Max finds out about something deadly

The Ebola Virus Disease

About the Disease

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was first contracted and then identified in 1976 after there were two simultaneous outbreaks in two different locations, Yambara and Nzuku. The Ebola Virus Disease takes its name from ‘The Ebola River’ near Yambara. The virus is spread via primates, such as humans, through bodily fluids (e.g. blood, sweat, semen, breast milk). If an object has already been contaminated with bodily fluids carrying the disease, it can still be contracted by other primates, however scientists have no record of the disease going airborne. 

Outbreaks

There have been many outbreaks of the disease such as in the Republic of Congo, Uganda, DRC and the worst ever recorded outbreak of the disease in West Africa, with over 27,000 cases of the virus recorded. There have also been 2 lab infections in the UK and Russia resulting in a death.

Symptoms

Symptoms of the Ebola Virus Disease include: muscle pains, headaches, stomach pains, tiredness, vomiting, diarrhea, (internal or external) bleeding, bruising and fever. It is possible for symptoms to appear from 2-21 days although the average amount of days it takes is around 8-10 days

By Max

Alec gets clean

Sterilising spray  

Aka liquid glass

The invention I'm talking about in my presentation is spray-on invisible thin glass coating that sterilizes, protects and strengthens surfaces. 

The coating also repels water, uv radiation, dirt, heat, acid, stains, mildew, fungus. bacteria and viruses. It was invented at the Saarbrücken institution for new materials which was then patented by Nanopool GmbH Germany, it is a flexible and breathable spray-on glass film.

The film is approximately 100 nanometres thick (500 times thinner than a human hair) which is why its is invisible. It is also known as SiO2 ultra-thin layering. 

Trials by food processing plants in Germany have concluded that surfaces coated with liquid glass only need hot water for cleaning. the fact that the coating provided higher levels of sterility than surfaces cleaned with bleach or other chemicals making it a remarkable invention .it also won the NHS smart solutions award 

Overall I think that this invention could be the future in terms of health care clothing vehicles buildings and appliances all around the world.

 by Alec

Well done Alec, will this be an easy way for Miss Wass to keep the rugby kit clean?

Cheap travel?

On the ninth of March a solar powered plane called solar impulse 2 took off from Abu Dhabi to circumnavigate the world. The plane is piloted by Bertrand piccard and André borschberg. They designed the plane because solar power is abundant and renewable.
The revolutionary solo aircraft—imagined by the psychiatrist and round-the-world balloonist Bertrand Piccard, and designed by an engineer named André Borschberg—will, Borschberg predicts, “change the way we think about energy.”

Solar Impulse 2 weighs as little as an SUV but boasts a wingspan greater than a Boeing 747. It’s built of carbon fiber, with 17,000 solar cells in the wing and tail; during the day the cells on the wing supply the motors with energy and charge lithium batteries, which power the plane at night. Top speed is about 87 miles per hour, but the maximum altitude is 28,000 feet.

A quote from Bertrand Piccard, the aircraft's other pilot, said in a statement: "Can you imagine that a solar-powered airplane without fuel can now fly longer than a jet plane?
By Harry

If the plane flew as fast as it could in the same direction as the sun travels how long would it be in daylight? IRP

Aran's white hole

White holes

White holes are a theory that there is an opposite of black holes. Black holes suck in matter and don’t let matter out and White holes spew out matter and don’t let any matter in.

Many scientists think white holes are impossible and don’t exist. When black holes suck objects up scientists call it “information”. The most known theory is that when information enters a black hole it can never be recovered.

Einstein’s and Newton both said that “matter cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change forms.” Their theory doesn’t disagree that black holes keep matter in forever because it doesn’t mean that the matter will ever get destroyed.

In 1975 Stephen Hawking said that black holes radiate energy so that eventually black holes will evaporate. Though when a black hole evaporates what happens to all the matter that the black hole has sucked up? This theory created a dilemma until the theory of white holes.

Once the black hole had evaporated it would turn into a whitehole and fire out all the information that it had sucked up when it was a black hole. If this theory is proved it settles the debate between Hawking’s theory and Einstein and Newton’s theory.

Some people have taken the idea further and said that black holes are linked to white holes in another part of the universe.

In 2006 scientists detected a gamma ray burst that was 102seconds long. They thought it came from a supernova but couldn’t see one anywhere. They were totally confused. 5 years later scientists realised that the gamma ray may have come from a white hole. This encounter is the closest scientists have come to proving white hole existence.

By

Aran Truslove

Complicated but fascinating stuff Aran, there are some mind bending numbers and maths to deal with if you look into this area further - IRP.

From Cara

DNP –‘Not fit for human consumption’.

On 12^th April this year, Eloise Aimee Parry, aged 21, (pictured above with some DNP pills) who had battled with bulimia – an eating disorder and mental heath condition, where people severely restrict the amount of food they eat - died of an accidental drug overdose after taking ‘diet pills’ which she had bought over the internet. 

Although doctors were unable to save Eloise, they managed to uncover that the pills contained a combination of compounds known as DNP (aka 2,4-dinitrophenol). DNP’s formula is HOC6H3(NO2)2. 

This drug had also been linked to three deaths in 2013. 

What is DNP and what does it do to you?

DNP is a synthetic chemical product, which is known to be ‘extremely dangerous and not fit for human consumption’.

2,4-dinitrophenol accelerates our metabolism to a dangerously fast level and increases our body temperature critically high by interfering with the produce of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), which gets lost as heat.

ATP is a complex chemical compound formed with the energy released from food and is stored in all cells, particularly muscles. It is a prime energy source during endurance activities.

Ingestion of DNP can also trigger a number of side effects like fever, dehydration, vomiting, flushed skin, nausea, restlessness, dizziness, headaches, excessive sweating, rapid breathing and irregular heartbeat. The combination of the side effects is massively harming to the body and can result in coma or death.  

DNP is also carcinogenic (cancer causing) and increases risk of birth defects. Long-term use of DNP can cause cataracts (a clouding of the lens in the eye that can blur your vision) andskin lesions.

Some body builders and athletes have been known to take DNP as it speedily induces fat loss.

​DNP is illegal to sell as a weight loss drug in the United Kingdom and doing so could result in criminal prosecution.

​Commercial DNP is used as a pesticide and as an antiseptic. It is a chemical intermediate in the production of wood preservatives, sulphur dyes and some herbicides. It has also been used to create photographic developer and explosives.

By Cara Bromley

Interesting that ATP is mentioned here as this is the compound that takes energy, produced by respiration, from the mitochondria to all parts of the cell to be used for various processes. We were just looking at respiration last term! Doesn't this show how the things we learn in the lab help us to understand more about what is happening in the world. Well done Cara.

IRP

Away from my computer

Apologies to Cara, Harry and Aran fior the delay in putting their articles up.
Still having issues with pictures I'm afraid but the text is here, pictures will be added as soon as the technical bugs are solved, don't you just love computers sometimes!
IRP
PS update picture issues now solved