Ocean Asteroid Hits will Create Huge Ozone Holes

News alert from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19579-ocean-asteroid-hits-will-create-huge-ozone... ( at New Scientist.com)they are here to inform the human race about Olympic splashes, the Earth being engulfed, dry hits, and the ocean asteroids that cause all of these catastrophes. My first thought was how can these giant space rocks possibly cause so much damage? After reading this article, I found out just how. The ozone layer would be destroyed much more rapidly than it is produced. Not only would this lead to threatening ultraviolet radiation levels, but according to Elisabetta Pierazzo of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, “It will produce an ozone hole that will engulf the entire Earth.” If in fact this harmful radiation did happen, how long would it take to kill an average human being or the entire population? Only hours? Or perhaps days or even months? The human race must learn to adapt to the radiation to be able to survive any time exposed to it. One suggestion made by Pierazzo was to plant crops more resistant to the ultraviolet rays. Which crops could withstand this radiation? Could any of them? My other thought was how else are we supposed to change our normal life styles to fit this new one if it occurs? Even though crashing into the world’s oceans can cause major distress for our planet, asteroids hitting dry dirt can cause problems for plant growth – even the radiation adapted ones. What do you think?

Surveyor Seals Reveal Secrets of Antarctic Depths

Surveyor Seals Reveal Secrets of Antarctic Depths
Read the article at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19687-surveyor-seals-reveal-secrets-of-antarctic-depths.html
Do you believe that seals can reveal the secrets of the Antarctic depths. This article tells about what the seals have done and entered in the Antarctic ocean. Read and see for yourself and write what you think about the situation. Seals are helping to map the ocean floor around Antarctica. And they are proving their worth: they have already revealed new features on the sea bed that could help researchers explain the rapid melting of ice in recent years..... how dependable is this information

Rarest Snake Races Back from the Brink of Extinction

Are we 'protecting' endangered species, such as the Antiguan Racer, to such an extreme point that we are in fact over-protecting them and beginning to interfere with nature and the natural cycle of things as a whole? Since removing imported rats from the Caribbean island of Antigua, the Antiguan Racer population has increased ten-fold. At the rate it is now, the Antiguan Racer population will have increased to fifty snakes per square mile by the late 2020's. What effect would this have on such a small island country?

TAKE THE ULTIMATE IQ TEST

As I have walked the halls of our own little school, I have caught that many feel there are differences in intelligence between students. The article “Take the Ultimate Intelligence Test” by Adrian M. Owen, talks about how Mr. Owen himself and a team created a test of questions that explore and challenge literally every nook and cranny of your brain. They understood that different layers of the brain are responsible for different types of thought. For example, the outer layers are responsible for higher thought, and the deeper structures are involved in memory. This test probes what they call “the 12 pillars of wisdom” to give you a true accurate measure of your intelligence, testing a broad range of cognitive skills that are believed to contribute to intelligence. Go to http://cbstrials.com/Open/Default.aspx?B_ID=279 and measure your intelligence now! Give your opinion, do you think this score is or is not accurate? Do you feel this test truly measures your intelligence? If society started using the scores of these tests for job applicants, do you think they would increase, or decrease your probability of getting hired? If these tests are truly accurate, do you think society is really ready to answer the question; how intelligent is America? Go to the article at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19592-take-the-ultimate-intelligence-test.html
I do have the information about the test. The whole trial should run in less than half an hour, and consists of 12 tasks to explore your 12 Pillars of Wisdom. You can take a break at any time, and the test will save your answers, so don't fret if you can't get it all done at once. Also what is really cool about this test, is it is part of an actual study, and your results will give you a summary showing how you performed relative to the population. So show your smarts and have fun!

Does Blue Light Tap Directly into Your Emotions?

Think about some places you have been where the light was altered: like a party with black lights, or a room completely painted in red paint. Or even consider how you feel on a sunny day, compared to a cloudy day. In this article- http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827845.000-blue-light-taps-directly-into-your-emotions.html, researchers are trying to find out what really goes on in the human brain that triggers our good and bad emotions, connected by color. We all know that the retina contains two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones, which process visible light. Yet scientists have found a third type of photoreceptor particularly sensitive to blue light. Amazingly it has nothing to do with visual responses, instead mediates things such as sleep cycles and alertness.

Read the article and you decide on whether you think this pathway directly affects our emotional state or if you feel it is all just in your personal perspective?
Do you think this could be used to help treat mood disorders?
How does the light around you affect your mood? Or does it?
How do certain colors affect your mood? Or does it? And if they do, what colors do you feel affect you the most?

Gene Therapy Proposed to Treat Depression

There are so many people in the world we live in who suffer from depression, but what treatment options are there for them? Testing for a new treatment that could cure depression in humans is underway: gene therapy. A lack of a gene called p11 has been shown to lead to depression in humans. Tests on mice have been conducted on mice that lack p11 and mice that are healthy. Viruses containing the gene were injected into the mice and reversed the depression in the mice. Similar procedures have been used for people who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. More tests are being conducted, now on primates to support a trial for human use.
Are they justified in using animals for testing if it is for a medical benefit? Is the lack of the gene p11 the only thing that causes depression, can people who don’t lack this gene become depressed?
To get more information, read the article at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827831.900-gene-therapy-proposed-to-treat-depression.html

Extra Organs?

It is said that the appendix, wisdom teeth, vomeronasal organ, Darwin's point, and goose bumps are organs that humans have that are completely pointless and no longer needed on the human body. Is that necessarily true? If we didn't have those organs would it make us any less human? Would we be considered normal without the prescence of these specific organs? People may have an affinity for one of these organs and might feel "naked" without them. Do you personally have a preference? If so, why? What is so "special" about the organ(s) that make you want to keep them? Read the article at the link below to get more ideas.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13927-five-things-humans-no-longer-need.html