Engineering Editorial #6

Deah Gulwani
April 12, 2018
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The Life-Giving Cord

This article is about the Umbilical Cord and how it is the support system for life in the case of a fetus. This 2-feet long Cord works as a 2-way street because it carries oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s bloodstream to the fetus through the placenta and carries back nutrient-depleted blood through 2 arteries – from the fetus to the mother. The foetal blood holds cells that have been of interest to researchers due to their potential therapeutic qualities- and hence, doctors, scientists, and parents are interested in banking this blood for future use by freezing it after harvesting it from the cord and placenta.

“In 1988, a 5-year-old named Matthew with a rare type of anemia received umbilical cord blood cells from his newborn sister, who didn’t have the disease. That transfer called an umbilical cord blood transplant, worked, and the boy was soon free of the disease.”

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(Image and article source - https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/umbilical-cord-blood-banking-research )

Toxicity

Electronic cigarettes are creating a buzz in the markets and a lot of celebrities are seen using it, and in turn, influencing the youth. What makes matters worse is that these cigarettes are readily available. These have the potential of provoking inflammation by damaging the tissues in the lungs and studies have shown that this damage has adverse effects on the health of a person because the lungs lose their ability to fight and keep germs and other harmful substances away from the body when the lung tissues are harmed. This article is an eye-opener and is written with the hope of impacting people in order for them to stop engaging in “vaping”.

“Unlike true cigarettes, electronic cigarettes do not burn tobacco. They don’t burn anything. Instead, they turn a flavored liquid into a vapor. Users inhale, or vape, the mist. The liquid usually contains nicotine. That is a highly addictive substance naturally found in tobacco.”

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(Image and Article source - https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/vaping-may-harm-lungs )

3) Sneezing 7 Colors

This article is about how a wildlife photographer named Domenic Biagini was out on an excursion near San Diego last December when he spotted a whale and captured it at the right time. The shot went on to show something extraordinary- it appeared as though the whale was sneezing a rainbow. The explanation behind this is that the exhalation of the whale captured sunlight the same way raindrops do when they refract light into its constituent colors and hence, a rainbow was created.

”Like all rainbows, it's a play of light unique to the eyes of the observer; if Biagini had been filming from a different angle relative to the sun, he probably wouldn't have seen the same rainbow effect.”

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(Image and article source - https://www.livescience.com/62280-humpback-whale-sneezes-rainbow-video.html )

4) Natural Sensations

This article revolves around how scientists at Caltech stimulated a region in the brain of a paralyzed person’s arm and natural sensations were produced in the arm. This was done through a tiny array of electrodes and is a groundbreaking move in the medical field which could help a lot in the future and provide a base for further research.

“The somatosensory cortex is a strip of the brain that governs bodily sensations, both proprioceptive sensations (sensations of movement or the body's position in space) and cutaneous sensations (those of pressure, vibration, touch, and the like). Previous to the new work, neural implants targeting similar brain areas predominantly produced sensations such as tingling or buzzing in the hand.”

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(Image and article source - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180410084233.htm )

5) Global Warming and its Consequences

This article is about a new study that was carried out which found that the Atlantic Ocean is showing slow speed and weak circulation due to global warming. The result is that the Gulf stream is being pushed closer to the U.S coast. Researchers claim that this could lead to extreme weather conditions in the northern hemisphere, especially Europe.

“The ocean circulation slowdown has been predicted by climate models, but it's now showing up in observations based on northern water temperatures”

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(Image and article source - https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2018-04-11/study-global-warming-is-weakening-key-ocean-circulation)

Deah Gulwani
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Engineering Editorial #6

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