Leo Szilard Biography, Role in Creation of Atomic Bomb

Leo Szilard Biography, Role in Creation of Atomic Bomb Leo Szilard (1898-1964) was a Hungarian-born American physicist and inventor who played a key role in the development of the atomic bomb. Though he vocally opposed using the bomb in war, Szilard felt it was important to perfect the super-weapon before Nazi Germany. In 1933, Szilard developed the idea of the nuclear chain reaction, and in 1934, he joined with Enrico Fermi in patenting the world’s first working nuclear reactor. He also wrote the letter signed by Albert Einstein in 1939 that convinced U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt of the need for the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. After the bomb had been successfully tested, on July 16, 1945, he signed a petition asking President Harry Truman not to use it on Japan. Truman, however, never received it. Fast Facts: Leo Szilard Full Name: Leo Szilard (born as Leo Spitz)Known For: Groundbreaking nuclear physicistBorn: February 11, 1898, in Budapest, HungaryDied: May 30, 1964, in La Jolla, CaliforniaParents: Louis Spitz and Tekla VidorSpouse: Dr. Gertrud (Trude) Weiss (m. 1951)Education: Budapest Technical University, Technical University of Berlin, Humboldt University of BerlinKey Accomplishments: Nuclear chain reaction. Manhattan Project atomic bomb scientist.Awards: Atoms for Peace Award (1959). Albert Einstein Award (1960). Humanist of the Year (1960). Early Life Leo Szilard was born Leo Spitz on February 11, 1898, in Budapest, Hungary. A year later, his Jewish parents, civil engineer Louis Spitz and Tekla Vidor, changed the family’s surname from the German â€Å"Spitz† to the Hungarian â€Å"Szilard.† Even during high school, Szilard showed an aptitude for physics and mathematics, winning a national prize for mathematics in 1916, the year he graduated. In September 1916, he attended Palatine Joseph Technical University in Budapest as an engineering student, but joined the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1917 at the height of World War I. Portrait of Professor of Biophysics, Institute of Radiobiology and Biophysics, at the University of Chicago Dr Leo Szilard (1898 - 1964), Chicago, Illinois, 1957. PhotoQuest / Getty Images Education and Early Research Forced to return to Budapest to recover from the dreaded Spanish Influenza of 1918, Szilard never saw battle. After the war, he briefly returned to school in Budapest, but transferred to the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg, Germany, in 1920. He soon changed schools and majors, studying physics at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he attended the lectures of no less than Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Max von Laue. After earning his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Berlin in 1922, Szilard worked as von Laue’s research assistant at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, where he collaborated with Einstein on a home refrigerator based on their revolutionary Einstein-Szilard pump. In 1927, Szilard was hired as an instructor at the University of Berlin. It was there that he published his paper â€Å"On the Decrease of Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings,† which would become the basis for his later work on the second law of thermodynamics. The Nuclear Chain Reaction Faced with the threat of the Nazi Party’s anti-Semitic policy and harsh treatment of Jewish academics, Szilard left Germany in 1933. After living briefly in Vienna, he arrived in London in 1934. While experimenting with chain reactions at London’s St. Bartholomews Hospital, he discovered a method of separating the radioactive isotopes of iodine. This research led to Szilard being granted the first patent for a method of creating a nuclear chain reaction in 1936. As war with Germany grew more likely, his patent was entrusted to the British Admiralty to ensure its secrecy. Szilard continued his research at Oxford University, where he intensified his efforts to warn Enrico Fermi of the dangers to humanity of using nuclear chain reactions to create weapons of war rather than to generate energy. The Manhattan Project   In January 1938, with the impending war in Europe threatening his work, if not his very life, Szilard immigrated to the United States, where he continued his research in nuclear chain reactions while teaching at New York’s Columbia University. When news reached America in 1939 that German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann had discovered nuclear fission- the trigger of an atomic explosion- Szilard and several of his fellow physicists convinced Albert Einstein to sign a letter to President Roosevelt explaining the devastating destructive force of an atomic bomb. With Nazi Germany now on the verge of taking over Europe, Szilard, Fermi, and their associates feared what could happen to America if Germany built a working bomb first. Convinced by the Einstein–Szilard letter, Roosevelt ordered the creation of the Manhattan Project, a famed collaboration of outstanding U.S., British, and Canadian scientists dedicated to harnessing nuclear energy for military uses. As a member of the Manhattan Project from 1942 to 1945, Szilard worked as the chief physicist alongside Fermi at the University of Chicago, where they built the world’s first working nuclear reactor. This breakthrough led to the first successful test of an atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, at White Sands, New Mexico. Shaken by the destructive force of the weapon he had helped to create, Szilard decided to dedicate the rest of his life to nuclear safety, arms control, and the prevention of further development of nuclear energy for military purposes. After World War II, Szilard became fascinated by molecular biology and the groundbreaking research being done by Jonas Salk in developing the polio vaccine, eventually helping found the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. During the Cold War, he continued to call for international atomic arms control, the advancement of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and better U.S. relations with the Soviet Union. Szilard received the Atoms for Peace Award in 1959, and was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association, and given the Albert Einstein Award in 1960. In 1962, he founded the Council for a Livable World, an organization dedicated to delivering â€Å"the sweet  voice of reason† about nuclear weapons to Congress, the White House, and the American public. The Voice of the Dolphins In 1961, Szilard published a collection of his own short stories, â€Å"The Voice of the Dolphins,† in which he predicts moral and political issues to be triggered by the proliferation of atomic weapons in the year 1985. The title refers to a group of Russian and American scientists who in translating the language of dolphins found that their intelligence and wisdom exceeded that of humans. In another story, â€Å"My Trial as a War Criminal,† Szilard presents a revealing, though fantasized, view of himself standing trial for war crimes against humanity after the United States had unconditionally surrendered to the Soviet Union, after losing a war in which the U.S.S.R. had unleashed a devastating germ warfare program. Personal Life Szilard married physician Dr. Gertrud (Trude) Weiss on October 13, 1951, in New York City. The couple had no known surviving children. Before his marriage to Dr. Weiss, Szilard had been an unmarried life partner of Berlin opera singer Gerda Philipsborn during the 1920s and 1930s. Cancer and Death After being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1960, Szilard underwent radiation therapy at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, using a cobalt 60 treatment regimen Szilard himself had designed. After a second round of treatment in 1962, Szilard was declared cancer-free. The Szilard-designed cobalt therapy is still used for the treatment of many inoperable cancers. During his final years, Szilard served as a fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, which he had helped to found in 1963. In April 1964, Szilard and Dr. Weiss moved to a La Jolla hotel bungalow, where he died of heart attack in his sleep on May 30, 1964, at age 66. Today, a portion of his ashes is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Ithaca, New York, alongside those of his wife. Sources and Further Reference Lanoutte, William. Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb. University of Chicago Press (1992). ISBN-10: 0226468887Leo Szilard (1898-1964). Jewish Virtual LibraryLeo Szilard Papers, 1898-1998. University of California San Diego (1998)Leo Szilard: European Refugee, Manhattan Project Veteran, Scientist. Atomic Heritage Foundation.Jogalekar, Ashutosh. Why the World Needs More Leo Szilards. Scientific American (February 18, 2014).

3 Ways to Make Sentences More Concise

3 Ways to Make Sentences More Concise 3 Ways to Make Sentences More Concise 3 Ways to Make Sentences More Concise By Mark Nichol Sentences need not be pared down to essentials- the challenge is to make them as coherent as possible, not as concise as possible- but careful writers will craft and revise their writing in part by minimizing the number of words necessary to convey their thoughts. Three simple strategies are demonstrated in discussions of and revisions to the following examples of sentences that can and should be improved. 1. The board needs to be assured that management has not allowed overconfidence to be bred by past successes. Make the sentence active. Two of the three nouns in this sentence are active rather than passive, but successes can be an actor, too: â€Å"The board needs to be assured that management has not allowed past successes to breed overconfidence.† 2. The hot spots described below are areas in which providers are commonly at risk for losing revenue. They include patient access, utilization review, charge capture, and billing and payment accuracy. Fold one sentence into another. When a subsequent sentence provides details pertaining to a previous sentence, that sentence, if brief and simple enough, can often be embedded seamlessly in the first sentence as a parenthetical: â€Å"The hot spots described below- patient access, utilization review, charge capture, and billing and payment accuracy- are areas in which providers are commonly at risk for losing revenue.† 3. Scalability also considers the robustness of the processes and controls, and whether they are automated or not. Omit nonessential words. In this context, â€Å"or not† is extraneous; whether, in and of itself, suggests a binary choice: â€Å"Scalability also considers the robustness of the processes and controls and whether they are automated.† (â€Å"Or not† is sometimes a necessary companion of whether: The test is that if regardless can replace whether, the entire phrase is required.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:English Grammar 101: All You Need to KnowDawned vs. DonnedOppose and Opposed To

Kangxi-Emperor and the Taiping Rebellion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kangxi-Emperor and the Taiping Rebellion - Essay Example Kangxi was one of the best Emperors in those times because he never mobilized people into fighting. He gave out rules that were friendly to people and rules that would easily be followed without questions. Being a man with a Family, farming would be an important thing so as to provide food for the family, Kangxi told people to respect farming so as to have adequate food and clothing. He encouraged people to love schools and academics as that was one way of gaining knowledge and honoring the scholar. Hong Xiuquan after failing his second exam attempt, he gave up and continued to protestant missionaries. He never encouraged people to love education or anything related to it (Foster 158). Being a family man and living during the Hong Xiuquan times, it would be hard to encourage a person’s children into a school considering the War that was everywhere. The Army, which anyone would expect to bring peace, was the leader in destroying the Cities. The Taiping beliefs followed the Ten Commandments similar as the ones found in the bible but they separated men and women from living together. Women were given more power and even married couples lived in quarters segregated by sex. Following the Commandments was a better idea with the Taiping rules but separating married couples was not a good idea. People who are married are supposed to live happily together but the Taiping rules would never allow that (Foster 160). The Taiping rules were things that you should never do but there were no things to be done.

Seeking Pleasure and Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Seeking Pleasure and Happiness - Essay Example Unfortunately, Billy is deadly wounded and is left recuperating injuries in a hospital and meets Sally, Bob Hyde’s wife. He believes that Sally will help her get over the anger, frustration, and pain he got from the war. Luke and Sally pursue happiness through sexual pleasure, and the two eventually engage in sex (Waldo, 2014). Sally gets an organism for the first time and she slowly starts forgetting her husband and starts enjoying the happy life with Luke. Luke feels exasperated by Billy’s decision to kill himself by injecting air into his body. Billy committed suicide as he was striving to obtain happiness and get over the injuries he got from the war, hence affirming the extent that people go in search of pleasure and happiness.  Similarly, in The Last Detail 1973, Larry Meadows is sentenced to 8 years in prison after his plan to steal $40 botched. The petty crime that Meadows expected to be a source of unending pleasure lands him in unfathomable miseries. As he i s transferred from Norfolk to Portsmouth prison, Buddusky and Richard Mulhall provide several adventures for Meadows as a way of ensuring that he obtains happiness before getting to prison (Chuck, 2013). Meadows, an underage, seeks pleasure in whiskey and visits a brothel where he loses his virginity and openly admits that the few profane activities he had engaged in when in the company of Buddusky and Richard gave him the greatest happiness in life. This is what Aristotle termed as Egoistic Hedonism that torpedoes an individual’s life.

Translation Method Essay Example for Free

Translation Method Essay As â€Å"modern† languages began to enter the curriculum of European schools in the eighteenth century, they were taught using the same basic procedures that were used for teaching Latin. Textbooks consisted of statements of abstract grammar rules, lists of vocabulary, and sentences for translation. Speaking the foreign language was not the goal, and oral practice was limited to students reading aloud the sentences they had translated. These sentences were constructed to illustrate the grammatical system of the language and consequently bore no relation to the language of real communication. By the nineteenth century, this approach based on the study of Latin had become the standard way of studying foreign language in schools. A typical textbook in the mid-nineteenth century thus consisted of chapters or lessons organized around grammar points. Each grammar point was listed, rules on its use were explained, and it was illustrated by sample sentences. This approach to foreign language teaching became known as the Grammar-Translation Method. Principle of The Grammar-Translation Method 1. The goal of foreign language study is to learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from the mental discipline and intellectual development that results from foreign language study. 2. Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening. 3. Vocabulary selection is based on solely on the reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual words lists, dictionary study, and memorization. 4. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. 5. Grammar is taught deductively. . Translation interprets the words and phrases of the foreign languages in the best possible manner. 7. The phraseology and the idiom of the target language can best be assimilated in the process of interpretation. 8. The structures of the foreign languages are best learnt when compared and contrast with those of mother tongue. 9. The teacher is the authority in the classroom. It is very important that students get the correct answer. 10. Learning is facilitated through attention to similarities between the target language and the native language. Advantages 1. An effective way for application of grammar and sentence structure I think the exercises that are given after translation is very beneficial and accurate for grammar learning. 1. Few demands on teachers. Also, It is practical and easy to implement. In this method, teacher only deals with organization and implementation of exercises. So this means teacher has not a lot to do. In other word; this method does not require lots of thing but a passage of literature text and a few exercises, it is pretty easy to carry out. 2. Least stressful for students Students prepare themselves for exercises and memorization of vocabulary and grammar rules. Disadvantages 1. The Grammar Translation Method can make the language learning experience uninspiring and boring. All the classes can be taught in the same way so after some time students may get bored. Also I think that language teaching should be done very different ways in order to inspire students. 2. The Grammar Translation Method can leave the students with a sense of disappointment when they travel to countries where the studied language is used  because they can’t understand what people say and have difficulty in expressing themselves at the most basic level. . This method neither approaches nor encourages the students’ communicative (speaking amp; listening skills) competence. Reading and writing are the major focus of this method so speaking and listening skill remain in the shadow of writing and reading. 4. Language is learned by conscious memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary. Nowadays memorization isnt highly regarded; internalization through exposure, experience and use are preferred. Language learning needs to be beyond memorization because I think language should be learnt with experiences. . Lack of communication between students. The teacher explains, translates, conducts practice, and corrects mistakes, and learners interact with the teacher, not with each other. That’s because, students can easily make what they learnt permanent with interactions between them.

Constructing a Greenhouse Window :: Papers

Constructing a Greenhouse Window Building and testing a sensor to determine number of degrees to which a window is open Introduction When making use of a greenhouse to grow plants out of season or on a large scale for commercial reasons, the temperature within the green house must be carefully regulated, in order to ensure that the plants are under the optimum growing conditions. With the windows shut permanently, the temperature may become too high, and the windows need therefore to be opened. This will allow the temperature to drop back to the correct level. Different numbers of degrees to which the window is open have different cooling effects. For example, if the window is open by 50 degrees, then there is probably a more rapid cooling effect upon the greenhouse than if the window was 10 degrees open. Thus, it is important to know how many degrees the window on a greenhouse is open. It could however be very time consuming for people to check the greenhouse(s) manually, or particularly problematic if the temperature should become a problem during unsociable hours. It would be extremely useful, then, if a sensor could be attached to the windows of a greenhouse, and a reading sent back to a control room as to how open the windows are. Someone could then either use a motor attached to the window to alter the setting, or adjust the window manually. My sensor could be used in conjunction with a number of other sensors, e.g. temperature sensors and moisture sensors, to send all the required reading back to a control room, thus allowing the control of the climate within in the greenhouse to be totally automated. [IMAGE] Text Box: Windows need to be opened and closed according to temperature [IMAGE] Above: a typical greenhouse Alex Furber 12HW Sensing Project 20-02-02 PLAN There a number of ways in which a sensor could be built to measure the angle at which a window is open.

Filipinos’ Forgiving Nature Essay

Why many Filipino people are forgiving? Giving offenders a â€Å"second chance† rather than punishing them is inherently Filipino. Let’s take for example the apology offered by the Magdalo mutineers which comes as no surprise in light of the Filipinos forgiving nature. Despite the very good laws we have here in the Philippines, we don’t think settlement of it will still be possible. We rarely condemn people, we just require them to change their ways. Ms. Arroyo’s granting of amnesty towards the Magdalo mutineers is just one of the issues that shows Filipinos tend to forgvive. We are not very legalistic except on impersonal matters, such as cases involving money or disputes between big corporations that don’t have a human face. For example, everyone agrees that we should go after tax evasion. Under the Filipino concept of justice, what is prescribed by law is not necessarily just. We tend to forgive easily when we find something valid in the reasons behind the offense. That’s why we have the phrase ‘nadadaan sa magandang usapan’. The way we are raised by our families could affect the way we understand and look into the contexts of one’s behavior. For example, rather than be rigid over rights or claims, step siblings generally do not regard with spite but look after each other’s welfare even when one is illegitimate. And of course, the prodigal child is always given a second chance. No wonder why there are many unresolved cases in the Philippines. Some were given pardon by the government like the case of the former president Ejercito Estrada. Could it be the government’s way to come clean in the eyes of other countries in promoting the tourism industry? To front them that it’s easy to settle agreements here would attract many investors in the country. We‘ll, if that’s the case, many might really take advantage on the situation. And this would just prove that we don’t have rigid implementation of the very good laws here in the Philippines. This is also the reason why some government officials seems relaxed and other foreign countries doesn’t give much importance on Filipinos welfare in their land and they just take it easy when it comes to Filipinos. Maybe because they know the fact that we don‘t experience justice even in our own land, and we are used to it. Pity to those who really experience that kind of treatment. Upon hearing this, I bursted to the cab driver saying â€Å"ito hirap sating mga Pinoy e, kapag tayo nahuli sa ibang bansa ng drug trafficking — death penalty, kapag sila nahuli natin wala pang isang linggo nakalaya na. † There’s a big problem with our government or our Filipino blood — we are too soft, too forgiving. This is one of the reasons why most of us have no pride and dignity when we are in another soil. I really want to thank Manny Pacquiao for giving the Filipinos some pride. How should other country value our laws when we Filipinos don’t put much attention to these and some just don‘t take it seriously? When we are in their country we are treated like rats but when they are in our country they are treated like kings. I don’t know what‘s wrong. If a Filipino guy will enter a building in his own country the security guard will look for an ID with intense body search but if they will see that the guest is a foreigner, Filipinos will happily greet them without checking their bags not even thinking that they could be the terrorist that will kill them. I have nothing against to any foreigners but I got beef with my own blood. If this will continue, probably we will become slaves in our own country.

The Island of Bohol: Heaven on Earth

Bohol is an island in the tropical country of the Philippines which is located in Southeast Asia. A couple of years back, I traveled to Bohol to get acquainted with Asia. The moment I stepped out of the airport, I smelled something different. The scent of tropical paradise overpowered my senses. It's a mix of flavors of coconut trees, sweet fruits and the usual body-scented steam that just makes you want to relax and unwind. More so, the sizzling ray of the sun, the hypnotic sound of the sea and warm smile of the natives of Bohol greeted me as I entered nature's hidden treasure.My adventure began as I traversed the oval-shaped island from the luscious mountainous region going towards the pristine coastal area. I started with the infamous Chocolate hills. It's a large formation of rich brown-colored cone-shaped hills. These cute hills looked like gigantic Hershey's kisses strategically placed in a picturesque landscape. After my first immersion with Bohol's local beauty, I said to mys elf that there's no way that there could be another place that can beat the exquisiteness of Chocolate hills.This was a fact until I saw the long white sandy beaches of Panglao island. It literally took my breath away. It was simply idyllic. Endless columns of coconut trees outlined the beach front. The white sand is so friendly to the naked foot because of it is fine as a salt and soft as milk texture that made me want to cover my whole body with it. The natural charm of the place did not stopt here,it went beyond to the extensive crystal blue water of the sea. The undulating movements of the waves took me to a place that highlighted my contentment and happiness.

Demons Dont Dream by Piers Anthony essays

Demons Dont Dream by Piers Anthony essays Demons Dont Dream by Piers Anthony The story begins in a small house when Dug, a young teenager, had a phone call from his friend ED. In the call he told him on his new idea of a bet. The bet is about a new computer game, if Dug will like these computers game his friend ED will go out with Dugs girlfriend but if not ED will give him his motorcycle. Dug accepted the bet because he knows that he does not like computers' games and he thinks they are very boring and he sure that he will win the bet. So Dug got the game he entered the CD-ROM into the computer and suddenly without Dug pressing anything, a little man figure appeared on the computer screen. The figure told him to choice a companion that will go with him to anywhere in the game. Dugs choice was Nada-Naga a woman who is half women and half a snake and then the story begins. In the beginning of the game Dug and Nada-Naga meeting a woman who also playing the game and she is competing with Dug and Nada-Naga. Nada-Naga told him that if he wants to win the game he must believe in this place who everyone calling it Xanth and he must believe in magic. This place is an unregullar world with unregular things in it. It has fruits that are bombs and flowers that can give butter, trees who can catch you and kill you, water that you can see another places in it and more fascinating places. At last when Dug does believe in magic and the world of Xanth he gets into the game and becomes a regular person in an unregular world. Its means that he is in the game and not playing it faces to the computer. Nada-Naga and Dug are facing allot of adventure. Like at first, when they got into some ship who smokes allot, the people in the city near the ship asked them to shut off the smoke. Then Dug and Nada-Naga needed to go to the most powerful sosorer in Xanth to bring a Special mix to shut-down the smoke. After they did it all the people and helped Dug And Nada-Naga...

Understanding Deforestationâ€a Growing Global Problem

Understanding Deforestation- a Growing Global Problem Deforestation is a growing global problem with far-reaching environmental and economic consequences, including some that may not be fully understood until it is too late to prevent them. But what is deforestation, and why is it such a serious problem? Deforestation refers to the loss or destruction of naturally occurring forests, primarily due to human activities such as logging, cutting trees for fuel, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing land for livestock grazing, mining operations, oil extraction, dam building, and urban sprawl or other types of development and population expansion. Logging alone- much of it illegal- accounts for the loss of more than 32 million acres of our planets natural forests every year, according to The Nature Conservancy. Not all deforestation is intentional. Some deforestation may be driven by a combination of natural processes and human interests. Wildfires burn large sections of forest every year, for example, and although fire is a natural part of the forest life cycle, subsequent overgrazing by livestock or wildlife after a fire can prevent the growth of young trees. How Fast Is Deforestation Happening? Forests still cover about 30 percent of the Earths surface, but each year about 13 million hectares of forest (approximately 78,000 square miles)- an area roughly equivalent to the state of Nebraska, or four times the size of Costa Rica- are converted to agricultural land or cleared for other purposes. Of that figure, approximately 6 million hectares (about 23,000 square miles) is primary forest, which is defined in the 2005 Global Forest Resources Assessment as forests of native species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and where the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed. Reforestation programs, as well as landscape restoration and the natural expansion of forests, have slowed the net deforestation rate somewhat, but the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reports that approximately 7.3 million hectares of forests (an area roughly the size of Panama or the state of South Carolina) are permanently lost every year. Tropical rainforests in places like Indonesia, the Congo, and the Amazon Basin are particularly vulnerable and at risk. At the current rate of deforestation, tropical rainforests could be wiped out as functioning ecosystems in less than 100 years. West Africa has lost about 90 percent of its coastal rainforests, and deforestation in South Asia has been nearly as bad. Two-thirds of the lowland tropical forests in Central America have been converted to pasture since 1950, and 40 percent of all rainforests have been lost. Madagascar has lost 90 percent of its eastern rainforests, and Brazil has seen more than 90 percent of the Mata Atlà ¢ntica (Atlantic Forest) disappear. Several countries have declared deforestation a national emergency. Why Is Deforestation a Problem? Scientists estimate that 80 percent of all species on Earth- including those not yet discovered- live in tropical rainforests. Deforestation in those regions wipes out critical habitat, disrupts ecosystems and leads to the potential extinction of many species, including irreplaceable species that could be used to make medicines, which might be essential for cures or effective treatments of the worlds most devastating diseases. Deforestation also contributes to global warming- tropical deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of all greenhouse gases- and has a significant impact on the global economy. While some people may receive immediate economic benefits from activities that result in deforestation, those short-term gains cannot offset the negative long-term economic losses. At the 2008 Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany, scientists, economists, and other experts concluded that deforestation and damage to other environmental systems could cut living standards for the worlds poor by half and reduce the global gross domestic product (GDP) by about 7 percent. Forest products and related activities account for approximately  $600 billion worth of global GDP every year.

Children and Violent Video Games Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Children and Violent Video Games - Essay Example Such video games are too dangerous of a nature to be shown to children, who do not have much awareness of the world and who can take any sort of meanings from such acts that they see. To be able to grasp and be limited to only enjoying any acts of violence that are shown, the mind needs to be old enough. If exposed to these factors before time and before age, various meanings can be extracted and major changes can take place in the personality of a child. Whether it is the visuals which depict such violence or the increase in bonus points in a video game that take place when the child "kills" a villain, the effect is bound to be there on these young and innocent minds. These video games are a newer medium as compared to the television and movies which also are a source of violence acts for young minds. The most popular past time for children is that of playing video games. Children, and especially boys, often indulge in video games which are depicting acts of violence and which require the player to contribute to that violence through the joystick or the mouse that he or she is using to control the game. Such usage of the joystick or mouse inculcates such habits within children. When children see in a video game that they are rewarded and their points increase or they are given a bonus whenever they kill a person or whenever they injure the other party, children feel that such acts will always be positively rewarded, whether it is real life. Children feel that when they will hurt someone, use harsh language, or use violence to deal with a specific situation in life, they will be positively rewarded like they were in the video game. The research of Dr. Anderson and Dr. Gentile has stated that boys spend an average of 13 hours per week on video games, whereas the fairer sex spends around 5 hours per week on the video games. This research also says that half of the video games in the market actually result in the real life deaths and acts of violence that takes place. Social implications The social implications of children and teen playing these violent games are that they inherit the same violence in their personality. Socially, they become destructive human being. There is more of negativity in their personality rather than optimism. Whatever fights they will encounter in their life, whatever circumstances they will face, they will want to deal with it through violence and settle it in their favor through any violent means possible. Since these games have rewarded them not just points, but bonus points as well as non-point bonuses like new weapons, they assume that life will also reward them similarly. Therefore, such a man is added to the society who would not believe in handling situations in a peaceful manner, rather he would deal the aggressive way. (Krug, 2002) For example there is a game known as Postal, in which acts of violence are a common sight. People are crying for mercy, masses lie on the ground moaning, there can be blood seen everywhere, killings are happening as a common routine, there are dead bodies lying all around, and people are screaming for help. But