Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Exoneration

                  Exoneration is when a person is freed from being guilty, and proven to be innocent after being guilty. In class, we listened to a very interesting story about teenage boys who were guilty for a terrible crime, and later they were actually proven innocent. The radio recording shows how ineffective and untrustworthy prosecution is, and how effective DNA evidence helps in finding the real criminals that commit the crimes, instead of locking up innocent people.

                    The recording we listened to what the story of 4 black teenage boys who were wrongfully convicted of the murder of a white woman. The boys were "proven"guilty and served 15 years in prison. The police investigators who were on the case practically framed the boys to admit that they did the crime, when in reality they didn't do it. After the police brought the murder case back up to reassure, they tested DNA evidence. The police finally found out the 4 teenage boys were innocent and they were exonerated. The DNA evidence helped the police to catch the real murderers, who were 2 totally different men.   

                    This story was very shocking to hear, I was suprised that the police would frame young boys just because they thought they did the crime. In the recording, it even said that one of the police officers in charge of the case made one of the boys admit he did the crime and lied to his face. He said that if he confessed to the crime, he would return the boy back to his family. When I heard that a police man actually did that to a teenage boy, I was really shocked that he would lie like that just to get a forced confession. This story also shows how trustworthy DNA evidence is and that it is very vital that it is used in every case it can be used in. It is the most accurate and efficient way to find the real criminal, and it will decrease the number of innocent people serving time in jail for a crime they didn't commit. 

                    
               


Thursday, January 23, 2014

Can We Eat To Starve Cancer?


                    Many common diseases all across our world today, such as cancer, arthritis, and obesity surprisingly all have one thing in common; malfunctioning angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels in your body. Whats a way to stop the the excessive/damaged growth of blood vessels you might ask? You're about to find out.            

                    William Li is a doctor speaking about anti angiogenesis treatment, specifically for curing cancer. In the Ted talk we watched as a class, Dr. Li explains how accurate anti angiogenesis treatment is, along with foods you can eat to advance the treatment and restore healthy blood vessels. Unlike chemo therapy, anti angiogenesis starves the cancer by cutting off the blood supply of it, so it doesn't get the nutrients it needs to grow from blood vessels. Without blood supply, the tumor can't live. Dr. Li also talked about foods that can help make healthier angiogenesis in the body, such as tomatoes, garlic, pumpkin, and strawberries. These foods help the body's angiogenesis healthier and can potentially be a benefit to fighting cancer.

                   After watching the Ted talk in class, I was very satisfied with the video and how the treatment worked so well for people and animals. Cancer is a terrible thing, and I believe if there is a beneficial way to stop the blood supply in a cancerous tumor, anti angiogeneis treatment seems to be the most effective and most advanced. Although it is a new treatment, I think anti angiogenesis is a smart way to take on tumors. In the video, it showed several animals and a few people with cancerous tumors, and after having the treatment done for a few months, their tumor was either gone or much healthier than before. It seems to be efficient and effective. I found it amazing that eating just simple foods like pumpkin, can actually help people with cancer to have healthier angiogenesis. That really shocked me in a good way to know eating such common foods can help the fight, even if its just a little bit.