Entry #11: Dear Future Blogger,

It is with great sadness that I end this chapter of my blogging story. I have posted around 24 different blog posts this last semester. They were a culmination of both ENG101 and ENG102 writing posts. The many topics posted challenged my abilities as an author. I had to stretch my comfort zone and really embrace the idea of blogging my ideas publicly. My purpose in blogging was to entertain and present scientific topics that were fun to read about. Hopefully someone saw a post and got excited about science and did more research into the subject. I would like to end my final blog by doing a little Q and A for future bloggers or students.

Q: What advice would you give a future blogger?
A: I would tell a future blogger to follow their passions. I would tell them to write about things that interest them and to chase after topics that make them curious of that generate questions. It is always easier to write on topics that have strong emotional connections with the topic. Look into those. As you develop and get better you can learn how to spin assigned or "boring projects" into works of art that are uniquely you. I didn't always get a topic I enjoyed writing about but I most definitely took advantage of placing my own voice into the writing piece.

Q: What helped you to stay on track and focused for this blog?
A: I used my time wisely. Assignment would be posted far in advance. I used this time to make lots of drafts before publishing. I would draft many different subjects and assigned topics and I would add a little bit each day. I would then publish them when they were completed or on the day of the deadline.

Q: How did you push yourself past writers block?
A: That's a great question! For me, it was finding a balance. You have the ability to write about any topic under the sun. Make it a valuable experience find your voice and let it shine. When I didn't know what to write about or how to start a topic I would think about my blog purpose/theme. It was something science related. I would then think about different topics that interested me either currently or in the past. I chose a topic and I ran with it. I remembered to try and be less intense with the subjects and to be more applicable, What would my audience understand. If I didn't know how to start my writing I would just pick any aspect of the topic and I would start to write something about it. That something would grow and develop and eventually I could make it my own.

Q: How has blogging changed you?
A: It has changed me dramatically. I was not very passionate about writing before taking ENG101 and ENG102. Now I think it's one of my favorite topics. I was given the chance to develop my voice and I could write to an audience that I chose and I didn't have to write to a professor or an a very rigid subject. Blogging is like the ultimate freedom for writers to express themselves. I loved the challenges and the rewards gained from blogging and I would easily do it again.

Q: Do you like the social media aspect of blogging?
A: Yes! The social media aspect of blogging was great. Just getting to watch and see my classmates develop in their own writing was amazing. You could easily start to see what topics interested who and how that played into their character. You could see their voice shining through in their writing. It was also encouraging to know that everyone was really in it together.

Thanks for all these great questions. I have enjoyed blogging and I think I might just continue to do it in the future. I might use the platform to give research updates as I continue through my Undergraduate studies. Thank you to anyone who has enjoyed reading the posts and I wish you all good luck on your own blogging adventures.

Entry #10: Immunoglobulins and You: Understanding Your Immune System

The human immune system is one of natures most ingenious designs. This system allows humans to fight back foreign intrusions within the body. Microscopic organisms are everywhere and many exist normally on skin and in mucous membranes and even your own digestive track is littered with little bugs. So, how does are body keep this system in check? What makes up the human immune system?


The human immune system is made up of several different parts. Most notably these are White Blood Cells, Immunoglobulins, and other chemical/protein substances that attack or damage other cells. To fully discuss the entire immune system would quite literally take maybe one to two semesters of upper division college coursework. No worries though, I will keep it short and simple and we will just look at one of the most important immune factors. These are called immunoglobulins. Immunoglobulins are just a fancy way of saying antibodies. The illustration at the top left describes the different parts of an immunoglobulin. The three really important parts are the antigen binding sites (Ag), the Fab zone, and the Fc chain.

Take a look at the illustration to the left and directly below. These immunoglobulins look different. That's because there are 5 distinct types of immunoglobulins. These are IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE and IgD. The most common type is IgG which accounts for nearly 80% of the body's total immunoglobulins. Each type of Immunoglobulin has a role and often times they are found in different areas of the body. Take a look at the chart below to see where and what these different types do. The reason its so important to talk about your immune system is so that you understand the roles vaccines play and how herd immunity protects large groups of people. Most vaccines contain an inactivated virus or bacteria. This usually means that only the antigens, that line the surface of these micro-organisms, are present. When injected into your body the first thing the immune system does is think. Oh my gosh what is this? This doesn't belong! Then the body has to think about whether it has encountered this type of antigen before. Most likely it hasn't or it simply doesn't remember if it did. In these cases, the immune system responds by sending large amounts of IgM in an attempt to find and antibody that will work. Once the body discovers a good defense the White Blood Cells start to produce IgG. These IgG form the an immune systems long-term defenses. They are specialized in a certain antigen.

In vaccines, the body learns to identify the antigens that were injected and then to produce an immune response to defend against them. This production of IgG attributes to future immune responses. So if you were vaccinated against polio, your body no longer has to go through the IgM learning phase. It would recognize the polio virus and the already circulating IgG (learned immunity) would respond to a new introduction of the virus very quickly, which increases the odds for a favorable outcome.

So when a group of people in society get vaccinated it makes it incredibly hard for a virus to jump through and infect a large number of people. By isolating the illness it can stop the spread of it and eventually reduce or eliminate it. This is why certain diseases have become almost completely extinct. Smallpox for example, was reduced this way.

Please Please Please. Think about stopping by your local pharmacy to learn about getting vaccinated. Also think about exploring more into the immune system. Take science courses and discover new things. 

Entry #9: Media in my College Career

I was 14 years old, a high school freshman, when Apple introduced its iPhone in 2007. It was an amazing time in the cell phone industry. This was the first phone that relied solely on finger touch to operate. All phones before that used some sort of keypad, keyboard, or stylus type of operation. Needless to say I was amazed. The most advanced phone I had at the time was a Motorola Razr. Like the original flip phone style Razr (pictured left). If you were really cool you had a sidekick (pictured right). Technology rapidly progressed and as of 2013 Samsung and Apple were gridlocked in a war to see who could make the best phone.

Now, how does this all play into the college experience and how we interact with media? Well the push to provide users better platforms and quicker access has also reached the college scene. When I first entered college in 2011 at Northern Arizona University, school was very different. We had an email and online student center but our classes were not monitored online. The syllabus was carried around like a bible and I had at least 6 binders and notebooks to keep track of all the lectures and assignments. Tests were on paper with pen and textbooks were heavy with hundreds of pages.

This picture is a sharp contrast to the college experience I am having now. Look at this blog! I have a class that requires blogging and counts the blogs as a major writing project. This is borderline blasphemy and I am sure dusty old academics are churning in their graves at the idea students are not writing every word on thousands of sheets of paper. My current school uses an application called Canvas. I can now track all of my classes and the grade books online. Most of my assignments are digital uploads. I even take most of my tests through the online application. Some of the learning content and lectures are uploaded digitally as well.

The changes are really dramatic but they also help to improve and facilitate learning as well. I have become more addicted to my phone over the years. However, I have a broad professional network that spans many states and most of my friends live on the east coast or even as far away as Alaska. Having access to quick communication with these people are invaluable. I don't think it takes away from my experience of the present world. I think it helps me to be more aware of it. On the other hand though, I can see how technology could easily become a negative influence if it completely consumes the user. When your digital contacts become your only contacts you really lose out on the human experience.

I think in the case of advancing technology, moderation and balance are key.

Entry #8: Bill Nye is at it again

Netflix has a brand new show that is bringing on a wave of nostalgia for 90's kids who grew up on the classic show Bill Nye the Science Guy. In the time frame between 1995-1999 several amazing shows caught my attention and PBS being the only station that my parents had led me to become fascinated with the world of science. Other shows during this time period greatly influenced my desire to become a scientist. Shows like the Magic School Bus and Arthur helped to  reinforce a positive image of learning. Take a look at the trailer below for the new show.

The show holds a lot of promise and i am excited to see what Bill has to teach this time around. My only concerns for this show are politically based. I hope that politics don't factor into the show. Bill Nye has been attacked recently on the political forefront. However, it is important to note the consequences and applications of scientific research. I just hope Bill can stay objective enough to sway his political enemies.

The small segment of his show that I did see had to do with alternative medicine and the placebo effect. He very eloquently demonstrated how alternative medicines are continually proven not to work scientifically, while also touching on the placebo affect to explain why so many people believe otherwise despite the research. he proposes that many people believe that alternative medicine works simply because they believe it will work and thanks to the placebo effect they mentally trick their bodies into feeling better.

Entry #7: Organization in the Digital Space

The Hashtag, or as I once knew it, the pound sign. This symbol was commonly used to represent numbers and weights within North America. When the # preceded a number it meant literally "number X". #3 translates to number 3. In terms of weight, when the symbol follows a number it commonly meant weight in pounds. 2# translates to 2 pounds. The symbol was also referred to as a hash symbol, especially in the U.K. where the word pound could easily be confused with the system of currency. The symbol was also used in computer program to highlight import text or sequences.

So, How did we get the Hashtag? The answer is simple, it developed as a result of Twitter and it's use of the symbol to highlight key words that could be made searchable and link-able. When a # symbol is used, the text that follows becomes a key word. Key words and tags are exactly the same they ear mark certain content. In a search engine if you wanted to read something about Pomeranian puppies, you would likely type that same phrase into the search bar. In turn the search engine is going to try and find all the pages that have puppies and that have Pomeranian as key terms or tags. These pages get pulled up and are presented. Twitter uses the same idea to link posts. If you search by a hashtag it will pull up all of the content that includes the hashtag that was searched for. This provides users with an easy effective way to search for relevant content.

The use of the hashtag has presented journalists a newfound medium with witch to asses public opinion and gain quotable commentary on an issue. A journalist could simply look up a topic by its hashtag and they would be immediately flooded with public opinions on the topic. The use of hashtags are an excellent addition to search and sift through large amounts of data.

If you are like me and you lack any experience with twitter at all, you may like these neat guide featured on Mashable. The Hashtag. Its an easy to read beginners guide to all things hashtag.

Entry 6: Vaccinations!? Measles, Mumps, and Rubella.. Oh My!

Vaccinations have been a hot topic lately in modern society. Questions and accusations about safety and efficacy of vaccines have been hurled back and forth. Determining the validity of statements on both sides of an argument can help to discern which statistics are false and which statistics are valid.

Take a look at the CDC website for the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine) webpage. CDC MMR.

The biggest concern citizens and parents have with vaccinations, are the claims that they can cause autism in children. How did this suspicion arise? It started in 1995 when a British physician, Andrew Wakefield, published a study that proposed MMR combination vaccines were causing children to develop autistic symptoms. He also made a statement, that said single vaccinations would not likely cause autism like a combination vaccine such as MMR. It was later revealed, that Andrew Wakefield had filed for a patent of a single-antigen measles vaccine. Andrew Wakefield was in a position where he could profit financially if he propagated the views in his statement, despite the fact the study could not find a causal link to autism. It was also later revealed, that lawyers were the primary source of funding for his research.

In the twelve years following Andrew Wakefield's initial claims, numerous studies have been conducted to try and prove a link between vaccines and autism. All of these studies failed to find any link between the two. As a result of the failure to reproduce Wakefield's study and the information that came out, about his patent and lawyer backing, the British General Medical Council banned Wakefield from practicing medicine in the U.K. More information and history can be found at this link: History of Vaccines.

If science has largely disproved that autism is caused by vaccines, then why is there such a huge scare and outcry from parents?

The answer to that question is simple. Anti-Vaccines proponents use techniques of persuasion to appeal to their audiences. They employ the use of fear (pathos) and they use false logos and reasoning to back-up there claims. They employ every fallacy of persuasion and debate possible.
The fallacies of logic they employ include:

• argumentum ad antiquitatem
• argumentum ad hominem
• argumentum ad ignorantiam
• argumentum ad logicam
• argumentum ad nauseam
• argumentum ad numerum
• argumentum ad populum
• argumentum ad verecundiam
• circulus in demonstrando
• complex question
• dicto simpliciter
• naturalistic fallacy
• non sequitur
• petitio principii
• post hoc ergo propter hoc
• red herring
• straw man

The descriptions to these fallacies can be found by clicking on the links.

Anti-vaccine propagators prey on the public's fear. Because of their efforts the reality of the situation is very bleak. Vaccines have successfully eradicated terrible illnesses that at one time took the lives of many people. If vaccine use declines, then the United states could face a very real epidemic and healthcare crisis. The CDC explains more at the following link: Consequences 

Entry 5: Arizonas Quest for Higher Education

Current Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, has recently announced a project that he hopes will push Arizonians into completing higher education. He makes a compelling case for the attainment of a degree or certificate by highlighting the benefits and statistics surrounding higher education. While I agree that this is a desirable goal, Ducey has significantly failed to address the issues surrounding the attainment of a degree.

You can see the article here: Arizona Achieve60. The website for the Program can also be found here: Achieve60 WEB.

No mention is made of the factors that cause people to drop out of school. No mention is made of the skyrocketing costs of an education. In addition, to these glaringly obvious oversights, Ducey proposes that his plan can be achieved by offering financial management classes and degree completion incentives. He fails to offer any details of this plan.

If I were Ducey, I would have laid out a better plan. my plan would offer phases of implementation. Phase one would be research into the factors surrounding post secondary educational enrollment, degree completion, and financial impact. Once these areas where thoroughly research and understood, I could move on to phase two. This phase would include identifying and implementing solutions. Without knowing exact causes to the identified problem areas, I cannot present an adequate solution. However, I can make a proposal to what I think would be the right course of action.

Phase 2 Solutions:

• Enrollment:
• Solutions to enrollment should come about as a secondary response from the solution to other problems. For example, a potential student might not consider enrolling because of the financial hardships of attaining an education. Making school affordable should by extension also increase enrollment.
• Identify ways to educate and inform potential students of degree pathways and opportunities. The availability of trained academic advisers with a wide array of knowledge on education needs to increase.
• Financial costs:
• Companies could partner with the State of Arizona and its educational institutions by offering loan repayment options. Perhaps the company could offer matching student loan repayment in Lieu of matching 401K to help reduce student loan debt. The state of Arizona could also offer to forgive some of the debt if a student is signed on to work for an Arizona company. This would make, sense considering if we retain the students educated they will continue to provide for and benefit local economies. 
• Ensure State Colleges follow ACE guidelines in acceptance of transfer and work related credits.
• Encourage the federal government to make changes on how it handles student loans.
• Degree Completion
• Encourage and/or require public colleges and universities to honor prior credits or ACE recommendation for credits. Offer alternatives to a 16 week course in general education classes for individuals who already have adequate knowledge of a subject.
• Offer to forgive portions of debt for students that complete a degree. 
• Encourage Colleges to offer classes that meet the needs of working families.
• Offer colleges monetary incentives for the increase and retention of students.

Phase three would include observation and analysis of solutions outcomes. It is the evaluation stage that determines if the programs implemented actually work or if they need to be adjusted. This stage ensures ongoing quality and allows flexibility in eliminating old ideas or introducing new ideas that might better suit the changing needs of college students.

No plan is perfect of course and no one individual has all the answers. However, I would expect the Governor to at least provide citizens some sort of model or implementation plan or even some ideas that he would like to try. In order to get 60% of Arizona's population to have at least one degree or certificate, will require collaboration and community lead efforts as well. This will not succeed though if a better more fleshed out plan is not available.