Discussion

A Guiding Glow to Track What Was Once Invisible

Reading this article, "A Guiding Glow to Track What Was Once Invisible" by Kenneth Change made me realize how wonderful and advantageous science is. It also helped me realize how useful animals are to the advancement of science, without these glowing Aequorea victoria jellyfish, the green fluorescent protein would not have been discovered. The G.F.P is what allows scientist to now see inside of cells, and it made it simpler for them. They do this by absorbing the energy  of blue or ultraviolet light and then releasing the energy as green light, which is a great advantage for scientists because now they don't have to swath the cells in extra chemicals for them to shine and be seen. When I first started reading the article I thought it was going to talk about Methylene Blue which is a positively charged dye that dyes the negative insides of a cell blue so they could be seen. I was glad when I realized it wasn't because now I know about a different dye that scientists use in order to see inside of cells. Thanks to this article I have gained new appreciation towards scientist who put so much work into diving deeper into the human body so they could understand how it truly works. From now on I will never be able to view jellyfish the same, not while knowing how crucial they were to the improvement of science, they are absolutely incredible. This article was very interesting to read and I enjoyed it a lot.

Thirst for Fairness May Have Helped Us Survive

Fairness, equity and sharing are all innate desires and instincts according to this article. Indeed, I remember as a child feeling despise for those who tried to let some play games and others not, or when a trade of snacks for lunch seemed unfair. This is actually a blend of scientific and psychological analysis. On one hand, our thirst for fairness seeming to be part of nature leans on the concept of nature vs. nurture in psychology, which also proves that if nurtured to believe in selfishness and superiority, fairness will dissipate in the individual's desires. On another hand, the science behind those behaviors goes back to our homo sapiens days when we separated ourselves from other mammals through such unique behavior. As we evolve and grow older, the limit to inequity grows more tolerant, yet there remains a threshold to the accepted level of lack of fairness. The activity of compromise roots from this innate desire for fairness, and our amygdala and cortical domains can vouch for that desire. Humans lowering hierarchy helped our early civilizations to adapt and create a better environment for our species to expand and grow safely. Lastly, it is fascinating to see that through our quest in fairness, we have detached ourselves from mistrust and common doings of individuality to adopt strength in groups and unity, and how much it has aided our evolution.