Stinky Feet

The author does created a really good paper it was both interesting and terrifying, he really did a good job utilizing all the rhetorical tools like emotion and logic. He did not seem to use a lot outside research perhaps including other opposing articles could establish a better credibility. The report especially utilized emotion putting in grotesque pictures and details explaining the true terror of the disease. All in all the report was really good it kept you interested wanting to learn more and more since as it explained athlete’s foot isn’t too foreign at all. Adding in more data and outside research even opposing research probably would make  this report a lot better.

The blog I chose to write about this week was Steve Cabrera’s athlete’s foot report paper we were tasked to critique. Athlete’s foot is all around us whether we want to admit it or not, we have it everywhere that is moist. Yep in our showers, in the local gym and even at our schools, you could even say it could be found in the high end offices and businesses. Athletes foot is a fungal infection, although it is unique for each victim the symptoms could be cracking of the skin, redness, swelling, extreme pain in the feet, underarms or groin regions. It starts off usually as a red mark or rash and could eventually move to an infection that any person would be terrified of.

Picture 1: http://asafoot.wordpress.com/category/odd-funny-facts/

Picture 2:  http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi1mYmUzY2QyYmFmZDM0ZWE5

Death Has A Name

The video I had selected explained some hidden clues behind the rise and occurrence of Yersinia pestis, although I had done the microbe previously there are contradicting believes about the actual transmission, livelihood of this deadly virus. The video immediately starts off with a melancholic song, a women singing in a foreign language very operatic and dramatic, this is followed by a bunch of pictures all adding to the image we immediately create as she sings. This is followed by two guest speakers, both accredited historians and doctors, this I didn’t think was too good, although the information they provided was adequate just having two guest appearing explaining their belief is a bit biased. The test directly correlates well with other outside knowledge and beliefs.

The author really took advantage of pathos, emotion played a critical role like explaining the mortality rate of this disease was 1:2 per Europeans resident, and also they compared the disease to us today. They compared our society and that was one factor, we are in a world of constant reliance on people or places like a grocery store, a paradox society handled this disease a lot better and were able to cope better than we would today. The last thing I really liked they had incorporated was the statement the dead were outnumbering the living, they were burying more people than the people alive this really made us understand the incredible strength of this virus. I think some questions I might ask that you don’t see a lot has to do with the counter measures, were the apothecaries and medication given at all helping? What type countermeasures were done and their effect? Perhaps the biggest question we all would have is the reason it just stopped, did we as human evolve a specific way to combat this deadly plague?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRZYb2Jl22g

Picture 1:https://www.google.com/search?q=black+plague&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Pr9ZU56EFpKNyAT06YDQCQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=648#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=rb6kSmurZM0HkM%253A%3BULLUP_v383CNCM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F2%252F2f%252FPlague_-buboes.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FBubonic_plague%3B2877%3B2028
Picture 2: https://www.google.com/search?q=black+plague&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Pr9ZU56EFpKNyAT06YDQCQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=648#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=bzeIoQQO7C0OtM%253A%3BC2HRIf0vAw8lYM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fapi.ning.com%252Ffiles%252FJP0v*F0dtDPVeTM7lhykSsyP3VwIiqNaZTqRcBebN1xOFs6pLoeyc*E7*1QIpjn5AQQ-Fbe2Hgevvzs*rcFK4piRQobMRo8n%252FBLACKPLAGUEAD.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.wickedzombies.com%252Fprofile%252FMICHELLEMALO%253Fxg_source%253Dactivity%3B495%3B638

Microbes in outer Space

The article I had chosen to write about was a ted talks, that Penelope Boston our guest speaker had been a part of. When she was in class her presentation was really fascinating, it got my immediately intrigued with the idea of extraterrestrial life based off of microbes. During her lecture she had mentioned some truly interesting idea of exploration on mars and other planets with machinery, and that idea is what introduced her notion, the notion of There might just be life on Mars. In this analysis I will try to examine her notion, as well as expand upon that identifying her strengths and weaknesses of her argument.

Her initial PowerPoint begins with a strong introduction to who she is and why she studying what she is involved in now. This strengthens her argument because it shows us how reliable she is. Next she involves the earth’s environment and the interesting microbes that inhabit the caves of our world. Immediately she explains how earth could give answers to possible ways to find extraterrestrial life since some of the microbes that inhabit our world of possibly present on other planets. She explained how lava tubes are places that are formed after lava has gone through an area and this is where microbes might inhabit. These types of systems are found on the planets we are discovering. The last thing she explains was the certain equipment that is being developed that will allow us to research such things. The types of machinery would be a hopping microbot swarm, she then explained the ways this machinery would do its research and the strengths it had.

This video was really interesting, Penny does a really good job of explaining the reasons why we would want to invest our time and research into her beliefs. Right at the beginning she establishes her credibility, as well as backing every piece of information she introduces with facts and data. Her entire argument is really strong she makes sure to make it interesting as much as she can with really cool pictures, the only thing she could improve upon is perhaps shorten her introduction to who she is, although it is really good to incorporate this information I felt like she dragged it on and it was too excessive, perhaps including more information on research already done in outer space could make her argument more interesting. But all in all the presentation was really fascinating, and really gets the viewer think of the possibilities for outer space exploration and life which was her purpose for the presentation.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWvXyobH9fg
Image 1 : https://ksj.mit.edu/sites/default/files/images/tracker/2007/itcamefromouterspace.jpg
Image 2 : http://i.space.com/images/i/000/032/806/iFF/comet-elements-life.jpg?1379366296

Microbe Research: Ebola

The Ebola virus, a known virus to impact millions of people even to this day, its death toll continues to rise killing millions and some continents like Africa have more problems. This type of virus is a level 4 virus and requires level 4 access, which basically there is an organization that contains most of the world’s most dangerous viruses. This place is called National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. First originated in the Ebola River wiping out millions of Congo residents and spreading widespread chaos in the surrounding villages.

The article I wrote about brought an interesting idea, since the Ebola virus has different classifications it doesn’t qualify to be researched in as much as it should be. The research is more focused on more dangerous viruses, however this should be changed, and as seen in many movies like Outbreak, and even scientific articles all have stated the accessibility for a bioweapon. This main thought it terrifying, All in all the article makes an interesting idea, the scientists and officials are focusing on things like AIDS and Malaria, although these truly are detrimental diseases it doesn’t mean that the Ebola virus should be overlooked, The disease is truly dangerous and with enough research perhaps there could be a cure or a solution before it gets worse and we have outbreak problems we cannot control.

Article: http://www.ibtimes.com/us-defense-department-spent-140m-ebola-treatment-research-theyre-getting-close-1566666

Picture 1:http://www.ibtimes.com/us-defense-department-spent-140m-ebola-treatment-research-theyre-getting-close-1566666

Picture 2: http://visualscience.ru/feature-img/ebola-virus/ebola-virus.png

The Dark Microbe Knight

In the article I had searched up it had used Yersinia pestis to research into other strands, more recent ones that do cause problems in the present. Although nothing could compare to its predecessors catastrophic impacts on the worlds society. The researches however thought if we could expand research into the older strain perhaps we would be able to understand the new daughter strains.  The article is a little broad and utilizes huge vocabulary words that would be somewhat confusing to the average reader, it feels as if the article is meant for PH.D’s and professors. Although the article is broad in its vocabulary uses it still gets its point across affectively.

Picture: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/22/19422-004-634AA551.jpg

The idea to introduce an older strand to possibly come up with solutions for younger strains is scary, the plague back in time wiped out millions of people automatically comes up, what is there was a possible contamination or leak. Although it is dangerous the article does explain why it is so important for us to study the older one, it could save thousands of lives. Also it explains how sequencing a small amount of Genetic code would also get rid of the risk factor reassuring us that the risks are low. The article does lack in the sense it is targeting a certain audience, if the article would be broader in vocabulary uses maybe it would attract some younger people to read it. All in all though the article is interesting and very effective in relaying its purpose, research and data. Although it is difficult to understand at first that doesn’t sway the reader at all, it also introduces an interesting idea, should we research other dangerous microbes which impacted our history to perhaps save lives in the present?

Article: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0049803

Microbes in the Hot Springs

The article I chose to write about is amount extremophiles living in places like hot springs and extreme temperature conditions. I really wanted to write about this article because of spring break, we went to Pagosa Hot Springs, in Colorado, when you are inside it you immediately notice the conditions of the water. It’s oily, extremely hot and around the edges of all the ponds there is a layer of biofilm. These types of conditions are critical for microbes, water is the essence of all life, with these huge amounts of water the ecosystems thrive, even with conditions reaching in the hundreds of degrees still consist of a vast ecosystem of creatures thriving.

The article I chose to write about introduces you to ecosystem of Yellowstone national park, it consists of trillions of thriving organisms, world renounce for its extreme conditions this is what puzzles the science community, if we understand the ways organisms can thrive in extreme conditions it could open the door for us to thrive in those same conditions. The article specifically focuses on a type of organisms called Chloracidobacterium thermophilum, this unique creature has developed the way to convert light into energy, like us it has many types of energy production we go through cellular respirations and fermentation, what if we could go through their type of energy creation, and we could create energy by light. This organisms is truly fascinating, currently there is only 5 other microbes that could go through this type of energy production, now being the 6^th, this brings a question forward to the table what else is out there, what other organisms in the deep dark caverns or oceans could also bring answers to the most sought after questions in science.

Article : http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-07-26-yellowstone-new-bacterium_N.htm

Picture : http://content.usatoday.com/_common/_scripts/big_picture.aspx?width=490&height=652&storyURL=/tech/science/discoveries/2007-07-26-yellowstone-new-bacterium_N.htm&imageURL=http://i.usatoday.net/tech/_photos/2007/07/26/bacteriumx-large.jpg

Microbial Justice

Microbes in criminal justice have been used for hundreds of years, to catch the killer or even be the cause of death for the victim.  Little is known however that microbes could in fact be a new concept to discovering key factors for victims. Right now we have a less effective method, the way we identify the Time of death for victims is fly larvae. This is incredibly flaw because we don’t know when the bug could have landed on the victim, the article I viewed instead discovered new methods of research, identifying when the victim had died is crucial, it can create a window of opportunity and answer some questions detectives have for suspects. Could microorganisms help us uncover secrets that could bring the killers down?

The article was extremely interesting and understandable, when the article introduced new ideas it was immediate backed with research and quotations from prestigious professors and experts in the field. The article also introduced an interesting historical point explaining how we identified Point of Death for people. The idea for microbes being the key organisms for this new idea was also tested, rats were tested after they died and samples of their microbial ecosystems were identified. It was found that Achaea, bacteria and Rhizobiales all are key organisms for identifying point of death. The article in the end introduced an interesting solution to a problem, the sooner we can test this method on humans could help answer questions for grieving families and put people behind bars a lot quicker.

Article: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37652/title/Microbes-May-Help-Solve-Mysteries/

Picture 1: https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7092183040/hFA23D397/

Picture 2: http://www.newyorker.com/images/2007/05/07/p465/070507_r16153_p465.jpg