You're a normal kid. Everyday you wake up, kiss your little brother on your way out the door, and go to school. After school you go to football, or lacrosse, or the library. Then you go home and do your homework. Eat dinner with your family in front of the TV. On the weekends you hangout with friends, maybe get a little drunk. All the while smiling because even though life might be hard, at least you're safe and you have a warm bed with a loving family to return to. But what if one day that changed. Instead of going to the library you go to jail. After hours of non-stop interrogation without your parents permission you're thrown hastily into a cell. Convicted of a crime you know you did not commit.
Four teenagers in Chicago were convicted of raping and killing Lori Roscetti in 1986. They served 15 years in jail before DNA evidence proved their innocence. Calvin, 14 at the time, says the police tricked him into signing a confession. After interrogating him for hours they promised if he just signed the confession then he could go home to his mom. After he signed the confession they locked him up in jail. A man named Omar Saunders was asked by police to testify as a witness to seeing 4 black guys and a white girl being raped by the railroad tracks. When he refused to falsely testify he was convicted and sent to jail as well. Omar become the group's unofficial lawyer. When they discovered none of their semen matched that of the attackers they realized they were legally free. But first Calvin had to sign an affidavit and he refused. The last time Calvin signed his name on a piece of paper he went to jail for life, so he had decided he wasn't signing his name anymore. After finally getting Calvin to sign they found Kathleen Zellner who was in the business of exonerating wrongly convicted prisoners using DNA evidence. After returning to court and proving their innocence, the men were free. After 15 years of living in prison for a crime they did not commit.
We listened to this story in a radio podcast. It was really sad to hear about the men's experiences in jail. I was amazed to hear that the United States justice system works like that. I had no idea police would interrogate minors for hours without parental consent then trick them into signing confessions. Or that they would try to trick people in falsely testifying against suspects. It was really disheartening to hear this. I skimmed a transcript of the podcast to find the names and dates for the summary and it was much sadder the 2nd time I read it. It really sank in this time. I hope I never go to jail for a crime I didn't commit!
Monday, April 14, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Cancer and Anti-angiogenesis
The disease we hear more and more about today is cancer. Skin cancer, breast cancer, brain cancer. No matter where it occurs in the body, cancer is a disease killing millions of people. We always hear of radiation and chemotherapy as treatments for cancer, but you can help prevent cancer from developing by eating anti-angiogenic foods.
Angiogenesis is the cause of arthritis, obesity, and cancer. Dr. William Li gave a TED talk about angiogenesis, and said that it is the process of building blood vessels. We all have cancerous cells in our bodies, but for most of us these are microscopic and will never become life threatening. To grow and spread, these cancer cells need a blood supply. They become dangerous when they recruit their own blood supply allowing them to grow. Several common foods help prevent the spread of cancer by cutting off the blood supply and causing the tumor to starve and die. These foods include, but are not limited to, pumpkin, berries, dark chocolate, pineapple, tomatoes and garlic. Dr. Li's approach was instead of removing things from our diet, what could be added.
This was a really interesting video. Before we watched it in class, I had no idea that the foods in your diet could actually effect your chances of developing cancer. Kids are always joking that certain foods are "cancer in a bottle," or that they're going to get cancer from eating something. I don't know if that's true, but it's possible knowing how big of an impact the food we eat has. It was interesting to me which foods were anti-angiogenic and which were not. Red grapes are anti-angiogenic, but green grapes aren't. Lemons but not limes. It makes me feel better knowing that I'm probably keeping my body healthy by eating these foods, plus who doesn't want an excuse to eat chocolate?
Angiogenesis is the cause of arthritis, obesity, and cancer. Dr. William Li gave a TED talk about angiogenesis, and said that it is the process of building blood vessels. We all have cancerous cells in our bodies, but for most of us these are microscopic and will never become life threatening. To grow and spread, these cancer cells need a blood supply. They become dangerous when they recruit their own blood supply allowing them to grow. Several common foods help prevent the spread of cancer by cutting off the blood supply and causing the tumor to starve and die. These foods include, but are not limited to, pumpkin, berries, dark chocolate, pineapple, tomatoes and garlic. Dr. Li's approach was instead of removing things from our diet, what could be added.
This was a really interesting video. Before we watched it in class, I had no idea that the foods in your diet could actually effect your chances of developing cancer. Kids are always joking that certain foods are "cancer in a bottle," or that they're going to get cancer from eating something. I don't know if that's true, but it's possible knowing how big of an impact the food we eat has. It was interesting to me which foods were anti-angiogenic and which were not. Red grapes are anti-angiogenic, but green grapes aren't. Lemons but not limes. It makes me feel better knowing that I'm probably keeping my body healthy by eating these foods, plus who doesn't want an excuse to eat chocolate?
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Lucy the Human-Chimp
We listened to a podcast about Lucy. Lucy was a chimpanzee that was raised as human to see how human chimps could be. Lucy learned sign language and was smart enough to describe things she didn't know the word for using other words in her vocabulary. She became attracted to human men, not male chimps. At around age 11 Lucy got to the mature age where chimps go a little crazy in captivity and she was kept in a cage. When the family couldn't take it any longer they decided to try and rehabilitate her into the wild. The lady who worked on it ended up moving to a deserted island with Lucy and lots of other chimps raised in captivity. The chimps just wanted her food and human things so she had to build a giant cage for herself to live in. It took years before Lucy would finally eat the food in the wild. The lady returned to the island to check on the chimps about a year after she left, and they all came to greet her. Lucy gave her a hug before following the other chimps away. When she returned to the island the next time she found Lucy's skeleton near where her cage had been, and the best guess as to what had happened was that Lucy had shot by poachers.
What did Lucy teach us about chimpanzees?
She taught us that so much of who we are comes from how we've been socialized. Nurture vs. Nature. Even though she was a chimpanzee, she acted human because that's how she was raised.
What did Lucy teach us about being human?
She taught us that being human isn't just a "human thing." Lucy acted like a human and did human things even though she wasn't human.
Do you have a different perspective of chimps after the story?
Before hearing this story I didn't know how strong chimpanzees are. For not a whole lot of difference in intelligence, there's a huge difference in strength. I also didn't know they become difficult at around 10 years of age.
Was the experiment worthwhile?
I don't think it was worthwhile because Lucy never understood what was being asked of her when she was released, or that she was an experiment.
How does Lucy's end make you feel?
I thought it was really sad. It was unfair to ask Lucy to go from being a "human" to being a wild chimp with no explanation and expect her to understand. She spent her whole life around humans, it was a culture shock to be released into the wild.
What did Lucy teach us about chimpanzees?
She taught us that so much of who we are comes from how we've been socialized. Nurture vs. Nature. Even though she was a chimpanzee, she acted human because that's how she was raised.
What did Lucy teach us about being human?
She taught us that being human isn't just a "human thing." Lucy acted like a human and did human things even though she wasn't human.
Do you have a different perspective of chimps after the story?
Before hearing this story I didn't know how strong chimpanzees are. For not a whole lot of difference in intelligence, there's a huge difference in strength. I also didn't know they become difficult at around 10 years of age.
Was the experiment worthwhile?
I don't think it was worthwhile because Lucy never understood what was being asked of her when she was released, or that she was an experiment.
How does Lucy's end make you feel?
I thought it was really sad. It was unfair to ask Lucy to go from being a "human" to being a wild chimp with no explanation and expect her to understand. She spent her whole life around humans, it was a culture shock to be released into the wild.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Thinking Like a Mountain
An ecosystem only works when every plant and animal is connected together in a balance, a harmony that equalizes the predators, and the prey, and creates a symmetric bond. Aldo Leopold came to understand this during a hunting trip, when he witnessed this harmony in nature.
Leopold goes on a hunting trip and sees a wolf swim across a river below them. The old wolf is met by a pack of grown pups who greet her excitedly. Leopold and his buddies start shooting the wolves, excited to kill them. Then as they watch the old wolf die, they see a fire in her eyes that makes him realize there is a balance to the mountain, and he has just disrupted it. Leopold comes to understand that a mountain needs its wolves, because without wolves to eat the deer, the deer eat everything on the mountain, leaving it bare.
This article was really sad. I was amazed to read about how the hunters shot the wolves without hesitation! To them that was a great opportunity, but to our generation, it seems inhuman. There was a lot of descriptive language, which helped me to connect. I understood what he was saying about the mountain being eaten alive. It was awful for me to think about them killing the wolves so easily.
Leopold goes on a hunting trip and sees a wolf swim across a river below them. The old wolf is met by a pack of grown pups who greet her excitedly. Leopold and his buddies start shooting the wolves, excited to kill them. Then as they watch the old wolf die, they see a fire in her eyes that makes him realize there is a balance to the mountain, and he has just disrupted it. Leopold comes to understand that a mountain needs its wolves, because without wolves to eat the deer, the deer eat everything on the mountain, leaving it bare.
This article was really sad. I was amazed to read about how the hunters shot the wolves without hesitation! To them that was a great opportunity, but to our generation, it seems inhuman. There was a lot of descriptive language, which helped me to connect. I understood what he was saying about the mountain being eaten alive. It was awful for me to think about them killing the wolves so easily.
Monday, September 2, 2013
TED Talk About Lions and Leopards
We think we know and understand everything. We are the intelligent ones, the ones who can think and speak, and that makes us special. But we underestimate animals, and overestimate ourselves.
Beverly and Dereck Joubert have spent years studying and filming the lions and leopards of Africa. They followed a baby leopard they named Lachadema, meaning light from the sky, for 4 and half years since she was a young cub. She got comfortable with them to climb in their jeep once, but they understood the importance of teaching her not to do that. On Lachadema's first hunt, she killed a baboon, later discovering it had a young baby. She took care of it for many hours, which was incredible and amazing to the filmers. In the 5 years they worked with Lachadema, 10,000 leopards were legally shot, not including the leopards killed by poachers. When they were born there were 450,000 lions, 45,000 tigers, 50,000 cheetahs, and 700,000 leopards. Now there are only 20,000 lions, 3,000 tigers, 12,000 cheetahs, and 50,000 leopards left. When a male lion is killed, a new male will take over the pride, killing all the cubs and some of the lionesses. For that one one male, between 20 and 30 lions are killed. If the lions disappear, whole ecosystems in Africa will disappear too.
This video was heartbreaking for me. All those beautiful creatures killed for fur, killed for sport. The downfall of these populations in such a short time is incredible, horrible. These amazing animals are so strong and graceful and beautiful, a dying species. The footage that was captured was amazing. They got footage of lions trying to take down an elephant, and saw how strong the will to survive can be, even after hope is lost. Big cats are my favorite animals, so this video was personal for me, and hit home. Someday I'd like to be able to say I've helped make a difference for these predators.
Beverly and Dereck Joubert have spent years studying and filming the lions and leopards of Africa. They followed a baby leopard they named Lachadema, meaning light from the sky, for 4 and half years since she was a young cub. She got comfortable with them to climb in their jeep once, but they understood the importance of teaching her not to do that. On Lachadema's first hunt, she killed a baboon, later discovering it had a young baby. She took care of it for many hours, which was incredible and amazing to the filmers. In the 5 years they worked with Lachadema, 10,000 leopards were legally shot, not including the leopards killed by poachers. When they were born there were 450,000 lions, 45,000 tigers, 50,000 cheetahs, and 700,000 leopards. Now there are only 20,000 lions, 3,000 tigers, 12,000 cheetahs, and 50,000 leopards left. When a male lion is killed, a new male will take over the pride, killing all the cubs and some of the lionesses. For that one one male, between 20 and 30 lions are killed. If the lions disappear, whole ecosystems in Africa will disappear too.
This video was heartbreaking for me. All those beautiful creatures killed for fur, killed for sport. The downfall of these populations in such a short time is incredible, horrible. These amazing animals are so strong and graceful and beautiful, a dying species. The footage that was captured was amazing. They got footage of lions trying to take down an elephant, and saw how strong the will to survive can be, even after hope is lost. Big cats are my favorite animals, so this video was personal for me, and hit home. Someday I'd like to be able to say I've helped make a difference for these predators.
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