The Neanderthal Man

What if we were not alone on this world? What if we were competing with another species of humanoids? Well, it’s a good thing that we are not, but you can find out tomorrow all about one of the Homo-Sapien ancestors, The Neanderthal man. You will be finding out where the first skull was discovered, and why it was named “Neanderthal”. With their overly large heads, and short stature, the Neanderthal was a force to be reckoned with. We will be showing you the difference between the human skull ad the Neanderthal skull, as well as getting an artistic view of the differences drawn by Justin. We will also be going over the ideas of what the people have to say on the subject. Matt will talk about the churches view and why the Neanderthal man contradicted what the Bible said. Caitlin will then take you through a marvelous tour of art and how the body of the Neanderthal compared to man was portrayed. Not only will you be getting an art tour, Darin will be taking you all through a trip to the future seeing what may happen with the subject of the Neanderthal man. Didn’t find enough information in this? Look at these two sources right here:
http://www.biblon.com/pdf/enigma.pdf
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/407406/Neanderthal

Come tomorrow to find out the true story behind……The Neanderthal Man.

Schizophrenia in the 1800's

Little was known in the scientific world about Schizophrenia in the 18th century. We will explore how the world reacted to this unknown disorder, and the history behind it.
Throughout the 1700's, Schizophrenia was commonly confused with the mental illness dementia. Starting in the 18th century, scientists began to notice small differences between the two disorders yet the actual term Schizophrenia was not coined until the early 19th century.
The rise of mental institutions began at the turn of the 17th century. In prior decades, mental patients were housed in insane asylums and normal hospitals. These places treated patients as a near sub-human class. They were put onto display for the entertainment of the public. The mental institutions introduced the moral treatment method which was far more humane. These buildings were set away from the busy cities, giving the patients a calm environment.
One of the largest barriers for Schizophrenia research comes from the lack of scientific case studies. Throughout the evolution schizophrenia, many medical scientists attempted to pinpoint the exact symptoms of it, through the observations and study of various "mad" individuals. One of the greatest contributors to this progression was the medical psychiatrist John Haslam. Haslam's case study of the individual James Tilly Mathews helped to identify and classify the various rudimentary contributing symptoms of schizophrenia.

Find out more about schizophrenia from this book, Amazon.com
And for a patients story follow this link: http://www.youtube.com

What Do Guts Have to Do With It?

Have you ever tried to think of what your core body cavity would look like if it were portrayed as food? If not, we will be giving you that chance on Monday, as our group will be presenting the ideas and concepts researched by Andreas Vesalius. Vesalius grew up to be a pharmacist but earned his medical degree in 1537. He was most interested in looking more into Galen’s theories and studies on the body, which lead to him write many books. One of them titled, De Humani Corporis Fabrica. This novel went into much more detailed description of human anatomy than any one before him. We will be going over diagrams such as click here. These types of diagrams will be explained in greater detail throughout our presentation. Another important concept that will be explained is the history of Vesalius and why he did his diagrams and researched the way he did. Here is a small video that will only begin to explain the great things this scientist was involved in, click here . Even though it may seem strange now, more details will be discussed, explained and shown on Monday.

Robert Hooke: Microscopic Pioneer

Robert Hooke was a scientist from the late 15th century who specialized in viewing tiny creatures and sketching them so they could viewed by the public. After creating his own microscope he started his journey into the field of microscopy. Here is a picture of his microscope. Through his microscope Hooke discovered tiny creatures, cells, and it even lead him to develop his theories on combustion. Almost all of his research was later published in a book called Micrographia.

Robert Hooke didn't start off his scientific career viewing things through a microscope. He was the first person to suggest that matter expands when heated which has influenced science today because it helped develop techniques for obtaining absolute zero, which is used today for quantum computing. At another time he also served as a surveyor and map-maker. During his microscopic studies he was able to shock the scientific community with his highly detailed sketches of what appeared to be monsters, but were actually fleas and lice. Here are pictures of the sketches he did of a flea and a louse. As you can see these creatures must of have appeared to be monsters to the citizens of the 15th century. Robert Hooke's findings have greatly influenced scientific research in the past as well as modern day reasearch.

Works Cited

Hooke Flea Sketch. Digital image. Project Gutenberg. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Hooke Louse Sketch. Digital image. Project Gutenberg. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Hooke_Microscope. Digital image. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Robert Hooke.org. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

Antoni Von Leeuwenhoek and Sperm

Hear ye, Hear ye! Come hither all ye peasants and nobles alike and open thine ears and thine eyes. I prithee thee to ponder the complexities of the scientific world that Antoni van Leeuwenhoek has bequeathed upon us! Antoni hath discovered fulsome information about how Humans, animals all things that walk and breathe reproduce! Henceforth our perception of the world shalt forever change today! We have in our midst a vicarious group that hath gone to seek the knowledge from the noble Antoni van Leeuwenhoek himself! These nobles’ art but mere proby’s of the great Antoni but hath absorbed overmany of his principles which they wish to bequeath upon to our unknowing persons in attendance. For a myriad of years, scientists from ‘round this fine earth hath seeked the truth behind human conception. Thither twas an Aristotelian theory that semen from the male specimen cometh forth to the female body and the female blood in the uterus, the coagulation, durst say, created the wee child! Our own Antoni hath reformed this position with some most noble research in the field. Antoni hath doth said that emen when collected immediately after ejaculation, hath overmany of “animalcules with long tails.” These animicules cometh and impregnate the female egg. The sperm needs the egg in order to grow and receivith nourishment inside the womb. So cometh hither all and gather ‘round to hear the findings from the probys of Antoni Himself! HUZZAH!




"Lens on Leeuwenhoek: How he made his tiny lenses." Lens on Leeuwenhoek: Welcome to the
life, times, and accomplishments of Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723). Web. 20 Oct.
2009. .


"The process of fertilization and its stages." Pontificia Academia Pro Vita. Web. 20 Oct. 2009.
colombo/colombo〈=english>.

Alchemy: A Dangerous Science

Alchemy is known today as the beginning of chemistry as we know it, as well as creating the first real advancement. The science of alchemy had two goals. The first was to take any common element (iron, copper, lead, iron, etc...) and transmute them into gold. This was known as the Philosopher's Stone and was well sought after by many chemists in many different countries and continents (though mainly Europe and Asia). The idea of having a nearly limitless amount of gold was too good to pass up for most who heard about it and readily dove into the science of Alchemy. The other main goal of Alchemy was to create what is known as an “elixir of life” which would grand the drinker eternal life. Going by the Emerald Tablet, which gave instructions to create both the stone and the elixir. Even though all attempts were failures, Alchemy still contributed to various scientific fields.

Paracelsus (or Philip von Hohenheim) made many large advances in the medical field, all of which can easily be construed as alchemy because they deal with chemical imbalances. He believed that people needed to balance their body (a microcosm) with their surroundings in nature the macrocosm), and that most physical illnesses could be cured through chemical means. He is also considered the father of toxicity, in that he theorized that poisonous substances are so only when taken in correct amounts, and that any and all substances can be dangerous if overused (i.e. overdosing).

The Moth

Whats News in Science...Evolution of Communication

I decided to explore the ideas that have to do with the evolution of communication with humans. Thinking that we started to communicate just by forming one uniform alphabet that transformed into variations and translations so that we, as a world, could communicate effectively. One of the main points that came up continuously throughout my research is that social media is the now and the future. Cell phones just don’t do communication justice anymore, when people can use Skype to video chat instead. It does make many people worry that face to face communication will lessen as technology continues to evolve, but I had to ask myself, is that really that bad?

I didn’t really hear about this topic anywhere except for a classroom last year in the fall semester with Jeff Rutenbeck. It was the most interesting class that I have taken here at Champlain College. The class was titled “Mass Media and Society”. Throughout the semester the class talked about media in the past, present and the future. We got to see how Jeff actually lives the life that he teaches about. He is constantly involved in the media and how it is always changing. Last year we talked about how Facebook was going to be the newest craze for many years and even though that has held true, Tweeting has come up very close behind it. The focus of the class however, was how we, as a society and a world, have evolved in our ways of communicating with one another. Humans look for the easiest and most quick approach. Snail mail is no longer efficient when technology allows for emails and paying bills on-line. This is how and where I got the starting point for me research.

When that class first started, I thought that it would be another repetitive course about how people in the world communicate efficiently. I was sorely wrong. When it comes to communication, I could talk about it for endless amounts of hours. I am constantly using AOL Instant Messenger to keep in touch with friends, I Skype with my Dad every day, I am texting furiously to my friends and of course I have to admit my love for Facebook. All of these great technologies allow for faster and more efficient communication. Even though I find the ideas fascinating about how we have progressed, I must also admit that I still write letters and use the deadly “snail mail”. The first source that I used for this research was a website that allowed me to see the progression of communication and technology starting in the 31^st century. Even though this isn’t the most well known source, it still gave me great insight that I did not know before. I think that it is great knowledge to have about how humans found more and more effective ways to communicate over hundreds of years. The creators of this website knew that it would be strictly informational and set it up in a simple outline so that readers could get the information that they were looking for.

The second source that I used for my research was a better-known source, www.nytimes.com. I found an article that caught my attention because it focused on Facebook.com and how it is catering to what some of its users wanted. This is interesting to me because Facebook.com started off as a very simple forum for people to communicate and keep in touch with one another. Very soon after, the website was filled with thousands of different applications for users to download to make their page more unique and self-expressing. Well now Facebook’s creators have decided to put out a newer version titled “Facebook Lite”. This is a version of the social networking sight that only uses a smaller bandwidth to use because it is not as involved as the original Facebook is now. I found this to be important to my topic because as I mentioned earlier, communication started out very simple but if you wanted to converse with someone, you had to conform to whatever the “communication style” was. Now it seems that it has flipped around the other way. Now the communication is conforming to whatever the user wants and/or needs. By coming out with this new version of Facebook and allowing users who do not have the same bandwidth as many others may have, it opens up doors for the company and now they are available to a whole new audience. If other communication technologies catch on to this trend, which knows what will come out next. In order to keep up with AOL instant messenger and Skype, Facebook has already come out with Facebook Chat and it is planned in the future to have a Video Chat application on Facebook as well. Social networking is the future of communication, and I can say that with no doubt in my mind. I was taught in my Mass Media and Society Class that new media never replace old media, which is very true, but old media will fade to its lowest possible count. Newspapers will slowly go from paper to completely on-line, landlines for telephones will be on their way out and iPods already have cameras built into them. Using the New York Times website as a source for my research is very comforting because I know that it is a credible course and it is always full of interesting information. There isn’t really a specific audience that the newspaper is trying to reach. There are so many different sections that reach various types of readers and the technology section just happened to catch my eye for this project.

The news in communication evolution was presented efficiently in both sources but in two completely different ways. The first website which gave me a timeline plainly showed me the evolution of communication and technology in a timeline format while the New York Times article wrote about how Facebook as a technology has begun to cater to what its users want and need in order to maintain and grow its user base. Both sources are great and allowed me to further explore the past present and future of communication. When it comes to accuracy I cannot choose one over the other but when talking about credibility, of course www.nytimes.com comes out on top. Even though I fully stand behind the other source that I used, the New York Times is well known and has a fabulous reputation for honesty and reporting true facts. With both sources helping me to further believe in my ideas about this topic, the science does seem sound. This is because the ways that people communicate with one another has changed so fast over time and is continuing to change every day that we live. Something new is always coming out that is newer and better or better quality or in high definition.

This topic is important to me because I am a part of the generation that will start to use these techniques to communicate more efficiently in the work world and in every day life. Yes, businesses are starting to use Facebook and Twitter, but in the next two to three years, there will be a huge boom in the communication field. I’m sure that something better than twitter will come out to help scientists spread their information quicker. That is another interesting point about why this matters to me. Since we can correspond with one another in a much more direct manner now than ever, the way that information is spread will surely grow and expand to something even more than just tweeting about a discovery or the results of an experiment done by a scientist. Giving scientists the opportunity to communicate so rapidly has made a great change in science these days and I can only imagine how this growth in communication will help us, as a people, in the future. I do believe that this idea is revolutionary because it is making a change every day. Social Networking is the future of personal communication, and I can say that without a doubt in my mind. This matters the most to me because it affects my life on a daily basis. This topic may seem boring on the outside, but once you deep down a little bit deeper many will realize that this really is important and that it is in charge of what we do in the future. May it be with our jobs or our personal lives, communication is key in any society and who knows where this scientific revolution may lead us in the future. Where will we be on this evolution timeline?

To find out more about my sources look below:

Facebook Lite Article

Historical Timeline

Annotated Bibliography

Works Cited
"Communication cartoon -." Google Images. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. . This was a very helpful source for this image because it came up with something that I was looking for in the first search. I will continue to use google.com/images to look for images because it has not let me down yet. It is quick and effective.

Ensha, Azadeh. "Facebook Lite: Same Great Taste, Just Fewer Calories - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com." Electronics and Gadgets - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. . This article was a great second source for me to use for my research because I know that it is credible. I have used The New York Times website for previous research and have found no flaws. This article was short and to the point. It helps to strengthen my view on this topic of communication growth.

"Google Image Result for http://library.thinkquest.org/27887/images/pagers.jpg." Google Images. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .
"Some Dates in the History of Communication Technologies." WorldHistorySite.com: World History in Five Epochs. THISTLEROSE PUBLICATIONS, 2005. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. . This source was incredibly helpful in giving me the necessary dates and names that I needed in order to have a full historical timeline. It was simple and straight to the point. Even though all of it was great information I did not use all of it because that would have been an overload of information for the audience to take in. I chose specifically which topics to put in my presentation because I only needed the ones that affected communication. I would use this source in the future because it was helpful, organized and informative.

Young, Robert. "The Future of Social Networks – Communication." GigaOM. 9 Oct. 2006. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. . This website was very interesting to me. I had never used it before, and reading what this man had to say was very interesting to me. I decided to use a blog post as one of my sources because I am talking about communication and how it has evolved, and using a blog for the first time was very new and interesting to me. I do wish that there were some more links to related articles for research purposes, but for the use that I needed it for, it was perfect.
"YouTube - 1971 - Touch Tone Phone Calling." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .
"YouTube - AOL Commercial from 1995." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .
"YouTube - Education Connection Commercial Jingle." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .
"YouTube - Old windows commercial." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .
"YouTube - Retro Commercial - Radio Shack Cell Phones - 1990." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .
"YouTube - Wedding Reception eHarmony Commercial." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 09 Oct. 2009. .

Social Networking Sites

As I looked through the latest news sites I noticed a statistic that really hit home. On cnn.com I saw the little headline that said "Facebook Population Hits 300 Million." I know that I am on Facebook and I am sure that our whole class is also on Facebook, so this just seems to be something I had to look into. This means that the population of Facebook is almost as big as the population of the United States as a whole! That really is crazy! How did this happen? Why did this happen? How did it all start?! This is how I decided to do my topic on the Revolution of Social Network Sites.

A Network is made up of groups of people who are tied with at least one common factor. Some examples are friendships, relatives, relationships, beliefs and knowledge. A social network service, like Facebook or Myspace is an online site where people can connect and most importantly communicate. Included in this can be instant messaging, email and personalized social networking sites. Some very popular sites that our generation right now would be Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more.
The start of social network service sites all began with SixDegrees.com. It lasted from 1997-2001. It is based off of the belief of six degrees of separation. Users could simply post on a bulletin board to be seen by their first, second and third degrees. People can also use this site to find people and see how many degrees they are separated (or connected to) to the people they search. When sixdegrees.com failed in 2001 this launched people to try their hand at creating their own successful social networking site. This was the beginning of the launch of the successful sites including Friendster, Myspace and eventually Facebook.
Because Facebook is targeted most towards our age demographic I decided to focus more on studying it than any other site. Here are some statistics I found out-
Founded in 2004 in a Harvard dorm room
Started based around a school version of “Hot or Not”
Progressed from FashMash, to TheFaceBook and eventually Facebook.
Recently reported that Facebook for the first time is starting to turn a profit unlike many online social networks.
70% of facebook users are not living in the U.S.

However, Facebook definitely has its down as much as its ups!
Social Networking does in fact have a downside. There are as many risks with the sites including facebook that many people consider to big of a risk to bother using them.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpLNlSKugHw&feature=related
 If you are 18, you don’t think about your 42-year-old self looking for a job or promotion. People don’t consider that long-term risk.
Facebook has definitely improved our qualities of life. Communication is at it’s most simple. You can meet many new people, connect and get to know them
This is all going to affect our future very very much! Communication is at our fingertips. Literally. We are being open to so many more opportunities. However, it comes with the bad. Distraction and addiction are the first few that come to my mind. Despite all the bad things that Facebook specifically poses, all social network sites are very much worth it. Things just would not be the same without it.

R.F.I.D. Hacking

R.F.I.D. or radio frequency identification is a system of emitters and receivers that are used for various purposes. R.F.I.D. is most commonly used to track objects and provide security for rooms or buildings. Nowadays R.F.I.D. is used most commonly to track packages; this system is far quicker and more efficient than barcode scanning. R.F.I.D. chips are tiny electronic circuits that act as the emitter in the R.F.I.D. process. When electromagnetic energy is applied to the circuit, through an R.F.I.D. reader or an receiver like the ones mounted to walls on campus to gain access to buildings, the circuit broadcasts a radio signal that carries a set piece of information. This information could range from something as simple as the code to open doors on campus or to ride the bus to credit card numbers and information, sometimes even the name, owner, and residence of a pet with an implanted R.F.I.D. chip.

R.F.I.D. hacking is the malicious act of taking advantage of R.F.I.D.'s shortcomings in security. The only real security that R.F.I.D. provides is proximity. To actually copy and steal information form and R.F.I.D. device you need to be within arm's length of the device. This can easily be handled by using a disguise made custom for concealing the act. First off you need the equipment to perform the espionage. You're going to need a laptop, software, and some form of emitter and receiver combination, my suggestion, an antenna that can receive and broadcast. The antenna is used to emit the small electromagnetic field, easily accomplished by wrapping wire around the antenna from base to tip, or having an antenna that is just a coiled circle of wire. You'll need to modify the antenna to plug into the laptop and receive power, easiest way being USB. Once you have the physical tools you'll need to get the software. Have no fear it's free, isn't shareware awesome? To complete the cycle find an R.F.I.D. device to test your setup on, your Champlain I.D. for example. If the setup is correct and the antenna and software work in tandem you should be able to activate the card and copy the signal. Once you have the signal go try in out on your dorm's receivers. Emitting the copied signal from the antenna should unlock your door! Now to use this for truly malicious intent you can't wave an antenna around some one's I.D. or credit card and not look suspicious. The easiest way to conceal your laptop is to tell your computer not to sleep when the screen is closed, this way you can keep it in a laptop bag. So many people have laptops these days you won't stick out at all. Next you can run the USB cord from the pc to the antenna out of the bag and up a long sleeve shirt or sweater. The cord can run from one arm to the other and connect to the antenna concealed in your hand. This setup works far better with a long sleeve shirt that is tucked into your pants; this way you can have more slack on the cord allowing more freedom of movement while also keeping the slack from falling out of your shirt. Now you're ready to commit fraud like a champion! It's as easy as placing the antenna concealed in your hand within a couple inches of the R.F.I.D. device. If at first you don't succeed, try to get even closer without being suspicious.

R.F.I.D.'s security, or lack thereof, has been argued over plenty of times. The fact that your credit card may have its number stored on an R.F.I.D. chip seems like a horribly shortsighted idea. Rest assured, not all credit cards are R.F.I.D. devices, but some are, so beware! Mythbusters was even going to do a special on R.F.I.D. hacking until the legal counsels of major credit card providers told the Discovery Channel to back down. They don't want the truth about how fragile R.F.I.D. security is to get out. Here's the interview concerning the episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-St_ltH90Oc&feature=player_embedded

So the lesson here is to keep your R.F.I.D. devices close to your person, and safely within eyesight. And if you have an R.F.I.D. credit card, get a new card that does not have R.F.I.D. in it, save yourself the stolen identity troubles.

Works cited

"Radio-frequency identification -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. .

Patel, Nilay. "RFID credit cards easily hacked with $8 reader." Engadget. 19 Mar. 2008. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. .

"YouTube - Hope2601 Pt 10, Adam Savage and "The RFID Censorship Question" www.HOPE.net." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 24 July 2008. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. .