"Summer to kill Swine Flu in U.S. and Mexico"

John Roach in his article "Summer to kill Swine Flu in U.S. and Mexico" elucidates why the swine flu cannot survive for a long period of time. Roach claims that the hot ans humid days of summer will put an end to the swine flu. Most types of influenza have a lower rate of transmission in the summer. " Flu viruses survive longer and transmit more easily during low absolute humidity, a condition commonly associated with cold, dry, winter weather." The flu can nearly disappear in the summer unless the virus has built a resistance to the weather since the outbreak was in the hot and humid season in Mexico. All what is going to happen really depends on the biology of the virus so we really cannot do anything but wait and watch what will happen with the swine flu.
Discussion Question:
Clarification: Why can't the influenza virus survive in the summer?
Application: What would happen if the Swine Flu survives during the summer? What precautions would people have to take?
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090430-swine-flu-summer.html

Spider "Resurrections" Take Scientists by Surprise

Charles Q. Choi's article "Spider 'Resurrections' Take Scientists by Surprise" provides information on the new discovery made by scientist. Scientists have recently observed that "spiders in a lab twitched back to life hours after 'drowning.'" Choi supports his claim that spiders can come back to live after drowning by providing the results of an experiment done in France with the unexpected results. The experiment was done to see how long it takes certain spiders to drown. After the spiders drowned the researchers let the spiders dry so they can weigh them and that is when they saw the spiders twitching and soon they were back on there eight legs. The researchers say that spiders have learned to switch to metabolic processes so they can survive without breathing for a certain amount of time. Choi claims that this discovery can lead to find out what other animals have the ability to do this trick that the spiders did.
Discussion Questions:
Clarification: Do all spiders know how to switch metabolic processes or are there only certain types that have this ability?
Application: How can researchers find out if other animals have this same abilities as the spiders?
Link:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090424-spider-resurrection-coma-drowning.html

Chunk 1: "Knowledge of a boy's IQ is of little help if you are faced with a formful of clever boys."

Malcolm Gladwell in his new book, Outliers argues that there is something wrong with how people view success. Through the uses of anecdotes, statistics and data Gladwell claims that the true story of success is very difficult. No one starts from nothing and becomes a multi-millionaire. Their surroundings help them became good at what they do. That is why certain people become successful more than other people who are as equally as capable as the person who is very successful. In his introduction he introduced what motivates him to write the book. Stewart Wolf and other researchers tried to understand the health of a certain group of people called the Roseto. They eventually discovered that Roseto living in Pennsylvania had a death rate of 3o to 35 percent lower than expected from all causes. The researchers thought it was because of their eating habits, exercising, etc; however, they found out that the Roseto had bad eating habits, they were heavy smokers, and were struggling with obesity. The reason why they had such good health was because of their close knit environment. Gladwell states, “In Outliers, I want to do for our understanding of success what Stewart Wolf did for our understanding of health.” Gladwell further goes on to state that if people want to know how people thrive, then people should append more time looking around the them such as their birthday, the year they were born in , and the unique opportunities they gain. A person has an advantage if they get unique opportunities that everyone else does not get. Through these opportunities people get more practice than others which makes them the best at what they do. Cutoff dates also give people advantages and others disadvantages. In sports the best players are born in between January and March, while the others barely have a chance to become the best player because they have one less year to practice due to the cutoff date. Gladwell claims that the people who are successful have an “accumulative advantage” over other people.
Discussion Questions
Clarification: When Gladwell talks about successful people, does he mean that all successful had an advantage and that is why they are successful and others are still living an average life?
Application: Do you think it is possible to change the standards of our society so everyone will have an equal chance to become successful?
Style: Does Gladwell's anecdotal writing style make his claim more believable or does he lose his credibility when he uses different anecdotes?