Jen+Xiao

Cloud Seeding, and Why It's Cool
Literally, I mean. Cloud seeding can help slow down and maybe even reverse the effects of global warming. Cloud seeding is essentially artificially inducing clouds. You might have heard about it from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, actually, when they used it to make it rain before the clouds actually got to Beijing, so that they could be assured of good weather during the Opening Ce remony. People also use cloud seeding to help make it snow more (for commercial purposes like ensuring your skiing place stays open). == ==

I'm guessing that what you're wondering now is: so... What does that have to do with anything now? The answer is simple. Cloud seeding can be used for more than just making it rain. It can also be used help reduce global warming. How?It can help get rid of cirrus clouds.

Cirrus clouds, which are mostly made of small ice crystals, have a warming effect on the Earth because they can trap radiation very well. So then, reducing their lifetimes means reducing the warming effect, which means the Earth will be cooler (or at least, won't heat up as quickly). We might need more research on this, in order to figure out how to optimize it so that we can make sure our cloud seeding works (as too many seeds brings the opposite effect, while too few doesn't have an effect), but it's easily a possibility to help ease global warming while we try to fix the other environmental issues in our society, like reducing carbon emissions and the dwindling fossil fuels. How would we do this, then? One possible method of cloud seeding utilizes bismuth (III) iodide, which is both nontoxic and cheap - a win-win for people who have to seed a lot of clouds in places with humans. Another, wilder suggestion is the idea of cloud seeding ships. These would spray salt water into the atmosphere to increase the reflectivity of the lower clouds. The more reflection, the less radiation, and the cooler the Earth is. They, of course, wouldn't be normal ships. They'd have to have a certain kind of Flettner motor, which would make it easier to control the spray of the salt water. Unfortunately, though, these would have to be relatively local weather controllers, like the cirrus clouds. So what does this mean? It means that even if we do use cloud seeding everywhere, we still have to learn to appreciate our Earth and make a serious effort to help the environment, from recycling, to carpooling, to buying fuel efficient cars and finding alternative sources of energy.

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Solar Power


A lot of people know that solar power is an environmentally friendly way of getting energy, as opposed to of course, fossil fuels. But we also know that solar energy can be inefficient and that it takes space. So what can we do about it?

One solution is to swap out something that's already relatively flat and put solar panels there instead. We already put solar panels on top of roofing, but the Brusaws have come up with another innovative place we can put solar panels - in the road. Of course, these solar panels have to be able to withstand tremendous pressure, but the Brusaws have managed to develop one that can.

It doesn't just provide power, though. It can also melt snow off of it, which would help us a lot in the winter, even if it means the end of late arrivals due to snow on the ground. Even so, I'd give up those days of sleep if it meant safer roads and less car accidents. They could even change their LED lights in the case of an accident or for warning sensors, and can be powered by headlights.

As for the power it produces, well, it's pretty great. If all the roads were paved with gold these panels, America could produce three times as much energy as it uses, which is fantastic. Plus, during construction, there would be thousands of jobs made - there are a lot of roads in America, after all.

Can it happen? It's possible. On Indiegogo.com, a funding site, there's already been at least 1.5 million dollars donated to the couple to help them make this a reality. ==Source[[@http://www.cnet.com/news/solar-roadways-tops-1-5-million-sets-indiegogo-record/|Source 2]]==

Malaria Vaccine Development


As everyone knows, mosquitoes are a major pain. For most of us in the wonderful first world country of America, mosquitoes are annoying for one reason - they cause itchy bites that swell up and make your arms, legs, and other exposed areas red and sometimes scary looking. For those of us in places like southeast Asia and Africa, though, mosquitoes pose a much more serious threat. They not only take blood and leave a temporary itchiness, but can also pass along a wonderful little parasite. Actually, there are a couple different types of Plasmodium - falciparum, vivax, ovale, malariae, and knowlesi. While the first two are the ones that are generally more fatal, they all cause the disease. Symptoms include fever, headache, chills and even comas. A lot of cases, though, end in death. There are an estimated 207 million cases in the world, and every minute, a child dies from malaria.

Of course, there are things to prevent malaria from spreading (mosquito nets), and medicines to cure malaria once diagnosed, but wouldn't it be easier to just make a vaccine? That's just what Jonathon Kurtis helped do. Some people who are malaria resistant have a gene that produces a protein that turns off a gene in the malaria parasites that prevents them from exiting the cells they've infected. Dr. Kurtis created a vaccine candidate based off the antibody for this protein. This vaccine prevents the parasite from exiting and spreading even more, and allows other, helpful things like another type of vaccine or an antibody to help kill the parasite in the cells, or the cells themselves. It wouldn't totally prevent the illness, but it would help make the symptoms more mild and hopefully prevent more deaths, because the number of the parasites decides the severity of the illness. Basically, this new vaccine could save lives, even if it doesn't totally shut out the parasite (because, well, it shuts it in the cell!).

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Bill Gates actually had a Ted Talk on malaria (because it's a serious issue in the developing world!) media type="custom" key="26026322"