy Strakosh, a biologist who specializes with fish, says ‘“ . . . highest probability of the eDNA source is most likely not a fish.”’ The word eDNA refers to the genetic material that isn’t taken directly from a fish, but are things like gills and scales which have been shed in the water. He expands this thought by saying how the whole issue may be nothing as birds could have transferred carp DNA into the water through their droppings, or boats that had traveled to carp infested rivers. Lindsay Chadderton, a scientist for the Nature Conservancy, disagrees saying, ‘“The most . . . probable explanation for the DNA of Asian carp is the presence of live fish.”’  Chadderton believes that DNA would be hard to detect in the lake from things like bird’s dropping, which provide low-quality DNA compared to one directly from a living fish. Chadderton’s belief, however, seems all the more likely topped off with other clues like the events that happened sometime in the last decade and the 1990s in Lake Erie, where fishermen had caught three bighead carp. Although, this event was known as a fluke and when they resampled the same body of water in November, the carp DNA test came back negative. So in the end the question still remains; are there carps out there in the Great Lakes? So far there is no real ground evidence, but scientists will return this May for resampling to offer a deeper analysis.

I chose this article partially because it was the only article out of the ones I read that actually engaged my attention. It discussed an interesting topic of how people are debating whether the existence of these fish, which are supposedly lethal to the native fish population, in the Great Lakes. This article is important to society because clearly it will impact many people if these carp are actually or are in the progress into entering the Great Lakes. Technically this issue is a bit more important to the fishing industry. It will decrease the other fish population in the Great Lakes, which in the process affects the fishermen who harvest these fish for a living.

The article for the most part, is well written, intriguing, and seems to be thoroughly researched. The best part about the article was that the author wrote everything in a manner which I could understand the material. The one term I didn’t know was eDNA, but the author explained to be the shorthand form of environmental DNA and also provided a definition. I felt there really were no weak points in the article I read, except for the switching between the term Asian carp with silver carp, which for me, was slightly confusing because when I first read it I thought it was two different types of carp. Maybe the author could have mentioned that the Asian carp more of a broad term. 

The Loss of an Iconic Penguin

Jeanne Chrisanthopoulos

Current Event #2

  

The Loss of an Iconic Penguin

            The most iconic and largest seabird is known as the Emperor Penguin, located in Antarctica. Tragically these beautiful creatures 

may soon disappear from Terre Adelie in East Antarctica according to vast studies by the researchers from WHOI. This is due to temperatures slowly rising and greenhouse gases, the sea ice gradually melts in this region; this has been scientifically researched by Stephanie Jenouvrier, a biologist. Without stable sea ice the Emperor penguins will no longer be able to breed and raise their babies, so having sea ice is detrimental to breeding and their lives would result in a catastrophe. The Emperor penguin feeds on fish, squid and krill, and these species feed on plankton attached to the sea ice, therefore, the supply of food would be limited with less ice. It is a chain reaction: as the ice depletes, the food supply decrease, as does the population of Emperor penguins. 

           Due to the extensive research of biologist Jenouvrier, studies show that these penguins will continue to diminish a lot until 2040 because of the sea ice shrinking. "Roughly 500 to 600 breeding pairs will remain by the year 2100" while today population size is around 3,000 breeding pairs (Jenouvrier). This clearly shows a fast decrease, and part of this catastrophe is our fault. Normally "only 50 percent of chicks survive to the end of the breeding season" so if the environment becomes particularly hard to live with, the number will continue to decrease (Jenouvrier). Emperor penguin research is continued using the method of tagging, where scientists capture the birds and specially mark them by setting a  Passive Inductive Transponder under the skin and then setting them free; this is in order to keep track of the amount of penguins and know of their survival. 

          Man-made greenhouse gas emissions frequently cause environmental problems, and in this situation Emperor penguins are mainly being impacted but in the near future other animals living in Antarctica could be effected. If we do not figure out a way to raise awareness of this situation and what it will call, humans will continue to be the cause of global warming which resulted in the ice breakage. Not only species in Antarctica will be effected, but this will continue around the world; this will effect our environment and lifestyle including the food chain. Since this is a man-made contributed issue we have the power to reverse it.

              This article stood out to me because penguins and ducks are my favorite animals. Although it is an article relating to both biology and earth science I believe it covered the earth science topic well. This article was well written and showed me about how detrimental keeping our environment clean is. The way the article is composed allows for an easy comprehension of the text. I think this article should have had more sources (scientist’s opinions) in order to reinforce the information.

Works Cited

Levin, David. "The Decline and Fall of the Emperor Penguin?" : Oceanus Magazine. N.p., 12 December. 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-emperor-penguin>.

China Launches Moon Rover Mission Current Event # 2

        http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/02/world/asia/china-prepares-to-launch-moon-rover-mission.html?_r=0

            This article that I read was eye opening. I found out that China sent it 's first robotic lunar rover on December 1st, 2013. A specific goal of this so called, "Jade Rabbit" is to explore hardened lava on the Moon. The Chinese are not as advanced as the Soviet Union and the United States in terms of "soft landings", but this could be a very valid expedition if a success. The Soviet Union sent the most recent probe with a successful "soft landing" in 1976, so it has been a couple of decades.  This Chang ' e -3 mission probe is one important thing that the Chinese have launched, but they are also developing various new satellites, in which 35 satellites will be included in the BeiDou navigation system. This article shows that many positive things are coming out of China, and that the United States are focused too generally. "But I would say that we sometimes miss is how important these organizational changes are. All the Chinese space efforts are efforts at improving their systems engineering", states Dean Cheng, a senior researcher of China's space programs. China has also sent four manned missions into space since 2003. 

             This event is very valuable and significant for the whole world to see. "If it's all successful, it will certainly indicate that they have really come up the learning curve in terms of technology," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor in Rhode Island along with being a researcher of China's space activities. This is certainly another valuable opportunity for China to establish them selves as a force to be reckon with in terms of technology and space missions. I predict that sooner or later, the science news specifically, but also news in general will be about China this and China that. People might be glued to their TV's because the future is looking bright for China and their strong supply of technology for space engineering. What advancement will be next?

             I really like the way this article is formatted. Quotes from experts and researchers on this topic are incorporated in a flowing manner. I can really tell by reading this article that not only is the event exciting and important, but that many researchers and people are anxious to see what's next. I really enjoyed this article, however I have a suggestion. I think that the author should have waited until he heard the news of the landing because he could have made an even more complex article. He would have made a big deal about if the landing was smooth or rocky, or even successful. Overall, this article brought up a significant topic. We should all wait to see the next move China makes!

Probe May Help Solve Riddle of Mars's Missing Air

            NASA’s next mission is to Mars to answer the question: What happened to the air on Mars? This question will help scientists learn about the evolution of Mars. Scientists believe that when Mars was young it had a thick layer of air. This kept Mars warm and wet. Somehow the atmosphere went away and today Mars doesn’t have any air. Scientists believe that air molecules either have gone up into space or went down and were transformed into rocks. This process was most likely initiated by the radiation coming from the Sun or by the solar winds. To collect information about the atmosphere on Mars, NASA is sending a probe, Maven, to Mars. Maven will collect some scientific information on how the atmosphere is disappearing. First, it will go around Mars. It should take the probe less than 5 hours to orbit the planet. Then Maven will climb 3,860 miles above the planet. After that, it will swoop down within 93 miles of the surface. On its way down, the probe will collect some particles from the upper atmosphere and from the solar winds. The collected particles will help scientists learn not only why Mars’s atmosphere is disappearing, but also the rate at which the atmosphere is diminishing.

            The study of Mars’s atmosphere is very important. We want to find out if at one point Mars had plenty of air and if it was a place friendly for life. Based on the data collected by Maven the scientists can figure out when air existed on Mars and why it disappeared. It is also important for us to learn about this because we don’t want the same thing to happen to Earth.  

            The article was very educational. It was well written and included a lot of details. Before reading the article I didn’t know that Mars had an atmosphere and that it didn’t have any air. The article should give additional information on how these findings will help us to understand the evolution of other planets. I think that this article was very interesting and I would love to learn more about Mars.

Chang, Kenneth. "Probe May Help Solve Riddle of Mars's Missing Air." The New York Times. N.p., 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/science/space/nasa-probe-may-help-solve-riddle-of-marss-missing-air.html?_r=0

current event #2

Earth Science                                                                                      January 9, 2014

Current event                                                                                      Lilly Grass

 

           The New York Times article, Polar Vertex: Temperatures Fall Far, written by James Barron and Henry Fountain explains the reason for the recent frigid weather across the country. The polar vertex is an elliptical-shaped pattern of arctic winds blowing west to east and centered on the North Pole, which is causing this cold weather. James E. Overland, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, "The polar vertex is normally very stable and keeps air bottled up." But recently a change developed in the vortex's winds, causing the arctic air to be released into the Midwest and into the plains, forcing the warmer air out. This cold air released forced temperatures down to -32 degrees in Fargo, N.D. on Monday January 6, 2014. In addition, Nashville's recorded temperature for Monday at 6 p.m. was 8 degrees, and dropped to 4 degrees later in the evening. On Monday in New York, the weather plummeted down to the single digits. "It's unusual, but it does happen," said David Stark, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at its office on Long Island. "The only difference in the 1920s, it went from the low 80s to the 20s." Scientists believe one reason for such drastic temperature decreases was that the change in the winds occurred later in the winter than in years before, causing the temperatures to drop to negative degrees, rather than to 20 degrees.

            This article clearly explains the history of the climate in America, and gives the audience a clear reason for the frigid weather we all have been experiencing in the past week. I believe it is very important for us to all be aware of why the temperatures have been dropping so rapidly.  I thought this article was a great choice because not only is it very interesting, but we can all relate to it because we have all experienced this crisp weather.

            Overall, this was a very informative and well written article. I liked how the authors got right to the point, and gave a lot historical facts about our climate. I also liked how they gave us exact temperatures in specific places at an exact time; it was very interesting to read about. Lastly, they did a nice job of getting information from lots of different locates, rather than just using temperatures from one location. One thing I would change is, include more information about the vortex, and go into more depth about why there was a change in the polar vertex.

           

 

            Barron, James, and Henry Fountain. "Polar Vortex: Temperatures Fall Far, Fast." Polar Vortex: Temperatures Fall Far, Fast. New York Times, 6 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Jan. 2014.

Current Event #2

Cameron Adamiyatt

For this current event, I read an article on the causes and consequences of the earthquake that devastated Japan in March, 2011. The 9.0 quake was so powerful it then created a tsunami at the Japan trench, only a couple hundred miles off the coast. The monster wave that ensued wreaked havoc on the island nation, killing thousands, and displacing millions more. In addition to this, the high waves easily surpassed the flood walls that protected the Fukushima power plant on the east coast of Japan, damaging multiple reactors and releasing fatal amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. The article then moves on to discuss where the fault that slipped was and explains how that altered the effects of the disaster. Between the Pacific plate and Eurasian plate, which spans about 500 miles north to south, parallel to Japan, pressure had been building up due to plate movements for an estimated thousand years, which most likely was the reason for the earthquake’s huge magnitude. The article then goes on to highlight how the Japanese have built ample defenses to prevent damage, including strict building codes for high-rise buildings and extremely sensitive seismic sensors, which detect the P and S waves that are exulted from the focus point of earthquakes. Furthermore, it then touches on how the disaster literally moved both land and sea, stating that the Japanese island of Honshu moved about 8 meters to the east. That may not seem like much, but when speaking of an island that weighs that much, it gives good perspective to the power of the quake. Shining a new light on the disaster, it then discusses how scientists Changsheng Chen from the University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth and Robert Beardsley simulated the tsunami that caused so much destruction. Using a very complex formula that integrated dozens of variables that could have changed how the tsunami hit, they created FVCOM, or the Finite volume Community Ocean Model. By studying the pattern of movement of the tsunami, Chen and Beardsley were able to approximate how the fault ruptured and how much the surrounding crust actually changed shape. It then reflects back on the last radiation disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, which effectively destroyed all life near the plant.

This topic still remains relevant today for a multitude of reasons. The first and most obvious is that innumerable people still are displaced and living on the aid of groups like the American Red cross and Salvation Army, along with the support of the United Nations. Although it has been 3 years since the disaster, Japan is still recovering and needs external assistance in order to help its citizens restart their lives. In addition, the fact that an event like this, which will most definitely occur again in the future, almost caused a nuclear disaster in a country with very good defenses against such things spread fear all across the world as other plants are susceptible. For example, as we spoke about in class, the Indian Point power plant, which is only a few miles away from Bronxville, has been tested to only withstand 6.0 or lower magnitude earthquakes, but higher ones are a morose reality.

As a whole, I thought this article was very well written and held many strengths, but definitely had its weaknesses. First off, it was separated into different topics well and included interesting and informative facts about the scientific end of the disaster. In addition, it had clear points of relevance that the average reader could connect with. However, it really lacked details on how the event created hardships for the Japanese people and how they have progressed as a country in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. To me, this article reinforced the fact that the United States, as well as the rest of the world, needs to improve disaster prevention and relief programs.

Kostel, Ken. "Lessons from the 2011 Japan Quake." : Oceanus Magazine. N.p., 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. <https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/lessons-from-the-2011-japan-quake>.

Hubble Sees Evidence of Water Vapor at Jupiter Moon

Joe Dougherty                                                                                   January 10, 2014

Earth Science C Odd                                                                         Ms. Davies

"Hubble Sees Evidence of Water Vapor at Jupiter Moon." NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. N.p., 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-363>. 

            In December of 2012, the Hubble Space Telescope observed water vapor above the icy surface of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. This news is groundbreaking because just recently, scientists were able to determine the cause. It is believed that the water vapor erupted from plumes on the surface of Europa, but it is not yet certain. If these explanations for the water vapor were correct, Europa would be the second moon to have water vapor plumes along with Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. Lorenz Roth, lead author at a research institute in San Antonio said, “If those plumes are connected with the subsurface water ocean we are confident exists under Europa's crust, then this means that future investigations can directly investigate the chemical makeup of Europa's potentially habitable environment without drilling through layers of ice.” Scientists are thrilled by the breakthrough in the search for habitable planets. When the Hubble Telescope observed the water vapor, scientists knew there could have been many other causes. They were able to rule out all other possibilities and began searching for plumes that were erupting. Some scientists believed that the plumes could be stealth plumes because it was so hard to observe them. Stealth plumes are fainter due to factors that can affect visibility, such as dust and lack of light. Roth believes that cracks in the surface of the moon may be venting the water vapor. Like the plumes on Enceladus, Europa’s orbit affects the venting. The jets are more active when Europa is furthest from Jupiter. Unlike on Enceladus, the water vapor does not float into space. It usually falls back to the surface. John Grunsfeld, an astronaut who helped service the Hubble Space Telescope, was enthralled by the new findings. He said, "If confirmed, this new observation once again shows the power of the Hubble Space Telescope to explore and opens a new chapter in our search for potentially habitable environments in our solar system." Many scientists are eager to explore this new discovery and to see what the future holds for Europa.

           Personally, I was thrilled by the news. The possibility of a habitable planet in our solar system is very exciting. If we ever do have to abandon Earth in the case of a natural disaster, nuclear war, global warming, etc., Europa is becoming one of the best options for survival. I think finding another planet that can maintain life should be a top priority. I chose this topic because I believe it is important to be aware that there could be other habitable planets out there and there is almost definitely life outside of Earth already.

   

         I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Hubble Sees Evidence of Water Vapor at Jupiter Moon” not only because of the exciting news, but also because it provided insight into the search for habitable planets. Although it was very interesting, I felt like I was left with many questions unanswered. How and when will be able to know if life can be maintained on Europa? When we do find out if there is definitely water on Europa, I want to know what else we need to know first before humans can live there. Is there a chance that life could be on Europa already or has been? I know that many of these questions are hard to answer since we still have little information on Europa and we are so far away. However, I was disappointed after finishing the article because I want to know more. One criticism is that I think the author should have added statistics or facts that prove we should be looking for another habitable planet. Otherwise, the reader may feel as if the search is unnecessary. I will continue to check updates on Europa in the future and am excited for more breakthroughs.