Texting till you drop

Some of us change phone every 2 or less months. My question about that routine is always been; is that really necessary? What are we doing with our technology? It changes rapidly in that some of us have lost interest in keeping up with it. FYI, there was a well-functioning world and other systems before technology; although we are faced with dilemmas today when one piece of tech does not function for a few hours. It turns out that I was not the only one questioning our obsessiveness with technology. Larry D. Rosen, a California psychologist, is less concerned with techno-boorishness than with the very real possibility that all these new personal gadgets may be making some of us mentally ill especially those who are prone to narcissism, or to depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. He wrote a book, “iDisorder” on how we use tech and how obsessed we are with it. A major strength of “iDisorder” is Dr. Rosen’s clear-eyed view of technology and its uses. He doesn’t oppose it. His view is the opposite. What we need, he says, is a sense of restorative balance and self-awareness. It is unavoidable that many of us will fall prey to an iDisorder, he says, but “it is not fatal and we are not doomed to spend time in a mental institution or a rehab center.” By using a few simple strategies, he says, “we can safely emerge from our TechnoCocoons and rejoin the world of the healthy.”

AT the end of each chapter, Dr. Rosen details a list of things that can be done to combat each techno-disorder. One often-suggested solution is to take a “tech break.” In other words, if overusing your iPador iPhone is making you crazy, maybe you should stop using it so much. For those combating some form of techno-addiction, Dr. Rosen advises regularly stepping away from the computer for a few minutes and connecting with nature; just standing in your driveway and staring at the bushes, research shows, has a way of resetting our brains

Mathematics to solve everyday problems

Although many people apply mathematics to solve problems, even everyday problems, I do not. Because I have no love for math, I am more entitled to solve a problem using logic rather than numbers and equations. I am the opposite of Carson C. Chow who deploys mathematics to solve the everyday problems of real life. As an investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, he tries to figure out why 1 in 3 Americans are obese. It is common sense to know that what you eat affects your health and weight. It is safe and true to say that America has the most obese people compared to other nations and that can now only be blamed on the type of food people eat. Because to do this experimentally would take years, researchers have developed models to test human development based on food intake, height, weight, and exercise to predict how much one will weigh. You could find out much more quickly if you did the math says one researcher. Their findings we interesting and some surprising. The body changes as you lose pounds, interestingly, they also found that the fatter you get, the easier it is to gain weight. An extra 10 calories a day puts more weight onto an obese person than on a thinner one. Also, there’s a time constant that’s an important factor in weight loss. That’s because if you reduce your caloric intake, after a while, your body reaches equilibrium. I learned a new thing and that is that it actually takes about three years for a dieter to reach their new “steady state.” The model predicts that if you eat 100 calories fewer a day, in three years you will, on average, lose 10 pounds but that is if you don’t cheat.

Red Wine Good for… Really?

Who knew that red wine was good for your stomach? Definitely not me. When it comes to the health promoting effects of red wine, its potential to protect against heart disease tends to get all the attention. But there are some who see it as a sort of probiotic delivery system, capable of benefiting the stomach as well. Supplements and foods with probiotics live micro-organisms that support digestive health and that has thus made them popular. While probiotics are increasingly added to a variety of foods, some contain them naturally, especially fermented products like yogurt and wine. Most doctors, of course, would never recommend drinking solely to aid digestive health. But researchers have wondered whether a boost in healthy bacteria may be a secondary benefit of red wine.

Based on studies on animals, scientists have found that components of red wine seem to improve intestinal health, promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria. Research on human subjects is limited. But one recent study that examined the claim was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers found that both types of red wine produced improvements in the bacterial composition of the gut, lowered blood pressure and reduced levels of a protein associated with inflammation. Slight improvements in gut flora were seen among gin drinkers, but the effects in the wine drinkers were much more pronounced.

The bottom line to this is that red wine can help digestive health. Although it is beneficial to our health, we should not use it as an excuse to drink wine excessively. We learn to use natural things in our world in order to save the planet. If drinking wine will save our lives and animal lives, then we have got to test it and proceed from there.

Human Ear

The ear consists of three basic parts - the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. Each part of the ear serves a specific purpose in the task of detecting and interpreting sound. The outer ear serves to collect and channel sound to the middle ear. The middle ear serves to transform the energy of a sound wave into the internal vibrations of the bone structure of the middle ear and ultimately transform these vibrations into a compression wave in the inner ear. The inner ear serves to transform the energy of a compression wave within the inner ear fluid into nerve impulses that can be transmitted to the brain. The outer ear consists of an earflap and an approximately 2-cm long ear canal. The earflap provides protection for the middle ear in order to prevent damage to the eardrum. The outer ear also channels sound waves that reach the ear through the ear canal to the eardrum of the middle ear. Because of the length of the ear canal, it is capable of amplifying sounds with frequencies of approximately 3000 Hz. As sound travels through the outer ear, the sound is still in the form of a pressure wave, with an alternating pattern of high and low pressure regions. It is not until the sound reaches the eardrum at the interface of the outer and the middle ear that the energy of the mechanical wave becomes converted into vibrations of the inner bone structure of the ear.

When the frequency of the compression wave matches the natural frequency of the nerve cell, that nerve cell will resonate with larger amplitude of vibration. This increased vibration amplitude induces the cell to release an electrical impulse that passes along the auditory nerve towards the brain. In a process that is not clearly understood, the brain is capable of interpreting the qualities of the sound upon reception of these electric nerve impulses.

Consciousness and Unconsciousness

Scientists are still trying to learn what consciousness is. Its puzzle is still incomplete. It’s still unknown how consciousness rises in the brain. Doctors and many other qualified people who how to knock a person out quickly. “Yet, for nearly two centuries our ignorance has not hampered the use of general anethesia for routinely extinguishing consciousness during surgery.” Researchers have used anesthesia, recently in combination with brain scans, as a tool to see what happens in the brain when people fade in and out of consciousness — which parts turn on and which turn off. For example, in a study published in the April 4 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, investigators showed that a person could respond to a command to open his eyes when higher parts of the brain were not yet turned on. This finding may be useful in deciding how to measure the effects of anesthetics, and adds another data point to the knowledge of what’s going on in the brain. In previous studies, the researchers, led by Harry Scheinin and Jaakko W. Langsjo of the University of Turku, in Finland, and Dr. Alkire found that the brainstem and other primitive parts of the brain, like the thalamus, wake up first. The neocortex, the part where all the complicated thinking goes on, wakes up later. Consciousness is not a simple state that is either on or off. 

There are distinctions that are not immediately obvious, such as the difference between being unresponsive and being unconscious. “Patients under general anesthesia can sometimes carry on a conversation using hand signals, but postoperatively, they deny ever being awake. Thus, retrospective oblivion is no proof of unconsciousness”, says Dr. Alkire. The standard measure of unconsciousness is that a subject or patient does not respond to commands. By that standard, when a subject responds, he’s conscious.

We all know or atleast have seen the movie titanic. Titanic hit an iceberg and killed 1500 people in North Atlantic. Researchers and scientists have spent years looking for the cause of that terrible accident since the ship was strong and well built. The blame has been put on sailors and flawed rivets but, after a century since the accident, argue that rare states of nature played a major role in the catastrophe. The first study says that Earth’s nearness to the moon and the sun resulted in record tides that help to explain why titanic experienced so much ice and the ugly iceberg. The second study from a titanic historian from Britain shows that the icy waters created ideal conditions for an unusual type of mirage that hid icebergs from lookouts and confused nearby ships, thus delaying rescue efforts for hours. “There were no heroes, no villains” says Mr. Maltin, Instead, there were a lot of human beings trying to do what they could in the situation as soon as they saw it. Scholars of the Titanic are uprising the news theories as more possible causes of the tragedy. They will help explain the mystery.

Studies show that the earth came close to the sun and moon in that winter, which enhanced their gravitational pull on the ocean producing tides. They also continue to suggest that high tides refloated masses of icebergs traditionally stuck along the coastlines of Labrador and Newfoundland and sent them into the North Atlantic shipping lanes. A mirage occurs when cold air bends light rays downward. The light reflected made it impossible for the Californian to aid the Titanic because it could not clearly see what was coming. The captain of the Califonian claims to have seen another boat not the Titanic through the mirages. There may be a mysterious boat since the captain did not stop because he did not see a huge liner (Titanic).

Since the 21 century, technology has been changing rapidly. There is a new machine that ia able to help you communicate just by reading your brain, it is called the iBrain, asimple-looking contraption.  The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism. It’s on the rise and gaining attention as a possible alternative to expensive sleep labs that use rubber and plastic caps riddled with dozens of electrodes and usually require a patient to stay overnight. Dr. Low, the inventor says,“the iBrain can collect data in real time in a person’s own bed, or when they’re watching TV, or doing just about anything.” The device also uses a single channel to pick up waves of electrical brain signals, which change with different activities and thoughts, or with the pathologies that accompany brain disorders.

This is interesting because it allows people with severe disabilities to communicate better. The researchers tested the machine on Dr. Hawking’s and the results were Dr. Hawking’s ability to communicate diminishes as his disease progresses. Scientists not connected with Dr. Low say they are encouraged by the iBrain’s potential. “Philip Low’s device is one of the best single-channel brain monitors out there,” said Ruth O’Hara, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University Medical School. She plans to use the iBrain for autism studies. NeuroVigil has not said what the device will cost. Patients want to be able to communicate beyond the yes or no with an eye blink. They want to send an e-mail, and turn off the light and, even more; to have a meaningful conversation and the Ibrain will help them achieve that goal. Monitors like the device mentioned above are also being used to assess whether experimental neurological drugs are working in clinical trials.

Weather Swings

One may say that the weather over the past few has weird. Yes that is right; it is called “weather weirding.” We have been jumping from warm, hot to extremely hot. Last summer was above the record and nearly drove people out of their o home towns eg: Austin Texas.  March has yet to be another example of the weird weather months. Last week, much of the nation was experiencing heat; pools and beaches drew crowds, some farmers planted their crops, and trees burst into bloom while flowers showed their beauty. This weather has truly been challenging. However, transferring from one weather extreme to another seems to have become routine across the Northern Hemisphere. Parts of the United States may be shivering now, but Scotland is setting heat records. Across Europe, people died by the hundreds during a severe cold wave in the first half of February. The question is: do scientists know what is going on? While this question cannot be answered now, researchers are developing theories that if they have any luck, this change of weather should be tied to global warming. To be specific, suspicion is focused these days on the drastic decline of sea ice in the Arctic, which is believed to be a direct consequence of the human release of greenhouse gases.

As the planet warms, many scientists say, more energy and water vapor are entering the atmosphere and driving weather systems. A report released on Wednesday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body that issues periodic updates on climate science, confirmed that a strong body of evidence links global warming to an increase in heat waves, a rise in episodes of heavy rainfall and other precipitation, and more frequent coastal flooding. United States government scientists recently reported that February was the 324th consecutive month in which global temperatures exceeded their long-term average for a given month; the last month with below-average temperatures was February 1985. This year, the United States has set 17 new daily highs for every new daily low, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times by Climate Central, a research group in New Jersey. 

Strong food smells cut down quantities

Scientists have experimented on this theory and concluded that it works. If the food or dessert has a stronger smell, people are more likely to take smaller bites and mouthfuls of it. The reason as to why that may work is because strong smelling foods tend to be filling and rich, thus causing one to eat less of them. Making food strong smelling also helps people lose weight because it tells the brain that it has more calories. This theory and suggestion has been shown to be true by our senses of smell. When a person smells food or any edible good before they eat it, they are less likely to eat it. If they still eat it, then they consume less than they would if the smell was weaker. The sense of smell is very essential to our lives. It helps us determine whether we will like a place, thing or food. In general terms, people prefer things, places and foods that smell good or please them. When a person goes to a new place, their first indication of whether they will or will not like that place is its smell. The same goes for food.  For humans, it is the sense of smell and taste that stand out as having more immediate direct reaction and emotion. Although it is not completely known, it is suspected that most of the times when people like a type of food, it is because of they like its smell and when they do not like the smell, they also do not like that type of food. We may take the senses of smell and taste for granted, but they are important in our lives although we do not know that. Food is great at all times.

Teenagers Use Less Alcohol, but More -------

Regardless of what view teenagers have about weed, scientists have continued to research its effects on human beings. One result is a major downside of the medical use of marijuana. The drug affects working memory drugs and the ability to transiently hold and process information for reasoning, comprehension and learning. Scientists have recently learned that Marijuana's major psychoactive ingredient (THC) impairs memory independently of its direct effects on neurons. I have to say that I did not know that marijuana is used for medical purposes, but I guess that some what makes sense after reading how it is used for those purposes. While we learn that it affects our memories, scientists continue to shock as with their unending findings and knowledge. Despite the fact that our brains make their own marijuana at specific receptors in the brain itself, people continue to smoke the drug for just the pleasure of it. My question is what happens when the drug smoked gets mixed with the one that the brain created? Now although this sounds confusing, I have high hopes that scientist will discover what happens when the two connect. I for one would love to know their discoveries.

When doctors began using marijuana used for medical reasons, they hoped that that would decrease the abuse of it instead, that has not been the case. There have been no signs of decrease in its abuse mainly because people think that it is not bad for their health since it’s medically used.

 Back to teenagers, they are drinking alcohol at record low levels, but instead prefer to smoke more marijuana. I believe accessibility to it is easy although it is not the only reason teenagers use it more. Another reason as to why is that media paints a positive picture of the influences of it, thus leading teenagers into thinking that there are no harmful effects that accompany its use. 

Mirrors!!!!

Mirrors have been fascination objects to the world for a long period of time. They are used in many ways, and they are commonly found in homes. In the bathrooms, bed rooms and special locations, you will find the glass. They can reveal truths that you may or may not want to see. For Scientists, the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of mirrors make them powerful tools for exploring questions about perception and cognition in humans and other neuronally gifted species, and how the brain interprets and acts upon the great tides of sensory information from the external world. Doctors are using mirrors to study how the brain decides what is self and what is other, how it judges distances and trajectories of objects, and how it reconstructs the richly three-dimensional quality of the outside world from what is essentially a two-dimensional snapshot taken by the retina’s flat sheet of receptor cells. Mirrors are also used in medicine to create reflected images of patients’ limbs or other body parts and thus trick the brain into healing itself. The object ‘inside’ the mirror is virtual, but as far as our eyes are concerned it exists just like any other object. Physical self-reflection in the mirror, encourages philosophical self-reflection, you cannot know or appreciate others until you know yourself.

“Although we see ourselves in the mirror every day, we don’t look exactly the same every time,” explained Dr. Epley. There is the scruffy-morning you, the assembled-for-work you, the dressed-for-an-elegant-dinner you. “Which image is you?” Research shows that people, on average, resolve that ambiguity in their favor, forming a representation of their image that is more attractive than they actually are.

The point is that no matter how close or far we are from it, the mirror is always halfway between our physical selves and our projected selves in the virtual world inside the mirror, and so the captured image in the mirror is half our true size.

 

Batteries!!!

Do you ever wonder how double and triple AA batteries power you calculator, cellphone, DVD player and remotes? Most people like to these the things mentioned about working, but focus less on how batteries to what they do. First lets’ take a look at their history; most historians date the start of the development of batteries from the late eighteenth century. In 1938 Wilhelm Konig discovered a 5 inch pottery jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod in Iraq, he decide that it was a battery. One may think of a battery as a small power plant that converts a chemical reaction into electrical energy. Cadmium, lead, zinc, manganese, nickel, silver, mercury, and lithium. When disposed of in an unlined landfill, a battery can leach its toxic constituents and contaminate groundwater, resulting in possible exposure to humans. Batteries have three parts, an anode (-), a cathode (+), and the electrolyte. Both the negative and positive ends are hooked up to an electric circuit.

Oxidation and reduction reactions make a battery work. Oxidation and reduction reaction are electron transfer reactions; both of them must happen in order for a battery to work. One generates electrons at one electrode and the other uses them up at the other electrode. Oxidation is when electrons are transferred from a substance to oxygen or some other compound. Reduction is when a chemical reactant accepts electrons. It ends up with more electrons than it started with. The reaction at the anode releases electrons, and leaves behind positively charged ions. The cathode soaks up electrons.

If we did not have batteries, there would be wire connections everywhere because almost everything we use today has a battery. Cars, laptops, cell phones, and televisions are made to work by power and energy. Therefore we should be thankful of batteries because without them, we would not be able to control things that way we do.

      

Immune System and Cancer

The immune system relies on an intricate network of alarm bells, targets and safety brakes to determine when and what to attack. The new results suggest that scientists may now be able to combine DNA sequencing data with their knowledge of the triggers and targets that set off immune alarms to more precisely develop vaccines and other immunotherapies for cancer. Scientists have long maintained that the immune system can recognize cancer as a threat either on its own or with the help of vaccines or other immunotherapeutic treatments, which help alert the immune system to the danger posed by cancers. Once the cancer is recognized, the immune system should develop the capacity to attack growing cancer cells until either the tumor is eradicated or the immune system's resources are exhausted. Cancer immunoediting, suggests that some of the mutations in tumor cells are very easy for the immune system to recognize as a threat. If the immune system detects these mutations in cancer cells, it attacks until they are destroyed. At that point, the cancer may be eliminated. But it's also possible that the cancer can be "edited" by the immune system, resulting in the removal of all the cells containing the critical easily recognized mutations. The remaining tumor cells can continue to grow or enter into a period of dormancy where they are not destroyed but are held in check by the immune system. By comparing genetic data from cancer cells and normal cells, scientists identified 3,743 mutations in the genes of the tumor cells.

Our best choice and suggestion from researchers is that we create a vaccine that can help the immune system to recognize and attach some of the mutated proteins in a cancer.

Tech Life

Technology is saving our live in ways we do not know about. If it is not doing so yet, it will soon be. I am not 100% sure that most people agree with me on this, but almost half of the people who think like me would agree with my statement. They would agree because it is not only true but because it has also spread from youths to adults including those with high respected professions. Technology life has taken control and is well ahead of anyone’s understanding. Although it creates may negative views about and for teenagers who use it inappropriately, it has become a very useful tool to adults whose lives are in need of help with short cuts to their everyday goals. For example: Thomas Lee, an orthopedic surgeon’s business cards are stamped with the link to his face book page. He actively tweets, checks in regularly on foursquare, and maintains a Google plus profile. And he does it for his patients. According to him, “it’s an electronic way of extending the conversation” and "It creates a vibrant sense of community and a wonderful back and forth dialogue." Social media makes it easier than ever for patients and physicians to connect outside the exam room. More than 1,300 doctors have already registered with TwitterDoctors.net, a database of physicians who tweet. "These are powerful, tremendously influential tools," says internist Kevin Pho of Nashua, N.H., a popular medical blogger who engages with his patients via Facebook and Twitter. "Doctors should be taking advantage of the opportunity."

I am happy to know that I can chat with my doctor on Facebook when he gets and account. Because tech life is becoming increasing important, we should all consider having at least one tech life, one that will enable us to reach our goals at the end of the day.

More Mercury, More Danger

The strict new federal standards limiting pollution from power plants are meant to safeguard human health. But they should have an important side benefit according to a study released on Tuesday: protection a broad array of wildlife that has been harmed by mercury emissions. Songbird and bats suffer from some of the same types of neurological disorders from mercury as humans especially children. Methyl mercury, the most toxic form of heavy metal was found to be at minimal risk. There have been studies to learn the amount of pollution and heavy metals in the atmosphere and the new studies have found dangerously high levels of mercury in several Northeastern bird species, including rusty blackbirds, saltmarsh sparrow and wood thrushes. In some older studies, zebra finches lost the ability to hit high notes in mating songs when mercury levels raised affecting reproduction.“We’re seeing many other species in a much larger landscape of harm from mercury,” said the principal author, David C. Evers, who is the institute’s executive director. He called the Environmental Protection Agency’s new mercury standards, adopted last month and scheduled to take effect over the next four years, “an excellent step forward in reducing and minimizing the impact on ecosystems and improving ecological health, and therefore our own health.”  

Mercury, which occurs naturally in the earth, is released into the air when coal is burned in power plants. The gaseous mercury can drift hundreds of miles before settling back to earth, sometimes along with rain. The mercury can also be absorbed by tree leaves; when they fall to the ground, they are swarmed by bacteria and other organisms that convert the mercury to its organic form. The organic form, methylmercury, is a neurotoxin that can enter the food chain. Small insects, worms and snails that feed on forest litter absorb the mercury. In turn, they are eaten by birds and other small animals, and so on through the food chain. Songbirds with blood mercury levels of just 0.7 parts per million generally showed a 10 percent reduction in the rate at which eggs successfully hatched. As mercury increases, reproduction decreases. At mercury levels of greater than 1.7 parts per million, the ability of eggs to hatch is reduced by more than 30 percent, according to the study.

Speed Limit for Birds

The northern goshawk is one of nature's diehard thrill-seekers. The formidable raptor preys on birds and small mammals, speeding through tree canopies and underbrush to catch its quarry. With reflexes that rival a fighter pilot's, the goshawk zips through a forest at high speeds, constantly adjusting its flight path to keep from colliding with trees and other obstacles. Researchers found that, given a certain density of obstacles, there exists a speed below which a bird and any other flying object has a fair chance of flying collision-free. Any faster, a bird or aircraft is sure to crash into something, no matter how much information it has about its environment. Most UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) today fly at relatively slow speeds, particularly if navigating around obstacles. That's mainly by design: Engineers program a drone to fly just fast enough to be able to stop within the field of view of its sensors.
If the goshawk flew as far as it can see, it would not fly as first as it does. It would be like us we can only see up to five meters, we can only go up to a speed that allows us to stop within five meters, which is not very fast. Instead, the goshawk likely gauges the density of trees, and speeds past obstacles, knowing that, given a certain forest density, it can always find an opening through the trees. The team's work establishes a theoretical speed limit for any given obstacle-filled environment. For UAVs, this means that no matter how good robots get at sensing and reacting to their environments, there will always be a maximum speed they will need to observe to ensure survival. Emilio Frazzoli, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT wants to research this same speed limit for humans.

More Planets than Stars in Galaxy

The more astronomers look for other worlds, the more they find. They think planets easily outnumber stars in our galaxy and they're even finding them in the strangest of places. "We're awash in planets where 17 years ago we weren't even sure there were planets" outside our solar system, said Kaltenegger. Astronomers are finding more planets using many different techiniques and telescopes in space and the ground. NASA's new kepler planet-hunting telescope in space is discovering exoplanets that are in a zone friendly to life and detecting planets as small as Earth or even smaller. A study in Nature this week states that the Milky Way averages at least 1.6 large planets per star. In order to find the planets, astronomers look for increases in brightness of distant stars that indicate planets between Earth and the pulsating star; a technique used by South American, African and Australian telescopes. That technique usually finds only bigger planets and is good at finding those further away from their stars, which means that there are probably more planets than those already discovered. Kepler together with another ground-based telescope technique are finding planets closer to their stars. Together, the number of worlds in our galaxy is probably much closer to two or more planets per star. It is also known that Kepler also found three rocky planets tinier than Earth and they are circling a dwarf star, which is only a bit bigger than Jupiter. They are so close to their small star that they are too hot for life. Scientists think that because it is too hard to see their sizes, there are plenty of them up there. “It's not just the number or size of planets, but where they are found. Scientists once thought systems with two stars were just too chaotic to have planets nearby. But so far, astronomers have found three different systems where planets have two suns.”

Plastic Bags

Most grocery store baggers don't bother to ask anymore. They drop the bananas in one plastic bag as they reach for another to hold the six-pack of soda. The pasta sauce and noodles will get one too, as will the dish soap. Plastic bags are cheap to produce, sturdy, plentiful, easy to carry and store that they have captured at least 80 percent of the grocery and convenience store market since they were introduced. They are a huge menace to our ecosystems and our waste diversion goals. Barely recyclable, almost all of the 400 plastic bags used per second in the state are discarded. At least 267 species have been scientifically documented to be adversely affected by plastic marine debris. Plastic bags are considered especially dangerous to sea turtles, who may mistake them for jellyfish, a main food source.  Plastic bags that enter our marine environment eventually break down into small fragments the worst environmental effects of plastic bags is that they are non-biodegradable The ingested plastic bag remains intact even after the death and decomposition of the animal. Thus, it lies around in the landscape where another victim may ingest it. The decomposition of plastic bags takes about 400 years. No one will live so long to witness decomposition of plastic. Each of us should shoulder some of the responsibility for this problem, which ultimately harms us. We should be concerned about those problems because they affect us as well as others. There are many ways to decrease our use of plastic bags and if we put our minds up to that goal, we can succeed. Small steps, one at a time will enable us to live in a waste free and safe environment. It is our duty to protect the environment for the future generations and animals.