APES Current Events

The use of plastic bags has been a topic of debate for a while, and New York State is passing a bill to ban their use. Plastic bags, although useful to people, are not useful to the environment. For example, the article cites that a whale died from having 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach, as a result of plastic bags and other plastics floating around the ocean. Also, the article cited that New York State utilizes 23 billion plastic bags yearly, which is certainly a lot of plastic that is created to be used once or twice. Enacting this bill would ban the use of plastic bags, which is a lot safer for the environment. My reaction to this article was informational. I think the article cites very good examples as to why plastic bags should be banned. I was also very surprised at the number of plastic bags that are used in the State of New York. Overall, the banning of plastic bags in New York State is helpful to the environment in the long run. Read More ~  New York State To Ban P

In recent years, when oil and gas are extracted or found, it ends up being recycled as it leads to the leaking of salt, radioactive elements and chemical affecting hormones into surface water or groundwater. With that being said, in 13 states, wastewater is able to be/is used to maintain roads as cheaper deicing fluid or for low budgets areas like rural areas to keep the roads in good shape. Additionally, spills and incidents from wastewater treatment plants have become an issue for us as it contains radium and will affect us humans and our environment negatively. Therefore, with the solution of new research, it could mean the testing of the wastewater before it is used and put out on the roads as well as more effective and affordable deicing alternatives to make everything safer. I never really thought about this issue until reading this article but I highly think that the wastewater should have always been tested first before using it so that way it could have prevented these issue

This is an experiment where peeps are being inoculated with a dozen kinds of fungi and people are asking why and it's just a fun experiment to see if fungi can survive in the marshmallow. It should be a good home for the fungi since fungi loves sugar and corn syrup and since peeps have a long shelve life. They won't know the results till later on Easter they will slice the peeps open and see. I think this is a cool experiment especially with the holiday coming around. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/science/marshmallow-peeps-fungus.html

                Rainforests with more termites showed that there was more moisture in the soil, leaf litter decomposition and seedling survival during a drought, scientists reported. Researchers buried toilet paper in the soil with termites on it because they like to eat toilet paper, they also buried poisoned tea bags in case they did not eat the toilet paper. The termites died from consuming the poisoned tea bags, but other insects like beetles and ants were unaffected by them. Over two years’ researchers destroyed mounds of termites and replaced them with poisoned toilet paper every six months. During a drought termites numbers doubled, untreated spots had higher soil moisture. I think it’s important to have termites in forests if It means that it will keep the moisture in the soil very good. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/poison-toilet-paper-teabags-termites-rainforests-drought

The first approval of the only treatment in the United States specifically targeting postpartum depression is offering hope for many women each year who suffer from mental health disorder after giving birth.This new drug called brexanolone, but is marketed under the name Zulresso, was approved on March 19 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Hopefully expected to become available to the public in late June. Unfortunately, the drug is very expensive and treatment is intensive. It’s administered in the hospital as a 60-hour intravenous drip, and a treatment runs between $20,000 and $35,000. But researchers say it could help 11.5 percent of U.S. new moms each year who experience postpartum depression. This could also help with the normal bonding between mothers and infants, leading to feeling hopeless, sad or overly anxious. I think this drug could rally help, but i also think that many new mothers will not be able to afford this option and will have to face the affects of postpartu

Link: Because temperatures in the arctics are warming up so significantly, the temperature difference between the poles and the tropics is weakening.  This will eventually cause less precipitation and lead to prolonged drought. I think this is an issue because now these areas will be facing droughts, which will be a major concern for tropical areas that are used to having an abundance of rain. 

According to a preliminary study done by the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, older people can experience improvements in thinking after only a 20-minute workout. Cognitive neuroscientist Michelle Voss conducted an experiment by gathering 34 people with an average age of 67 to undergo brain scans and memory tests after doing an intense 20-minute workout on a stationary bike and then after doing a 20-minute workout on a bike that pedaled for them. It was found that the participants were better at remembering faces and their brains became stronger, shown on an MRI, after doing the stationary bike workout than the self-pedaling bike. The experiment then switched to long term in which the group was divided into two. Their long term results were similar to their short term results, with the group doing a longer, more intense workout having an easier time remembering faces.   As shown by this experiment, exercise can be looked at as a medicine that can be personally designed to suit an indi

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47667880 Scientists have discovered thousands of fossils on a river bank in China. The fossils are about 518 million years old. They are very unusual because of their soft body tissue like their skin, eyes, and organs are well preserved. Paleontologists have said the findings are mind blowing because many of the fossils come from undiscovered species. There were over 20,000 specimen collected and 4,351 of them have been studied and have come up as jellyfish, worms, sea anemones, and algae. Prof Xingliang Zhang stated that these findings will become a "very important" source when studying the early origins of creatures. Many paleontologists have described the findings as remarkable because they are unlike anything they've ever seen. The fossils are from the Cambrian period which took place over 541 years ago.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190313143307.htm Noise pollution has caused many marine animals to suffer. marine animals use noise for almost everything that they do; communication, navigation, hunting, and also avoiding predators. The noise pollution can cause loss of hearing that could be temporary or even permanent damage. this is caused by human activities from uses of ships and from gas and oil being pumped from the ground. not all human made noise pollution are that bad. some help with preventing large mammals from getting stuck in nets to catch fish. I think this is more of a bad thing because it will result in the lose of even more fish and large animals and it will end up killing possible making many of the large marine animals to become extinct.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190314075547.htm Many scientists at the University of Plymouth want to know what our smartphones are made of and how. They found this information out by taking a smartphone, putting it in a blender, and making it turn into dust and testing those chemicals. These scientists want to figure out a way to recycle every smartphone once they are done with their use. In order to do this experiment, they took a smart phone placed it in a blender at 500 degrees Celsius with sodium peroxide.  As a result to this experiment they found that the smartphone had 33 grams of iron, 13 grams of silicon, 7 grams of chromium, 90 milligrams of silver, and 36 milligrams of gold. My reaction to this article was very concerning, to be on a smartphone everyday for a couple hours with these kind of chemicals can't be good for you? Right? It was also interesting to know all the chemicals used to make a phone. The thought of what kind of chemicals could be in a

Researchers have been conducting studies on female bears in Colorado to see if there is a link between processed foods they consume and aging. They monitored 30 female bears and their food consumption, and then ran tests on their cells. They found that sugary processed foods that the bears scavenged from human leftovers may decrease their hibernation periods. The researchers also found that the cells of the bears that consumed process foods appeared to age faster than those who didn’t. This is alarming because human foods could have many more affects on the animals that eat them that we don’t even know about. It is important that we keep our food away from the wildlife when we eat in their environment. Bears that eat 'junk food' may hibernate less and age faster

New research based on fossils preserved in tar are showing evidence that saber toothed cats were not solitary animals, unlike most large cats today. Severe injuries were shown to have healed in the fossils, suggesting that injured animals were not left to die. The injuries could be extremely severe, yet the cats were surviving for years after the incidents. This points to the idea that the groups of animals were at least somewhat bonded, and would allow the animals that couldn't hunt to eat from what the others had hunted. I think these findings are pretty interesting, and they are helping to clear up whether or not saber toothed cats were solitary or not. Article

Article In the last 80 years, rising ocean temperatures have reduced the catch of 124 different fish and shellfish species. Close to 8 percent of fish populations have has losses as a result of ocean warming. Because around 3.2 billion people rely on seafood as a source of crucial nutrients, this is becoming an increasingly alarming issue. I find this very upsetting. As ocean temperatures continue to rise, we will only lose more fish species that we rely on for food and nutrients. We definitely need to work to find solutions to climate change before this problem gets any worse. 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/03/sage-grouse-rule-rollback-conservation/ The Trump administration took away protection for the sage grouse, a bird that served as a symbol of balancing extractive land use and preservation in the west. The plan allows for more oil and gas leasing, and higher drilling opportunities, covering nearly nine million acres of habitat that is crucial for the sage grouse. There has been debate since the 1990s about confirming the grouse as endangered, but this would have meant human restrictions on these areas. During 2015, Obama temporarily settled dispute by agreeing to push this kind of harmful energy work to more industrialized areas, leaving the areas where the grouse are as sort of safe zones. The current changes for each state are dependent on the wants of the particular state governor. Scientists believe that these birds used to have a population of tens of millions, but have now been reduced to fewer than half a million. I feel th

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/ The author of this article begins by making a good historical analogy to depict how serious our plastic usage in modern society is. She states that if the Pilgrims had been using plastic at the current rates that humans are, the oceans would currently be filled with floating fragments of plastic. 6.3 billion tons of a staggering total of 9.2 billion tons of plastic waste accumulated by humans since the 1950s, has never been recycled. The estimated range of time that it will take for this plastic to break down in the ocean is estimated to be between 450 years to never. These statistics are something that should be seriously considered as this amount of plastic will undoubtedly pollute the entire ocean and our other water systems in the future if not properly addressed. This is yet another reason the environment needs to be seen as the global crisis that is and humans need to begin search

ARTICLE A whale in the Davao Gulf in the Philippines was discovered in extremely grave condition. The whale was undeniably going to die. Once the body of the whale was examined, it was discovered that it had over 88 pounds of plastic waste in its stomach. The immense amount of plastic inside of the whale was densely packed into it. In addition to this whale, many other marine animals have been found with stomachs full of plastic waste. The loss of this whale's life, and many other animals' lives, is devastating. This epidemic will only continue to grow if nobody takes action. If people were more conscious of how their everyday product usage can affect marine life, then maybe they would think twice before carrying out certain activities.

Researchers went to yellow stone to find an interesting kind of bacteria. This bacteria can "eat" pollution. It turns toxic pollutants into less harmful substances and creates electricity. Electricity for low power applications could be produced as the bacteria transfers its electrons to solid surfaces. Using this bacteria could change the world by helping clean the environment while also creating electricity and i think we should research it more https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190305135259.htm

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/geneticists-push-5-year-global-ban-gene-edited-babies?tgt=nr Eighteen scientists, including two CRISPR researchers, want their to be a ban on gene-edited babies for five years.  The moratorium would allow a period of time for scientists to debate about how to proceed with the technology and for the general public to be educated.  The ban would not prohibit research of the technology, but edited embryos, eggs, or sperm, would not be allowed to be planted into a woman's womb.  I believe the five year moratorium would be a good idea.  CRISPR, and other gene editing technology, could be very dangerous if not properly regulated.  I think it's wise of these scientists to step back and learn more about it before letting people get too carried away.  The ban would, temporarily perhaps, stop people from playing "God" and deciding what traits their future children would have or not have. 

This article was about former leaders in the white house signing a letter that was sent to the president about the danger of ignoring climate change. Several members who have been in contact with the president have become concerned with the lack of attention that Trump pays to climate change as he has allowed an activist who is denies climate change come into his office. This is a concern for the former members as they do not agree with trump and believe that this is an issue that the president needs to take very seriously and work on improving. It was interesting to read this article because I like seeing people use their opinions to challenge others. https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700462955/former-defense-leaders-warn-white-house-its-dangerous-to-downplay-climate-change

This article was about how the admin of Trump is going to try to take the grey wolf off of the endangered species list in the bottom 48 states. This decision was made because the grey wolf, which was put on the endangered species list at different times in different states, has made a huge comeback. The population of the grey wolf has increased and the Trump admin feels it is necessary to take it off of the endangered species list now. It was interesting to read this article because I got to see the different perspectives of people on how they feel about this decision. https://www.npr.org/2019/03/06/700890055/trump-administration-seeks-to-take-gray-wolf-off-endangered-species-list

This article was about students all over the world going on a school strike to protest against the government not doing anything about climate change. The students believe that climate change is something that is affecting the environment right now and something needs to be done about it. To protest this, they are not going to school today, Friday March 15, to show the governors of their state's that this is unacceptable that nobody is doing anything about climate change. This article was interesting for me to read because it was cool to see students that I can relate to go to such far measures about something they are passionate about. https://www.npr.org/2019/03/14/703461293/skipping-school-to-protest-climate-change

This article was about the threat to Komodo dragons in Indonesia. The Indonesian government is trying to accommodate the tourists visiting the attraction that houses almost 5,500 species of Komoda dragons. The government would like for more tourists to come to a certain part of Indonesia where the attraction is located. The attraction workers, however, are worried about this because the Komodos do not like a lot of tourists. This article was interesting because I was able to learn about the amount of tourists that Indonesia houses every year and some interesting facts about Komodo dragons. https://www.npr.org/2019/03/12/702155579/amid-tourism-push-concern-grows-over-indonesias-komodo-dragons

Foreign earthworms can come to the U.S. and ruin our soil, which can cause problems on that area’s food web.  Now there is evidence that invader earthworms near the Great Lakes could be stressing the region’s sugar maples. There are native earthworms in North America, but they’ve only stayed on regions where plant and humans do not live. Earthworms don’t move quick at all, it takes them like 10,000 years to make a small inroads on their own. I t was interesting to learn about something that people weren't really paying attention to, but it is an important topic to discuss. It showed me that such a small insect could be causing this much damage to trees and the soil. Nobody would expect these insect to be so damaging to our environment and to sugar maples. Link- https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/invasive-earthworms-may-be-taking-toll-sugar-maples

This article goes into detail about a "vampire" parasite that scientists started doing research on, and found out its not after blood, its actually after fat. This parasite names, Varroa destructer, invaded north america in the 1980s and, was thought to be one of the biggest threats to honey bees. Now that research has been conducted they found out that it is really only after the fat in adult and young honey bees. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/honeybee-parasite-may-be-more-fat-stealer-bloodsucker

Scientist from Spain, India, Germany, and Nepal worked together to assess the pressure from humans and climate changes on Asian elephants. They collected a geodatabase of environmental predictor variables. Scientist estimated that around 256 thousand square kilometers are suitibale for elephants in India and Nepal. The effects of climate change were included into a distribution model to predict the future for elephants and range shifts. Projections for different scenarios for 2050 and 2070 were calculated and all possible scenarios that include climate and land change will still have threats to elephants.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hominids-hunt-rabbits-stone-age?tgt=nr Hominids are ancients forms of humans that started hunting rabbits and smaller preys about 400,000 years ago. This new discovery has showed the dietary shift from hunting larger prey to hunting small prey. This also shows the innovation of primitive humans and how they adapted to their environment.

With experts saying that being around a green environment and being outside more gives adults up to a 55% decreased chance to develop various mental health disorders down the line as adults. The study is mainly for the childhood of children and connecting it to more time outside leading to more exercise, healthier eating and less depression. Research has shown that even though the air pollution and global warming effects are showing it could lead to a happier life down the road. My response to this is that being outside and with nature is more beneficial then sitting inside at home. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190226112426.htm

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tidal-floods-climate-change-hurt-small-businesses Over the months and years, climate change is becoming more and more of a problem as it's recently been affecting the sea level which has caused an increase of tidal flooding along the United States coastline. With that being said, these floods that are now occurring are continuing to prevail from one every thousand years to once a week. However, new studies are coming up with the concept that car traffic patterns may help disclose the idea of a floods damage on an areas business revenue. But, tidal flood losses are expected to increase and the worry of cost for business revenues are anticipated to become more complex in the upcoming years. Overall, I find floods kind of fascinating but it's still an issue especially since they are occurring every other week, if not more, so there's definitely some thought that needs to go into prevention or safer ways  to deal with them if possible.

https://newsela.com/read/lib-ocean-noise/id/42711/ Due to humans, the amount of sound that is underwater has increased a lot lately. Humans are disrupting how marine animals can communicating. Animals used sound waves through the ocean as a way to find food and find partners. The sound created by humans can travel very far and affect many living organisms. The article states that sound waves in the ocean can travel all the way from Antarctica to Bermuda. I found it very surprising that we, as humans, are making sound that travels that far. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190228113615.htm Scientists from Spain, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Italy and Germany have worked together to research how human pressures and climate change have affected the asian elephants. They created scenarios using climate and land data projections for 2050 and 2070. All scenarios suggest that climate change and land use will pose threats for these elephants. The scientists are going to continue their research to see how they can help the elephants. I find this really sad. Climate change is affecting everything on out earth, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. If these elephants go extinct, I wonder what animal will be next and how long it will take for humans to realize what is going on.

  Global Warming is starting to make visible affects on our local environment. Sea levels are predicted to rise over 2 feet in the next 10 years. A lot of the land around the Chesapeake is very close to sea level so this is make a great impact on the coastlines.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/08/tapanuli-orangutan-rarest-ape-threatened-dam-news/ Tapanuli orangutans were only discovered in 2017 and are already facing extinction due to the threat of building a $1.6 billion hydroelectric power plant and dam in their habitat. Their species is confined to its remaining area in Sumatra, Indonesia. There are only 800 left and environmentalist groups are desperately trying to fight to save this rare animal and stop the construction of the power plant/dam. The company behind the project is North Sumatera Hydro Energy and they are attempting to blind the public to the real threat the plants construction will truly have on the orangutans. Reading this article is incredibly disheartening and upsetting to see yet another species in danger at the hands of human greed. People need to start caring more about the environment and the animals that live within it or soon we will begin to see more negative effects of these selfish acts that are

The scent of a dead hermit crab sets off other live hermit crabs who are in search of a new shell. As hermit crabs grow they need to move into new shells to accommodate their size. Since finding new shells on land is harder for land hermit crabs they have to use any methods necessary in finding a new shell, which is where the whole part about being drawn to other dead hermit crabs comes from. Neat also kinda gross, but that's nature for you. It's every man for himself in the hermit crab world.   https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hermit-crabs-are-drawn-smell-their-own-dead

Article A study has shown that the personalities of dogs and their owners tend to be quite similar. One of the study's leaders, William Chopik, conducted an experiment in which owners evaluated their own personalities and their dogs' personalities. He found that many of the owners shared a majority of traits with their dog. Chopik further concluded that people usually gravitate towards pets that will easily fit into their routines, which is why they tend to be so similar. Then, the behaviors of the dogs' are morphed to coincide with the owners' behaviors even more closely.

In some of the deepest trenches of the sea, plastic has been found in the stomachs of 72% of amphipods, small crustaceans. These organisms are eating the plastic, but it cannot dissolve, leading to them dying or becoming ill. This is bad because it is yet another example of the environmental issues that come from the pollution of oceans. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/deep-sea-creatures-mariana-trench-eat-plastic/

     Increasing ocean temperatures over 80 years are reducing the amount of fish there are. some areas of the ocean seen up to 35 percent decline were seas are heavily fished in. The warmer ocean temperature are really affecting the populations of haddock and other shell fish. I think this could potentially be a bigger problem so we need to start finding solutions for the increasing temperatures now. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/oceans-are-warming-due-climate-change-yield-fewer-fish