Testing that will tell you when you'll die!

Scientists recently discovered a way to read a chemical footprint in the blood that can provide clues to an infant's heath and a rate of aging throughout their life. With this development, it may be possible for doctors to prematurely fight of aging conditions or complications that may come with again. Researchers cited 22 metabolites that are linked to chronological age and how we age. Looking further into this shows that how we age is strongly related to health at birth and epigenetic factors. Many things affect how we age but this discovery may be able to pave a way for future therapies and cures for age related diseases. 

This amazes me because it makes me think that we may be getting into an area of science where we're actually able to predict and alter the lifespan of infants. This may just terrify me. Think of how it would effect the mentality of the entire Earth if we each had any idea of how and when we could die. This would cause organized chaos and could even bring new laws and new government structures along with every other discovery we've made lately. Now this is completely taking it really far and just sounds like a dream but I feel like it's scary to think that things like this could be normal in the near future. 

Lake Vostok

For this blog, I just wanted to bring up the interesting story about Lake Vostok and what recently brought it into the news. Lake Vostok is about 800 miles away from the south pole and is buried beneath more than 2 miles of ice. Scientists believe that Lake Vostok has been cut off from the general atmosphere for about 20 million years. Scientists believe that about 35 million years ago the lake was most likely surrounded by a lush forest of greenery. Last year, Russian scientists drilled through to Vostok and started extracting samples. As the world waited patiently, the results came back as finding a bacteria that was new to science but was later disproved as sample contamination. At this point, new samples taken from the ice just above the lake have been analyzed and scientists found over 300,500 different stands of DNA most being bacterial and some even making it appear as though there may be fish populating the lake. Much of the DNA also points to life that usually exists around hydrothermal vents, suggesting that they might be present in the lakes as well.

I just wanted to share how amazed I am at discoveries similar to this that seem to be being made on a quite regular basis recently. This story is similar to the untouched lake that was found a couple weeks ago that had been completely unaltered by man. As we're discovering these things, we need to take into account how they can help us in the future and how we need to preserve their state while running tests on them. It would be a shame to ruin such amazing places, as we're ruined most of the world, by overworking the area.

Service Learning

For my service learning project I worked with a partner two create 2 videos and find 2 websites that related to New Zealand Spinach and Nasturtium. We then created four QR code for these four links to be posted at on the plants at ECHO farms. Doing this project and watching all of the other videos in class really showed me how little diversified we are as consumers in America and how many plants are used around the world as staple food sources. It was amazing to see how high these plants were in nutrients compared to the foods we eat on a daily basis that are so lacking. It made me think about how I want to raise children, when I have them, to be aware of different foods and plant species around the world.

Nasturtium

New Zealand Spinach

Plan B

The chapter that I presented in Plan B was chapter 7. This was also the subject of my first and second essays. I felt that chapter was very interesting and it put a fear in me about the world that I had never realized before. Reading about the real horrors that people face every single day just trying to get water and education and shelter and be free of violence and every other thing that we take advantage of every day in America is sickening. I can't believe how much of a struggle it is to access simple things like adequate family planning education and primary elementary education in country that we usually see as so developed. It was an eye opening experience to really see the statistics and how devastated part of the world really are.

Downtown Fort Myers

For our final field trip we took a tour of downtown Fort Myers. Amazingly, I have lived in Estero since August 2012 and this was the first time I'd ever been to the downtown area. I feel that the best part of this field trip was having a teacher as a guide who knew so much of the rich history of the area. Learning about the "Uncommon Friends" statue was interesting. You wouldn't usually stop to think learn about the history of the fountain if you were just alone in the park, but it tells you a story about major events in the area. We also learned about the building that was originally on the pier. I never knew that Fort Myers was the best travel spot for young people in the past. We also learned the history of the mural on the federal building and what each person on it represented.

Lover's Key State Park

This past week we visited Lover's Key. This state park/beach is on a barrier island. This essentially means that the island acts as a barrier to the mainland. This beautiful beach had a boardwalk surrounded by mangrove trees. The trees acts as a guard for the estuary and a sanctuary for baby fish and other animals. The only reason the mangroves are able to grow in the estuary conditions is because of the fact that their seeds carry their own nutrients and are able to survive until they can find a place to anchor down. Any other plants die because of the salinity of the estuary. Here are a couple pictures I took at Lover's Key. 

ECHO

One of my favorite field trips we've taken thus far has been to ECHO: Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization. This farm in North Fort Myers demonstrates ways that people in areas with poor weather or soil condition can grow sustainable plants and implement sustainable practices for clean water, animal cultivation, and other low-cost initiatives. This organization is run by volunteers and interns who are passionate about this farm and knowledgable about the different plants and animals that are under their care. Until this class, I never know any organizations like this even existed. Its such an amazingly simple concept; Teach them how to grow plants to sustain themselves, and people of the world will be able to survive and flourish. Helping is about more than giving time or money, knowledge is the most powerful of all. This farm was beautiful, and I'd like to close with picture that I took on our trip!

7 Billion

For this blog, I wanted to share my thoughts on the attached video. This video has been a favorite of mine for a couple of years now because visually, I like how it puts things into perspective regarding our planet and how it may not be able to sustain us all for much longer if we continue to grow at such a steady rate. 

Many people may not now how quickly we're grown so recently. This video easily explains how we are spread throughout the Earth and how much more we can expand until we are no longer able to. 

FGCU Food Forest

I want to take a second to reflect on our on campus Food Forest. When I came to FGCU last Fall I learned that we had a Food Forest that was run by students. Hearing about it on campus, I always had a bit of a curiosity, but never actually got a chance to take a tour of it. Finally being able to see it during this class, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride in my school upon entering the amazing garden. I think the entire idea of this forest is amazing, but I am truly astonished by how well it has been executed by our students and Student Naturalists. We may be small, but this school is truly astounding. #DunkCity <3

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

For this blog, I just wanted to share a couple of the amazing things that we saw at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Walking through such a diverse environment shows you how different conditions can be, even if their only a few feet away from each other. All-in-all, I felt that this field trip really got us out into the environment to experience these elements for ourselves. 

 One of the first things we came across was a Red Shouldered Hawk. This magnificent bird is a usual sign of nearby tall trees and an area rich with water, such as the swamp. It's usual prey ranges from mice to frogs and snakes. 

 Next, we stopped at the point on the boardwalk where you could clearly see the distinction between the levels of elevation from higher up to down in the actual swamp. We discussed prescribed and mechanical burns and the pros and cons of each. We also discussed how the burns affect the different species in the area and how some can become more dominant during certain clearing procedures. 

We also saw a few deer in this area that aren't easily visible in the pictures.

 One of the first things we saw as we started into the swap area were scratches in the tree bark. These were made my cats on the board walk to make their territory.

Next we came across a patch of Blood Lichen. This is a symbiotic algae that is found in areas that have good air quality. It is an indicator of a healthy ecosystem. It is an air plant, or epiphyte, that grows on other plants. 

We then saw a patch of Royal Fern. 

Next we passed some Alligator Flag. This plant is very prevalent in the area and grows in large patches. Much of it grows in the middle of the cypress dome as well. 

Next we saw my favorite part of the day which was the Resurrection Fern. Also called Century Fern, it is an epiphytic fern that goes back to green from brown with a very small amount of water. I like to think of it as the zombie fern. 

Next we saw an alligator sunbathing with her babies. She was laying near a gator hole that she had created. Alligators are a keystone species. 

Primrose Wild Flower

Swamp Hibiscus (Red Flower,
Resembles Cannabis) 

Bracken Fern

Pickerel Weed

This is a picture of Strangler Fig. These vines are using this tree for support. Usually this is a harmless relationship, but can kill the tree is the fig gets large enough to shade it our. The fig produces a fruit and its seeds can germinate from the top or the bottom of the tree. 

Willow Tree

Rabbit Foot Fern

Cypress Knees

Live Oak