Cayley Painter's Current Event - October 21, 2010

Men better than women at sweating during exercise - study.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11492897



Researchers in Japan have discovered that the saying, "Men sweat, Women glow," is in fact, true. It may sound odd, but tests have shown that men are more prone to be efficient at sweating during laboring activities including exercises. This could be bad news for women. Sweating is the bodies' natural defence to heat. If you don't sweat as much, then you are more likely to be affected by heat in negative ways. So this means that women are more susceptible than men to getting heat stroke. This also means that women have less bodily fluid than men.

I have never heard of this before i read this article. I think it explains a lot. When you see a male athlete performing you often see their forehead covered in a thick sheen of sweat. Whenever I've seen women althletes, I have never seen them sweat as much, unless they are performing a strenuous sport. This may give researchers and scientists a basis to study off of so they might find ways to prevent women from getting as hot as they do faster.

Cayley Painter Current Event 10/7/10

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1318181/Gender-bending-chemicals-plastics-raises-risk-prostate-cancer.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Gender bending chemicals in plastics 'raises risk of prostate cancer'

Scientists have recently discovered that a certian chemical found in the plastic of babies' bottles could be showing the risk of obtaining prostate cancer, by testing on newborn rats. When the reserchers fed the baby rodents bisphenol A, a basic building block used in making plastic, they showed no signs of cancerous tumors or cells as they aged. They have found that these tests are directly relevant to that of a babies' health.

I believe that these tests are very important towards the welfare of babies' health. Scientist should always test things that are an imediete risk to a human's health, even if it has not been proved to be harmful.

Cayley Painter Current Event 5

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081023144117.htm

Chemists Devise Self-Assembling 'Organic Wires'

Scientists have created a pacemaker made of carbon-based compounds. These wires are softer than the original metal ones and are ultimatley more comfortable for the patient recieving one. They are also smaller, which makes them easier to adapt to.

I think this is a great invention because the original pacemakers that were placed in people seemed uncomfortable. My grandfather had to get a valve replaced in his heart some time ago and I was told that it was made from porceiln. When I would listen to his heartbeat it sounded as thought there was a clock in his chest, ticking. I think if scientists can come up with this alternative for the metal wires, they should now try and work on finding new materials to use that would help people who have to get parts of thier hearts replaced. Otherwise, this was quite an interesting article.

Cayley Painter Current Event 4

Bodies Up close and Personal at Dennos

http://record-eagle.com/features/x1967875497/Bodies-up-close-and-personal-at-Dennos

Have you ever wanted to get a first hand look at the human body, up close and personal? Well between April 10th and September 6th, people had the chance to do just that when the Bodies Human: Anatomy in Motion toured around the country.
Through a special process called plastination, the exhibit was able to feature over one-hundred specimens by preserving them. The exhibition displayed various emobodiments including full cadavers and organs. It also gave patrions the chance to see how different lifestyles can affect a human's health.

I think this is a great oppourtunity for people who want to become medical students, or for some who are just curious on the study of anatomy and physiology. Personally, I would find it fascinating to go to one of the museums the exhibtion was featured at and have a look around.

Cayley Painter - Current Event

http://www.chxa.com/a/human-animal-hybrid-stem-cell-controversy/

Human-Animal Hybrid Stem Cell Controversy

There has been ongoing controversy on the subject of creating chimeras (animal-human hybrids) for the sake of scientific reserch. The debate on weather or not this is ethical has been going on for many years. Scientits argue that if they are able to create a successful human-animal hybrid, they can use it for medical and scientific research, futhering the advancements of stem-cell breakthroughs such as new treatments for the ill. There have been many surgries in the United States that have involved replacing a human heart valve with a pig or cow one.The practice of creating these chimeras is outlawed in many places, including Canda, but the experiments continue nonetheless.

My Opinion:
I am one-hundred percent against this topic. Creating human-animal hybrids is unnatural and somewhat playing God. These scientists could only have hypothesis on what these "chimeras" could really turn out to be. They have no idea how much of this creation could have human characteristcs.
On the other hand, I do see some positives to this. If it is advancing the breakthroughs of scientific and medical research, then I suppose that would be for a reasonable purpose. Nevertheless, I do not condone these expirements, nor do I agree with them.