Lack of Sleep Kills Brain Cells, New Study Shows.  By Melanie Haiken. http://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2014/03/20/lack-of-sleep-kills-brain-cells-new-study-suggests/

“Researchers from the center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania found that prolonging wakefulness damages a particular type of brain cell called locus ceruleus (LC) neurons.” The LC neurons maintain alertness, and keeping us awake.  Studies prove that this brain-damage is irreversible, and the brain cells can not be recovered.  Mice were sleep deprived for several days, and experienced “25% loss of LCs in a particular section of the brain stem.”

The articles research topic is health and how important sleep is to the brain.  The research question is asking: What health effects does sleep deprivation have on the brain?  The type of data needed for this study can be found on public or private records.  The data retrieval method will be medical observations, and scanning the brain.

To analyze how the brain is affected the scientists need data on the brain before and after the sleep deprivation tests.  The scientists will need a controlled group that maintains a normal sleep schedule and a group that becomes sleep deprived; this allows the scientists to compare the difference between normal sleep and lack of sleep.   Then the data is analyzed by running a correlation test between brain damage results and sleep deprivation.  I believe this research is conducted thoroughly and produces extraordinary results.  I think everyone should take note of the importance of sleep, and should maintain healthy sleep schedules.

Reynolds, Gretchen. How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/how-fat-may-harm-the-brain-and-how-exercise-may-help/

This article reviews a study done upon animals, discovering obesity has a harmful effect on the brain.  The article’s topic is the effects fat and exercise has upon the brain.   Therefore the research question becomes: does fat hurt the brain?

The data type needed for this study will be recordings of acts, behaviors and/or events.  This type of data is needed to determine the health of subjects.  Since the site for retrieval was animal studies, the data retrieval method will be control experimentation.  The data will be extracted through observsations recorded into private or public records.  From there the data can be exported to analyze.

The data analysis method can be compared using a chi square test; to compare subjects in two categories: those that are obese and those that are not obese.   I believe this study is valid.  The study was medically done, providing the researchers equipment to analyze the subjects in-depth physically.  The researchers discovered that the fat effects the brain, because our blood carries all nutrients and toxins throughout our body.  People generally believe their brains are not affected by the toxins they eat, but the whole body is affected by the toxins and nutrients consumed.

Veggies Suffer more Health Problems say Graz Researchers. http://austrianindependent.com/news/General_News/2014-03-03/15137/Veggies_suffer_more_health_problems_say_Graz_researchers

This article summarizes a study performed by Graz Researchers on 15,000 subjects.  The researchers divided the subjects into groups based on diet, then by “their sex and their social and economic background, which included the level of education, the income and their career.”  The researchers compared non-meat-eaters to meat-eaters with similar life backgrounds.  From the studies, the researchers believe non-meat-eaters have a higher chance of suffering “allergies, cancer and mental problems including depression and phobias.”

The articles research topic is health from different diets.  The researchers are interested in finding what diets provide the best health (For the record: the Mediterranean diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and moderate consumption of meat was the healthiest diet).   The research question is: are non-meat-eaters healthier by not eating meat?

The data type needed to answer the research question would be acts, events and/or behaviors of subjects that eat meat and those that don’t eat meat.  The researchers need this data to evaluate diet and health of the subjects.  The data retrieving method would be to use private or public records and surveys.

Another data type needed will be life background information from the subjects.  This information is needed to find subjects’ which subjects have similar lives.  This information can be retrieved using public or private record, survey, or interview.

The data is then organized to categories to be analyzed.  The subjects that eat meat are compared to the subjects that don’t eat meat, by the controlled variable of their life backgrounds.  An example of a controlled variable can be income.  I believe this research is not 100% probable, because I believe there are more variables that could affect the health of these subjects.  The subjects were separated into their categories based on physical life backgrounds; however there is no determination of how the subjects were mentally healthy prior to the study.  I believe mental health has a large effect on physical health.  Without measuring and considering the mental health of subjects, this study cannot be 100% probable.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/02/12/sugar-addiction

Lennerz, Belinda. Effects offects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men.

Scientists examined the effects of the glycemic index on brain activity after eating a typical meal.  Twelve overweight men were gathered to consume two different milk shakes.  One milk shake had “rapidly digesting (high-glycemic) carbohydrates, and the other, slowly digesting(low-glycemic) carbohydrates. ”

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/02/12/sugar-addiction

The articles question was does high-glycemic food encourage overeating.  The research question was “is there a strong correlation between high-glycemic food and overeating, as oppose to a correlation between low-glycemic food and overeating.

The type of data would be aggregate.  The study requires retrieving numbers from observation.  The articles’ scientists retrieved their data by conducting MRIs upon 12 overweight men as they drank the two shakes.  The scientists observed the body-reactions after consuming the different shakes in relation to desire to consume more food.

After retrieval the data is analyzed by comparing the independent variables, the results from the different shakes, in terms of the dependent variable, the 12 overweight men being tested. By finding there was a stronger correlation between the high-glycemic food and overeating, than low-glycemic food and overeating.  After the participants drank the high-glycemic shake, they experienced a sudden burst in blood sugar levels, then a four hour period of low blood sugar levels.  During the period of low blood sugar levels, humans desire to consume more high-glycemic food to raise our blood sugar levels back to what they were before.

This is important research for people to educate themselves with when dieting.  It is better to consume foods with low-glycemic carbohydrates, because they are less likely to mess with your blood sugar levels.  Therefore, allowing you to have steady eating patterns throughout your diet.

This research also explains the body’s reaction to unhealthy foods and how it can lead to health conditions.

Oona M. Lönnstedt1,*, Mark I. McCormick1,Douglas P. Chivers2, Maud C.O. Ferrari3. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12209/abstract

Habitat degradation is threatening reef replenishment by making fish fearless. Fish are beginning to act out due to loss of coral reefs. This article summarizes a study on fish within dying coral reefs. Scientists in Australia controlled this experiment by placing fish in the tested locations, observing their reactions to certain environments. Many fish live within coral reefs. However, due to climate change and increasing ocean temperatures, coral reefs have been dying. When ocean temperatures increase to high the algae is released from the coral; the coral then dies. This is process is called coral bleaching, because the coral becomes white. Fish rely on coral for homing and safety. When coral reefs die fish are stranded searching for homes. The stranded fish are out in the open for predators to easily hunt them. The article’s topic question is: why are fish leaving themselves out in the open to die? The article’s research question is: Is there a correlation between dead coral reefs and rate of dying fish? The type of data to answer these questions is the amount of coral life and fish life within a location. The scientists measured the behaviors of damselfish when placed in locations with live or dying coral. They observed each location for 48 hours. They analyzed the data by comparing the gathered info from the different locations. This research is important, because climate and ocean temperatures are continuing to increase. More coral reefs will die, and more fish will lose their habitats. Fish that rely on coral reefs will become less populated. When a population in a level of the food web is low, it can cause other chain reactions to be decreased. Damage to the food web can danger the existence of specific species.

Effects of Aquarium Collectors on Coral Reef Fishes in Kona, Hawaii

Brian N. Tissot and Leon E. Hallacher

Conservation Biology , Vol. 17, No. 6 (Dec., 2003) , pp. 1759-1768

Common sources for rare aquarium fish are Coral Reefs.   Coral reefs are ecosystems consisting of many different marine organisms.  These many different organisms feed off of the coral or off of other fish, creating a self-sustaining cycle of life.  By removing some of a species, part of a food web is removed from the ecosystem.
The maintenance of a sustainable food web is important. If one predator’s population is over populated, then the species will eat more of their prey to fuel energy. If a predator’s population is low there will be less predators to eat the prey, and the lower food-web level over populates, then repeats the process of having another over-populated food-web level.
There was a study conducted in Hawaii to analyze the absence of specific fish.  During the data-retrieval process, observers focused on the count of nine popular aquarium-collection fish species.  The fish count is recorded as aggregate data.
The researchers used multiple sites to compare to each other.  The sites consisted of legal fish-collecting locations and illegal fish-collecting fish locations.  The results were low at both locations, and 7 of the 9 fish species’ populations were lower at the legal fish collection location.
This study has proved the sustainability of protected areas from fish collection.  By making certain locations unacceptable to collect, 7 of the 9 species observed had higher populations than if they were acceptable to collect.  This study can be used to propose more regulations upon protection areas.  More protection areas will provide more safe habitats for marine organisms, and maintains sustainable fish populations.  Sustainable fish populations are important to maintain the marine food web.

Deyashish Shriyastaya. Drip irrigation scheduling, growth and yield of sweet orange. Environment and Ecology, 24(4), 714-719.

Drip irrigation is a method that can save water by controlling the rate water drips to the roots of plants.  The drip irrigation design utilizes many different spouts redirecting water to different plants.  Each water spout’s drip schedule and rate of drip can be varied.

While providing the ability to micro-manage water-use, drip irrigation also conserves water by reducing the rate of water-use.  Sprinklers cover a surface area and have to use excess water to provide minimum nutrients to plants.  Drip irrigation delivers water directly to the root of individual plants, and does not cover a large surface of un-used farm land.

Drip irrigation’s capabilities have proven to be promising and is an upcoming method in orange farming.  During an experiment, orange trees were compared when using different schedules and rates or irrigation.  This experiment was to analyze the different growths of the trees and the different outcomes of fruit-growth.

The research question asks, what is the most efficient method of using drip irrigation for orange-farming?  The data compared was both qualitative and quantitative.  When comparing fruit quality, it was preference and qualitative data.  When comparing the growth of the trees, the data was measurable and quantitative. The data gathering method includes interview for qualitative data, and observe measurement records for quantitative data.   The data is then analyzed by comparison amongst tables.

This research is interesting, because it shows us how we can be more efficient with our water when crop-growing.  Not only does drip allow us to conserve water, but to control the way we use it.  By allowing us to control the rate and schedule of our irrigation, we can control the rate our plant and fruit grow.  Drip irrigation provides many new abilities to irrigation, and can be utilized by the University of Redlands.