Riding on Through

Riding on Through History

By: Lindsey E. Horton

Almost everybody can enjoy watching a horse run. Then again, almost everybody also enjoys solving a good puzzle. Well, it just so happens that there's a mystery that ties in both of those. Where did horse domestication originate? Now that's something worth solving.

It's now being suggested by new archeological evidence that horses were domesticated up to 5500 years ago by the Botai Culture of Kazakhstan. In present day America, horses are more of a pet to have, for riding, and for giving little girls their first love. It turns out though that to the Botai Culture, horses were much, much more. Horses were used for riding, of course, but surprisingly they were also used for food and milk! There is evidence found that suggested that people would actually drink horse milk, like we drink cow milk today. The bone structures of the horses from 5500 years ago show that they were very similar to the horses that later showed up in Europe, and to wild horses. This tells archeologists that the early people selectivley bred their wild horses for physical attributes, and to emphasize the attributes through breeding.

Through new techniques, archeologists were able to find three individual lines for early horse domestication. It was around the fourth melenium that the Botai Culture started to domesticate them. The archeologists also used a very interesting technique called "bit damage" which is caused by horses having been harrnessed or bridled, and a bit would leave a mark. This technique also supports the fact that horses were ridden back then. This early culture used something called a "thong bridle", that is shown on the image to the right.

Even more interesting, using lipid residue analysis, archeologists took a look at Botai pottery, and found that to make the pottery, people used horse fat. Through this pottery they found that people also drank the mare's milk and would let it ferment to make an acholohic sort of drink called "koumiss". They still do this in Kazakhstan. Horse tradition runs through the viens of Kazakhstan's history, very far back. Well, as far back as 5500 years ago! The steppes of Kazakhstan were plentiful with wild horses back then, and hunting them was common. It was also a great oppurtunity for the culture to get to know the equines, and how they behaved. Horses were shown to have been prefenced for adapting to the Botai culture over cattle and sheep. Even more amazingly, horses were shown to have been able to graze year round, and adapted to the harsh winters so that they could eat the grass through snow.

This discovery has a great impact on our scientific community. Scientists thought that horses were only domesticated about 4000 years ago, and this shows that they were off by quite a bit. This will change how scientists think about earlier cultures, and what they were cabable of. An impact that I predict is now that one solid fact is to be questioned, that scientists will start questioning other "known" facts about earlier civilizations, or question closer the source in which the evidence came from.

I picked this article because I love horses, and history. This seemed like an article that combined both. I was in AP world history last year, so I got a new pair of glasses, as you might say, to see history through. It's amazing to me to see how an early culture so new could make use of such a powerful and majestic resource. I also like to see how the relationship that humans and horses have today has developed through history, including the origin. I have a mare named JJ, so understanding the where the relationship between horses and people came from, and seeing how useful horses are, can really help me to bond with her better.

MLA Citation:

University of Exeter. "Archaeologists Find Earliest Known Domestic Horses: Harnessed and Milked." ScienceDaily 8 March 2009. 10 October 2009 .

Swine Flu Vaccine Works in Children

Anna Dye
September 22, 2009
Physics

Studies of the new swine flu vaccine were released this week. In the study, kids aged 10 to 17 were injected with the vaccine, and then the number of antibodies in their bloodstream were counted ten days later. Of the 600 kids tested, around 76 percent had enough antibodies to be considered immune. The other 24 percent were expected to create more antibodies over time. Younger children, 6 months to 9 years, were still treated, but not as well as the older children and it’s recommended that they get a second shot about twenty days later. The second shot is also recommended for people who have never had a flu shot. A nasal for of the vaccine will also be provided, but not recommended for children under 2 or people with asthma.
For months, swine flu has been a scary topic. People go to the hospital for something as little as a sore throat, just in case it’s the dreaded swine flu. With a functional vaccine available to everyone, hospitals will be able to care for the truly sick much easier and much quicker. Schools will also be able to stay open if a student contracts the virus where as they would have had to close just months ago. Science has become very quick in just the past twenty years; before it would take way too long for a vaccine to be formed where now it takes just a few months. Maybe in the future, vaccines can be created before an epidemic is created.
I am really excited that there is a vaccine. While I will most likely not receive it, my brother (who has virus induced asthma) and grandma will be able to. This vaccine can save many, many lives. I am so amazing that this was created so quickly, and that it will be out even quicker.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/science/22swine.html?_r=1&ref=science

New Species Discovered On Whale Skeletons

Sam Mann
Physics, Period 8
Science In The News


Death has brought new discoveries of life. When a whale dies and sinks to the seafloor, it becomes food for an entire ecosystem. Nine new species of bristleworm were recently discovered by scientists at the site of whale cadavers on the ocean bed. The bristleworm is a type of earthworm. They are so well adapted and specialized to eating dead whales that they couldn't survive anywhere except where dead whales come to rest. The bristleworms actually use a root system to attach themselves to the whale's bones while they feed on bacteria that quickly form on the whale skeleton.

Whale carcasses are a very unpredictable source of food. Whales are not abundant and knowing when and where one will die is impossible. However, did you know that a whale's carcass offers the same amount of nutrients that normally sink from the surface to the seafloor in 2000 years!? After sharks and hagfish pick the body clean of the meat, various other organisms come to feast on the skeleton.

The discovery of nine new bacteria-eating worm species in the ocean may seem to have little social importance. However, this discovery goes to show that there are many species still unknown to mankind. Scientists are finding new ones everyday but it is predicted that there are millions of species still yet to be discovered. Additionally, these nine new species are nine more species of organisms that are being threatened by global warming and humans. If global warming or over-exploitation of whales eventually causes the whales to become extinct, there goes the nine species of bristleworms with them. Sure, they may just be little worms, but the fact remains that the oceans are a very diverse place and are very fragile. Saving our earth from the current biodiversity crisis doesn't allow for even the smallest of organisms to be overlooked. Did you know that prokaryotes, organisms so small that they don't even have a cell nucleus, are used by people to detoxify the earth from man made chemicals? Even the smallest of organisms can offer environmental services to mankind. The point is that society should be aware of the many different types of species, big and small, that are being overlooked and threatened by our actions.

My personal reaction is that of curiosity and interest for our new worm friends. It is amazing that they have adapted to be able to subsist on the arbitrary and random occurrences of whale carcasses raining down from the upper levels of the oceanic biome. I took a fancy to this article because I am currently taking AP Biology. My summer homework was to read all about the various biomes of Earth and its many, many inhabitants. I learned that these worms are called benthos and they reside in the benthic zone of the ocean. The whale carcass is considered detritus which the bacteria eat, and the bristleworms are primary consumers that eat the bacteria. I will always be keeping an eye out for more of earth's species to be discovered and added to the biodiversity of life on our very special planet.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090921091601.htm

Get Smarter By Computer Games?

Get Smarter By Computer Games?

By: Lindsey Horton

Usually our parents have to tell us to stop playing computer games. Yet recently, scientists have reason to tell us that we might as well make them a nightly part of our homework. Well, perhaps not every computer game, but on in specific, called "Tetris". There is evidence to show that playing this game for up to 1.5 hours a week, for three months, that the grey matter in your brain will grow larger. The gray matter in your brain is the area that processes information, by brain cells and capillaries. 15 adolescent girls took the experiment of playing the game for 1.5 hours a week for three months, and their area of their gray matter in their brains were seen to grow larger. They were compared to other girls who, over the three months did not do the tetris, and whom showed no growth in size for their gray matter. The 15 girls that were in the study were chosen because they may not have had their gray matter affected as boys might, who stereotypically play coordinated video games more. The 15 girls began as novice players, and soon they became very experienced. Scientists suggested that the cause for the growth in grey matter is because the brain is learning to communicate different areas of itself that it hadn't before. After the three months, that communication becomes typical of the brain.

The social impact of this discovery on how to increase grey matter, an area crucial to planning complex movements, could be the increase in assigned computer use in school. Perhaps game time, which could add up to 1.5 hours a week, could be scheduled in a classroom. A teacher may perhaps assign 18 minutes a day, just like they typically assign SSR time. Another social impact could be more encouraging of computer games at home for boys, and girls as well, from their parents who would otherwise say that the computer is off limits. The last possible social impact is that researchers may do the same experiment with other games, and see if grey matter can be grown further quicker. This could mean that perhaps American soldiers could use this tactic is is was developed enough, and aim weapons better, or learn ducking moves better. 

I though that this article was very interesting because I am always very interested on how the brain evolves and works to adapt to it's surroundings. I think that this example is just one of many that attests to the fact that the brain is an amazing tool, unlike any other. I possibly want to be a cognitive scientist when I grow up, so this article particularly stands out to me. 

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/47026/title/Tetris_players_are_not_block_heads

Science In The News: Rock Solid Planet

Elyssa Webster
September 17, 2009
Chemistry, per. 2
Science in the News: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/47368/title/Rock_solid_planet


Rock Solid Planet

Beyond the outer limits of our beloved solar system, Milky Way, there lies a planet not much different in make up than our own. To reach this far away planet you must travel for 500 light-years, dodging all the fiery balls of gas that light the night sky. The name of this far away planet is COROT-7b and the similarities in the compositions of Earth and COROT are phenomenal. Although this new extrasolar planet is much too hot to sustain life it still excites scientists and encourages them to believe that life in space is possible. In this article you learn that COROT is likely made up of a silicate mantle and an iron core, just like earth. (Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.) Queloz team had announced that they found the planet in February of this year and were able to pin down the size, which is 1.8 of Earth’s diameter, based on the shadow it creates against its star when it periodically passes over the front of it. The last super adrenaline pumping fact in the article states that in the most recent mass measurements of the planet they have found that it has an average density of 5.6 grams per cubic centimeter, which is almost identical to that of earth!

The social impacts of a discovery like this are unbeknownst because scientists know that this new planet, dubbed COROT-7b by Queloz’s team, cannot maintain life due to heating issues. So, what will this discovery do for the world? That is what we must keep digging into and uncover.

My personal reaction to this discovery is one of disbelief. I cannot fathom how it is that we have the technology to send probes outside of our solar system, into the unknown regions of space and find, let alone measure, a planet. It almost makes me think that maybe the world will end up like Star Trek and there will be tons of planets with people living on them throughout many different galaxies. I just can’t wait to figure out what scientists do with the information they have gained from this discovery.

Overuse of energy drinks worries health pros: Article write-up

Experts are becoming concerned about the effect of energy drinks on young athletes and students. The consumption level among high school and college students continues to increase, and more and more are drinking these high caffeine level beverages for a boost of stamina, instead of eating a real meal. Some researchers wanted the U.S Food and Drug Administration to make it a rule that warning labels must be put on all the different brands of energy drinks. However, a spokeswoman from the organization named Susan Cruzan responded by saying that they had no authorization to do that, and they have “no guidance or regulations that govern the formulation of energy drinks”, making it legal for the manufacturers to sell their products without FDA approval or testing.
So what’s the effect? Why are these people so concerned? For starters, because of the high amount of caffeine in these drinks, if they are consumed to much, the effects can become harmful and toxic. Another scientist, Kathleen Miller, reported that an ingredient of bitter orange that was found in some of the drinks was closely related to ephedra, which was banned from being in dietary supplements in 2004 because of several deaths. Although the amount of bitter orange in the recipe is probably fairly miniscule, because there is no requirement or law restricting what quantity the manufacturers are using, “we really don’t know,” says Miller. The people most concerned about are young athletes. Coaches have said that their students don’t know the difference between brands like Gatorade and Red Bull, and when they drink them both interchangeably, it creates a big problem. Patrice Radden, a spokeswomen for Red Bull, stated that their product “is a functional drink and not a thirst quencher or hydrator”, and that you need to drink lots of water when consuming it. But do the majority of people who buy Red Bull know that? It appears not. Athletes are also under the assumption that weighing less, drinking, and eating less will improve their overall sport performance. A 17-year-old girl was reported to have finished a race and then collapsed at the finished line, and had to be transported to the hospital. Prior she had been complaining of fatigue and chest pains. The doctor who treated her, Eric Small of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, discovered that instead of eating breakfast in the morning, it was common for her to drink two or three cans of Red Bull. “More youngsters are substituting protein bars and shakes for real food,” Small says.
As a high school athlete myself, I can add my own observations that there is indeed a problem with my fellow students eating power bars and drinking energy drinks to sustain their strength instead of eating three healthy meals per day. By doing this, they aren’t giving their bodies the proper nutrition and balance needed. I’ve also noticed that the tendency to not eat enough parallels with the tendency to actually overeat because the body is in need of certain nutrients. When you look at a label for a power bar, the label screams at you that it has oh-so-much protein, and that it’s just what your body needs. Take a look at the back label. Sure, it has just as many grams of protein as it states on the front, but look at the grams of fat and sugar! Not cool. Same with those good old energy drinks. Let’s look at Gatorade Rain for example. Normally the first thing that catches your eye is, “oh good, only 50 calories.” But I’m looking at that label right now, and I’m seeing yes, no fat, but also no protein. There’s sodium, potassium, and sugar. Lots of sugar. Those are the main components. I’m a strong believer in protein, whether it be nuts, meat, or beans. It’s what sustains your body for a longer time, instead of the short rush that carbs offer. Then there’s fruits and vegetables (a great fiber source), omega fatty acids (very good for you), and grains, which also provide fiber and sustenance for the day. Oh yes, and dairy products, which provide enzymes for better digestion. So those energy drinks are okay once in a while, just do your research. Make sure what you’re drinking is safe and will provide your body temporarily with what it needs. Don’t forget H2O! The average high school student should be drinking at least 8-9 cups of water per day. Have I made my point clear? I agree completely with what these experts are saying. People need to know what it is that they’re eating or drinking, and the effects it can have. I also believe that students need to be encouraged by parents, coaches, and teachers to eat healthy, regular meals, and that families should make the time to eat together. In sports, coaches should take more time to talk to their athletes about the proper nutrition that they need. If awareness is increased, I hope that it will be a step towards increasing better well-being for everyone, both young and old.

Schelle: Haha, I think I got too carried away, this article was really interesting. I couldn't post it as a comment to your post because it was too long :P Oops.

Here's a close-up of Harry (or is it Harriet?). Thanks to Travis for the great photo!