Meghan's CHEM blog!

The Swine Flu

2009-04-27T13:53:00.003-05:00

I'm sure most of you have heard by now about the swine flu. The U.S. just recently declared an national health emergency. As I started hearing more and more about this, and how many have died in Mexico with this disease, it made me want to learn more about it. I went online and researched it. The swine flu is a viral infection that originated from pigs and was first seen in the 1930's. The symptoms are pretty much the same as the normal flu. They are cough, congestion, sore throat, body aches, headache, decreased energy, and loss of appetite. These are all things many people experience if they have the flu. There have been 20 cases in the U.S., and they haven't been nearly as severe as Mexico's. The health emergency was declared, so they could use money to find ways to stop the swine flu from becoming more serious, or even deadly in the U.S. I have looked to find ways to protect myself. The only ways given are the one's you normally would take if you didn't want to contract the flu, they are: washing your hands and staying out of close-knit environments and in extreme cases, wearing face masks. There is a vaccine to prevent this disease that proved to be very helpful last time there was an outbreak of the swine flu. You may also want to avoid going to Mexico at this time because of the outbreak there and the close-knit environment of the airplane. Let's just hope that this doesn't get out of hand and become as big as the outbreak in 1976.

Addicted to Facebook?

2009-02-15T22:45:00.004-06:00

Have you ever felt time slip by while on Facebook? Ever started your homework and taken a braek for facebook and then realized that hours have slipped by? I know I have. Some days I wonder if I'm addicted to facebook. Everyone seems to use to facebook for everything these days, talking, sharing pictures, and more. It is a chance to stay to in touch with people you barely ever see. It is a great site, but sometimes I feel like I'm on it all the time. I've heard this from a lot of people. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even consious when I'm on it. Hours can pass by with me not even talking to people, but just clicking away looking through tons of different people's facebooks. It's such a waste of time, but yet so many people do this. To see the list of the 10 signs to see if you're addicted to facebook go to this website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-stiles/help-im-addicted-to-faceb_b_166726.html. I fell into a couple of these 10 signs, so I've decided to try to stay off facebook, and spend more time on things that are not a waste of time.

Better American Idol?

2009-02-01T21:52:00.001-06:00

They new season of American Idol started just a few weeks ago. This season they decided to change things up a little bit. There is a new judge, Kara DioGuardi. There were rumors going around that should was placed on the show to eventually replace Paula. She denies this and says that her and Paula are good friends and she was just put on the show to change it up a bit. That wasn't the only change this year. The producers decided not show as many of the funny, bad acts as they usually do. I couldn't decide if they was a good idea or not. I usually go to watch the first couple of weeks of the show because these types of people are funny and entertaining. But, some years I feel that they have had too many of these people. They should probably be gearing the show towards what it's all about, finding the next American Idol, a good singer. I'm interested to find out what these two new changes will do to the show, for right now I think both have really improved the show. To find out more about the changes they've made to the show this year go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22594712/ .

Are our Presidents Aging Faster?

2009-01-04T19:00:00.001-06:00

I was looking at my home page on my computer and stumbled across a picture of President Bush 8 years ago and him now. I was surprised at how much older he looked now. His face had so many more wrinkles. This aging process is guessed to have come from the great amount of stress that is put on a president's shoulders. I could never imagine being the one that controls the U.S. and any wrong move could mess up so many people. In some articles, it is said that this kind of stress for so long can not only cause the normal signs of aging earlier- gray hair, wrinkles, etc- but it can also cause early death. There was a study done looking at the lives of the presidents for Washington to Nixon and 25 of the 36 died earlier than what would have been predicted on a life expectancy scale. It also looks like for the amount of time spent in office they aged double that time. For example, Bush has been in office 8 years and aged as if 16 years had gone by. In one article I read it said that when people get that much stress their hormones begin flowing at a dangerous rate. Younger people can usually recover from this, older adults don't have it as easy. If you go through that type of stress when being an older adult, it sort of burns you out. Not all doctors agree with all of this, but after looking at picture of Bush, he definitely needs a break.

Sleeping Habits

2009-01-04T17:57:00.002-06:00

During school weeks when I get a lot of homework I find myself barely sleeping. The next day when I wake up I can already feel the pain of a bad day coming on. There was a study done at the University of California, where they took a group of normal sleeping teens and a group of sleep deprived teens and measured their brain activity. The group of sleep deprived kid's emotional centers of the brain were 60 percent more reactive than the other group. People that are sleep deprived are more easily reactive to little things that happen during the day. To read more about this go to http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/425751/grumpiness_caused_by_bad_sleep_habits.html?cat=5. But, now during break I found myself going to bed at 2 and waking up at noon some days. I'd be getting a lot of sleep during the days, but I heard this is almost as bad for you as being deprived from sleeping. I now have to teach myself to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier which will be hard this coming week.

Twilight Is a Book, Not a Movie!

2008-11-19T14:30:00.003-06:00

The movie Twilight is coming out this Friday. I've been counting down the days until it was coming out every since I knew the day it was coming out. But now, after reading each book a bunch of times, I've decided not to see the movie. I feel that this will completely change how I look at the book and the characters and ruin my fantasy of Edward. The story line in the movie will probably be changed from the book at least a little bit and I think that that will frustrate me. These are definitely the best books I have ever read. Though when I heard about this book it sounded stupid. When I had asked one of my friends what it was about they said a girl's relationship with a vampire. This sounded stupid to me. But, once reading the books I realized how amazing they are. I think once I see who is playing Jasper, Emmett and Edward, it will ruin how I imagine them. Ever since I've seen who is playing Edward, I've thought of Edward that way. I then stopped myself from looking at all the other characters so I could keep my own image of them. So, in the end, as of right now I am not going to see the movie and I am stopping myself from even looking at pictures from the movie.

Highland Park Homecoming

2008-10-26T20:20:00.003-05:00

On the way to the Highland Park homecoming a couple weeks ago, a group was caught drinking by their limo driver. One kid came onto their bus with a brown bag and the bus driver asked to see what was inside and the kid said, "don't worry about it you'll be tipped" (Chicago Tribune). The limo driver tried calling some parents, but none of them answered quick enough so he called the police. 13 of the 20 kids were charged with underage drinking. Some of these parents thanked the limo driver, but many of them got mad. One parent even threatened to sue, saying that he should not have involved the police. The limo driver's intention was to make sure the kids were safe and not doing anything stupid, but the parents and kids looked at it as him just trying to look like a hero and telling on them. These kids were suspended from school activities for a little while. People are still debating whether or not this was the right thing to do or if he should have just let them have fun. For more on this look on http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-teen-limo-drinking-08-oct08,0,3211527.story.

Chlorine and Asthma

2008-10-26T19:48:00.005-05:00

After a couple of weeks of swimming, I realized that my asthma seemed to be getting worse. I thought it was just me, but then I saw an article on how chlorine can trigger asthma. It's not specifically the chlorine that causes it, it's what chlorine turns into when it's combined with organics. A research done at the Australia Olympics said that 1/4 of the American swim team suffered from some sort of asthma. To learn more about these statistics go to http://swimming.about.com/od/allergyandasthma/a/cl_pool_problem.htm. There was also research done saying that being exposed to chloramines may increase the permeability of the lung epithelium. This is a situation that is associated usually with smoking, though chlorine is not even close to as harmful. It's not just being in the swimming pool that could harm you, it's also being around it and breathing in the chloramines and even the chlorine in some of our drinking water. Researchers are working to find substitutions for chlorine.

2008-09-25T20:08:00.003-05:00

So, I'm on my way to London this week and I was thinking about the airport security. After 9/11, I get nervous about flying. I have heard that they may say that the security is better, but it may have just gotten more complex and not stronger. In one article I read, it said that there is better technology for airports out there, but it is not being used. My question like many other people's questions would be why aren't they doing this? The only way to prevent future terrorist attacks would be to have better security. People say that the only security growing is the nonsense security. For example, the airport randomly chooses people to take aside and check throuroughly, but in the end is this really necessary? They should be concentrating on better bag checks and stronger checks of every individual instead of one every now and then. So in the end, has security gotten any better or has it just gotten more complex?

Texting While Driving.

2008-09-18T17:46:00.005-05:00

Texting behind the wheel has become more and more common. No one really knows exactly how many accidents occur due to texting, but they believe the number is growing. There have been more teenage accidents not due to drinking, but due to texting. It has been questionable if they should outlaw beginning drivers, 16 to 17 years old, to text behind the wheel. Some found this "an erosion of freedom." Overall many people think this would cut down accidents and be a good idea. More on people's ideas at http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/02/11/outlawing-text-messaging-while-driving.html.

The number of states outlawing people to talk on their cell phones while driving has been growing and many states have seen a decrease in accidents. Eliminating texting may be one way to eventually eliminate cell phone use in cars, which some think will help keep people focused on the roads. Only two states so far, Washington and New Jersey, have outlawed texting while driving. Many states are now considering it and planning on outlawing it in the near future.

80% of crashes and 65% of crashes are caused by distractions says ABC news at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=3151040&page=1. Everyone knows it's not safe to text behind the wheel but yet they still do it. One bus driver got in an accident and killed 30 children and later was found to be texting behind the wheel before this crash. After seeing the aftermath of cell phones and driving many cell phone companies have also been agreeing or supporting with the idea of outlawing texting while driving. Cell phones have not been around long enough for there to be a complete law on texting because researchers have not come to a decision if they are enough of a distraction to outlaw. This topic will be growing over time as more and more accidents occur.

Test Post

2008-08-27T14:48:00.000-05:00

Testing