Planned and created a pickup zone for our plants for a better organisation to help people pick it up. This collection zone was made with the aim to help our service partners know where to pick and drop plants and pots. (#LO3)
We also started working in bigger pots so that we could work achieve our goal of ethical consumption. We put larger tomato plant, mint, and sunflowers which allowed us to have a sustainable replenishable source. The seed industry has a monopoly and there is no ethical consumption under capitalism…. so we decided to try and create our own seeds. This was successful for the passionfruit plants in the beginning which we grew from the fruit by cleaning and picking individual seeds. We are finding a way to do this long-term as there are issues regarding watering the plants during holidays. For example, after exam leave, I visited the garden yesterday and saw that our sunflowers were almost dead. (#LO6) (#LO7)
We are constantly reflecting and communicating with our club members on how to improve. We do lots of projects with trial and error to see what works best for us in this climate and garden with the soil and resources we have. We are teaching the grade 9’s the basics and now they have gotten the hang of propagation. We are now trying to see/ plan how to be sustainable in the LR. (#LO5)
Linked is the Reflection which Shreya and I (The founders/chairs of the NeuroScience Society) recorded after our last session for grade 11. We decided to end this week (right before the April break ) as after we come back exams for most of the members (who are in grade 10) will commence, and it wouldn’t be very realistic for our members to attend.
We are looking forward to taking the next steps for our club including Promoting for next year, Printing sticker, and deciding on how to pick our new chairs.
Over the past few weeks, we worked on preparing our members for the upcoming science fair as well as working on our own projects. The was an opportunity for us to explore global issues and the ethical implications of certain neurological diseases and treatments.
Shreya and I decided to do a research project on Phantom limbs. When Limbs are amputated the leftover nerve cells can often give off mixed signals which can trick the brain into thinking that the limb is still there. Dr Vilayanur Ramachandrans is a pioneering scientist in this field of study, asking questions such as Why can we feel pain in a limb that isn’t there? How can we itch an invisible itch? How will drugs that are intended to work on the physical bodywork on the invisible body?
Ramachandran came up with the idea of mirror therapy for phantom limb pain in the 1990s. It tries to get the patient to visualise their missing limb, often doing something casual or relaxing so our previous experiences signal the brain that there is a familiar and relaxing feeling which can put the mind at ease. This idea of visualisation can be seen with athletes too some athletes swear by it; they first visualize themselves performing perfectly—a perfect run down that ski slope, a perfect long jump, a faultless throw of the javelin—and then when they do the real action their brain is primed for the right moves, allowing the athlete to relax effortlessly into the right motions. Though this helps some people there is still controversy surrounding it.
The brain constructs how you feel your pain based on your past experiences and beliefs, and even your genetics, as well as on the actual physical pain sensation from your hand. If you expect your hand to still be on fire after 10 minutes of cold water, it likely will be; your brain will keep the pain volume turned up. If you have been burnt before and know it will sting for a while but is no big deal, your brain will turn down the pain. It’s a sort of placebo effect, a little different from when a mother tells her child that she will kiss the grazed knee better, and the child’s tears dry instantly and she runs happily back to play.
Shreya and I were able to explore the ethical impacts of administering drugs or even placebos considering that they aren’t necessarily going to work. Doctors are meant to help their patient but if they use placebos there is a chance that It might not work. There are also ethical questions about whether giving pain killers for phantom limb pains is ethical considering that pain killers can be addictive and we are using them to treat something in a way we aren’t completely sure about.
The link above is a video of the example of mirror therapy which is a treatment for Phantom Limb sensation.
My mymonofs chair report was due on Wednesday the 13th of January. I submitted the report earlier on in the holiday. My topic was about Tackling the proliferation of Antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a topic that we have previously learnt about in science. I knew hoe antibiotic resistance worked but not about the solutions that were being implemented, as well as the many the stakeholders. For example, Big Pharma and Meat industries play large roles in this issue. Antibiotics are necessary and aren’t very profitable, big Pharma companies aren’t incentivised to research and develop new antibiotics as they aren’t very profitable, however it very necessary that they do.
Here is an extract on the Meat industry stakeholder paragraph I wrote Meat is often mass-produced to ensure that consumers can buy cheap food such as fast-food. To mass-produce meat from farm animals, cattle are often kept in cramped conditions which are unhygienic and serve as breeding grounds for bacteria. To combat bacterial growth, farmers feed their cattle antibiotics. According to the NCBI “It is estimated, at present, that 40 per cent of the antibiotics produced are used for feed additives. Estimates allocate 0.5 million kg to the cattle industry, 1.0 million kg to poultry, 1.4 million kg to swine, and 0.4 million kg to other animals such as companion animals.” As a major consumer of the good, the meat industry has a role to play in solving this crisis. When animals develop resistance to antibiotics which is fed to them this can be passed to humans. In 2015, China announced that they found Colistin resistant bacteria. Colistin was used as a last resort antibiotic only given in extreme situations and wasn’t widely used. However, Colistin was fed to farm animals, who likely passed the resistant bacteria to humans. Due to rapid globalisation, this resistant bacteria could spread throughout the world. The meat industry can look towards producing meat in more ethical and sustainable ways which could require fewer antibiotics while still trying to keep the price for meat low.” Learning about the meat industry in this issue made me realise how unsustainable the meat industry is. Not only does it take up a lot of resources to produce meat to the point there if the fish, vegetables and food we feed to cattle were to be given to humans world hunger could be eradicated. Producing meat also creates a lot of carbon emissions. I already knew that but to add on the effects of potentially creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs from overfeeding antibiotics to animals I was extremely surprised. Considering the ethical implications of eating and supporting the meat industry I think I will continue to be a vegetarian. I have tried to be vegetarian for a year so far, but once I finished the challenge I had no real reason to continue. Though I have had a cheat day or two I think I will continue to try to not eat any meat. Other than that I have also decided to be more aware of when I take antibiotics to ensure that I consume them responsibly.
Neuroscience Society, Pre- Activity reflection, and Goals.
#LO2( Challenge)- Starting a new activity is a challenge, to put this into motion we started planning activities and other administrative requirements during the summer holidays. Now that this activity is about to start I am sure we will face and overcome many challenges. I hope to approach all of these challenges with a positive attitude and an open mind and to view them all as learning objectives.
#LO3 (Initiative)- Shreya and I have planned about six weeks’ worth of activities for NeuroSoc. After receiving confirmation that the activity will start this season we have continued looking for activities as well as improving the ones we already have. For example, in our Slideshow of activities, we chose to add a creative art activity to aid the memorization of certain important anatomy that everyone in the activity will need to learn. We did this because we thought combining art and science will make the activity more interesting and will help make the knowledge visual and easier to remember. The change in plan was rather than just showing a diagram of the brain and labeling the different areas we should draw it and make it a poster.
#LO4 (Commitment)- I think Commitment in this activity is about keeping this activity engaging and motivating for the participants. I think that this requires planning and motivation. There is also a commitment on my behalf to work hard to keep this activity interesting. I have to be committed to managing my time and plan activities properly to ensure that this activity is impactful and continues to thrive even after I graduate.
#LO5 (Collaboration)- NeuroSoc is an activity that my friend Shreya and I have started together. It requires strong and effective collaboration skills to run a successful activity. I feel that working with Shreya is not going to be a huge challenge as we have worked together on other projects like our Global Perspective Project last year. I do think that there will be times when our ideas don’t necessarily align as we have different approaches to learning. I think I value creativity and experimentation more than memorization and learning things like anatomy. I feel that both are important and we will be able to find a balance. More than anything I am excited to see how we handle these new challenges and experiences.
#LO7 (Ethics)- In NeuroSoc we have plans to explore the ethics of Neuroscience including the method of gaining information and how and what information is spread. As neither of us are experts, I am excited to explore these issues and understand the ethical real-world implications that occur.
#LO2( Challenge)- Something I have previously struggled with in MUN is Confidence. Expressing my ideas and being outspoken can be difficult when giving important speeches. Over the past few years of my MUN journey, I have definitely seen some improvement which I hope to continue seeing.
#LO6 (Global Value)- I hope to learn about many global issues, as well as understand the different perspectives which I will have to adopt as I take the role of a delegate representing different countries.
#LO7 (Ethics)- While Exploring different perspectives I also have the opportunity to understand the ethical implication of resolutions that have been made previously. When making my own resolutions in conferences and practice I will have to carefully think about the ethical implications of the resolutions we put forward. I think this will help me understand the impact of global issues as well as my own morals and perspectives.