Monday, October 28, 2013

Pills Made from Poop Cure Serious Gut Infections

1. If I were to contract the potentially fatal Clostridium difficile infection, I would much rather take Dr. Louie's "poop pills" as opposed to undergoing a fecal transplant. The science behind these pills is ground-breaking and beneficial to patients suffering from the disease. If I were to get this bacterial infection, taking a few pills would be much easier than going through fecal transplants, multiple enemas, etc. Although the pills sound disgusting, they are a lot cleaner than any other alternative method.
2. Researchers and scientists have made these pills by taking healthy fecal materials from a donor, usually a relative of the patient, and putting the material into a non-soluble capsule that will only dissolve in the stomach. The patient will not experience bad "poopy" breath or foul taste. In fact, Dr. Louie states that, "There's no stool left — just stool bugs. These people are not eating poop." People might prefer taking these pills because there is no mess, no hassle, and no interaction with straight up crap, literally.
3. The pill was designed to only dissolve in the lower intestine so that the antibiotic in the pill only kills detrimental germs without harming good cells and essential bacteria.
4. The future of these poop pills knows no bounds. Dr. Louie, "sees potential for the poop pills for other people with out-of-whack gut bacteria, such as hospitalized patients vulnerable to antibiotic-resistant germs." Researchers have also found a way to ship pills all over the world safely by freezing them. These methods wouldn't hurt the pill in any way, and the pill would still able to do it's job.


Friday, October 18, 2013

Literacy Blog #7: We Are Teaching High School Students to Write Terribly

The SAT process is a very intricate and detailed one. The writing portion usually scares students with obscure facts, troubling questions, and even misleading vocabulary. In reality, however, the writing portion of the SAT standardized test only measures students' ability to make stuff up. For example, students often make up stories such as a death in the family, a rare illness, etc. These stories add to their story as well as entertain, even though most of these "facts" are not true. Anne Ruggles Gere states, "Graders don't have time to look up facts or to check if an uncommon words actually exist..."(11)
Although graders only spend a limited amount of time grading essays, I believe that there is room for graders to see students' writing ability. Graders, on average, spend about two minutes looking over an essay. Within those two minutes, students really need to surprise and intrigue the reader, or else they will receive a mediocre grade. In order for graders to see full writing potential, students should go into the test room determined to write an interesting story, without any thought of factual evidence or correct words. Students should be taught this method in schools so there is no panic or confusion while taking the SAT.
I think I'm ready for the SAT next year. I am a very strong writer, and my ability to make stuff up in record time is quite astounding. I feel that I would be more comfortable with more practice and instruction set forth by my school. Other than needing additional help with the SAT preparation process, I feel that my classmates and I are ready to take the writing portion of the SAT.