Julia+Maggio

AP BIOLOGY
OPTICAL ILLUSIONS http://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_optical_illusions_show_how_we_see.html Everybody loves optical illusions but what do they actually mean? Beu Lotto describes what optical illusions mean and how peoples' different perceptions of the illusion can show many different things about their brain and how they think. He says how even animals, like bumble bees for example, can see illusions.
 * ​week 3:

http://www.moillusions.com/ here are some!

week 2: So this Wednesday Mr. Nick Cooney to the classes about factory farms and its effects on the environment and what we can do to help. His talk made me think of what I saw on the Ellen DeGenerous show just the day before. She showed a segment about a farm that consisted of farm animals that have been saved from various abusive conditions. Just wanted to share the link to this farm's website, I think it's a great idea!** http://www.gentlebarn.org/



 EAT MORE GREENS AND LESS MEAT- do it for the environment and yourself

 Look at the changes found in the American diet just in the past century! **Mark Bittman talks about the changes in American's consumption of meat (and also junk food) in more detail in his TED talk, **  http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html  He stresses the benefits of being a LOCAVORE (one who eats food grown locally). Additionally, Bittman brings up how organic food can sometimes be just as harmful to the environment as normal food because of the transportation required. He says we can do out part in helping the environment by cutting the amount of meat that we eat because in reality we don't actually NEED as much meat as we are currently consuming and that we can be a positive impact on the evironment without switching completely to vegetarianism.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_kamen_previews_a_new_prosthetic_arm.html
 * week one:**

In this video Dean Karmen, who is known for inventing the Segway, talks about his newly developed prosthetic arm which has the ability to function almost like a real arm; it's pretty amazing! I think this will be a widely demanded invention considering the great number of people who have lost their arm in the ongoing war.

here's a picture! [|deka_arm.jpg] http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/dean-kamens-luke-arm-prosthesis-readies-for-clinical-trials/2 here is more detail on how it actually works

http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html In this video, Craig Venter talks about his recent achievement of successfully producing synthetic life. He says how it is the beginning of a whole new era for science, providing many possibilities, one idea being the synthesis of new strains of algae that can capture CO2 to possibly create a new source of gasoline. So this development can hopefully fix some environmental issues in the future.