Scientists are starting to develop complicated computer modeling to look how fruit fly cells react to changes in the weather.  The model shows how fruit fly cells talk to the others during the development.

Marshall Howe


The movie years of living dangerously, made me worry. One thing that really popped out was the deforestation. There was a national park that was 86000 square miles, but now it is only 18000 square miles. This happened because people would chop down trees then burn the land to use for farming. They use the trees for palm oil. Palm oil is used in almost every food. I think we need to find a different source to stop deforestation. In conclusion the movie really made me think that we need to change some of our ways. 

Can hackers really control traffic lights like in the movies. The answer is yes. This can happen because parts of the vehicle traffic control system installed at major arteries in US cities are poorly secured so they can easily be hacked. They can snarl traffic or force cars onto different streets. The hack does not even target the traffic lights themselves. The hack sensors that are embedded in the streets that feed information to the traffic control systems.

California is planning to make a high speed train from LA to SF in less than 3 hours. The plan is supposed to be finished by 2029. It is much better for the  environment, but will cost billions of tax dollars. The train will go over 200 mph.




http://www.hsr.ca.gov

It is estimated by about the year 2050 there will be a six fold increase for the number of flights that we have flying today. This will be a HUGE problem for our environment and we will need to counter that problem with a radical change in aircraft. Over the past 50 years, in Europe the growth rate of flights has consistently stayed at 3.9%. With the rise of Asia and cheaper flights, this is supposed to level out at 5.3%. The air transport business is very hard to make clean. There is some much CO2 being produced from this business that it has cancelled out two decades worth of green gains made across the manufacturing, power generation, etc. Morphing allows you to adjust parameters during flight to waste less gas and CO2. It can increase wingspan and width all during the flight. That means it can help our enviorment a lot and start decreasing CO2 producing from the planes.

I read about an app that fights cancer.  It is designed to help teenagers and some young adult cancer patients understand more about the conditions they are in and how peoples body sometimes benefit from displeasing treatment and work.  Researchers at a place called HopeLab's are trying to find products that impact health behavior in a positive way. They were emboldened by their success in their thing called "re-mission" that impacted biology and behavior.


http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/24/tech/gaming-gadgets/cancer-video-game/