Reflection: Writing this was really hard for me. Not only because I don't like using Tumblr for things because it makes me feel uncomfortable but also because there haven't really been any times in my life where there was a defining characteristic that made me feel apart from everyone else. I'm a white male so I've never really been discounted from anything. I'd love to live in a world where everyone grew up like me that is to say without fear of not belonging based on certain traits or for any other reason. I never had any reason to believe when I was younger that I couldn't do something when I got older I hope some day all the other people who feel marginalized based on race or gender can feel the same way I did growing up.

The pituitary gland is quite possibly the most important structure in the endocrine system. The endocrine system is responsible for the control of the release of hormones in the body. Hormones affect everything in the body and no structure releases more hormones than the pituitary gland. Most structures in the endocrine system release 1 2 or even 3 separate hormones the pituitary gland releases a grand total of nine hormones. It resides in the brain and is the size of your average pea. Its mind blowing to think of how important this one structure is. It is responsible for your growth, the maintenance of your bodily structures and even your mood. This is possible because only a small amount of any hormone is needed to get significant change to occur in  the body which is why something so small can be so vitally important.

There's not a whole lot that relates the white house to biochemistry but one unifying item is Cancer research which the government has been heavily invested in for around 4 decades. In 2012 the white house approved 4.9 billion dollars for the national cancer institute. These funds are part of the national charity efforts to eradicate cancer.

Kidneys are responsible for maintaining all the things you prefer not to think about like levels of waste in the body, blood pH, electrolyte levels and several other minor functions like secreting certain hormones. The part of the kidney that does most of this work is called a nephron in a normal human kidney there can be anywhere from 800,000 nephrons to well over a million (and don't forget you have two kidneys). A single nephron is set up as a loop so as bodily fluids are run through the nephron different substances filter in and out. Useful substances are retained and used by the body while waste products are shown the door via the bladder. Why am I writing about the kidneys you may ask? Well the answer is simple they are the unsung heroes of the body the heart, the lungs and the brain get all the glory. If waste products were allowed to build up in the body then the human race would have a much quicker expiration date. The kidneys do all the body's dirty work and for that they have my respect. 

Unfortunately I don't have an issue per say to write about. My topic is biochemical research It is widely agreed that continued research is a good thing but is there a possibility of it being bad? There are some (not many) who think humanity has gone too far with its search for knowledge. Were we truly meant to do all this? ask some. The reason for this being that continued advances in areas like medicine have allowed people to live who if nature had taken its course would have died. This naturally leads to a weakening of the gene pool. In addition to this people cite science as a leading cause for overpopulation and all the problems associated with it such as famine and pollution. As science goes farther and farther the human race gets weaker instead of evolving naturally and the worse off conditions on the earth become because of all the pollutants and chemicals given off by these people.

This topic speaks to me because it makes me think about my future in medicine. I've been considering whether I want to go into oncology or primary care in the future and its really been a tough decision. My dad one of the top reasons I want to go into medicine is a primary care physician. There's no way I'd want to take over his practice but there is a certain happiness in carrying on family tradition. In addition to this I had a friend wait 3.5 hours today to see a doctor granted this was at UHS but what if we lived in a world where this became the normal way of things? Its a lot to think about but something has to be done soon.

A couple of these breakthroughs have to do with biochemistry such as gene therapy which is a really cool concept and I personally can't wait to see what gets done with it. This article is really interesting and I highly recommend reading it. These are cutting edge innovations in the field of medicine and its really cool to see how far we've come as a species.

Heres my meme its not very funny but I made it myself and it involves a pun.

I grew up in the biggest town in Berkshire county its nothing like Boston, New York or even Springfield. However growing up I always felt good knowing I was from the most populous town I mean I never stopped and considered that more eastern areas of Massachusetts look at us the same way I looked at the surrounding towns in Berkshire county. Pittsfield always seemed more civilized and more urban than the vast tracts of farmland and wilderness surrounding it. It wasn't until I was old enough to drive that I realized Pittsfield is completely insignificant. My friends and I began to take little trips to the true cities that were near us like Albany and Springfield. Even then neither of these cities are the size of Boston or even Worcester for that matter. My social context is one of misunderstanding I've seen just a small portion of a world that is vast beyond belief and the more I see of it the more I understand how little of it I have actually seen.

In the form of a love song these two students sing about a lot of chemical principles and chemistry in general. It sounds pretty nice and its only 2.5 minutes long check it out if you've got a little time.

As it turns out this belief is not only stupid its completely illogical. Vaccines were invented in the late 18th century by a man named Edward Jenner. He noticed that the milkmaids hardly ever died from smallpox this was because they usually contracted cowpox which is a more mild less deadly form of smallpox. Vaccines are essentially a training mechanism for the body, they introduce a mild form of the disease to the human body so that it might train itself to fight the deadly version of it. The body does this by learning to create the correct kinds of antigens necessary to fight this kind of disease. So the question is what does this have to do with the human brain and how does it cause autism? The answer, absolutely nothing. Vaccines illicit a immunological response not a neural one there is not one documented case where a vaccine has had an effect on the cognitive function of the human body. This belief is only around because certain public figures tend not to do their research before they open their mouths. Vaccines save millions of lives every year and eradicated one of humanities deadliest foes, Smallpox.