Stem Cell Research

                  There are many scientists around the world have been researching stem cells for over thirty years now and it is the spark of a lively debate. Many people think this type of research is completely inhumane, but many also see the potential of this research. Personally I think it is something that should be continued, as it will be an amazing asset to our entire society, maybe even the entire human race, if it is perfected.

                  Now some people reading this may not remember learning about these cells in their high school biology class. Well they are simply just cells that are not defined to any particular region of the body yet. This mean they can actually be made into anything that we really need. Ears, feet, legs, arms, you name it these things can be turned into it. However the process is obviously not that easy. The stem cell have to be taken from human embryos and then they have to be grown in a lab. The process takes a while but it can help people recover from diseases that we thought would be impossible to cure.

                 For example chronic heart disease is a very serious thing, and there are not many ways to treat it. The cells of the heart are diseased and damaged, the only way to help that patient to fully recover is to replace the cells. Stem cells could help us do that. If healthy heart cells were produced in a lab and then placed in the diseased heart, the patient could easily make a full recovery, something we don't have the capability to do yet, and we never will have the capability if we don't continue to fine tune the process of producing specific cells in a lab. This research could be used for many other diseases as well, including cancer, which is something that has surely affected all of our lives.

               Now obviously there are many problems with this type of research, we haven't even began to unravel the possibilities of stem cells and we certainly don't know the consequences that is could cause in the future. Cell rejection is a big obstacle and is something scientists have to constantly work on. We are far from being able to use it in everyday life, but I believe it will end up bringing more great breakthroughs, than downfalls.

                I understand that the argument of some people is that these cells actually have to be alive for scientists to take them from the embryos, therefore we are technically killing unborn children with this type of research, while I understand there is this side of the argument I cannot speculate based on religion. I will just say that I believe in the end this research will allow us to save and to greatly improve the lives of people who have life threatening diseases, and I think anything that can do that is worth the time and effort of our science community.

Why Would You Be a Scientist

                    Sometimes I wonder if being a scientists might be boring, and I wonder what might be some of the things that draw people into becoming a scientists. Of course you would have to have a love of science, but that is a very broad category, so why else do it? I have come to learn about what scientists can do and I think there are two main reasons. One is the fact that you can make quite a bit of money while doing what you love, and the other is that you can directly effect your community through the research you do as a scientist. 
                   The first reason is quite big. Everyone wants to be able to support themselves, and possibly a family, and you need to make money to do that. You won't have trouble doing that as a scientist. You make quite a bit of money in most fields because they require you to have a specialization in your respective subject. You do have to go through more schooling in order to be specialized, but in the end it is worth it. 
                   The second reason, which is why I think most people become scientists, is to make a difference while doing something they love. Scientists can make small discoveries, the kind that improve quality of life only slightly, or they can make huge discoveries, such as cures for diseases. Either way you can make a difference in your community simply by doing what you were meant to do. Being able to work on something for a long period of time, and then it turns out to be something that can help your neighbor, that's something that can make you feel good. Of course I'm not talking from experience, but I think you would agree that if you could help people by doing the thing you like most, you would. 
                 Another thing that I didn't mention earlier is that you can leave a legacy. Often the people we remember were those who gave us something we could use for a long period of time, and that is often discovered through the use of science. Take Ben Franklin for example, he could never had known what the impact of electricity could be, but he certainly changed the future when he discovered how to harness it. Every generation for the rest of humanity's existence will be effected by what he did, that's pretty amazing if you ask me. 
                  There are certainly more reasons to become a scientists than I listed here, but these are some of the best in my opinion. If you love science you should consider being a scientist. Why not do what you love and change the world at the same time?

Paths of Science

                As we know science can be a very different according to who you are talking to. Evolution or not, anything can be a dispute, no one really agrees with the next person. I find this to be very interesting since in general, science is pretty straight forward. Besides that there are so many different areas of science, there is no difinitive path that one could take. 
               I think it's a good thing that science is so diverse though. It keeps both competition up, but also allows for more people to have jobs in the area of science, so I think one of the reasons why science is so diverse. It keeps multiple people interested and it also allows for a wide range of reasearch to happen in the science community. There is no possible way that people could be both interested in science and productive without the diversity of the subject. We wouldn't have been able to make the medical, environmental, and psychological advances that we have in the past decades
               Another reason for all these different paths is to make specialization more specific. I am sure that people who have jobs in the science are are appreciative of this as well because of the fact that they get paid much more for being able to specialize in an area. On the other hand while you make more money overtime, you have to go to school for much longer as well. This means much more money for colleges and another group of people happy for these many fields of science. 
              The main thing that I kind of mentioned earlier is the fact that people just like different things, anything for the environment to the human body, and all of it can be researched on, so it leads to a huge amount of career options and the diversity of the science cmmunity that we see today, no doubt one of the best places to find a job that you have an interest in.
               The bottom line is that human nature is really the thing that has made science so diverse, there is no other explanation besides the fact that people just started something new that they thought could help out the world, and eventually it caught on and it helped to make us what we are today. Maybe in the future you can even start a brand new area of science, and you can talk to us about how you changed the world.

Science and Athletes

                 Athletics are a part of many people's daily routine. You get up, go to work or school, then maybe do your workout before going home to relax a bit. If you are committed to getting better, you probably do this anywhere from three to six times a week depending on what the workout is. Now, this kind of routine takes some dedication, but I'm actually looking at the scientific side of the workout.

                     Dedication is one thing, but how fit you are is another. Maybe you aren't working out, but you want to be. It can be very tough for you to get going if you are out of shape. The first week or two are going to be very rough for you, and there is no way you can avoid that. However I can tell you that you will make it. Pushing your body is probably about 90% mental, assuming that your goals are realistic. It all has to do with your attitude, and eventually, probably within a month, it will get easier. Scientifically speaking its all in the brain. Sure your muscles are the ones doing the work, but it is the brain that tells them how far they can go, and for most people that is further than you think.

                   This is something my track coach is constantly telling us, he says they are pushing us hard because they know we can go harder than we think we can. It's something that is tough to grasp but it is actually true. Your brain likes to shut down before it actually reaches 100% of anything, because its hard to do that. When exercising this number is probably around eighty five percent. Meaning your brain is telling you your done, it is your job to fight that and say you can go harder. The mental aspect of conditioning is something that is often overlooked and is definitely the most important. There is nothing you can do without the brain, and if you fail to understand how your brain works you will never reach your full potential in anything you choose to participate in.

                  Take me for example. I thought my full potential was reached in my running ability. That is until I went out for track. I am still a JV athlete, but I have dropped about 15 seconds in my 800 time this year and I'm looking to do even better than that before the end of this year. This is something that I never thought I would be able to do having tendonitis and Osgood Schlatter disease in both of my knees. I was able to overcome this and break my personal best for this race. There is no way I could have done this without joining track, and also doing research of my own, to figure out that I can push myself much harder than I thought I could.

              All I'm trying to say in this blog, is that even if you aren't in the best shape of your life, you can still definitely get what you want. It's not all about the way your body looks, it's how far you can push yourself, using your mental capacity. Set goals, achieve them, set new ones, rinse and repeat.

Obesity

                 We've all heard it and many people, including myself, have believed it. However a recent study shows that fast food really isn't the main cause of childhood obesity. In fact the research actually shows that the obesity comes from a poor all-day diet that originates at home. I take this as an important reminder that we need to make sure we don't get comfortable blaming a single thing for a big problem.

                 The bottom line is we used to think fast food was one of the biggest factors for obesity, well in reality that isn't the truth. We need to take a look at what we are eating throughout the day and how much exercise we are getting. Obesity is a problem, and it can be fixed while still enjoying an occasional fast food. Now this isn't an invitation to go out and eat as much fast food as you want because it "isn't a cause of obesity". If you do that you will not enjoy the repercussions of it.

                As Americans we have become an obese society, and fast food certainly contributed, but the real problem is that we need to learn to eat in moderation. I remember seeing a research study one time that was televised. They had an American man and a European man, each had a bowl of soup given to them, but the bowl was constantly being refilled under the table. The result was that the European man got up and left when he was full, but the American man, seeing his bowl had more in it, kept on stuffing himself, the producers of the show had to go out and tell him what was happening.

              Now I'm sure many of us wouldn't go that far with our diet, but sometimes I can catch myself eating a whole can of Pringles in one sitting, simply because I am not paying attention. This is a terrible thing to do, moderation is the key to less obesity. We can have the things we want to eat, as long as we don't eat a whole cake or a whole pie or 12 hot dogs. That is when it becomes an issue.

             Another thing, as I mentioned before, is we need to be checking up on things that were thought to be "fact" because the world in constantly changing and we continue to discover new things, things that were true yesterday are not today and it's something we should think about.

             Just remember you can have what you want, just not to much. I encourage you to record what you eat for maybe a week and see where you might be lacking in your diet, and where you can improve. Don't take anything for granted, and don't be afraid to go against what is popular, you might discover something new.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140115132750.htm

New Technique to Save Lives

         The technique involves replacing all of a patient's blood with a cold saline solution, which rapidly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity. "If a patient comes to us two hours after dying you can't bring them back to life. But if they're dying and you suspend them, you have a chance to bring them back after their structural problems have been fixed," says surgeon Peter Rhee at the University of Arizona in Tucson, who helped develop the technique. The benefits of cooling, or induced hypothermia, have been known for decades. At normal body temperature – around 37 °C – cells need a regular oxygen supply to produce energy. When the heart stops beating, blood no longer carries oxygen to cells. Without oxygen the brain can only survive for about 5 minutes before the damage is irreversible. Sometimes Just before heart and brain surgery, doctors sometimes lower body temperature using ice packs, and by circulating the blood through an external cooling system. This can give them up to 45 minutes in which to stop blood flow and perform surgery. However, the cooling process takes time and can only be done with careful planning and preparation.
        "After we did those experiments, the definition of 'dead' changed," says Rhee. "Every day at work I declare people dead. They have no signs of life, no heartbeat, no brain activity. I sign a piece of paper knowing in my heart that they are not actually dead. I could, right then and there, suspend them. But I have to put them in a body bag. It's frustrating to know there's a solution." The technique will be tested on 10 people, and the outcome compared with another 10 who met the criteria but who weren't treated this way because the team wasn't on hand. The technique will be refined then tested on another 10, says Tisherman, until there are enough results to analyse. This technique will hopefully be successful and be able to be put to use in the future as a method to help save lives. 

Sleep

           This is a subject that is near and dear to me. I, like most high school students, enjoy the times when I get to sleep. I sleep in whenever I get the chance. Sometimes I wonder if to much sleep can be an issue, but I usually talk myself out of that idea. Sleep is important for our bodies, so they can rest both physically and mentally. Without sleep we wouldn't last very long but, as the saying goes, to much of anything can be bad.

                If one sleeps to much or to often, they could end up really hurting their body. Not considering the fact that you wouldn't get any physical activity if you were sleeping all the time, your body doesn't react well to excess sleep. When the body experiences to much sleep it can completely change the course of a day. Your body may be hungry more often throughout the day due to the fact that you suppressed this hunger the whole time you were asleep. It is actually very important to keep a constant sleeping schedule, it can affect things like your weight and blood pressure. It is actually more important to be consistent than it is to get the "magic" number of hours sleeping.

                  Being a high school student this can be hard sometimes. Homework that you stay up late doing, away games, matches, meets. Sometimes its just not possible to get to bed at the same time every night. I don't think it's really possible if you are a multi-sport athlete, however you can do things to help. Sleep is very important, but to go along with that its important to eat right. Putting the right things in your body helps out a lot.  If you are constantly putting bad food into your body it can make you feel tired, this can go hand in hand with sleep (I often do this too much). If you feel tired you might try sleeping to help, but really that isn't the problem.
                 Now don't get me wrong eating right and not sleeping is definitely not a good idea either. You have to find a happy medium, you can certainly have a piece of pie every once in a while, just don't over do it. Same with sleeping, you can sleep in on the weekends if you need it, but you probably don't need to take a 3 or 4 hour nap everyday after school. Just keep a good balance, when you can, and you probably wont have to worry about any negative affects of sleep. There are certainly times when you should be sleeping more than normal, like if you are sick. This is just something to think about, in the end you should trust your own judgment. I'm going to go sleep right now.