105 foot dinosaur

The article that I found is about Argentinean and Brazilian scientists finding a 105 foot dinosaur in Argentina. It is one of the largest to have been discovered in the world. Since we are talking about many years, this find is quite lucky for scientists because it is nearly complete compared to other specimens. This new find is considered to be part of a titianosaur species, a group of dinosaurs whose length can be up to 131 feet long. This dinosaur is a plant eating dinosaur and is said to have lived in the cretaceous period, and the name given to is Futalognkosaurus dukei, and it means giant and chief in Mapuche. Dinosaurs have always been interesting for me, simply because they are creatures that no longer dominate the landscape. Futalognkosaurus in particular interests me because of its size. The neck alone of this dinosaur is fifty six feet long which by itself is longer than some dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Spinosaurus. I do not agree with the opinion that this dinosaur is a new species, just one that is larger. Over the years I have seen animals that look the same but are larger which have been put into different categories. Take human beings for example, not everyone is remotely the same height yet they are still considered to be human beings. Futalognkosaurus to me is just a large form of a Sauropod dinosaur. With that said I still applaud scientists’ work in finding new fossils around the world, and knowing our history can help mankind in the future.

Memory

The article that interested me this week was about scientists studying genes to see why some people have good memory and other have bad memory. More specifically scientists are testing short term memory. They are wondering if by studying certain genes, it may lead to finding out the cause of memory related illness. Anna Need, a scientist believes that more than one gene controls memory, however this has yet to be proven. Just by studying genes scientists may find out new ways in helping those who have bad memory. I find this article to be quite interesting because of scientists like Anna Need trying to find out ways to improve memory in a person. Personally I feel that my own short term and long term memory can be improved, I also hope that scientists will one day find out why certain things are easier to remember and why other things are not. If genes are responsible for memory and if scientists find out that certain people have better or worse memory as a result of those genes then I also wonder if schools will change their approach in educating their students because of this study. If and when scientists find out a solution to memory problems I hope that the remedy will be natural as opposed to something synthetically made simply because I think that synthetic remedies do more harm than good. With all this said I am glad that scientists are beginning their study on memory because they are looking for the benefit of humanity, in my opinion.

Venezuela and poverty

The topic that I chose is about several Latin American countries being more stable than they were in the past. According to this Startribune article the number of people in poverty is falling rather quickly, and it’s thanks to new leadership in the area. These countries in the list are Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico. There is a belief that the rich white community in these countries have kept down the natives of that area, with some help with the United States. According to this article the “…incomes of the poor are rising faster than those of the rich in Brazil…” With all the good things happening in some Latin American countries, the majority of them do not have leftist governments. Latin American countries are beginning to awake to a true democracy, in my opinion. With the election of new leaders such as Chavez it can be said that it is a true government of the people. The news mentions governments like Venezuela’s frequently, and I was wondering why the number of people in poverty was going down, until I read this article. One of the main things I continued to hear about Venezuela is basically bad news from news stations like CNN, NBC, and FOX. I am very pleased to hear that there is some progress, and even though it is early it’s still good news. The reason for less poverty in places like Venezuela is because they raised prices for their oil in exporting it to such countries as the United States.