Bureaucrats

Department of Interior

What is it?
The Department of Interior, created by Congress in 1849, is the nation's principal conservation agency. It is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska natives, and native Hawaiians, and to insular areas of the United States.
Their mission is to protect America's treasures for future generations, provide access to our nation's natural and cultural heritage, offer recreation opportunities, honor our trust responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska Natives and our responsibilities to island communities, conduct scientific research, provide wise stewardship of energy and mineral resources, foster sound use of land and water resources, and conserve and protect fish and wildlife.

Why was it established?
In 1848, Walker stated in his annual report that several federal offices were placed in departments with which they had little to do. He noted that General Land Office had little to do with the Treasury and also highlighted the Indian Affairs office, part of the Department of War, and the Patent Office, part of the Department of State. Walker argued that these and other bureaus should be brought together in a new Department of the Interior.

The Department was established on March 3, 1849, the eve of President Zachary Taylor's inauguration, when the Senate voted 31 to 25 to create the Department.

Obama's Nomination:

Salazar is a first-term Colorado Senator who has established a name for himself on public lands and energy resources issues. He headed the Colorado Natural Resources Department from 1990 through 1994. The Interior Department has broad oversight over the nation's energy resources and environment. It oversees oil and gas drilling on public lands and manages the nation's parks and wildlife refuges.

The Colorado senator campaigned vigorously for Obama in the Rocky Mountain state this fall, barnstorming rural areas in an RV preaching alternative energy development and its potential to revitalize economies. After the election, he urged Obama to build his economic stimulus package around investments in energy infrastructure.

Controversy
He outraged many religious conservatives when he called James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, "the anti-Christ"—though he later revised that to "un-Christian." He upset liberals by introducing Bush's attorney general nominee, Alberto Gonzales, at his Senate confirmation hearing. Later, Salazar called on Gonzales to resign over allegations of politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys.

Polls show Obama-McCain race tight as campaign begins

Probably by this time, everyone is aware that Obama is the democratic nominee so I thought I'd give a summary on this article. According to CNN's average of four recent national polls, Obama held a narrow 2 point lead over his Republican counterpart among registered voters, 47 percent to 45 percent and were conducted between May 21 and June 3 before Obama's official nomination. According to Rep. Charles Rangel, Clinton has announced her support for Obama and pledged to help him win the White House.

California's Autism Rises Despite Vaccine Change

This article states that after having blamed the preservative, Thimerosal, found in vaccines, which are high in mercury, for being a factor in developing autism which is a neurological disorder, the state decided to remove this mercury-rich preservative from the common vaccines taken during childhood onwards. However, aside from the absence of this preservative, a new study "found the autism rate in children rose continuously during the 12-year study period from 1995 to 2007." Even though Thimerosal hasn't been used since 2001 there are still high rates of autism. All in all, the study conducted showed that mercury has no effect when it comes to being a factor in causing autism.
I've been hearing a lot about the controversy of high in mercury preservatives in our vaccines and how even some parents refuse to have their children take vaccines for they fear that they might develop this neurological disorder. I believe that it is vital for a child to have vaccines and the fact that this study disproves the fact that mercury found in shots does not have an effect in this neurological disorder might encourage parents to not be so fearful.

Protesters Against Day of Silence

According to this article, Mount Si High School who participated in the Day of Silence had anti-gay protesters in front of their school who were called to be "prayer warriors." The Day of Silence, has been held at high schools and colleges around the country for the past 13 years and it symbolizes the silence that the LGBT community has to go through. The controversy at Mount Si began with the school's invitation to Hutcherson to speak at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly. However, he also talked of his prominence as an activist against gay rights. Randy Taylor, the principal of Mount Si High School, said Hutcherson's planned protest is continuation of that controversy. As said by a GSA advisor, "It's enough of a tragedy that there are 1,000 grown-ups protesting kids who are asking for acceptance. We don't need to say a thing."

Mother Denied Daughter's Organs

In this article, taken place in the UK, Rachel Leak describes the organ transplant regulations as ridiculous after being denied organ transplant from her own daughter, Laura Ashworth who died after an asthma attack. Though it was Laura's personal interest that her kidney be donated to her mother, her kidneys and liver were donated to 3 other people who were higher up on the waiting list. The Human Tissue Authority, who regulates the donation of organs and who they are allocated to stated that organs must be transplanted to those who need it most. Unlike in America, a person can't choose who to give their organ to, family or not. I feel that I agree with Rachel Leak as to why she thinks that the regulations should be changed since she has been experiencing liver failure for 7 years due to diabetes and it was her daughter's personal wish.

Global Temperatures to Decrease

According to this article, due to the powerful La Nina going on around the Pacific, meteorologists have stated that the global temperature of this current year will be fewer than that of last year. Unlike an El Nino, that warms the planet, a La Nina cools it and are both powerful currents.

Warnings Over Future Food Crisis

According to this BBC article a food crisis can be a part of the future ahead, and could be almost as worse as global warming. As poverty is relieved and the possibly of the population reaching an amount of 6.5 billion, the demand for food would increase. Also, if biofuels were to be used in the future, it would take away the land that could be used for agriculture. This is an important issue that has been overlooked and I agree that we should find ways to tackle this issue along with the other issues that affect it since it is all a chain reaction.

Language Gene

There is a theory that there may be something in human genes that influence how facile we can easily learn a specific language. With further statistical analysis and research they were able to find that people who speak non-tonal languages were more likely to have two evolved forms of brain development genes that differentiate between those who spoke tonal languages.

Human Cells Could Replace Animals in Toxic Testing

This article states that scientists will try to develop and research a way to test new drugs on cultured human cells which could drastically reduce live animal testing. Other than that, this new found process could cut costs, and improve testing accuracy. As of now, US National Institute of Health and the US Environmental Protection Agency have reached an agreement to fund and develop a new way to test toxic chemicals on human cells rather than animals.

Invention: Heartbeat Radar

According to this article, Doppler radar can be used to monitor breathing patterns and heart beats. Just as road-speed radar systems, it is possible by way of bouncing a radio wave off of teh chest and measuring any change in frequency caused by chest movement. This new technique can be very beneficial since it allows for a patient to be monitored from a distance without placing ECG leads. It is also technological enough to record the heart rate through a person's clothing. However, the con is that it can be easily masked by noise caused by small movements of a patient or other surroundings with a busy hospital being an example.
I agree with the fact this is beneficial and it allows convenience for both the patient and the consultant. Perhaps, this invention can lead to a more permanent and long-rage source of heart monitoring for patients so that if their heart rate drops some sort of alarm could go off and people could be notified.

'Averaging' Faces Could Improve ID Card Security

According to this article, researchers have concluded that ID card photos and passports could be more effect if they depicted averages of several snapshots, so that it will allow a facial recognition software to spot familiar faces as well humans do. Researchers found that humans are much better at recognizing averaged faces than if shown an individual photo. They state and argue that if we see a person from different angles and in varied lighting, we build a mental image of their face that averages out all those experiences.

Caffeine May Boost Miscarriage Risk

According to this article studies show that caffeine may in fact be a factor for women to have high a risk regarding miscarriages. That is, if a woman consumes two cups of coffee a day. And it does not make a difference where the source of caffeine is from whether it be coffee, soda, or tea. The study had 1,063 women take part in their first trimester and the women who did not have any caffeine was 12.5 percent miscarriage rate whereas those who did consumed had double, 25.5 percent miscarrying. Therefore, mothers who are looking to have children should reduce their intake of caffeine during pregnancy since there is a correlation.

More Efficient Way to Spot & Diagnose Schizophrenia

In this article, it states that the professor of physiology, John Pettigrew, has discovered a way to more accurately spot and diagnose schizophrenia, which is often misdiagnosed within 70% of people who go through their first psychosis. Though symptoms of schizophrenia can be different for people, it is often characterized by having hallucinations and delusions but these symptoms or any symptom whatsoever is not definitive for diagnosis.

John Pettrigrew made a Schizophrenia Diagnosis Machine based on the reactions that occur when a person is presented with a different visual stimulus (something that excites an organism or part to functional activity) for each eye. What happens is, the brain "switches from perceiving one image from another" but with patients that have schizophrenia, the "switch" is faster.

The actual images are two sets of a network of bars, or gratings, that are superimposed to form a diamond-shaped pattern. "The rate that the viewer's perception switches from one form of motion to the other can then be used to diagnose mood disorders, or even a predisposition to such a disorder."

I find this to be important, because I think nowadays that many people are being misdiagnosed whether it be autism, schizophrenia, and especially ADHD. Having a machine such as this to diagnose schizophrenia is very relevant to the population and the medical field that diagnose such patients because it is more efficient and maybe this can trigger more people to come up with more efficient ways to diagnose other mental conditions.

China Shows First Image from Lunar Probe

According to this article, China is progressing when it comes to space exploration by building a satellite to document the landscape of the moon. The satellite is called the Chang-e 1 Lunar Probe, and the pictures the satellite has captured were shown at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center. The objective for the satellite is to cover the entire landscape by next year. Apparently, there are thoughts that China is starting an Asian space race with competitors such as Japan, who have done a similar expedition, and India. China was in fact the third country, aside from the US and Russia, to have sent a human into space. I find this article shows that the US and Russia are not the only ones interested in space exploration and that hopefully many other countries will explore not only the moon itself but other planets. It shows the worlds interest in knowledge in regards to space, however as said in the article I hope that it isn't all about competing in a "space race."

Hydrogen Brewing Gets an Electrical Boost

This article, mentions the progress in regards to finding an alternative fuel source, with that being Hydrogen. Many sources have been found to be usable as alternative fuel such as algae and corn however they have drawbacks because the time it takes to make the fuel resorts to having little produce. Hydrogen would be a very good source for fuel since its waste product is only water. On the other hand, making Hydrogen into a fuel source is a very non-environmental friendly process. So scientists have tried to find a way to relieve that drawback. They have discovered that "A new microbe-powered device can extract up to 99% of the available hydrogen from biological compounds that have stumped previous attempts to ferment fuel from plant waste." This is found to be environmentally safe, but the only problem is the slow process to make this Hydrogen fuel. So now, scientists are finding a way to solve that new problem. I hope to see Hydrogen as an efficient fuel source in the near future, since gas prices have risen to even 5 dollars a gallon, for example, in Big Sur, California.