Author: SamuelF

The meaning of solitary confinement is placing a person in a small room without seeing anyone for almost their entire day. This technique of punishment is used in many countries, usually in secret because of how inhumane it is, and the damage it does to people mentally.

When staying alone in a room, not seeing people for 99.99% of your week. It can be really devastating. Identity and self-awareness will be lost in the cell. If the results of the affects of solitary confinement were published nationwide, there is no doubt people will be against its use. The US notices how effective it is, and its efforts to get other countries to stop so they have the most effective discipline, shows it.

This harsh treatment still causes suffering even years after being released in the forms of eye deterioration and mental trauma. Solitary confinement should be dropped from use in all nations, as no person would ever deserve it.

Using scans from satellites, scientists have found that ice on the coasts of Greenland and Antarctica are melting drastically. The water rose a total of 14mm, the putting it on the worse warming crisis so far. If this persists, the water levels will be a threat for coastal homes and structures.

This is not good for the Earth and people at all, because this is putting lives at risk. Switching to more eco-friendly energy production means can slow the melting of the ice sheets. One can realize that this is important because when ice shelves melt, they are exposing grounded ice, making them melt much faster.

Even though the report from the scientists is still short and brief, it is just beginning. It can teach many people about the damage that we are all doing to the environment.

In the short story, The Lady and the Tiger, the king of the land has a very interesting law. If you break a law big enough to get the king’s attention, you will be sent in front of two doors, one to death and the other to a bride and marriage. The uniqueness of this story can give the reader some puzzling thoughts.

A reader’s thoughts in the king’s policy could vary. One could think the king is insane or cruel, making an accused’s chances of living a gambling game. Another person might negotiate that it was meant to create fear so less laws would be broken, because nobody would want their life be put at the roll of a dice.

When I read this story, I observe that this strange policy was an interesting base to build the story on. One may think that the author wanted his story to rope the reader in, so he started it on an unusual base, and this was one of the most gripping to start on.

In the story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, daydreaming plays a very important role in giving the short story its “feel.” Walter Mitty, a married man, daydreams out of nowhere, which makes him appear to be like like a person going insane. Walter’s daydreams are triggered by events that happen around him, such as if he hears a certain word or sees a certain object.

The feel that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty gives to the reader is that Walter is either dissatisfied with life, or is going crazy. His seemingly random daydreams make the reader uneasy, feeling that he is an unstable man.

The feeling of instability of Walter is shown greater when the story reveals he has a wife. The reader is left to wonder, how dies his wife deal with this? Does Mitty ramble about when daydreaming? If so, how does his wife put up with this? Another unsettling fact uncovered when Walter daydreams about being on the receiving end of a firing squad. This may say that he is either depressed or doesn’t care about being extreme.

All in all, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a puzzling story that leaves the reader to worry and imagine about Walter and his future. Thoughts such as, how may this get him into trouble? Stories like these what makes them so enjoyable, even hours after reading.

The short story, “Seventh Grade” is about a boy named Victor who is trying to get Teresa, a girl he likes, to like him. He tries all sorts of desperate and hilarious methods he makes up or picks up from friends to try to be noticeable. I find this story can teach you a lot while being entertaining.

The story starts with Victor talking to his friend Micheal, who tells him that making a scowl will attract girls. Victor is skeptical at first, but after he tries it, he sees a girl looking at him, most likely not in the way that he thinks, but in confusion. He takes this as proof that his friend was right. This shows that you shouldn’t take extremely slight signs as proof or else you will just make a fool of yourself.

Near the middle of the book, Victor is in French class and tries to impress Teresa by knowing French already. When he realizes that he actually does have to speak French in front of the whole class, he panics and stutters out some random nonsense. This teaches the reader that you should always think before acting in a comedic way.

The best way to teach lessons is with a story, because it sticks in your head better, and”Seventh Grade” does a great job at doing this. It also reminds us that there are times where it is inevitable to panic, like during Victor’s French class, and we must be prepared

In the story, The Rules of the Game, the entire novel is about a little chinese girl named Meimei. Meimei’s mother is your average strict Chinese parent, and sticks to very traditional standards. She also is very stubborn, and refuses to accept new ideas from her daughter. This strictness can create pressure, which urges Meimei to improve; but too much can make her feel limited and become frustrated at her mother.

Meimei’s mother is always telling her daughter about how great Chinese methods are. This can help Meimei feel good about herself, and proud to be Chinese. When they received a chessboard for Christmas, Meimei’s mother told her children that rules are important. “‘This American rules,’ she concluded at last. ‘Every time people come out from foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, “Too bad, go back”‘” (Tan 3). Rules are a necessity, or else there will be chaos and you will be laughed upon. Meimei’s mother is trying to show this to Meimei.

A fault of Meimei’s mother is being stubborn. When Meimei won a chess match but lost eight pieces, her mother scolded for losing so many. Meimei tried to reason with her that you have to make sacrifices to win, but her mother wouldn’t listen. “‘Ma, it’s not how many pieces you lose,’ I said. ‘Sometimes you need to lose pieces to get ahead.’
‘Better to lose less, see if you really need'” (Tan 4). This can be very frustrating to Meimei, because he mother didn’t even give it a chance.

Overall, strictness can create a good environment for improvement. But more is not better in almost all cases. Being too strict can create negative feelings of not meeting expectations, so people must remember to always be careful about being strict.

Scientists have been going to Myanmar and other coronavirus-teeming areas recently to get samples from the local bats. Over the past decade, we have discovered over 150 types of coronaviruses all around the world, and there are still thousands undiscovered.

The reason why researching COVID-19’s cousins can help the medical industry is that scientists can find similarities between them all. One strand’s weakness my be expressed more or less in all of them. We can use this info to create better vaccines or treatments.

Another use for all these viruses is finding something that identifies them all; what makes them SARS. Looking at them closely, we can find some identifying traits that show up in all of them, and once we know their basic features, testing kits will have a much better time being designed.

In the long run, studying coronaviruses will help development of of treatment, and other than lifting this pandemic off of us, it can give us valuable information for years to come.

In the TED talk, a woman named Laura Rover went over solitary confinement and what it does to people. Solitary confinement is placing a person in a small room without seeing anyone for almost their entire day. This technique of punishment is used in many countries, usually in secret because of how inhumane it is, and the damage it does to people mentally.

There is a facility that operates in Colorado where this is done routinely every day. Inmates have to spend 23 hours inside a bathroom-sized cell, and this is extremely destructive to the brain. Humans are social creatures, and not seeing another for so long can hurt us. People went crazy, and for good reason.

The US is telling lots of countries like a grand prophet that solitary confinement is inhumane, and that they should not use it, while we are using it ourselves. It is way too effective, like poison gas. Banned from WW1, using poison gas was considered a war crime, because it caused widespread suffering and pain. Solitary confinement should be dropped from use in all nations, as no person would ever deserve it.

I recently read an article about scientists are trying to get a way to put people on Mars and colonize it. I found this idea interesting and wanted to read more to see how the scientists planned to accomplish this huge feat.

The article told that scientist had the idea of tweaking the human body’s DNA for better resistance to the harsh microgravity and radiation in outer space. Tests with injecting tardigrade DNA into human cells already were successful, making the tardigrade-infused cells to be more resilient than plain old human cells. I found this kind of fascinating and inhumane at the same time.

The idea of modifying out bodies just seems really bad in my opinion, Modifying a whole body with it is so much more different than injecting a clump a cells with foreign DNA. Imagine the person, who’s life will be changed forever, and we have no idea of what side effects this may include.

The next topic of the essay is about the idea of using tiny microbes to terraform the surface of Mars to be more Earth-like and habitable for humans. Scientists are worried that this may destroy evidence of life and the natural history of Mars. While it is an interesting idea, I have to agree with the naysayers, because there is so little known about Mars, and using these microbes could potentially destroy our opportunities of learning more about our closest neighbor.

This entire article was very fun to read. I liked seeing all the amazing ideas we humans can come up with. The idea of using microbes on Mars is completely inconceivable to me. But we always must remember that no matter how many creative ideas we come up with, we must remember to not ruin the resources we have in our world.

When I read this article, it showed me many things that I didn’t even think were possible yet. It surprised me with all the cool things that science and biology can do when combined.

The article begun by showing a strange, glittery, skull-like object. It was explained to be a 3D model of over 1,600 mice neuron networks combined into one map. It was comprised of small tissue samples that are images and mapped them with little 3D pixels. Over years of work, they created a huge map constructed with the average neuron connections of a thousand mice.

This was a breakthrough in biology. Scientists can now map the brain activity of creatures. This could be the start of mapping out other creatures’ brains, and we could have a better understanding of how neurons interact in their brains.