America is a World Power No more.

Ignorance, self-promotion, vain intentions, false promises, corruption, and it goes on and on. Why America America is NOT the greatest country, anymore; The video explains it perfectly...Let's stop pounding on our chests and come to terms with the necessity to make some changes. We stroll onto the World stage and we demand respect that we do not deserve. This is not at the fault of our President, it is at the fault of our own selfishness to persevere when others drown into the depths of poverty. Maybe one day, we will be the country we once were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VMqcLUqYqrs 

Poor, Little Cockroach

An unexpected guest,

A creepy, little critter?

--Or maybe an avid creature on a quest,

With intentions of invading an apple fritter.

A warrior of time,

Feared by every department of health.

Why? They are no instigators of crime.

This is why they remain in stealth.

We exclaim, “Where’s a shoe?,”

As they scurry to a path of escape.

“Where did it go? What to do?”

Then we remain with mouths agape.

Good thing this insect isn’t included in the activity of poach,

Hundreds are victims; poor, little cockroach.

What is the Future of Science?

Homegrown terrorism. Domestic threat. Up rise of the mad scientists. These are the things that the government whispers about the biopunks of our nation. The question I think about is: Is this really a harmless operation towards an innovation that can potentially change the world or are biopunks the veiled villains that could potentially destroy life as we know it? In concerns to this question, I do not assume that all the bad results are intended by the biopunks. Accidents do happen. This presents another important question: is it worth the risk? It is hard to answer this question. Some people do have and have acquired the proper knowledge, not necessarily through school, to execute scientific research safely. On the opposing side of the spectrum, I think individuals underestimate the time and efforts put into scientific research. It’s not like researchers are twiddling their thumbs and hoping for a miracle; a lot of it is time consuming trial and error. Along with that trial and error, there is a long blueprint of thought drawn out in order to accomplish their experiments. I could never do it and it fascinates me that people can. I think everyone has the right to plunge into science and educate himself or herself about the matter. The grey area lies between those qualified and those who underestimate science. Terrorism? That is kind of harsh. People are threatened by situations in which they do not comprehend. Years ago, it didn’t bother people to think that Steve Jobs was manipulating technology in his garage. Yet when an amateur, who is not well known, is pulling apart pieces of a sequence of DNA, people become hesitant. Who knows what the future has in store for us. Not only as a nation, but in the realm of science entirely.

Biopunk enthusiast? Not so much.

The once pristine apartment, the space of escape that I recognized as my home away from home, covered in masses of post-it notes, neat towers of petri dishes, and a microscope resting on what used to be where we ate dinner every night. How would I feel about this? I would definitely not be a happy camper. My roommate loves science, much like I do. The only gap in this hypothetical story is the fact she absolutely hates chemistry and genetics, so this situation I can assure will never ever happen. Aside from that little fun fact, I would be upset if this did happen to my apartment. I am OCD when it comes to my car and my living space. To have that boundary violated makes me shudder. I am very old fashioned when it comes to the distinction between “the home” and the “workplace.” To have a wet lab brought into my oasis is a no-go. My roommate and I are very reasonable when it comes to compromise, if she wanted to do research on genetic material, she may do so in her own room, not the common living space. I tip my hat to the adventurous science enthusiasts who aim to go above and beyond, but if I were ever to participate in research, it would not be in my own home. 

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

I am legally blind; I cannot drive without prescription lenses and when I do not have lenses on, I only see blurry blobs of color. When I took the time to attempt to clarify galaxies, stars, and other anomalies, I guess I expected my contact lenses to assist in my quest to open myself to a world of amateur astronomy. This was not the case.

In many instances, I squinted, I held my laptop in various angles, I heightened the intensity of the brightness on my screen, I inverted the photo, and then overall, I just felt like what I was working towards was an inevitably wasted effort. Here is the dilemma: I think citizen science is great if you have the background and if you are aware of what to look for; I, on the other hand, feel like another statistic in the pool of inaccurate data in science.  There are many people in society that have no formal education or training in sciences, yet they have just as much capability and knowledge as a gentleman who graduated from Harvard. Not only do I not have an interest in astronomy, I despise the subject. Good riddance to twinkle,twinkle little star and the nursery rhymes that tried to change my mind. I can understand and appreciate the idea of citizen science, but as a whole, it will never be accurate.

To eliminate bias, I also took part in a project I thought I would enjoy, which requested volunteers to classify little sea creatures of the saltwater floors. Who wouldn’t enjoy classifying and learning about Nemo’s neighbors? Well, turned out that pessimistic person was I. This became a repetitive and boring process of looking at the same species of scallops, starfish, and the occasional hermit crabs. I am all for the idea of taking part in research, definitely if it is something I am interested in, but Zooniverse just wasn’t my forte. I believe that citizen science is the fraud branch amongst scientists and the general public, making us feel like we are involved in their occasional discoveries. Then for the general public, we feel stupid whilst attempting to guess the measurements of scallops and the amount of spirals in a galaxy formation, yet we are praised for our good intentions to have attempted to help. Don't get me wrong; there are the several whom actually input valid, hard-thought data, but the majority are people who guess as they go. Sounds like a red tape scenario: may the wasted efforts begin.