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Solar Cells of the Future!

By now, we all know what a solar cell looks like and does. Simply put, it’s a squarish tile that converts light energy to electrical energy. That’s great and all, but one problem with modern solar cells is that they’re kind of difficult to integrate into buildings and other appliances. A new type of solar cell may get rid of that problem.

Researchers have developed a new type of transparent solar cell. Transparent solar cells have actually been around since 2012 but those were the first model and were extremely inefficient as any new technology would be. Back in 2012, researchers at UCLA created these see-through solar panels that were also lightweight and flexible, almost like plastic. You might be wondering, if solar panels absorb sunlight then how is it possible to make them transparent unless they are extremely inefficient? Well, light from the sun contains more than just visible light; it also contains ultraviolet rays and infrared rays which are invisible to the human eye. Transparent solar cells work by absorbing these forms of the electromagnetic spectrum instead of the traditional visible light rays, making the solar cells transparent.

Since that breakthrough in transparent solar cells, research on the topic has continued. In February of 2013, an MIT start up company began to create a similar product. Their vision was to use the solar panel on electronic displays, such as on cell phones and tablets. However, the technology was still developing and the solar cells created by the start up only had a 2% efficiency rate while being 60% transparent. Their goal is to reach 10% efficiency and they plan to do that by utilizing more of the infrared spectrum. While a 2% efficiency rate is enough to power the lights in your house or a computer (if you replaced all your windows with the solar cells), it’s still no where near the level of efficiency needed to be marketable.

Ubiquitous Energy's transparent solar cell (an early iteration)

Using a transparent solar cell to (barely) power a digital clock

But now, “windows that double as solar panels could soon be a reality following a breakthrough in quantum dot research that could have significant implications on the way the sun’s energy is harvested in the future.” I’ll admit, I’m not qualified to explain what “quantum dot research” is since I’ve never heard of it before. According to the article, quantum dots are “nanocrystals made of semiconductor materials” which are already widely used in transistors, LEDs, and lasers. Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Milano-Bicocca have created a new type of quantum dot that can be embedded into transparent polymers (like glass or plastic) to absorb the sun’s energy. This type of transparent solar cell is different from the previously mentioned solar cells that absorbed energy from the non-visible spectrum of light. This type of solar cell uses something called “large-area luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs)” that take advantage of the new type of quantum dots. Instead of having the transparent solar cell absorb light energy directly, the LCSs “captures” light energy and transports it through the quantum dots to solar cells at the edge of the transparent material.

Solar panel

So essentially, this isn’t a new type of solar cell, it’s just a new way of redirecting and focusing the light energy onto the solar cells. “Sunlight captured is radiated through the LSC towards a small solar cell on the slab’s edge, which increases power efficiency in a way that could have broad applications in future solar cells.”

If this kind of technology becomes available to the public in the future, it can be used to make many interesting new concepts. Going back to the introduction, solar cells like these would be so much easier to integrate into buildings. For example, imagine replacing all of the windows in your house with transparent solar cells, or even all of the windows on a skyscraper with solar cells. As you can see, this would greatly decrease our reliance on non-renewable energy resources. Transparent solar cells can be utilized in other ways than on buildings, too. Imagine an electric car that has solar cells as windows or even a cell phone or table that doesn’t need to be charged since the screen is a solar cell. The possibilities with this new technology are endless.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/solar-panel-windows-made-possible-by-quantum-dot-breakthrough-1445213

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/ucla-develops-transparent-solar-cell_100007824/

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/149163-mit-startup-makes-transparent-solar-cells-that-will-allow-your-smartphone-to-power-itself

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20
Apr 14

Blood Factory

Every day, millions of people end up in hospitals from some accident or another. Depending on the severity of the injury, the patient may or may not need a blood transfusion. Hospitals use hundreds of gallons of blood a day in order to meet the demand for blood transfusions. More often than not, there ends up being a shortage of certain blood types; people must then donate more blood to meet this demand and the hospital must hope that the donors have the correct blood types. As you can see, this cycle is extremely inefficient. Luckily, this cycle may end in the future.

Professor Marc Turner and his team of researchers have created a way to manufacture red blood cells. “Production of blood on an industrial scale could become a reality once a trial is conducted in which artificial blood made from human stem cells is tested in patients for the first time.” This is the latest breakthrough in what some people are calling “bio-hacking”, a term that describes things like 3D printed bones and prosthetic limbs. Dr. Turner has developed a technique that creates red blood cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). iPS cells are cells that have been taken from adult humans and “rewound” into stem cells, which can then be turned into any kind of cell given the correct conditions. “Biochemical conditions similar to those in the human body are then recreated to induce the iPS cells to mature into red blood cells – of the rare universal blood type O-.” O- is the universal donor so now if this process of creating red blood cells works, hospitals won’t have to worry about getting enough of certain blood types. Because of the safety standards, hospitals also won’t have to worry about receiving infected blood that carry diseases.

The production of blood on an industrial scale could become a reality

“‘Although similar research has been conducted elsewhere, this is the first time anybody has manufactured blood to the appropriate quality and safety standards for transfusion into a human being,’ said Prof Turner.” If everything goes as planned, the trials will conclude in late 2016 or early 2017.

But this technique isn’t without problems. Currently, a huge problem faced by Dr. Turner is the cost of creating the blood. The current system of donating blood makes the blood free of cost. Turner’s method will “cost approximately £120 (approximately $202) to transfuse a single unit of blood” but more than 2 million units of blood are transfused in the UK alone each year. Most of the cost stems from the need to keep the process 100% sterile. The cost also means that Turner’s method isn’t replicable on an industrial scale. However, “if Prof Turner’s technique is scaled up efficiently, it could substantially reduce costs.” Although current results do look promising, “Dr. Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, said, ‘one should not underestimate the challenge of translating the science into routine procedures for the clinic.'” Although “blood factories” still remain the stuff of fiction, there is hope that some day in the future Turner’s method of creating blood will become viable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10765132/Artificial-blood-will-be-manufactured-in-factories.html

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11
Apr 14

Like air for water

I think that we can all agree on the fact that water is a valuable resource that’s necessary for life. However, I also think that we often forget how necessary it is for survival since water is such a readily available resource here in the United States. The reality is that nearly one billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s one out of every eight people on the planet. In places like Ethiopia or Kenya, finding drinkable water may take up to six hours! “The United Nations estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 40 billion hours per year collecting water; that’s the same as a whole year’s worth of labor by France’s entire workforce!”

The problem of supplying clean drinking water to communities in third world countries has plagued inventors and philanthropists for years. How can we create a low maintenance, yet durable system that will provide clean water to rural communities? It’s impossible to integrate modern technology since remote villages don’t even have a repair man that could fix such complex technologies.

However, industrial engineers Arturo Vittori and Andreas Volger may have solved this problem by creating a product that extracts fresh water from air.

It’s called Warka Water. “At first glance, the 30-foot-tall, vase-shaped towers, named after a fig tree native to Ethiopia, have the look and feel of a showy art installation. But every detail, from carefully-placed curves to unique materials, has a functional purpose.” The outer frame is made from lightweight junca stalks which are woven in a pattern that provides stability. The inside is made from a mesh or polypropylene net that collects dew droplets as warm air cools. As the water vapor condenses, the droplets roll to the bottom of the net into a container where people on the ground can access the water from a faucet.

So just how much water can you harvest from the air? Field tests have shown that one Warka Water tower can supply more than 25 gallons of water throughout the day. Vittori says that “the most important factor in collecting condensation is the difference in temperature between nightfall and daybreak; the towers are proving successful even in the desert, where temperatures, in that time, can differ as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit.”

In addition to providing a surprising amount of water, the entire structure is made of biodegradable materials. The entire contraption is also easy to clean and can be set up in less than a week without any mechanical tools. Vittori hopes that once the Warka Water has been accepted by one community, they will spread the news and teach other communities how to build their own Warka Water. It’s also very affordable too; each structure only costs $500 while other proposed ideas cost more than $1000.

“‘It’s not just illnesses that we’re trying to address. Many Ethiopian children from rural villages spend several hours every day to fetch water, time they could invest for more productive activities and education,’ he says. ‘If we can give people something that lets them be more independent, they can free themselves from this cycle.'”

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-tower-pulls-drinking-water-out-of-thin-air-180950399/?no-ist

http://www.architectureandvision.com/projects/chronological/84-projects/art/492-073-warkawater-2012?showall=&start=1

http://thewaterproject.org/poverty

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03
Apr 14

Chocolate!

Last week I said that I would be talking about a breakthrough in cancer treatment this week. However, I forgot to bookmark the website and I can’t seem to find it again. In order to make up for this folly, I’ll be writing about some good news I recently learned: chocolate is healthy for you*! (*chocolates with a high cocoa percentage)

For the longest time, people have believed that chocolates make you gain weight. And they may be right; the chocolate candies we eat are full of fats and sugars which are bad for your body in excessive amounts. However, chocolate in its purest form, cocoa, has many health benefits. Scientists have already known that dark chocolates, which contain higher cocoa percentages than milk chocolates, can “improve thinking, decrease appetite and lower blood pressure.” In the latest study involving cocoa, scientists have discovered that an antioxidant in cocoa prevented mice from gaining weight and it also lowered blood sugar levels as well! It seems counter-intuitive, right?

cocoa-powder

It turns out that cocoa is one of the most flavanol rich foods available. Flavanols are a type of antioxidant that help fight weight gain as well as type 2 diabetes! However, not all flavanols are created equal. Some provide more benefit than others. The research team involved in the study attempted to find out which flavanols do what. They did this by feeding mice different types of diets supplemented by different types of flavanols. Through their research they discovered that a set of compounds known as oligomeric procyanidins (PCs) consistantly kept the mice’s weight down, even with a high fat diet. Other foods that include oligomeric procyanidins are red wines, cranberries, blueberries, tea (green and black), onions, grape seed, and grape skin to name a few. But cocoa contains the most PCs by far.

Oligomeric procyanidins found in cocoa are also known to improve glucose tolerance which aids in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. “‘Oligomeric PCs appear to possess the greatest anti-obesity and anti-diabetic bioactivities of the flavanols in cocoa, particularly at the low doses employed for the present study,’ the researchers say.”

darkchocolate

A different set of researchers at the Louisiana State University have found “dark chocolate can reduce blood pressure and improve heart health.” Cocoa becomes beneficial through the way our digestive system ferments the fiber in cocoa. “Researcher Maria Moore said: ‘We found that there are two kinds of microbes in the gut: the ‘good’ ones and the ‘bad’ ones. ’The good microbes, such as Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria, feast on chocolate. ’When you eat dark chocolate, they grow and ferment it, producing compounds that are anti-inflammatory.’ This naturally forming anti-inflammatory enters the bloodstream and helps protest the heart and arteries from damage.”

This is great news for me since I love chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate but dark chocolate is better than no chocolate. Well, that concludes this week’s passion blog; hopefully you know a bit more about cocoa and why it’s beneficial. Now go and eat some (dark) chocolate!

http://dathealth.com/scientists-say-antioxidant-cocoa-stops-weight-gain-lowers-blood-sugar/

http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?ChunkIID=21765

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-5-best-dark-chocolate-bars-in-the-world/

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27
Mar 14

27 Degrees from Death

I found two very interesting articles that I could post about today, but since I talked about cancer last week, I’ll be saving that article for next week. This week’s blog post (as will next week’s) deals with a major breakthrough in modern medicine. One difficultly all hospitals face is a lack of time and doctors during a disaster. For example, during the Boston bombing last year, hundreds of injured people were rushed to nearby hospitals. During this time, many hospitals had a shortage of doctors and supplies; time was also a concern. This happens nearly every time there is an unforeseen disaster like a hurricane or act of terrorism.

This problem may soon be a thing of the past as new technology allows doctors to place seriously injured victims in suspended animation. Patients that have received gun shot wounds or stab wounds can now be placed somewhere in the murky void between life and death allowing doctors to either tackle more pressing matters or wait to receive the correct supplies for the operation. Doctors at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh are now using this technique to buy them time when there are too many patients to handle or when the patient has lost too much blood. “‘We are suspending life, but we don’t like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction,’ says Samuel Tisherman, a surgeon at the hospital, who is leading the trial. ‘So we call it emergency preservation and resuscitation.'”

The new technique involves removing all of the patient’s blood and quickly replacing it with a cold saline solution. The saline solution quickly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity, essentially freezing the patient in time. “‘If a patient comes to us two hours after dying you can’t bring them back to life. But if they’re dying and you suspend them, you have a chance to bring them back after their structural problems have been fixed,’ says surgeon Peter Rhee at the University of Arizona in Tucson, who helped develop the technique.”

Floating in that murky void between life and death

Let’s look at this from a different perspective. Imagine that you’ve suffered a gun shot wound to the thigh and are profusely bleeding. “This is it,” you think to yourself, watching the sidewalk turn red, “I’m going to die.” The ambulance picks you up and rushes you to the hospital, but you’re certain that it’s too late. Your vision blurs and you pass out but not before hearing “he has lost too much blood, we have to suspend him.” You’re now in the ER as surgeons open your chest and pump cold saline solution through your heart and brain, the areas most vulnerable to low oxygen. You don’t realize any of this, though, since you’ve already passed out and the nurses have drugged you up. Within fifteen minutes your body temperature drops to 10 °C. The normal human body temperature is 37 °C. You are literally twenty seven degrees from death. At this point, there is no blood in your body, you’re not breathing, and your brain stopped. Congratulations, you are now clinically dead. The doctors now have two extra hours to work on the gun wound. When the surgery is done, the saline solution is replaced with blood. If your heart doesn’t restart itself, as it usually does, then the doctors manually resuscitate you. The blood slowly warms your body, preventing any injuries from the sudden exposure to heat and oxygen. The nurses wheel you to the patient room where you slowly awaken, amazed that you didn’t die. Or did you?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129623.000-gunshot-victims-to-be-suspended-between-life-and-death.html?page=2

http://www.tomorrowstarted.com/2011/05/thisll-give-denis-a-run-for-his-money/.html/floating-man

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21
Mar 14

Google

Remember my last RCL post when I said I was surprised when I found out that Google was one of the companies that helped to pay for the solar power plant? Well apparently, Google has been making huge investments in clean energy sources. So why is Google investing in alternative energy sources all of a sudden? Well, apparently it takes a lot of energy to run the infrastructure at Google. Thus, they are looking into alternative energy sources to lower their energy consumption costs. They hope to power all their data centers and banks of servers across the world with renewable energy sometime in the near future. Other companies, like Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft also use a ton of energy on a daily basis so they are also looking into alternative energy sources. Google, however, is by far the biggest spender. “Google has made 15 wind and solar investments totaling more than one billion dollars.”

“While Google isn’t alone among Silicon Valley’s top tech companies to embrace alternative energy usage, no other company is looking at solar and wind as integrated in fueling its internal operations and also making sizable external investments.”

Their investments in total are said to be able to generate over two gigawatts of energy. Because of this, Google is currently at the head of the pack of companies that are embracing alternative energy sources. Despite Google’s good intentions there are still critics wondering why Google is putting so much energy and resources into alternative energy. Maybe Google has a hidden agenda, but let’s hope they don’t. “One analyst says it may be a smart way of looking at the future. ‘Overall, I think Google is clearly forward-thinking, certainly trying to get the message out that they are environmentally sensitive'”

Currently, about thirty four percent of Google’s operations are being powered by renewable energy. This is a huge amount compared to most other companies. The end goal is, of course, to be one hundred percent powered by renewable energy. This may seem like a lofty goal since currently no company is even near being fifty percent powered by renewable energy. However, with a company as large as Google and one with as much influence and money as Google, I think they will be able to meet their goals.

I think that it’s great how huge companies like Google are investing in alternative energy sources. I think that it’s really important for a company with as much influence as Google to set the standard for other companies when it comes to renewable energy. Hopefully this will start a precedent for other big companies to invest in alternative energy sources as well. If other companies join Google in their energy saving investments then maybe alternative energy sources for the entire world will come around much quicker than we would expect. Maybe by 2020 we will be able to live in a truly green planet.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101417698

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21
Feb 14

Bored of the internet? Try the outernet

Imagine a world where there is free wi-fi (yes, one hundred percent free) wherever you go. You can be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, out on the northern tundras of Russia, or even in the company of a Nigerian prince and still be connected to the web. This sounds too good to be true, right? Believe it or not, this wishful thinking may soon become a reality thanks to a project called Outernet.

Project Outernet aims to provide internet access to the entire world. Even to the North Koreans. Backers of the project say that the wealth of knowledge available on the internet is a human right; I agree with that statement. The internet is such a useful tool for, well, everything. Can’t afford a college education? You can learn from the internet. Want to learn a new hobby or skill? You can learn from the internet. If the information on the internet was made readily available to anyone who wanted it, I believe the world would be a vastly different place for the better.

Why is it, that right now, only the people in first world countries can access an unrestricted internet while the people in second and third world countries (and arguable the people who need the internet the most) have severely censored web access or no web access at all? Project Outernet hopes to change that. Peter Whitehead, president of the Media Development Investment Fund and Outernet’s backer says “We exist to support the flow of independent news, information, and debate that people need to build free, thriving societies. It enables fuller participation in public life, holds the powerful to account and protects the rights of the individual.” To create the so called “Outernet” project designers plan to “launch hundreds of tiny satellites—known as CubeSats”— into outer space.

CubeSats will be launched into space to create the “Outernet”

Within the next year, Outernet plans to have twenty-four or so CubeSats in space to begin initial testing. Now, “the satellites won’t be providing conventional Internet right away. They’ll initially be used for one-way communication to provide services like emergency updates, news, crop prices, and educational programs. Users will help determine what content is offered.” It will probably be at least five years before the “regular” internet is available on the Outernet system.

Now you’re probably thinking,”This sounds extremely expensive. Who is going to pay for this and how are they going to pay for this?” You’re correct in thinking that this project is expensive; the cost to launch one (just one) satellite into space can range anywhere from one hundred thousand dollars to three hundred thousand dollars. Multiply that by a few hundred satellites and you’re looking at more money than I will ever hope to have. The final cost of the program is estimated to be around twelve billion dollars. In order to fund this project, the Outernet team is accepting any and all donations. They are also helping NASA test their technology on the International Space Station.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of not having internet when I’m lost and I really need to access google maps to get directions or when you have to pay for internet at airports and hotels. So despite the huge cost and long waiting time, I’m looking forward to the Outernet.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/coming-soon-free-internet-from-space-20140220

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23
Nov 13

My TED Talk

video-20131122-164958.h264

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06
Nov 13

Heart in a box

These ten weeks have passed by so fast; it seems like it was just yesterday when I wrote my first post about immortality. For my final blog post this semester, we will come full circle as I will be posting about another advance in science and technology.

For years doctors have been performing heart transplants, and for years they have relied on the same procedure to get the heart from the donor to the recipient. This procedure, namely removing the heart from the donor, placing it in an ice box full of ice and transporting it to the recipient, should have been outdated long ago.

Using this method, the ice can only keep the heart viable for up to six hours. Now, in terms of an organ transplant, that is not a lot of time. Many times, the heart can’t be used because it’s been disembodied for more than six hours. Let’s first put this into perspective and take a step back to first consider how doctors even get a heart to transplant. As one would imagine, the supply of heart donors is extremely low. Of the number of donors, only 4% have a heart healthy enough to be considered for a transplant. Of the 4% of healthy hearts, only 30% actually make it to the recipient. Going back to the six hour time limit, those six hours are the most important six hours of a person’s life. If the transportation and transplant of the heart fails because of time constraints, two people needlessly die.

http://images.lazygamer.net/2013/04/vlcsnap-2013-04-24-11h24m00s31.png

Surgeon Simulator game

Doctors have recently come up with a better alternative to the ice box transportation method. This new method, dubbed “heart in a box”, doubles the time constraint to twelve hours. This new technology no longer relies on ice to preserve the heart. Instead, the heart is hooked up to a machine that will keep it beating and pumping blood. With a longer time limit, doctors can now focus more on the procedure and do a better job rather than hastily completing the transplant to get the heart in on time. Furthermore, donors can know that their hearts will most likely not go to waste because of this new technology. For more information you can check out this video. (warning: video contains blood and disembodied beating heart)

Source:

http://www.upworthy.com/it-looks-like-something-you-should-never-see-meet-a-medical-advancement-that-is-hard-to-forget-5

Image sources:

http://images.lazygamer.net/2013/04/vlcsnap-2013-04-24-11h24m00s31.png

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/suslik83/suslik831206/suslik83120600128/14258614-melting-ice-cubes-on-glass-table.jpg

http://www.outblush.com/women/images/2012/08/organ-transplant-lunch-cooler-big.jpg

http://pilladvised.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/heart%EF%80%A6-904×1024.jpg

http://www.blograzzi.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/arrow.jpg

http://hunterfreeman.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/plus-sign-22.jpg?w=900

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06
Nov 13

How Not to Give a Speech

If good rhetoric exists then bad rhetoric must also exist. For my last RCL post, I will write about an example of terrible rhetorical use. In September 2010, Phil Davison sought the Republican Party nomination for the office of the Stark County Treasurer. In an attempt to be nominated, Davidson delivered one of the most terrible speeches I have ever heard. If you haven’t yet seen the speech, you can watch it here.

Davison starts out his speech normal enough by acknowledging the audience and introducing himself. Before he starts hollering, Davison collects himself at 0:26 in the speech. He establishes ethos early on by listing all of the degrees he earned in addition to his political experience. However, despite having a masters degree in communication, everything goes downhill from there. His voice begins to rise, and not in the good way we discussed in class. One minute and twenty-five seconds into the speech, Davison is already yelling at the top of his lungs. If scaring the audience by yelling at them is considered pathos, then Davison is utilizing pathos to its fullest potential. I couldn’t find how Davison appealed to pathos in any other way.

In addition to yelling at the audience, Davison paces rapidly back and forth. We discussed how we should walk around while giving a speech, but this just seems excessive. Davison stumbles a few times when speaking, which further lends to his unprofessional appearance and demeanor. His speech also fails to follow any logical order, jumping from being a Republican to a favorite quote by Albert Einstein. He also has a seemingly random interjection of “knowledge is power” at the 4:29 mark. Additionally, Davison mentions how “politics is about winning”, which doesn’t really help his cause since it makes it seem as if all he cares about is winning.

Davison attempts to involve the audience by asking “Drastic times require what?” While audience involvement is good, Davison messes this up as well. When someone responded (and I’m still surprised that anyone responded; I would be scared that he would yell at me if I said the wrong answer) with “Drastic measures,” Davison gets a little too excited and starts yelling even louder. He finally seems to calm down a bit three minutes into the speech.

We can take many lessons from this speech. First of all, don’t yell. We understand that you are passionate about the topic of your speech but there is no need to deafen everyone in a ten foot radius. Secondly, don’t rapidly pace back and forth, especially on a small stage. It makes you seem anxious and you’re more likely to trip and fall. Thirdly, write a good speech and know what you are about to say. Use transitions to logically connect your thoughts and memorize portions of it so there are no awkward pauses. Finally, and most importantly, utilize the three rhetorical appeals. Besides all of the previous things we mentioned that Davison did incorrectly, he failed to use two of the three methods of persuasion. How does he expect to persuade people to vote for him if he doesn’t connect with their emotions or their logic? Through this analysis of a bad speech, I hope you’ve learned what not to do when giving a speech.

Sources:

http://d2om8tvz4lgco4.cloudfront.net/archive/x2100712508/g12c00000000000000046e74f969eacde0b8312f9a795e070f7e6d90d4b.jpg

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