West Nile Virus and Likelihood of Contraction essays

West Nile Virus and Likelihood of Contraction essays The West Nile Virus is the big worry this year considering sickness. This virus has swept across the country in the last four years, and has caused much worry among the public. Once the virus is caught there is a chance of death, but what most people dont know is that the chance of fatality is less than 1 percent. There are a few things that people should know about this virus to lessen the worry. They need to know what the virus is, how the virus is transmitted, and the chance of catching or even having symptoms. The West Nile virus was first detected in the United States in New York City in 1999. That first year it caused 62 cases of neurological disease in humans, 7 deaths, and left thousands of birds and horses dead. It was first it was isolated in Africa, and has since then been discovered in Europe and the Middle East along the main bird migration routes that join Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The strain of the virus that was recently discovered in the United States seems to be closely related to one that was moving around in Israel recently (Craven, 1). This virus is an arbovirus, which means it is carried by arthropods, and is active only during the warmer months of the year which is the time that most mosquitoes will become infected by feeding on infected birds (Craven, 1). There are two dozen species of mosquitoes that can carry the West Nile Virus, but that is out of thousands of species of mosquitoes. Most of the species that do carry the virus do not readily feed on humans (Craven, 1). That shows that the risk of catching the virus from a mosquito is extremely small. Besides being transmitted by mosquitoes, another way of the virus being transmitted has been discovered as being through transplants. This year three transplant patients have been confirmed to have been infected with the West Nile Virus, one of whom died. The woman who died had received many blood transfusions from as ...

How To Make Magnetic Slime

How To Make Magnetic Slime Put a twist on the classic slime science project by making magnetic slime. This is slime that reacts to a strong magnetic field, like a ferrofluid, but its easier to control. Its easy to make, too. Here is what you do: Magnetic Slime Materials   white school glue (e.g., Elmers glue)liquid starchiron oxide powder  rare earth magnets Ordinary magnets are not strong enough to have much of an effect on magnetic slime. Try a stack of neodymium magnets for the best effect. Liquid starch is sold with laundry aids. Iron oxide is sold with scientific supplies and is available online. Magnetic iron oxide powder is also called powdered magnetite. Make Magnetic Slime You could simply mix the ingredients together at once, but once the slime polymerizes, it difficult to get the iron oxide to mix in evenly. The project works better if you mix the iron oxide powder with either the liquid starch or glue first. Stir 2 tablespoons of iron oxide powder into 1/4 cup of liquid starch. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth.Add 1/4 cup of glue. You can mix the slime together with your hands or you can wear disposable gloves if you dont want to get any black iron oxide dust on your hands.You can play with magnetic slime just like you would with regular slime, plus it is attracted to magnets and is viscous enough to blow bubbles Safety and Clean Up If you wrap the magnets with plastic wrap, you can keep the slime from sticking to them.Clean up slime using warm, soapy water.Do not eat the slime, since too much iron is not good for you.Do not eat the magnets. There is a recommended age listed on magnets for this reason.This project is not suitable for very young children  since they might eat the slime or the magnets. Id aim for ages 5. Ferrofluid is more liquid than magnetic slime, so it forms better-defined shapes when exposed to a magnetic field, while silly putty is stiffer than the slime and can crawl slowly toward a magnet. All of these projects work best with rare earth magnets rather than iron magnets. For a really strong magnetic field, use an electromagnet, which can be made by running an electric current through a coil of wire.