Zika Warning Spotlights Latin America's Fight Against Mosquito-Borne Diseases

ScrAPES#16: Latin America's Fight Against Mosquito-Borne Diseases

by Simon Romero

January 17, 2016

The Latin American or Caribbean countries are facing a bountiful amount of Mosquito-Borne Diseases. Brazil has deployed soldiers to wipe out habitats where mosquitoes lives. Colombia is discharging mosquitoes that are treated with a bacteria that restricts their capacity to spread disease. Mexico is examining the first vaccine against dengue fever (a mosquito-borne viral disease occurring in tropical or subtropical areas). The United States advised pregnant women to delay their travels to more than a dozen Latin American or Caribbean countries, including Puerto Rico, where mosquitoes are promptly enlarging the reach of Zika (the virus linked to a surge in cases of infants born with brain damage). The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), stated a debate across Latin America over the growing vulnerability to mosquito-borne diseases. A Brazilian tourism minister, Henrique Alves, argued towards the CDC that the Brazilian authorities were taking measures to prevent Zika from expanding widely, though there are approximately 3,500 cases of microcephaly, an extraordinary condition linked to Zika in which infants are born with abnormally small heads.

Baby effected with microcephaly.

This is the "ugly" people.

This is the "pretty" people.

This is interesting to me because this is the first time I have heard of Zika or other mosquito-borne diseases. When I read this article the first thing that came into mind when I saw the words mosquito and disease was Malaria, which is a disease caused by a plasmodium parasite transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. When I used to watch tons of Wild or Animal Planet shows, mosquitoes were proven to be the highest animals or insect to kill humans because of Malaria. I cannot believe that Zika would have an effect towards babies who were born with due to contact by the pregnant mother. How can a baby develop a small head through a mosquito? Recently I watched a video from a youtuber called Top5s and I watched a video about how the future would turn out to be. One of them was that humans will develop ONLY two races; the ugly and the good-looking. The ugly had a small head and a very disgusting looking body. While the good-looking had a bigger head and eyes, no hairs, etc. It also said that the human race will only be one, which is tan. This makes me wonder whether or not the Top5s' theory on the future of humans is true due to Zika. Is Zika deadly and can be treated?

This is important to the environment because of the mosquito-borne diseases increases widely can effect more pregnant women and effect other countries. If a pregnant woman was to travel to one of the Latin American or Caribbean countries and get infected by the microcephaly and did not know and traveled back to the United States, there might be a possibility that the woman will spread it in the United States. And if majority of the population of the world got infected by the microcephaly, the new generation of children will be different. If babies with the disease can survive successfully then there might be two kinds of children. That is ridiculous. The disease can also effect the population because the population may decrease IF it is not stopped.

Resources:

• Latin America's Fight Against Mosquito-Borne Diseases
• 5 Predictions For The Human Race by Top5s 

Rare turtle, Thought extinct, Reintroduced

ScrAPES#15: Rare Turtle, Thought Extinct, Reintroduced

By Michael Casey

April 13, 2015

In Myanmar there used to be a rare turtle named Myanmar roofed turtle (or Batagur Trivittata) who was found supposedly extinct in 2001; when Platt and U Win Ko discovered a single shell from a recently killed turtle. Approximately ten years later, the Myanmar roofed turtle were found at a wildlife market in China and the ponds of a pagoda (a Hindu or Buddhist temple or sacred building, typically a many-tiered tower, in India and East Asia.) in Mandalay. The three turtles created a captive assurance colony which was a cause of a program called a captive breeding program by WCS and the Turtle Survival Alliance. The program collected wild eggs and when they hatched the turtles automatically started breeding. The population so far for these Myanmar roofed turtles is at 600. The Myanmar Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Foresty established a new faculty in 2011 to increase the program's resilience to dangerous events, and to bring back the animals to their origins. Soon enough the villagers released 60 turtles who met the requirements of being big enough for survival because the smaller turtles had a least likely chance to survive. The turtle population decreased over the years due to the persistent threat of habitat loss.





This is interesting to me because recently in class we were learning about invasive, native, and extinct species. IF the Myanmar roofed turtles were extinct for at least a decade then that makes me wonder if setting them back out to their environment will change any web that has occurred in its environment. For example if the Myanmar roofed turtles had a predator ten years ago, would the same predator find interest in them? Maybe the Myanmar roofed turtles either migrated to a new environment OR they were close to extinctions like the Rhinos. 




This is important to the environment because lately in this generation there are many animals and plants that are going extinct, endangered or near to become an endangered species, but of course not humans. That is kind of funny because it seems like humans are taking over everything. It is kind of sad too. Anyways, this comeback from the Myanmar roofed turtle is kind of a surprised because it may or may not effect the environment. I do not know whether or not the environment need all the animals that extinct or are threatened to extinction to be alive, or maybe it is for the good that they are gone. If there were severe changes towards the Myanmar and its lifestyle, hopefully it would adapt.




Resources:
Rare turtle, Thought extinct, Reintroduced into wild

Smog So Thick, Beijing Comes to a Standstill

ScrAPES#14: Smog So Thick, Beijing Comes to a Standstill

by Edward Wong

December 8, 2015

As everyone knows China is an extremely populous country and also pollutant. In Beijing, people were alerted when there was a poisonous air quality which resulted to close schools, factories, and motorists off the road. The government issued a report stating to people to be careful with their health because of the hazardous air. This is the first time China alerted a red alert on their severe air pollution. The municipal air quality index read 308 which was considered very harmful to the United States standards. Even though the Chinese government is taking action, people are still criticizing the poor environment China has to offer.




This article is interesting to me because as I already know China has the most populated people in the world, but I did not know that China's environment was very ugly due to its severe pollution. I only found this out recently, maybe a year or two ago? China is one of the strong, wealthy countries, but what is a very wealthy country when its environment is crap? China can at least present itself nicely. They have plenty of money but is not taking much action to decrease pollution or is it too late? I question how people survive living in China because it is so hazardous that I expect an amount of death. If I lived in China I would stay home and probably just go out for grocery shopping because I would not want to be breathing a like-able toxic air.




This concerns China's environment very much and also others. It concerns China's environment because as said before this is EXTREME pollution and EXTREME health risks. Their plants and animals will die or is already most likely dead, and lastly their people. Who wants to die? No one wants to die. China is slowly to moderately killing planet Earth simply because they wanted a better economy. They ignored pollution and pollution took over them. How much more if the world ignored global warming? Soon global warming will take over us and we will die. People start believing when things are falling apart.




Resources: 
Smog So Thick, Beijing Come to a Standstill

3.2 Millimeters: A Troubling Rise in Sea Level

ScrAPES#13: 3.2 Millimeters: A Troubling Rise in Sea Level

by Nicholas Bakalar

November 30, 2015

The latest report from the intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change stated that sea levels accelerated an average of 1.7 millimeters a year during the 20th century. The rise are unpredictable in some places because some of them had higher sea level increase than others. Scientists use tidal gauges and satellite altimeter data to take the amount of these changes. Ever since 1993 the average rate of increase has approximately doubled to 3.2 millimeters a year. Global warming and melting of ice and snow took part of this increase.

This is interesting to me because I have always wondered if scientists can measure the amount of ocean water earth has as a whole. I guess measuring the amount of increase sea level is very close enough. Also this takes interest to me because every time I hear global warming, climate change, or even this, it makes me wonder about the end of the world. I do believe in the end of the world (religiously). What would earth be like from 100 years from now? Will it still be alive and technology increased and so did the rich? Or will it have died out because of the apocalypse? Knowing the fact that sea levels increase rapidly makes me cringe because it is like dying from drowning.

This relates to the environment because if the sea level keeps rapidly increasing over time, soon homes will be flooded because it will surround the grounds of the earth. We cannot just throw away water because water is liquid and I cannot be "held". Soon in the future people animals will have no home or food because it will be extremely difficult to grow crops, if we do not change our ways. This is human's fault as well as mother nature because we cause global warming by greenhouse gases and the unhealthy living we took upon on.

What Climate Change Looks Like: Dissolving Shells

ScrAPES#12: What Climate Change Looks Like: Dissolving Shells

by Michael Boston

November 30, 2015

What do you see when you hear the word climate change? I bet you see erosion, increase of heat temperature, ice separating increasingly, etc. Am I right? Well researches and scientists discovered that the pteropods' shells are dissolving due to climate change or global warming. These tiny pteropods are eaten by salmons, whales, and others. Their shells contain calcium carbonate, which are sensitive to changes in the ocean's pH levels. Human activities which concerns carbon dioxide effects the ocean's pH levels which also effects the pteropods.

This is interesting to me because I have never heard of a pteropods in my life. I am also surprised that if climate change will effect the tiny living things in the ocean it will take a big part in our lives as well, because I believe that if something happens to one thing it effects everything else as a whole. Personally I am not a fan of climate change or global warming because when I was seven years old, ten years ago, I recalled that summer was perfect, winter was perfect. Everything was steady and time was slow. Now the seasons are not steady at all because winter arrives late and ends up to be severe blizzards. While summer are very hot like the tropics. 

This relates to the environment because I noticed that when people hear climate change they mostly think of it as a threat to human kind. Instead why do we not also consider it as a threat to animals and plants? They too are living. When climate change occurs because of global warming it effects plants and animals and the food web. If the pteropods' shells dissolve because of high pH level in the ocean then most likely the animals that consider it its meals will die as well. It will effect the ecosystem and the food chain and food web.

Resources:

• What Climate Change Looks Like: Dissolving Shells

India Is Caught in a Climate Change Quandary

ScrAPES#11: India Is Caught in a Climate Change Quandary

by Eduardo Porter

November 10, 2015

 India has 30% of the world's poorest. Majority of them, approximately 304 million people do not have electricity. While 92 million people do not have fresh drinking water. India will encounter a severe monsoon between August and September, with about 70% of India's rainfall. While also having to pay more for the consequences of the emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from richer and developed countries. The United Nations believed that India's population would increasingly maximize to 1.5 billion by 2030, much more than China.   Majority of countries in the world are deciding to decrease greenhouse gases but there are also some who oppose.

This is interesting to me is one of the most populated country in the world with over 1.25 billion people, also being such a little country (compared to China). I am not also surprised that majority of Indians do not have electricity nor fresh drinking water because it is a third world country. What interests me is that India's population will assumingly increase so much that it will be much more than China's population. 



This relates to the environment because first the living style of the approximately 80-90% of the Indian's in India are very poor; do not have electricity, fresh water, money, or even a job. With very poor lifestyle people would most likely die from starvation or give up, which means the Crude Death Rate (CDR) will increase and it will be unbalance. Secondly, India's population is a problem because it also effects the overall human population. We cannot afford to have tons and tons of people living in earth when earth can only hold a certain capacity. As our population increase the more we are basically killing our planet. People think it's a joke but it really is not. 


Resource:

• India Is Caught in a Climate Change Quandary

Scientist Injects Himself with 3.5 Million Year old Bacteria

ScrAPES#10: Scientist Injects Himself with 3.5 Million Year Old Bacteria

by Mark Prigg

September 30, 2015

Anatoli Brouchkov is a Russian scientist at Moscow State University. Recently he found a bacteria in Mammoth Mountain in Sahka Republic or Yakutia in Serbia. The bacteria is named Bacillus F, and has been alive for millions of years being embedded on permafrost. Scientist tested it on experimental animals, but Dr. Brouchkov wanted to test it upon himself as well. His feedback to the bacteria was that he felt stronger and healthier. Elderly mices became more active and began to produce offspring. Scientists say that the bacteria may improve human health. 

This outstanding article or news is interesting to me because I think it is pretty awesome that there has been a bacteria out there for millions of years, untouched, and still living. I wonder what the bacteria feels being alive for years and years and years. What surprised me actually was that the bacteria survived in a sovereign climate. Serbia's world record coldest temperature was -31.9 degrees in 1985, and it could go up to 112.8 degrees boiling hot. The bacteria most likely has a very good adaptability to be able to survive these temperatures.

This relates to the environment because if this bacteria was literally true fact then it could save the human kind. We could cure cancer, diseases, sickness, etc. Also the bacteria could cure genetic mutations or diseases like progeria or the "tree man", with a rare condition of Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis. We may also be able to cure mental illness (if we actually can). This would most likely also save us from tragic disasters and prevent us from death. Humans will be healthier and the healthier we are, the better we feel, and the less likely we go to the doctors. But this would also effect our Crude Death Rate (CDR) because with people healthy and very less likely to die, the Crude Death Rate would decrease. Our population of seven billion will soon blossom even more.

Resources:

• 3.5 MILLION year old bacteria
• Scientist Injects Himself with 3.5 Million Year old Bacteria