PARASTiC TWiNS

No, this is not the National Enquirer. Baby Manar Maged in Egypt known as the 'two headed girl' had survived an earlier operation to remove a parasitic twin joined at her head. However, on Saturday, she passed away after succumbing to an infection in her brain. Maner was only 10 months old when surgeons operated on her for 13 consecutive hours and managed to successfully separate the parasitic twin. The twin seen in the photo was not expected to survive even with the surgery or with the passage of natural time. Physicians stated that the twin could do little more but blink and smile.The surgery was somewhat controversial in Egypt because it would have meant the certain death of the parasitic twin, which had no limbs, a partial torso and only a head. Reports suggest that there was some effort to halt the surgery on compassionate grounds. In the end, it was an infection that the surviving twin succumbed to.The Manar Maged case has been diagnosed as craniopagus parasiticus, an extremely rare condition where the embryo splits to form a twin but fails to develop separately and is attached to the head of the 'normal' embryo. There have been other known cases, such as a girl in the Dominican Republic, born in 2003, who did not survive the delicate and dangerous operation to remove the parasitic twin. The 2003 case involved an 8-week old baby who endured a complicated 11-hour operation to separate an undeveloped head of her twin. Doctors had warned after the surgery that the girl would be at great risk of infection or hemorrhaging.In this case, lead surgeon Dr. Jorge Lazareff opined that the girl lost a lot of blood in the operation, which apparently caused her to suffer a heart attack. Friends and family donated almost 4 gallons of blood for surgeons to use during the operation. Fully developed twins born conjoined at the head are extremely rare, accounting for one of every 2.5 million births, but parasitic twins, where one twin stops developing in the womb, are even rarer. Rebecca was the eighth documented case in the world of craniopagus parasiticus, doctors said. All the other infants documented to have had the condition died before birth, making Rebecca's surgery the first known operation of its kind. The afore-mentioned Egyptian case is recognized as the ninth.Without an operation, Rebecca would have barely been able to lift her head at 3 months old. Her doctors said the pressure from the second head, attached on top of the first and facing up, would have prevented her brain from developing.

S0LAR POWERED CELL PHONES

Not a whole lot of detail about Samsung's new Blue Earth Phone except that it has some eco-features that finally get us excited about the future of greener cell phones. We really hope this won't be a disappointing chunk of greenwash like Motorola's Renew. Hitting the UK in the second half of 2009, the Samsung Blue Earth phone is a touchscreen smart phone that can apparently generate the power it needs to make a call any time from the solar panel built into the back.
At first glance, we're pretty darn excited about this solar power feature. But, we aren't sure just what Samsung means by this and how powerful that solar panel must be to charge up an energy-intensive touchscreen phone for 24/7 use. Perhaps it's simply that it can get enough juice from the sun to make a call, but not run much else on the phone. Also, are people really going to leave their phone in the sun long enough and often enough to charge it? At any rate, it's an excellent addition to a cell phone so that needed back-up power can be gathered when it's bright out.Most of the phone is constructed from PCM, a plastic extracted from recycled water bottles (more so than the Renew?) and both the handset and energy efficient charger ditch harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate. Additionally, the phone comes in recycled packaging.

AiR CAR

Compressed-Air Powered cars could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius. Best part? You could see them in the US at the end of next year.

The world’s first commercial compressed-air powered vehicle is currently being produced by India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors, who is licensing the technology from European-based company MDI (a company powered by the innovation of ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre). They anticipate having about 6000 of these vehicles on city streets in India in 2008.

EARTH DAY!

In September 1969 at a conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced that in spring 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. This occurred during a time of great concern about overpopulation and when there was a strong movement towards "Zero Population Growth."Nelson viewed the stabilization of the nation's population as an important aspect of environmentalism and later said:"The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become ... We have to address the population issue. The United Kingdom, with the U.S. supporting it, took the position in Cairo in 1994 that every country was responsible for stabilizing its own population. It can be done. But in this country, it's phony to say 'I'm for the environment but not for limiting immigration.'"Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."Five months before the first April 22 Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the rising hysteria of "global cooling":"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam, a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." Senator Nelson also hired Denis Hayes as the coordinator.April 22, 1970, Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated, with a goal of a healthy, sustainable environment.Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his old staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues onto the world stage, Earth Day on April 22 in 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. The April 22 Earth Day in 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 came around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA. Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York. Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect change in local, national, and global policies. Earth Day Network’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year.

GLOBAL COOLiNG

Scientists announced in the July 21, 1999, edition of the journal Nature findings that suggest that global warming can sometimes lead to cold weather or even a worldwide freeze. Scientists have long known that a severe cold spell occurred after the end of the Pleistocene glaciation, approximately 8,200 years ago. The cause, however, has been a mystery. The authors of the Nature article write that the centuries long cold spell might have been caused by meltwater from the disappearing glaciers, cooling the North Atlantic. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered parts of North America with ice up to two miles thick for more than a million years. When the Earth began to warm 10,000 years ago, it retreated back toward the poles. The ice sheet left in its wake at least two lakes containing more water than the Great Lakes combined. In the Hudson Bay, ice held the water in place like a plug in a bathtub. When the plug finally melted, trillions of gallons gushed into the Labrador Sea, flowing out at 100 times the rate water leaves the Mississippi. The conclusions of the authors are the result of a study by University of Colorado and Canadian researchers who examined evidence of this huge flood in the Hudson Bay region of Quebec and Ontario. Independent research showed that global temperatures dropped significantly within several hundred years of the flood. Until this study, nobody could pinpoint if these two events were connected, said the study's lead author, University of Colorado geologist Don Barber. The scientists used radiocarbon dating of clams in the flood sediment, and other evidence, to correlate the two events. The Atlantic Gulf Stream normally acts like a conveyor belt to deliver warm tropical water to temperate regions. By adding so much cold fresh water in such a short time, the flood shut down the Gulf Stream, said Richard Alley, a climate expert at Penn State University. Temperatures in Greenland and Europe dropped by 6 to 15 degrees for at least 200 years, according to ice core data. The authors conclusions demonstrate how global warming can, paradoxically, provoke a global freeze. If a modern glacier such as the Greenland Ice Sheet melts as a result of rising temperatures in the next century, it could trigger a similar flood and climate fluctuation, the researchers said.

R.i.P SERGiO

Teen Killed In N.J. Community Center Shooting
LAWNSIDE, N.J. (CBS 3) ―
Click to enlarge
A teen was shot and killed outside the Wayne Bryant Community Center in Lawnside, Camden County on April 12.
Police are searching for suspects in a deadly shooting at a Camden County community center Sunday night.Officers were called to the Wayne R. Bryant Community Center on Charleston Avenue in Lawnside after reports of gunfire just before 11 p.m.Police said a fight during a youth group birthday party at the center prompted the suspect to pull a gun and fire one shot into the floor.As the suspect left the scene, 18-year-old Sergio Rivera was amongst a group that followed the gunman outside. Rivera was shot multiple times outside the center and pronounced dead at the scene.Family and friends of Rivera, a Woodrow Wilson High School senior, described him as a standout athlete who was planning to attend college."He wasn't a combative person, he wasn't an aggressive person," said his aunt Moya Daz. "He was just happy."A Rivera family friend says there was no security at the center and more police presence is needed. "It gets out of hand over there," said Shawn Johnson, "No bouncer, no security guard, none of that."So far there have been no arrests and no motive in the shooting. No other injuries were reported.The Camden County Prosecutor's Office has joined the investigation. If you have any information, please contact police.

Dear Ms. Carroll

April 9, 2009


Dear Ms. Carroll,

I chose this project because I want to become an Environmental Scientist and study global warming. Global warming is cause by pollutants that create holes in the ozone layer which increases the high levels of UV waves impacting Earth. During school sometimes twice a week, I go over to Public Works and the Aquarium. I help out with the recycling of many goods such as batteries, household hazardous materials, and tires and also learned about ocean pollution. I get to watch how everything is processed and recycled during my hour or two of volunteering. My mentor and I meet up for about a half hour to an hour to review things that happened in the past week. At the end of my exploring I will make an hour long presentation to my fellow class mates, teachers, and or board of education.

At the presentation it will be a lot of visuals such as, the things you can recycle and the proper tools to use to recycle. I also will have power points showing the destruction that has happened throughout the world due to global warming. I basically just want to use my time to make my audience aware of the crisis we are facing right now. I also will be presenting my product. My product is what I am making to sum up everything I did. What I am making is a recycled trash sculpture. The sculpture is going to be made out of cans, aluminum, paper, and every day things. When I complete it I would like to plant it here at Lindenwold High school. I am not sure where I would like to put it yet in the school but, I do know I want it to be displayed outside for everyone to see. I also, want the Environmental club to add something new to it each year to make it better. I thought having it here at school it could be used as a learning tool for all students and the community. It will also make everyone aware of there surrounding and think about our environment.

Sincerely,
Tyana MitchellSenior Project student 2009