March 2015 archive

D.A.R.E to defy D.A.R.E?

For my persuasive essay, I want to discuss my opinions on the D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program. My question of policy, should D.A.R.E. continue to be in existence? Many people would assume yes but I do not believe this to definitely be the case. This program is in 75% of US school districts and in 48 countries. About 70,000 police officers have taught over 200 million K-12 students the dangers of drugs and alcohol. (3 Kalishman)

This clearly sounds like a beneficial program, right? After all, we want to teach the youth of America about the potential harms they could come in contact with. However, some major studies have shown that the D.A.R.E. program actually may not be as advantageous as many people think it is. In fact, it can actually cause some bad side effects. That is why I believe that is notably important to address this issue. Most people blindly believe the idea that the program is causing nothing but positive effects, yet they are the ones who need to be educated about the actual program. The public needs to fully know about this program and how it is taught, before they can trust people to teach their children. I am particularly interested in this topic because of the new setting that I am in: college. Drinking and drugs are much more prevalent than they were in high school, to an almost unbelievable degree. Yet, almost all of these kids went through D.A.R.E. So if I still constantly see myself surrounded by drug use and underage drinking, there clearly is something wrong with the system.

There are a couple of main questions I want to focus my research on. Firstly, how has D.A.R.E. affected drug use since it began? Has it gone up? Down? No change? And are these changes due to the program or some other latent variables? Second, how much does it cost? Can these funds be used in some more efficient way? Thirdly, what can be done instead to prevent drug use and underage drinking? Is education really the best way? Or would harsher punishments act as a better deterrent?

I find all of these questions very interesting and I hope that by researching this topic in depth, I will get a full understanding of all beneficial and bad effects of this program.

 

 

Ariel Kalishman, “D.A.R.E. Fact Sheet,” Drug Policy Alliance website, Apr. 2003

 

Smellchat/ Smellagram

Nothing compares to the smell of freshly baked cookies. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. I mean how many times have you walked into your house and been bombarded by the delicious aroma of some baked dessert by mom or dad? (Remember it’s the 21st century, dads cook too!) Well coming from a family that LOVES food, I can tell you my nostrils have been quite spoiled over the years. So that really got me thinking, that’s not fair. Why I am the special one who gets these joys? I bet that a lot of my friends have never had that benefit. So that’s where my idea comes in. Sending smells.

I imagine it as a snapchat sort of thing, but for smells. Snapsmell perhaps? Smellagram? Now don’t ask me how this would be done, because I obviously have no idea. I mean I’m no scientist. But if you think about, what’s a phone? It’s a device you use to send sounds. So it only makes sense that there should be a device to send smells. Think of how easy it would become to buy the perfect perfume or flowers for that special someone. Or are you trying to get even with someone? Send them a skunk or garbage smells.

Clearly a lot of good (or bad) could come from my invention, but it would overall benefit society as a whole. As we bring the sense of smell between people together, we would be bringing unity all across the nation. Right?

Another aspect to this invention I would want to add is being able to save smells. For me, smells remind me of experiences more than anything else. For example, I went to Hawaii and went to a luau. I distinctly remember the strange smells of flowers mixed with a pig on the spit. Now, when I smell anything that smells somewhat similar (which I very rare) I am automatically brought back to that memory. I would love to be able to bottle up that scent and then smell it whenever I am nostalgic for Hawaii.

Basically, my thought is that photos don’t always cut it. Sometimes you need to use your other senses in order to really grasp a certain memory.

Moderators

During our deliberation, the moderators play a key role in where the discussion leads. Their prompts are what keeps the conversation flowing, so they are therefore a vital aspect of the deliberation process. Therefore, the ideal moderator has to embody a couple of important characteristics. Firstly, they must be completely neutral. It is not the moderators job to discuss their point of view; instead they want to figure out the consensus of the rest of the group. Thus, they must ask questions that are unbiased, and do not hold any of their personal opinions. Secondly, they must be adaptive. When there is a lull in conversation or the conversation starts to veer off topic, they must quickly be able to react. They may have to come up with prompts on the spot, or rephrase a question that generates confusion. Thirdly, they must be authoritative. During a deliberation, the moderators are the ones who are running the show. So if people start to get out of line, the moderators have to be able to use their power and get everyone to settle down. They cannot let participants talk over them. Finally, the moderators must be fair since they have a lot of power over the discussion. They must be able to choose different people to speak and not constantly pick on the same people. This means they may have to disregard their own personal relations with people in order to make sure everyone has equal opportunity to speak their opinions.

However, the moderator is not responsible for putting opinions into people’s mouths. If there aren’t many people participating in the deliberation, this is not always the fault of the moderators. They cannot force people to speak if they do not have the motivation to do so. In theory, the moderators should have complete control as to where the conversation heads. However, this is not always this case. This is because many times people will go on tangents, and then people after that may build on those tangents. Although moderators cannot always prevent this from happening, they can stop it while it is happening.

Overall, I think that the moderators for both deliberations worked out pretty well. In a few instances however, I did notice that a moderator would sometimes show his or her opinion. This may have happened with or without the moderator realizing they were doing it. It also seemed that sometimes the moderators were not prepared with enough prompts, or that the prompts were long and hard to understand. The final problem was that a lot of times the moderators would call on two different people at the same time. This is only natural because there was more than one moderator, and was not a huge issue. Everyone was respectful and would not mind letting the other person talk first.

Overall, the moderator role is an important role to the deliberation process. I am pleased with how it worked out. Personally, I was the moderator for the introduction of the topic. Thus all I did was explain the topic, so I did not have to come up with prompts. However, I think that me and my co-moderator did a good job and the personal stakes portion went much quicker. It was a great experience to have and I think it will help me in future discussions.

Color Changing Tattoos

So its common knowledge that chameleons are really cool. In fact, one might go as far as to say they’re awesome. I mean, these reptiles can change colors! That basically almost makes them superior to humans. Anyway, my newest invention has to do with these crazy reptilian studs. But before I can tell you what the invention is, I first have to explain how a chameleon changes colors.

The science behind their color-changing abilities is pretty amazing to be honest. Firstly, the outermost layer of their skin is transparent. Then, beneath this, there are several more layers of skin that contain specialized cells that are called chromatophores. At each level, these chromatophores are filled with sacs of different kinds of pigment. The deeped layers have brown melanin, then blue pigment, then yellow, and then red. These pigments are usually locked inside tiny sacs within the cells, but when a chameleon changes its body temperature or mood, its nervous systems makes certain chromatophores expand or contract to change the color of the cell. This is how the chameleon is then able to produce vibrant colors and patterns.

Now that’s pretty amazing. But how amazing would it be if we had the same ability? My idea is to inject these chromatophores into human skin, in order to have color changing tattoos. This would be a complete breakthrough in body art. Imagine having a tattoo that turned red when you are angry or blue when you are cold. Really, the possibilities are endless.

Now clearly, I am no scientist. I have no idea how this would be done. I’m sure it’s more complicated than simply saying “take the cells of a chameleon and inject them in a human.” In fact, what I am saying may sound completely ludicrous to a biologist. However, I think that the idea is still strong. I have always been a huge fan of body art despite not having any tattoos of my own, but I think that color changing tattoos would add a whole new creative and personalized flair. I know I’ve always been a fan of things that changed color in the sun, (i.e. shirts, hair clips, nail polish) so that is where the inspiration comes from.

Yet again, my mind has been basically blank in terms of names. Chameleoos? Sounds too childish. Color changing tattoos? Boring. So again, the name is still in the works. However, with the sudden fad of flash tattoos, I think that color changing tattoos would easily catch on. So if any scientist or chameleon expert happens to be reading this, please contact me. Thanks!