A new vaccine for rabies

Reference: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/08/08/jefferson_receives_48_million_nih_grant_to_study_new_rabies_vaccine_that_clears_virus_from_brain.html

Summay: In this article Researchers found a vaccine that can cure rabies. Rabies in definition is an often fatal viral disease of most warm-blooded animals, especially wolves, cats, and dogs, that attack the central nervous system and is transmitted by the bite of infected animals. Once a person gets rabies and sees the first stage (flu-like symptoms that can end up deady) the doctors give them this vaccine and makes it disapear. Many patients that they've tested with this virus being in their brains have survived and are benefiting and hopefully many others will if this gets approved.

Critique: I believe this Article benefits me, noiw knowing that I can get this vaccine and be protected from rabies.

Impact: This Article can impact many peoples lives and relieve the dangers of passing the rabies on to others.

Stress Drives Alcoholics' Children to Drink, Study Suggests

Reference: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110920075518.htm

Summary: Researchers find that many children that have alcoholics for parents, end up having a higher risk of also becoming an acholic. The percentage for these people that may become alcoholics is about a 50% chance. The researchers found this out by getting 58 healthy people, half of them have alcoholic parents and other have non-alcoholic parents an gave them an expirement seeing how fast they can figure out math problems in a certain time period. They allow them to drink while doing the math problems and once the time limit was coming to an end they got more stressed and dranked more. But the people with non-alcoholic parents didnt drink to relieve their stress.

Critique: This Article impacts on my life by letting me know that many children with alcoholic parents can inherit the genes as well and can either deside to drink as well or not. With this lesson many of those children can learn not to drink because they have a chance of also becoming an alcoholic.

Impact: This can Impact all people and allow them to know that if they have alcoholic parents that they should not drink. This could have a positive influence on many peoples lives.

Stopping Smoking Boosts Everyday Memory

Reference: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110920095253.htm

Summary: Researchers find that smoking is not only bad for your health but it decreases your memory capability. These researchers took a memory test on 27 smokers, 18 people that have quit smoking, and 24 who have never smoked. These people took a tour at a school,and once the tour was over they took a memory test to see how much of the school they would remember. Tests showed that the 27 smokers had a memory percentage of 59%, the people who quit smoking had a percentage of 74%, and the non-smokers had a percentage of 81%. As you can see the non-smokers have a much better memory then the smokers, and that smokers should stop smoking. NOT only for their health but to have a much better memory too.

Critique: I believe that this Article is very important to others. It shows the facts that if smokers quit their bad habit it can help them in the long run with their health and memory.

Impact: This article can impact the world in many different ways such as, more people around the world can become more healthy and also more people may quit and this impacts the people that make and sell cigarettes. So this is good for people and their health but not so good for the people that make money off of people that buy cigarettes.

Negative Emotions Influence Brain Activity During Anticipation and Experience of Pain

Resource: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110919113842.htm

Summary: Scientists prove that when in pain you tend to think negatively, there for your brain makes your pain increase. Researchers found that if you try not to think negatively and try not to focus on the pain you will soon forget about it. For example; when a woman gets cramps they tend to think about the pain and so their pain increases. Though if you try to not think about the cramps or something makes you happy, you forget about the pain that you were having. So for people that are in pain medicine is not always the answer, you can try to find a way to make yourself happy and before you know it you wont realize you were in pain.

Critique: This article is good to read about because parents can now tell their children that sometimes the pain they are feeling really is in their head. Also if you don't have your advil just think to yourself a happy memory and you wont feel the pain anymore.

Impact: The impact this has on people can be a good or bad one, because some people will try to forget about their pain or people can increase their pain by always thinking about it. Especially for me, I learned that when I have terrible cramps that I should not think about the pain and should think about something great in my life.

Orphan Gorillas

After being kept in a zoo for two years, orphan gorillas are being sent out back to the wild. The gorillas were taken in by a zoo in Africa and nurtured by the caretakers. Can the gorillas make the transition from being in a zoo to the crazy wild? There is a major difference between the zoo and the jungle. In the zoo, they are given food and water, when they go in to the wild; they need to worry about finding food. They would be lucky to get the same portions they do at the zoo. Also, the gorillas will need to fend for themselves from predators. This will be a completely different world for the babies. Gorillas early years are like the humans early life, the children depend on their parents, then they leave. The human parents teach you how to survive in the real world and what to expect. The orphan gorillas will have no idea what to do when they get to wild. They won’t know if the plant they are going to eat is extremely poisonous or not. Psychologically the orphans will need to learn common sense. If I eat this bug, will it bite back? If I step on this branch will it snap? They will need to use their brain to adapt with the other animals and work together to survive in the treacherous jungle. National Geographic magazine

Taste Test: Is Mexican Coke Better?

I was on Yahoo the other day when I saw a very interesting article comparing and contrasting American and Mexican Coca-Cola. The difference between the two is that American Coke comes in aluminum cans and plastic bottles, and is made with corn syrup; Mexican Coke comes in glass bottles and is made with sugar.

One key factor here is that the brain can fool one's taste buds. If you take two packs of identical carrots, label one pack organic and the other pack conventional, people are more likley to pick the organic carrots even if they had tasted both packs.

An experiment was done to see which brand was better. There was Fresh ice cold Coke placed into cups and would be given to blindfolded test subjects known as 'the Tasters'. Another group of test subjects called 'the Feelers' were given glass bottles and aluminum cans of Coke.

At the end of the experiment, a great majority of the Tasters prefered American Coke over Mexican. But, a great Majority of the Feelers prefered the glass bottle over the aluminum can.

I't seems that this experiment ended with a draw, with American Coke winning the taste test and Mexican Coke winning the feeling test.

I thought this was a very interesting article that takes a look into the world of artificial beverage products.