October Sky Blog

I recently watched the movie October Sky in class. This movie is about a boy named Homer who becomes inspired to create rockets after seeing Sputnik in the sky at night. When Homer begins creating rockets his father becomes disappointed because he believes that Homer is playing around and that the rockets aren't important. Homers father wants Homer to work in the mines just like he does as his job. Homer refuses to work in the mines and he continues to make rockets and set them off. Homer and his partners get arrested later on because the police think that one of his rockets set off a fire. Homer uses mathematical equations to prove to the police and the principal that it is not possible for one of his rockets to land where the fire started. Everyone soon finds out that the fire was started by a flare coming from a nearby airport. Homer goes to a Science fair later in the story where he wins for his fantastic explanation of how he got his rockets to work. In October Sky, Homer was lacking the respect that he deserved. Especially the respect that he needed to be appreciated by his father. His father didn't respect Homer because he didn't believe that the rockets would get Homer anywhere in life and that since Homer was not good at football, he should go work in the mines. Homer's dad never went to any of Homers rocket launches until the one at then end. I enjoyed this movie as it showed how a boy can get to excellence from determination.

Down Syndrome Response

Today, I have been looking around Blogger and I have come across an article about Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is a common genetic disorder as one in seven hundred forty newborns get this disease. Sadly, this disease includes the symptoms of slow growth, weak muscles, short wide neck with excess fat and skin, stocky short arms and legs, a single crease across the center of the palm, a pushed up nasal bridge, mental retardation and heart defects. Right now there is no cure for down syndrome but there a special classes for people with Down Syndrome and they help the people who have that disease. I hope that the cure for this disease is found soon as I cannot stand how lucky everyone who doesn't have a genetic disease is. Why do we have to live with all this luck and all these exclusive opportunities that these people do not have? I wish that these people never got these diseases and the same goes with the people who have Down Syndrome. One day I hope a cure is found for most of these diseases. As mooselover189 said, "The DNA for someone with Down Syndrome is three copies of Trisomy 21. To develop a treatment for Down Syndrome, we would need to know what really causes it and can than come up with a treatment from there." So if one day we find out what causes this disease then maybe one day we can cure this horrible disease.
I got this information from mooselover189 from the blog url:
http://mooselover1892.blogspot.com/

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease

The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. Have you ever heard of it? No it doesn't have anything to do with teeth. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease is a horrible genetic disorder which is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders which was discovered in the year 1886. The symptoms of this disease are foot drop which can cause hammer toe, which is the raising of the foot arch and lowering of the toes, hip sockets can become malformed, weakness in the hands and forearms and scoliosis is also a symptom shown in some cases. I have learned that some people with this disease can't even stand up because of the weakness in their muscles and such. It makes me sad to think that some people have to live with this. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease is known for its cause of loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation, mainly in the feet and legs but also in the hands and arms in the advanced stages of disease. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease affects the peripheral nerves which are a nervous system that resides or extends outside the central nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord. At the molecular level, some molecules are gone which are essential for normal function of nerves due to deficiencies in the structure of the genes coding these molecules. Right now, there are no cures for this disease. The use of ascorbic acid has been proposed though. Ascorbic acid is a sugar acid with antioxidant properties. Ascorbic acid is also deeply known for its link with vitamin C which treats scurvy. The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease is obtained through heredity, so if your ancestors had it then it is possible for you to get it too. The disease affects one in two thousand five hundred people and is a hard genetic disease to live with. People are looking for a cure and I think that we have to find a way to supply the molecules needed for the normal function of the nerves. I hope we find a cure for this disease soon so that everyone can be cured.