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 B...

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 ...

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 ...