Exoneration

After listening to the exoneration podcast I was somewhat surprised. The podcast was a story about 4 teenagers who were falsely convicted for raping and murdering a young women; and, against their will, were forced to sign confession papers and were thrown in jail. Then several years later and the advancement of technology DNA evidence suggested that the crime was committed by an entirely different person. This story helped raise awareness about what kind of science is being used in the criminal field specifically for forensics.

Laughter and the Immune System

Humor is very influential to the function of the immune system. Exposure to laughter is a natural killer of cytotoxicity in the cells. Cytotoxicity is the state of a cell being toxic, especially in an immune cell. Although studies were done that shown that sense of humor had no affect on the humorous stimuli in the immune system it still had an affect on salivary IgA, supporting humor having a positive affect on the immune system as a whole. Salivary IgA is related to direct flow rate of saliva, and through testing the saliva results came back that increased levels were present, increased levels meaning a healthier immune system.    

Lucy Podcast

The Lucy podcast was the story of a chimpanzee who was raised and socialized exactly like a human being. From a baby Lucy was raised like a normal human baby would be raised; she would sleep and play in a crib, drink milk from a bottle, and, when Lucy got older, eat dinner at the dinner table like a normal human. Though as Lucy got older she grew much stronger and would destroy the house and the parents of Lucy had to take her to a chimpanzee refuge where other chimpanzees that were raised by Lucy had to go. It took Lucy a very long time to adjust to a different life of being a real chimpanzee. Eventually Lucy (and the other chimpanzees) had adapted to a normal chimp life out in the wild. Lucy was then supposably killed by a poacher when her bones were discovered by the original parents.
Personal Response: In my opinion  Lucy taught us that chimpanzees can be raised and socialized by humans can almost become completely human, though it is wrong to raise chimpanzees in a different way than normal.  Lucy taught us that to be human you have to be raised by humans and in a human environment. After listening to the story my perspective of chimps have changed pretty drastically. I think the experiment of raising a chimp like a human was definitely worthwhile because it gave us much more knowledge about chimpanzees and their connection to humans. After hearing the end of the story it made me feel that chimpanzees are not meant to be raised in a human environment. 

Thinking Like a Mountain Summary

In Aldo Leopld's Thinking Like a Mountain he explains the relationship between animals and their natural habitat. In one section he tells a story of how he was young and shot a wolf from the top of a cliff. When he saw the wolf die he realized that it was wrong and neither the mountain nor the wolf liked it. He realized that the connection between the animals and the mountain is different and much greater than he anticipated.

TED Talk: Restoring a Rainforest for a Stronger Biodiversity

Hundreds of square miles of rainforest have been either burned or cut down, but Willie Smits wants to bring them back.Though do to the increased rate of forest fires the difficulty of regrowing a rainforest is extreme. But Smits has created a very specific form of planting trees that will keep wild fires out and the biodiversity strong. As well as create a home for people and animals alike.